grace Posts

Do All Roads Lead to God?

06 Jan , 2012 No Comments

On New Year’s Eve, you may have heard Cee Lo Green’s rendition of John Lennon’s, “Imagine” (which apparently has become a tradition just prior to the ball being dropped at Times Square). But this year, instead of listening Lennon’s version of the song, they had Cee Lo sing it. He created a big stir by changing the words- instead of singing, “imagine no religion too”, he sang, “and all religions true”. People debate and ask the question- is there really only one way to God? The classic presentation of this argument ends up with the idea that “all roads lead to heaven”, “all paths lead to the same God”.
But is this true? I’ve changed the way I approach this question. The truth is (and read carefully) there are many roads to God- all roads lead to God but there is ONLY ONE WAY to eternal life with Him- there’s only ONE Way to LIFE and it is through Jesus Christ.

It is true that everyone will end up before God.

“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” Hebrews 9:27

Though we may get through different paths, everyone will stand before God some day. But the idea that all religions are true is not even logical, simply because not all religions teach the same thing- by a long shot. In fact, in many ways, Christianity cannot even be compared to other religions. It is the anti-religion- it’s not a religion (that is, a way to achieve some standing before God through good works, following a certain set of moralistic standards, or follow set of rules). That’s not Christianity. Jesus taught us that we could never achieve God’s approval apart from His grace. If this were not true there would be no reason for the cross- which stands at the center of our faith.

No, all religions DO NOT teach the same thing and not all roads lead to a right relationship with God. And you don’t even have to go to the Bible to see this. Simple Aristotelian logic would say that two contradictory truths cannot be equally valid. It’s “The Law of Non-Contradiction”. This is a basic, fundamental Law of Logic. It states that two contradictory statements cannot both be true at the same time; one is true and one is false. Formulaically, it’s presented as, “A equals B and A does not equal B are mutually exclusive statements”. Now, every child knows this, but in America we have become so open-minded our brains have fallen out.
Some people say, “Well, Christianity is so exclusive. How can someone be so prideful as to think that ONE religion has all truth? I’ve talked to people who say, “My approach is to choose the best from all religions. That’s a better way to come to truth.” Really? Let me ask you then, “How do you determine what to chose from each religion that you’re going to then put together as your chosen collective religion?” YOU are going to choose? You’ve just made yourself your own God! You have just formed the religion of YOU; and you are, in the end, worshipping yourself. You have the final word on all things. And think about this: Isn’t it more logical to believe that ONE religion would have the truth within itself? A collective, united, comprehensive and cohesive body of truth- within one religion makes a lot more sense (again, if we want to bring logic into the equation). But alas, logic doesn’t seem to be in the mix when it comes to spiritual conversations these days. Let’s bring it back into the conversation.

All roads lead to God and then judgment based on what we have done with Jesus.

Creation to the Cross- sand art video

20 Dec , 2011 2 Comments

Merry Christmas.

Thank you to my friend Emily Davidson (in our youth ministry) for using her amazing gift of voice to worship her Savior!

A Christmas Masterpiece- an artful journey to the manger

11 Dec , 2011 No Comments

Christmas is the most wonderful, colorful, and artful time of the year. Like no other time of the year, the arts burst forth in all forms to celebrate the season. From concert halls and theaters to popular music and television, Christmas themes prevail in all art forms. While red and green tend to dominate the pallet of Christmas, we see lights of all colors, gold ribbons, and silver bells. While some are dreaming of a white Christmas others struggle through a blue Christmas.

The way a culture views life will be reflected in its art. Just pause for a moment and consider what that means when we take a hard look at our culture. What do we see in the arts today? Consider the visual arts, video, cinema, the performing arts, theater, popular music- mostly vanity, sex, violence, chaos, relativism, even fatalism. There’s a spiritual principle at work here. Who we are is what we create. What’s in the heart of a culture will be expressed through the arts. Jesus said,

“Out of an overflow of the heart the mouth will speak.” Matthew 12:34

Out of the heart comes all of life. As an art student on the university campus, I found myself in a Philosophy of Art class and in the middle of a debate over a phrase you’ve probably heard before: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This of course, plays into the subjective reality of the arts- music, painting, sculpture, theater- but is it true? Or is their some objective standard by which we measure beauty? I remember when grades were handed out for certain projects. How would you grade an artist who had randomly flung paint across a canvas up against one who had worked tirelessly on a magnificent, intricate landscape? Is it all subjective? Is it all relative? Or is there an objective reality by which one can judge art, or anything in life, for that matter? I remember having passionate discussions with other students that spilled over into contrasting of worldviews. One would argue for objective truth and others would argue that there is no such thing as truth. As one modern philosopher said, “The truth is there is no truth.” Of course, if that statement is true then it’s not.

Christmas is, at its core, the declaration- an expression of ultimate reality, ultimate beauty and of Truth. At its core- Christmas is God’s proclamation that He exists and there is Truth- and we now know exactly Who He is and what He’s like. All of this came into full clarity when God- the Master Artist expressed Himself to humanity. And He did so from His divine pallet with two primary colors: grace and truth.

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17 And, of course, it was Jesus who said,

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through me.” John 14:6

Dorothy Sayers, in her book, the “Mind of the Maker” presents God as a Creative Artist. If you imagine God as an engineer or a clockmaker or immovable force you’ll go astray. God’s image shines through to us clearly in His act of creation. And interestingly, His Revelation of Himself to us is comprised of three stages which I think gives us a powerful analogy of the Trinity. Christmas means God has revealed Himself to us as the Trinity. Theologians have explained this as “God in three Persons”- Even the word “persona” was invented or transferred over by theologians to explain the Trinity- the persona referred to the mask of the actor. The same actor would wear different masks- same person, different forms.

The Artistic Process
• The Idea All art begins in the creative mind of the artist as an idea.
• The Expression Then the artist must choose the best medium for the expression of that idea. Some expressed themselves through writing- through prose or epic poetry like Dante or Milton. John Wesley wrote sermons, his brother Charles wrote hymns. Michelangelo chose sculpture, others have chosen opera, painting, movie, theater, cinema to express the idea with which he or she desires to convey. The expression comes in many forms and many mediums in art. Then..
• The Response Finally someone reacts- responds to the art- once an idea, now expressed, meets the “beholder”. The response completes the creative cycle. Art is not art until someone has responded to it.
Think about how you have responded to God’s expression of Himself to you. The Bible calls His artwork to us- “Revelation”. He is the Revealer, the Revelator and we are the responders. God is always the Initiator- we are not. I want you to notice how John follows this pattern of God’s revelation to us. Although God is one, within that unity we can distinguish the work of three distinct persons. God the Father is the “Idea” or Essence, of all reality. “I AM that I AM”. Everything that exists- everything- flows from His existence. Consider how God has revealed Himself to us:

The Idea: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:1 “Logos”- the Divine Idea. We learn something about God from all of creation- quasars to kangaroos, aardvarks and anteaters, and especially from human beings- but ONE human Being, the Divine Incarnate Son of God, represents the perfect Expression of His Essence. He is the exact representation of His being” and “the image of the invisible God.”

The Expression: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 Let’s talk about responding to God’s Masterpiece- Jesus. If you’re like me, you can understand the Trinity when you think about how you came to Jesus Christ. God expressed Himself to me and I responded. First, I came to know God the Father. I learned early on that He was awesome, loving, holy- deserving of our worship. Then I became acquainted with Jesus, a Man I wanted to follow the rest of my life. And then- almost like a second conversion- I became aware of the Power of the Spirit, of the Living God inside of me. That’s how I captured the progression of God’s revelation to me. I think His revelation is perceived by all of us time-bound humans.
The final step in God’s creative revelation came to fruition at Pentecost, when God took up residence inside human beings. Something of God’s Essence, the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at Creation, now lives inside flawed human beings, giving us the Recognition of a new identity. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children and God’s act of creation reached its pinnacle.

The Response: “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:11-12
Though everyone is created by God, not everyone is a child of God,-only those who have received Him. John said he, “beheld His glory”. As the beholder of God’s expression, how do you respond to this Christmas Masterpiece? Your personal response is required. God has revealed Himself to you and responding to God always requires change.- not on His part, but yours. The Truth of who Jesus is does not change (Hebrews 13:8). We are the ones who must do the changing. Once we have beheld Jesus, it demands a response. God loves you. His Idea was to save you; His expression was His Son; the response is up to you. As you consider the colors of Christmas this season, consider the words from the prophet Isaiah, 700 years before Christ was born.

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18

ENOUGH

02 Dec , 2011 No Comments

This fall at PCBC we walked through a series of messages asking the question, “How much is enough?” “When is enough, enough?” “How much is enough to give?” “How much is enough to keep?”

Read 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Liberating Truths That Lead to a Life of Generosity

1. God owns everything.
“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.” Psalm 24:1-2
“‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” Haggai 2:8 God owns any and all kinds of currency and wealth.
“You have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:20 God owns all of us.

2. We are stewards. We are managers of all that is His.

“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” I Corinthians 4: 1-2

3. What we sow determines what we reap. (vs. 6) Whatever you put in the ground is what’s coming up later. This natural law is spiritual law as well.

4. God wants us to be generous and cheerful givers. (vs. 7) The amount of the blessing of your harvest is determined by how much you sow. The question is not, “How much should I sow?” The question is, “How much do I want to be blessed?”

5. We are blessed to be a blessing. (vs. 8-11) We’re “enriched in every way SO THAT you can be generous on every occasion.” The moment we hang on to the blessings of God, His blessing stops.

6. God prospers us, not to raise our standard of living, but to raise our standard of giving. (vs. 10-11) The way we excel in giving is when we determine to cap our lifestyle.

7. How we spend our money reveals our hearts and exposes our priorities. (vs. 11)

8. God multiplies our giving into transformed lives. (vs.12-14) Only God can do that.

9. Our giving is an act of worship. (vs. 15) Oswald Chambers defined worship as “Giving back to God the very best He has given me.”

The Generosity Challenge: “Test me in this” Malachi 3:10
• Start giving
• Become a percentage giver
• Give the tithe
• Give beyond the tithe

God issues the challenge to us all. He dares us to believe in Him, to trust that He will be faithful. At the start of this Christmas season, determine to be a giver. This will be the greatest Christmas you’ve ever known if you will simply practice the simple truth of Jesus: It is more blessed to give than to receive.

The Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Grace

30 Sep , 2011 1 Comment

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10

What does it mean for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven? Throughout the Gospels we read that Jesus came “proclaiming” and “bringing”- (enacting) the kingdom of God. This coming kingdom was accompanied by healing and great acts of compassion. Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes- a description of kingdom people. Most parables begin with the words, “The kingdom of God is like”. This kingdom is wherever and whenever the King reigns and some day, because of His completed salvific work on the cross His Kingdom will come on the New Earth exactly as it is in heaven.
It should be OBVIOUS from an honest reading of the Gospels that Jesus expected His disciples (US) to master the lessons He taught and actually LIVE a kingdom life- to actually practice illogical acts of compassion, unreasonable amounts mercy and stunning amounts of forgiveness. Clearly this Gospel of the kingdom of God… is a Gospel of grace. This Good News is that in God’s kingdom GRACE abounds. It’s Christ’s vision of the world and how it should be AND how it WILL be. If Christianity is about anything, it is about forgiveness. It is about grace. If we are to live as kingdom people, we need a recovery, a re-discovery of the core- the central- Message of Jesus- the FOCUS of the Christian faith: forgiveness. Indeed, in our best moments the gracious melody of forgiveness is heard as the recurring theme of our faith. The kingdom of God is a place where GRACE abounds.

The Kingdom comes when grace abounds. The parable of Jesus – like the story of the Vineyard workers in Matthew 20 leave the listener with head-scratching disbelief- how is it that one could work all day and another work for one hour and ALL receive the same compensation? Jesus taught “the new math of grace”. It’s not about human merit; but about divine forgiveness. It’s not about earning wages- in the kingdom of God the last are first, the weak are strong and there IS NO counting. Living in the kingdom, Jesus says, is not about religious moralism; it’s about a complete reorientation to the Gospel of grace.

What is grace?
Justice is getting what you deserve. Could’ve started with the word “revenge”- which we see a lot of in our world- that’s when someone does you wrong and you pay back with more than what you deserve.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Now, James tells us that mercy triumphs over justice (James 2:12).
Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.

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

“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
To live the grace-filled life means that we see grace- not simply as a means toward salvation but as a WAY of LIFE. That’s why you’ve been forgiven- so that you might LIVE forgiven. Grace demands a radical love and a forgiveness- in the final analysis forgiveness is an act of faith. I’m trusting God to be a better justice-maker than I am. Too often we know we should forgive, we want to forgive, we almost forgive, but in the end we realize we cannot forgive- we are too just. My need for justice trumps my ability to forgive. But in James 2:13 the Bible says that, “Mercy triumphs over justice”.
“The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:20-21
So, among God’s people, grace “abounds” (it overflows, it thrives, it increases). How does it “abound”, increase? It abounds, it thrives through us as God’s people when we extend grace to others.
Luke 14:15-24 Jesus tells the story of the Master who is planning a grand banquet and he tells his servants to go and invite certain people to come. One by one they offer excuses and say that they cannot come. The Master opens the invitation up to all and extends as invitation to the banquet to the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. The kingdom comes when grace abounds!

Grace abounds when…
1. We embrace God’s forgiveness. When God forgives He sees you as though your sin never happened. Can you forgive like that? You never will- until you realize that change won’t happen through ‘trying harder’ but only through encountering the radical grace of God. There is so much in your future but you’ve got to leave the past behind you! You need to bury the past- what could’ve been, what should’ve been, and how justice must be served in the life of that individual who has hurt you.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

2. We become agents of God’s forgiveness. Christians sometime believe in a theology of grace but not a lifestyle of grace. Grace abounds when we take on the heart of Jesus. As kingdom people we are administrators of grace dispensers of His grace- we peddle, (we tout, we push) grace… here’s the picture of a kingdom person: wherever they go, they are so filled up with God’s grace- it abounds, it overflows, it spills over on to everyone they encounter. Have you ever met someone like that? Here’s how you spot them: they are kind to everyone. In fact, to the point that it doesn’t make sense- if grace doesn’t make you say, “Wait a minute…that CAN’T be right”, it’s not grace. Because grace, by it’s very nature is NOT fair. It is a most unnatural act. Grace-filled people have lots of friends- and lots of friends who don’t look like them. Following Jesus will always take you into relationships that make you uncomfortable.”
Grace-filled people are joy-filled people. Grace-givers are FUN to be around. They’re the people you want at your party. In fact, they know how to party! Don’t miss this: Jesus is saying the kingdom of God is like a party. It’s a feast! And why is it that so many Christians are unhappy, tight, grumpy, and solemn?! They have never truly embraced God’s grace. Because grace-filled people are constantly overwhelmed by the grace they’ve received from God- so much so, they want you to experience as well- so they show you what grace looks like. You can spot grace-givers. Are you one of them?

3. We decide to include everyone- especially those who are undeserving. We must determine that we will include everyone in this kingdom party. Everyone is invited to be a recipient of my love. I will show NO discrimination as I dispense this grace that I have been given.

4. We introduce others to the Grace-giver Jesus.
Everyone is welcome… the kingdom of God is all-inclusive (or more correctly- exclusive to those who come undeserving, humble, and contrite before God.
As we apply this as a church family- we’ve said that as kingdom people- we are a Gospel-centered church- and this Gospel is the Gospel of grace. Grace leads to inclusion (the central point of this parable in Luke Grace leads to diversity which should lead to more grace. That’s the Church!

A sign you’re growing in grace: You realize Jesus ALWAYS writes stories of mercy, of grace, compassion, and reconciliation bigger than you would. Join Him in writing a story of grace today.