The Cure for Closet Christians

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple, but secretly, . . . .  And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night. . . . – John 19:38 and 39

 

It seems just about everybody is coming out of the closet nowadays; everyone except for Christians. People confused about their gender identity, people brash about their adultery, people bold about indulging their immorality and all things unholy, these people are pouring out of their closets and into the public square. And the public is all too eager to welcome them out in the open. There is not shame for the sinful. What God calls sinful practice the world not only condones but welcomes and promotes. And you better not voice an opinion contrary to the trends of the day. The PC (i.e. Politically correct) police and thought Gestapo are on the watch and ready to squash any thought word or deed that might be contrary to legalized debauchery of these dark days.

What is seen as shameful by the world are those who dare to stand on scripture and for Jesus. Stand for Jesus and His word and you can count on being called a “hater,” “ignorant hater,” “bigot,” “intolerant,” or some other derogatory smear word or phrase. This militant opposition has caused Christians to retreat into their closets. Run for cover! Remove yourself from the public square and stay home. Start your own little safe groups of only like minded people. Lock the doors, close the windows, and draw the shades, baton the hatches and stay inside where it’s safe until Jesus returns. There’s only one thing wrong with such a reaction. That’s not what Jesus commands His people to do. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). God loves the world so much He sent His only Son Jesus to save it and His only Son Jesus came! (John 3:16).

The Christian retreat is playing right into the devil’s hands. He is manipulating the lost to shut down the very message of hope and salvation they need. They are totally under the influence of the enemy (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:1-3). “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’” (Romans 10:14-15).

Jesus didn’t command us to retreat and isolate, He commanded us to rally and infiltrate. He didn’t tell us, “Turn out the lights the parties’ over, they say that all good things must end.” That’s Willie Nelson. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” Jesus didn’t tell us to be bland and tasteless but to be fruitful and flavor-full; to be salt (cf. Matthew 5:13-16). Closet Christianity is contrary to Christ.

Every Christian is called to go and be the arms of Christ; an extension of His heart to win the lost and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). We are all called to be His representatives as though God was pleading with  lost souls to be reconciled to Him in Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). That is not just for missionaries who go to foreign lands. We are all called to be missionaries, to have missionary spirits; some in distant lands, some at home in our families, with our neighbors, co-workers; wherever we are led by the Spirit.

Maybe you’re thinking something like this: But it’s not a level playing field in the world. . . . We aren’t treated fairly. . . . People don’t talk nice to you if they know you’re a Christian. . . . I won’t get that promotion or raise if they know I’m a Christian. . . . But if people know I’m a Christian I’ll really have to watch the way I act. . . .If my friends know I’m a Christian they won’t be my friends anymore. . . .” I wonder what our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East would think of such thinking when they are made to kneel on a beach and confess whether or not they are a “Christian” at the consequence of decapitation. I wonder what the persecuted brethren all over the world, past, present, and future think. I wonder what the “so great a cloud of witnesses” think who laid aside all “the sin which so easily ensnares us”? What do those think who stood for their faith and were laid low for it too (Hebrews 11-12).

Maybe you really are a serious Christian but you just don’t have the courage to come out of the closet. Maybe you are convicted of your cowardice. Maybe you do want to be more fruitful and useful to the Master. Are you genuinely and sincerely looking for strength and power to break open that closet door and live dynamically for Jesus? If so I think you will find the solution to your dilemma in the study that follows.

There were such closet followers of Jesus in His day. We learn about a couple such closet Christians just after Jesus died on the cross. The apostle John, who himself would be boiled in oil and then banished to the Isle of Patmos, in his gospel is inspired to record: “After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury” (John 19:38-40).  So you see, you’re not alone. Joseph of Arimathea followed Jesus “secretly.” Nicodemus followed Jesus “by night” when none of his religious Pharisee buddies would see him doing so. But here we see them come out of the closet. What brought them out?

What will help closet Christians to come out? Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were both closet believers in Jesus; they followed Jesus secretly; not in the open. They hid their faith in Jesus “for fear of the Jews.” We might be tempted to say following Jesus secretly was a good strategy that allowed them to serve the Lord more effectively in the midst of the enemies of Jesus. But this secrecy was not strategically calculated, it was fearfully instituted. The faith of Joseph and Nicodemus were closed up, unseen, made ineffective by and undermined by fear. That done with a motivation of fear is never productive and fruitful. Fear is the foe of faith. Fear strangles faith. Faith is how you overcome fear.

The word “fear” (Greek phobos) refers to alarm or fright, exceeding fear, dread, or terror. This is not healthy fear as in reverence or the fear of the Lord. Joseph and Nicodemus were paralyzed in their faith due to a fear of what might happen to them if the Jews discovered they believed in Jesus. Are you fearful of others knowing you are a follower of Jesus? Do others know you are Christian; a born again, Spirit indwelled Christian? Are you afraid to let others know you are a follower of Jesus? If so, your fear is strangling your faith. If you are a closet Christian you are not following Jesus the way you should be. And that is a problem.

Jesus said, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). Isn’t shame (“ashamed” - Greek epaischynomai ) a kind of fear? Fear of embarrassment, fear of losing respect, fear of losing credibility or fear of loss of something because of an association? Fear and shame go hand in hand. And that isn’t right. Jesus wasn’t ashamed of us and was willing to die on the cross for us. How then can we be ashamed of Jesus? What is the solution for fear and shame? 

What motivated Joseph and Nicodemus to finally come out of the closet to publically be counted with Jesus? What motivated them to step up and go to claim the body of Jesus from the Roman authority Pilate who had just brutally crucified Jesus? What will motivate us to come out of the closet; to step up and be counted for Jesus?

What will bring us out of the closet as Christians? The passion of Christ on the cross will bring us out. How are we and others inspired to step up and be counted for Jesus? Not be cajoling or harassing or guilting or coercing people in the closet. No, people will step up and be counted for Jesus when they see Jesus on the cross for them. That’s what changed Joseph. That’s what changed Nicodemus. That’s what will change us.

Here is a great truth of relating to Jesus and living a life powerfully affected by Him. The motivation for our obedience and service is not guilt or obligation but loving appreciation for what Jesus has done for us. People who only see Jesus from a guilt producing obligatory perspective will experience a limited usefulness. Guilt and obligation produce a very shaky, up and down often absentee walk with the Lord. It is the Law that uses guilt. Jesus by the Spirit motivates through love. We need to throw off the law of guilt and shame and take up the banner of the love of Jesus.

Jesus’ disciples are known by HIS LOVE not just another kind of fear. We aren’t going to come out of the closet because someone is threatening a good old fashioned whipping. Jesus was scourged so we wouldn’t have to be. We don’t need needling to try and make us feel more uncomfortable while in the closet than out of it. Jesus wore a crown of thorns so we wouldn’t have to. We don’t need to see a crucifix with Jesus still on the cross in order to manipulate our emotions so that we will stay loyal to Jesus. Jesus already carried the cross and said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). No, what we need to get us out of the closet is the love of Christ to compel us out. We need a REAL LIVING EXPERIENCE of the POWERFUL LIFE CHANGING LOVE OF JESUS.

The apostle Paul stated this clearly when he was inspired to write the following: “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. ¹⁶ Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. ²⁰ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21). Can you see how these inspired words of Paul depict the love of Christ that puts everything in proper perspective? When the love of Christ fills our heart, the closets we are in won’t be able to contain us. The love of Jesus in us will literally burst open the closet doors.

Love is to be our compelling motivation. Seeing and understanding what Jesus did for us on the cross should impassion us to plead passionately with others to consider too what Jesus did for them. The love of God in the cross of Christ is a compelling life changing reality. The love of Christ poured into our hearts empties us of self (Romans 5:5). When the Holy Spirit comes in, he pushes out self along with fears. When you see the depth and the width and the height and the breath of the love of Christ it has a compelling impact on us. That’s why Paul prayed for believers to see Christ’s love that way (cf. Ephesians 3:14-21). The more you see and experience the love of Christ, the further and more completely you will come out of your safe room.

When “secret” saints, (those who are trying to live anonymously as Christians, because of fear) see Jesus and the cross and His love poured out for them, they will come out of their self imposed closet. Our day is a day when those hiding their sin and confused immorality are coming out of their “closet” of secrecy to proclaim what God calls sinful. They are trying to shout down the reality of their sin by pronouncing it acceptable socially.

For instance, what those who push for gender change or gender  transience fail to understand is that no outward change, no matter how drastic or physically complete, no such change can change the root issue of a heart that is darkened and deceived by sin. There is only victory over sin and hope for fulfilling real change for the better through faith in Jesus as Savior. This is a message that needs to be proclaimed. For God’s sake and the sake of the lost Christians need to step into their ordained calling to plead with the lost to be reconciled to God.

If the lost sinful rebellious people of the world can defy and disregard God and His sovereign ordained plan for humanity and do so openly why I ask you are Christians running into their closets and shutting the door to wait until Jesus’ returns? We are not called or commended to hide until Jesus returns but to stand as beacons of the light of His truth until He returns. Jesus is coming back. But as Jesus Himself commented, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b).  The time for Christians to come out and be counted is now!

What will bring Christians out of the closet? What will shake them from their lethargy? What will roust them from their anonymity? What will get them off the couch and empower them to take a stand and get into the fray? What motivation does God provide to energize His army? The answer to that is the cross of Christ. Paul said, “For I determine not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Paul knew it was the cross of Christ and its depiction of God’s powerful love in Christ that would move Christians to count the cost of standing for Him. The cross is where we see standing for Jesus is a bargain given the hope of eternity with Him.  Look to Jesus, look to the cross, see His love, receive His love, be filled and overflowed by His love, and then stand in Him!

Cross-Fitness

 

“Woman, behold your son! . . . Behold your mother!” – John 19:26 and 27

 

The Bible says that in the end times “many will run to and fro, and knowledge will increase” (Daniel 12:4). Humanity is experiencing advances and a proliferation of information in nearly every area of life. We “run to and fro” faster, further, and with greater ease than ever before. In the near future we won’t even have to drive our cars! They will be GPS controlled and all we’ll have to do is punch in our destination coordinates, sit back and wait to arrive. Human knowledge has enabled us to have more information at our finger tips than ever before. Computers that used to take up the space of a building are now small enough to wear as a wrist watch. Incredible! TVs that once only had 5 channels now have hundreds. The Internet connects us with the world. We can watch history happening all over the world in real present time. In some ways not even the sky is the limit of human advancement; or at least that’s how it feels or how many would have us to feel.

 

This advancement in knowledge has also entered the field of health. There are more diets and scientifically calculated food prescriptions to assure our health than ever before. Health issues are vast and varying. The world is addressing the problem of hunger. America is addressing the problem of obesity.  It seems there are more people running and biking and playing and exercising than ever before. And this is especially true for those who are getting older. The kids are locked up in their rooms putting on pounds as they play their incredibly infatuating computer games. The parents and those caught up in the craze to fit into the media’s computer generated perfect body types are out running after that perfect image of health.

 

It used to be in olden days that you’d eat a lot of steak and potatoes, lift a lot of weights, play a lot of sports and get stronger. You’d actually play outside as a kid. If you progressed up the athletic ladder of competition you might add vitamins, sports drinks and protein shakes to help out. But it was nothing like the scientifically proven exact calculations we see today. Today exercises are specific to the sports you play. No longer do athletes settle in to a routine of exercises and maybe work to only increase the weights lifted. Now there is cross-fit.

 

Cross-fit is a relatively new way of exercising that relies on the idea of muscle confusion. In other words rather than use the same exercises in perpetuity a wide assortment of various exercises are used to keep both the exerciser and their muscles interested. It’s proven to be an effective strategy to consistently build muscle. It also fits right into the mindset of the day which is diversity and openness to all things new.

 

Now, as I segue into my teaching I don’t mean to insinuate there is anything wrong with cross-fit training. Cross fit programs are an excellent means to work on our temporal bodies. In fact those seeking to please God should take better care of their bodies which God refers to as the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19-20). I’m only using cross-fit here to grab your attention and point you to a different kind of cross-fitness that has eternal everlasting benefits.

 

“Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). There is a cross fitness that touches on the here and now but that goes further and transcends mere physical fitness. Cross fitness of your physical body does profit “a little.” But I want to talk to you about a cross fitness that will yield eternal benefits. I want to talk to you about the benefit of the cross of Christ to you, your relationships, family, and the life of those precious family members you already have and that you love so much.

 

Healthy relationships and families are formed at the foot of the cross of Christ. In John’s gospel we are given a wonderful insight into the creative power of the cross of Christ. Here it recounts:

“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” ²⁷ Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.” (John 19:25-27).  This is a beautiful and powerful picture of how families are formed at the foot of the cross.

 

It was in the shadow of the cross that John’s family and the family of Jesus in His mother were joined and formed. Jesus had four brothers and more sisters (Matthew 13:55-56) yet He chose to entrust His mother to the care of John the apostle. Jesus was more concerned about eternal relationships than temporal ones (Matthew 3:33-35; Luke 8:21; cf. also fulfilled prophecy of Psalm 69:8). When we come to the cross of Christ we are adopted into God’s family and are eternally united (Romans 8:14; 1 Peter 4:17). Are you a part of the family of God? Do you treat your fellow Christians as family?

 

In our day the family is more broken and fragmented than ever. The world is redefining family and they’re making a real mess of things. The world has left God’s scripture revealed definitions of marriage between one man and one woman in order to permit and even encourage that which God calls sinful. Marriage is not seen as a life commitment made by two people to each other in the presence of God consummated by intercourse. Marriage is seen as mere formality to affirm worship of the god of sex. Marriage isn’t seen as a life commitment, only a commitment as long as one feels committed to it.

 

Sex before marriage, what God calls the sin of fornication, is a regular practice, even among Christians! People “fall in love” and “fall out of love” with abandon. This leads to a proliferation of adultery – sex between the married with someone other than the one they married. The world is at a loss. They’ve tried open marriages; which is really no marriage at all. They try “living together.” The current trend is to try same-sex unions and there is a mighty push for the legalization of same-sex marriage. The moral gates are bulging and near breaking under the rising flood waters of polygamy, pedophilia, pederasty, the removal of age of consent and statutory rape laws, human-animal unions, transient marriage where transvestites can switch male/female roles on a whim, and anything else lost humanities’ “uncleanness. . . vile passions. . . debased mind” can come up with and promote (Romans 1:24-32).  The cross-less world needs some cross-fitness training.

 

Cross-fitness begins at creation. It’s quite a confusing time we live in. People don’t know who they are. People are rejecting who God has created them to be. People are rebelling against the Creator. It is sad and pitiable to see lost humanity groping so futilely for identity and meaning. The serpentine enemy is having a field day with those flailing away in their own strength. People are in the dark. Satan rules the darkness. He rules with deception and confusion and he is inflicting a great deal of pain. This does not remove the sinner’s culpability. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:20-21).

 

God is our Creator. He is there if we care to seek Him. Every human being is created with an inherent sense of their need to know their Creator. God has put an eternal crave in the heart of every person. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God created humanity simply but profoundly male and female (Genesis 1 and 2). It is the male and female that beautifully fit together physically, mentally and spiritually in the Lord. God’s design for fulfillment, abundant life, and happiness is through a man/ woman, male/female marriage union where the “man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).  

 

Cross-fitness helps us deal with the problem of sin. The sin of our first parents threw a monkey wrench into the relational mechanism on all levels. The consequence of sin is the introduction of pain in child birth and competition between men and women (Genesis 3:16). People will be preoccupied with industry that is now laden with sweaty labor (Genesis 3:17-19). And more pertinently in these prophetic last days we see humanities distancing from God evidenced in relational and even gender identity confusion. Groping in the darkness people look in the mirror and can’t even see who they are. God’s blessing of human intellect is used to separate from Him. The result is a proliferation of Frankensteinian alterations of gender. The real problem is in the human heart. You can’t fix a heart attack with a change in clothes or a change in genitalia.  People without God don’t know who they are and seeking solutions in science only complicates the problem.

 

Cross-fitness helps us deal with sin produced confusion over who we are. “But I’m a man in a woman’s body!” “But I’m a woman in a man’s body!” “But sometimes I feel like a man and sometimes I feel like a woman!” “I believe in God and He made me this way!” What about same-sex attractions and gender identity issues?  There are a vast assortment of temptations to pursue alternatives to God’s will and way that humanity experiences. Gender confusion and same-sex attractions are only a part of those temptations. Sin has thrown humanity off kilter. Along with the God-given inherent sense of a need to know God, because of our first parents’ sin, we have a sinful nature that bucks like a bronco against what our God-given conscience  calls us to do and be.

 

Our sinful nature causes us to covet and pursue after material things as well as lust after sinful relational alternatives to God’s created order. Satan and our sinful nature team up to draw us away from God and His word. This leads for example to temptations to steal instead of work, to lie instead of tell the truth, to lust instead of truly love, and to question who the Creator has birthed us to be. These temptations are real and they are powerful. They can make life miserable and steer us into many a dead end in life.

 

There are “passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). If there wasn’t any “pleasure” in sin the temptation to sin would have no allure or power. Same-sex and other sinful sexual attractions are real and persistent; sometimes relentless. Such deep rooted sinful issues often take a lot of time and effort to overcome. Such life issues can present quite a battle and titanic life struggle. But so do other forms of life dominating issues like overcoming addictions of various kinds. There is always hope for victory with the Lord. He has a cross-fit plan that is perfect for your every need.

 

Same-sex and other sexually tempting attractions are often rooted deeply in the psyche and life story of those who battle them. The solution is not to embrace such temptations. That is the way of the world. The world is at a loss to deal with such problems so they simply incorporate them into their system. But no amount of worldly proclamation that something is right can change what God declares is wrong. In His word God states: “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17:15). He says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). God made us and knows what is best for us. He doesn’t prohibit sin just because He is Sovereign and can and wants to dominate us. No, God prohibits things that are detrimental to those He loves. He lays out before every person the way of life and death and then says, “Choose life!” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Choosing life is the desired goal of cross fitness.

 

“Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27). Sin has consequences. Sin puts us at odds with God (Ephesians 2:1-3). Sin works death in the sinner (Romans 6:23). “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Rather than embrace as acceptable that which God calls sinful we need to take hope in God and trust His wisdom and word. This is our choice. What will you choose? Your decision will lead to either destruction or fruitfulness (cf. Galatians 6:7-9).

 

God has not given us parameters to restrict us as much as He has lovingly sought to protect us from the sinful things that will destroy us. God is the supreme Father. He is the first and ultimate, the Supreme Sovereign Almighty Holy Loving Father and He loves all of us (John 3:16). And because of His love He has made a way for prodigal sinful confused humanity to return home (Luke 15:11ff.).

 

The cross-fit solution promise. What’s the solution? God offers us a promise. He says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). You are not the only one with same-sex or sexual temptations or any temptation for that matter. You are not the only one who has messed up a relationship or relationships. Your temptations are common to others and God is aware of them. He promises to be faithful to not allow you to be tempted beyond your capacity to resist. With the temptations He promises to provide you a way to escape and bear them. God will give you tools to succeed. He will give you weapons to help you fight victoriously. He will stand by you and strengthen you in the struggle. God will not allow you to be crushed. God promises to bring you through. He is reaching down and offering you a helping hand. Will you take hold of it? Will you let Him train you? Will you enter into and follow His cross fit plan?

 

There is a way to turn from darkness to light, from Satan to God, to be forgiven sin and find rest for your soul. There is truth to cut through the fog of falsehoods. There is a way to journey through the jumble of this world. There is life in exchange for the death of sin. The solution is found in Jesus Christ and in particular at the foot of the cross of Christ (e.g. John 14:6; Acts 26:18). The apostle Paul said, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The cross of Christ is the heart of a powerful gospel that is able to deliver us from the power of sin (Romans 1:16). So powerful is the cross of Christ that Paul made it his central focus. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). The cross is an instrument of demarcation between us and the world. The cross is God’s line in the sand. The cross is our protection. The cross is what God puts between us and the world when we trust in Jesus as Savior. The cross is impregnable. The cross is the greatest most powerful weapon against the temptations we face.

 

The cross-fit way of faith in Jesus. How can we experience the deliverance of the cross of Christ? By faith in Christ we receive forgiveness for our sinfulness. By faith we accept that Jesus on the cross paid all that was necessary to fulfill God’s just requirements to atone for sin. And by faith we receive His righteousness put to our account (2 Corinthians 5:21; cf. also Romans 5). By faith we identify with Jesus. By faith we cast the “old man” of sin behind us and put on the “new man” of Christ-likeness (e.g. Ephesians 4:17-24). By faith we live by leaning on Jesus trusting in Him to help and hold us and love us. By faith we hear and echo Paul’s inspired proclamation, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Jesus and His cross is the solution to our temptations, sins and confusion.

 

The cross-fit  reconciliation. It is at the foot of the cross that families are reconciled to God and each other. Biological family members can find reconciliation and forgiveness at the cross and be reunited. But there is an even deeper more permanent family that is formed at the cross. Think of a family where a husband loves his wife like Jesus loves His bride the church. Think of a wife who lovingly sacrifices and submits to her husband. Think of Dads and Moms who love their children with Christlike love. Think of children growing in and being discipled in the love of Jesus. Oh what a family that can be! (cf. Ephesians 5 and 6). Have you brought your family; your spouse; your children; your parents to the foot of the cross?

 

The cross-fit family. When we are born again through faith in Christ we receive the regenerating indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9-11; Titus 3:4-7). And wonderfully the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of adoption; (Romans 8:15). That means that every person regenerated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is adopted into God’s family. We become “sons of God” or ladies, you become daughters of God (Romans 8:14). And we are able to call on God as our Father. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba [i.e. “Daddy”] Father” (Romans 8:15).

 

How do we know we are a part of God’s family? “The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). What are the benefits and blessings of being a part of God’s family? We have a blessed inheritance. “And if children, then heirs – heirs of God and join heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). And though as a member of God’s family we may be persecuted we will suffer “with Him.” If we suffer with Him we will “also be glorified together” in the presence of God (Romans 8:17b). That should put everything in perspective. As Paul was inspired to write, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Adoption into the family of God puts all things in proper perspective. Such a family goes beyond this world into eternity.

 

The priority of cross-fit families. Jesus gave priority to eternal family members. When told His mother and siblings were outside waiting for Him Jesus seized the opportunity to teach the priority of God’s adoptive family. He said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers? And He stretched out His hand toward his disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:48-50). Jesus didn’t say this to disrespect His mother and siblings. And we shouldn’t disrespect our biological family members either. But there is a transcendent connection with those who along with us are a part of God’s eternal family. That is the truth. That is the reality.

 

Biological family relationships are important but they are temporary. Being adopted into God’s family is eternal. We have eternal relationships with those in our adopted church family. The best of both worlds is to have a biological family that also belongs to God’s adoptive eternal family. There is an eternal spiritual connection between those who belong to God’s family. Sometimes that creates animosity or jealousy with those who are only biologically our family. They don’t understand the eternal connection. Therefore we should offer them the gospel of Christ in the grace of God and pray for their adoption into God’s family too.  

 

Sometimes we don’t appreciate the eternal nature of our fellow members in God’s adopted family. Sometimes we don’t appreciate our eternal family members or love them or treat them as though we were going to spend eternity with them. That’s where cross fitness comes in. Cross fitness ushers us into God’s family and once we are in it, cross fitness helps us to get in shape together for eternity. The family that works out together with God will stay together with God. Jesus said His disciples and it’s reasonable to add, those in His eternal family, would be known by His Christ-like love they show for one another (John 13:34-35). Are you loving your family in Christ? It’s time to get our love in shape.

 

Do you see a need to become cross-fit? I hope I haven’t pushed this cross-fit imagery too far for you. It’s Jesus and His cross and how it can transform you’re every area of life that counts. If you’re confused about who you are God’s cross-fit plan can bring you clarity and liberty from the tentacles of sin. If you’re in an unhealthy relationship or your family is out of shape God is calling you to cross-fitness in His Son Jesus Christ. There is a solution to your despair and frustration, your breakups and broken-downs. The Lord wants to lift you up and help you to get things right and healthy. He will help you in whatever condition you’re in. He only waits for you to take that first step of faith. Then He’ll train you as His precious child.

Life Pains

A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. – John 16:21

 

Life is filled with pain. There is physical pain, psychological pain and even spiritual pain. Pain has a purpose. Pain warns us that something is wrong or that something needs attending to. Pain can indicate injury. Pain can indicate distress. Pain indicates hurt. Pain means something is breaking or broken. Pain indicates something needs to be fixed or is being fixed. Pain causes discomfort. Our natural response to pain is to try to alleviate it. We run from pain. We bandage over pain. We medicate pain away. But pain can be good. Pain is evidence of life. Pain indicates the body is working. Pain can indicate something is happening in our mind or spirit. The body or person who doesn’t feel pain has a problem. The absence of pain indicates deadness or death. The dead do not feel pain. Pain is a part of life.

Life is birthed through pain. I was present with my wife for all of the births of our three children. Pain was involved, lots of pain, for all three of those births. My children have grown to be beautiful people. They have grown and married and have their own children now. Each of the births of their children, (my grand children) involved pain. Any woman who has ever given birth will tell you that with birth comes discomfort and pain. But she will also tell you, as she holds that precious little one in her arms,  that the pain of childbirth was worth it.

It wasn’t always that way. There was a time before humanities’ infection with sin that child bearing was pain free. Imagine that ladies! (cf. Genesis 3). Sin brings pain. Dealing with sin, being birthed out of it, involves pain. Jesus told the religious leader Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. . . . Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” (John 3:3, 5-6). All Nicodemus could say to that was, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? . . . How can these things be?” (John 3:4 and 9). It was a preposterous and maybe a painful thought to this grown religious man to conceive of being born again. Is the thought of being born again painful to you?

Just as we needed to be physical conceived and birthed to experience life, so too we need to experience a second birth to experience spiritual eternal life. When we are physically born it involves physical and mental pain. When we are spiritual born again it involves mental and spiritual pain. It can be painful to come to the realization that we are lost in sin. We don’t want to admit our guilt for our sins. We are tempted to blame others or deflect blame by pointing to our personal life circumstances as excuse for our sins. But we must personal admit and turn from our sins to Jesus in trust if we are going to be forgiven our sins. That can be painful.

It can be painful living without Jesus. Those pains of life in sin without Jesus are all part of the birth pains of our spirit. But even after we experience our second birth there are pains associated with the new life in Christ. As God creates new life in us pain is involved. Remember, pain is a sign of life. Because of our pain we know something is growing. A child will sometimes experience literal growing pains. Similarly, we experience pain when we are growing in our relationship with Jesus.

The disciples of Jesus experienced such growing pains. Jesus forewarned them about it. He said, “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. (John 16:21-22). It would be painfully necessary for Jesus to leave His disciples and go to the cross. But the only way Jesus could birth forgiveness for our sins and new life in Himself was to die on the cross and be birthed from the tomb. Pain precedes life. Pain is presently a necessary part of birthing eternal life.

Anyone whose lived at all can tell you that life and growth involves pain. We experience the pain of our bumps and bruises as we learn to turn over, crawl, stand and walk. There will be the pains of falling. There will be the pains of play like those associated with learning to ride a bike or playing sports. There are the pains of relationships. We will experience the emotional pain of broken friendships. There will be the pains of breaking up with those we think might have been our true love. There are the pains of success and failures in school. There are pains of work on the job and if we lose a job. When we grow to get married and have our own children there will be pain their too; any married person or parent will confirm that. There are the pains of growing older and then being “old.” There is pain in every stage and season of life. Pain is a part of life.

Jesus spoke of planetary pains preceding His return. He spoke of human as well as natural upheaval that were “the beginning of sorrows” or literally the labor pains of a prophetic ends times plan of God (Matthew 24:8). Paul spoke of this too saying, “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3). God’s prophetic plans are going to give birth like a pregnancy. Are you aware of this prophetic pregnancy?

I have heard of television programs about young girls who were pregnant but didn’t know it. I didn’t watch the programs and can’t imagine someone being pregnant and not knowing it. But apparently it happens. I think for that to happen there has to be a lot of (willful?) ignorance and denial of reality. It’s much more common for people to not be aware of the planetary prophetic pregnancy of God’s plans. Don’t ignore the birth pains. Signs of Jesus’ coming are all around you. Jesus is going to return and birth a whole new world! And it looks like we are in the last stages of that pregnancy.

Pain is part of our individual spiritual life. Jesus’ promise is that when what God is birthing is born, we will forget all the pain involved in the process of that birth. Paul likened ministry and seeking the salvation of the lost as a birthing process. He said, “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). There is pain in prayer and in the process of waiting for our loved ones to be birthed in Christ. It is very painful to watch people grope and flounder and experience unnecessary pain in their process leading up to their being born again. There is pain for the saved who are praying and seeking to save the lost. There is pain for the lost who need saving. Pain precedes spiritual life.

But even after we are born again there are pains associated with spiritual growth and development. We get an idea of these spiritual growing pains from a comment by Paul in his letter to the churches in Galatia. He wrote and told them, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). These words give us insight into the pains of a pastor who labors in prayer and the ministry of the word for the people Jesus has put in his charge. Some children are spiritually birthed directly through the pastor’s ministry. Sometimes he is called upon by God to adopt those who have been birthed elsewhere. There are spiritual orphans and those who needed adopting into the family of God in a host of unique circumstances. Whoever they are or from wherever they come, the good shepherd loves and cares for the flock God gives him.

There can be a lot of pain for the pastor as he oversees people in various stages of spiritual growth. There are the baby steps of the newly birthed in Christ. The pastor is constantly watching and assuring safety and nourishment for those precious newborns. Then he guides them through their adolescent early years with the Lord. He counsels and disciplines them through the turmoil of their spiritual teens. Sometimes there are conflicts to maneuver through. But he disciples the spiritual children through to marriage to a ministry of some sort. Sometimes such a marriage involves letting them go off on their own. There is always a letting go and letting them go and letting them grow in God. There is a fine balance between intervention and letting go. There are all kinds of ups and downs and turnarounds through the various stages and seasons of spiritual growth. And yes, there is pain involved.

Hannah was a barren woman mocked for her empty womb. She was in one of those duel marriage predicaments where the fellow wife of her husband pumped out prodigies for her husband with prolific reproduction. I’m sure Hannah thought “What about me?” as time went by and still she bore no offspring. To be barren in her culture was evidence of God’s disfavor. But Hannah was a prayerful woman of God.

Hannah was unwilling and didn’t sense that her barrenness was from the Lord. Therefore she turned to the Lord with her “bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish” (1 Samuel 1:10). She poured out her heart desperately before the Lord. Desperate prayers have a way of getting through to the Lord. The Lord is compassionate and when He sees one of His people despairing and desperately crying out to Him it moves Him; it gets hold of His heart. When that happens things change.

Hannah cried out to the Lord. But why this pain of barrenness? Perhaps it was to bring Hannah to the end of herself. Perhaps the Lord was working through pain to bring Hannah to the point of full consecration and appreciation for the child that he would give her. Perhaps it was God’s way, through pain, to purify the situation. So Hannah, at the end of herself, totally consumed by her painful predicament, committed to return to the Lord any child He would give her. That’s what God must have been looking for because shortly thereafter Hannah was pregnant and gave birth to Samuel (1 Samuel 1). Samuel would grow to become a man of God that would be an instrument of God’s reviving His people Israel (cf. 1 Samuel 3ff.).

When Samuel was born, true to Jesus words, there is no mention from Hannah of any pains associated with the birth of her boy. All we see is her expression of joy. “My heart rejoices in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation. No one is holy like the LORD, for there is none besides you, nor is there any rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:1-2). There is no sign of bitterness or resentment from this woman of God greatly used by God. All we see is joyful full surrender and submission to God. She is caught up and embraced by God in the joy of His fulfillment in and through her.

Are you experiencing some pain? Are you discouraged by some barrenness; something that is missing in your life? Maybe you are in need of a second birth. If that is the case, if you haven’t yet admitted and turned from your sins to God and trusted in Jesus as your Savior, if you haven’t by faith in Christ received God’s gift of forgiveness for your sins, why not do so now? Sin in life works death. Living in sin is like a long drawn out debilitating battle with cancer. Sin breaks us down and inflicts pain after pain.

Sometimes sin works beneath the surface to deaden us. Often we aren’t even aware of our infection with sin until the Holy Spirit diagnoses it to us. Then we have to deal with the death sentence. And it doesn’t take long to understand we don’t have the cure ourselves. We need Jesus. The end of sin is death. But Jesus died for us on the cross. Because of that we can go to God and as we trust in Jesus as our Savior and Lord we can ask Him to forgive our sin because Jesus paid our painful debt for us. When we do that we will experience our second birth, a spiritual birth as the Holy Spirit indwells us.

But what about if we have been born again? What about if we know Jesus and are in pain? What if we are experiencing spiritual growing pains? What if we are laboring to see Christ birthed in others or to see a ministry grow? What if we are going through the pregnancy of something God is doing in and through us? Is there a word from God for those going through life pains? Yes there is. To those going through life pains the LORD says, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise; ‘For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:35-39). Receive that my pain filled friend.

When a woman is pregnant she knows there is none months of gradually growing pain until the birth. Sometimes a pregnancy is early; sometimes it is late. Sometimes a pregnancy is given up on; that is called abortion. Sometimes abortion is natural; sometimes it is not. Don’t abort what God is seeking to birth in and through you. Press on to delivery. God’s guarantee is that in the end there will be “great reward.” Endure a little longer. Wait on Him. Do the “will of God.” “Receive the promise.” Just a “little while” longer and He “will come and will not tarry.” “Live by faith.” Don’t “draw back.” The Lord is saddened at the lost pleasure of those who don’t proceed to birth His plans. Don’t take a detour to “perdition.” Press on and “believe to the saving of the soul” whoever that soul might be. And remember, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Take comfort in your labor. Press on through your life pregnancy because, “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (1 Thessalonians 5:24 NASB). Let the life pains give birth.

The Cause of Christ

“For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” - John 18:37

 

What is truth? Do your eyes glaze over in disinterest when you read that? What is the truth? Have you been duped into thinking no one can really know the truth about anything? Have you bought into the worlds’ propaganda that truth is relative; what’s true for one person is not necessarily true for another? Try applying that to everyday living and you won’t get past the first traffic intersection. But what about truth, is “truth” something we should be interested in knowing? Is it something we can know?

The passion of the cross and resurrection of Jesus is the culmination of a plan of God that existed from the foundation of the world (cf. Matthew 25:34; Hebrews 4:3; Revelation 13:8; 17:8). In John 18 Jesus is taken into custody, brought before the high priest, and then brought before Pilate. When Jesus is brought before Pilate He makes a statement about the cause or reason He came into the world. At this critical moment what did Jesus say was the cause for which He came? Jesus came as a physician to treat the spiritually sick and dying (Matthew 9:12; Mark 2:17: Luke 5:31). Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus came to give His life a ransom for our sin (Mark 10:45).  Jesus came to show and provide us with abundant life (John 10:10). But when it came down to this pivotal point in the inspired revelation of God what was it God in Christ through the Holy Spirit expressed as the cause for which Christ came?

Teaching, healing, saving, and serving are all things Jesus did because of who He was and is. Jesus is God incarnate. At the heart and root of what Jesus came to do is what Jesus came to be. Being precedes doing. There is a principle revealed in this: What you are determines what you will do. When Jesus stood before Pilate He was asked about who He was; whether or not He was a King. Jesus acknowledged He was a King, but not of any earthly kingdom (at least not yet – cf. the Second Coming and Millennium – Rev. 20). Jesus went on to add to His answer something that is very revealing. Jesus told Pilate, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). The cause of Christ, the reason Jesus came, was to “bear witness to the truth.” What does that mean? Evidently “truth” is (according to Jesus) something we should know and care about.  

Pilate asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). He seems to have been much like the skeptics of history and our day. He didn’t have much time for the truth; he had a riot to squelch and people to appease. Maybe you’re asking the same question? “Who cares about the truth? I have a life to live, problems that need solving.” Maybe you feel a bit like Colonel Nathan R. Jessup in the movie A Few Good Men .Maybe you feel like saying, “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” Maybe you feel like you can’t handle or get a handle on the truth. Maybe you’ve been avoiding the truth; excusing or rationalizing it away. Ignorance is bliss. And really, is the truth of any practical use? Let’s look at the truth about truth.   

Before we go any further we need to say something about testing or how we gather evidence to determine the truth. There is truth determined by scientific analysis and there is truth based on the testimony of witnesses in history. Scientific truth can be determined by reproducing circumstances and combinations of data in a laboratory. Truth in a lab is something that can be quantified mathematically: 1 + 1 = 2. Scientifically we can repeat the sequences of events such as in repeating the splitting of an atom to cause a repeatable chain reaction. Atomic bombs and the like are true to their formulas.

When we speak of truth based in history we are speaking of events in history that can’t be reproduced. You can’t repeat the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., or Robert F. Kennedy. You can’t repeat the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War. How therefore do we determine the truth about such historical events? The truth about these historic events is based on eye witness accounts. The truth about historic events is based on weighing the evidence of eyewitnesses and determining probability. In a court of law jurors are asked to weigh the evidence in the case and make a determination based on “reasonable doubt” or probability.

Historic truth may sound like a lower or lesser degree of dependability but it really isn’t. It’s just a different way of measuring the truth. For instance, what if you found a notarized letter from your dear old departed aunt Bessie that said, “Dear Aloysius T. Xavier, I leave you the entire contents of my _ank account serial number 777056 in the Bank of New York safety ­_eposit box” and was signed in her own handwriting? Now mathematically there is a possibility that the blank letters smudged out of her document for the words “_ank” and “_eposit” don’t really mean “bank” and “deposit.” But there is a very high probability that those actually are the words; beyond a reasonable doubt. Plus you have the testimony of a notary witness. When we weigh the rest of the verifying evidence such as if Bessie had such a bank account, how many other Aloysius T. Xaviers there are, the notaries testimony, etc., we can increase the probability all the more. In the end we can through weighing evidence come to a very reliable high probability for the truth as it relates to historic circumstances. We can take it to the bank.

Where is “truth” found? The Bible contains scientifically relevant truth about the creation of the universe, the sphere of the earth, astronomy, and natural cataclysmic events etc. But the Bible is not a science book. God’s truth touches on many different physical topics: healing; marriage; family; society; government; etc. But the Bible is primarily aimed at revealing metaphysical truth about God, humanity and our existence. God’s word gives concrete truth about those things we ponder as human beings, e.g. What is life all about? What happens after we die? Is there a “God”? Is God personal or impersonal? etc. The truth about our existence is found in God’s word (Psalm 119:142-160; John 17:17, 19). Jesus said, “Thy word is truth.”

What we as humans need to know is revealed by God’s sovereign determination in His Holy word: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). God has not only provided a tangible word for us to absorb and live by, He has come in the Person of the Holy Spirit to help us learn His truth (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13). The Holy Spirit will indwell the person who through faith accepts Jesus as their Savior (John 3; Romans 8:9-11). God has provided easy access to His truth. There is no excuse to not know His truth. You have to reject and rebel against God and His truth to not know His truth.

Despite perpetual attempts to denigrate and destroy the Bible, God’s word has stood the test of time and attacks of critics. God’s word contains the most important truth; truth about our existence and eternal destiny. The Bible provides truth about existence, reality, humanity, the material as well as the spiritual world. When we weigh the internal and external evidence; the manuscript, archeological, prophetic and statistical analysis of Biblical contents we arrive at an incredible, even miraculous probability that God’s word is true and the truth about our existence. God’s word is reliable, trustworthy, and true. When you read your Bible you are reading a love letter and manual for life from God.

The word “truth” occurs 962 times in 904 verses of the Bible. It’s an important word of God. In the New Testament the word “truth” (Greek aletheia) means that which is in accordance with fact, that which is dependable, or that which is disclosed and not hidden. Someone has said, “What you see is what you get.” Or, “It is what it is.” These are common expressions that something is true (even though we may not like it.) But we know from life that what you see is not always what you get.  The “truth” about what something or someone actually is, is often quite different from what is presented. That is because in reality truth is often hidden or misrepresented.

God’s truth about eternal life is bound up in the Gospel (Galatians 2:5, 14). The Gospel tells us the truth about humanities sinful state and its need for a Savior. Jesus described himself as “the truth” (John 14:6). He described the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17). Jesus is the culminating truth about how we can receive spiritual life and spend eternity with God. The Spirit of truth reveals such truth to us.

Jesus taught that His truth frees us (John 8:31-32). He taught that the truth is found in God’s word and sanctifies us or makes us suited for God’s use (John 17:17-19). Since, according to God’s truth, we exist for God’s pleasure (Ephesians 1:5; Revelation 4:11 KJV), when we live by the truth of God’s word we discover and experience our true meaning and purpose of our existence. That’s fulfilling and satisfying. That’s good. Peter would later write that the truth purifies us (1 Peter 1:22). Paul would later write that the truth establishes us or puts us on steady stable ground (Ephesians 4:15).

It’s important that we respond to God’s truth in the right way. It’s wrong to try and alter God’s truth and make it into a lie (Romans 1:25). Instead we need to come to the truth of God and accept it (2 Timothy 3:7). Sinfulness is disobedience to the truth of God (Romans 2:8). It’s sinful to walk contrary to God’s truth (Galatians 2:14). We ought to believe and love God’s truth; when we don’t it is sin (2 Thessalonians 2:10, 12). To live without God’s truth makes us destitute (1 Timothy 6:5). Some resist God’s truth to their own harm (2 Timothy 3:8). Some turn from the truth trusting in their own ideas (2 Timothy 4:4). When that happens people die spiritually.

How should we respond to God’s truth? Jesus said we should worship God in truth (John 4:23-24). When we look further into the New Testament we see we are called to come to the truth of God (1 Timothy 2:4) and believe and know it (1 Timothy 4:3). We need to handle it accurately (2 Timothy 2:15). We need to obey God’s truth (1 Peter 1:22) and base our lives on it (2 Peter 1:12). We should take it to heart and speak it to others (Ephesians 4:25). We should declare God’s truth openly (Acts 26:25). We should walk in and live by the truth of God (3 John 3-4).

Something that is not true is false. Deception is presenting something as truthful when it is really something else. Lies are speaking falsehoods. No one likes to be fooled by false truth. Relationships are based on truth. When someone lies to us it betrays our trust in them and it causes emotional and relational fracturing.

Relativism is not true. We are living in a time when the prevalent world view is relativism. Relativism is “the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute.”[1] Relativism is not true because it does not hold up to testing. “If what is true for me is that relativism is false, then is it true that relativism is false? If you say ‘no,’ then what is true for me is not true and relativism is false. But if you say ‘yes,’ then relativism is false. Relativism seems to defy the very nature of truth; namely, that truth is not self-contradictory.” [2] Got it? Confused? Confusion is the consequence of relativism.

 

Relativism leads to instability and uncertainty because “truth” is constantly changing with the whims of humanity. Relativism is akin to the way people lived during the time of the Judges; the low point of God’s people in history. During the time of the Judges it was said, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The time of the Judges was a very unstable and chaotic time. That is exactly what we see in the world today. The truth be told, relativism is simply a means to ignore truth and do what you want when what you want to do goes against the truth.

 

Society would fall apart without absolute truths. Truth is absolute. Truth, if it means anything, is absolute. If truth changes from day to day or societies whims then it breeds instability and chaos. We need to be able to depend on the truth. For instance, if a red light didn’t always mean “stop” and a green light didn’t always mean “go,” then we literally wouldn’t know if we were coming or going. If “right” and “left” meant different things to different people we’d literally be running into each other. Truth can be pretty practical.

 

If there were not standards of being truthful nothing could be trusted. Without standards of being truthful when promoting products people would be unfairly taken advantage of (some say this does happen too often already). Ever heard the expression, “If something seems too good to be true it probably is?” Sales people frequently sell you things based on false presentations. Advertisements usually focus on the best quality of a product while distracting you from the truth about it. “’It is good for nothing,’ cries the buyer; but when he has gone his way, then he boasts” (Proverbs 20:14). As our society has adopted a more relativistic worldview we see such a view expressed in everyday life through lax standards of truth and lax enforcement of what standards of truth are left. It’s getting harder and harder to depend on what you see and hear. That’s unsettling.

A legal system is based on people telling truth. It’s a crime to lie under oath in a courtroom. A witness who lies under oath is guilty of perjury. The truthfulness of witnesses is important so that the guilty are punished and the innocent are not. Truth is necessary for justice to occur.

To break the law is a kind of breaking truth. People use lies and deception to break the law. When the law is broken it leads to unrest. Laws based on lies are detrimental to the peace of the people they govern. That is why in the resolution of conflicts in court those who testify are required to swear an oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” (and they used to add, “so help me God”). As more people operate under relativism more people are presenting “truth” in manipulative ways to promote their personal agendas. That is a dead end street as far as the truth is concerned.

It’s important that media communications be based on truth. The media is (or should be) taken to task when it does not report events in a truthful way. Media reporting that is not truthful degenerates into propaganda and can’t be trusted. Media today, regardless of network, is becoming more a presentation of opinion than objective sharing of news. That’s dangerous and deceptive.

A political system requires truth to last. God has offered to provide order for government. Governments relying on human resources alone degenerate. Government based on God’s truth lasts and flourishes. America used to be a nation flourishing because of its connection to God and His word. As we have moved further away from our holy roots, our nation has degenerated into something much less than she could have been (cf. Romans 13).

When leaders lie to their constituency they are removed because trust in leadership is very important. Populous needs to know the truth about where resources are being used and how they are being used. We need to know who is contributing to our politicians and whether or not such contributions are payoffs to influence politicians in some way.

People feel betrayed by politicians who promise the world during their campaigns for election only to deliver little to nothing once elected. The confidence in government is undermined when politicians manipulate, ignore, and bend the truth for their own purposes. In extreme cases the failure of the government to adhere to truth leads to revolution.

Betrayal is breaking truth in a relationship. History is filled with those who betray people and nations by betraying the truth. In a time of war truth is essential. Those who lie to their compatriots are usually determined to be traitors. Judas betrayed Jesus trust and truth and was entered by the devil. Benedict Arnold betrayed the truth and the trust General George Washington placed in him. Arnold almost stifled the American Revolution. During World War Two Tokyo Rose used lies and deceit to try and demoralize American soldiers. The Cambridge Five were spies for the Russians during the Cold War. Falsehood is a weapon in warfare.

Lies are used to deceive and manipulate people. “The lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:11), the first lie, was used by the serpent to deceive Eve and Adam into disobeying God. The consequence of that first lie was devastating; it led to the contamination of the entire human race with sin (Genesis 3). The serpent Satan used untrue false statements in order to bring Adam and Eve and humanity under his control. When untruth and lies are used to deceive and bring persons under the liar’s control in some way, Satan, the father of lies, and his demons are in some way involved.

We can deceive ourselves. Jeremiah was inspired to write, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:9-10). The apostle John wrote, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Do you know the truth about yourself? Are you self-deceived?

To deny God’s truth is to call Him a liar. When we say and accept things as true that are really contrary to God’s word we in effect accuse God of being a liar - “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). “He who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son” (1 John 5:10b).  Are you calling God a liar by contradicting or denying His word of truth in some way?

People use lies to deceive and get an advantage over others. People use untruths or false impressions in order to use people for their own devices.  In the Old Testament Delilah lured Samson to his demise using love in a deceptive way (Judges 13-16). Amnon, son of King David, lured his half sister Tamar into a compromising position and then raped her all by way of deception (2 Samuel 13). Judas betrayed Jesus with lies. Falsehoods destroy relationships. Relationships are built on truth.

Hypocrites present themselves as something that in truth, they are not. Our sinful nature is inclined to hide the truth about who we are. Ananias and Sapphira presented themselves as benevolent givers when in fact they were using their giving to manipulate the church. The Holy Spirit would have none of that and disciplined these two hypocrites with the cost of their lives. The Spirit sent a message to the fledgling church from the start; hypocrisy is not acceptable; live in truth (Acts 5). We all want to put our best foot forward but we cross the line when we say we are something that, if truth be told, we really are not. The truth is important. Falsehood breaks trust and makes building relationships impossible. Truth brings us together. Falsehoods separate us.

A heresy is a half-truth. Cults deal in partial truths. They lure their victims in with partial truth and then hold them in a web of falsehoods. Many people are deceived and devote their entire lives and all they own to cults based on half-truths and outright falsehoods. The truth is important. Truth directs us to the way to eternal life. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Jesus. The truth you need to know is bound up in God’s Holy Word. If you want to be safe from spiritual deception, you need to know the truth of God’s word.

Satan is the father of falsehoods, untruth and lies (John 8:44). Whenever we lie or are deceived we can be sure that Satan and his demons are in some way involved. Our mandate as believers is to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). “The entirety of Your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160). Jesus said, “Your word [God’s word] is truth” (John 17:17). We need to be people of God’s word who stick close to and live within the truth-full parameters of His word. Truth without love is harsh. Love without truth is weak sentimentality. Truth shared in love is powerful.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus was and is the embodiment of truth. Everything about Jesus is truthful; full of truth. Jesus reveals truth and wherever He is the truth, or lack thereof, is exposed. The Gospel of John is a revelation about the truth of Jesus: He is God; He is the solution to humanities sin problem; He is the way to live, the truth about God, and the Source of eternal life, abundant life. If you want to know the truth about anything you have to look to Jesus.

In John’s gospel we see Jesus reveal many truths. Some of these truths are:

• Jesus is the Word made flesh; God – John 1:1-2 and 14
• Jesus is the Creator of the universe – John 1:3
• Jesus is the source of life – John 1:4
• Jesus came to His own but His own rejected Him – John 1:10-12
• Those who received Jesus by faith are children of God  - John 1:12
• Jesus came to take away the sins of the world – John 1:29
• Jesus said a person must be spiritually born (“born again”) in order to experience eternal life and spend eternity with Him in heaven – John 3
• Jesus gives us the water of everlasting life – John 4:13-14
• Jesus said we must worship God in spirit and truth – John 4:23-24
• Jesus has power to heal – John 4:46-54; 5:1-15; etc.
• Faith in Jesus results in everlasting life not judgment – John 5:24
• Everyone will be resurrected, some to eternal life, others to eternal damnation – John 5:29
• Jesus can defy nature; walk on water – John 6:15-21
• Jesus can provide for our needs, e.g. feeding thousands of people with morsels of food – John 6
• Jesus’ teachings are rejected by some – John 6:60
• Jesus will give the Holy Spirit to those who come to Him – John 7:37-39
• Jesus has the truth that can free us from our sins – John 8:31-36
• Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life to save the sheep – John 10
• Jesus came to give us an abundant life – John 10:10
• Jesus can raise the dead to life – John 11
• Jesus is worthy of worship – John 12
• Jesus was a servant – John 13
• Jesus gave us an example of love to follow – John 13:34-35
• Jesus would send the Helper; the Holy Spirit to help us live for Him – John 14-16
• Jesus prayed and we should too – John 17
• Jesus came to testify to the truth – John 18

That is only a short summary of the truth Jesus conveyed in John’s gospel. These are life changing destiny altering truths.  Are you living by such God revealed truth?

The abundant life of Jesus is true; you can depend on it. The abundant life Jesus spoke of is one based on truth, births truth and breeds more truths about life and our existence. The more you live the truthful abundant life of Jesus, the more truth you learn and experience. That an abundant life is described and offered to those who believe and follow Jesus is an abundant truth. The abundant life is based on truth, filled with truth, and leads to more truth. The abundant life of God’s truth is the life God intended for His creation from the beginning. Tell the truth, are you living the abundant life of Christ? Has Christ’s cause impacted you? Are you true to Him and His word? Really, truly, where are you in relation to God’s truth?

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[1] https://www.google.com/#q=relativism

[2] What is Truth? By Matt Slick at www.carm.org