Simple Truths about the Gospel: "Punisher or Savior?"

For most of my early Christian life, something that has always bothered me was this idea that God the Father was punishing Jesus on the Cross. To be honest, it made me fearful of God in the sense that if He could do that to Jesus, what will He do to me? Ever have that thought?

Ever read Romans 8:32? This verse used to always rub me the wrong way. I mean if God could give up Jesus, then what chance did I have because who am I compared to Jesus? 

Romans 8:32 "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 

I read it (as I think most do) as God abandoning Jesus. But, I've begun to see this passage a bit differently. Something that I've come to understand during my time on this earth so far is that we live in a broken world with broken systems filled with internally broken people who are influenced by evil principalities and powers that are doing all they can to confuse us and blind us from knowing the true loving nature of God. And because of all these things, our understanding of the heart and character of God becomes distorted, so we end up seeing God wrongly and attributing actions to God which aren't really God at all.

What I have come to understand is that on the Cross, the Father never actually left Jesus because Scripture says that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself..." (2 Corinthians 5:19). Today, in my renewed thinking, what I've come to see is that the Father didn't abandon Jesus in anger, but with a sad and grieving heart "gave Jesus up/over" to the consequences of Sin which included at the time all the people who were being influenced by evil principalities and powers who were more then ready and eager to deliver unto Jesus the "wages of sin which is death" (Romans 6:23).

You may be thinking to yourself, "well, isn't that still abandoning someone?" Not if that was the plan all along. I don't believe the Father ever abandoned Jesus because before Jesus became a human being, the Godhead (Father, Son and Spirit) agreed upon the events of the Cross, that Jesus would become "Sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21) and "our Curse" (Galatians 3:13) and take the "punishment for Sin" (Romans 3:25). This means there could be no "so called" abandonment because this was the plan from the very beginning. You could I guess, if you are so inclined, call it a planned agreed upon abandonment. But, I believe that's a stretch because though the Father handed Jesus over, He was essentially still with Him.

1 Peter 1:19-20 "but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake."

To expand on this further, I would add that 1) Jesus went to the Cross of His own free will and 2) Jesus was/is equal to the Father. Though the terminology Father and Son does bring to mind specific images, the way that God the Father and Jesus the Son relate to one another is far far different than how we do in our earthly parent/child relationships because there is an equality and unity between them that is so perfect that even in our best and most brilliant moments have a hard time grasping.

To take this yet another step, I would even go so far as to say (as I alluded to earlier) that I don't believe it was the Father who was exacting out His anger and wrath upon Jesus. Because if that were the case then Jesus actually came to save us from God which is kind of messed up if you really think about it. This creates some pretty inconsistent thinking in terms of the character and unity of God. It also makes the Father as the Punisher and the Son as the Savior which at best creates a fragmented Godhead. 

Jesus wasn't saving us from the Father, but was saving us from Sin.

This is the Gospel. Sin is punishment enough. God knew this and it was His plan from the very beginning to save us from Sin (Genesis 3:15), period.

Something I've been hearing around these days is this "If you don't see it in the Son, don't call it the Father." What this statement is inferring is that in the person of Jesus Christ we find perfect theology about God, because as Hebrews 1:3-4 says:

"The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs."

The Father and the Son are one (John 10:30) to the point that the Son only does what He sees the Father doing (John 5:19). So, if what we believe about God does not match up with the life and ministry of Jesus, then we need to question that belief and ask Holy Spirit to give us clearer revelation and breakthrough in our understanding.

One example would be to attribute sickness to God, now when I read the Gospels what I read is Jesus establishing His Kingdom by healing all sickness, yet if we attribute sickness as a vehicle that the Father uses in people's lives for whatever reason we end up with a fragmented Godhead where the Father is actually working against the Son? Do you see where I'm going with this?

Jesus never caused sickness, pain, suffering and death to people, He actually did the opposite and brought healing, comfort, relief, redemption, restoration and life to people. And remember, Jesus is only doing what He sees the Father doing. Is it clicking yet? More Holy Spirit.

It's Sin, Evil and the Enemies of God that are very eager, ready and able to mete out sickness, pain, suffering and death. This is the line in the sand so to speak that separates Good from Evil, Life from Death, God from Satan.

Along these same lines, I don't see how the Father could be the Punisher of Sin while Jesus is the Savior from Sin because Scripture says that they are always in perfect unity. This means that as One does, so the Other. So how could the Father be Punisher and Jesus Savior? No at the Cross we must accept that Father, Son and Spirit are unified as Savior. We must always understand that God has gone through great lengths to save us from Sin, not from Himself.

Something which has helped me along the way has been starting from the understanding that God is love (1 John 4:16). Love being a noun as in who God is, rather than a verb in which God does.

This means that everything that God does is from a place of love because God's very nature is love and He cannot do anything contrary to His nature.

Now of course God is much more than only Love, He has more attributes that make Him who He is, but I would argue that these attributes (Holy, Just, Good, Gracious and Merciful to name a few) all flow from His nature of Love. This means He isn't Just or Holy apart from Love, but His justice and holiness flows out of His Love. Dare I say that they are expressions of His Love. Where I think people get off track is when they compartmentalize the attributes of God, rather then seeing them deeply interconnected. But, most tragically when they see the attribute of Love as just one of the many, rather than seeing Love as the one in which all flow.

Are you tracking with me?

Without going into great detail here, there is this theological term called "progressive revelation" which is best described in Hebrews 1:1-2 "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds"

Wikipedia defines it as: 

Progressive revelation in Christianity is the concept that the sections of the Bible that were written later contain a fuller revelation of God compared to the earlier sections. For instance, the theologian Charles Hodge wrote, "The progressive character of divine revelation is recognized in relation to all the great doctrines of the Bible... What at first is only obscurely intimated is gradually unfolded in subsequent parts of the sacred volume, until the truth is revealed in its fullness."^[1] The ultimate revelation of God is understood to be found in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospels. For example, the New Testament is to be used to better understand and interpret the Old Testament. 

What this means for us is that when we read through the Old Testament what we need to accept is that God was progressively revealing Himself to His people. Which means that what we may read at times may not be the clearest picture or portrait of God. What this also means is that Jesus Christ is the clearest and greatest revelation of God and so we must use His life and ministry as the filter in which we read the Bible. This means His whole life from His birth to His ministry to His passion that lead Him to His death to His resurrection and His ascension and then ultimately to His return.

So, back to the beginning of this post, my misunderstanding of the heart and character of God led to the sowing of an unbiblical seed of fearing God into my heart. And with it came a religious spirit who poked and prodded this fear whispering to me, "You'd better watch out, God is just waiting to get you." And so this unbiblical fear grew in power and influence and I became a dutiful Christian. Trying my best to do everything a Christian was supposed to do (read the bible, go to church, pray, serve in church, etc). Don't get me wrong I believe I was still genuine in most of what I was doing, but inwardly I had this lurking distorted lie about the heart and character of God. 

You may be thinking to yourself, yeah so what, don't we all have distorted views about God? This maybe true, but it doesn't make these distortions harmless. On the contrary, I would argue that it is probably these distorted lies that are hindering our faith from growing and stunting the growth of our relationship with God because in a very real sense these beliefs influence how we approach and interact (or don't interact) with God. What I've come to understand is that these lies (including this one) make our relationship with the Father shaky and unstable. But, in all of this I believe the most dangerous place to be is in a place of blindness where we are oblivious and unaware of the distorted views and lies that we hold. 

To be fair to myself, I was pretty messed up and broken when I came to the Lord (see a short video of my testimony). So, this unbiblical fear of God only added more fuel to my already intact inferiority complex. Ever feel like that, when someone in authority contacts you, and you immediately think to yourself "uh oh, what have I done wrong?" There is freedom from this. Come Holy Spirit! 

For a long time, deep within my heart I just couldn't shake this underlying sense that I was always some how in trouble with God. There was always this underlying insecurity that never allowed me to feel fully secure in God's love for me. So, I become more and more religious (following God out of the fear of being punished). Again, don't get me wrong I still loved God very much, the problem was not giving God love, but receiving His love. So, our relationship was more like a master/slave type, rather than a healthy father/child one. 

Now, Jesus does tell us that we shouldn't fear man who can only kill our body, but not our soul. Rather, we should only fear God, who can kill both body and soul (Matthew 10:28). Now I believe Jesus is not saying that we need to be in fear of God killing us (which I don't believe He ever would, I know there are passage in the Old Testament that may describe this, but I believe there maybe something else happening there... I will probably end up writing a much longer post on this).

Rather, He is pointing out that God and not Man is ultimately in control over what happens to His disciples. This is His point. He is helping His disciples see that when they are on mission for Him, we will come up against resistance, opposition and hostility. But, we need not fear because God loves us and values us which is why He says a couple verses later "...the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrow" (Matthew 10:31). 

We mustn't allow our brokenness define who God is, rather we must allow the Word of God to do that, and I would add that we must do our very best while asking Holy Spirit to help us grow in greater clarity on the heart and character of God. And when we come across Scripture that is in contradiction with the revelation we have in Jesus Christ, then we need to all the more press into the Holy Spirit and ask Him to bring the clarity and revelation we need.

Here are some foundational Truths that we must believe first and foremost about God:

• that He is good (Mark 10:18)
• that He is love (1 John 4:16)
• that He is for us and not against us (Romans 8:31)
• that He has a good and perfect plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11)
• that He is a good Father who waits for us to return home (Luke 15:10)
• that He is not like any earthly Father (Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13) 
• that we are safe within His almighty Hands (John 10:28-30).

These are the Truths that the foundation of our faith must rest in and be built on. So when we get tossed about in the storms of life, we must cling to these Truths or we run the risk of any distorted lie or view of God that we hold causing more turbulence, even shipwrecking our faith which is what I believe is the goal and purpose of all lies.

When things don't make sense, I believe we must always start from these Truths about God and work from there. These Truths are like the anchor that will keep us steady in the storm. 

I will pause here. I think I've given you a lot to think about. But know this, you are deeply, deeply, deeply, deeply loved by God. His is our Savior and never our Punisher. Sin, Evil and the Enemies of God already have that covered.

Be Encouraged! Embrace the Truth of the Gospel and Stand Free! 

Simple Truths about the Gospel: "I will remember your sins no more"

Today, I'm starting off with a banger of a question, so brace yourself: Do you believe God is waiting to punish you for your sins?

I can't tell you how long I used to believe this and was even taught this in some of the churches I have been a part of. But today, I stand free in the Truth of the Gospel.  

Hebrews 8:12 "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." 

This is God's promise of the New Covenant. On the Cross, Jesus paid the price for all sin, for all time. And as this verse states, God no longer remembers our sins. I'm going to pause here, to let the Holy Spirit help you get your mind and heart around this Truth. It is almost too good to be true, right? But hold on there is more....

2 Corinthians 5:19 "that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them..." 

Now hold on a minute there buddy, are you saying that God is not counting our sins against us, and that He has even forgotten our sins? Yes sir, rebob! That is exactly what the Word of God is saying.

This simple Gospel Truth truly blows me away and continues to astound and amazing me as I embrace this more and more and deeper and deeper within me. It has literally dissolved away every distorted view of God that I've ever held. 

But the sad reality is that the way many Christians live out their faith (as I once did) is in the fear of being punished for their sins. They see an angry God who is just waiting to bring judgment onto people for their sins. And when leaders preach this, they reinforce this distorted image of God as an angry Judge, rather than a loving Father. They preach a God who is holding to the Law of the Old Covenant, rather than a God who has made a New Covenant free of the Law (Hebrews 8:13).

What I understand of the Gospel is that Jesus paid for it all, so we don't have to suffer the judgments and consequences of sin any longer. He became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). He became our curse (Galatians 3:13). He took our punishment for sin (Romans 3:25). 

John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." 

God is all about salvation and life, not condemnation and death. God is not out to get you, but is for you. His desire is to release greater and greater abundant life to you, but the Enemy of God is the one wants to steal, kill and destroy your life (John 10:10). God is love.

1 John 4:19 "...God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." 

We no longer need to fear, "because fear has to do with punishment" and we no longer need to fear punishment! "We will have confidence on the day of judgement: In this world we are like Jesus." If you are a Christian, when God looks to you, He sees the perfect life, work and sacrifice of Jesus. Has it clicked yet? Has the light switch been flipped inside of you? Come Holy Spirit!

Now, there maybe some natural consequences from when we sin (for example, if I steal there is a good chance I will get caught by the police), I do think we reap what we sow at times, but God is not the one dishing these consequences out. There are systems and laws already set in place that function in this way, not to mention principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12) who are also ready to mete out punishments.

No, I believe it's in these moments that God is actually the One who is showing us love, grace and mercy because from His perspective, Jesus has already paid the price for all sin for all time, so God no longer holds our sins against us, nor does He even remember them!

Wow! Jump up and down! This is the Gospel! It's like it's too good to be true, but that's why it's called The Good News.

Remember Jesus paid for all our sins even before we were born. Think about that for a minute. Even before you were born Jesus paid for all your sins. But that doesn't automatically save us in a universalist kind of way. No, we each need to personally believe in the work of Jesus as John 3:16 states.

The Gospel is all about believing in Jesus. And it's really important that we are believing the right things because what we believe will influence our thinking about who God is and our behavior in how we approach Him. We are no longer standing before God as a Judge, but can now run into the arms of God as our Father.

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." 

God is not angry with you, He loves you so much. And if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus, you can rest in this simple Gospel Truth, that each and every day God remembers your sins no more. Some may think this is dangerous teaching, that people will run wild into sin, but the Gospel was never about control but about freedom. God is never afraid because He knows what His perfect love has already accomplished and will continue to accomplish in the world. It's man who fears and controls. God's desire is that we would fully live in His perfect Love, never in fear.  

Be Encouraged! Embrace the Truth of the Gospel and Stand Free! You are deeply, deeply loved by God. 

Simple Truths about the Gospel: "Joined to the Lord"

I've decided to spend some time talking about the Gospel. I've recently had some revolutionary revelations about the simplicity of the Gospel and want to share what I believe the Holy Spirit has revealed to me with you. 

With each blog post, I will start with a Scripture and then expand on it.  Not too long, I will try my best to be short and concise. My aim is to speak the truth in love and then allow the Holy Spirit to confirm within you the things I am saying.

1 Corinthians 6:17 "But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him."

When a person becomes a born again Christian, they have 1) believed that Jesus has paid the price for all sin with His very life, 2) have surrendered the control of their life to Him, and 3) received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit supernaturally transforming them into a new creation in Christ. It is in this moment that they are welcomed back into God's family as a once lost but now found beloved son or daughter of God. 

As the verse states, they become "joined to the Lord" in the most intimate of ways by becoming "one spirit with him." This means there is no longer any gap between a Christian and God. They have in fact become one. Just pause here a moment and meditate on this amazing truth. If, you are a Christian you must believe that there is no separation between you and God now. This is really, really Good News. 

I've felt the need to emphasize this Gospel Truth because this Truth should describe and define our reality, and not our current experience. Trust me I have been there and done that when it comes to sinning and then feeling the shame or guilt and then feeling distant or separate from God. But, this goes directly against what this verse says. You see, our feelings of separation are just that "our feelings." But we mustn't allow our feelings to supersede this Truth. 

Why I believe this is such an important Gospel reality is because this means you are never ever alone, but are always, always in the Presence of God, period. You no longer need to cry out to God to come near you or beg God to love you. God loves you and has already come near you.

And there is nothing that can separate you from the love of God in Christ (read Romans 8:31-39). Practically speaking this means there is nothing you could ever do to cause God's presence to leave you because you are "joined to Him, you are one spirit with Him."

Be Encouraged! Embrace the Truth of the Gospel and Stand Free! You are deeply, deeply loved by God. 

Mercy Me: spoken for

This song is in many ways my heart's cry for all people, but specifically for those who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction because they are the ones who are being destroyed by their all-consuming desire for the things of this world (drugs and alcohol) at such an alarming and tragic rate. Whenever I see someone caught in such bondage to their lust for the world, the Spirit of God moves my heart to begin praying that Jesus would set them free into His eternal Kingdom of grace and freedom where they are covered by Divine Love, where God puts His hand upon their life and says to the devil, "No more! This one is mine!" and where their hearts are completely spoken for: sold out for Jesus.

Leona Lewis: BRAVE

Bravery. I think it's safe to say that we all wish we could be a bit braver in certain areas of our lives. But, because of the spiritual battle that wars around us many of us have "shadows weighing us down," keeping us from reaching our full potential in life, keeping us from being brave. Listening to this song touches those places in my heart that long for bravery. To be honest, the moments that I lack the most bravery are usually when God is calling me to step out in faith to proclaim and demonstrate that His Kingdom is near to people.

The more I listen to this song, the more I long to have the faith that I read Jesus had in the Gospels. The bible says that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, but was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). This tells me that there were moments when Jesus was tempted to not step out in faith, to not be brave. But, He didn't. Why not? Now the easy answer would be to say that well Jesus was God, so of course He didn't and leave it at that. This is maybe true, but sounds more like a cop-out than an explanation. The more I've meditated and sought clarity from the Holy Spirit on this, the more I'm convinced that it was because Jesus knew who had His back.

Our Father in heaven had Jesus' back and He also has ours. For me, it's not so much about trying to conjure up bravery inside of myself, but more about believing that our Father in heaven actually has my back, that He is before me and behind me, above me and below me and at either side of me. Bravery comes from knowing that because we are God's children, He has our backs. God is intimately concerned about every aspect of our lives from the big to the small, from the epic to the utterly mundane and boring. He is our Father in heaven who loves and delights in us. Bravery comes from knowing who He is to us and what we mean to Him.

Snow Patrol: OPEN YOUR EYES

I long for God to awaken people to the reality of the Kingdom of God, so that they can begin to see the world from an eternal perspective. This is my heart's cry. I think the reason I like this song so much is that I helps give voice to this longing. I just want to scream to the world to "open your eyes" Jesus loves you! But, in the end everyone has to choose to believe for themselves, I can't open their eyes for them. When the Kingdom of God comes near them, they have to choose to open their eyes and hearts to accept and believe that Jesus has come to save them!

Where's the love?

I've been convicted more and more these days of the stinginess of my love. When I read about Jesus' life here on earth, it reveals a love that's full and free. Jesus loved people without strings attached. He met them where they were at and loved them. He gave people the freedom and dignity to choose for themselves how they wanted to respond to His love. That's why I really appreciate this video because it challenges me to love without question, to give my love away completely for free.

But, this video also challenges me to love people fully with all that I am. Again, that's how Jesus loved people, with all of Himself. He held nothing back, not even His very life which He willingly gave up for our sake. His sacrifice was the ultimate selfless act of love in which everyone who chooses to believe and accept this incredible gift can then spend all of eternity with Him in Heaven. Love is so amazing, yet so mysterious at the same time.

When I think about God's unconditional love for me, I am always floored and amazed. The bible talks about "the mystery of God," meaning there are some things about God that we may never, ever understand this side of Heaven. For me, part of the mystery of God is His unconditional love. The more I experience God's love, the more I am overwhlemed by the depth and breadth of His love. If I really sit down to ponder this, I believe that the only way to fully embrace and experience the fullness of God's love would take an eternity. 

The bible says, "We love becuase God first loved us" (1 John 4:19). I find comfort in this because this means that I don't have to generate this full and free love on my own. But the more I press into God's love the more His love will fuel my love both for Him and for others. What an amazing truth! My prayer is that from this day foward you would experience a greater depth and breadth of God's love in your life and that His love would bring healing, salvation and restoration to your life. I pray that God's love would literally begin to bubble out of your heart because it is so full of His love. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Freedom Sunday is coming...

Freedom Sunday is coming! If you have a passion to see the oppressed set free. If you have this deep yearning to proclaim freedom to the captives. You are not alone. Freedom Sunday is for you! In three weeks on February 21, 2010, churches from around the Earth will be joining together with one voice in doing just this. If you are interested in partnering with this Not For Sale event, there are resources at the Freedom Sunday website. Join the anti-slavery movement and let your voice be heard!

Creative LOVE

Doesn't watching this video touch something within you that makes you want to go out and be creative? This video really captures the essence of what the flow of creativity must look like within every single person. We are all made in the image of God, so we all have the capacity to bubble and flow with creativity. But becuase of sin, we all also have this internal editor that is afraid to be known. To be creative means revealing who you are on the inside. It means allowing others to peer into your heart and soul. It means sharing a little bit of yourself with the world.

God shared His heart with us when He created us in His image. But, He also shared His heart with us when He gave the world His one and only Son (John 3:16). Jesus is the only One who sets people free into the Kingdom of God where we are unleashed to be all who God created each of us to be; where people experience the uncondtional love of God. Without Jesus, perfect and unconditional love will always be beyond our grasp. I believe the greatest evidence of the grace and love of God is when people are fully known and fully loved.

I love this quote from Vincent Van Gogh who said: "The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people." So, ask God to set you free into the love of Christ who unleashes us into the creative unconditional love of God. And then go love someone creatively today!