Archive for January, 2016
Ecclesiastes and Vanity of Life, Part 1
After his brief introduction with verse 1, Solomon gets right to the heart of the matter and does so with vehemence. He wants people (including you and me) to understand that his overarching view of life is that all is futile. While this might make people think that Solomon is completely depressed or at least bereft of any positive view of life, as we continue through the book we realize that this is only true in one sense. It seems clear that Solomon has chosen his open words very carefully. He seeks your attention and craves your indulgence. This is a man who is desperate to teach the truths he has learned. Are you willing to listen?
Tranformation of the Prodigal Son
Luke 15 tells us about a son who was so selfish that he came to a point of demanding his “inheritance” from his father so that he could deliberately live a life of sin apart from his father. Think about this for a moment or two. The young man had no right to make any demands of his father. Certainly, he had no right to claim any inheritance from his father while his father was still alive. Yet, this is what this young man did. We might say, “The nerve!” How could he disrespect his father in such a way? Before we even answer that question, let’s take a look at the son himself.
Continue Reading January 20, 2016 at 8:09 AM Leave a comment
Israelites Went In and Out of Fellowship Constantly
Much like the Prodigal Son who deliberately chose to leave his father’s presence to live a life of sin (Luke 15) and had to deal with the consequences of his actions, Christians today make decisions all the time that directly impact whether or not we are and/or remain in fellowship with God. Just as Achan chose to disobey God and take what God warned he should not have taken (to enrich himself), the consequences of his actions resulted in death for Achan, his family, and animals. I don’t take this to mean that Achan lost salvation (if he actually had it). But it is clear that God was much quicker to judge those who fell out of fellowship with Him during the Old Testament times than He does during these times.
Continue Reading January 16, 2016 at 8:35 AM Leave a comment
Knowing God in 1 John, Part 7
The Prodigal Son lived away from home for many days. He squandered his inheritance with wild living and wild so-called friends. He endeavored to enjoy sin and did not care how it reflected on him, his father, or his upbringing. He was totally interested in doing his own thing. As we know, he eventually came back to his father and his father was waiting for him with open arms. The father was so glad his wayward son had returned. The son had learned some very valuable lessons, chief of which is that his father had always loved him, was always ready to forgive, and always wanted to be in fellowship with his son.
Knowing God in 1 John, Part 6
John is specifically referring to our relationship or our fellowship with God in Christ in this verse. He is talking to people who have salvation and is explaining to them the extremely important principle of walking as Jesus walked. It is not enough to say you are a Christian. Having salvation is clearly very important and something God desires for each and every person (2 Peter 3:9). However, having salvation is really only our starting point. Much of the New Testament epistles are dedicated to encouraging believers to press on, to learn to walk as Jesus walked and to live a life that pleases God. In doing so, we will experience great fellowship with God and enjoy more of His Presence and power in and through our lives.
Continue Reading January 15, 2016 at 12:03 PM Leave a comment
What Does John Mean by Knowing God in 1 John, Part 5
Christians who live like the people who are lost in this dark world have no fellowship with God at all, though they have salvation (if they are true Christians). Let’s remember that John is writing to actual believers, true Christians. He is not questioning their salvation. He is providing them guidelines to understand how to enter into fellowship with God in Christ. The Christian whose life is virtually no different from those around him/her who are lost, might have salvation, but has no fellowship with God at all. John is very clear about this.
What Does John Mean by Knowing God in 1 John, Part 4
Joy in fellowship cannot exist unless several things happen. First, error about Jesus must be excluded. This is why John tackles the Docetic error right off the bat by putting forth the fact that Jesus was alive and well and walked among people as a Person Himself. He was not a ghost, a phantom, or a theophany. He was a real human being who suffered in His humanity to perfect us via the atonement. Moreover, if we stop to consider it, Jesus was tempted in all ways as we are during His earthly life (Hebrews 4:15), yet remained sinless. He was fully human and experienced hunger, fatigue, and many other aspects of being human. Yet, in spite of all these things, He remained sinless and was, at the end, able to offer Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, and did so.
Continue Reading January 14, 2016 at 1:00 PM Leave a comment
What Does John Mean by Knowing God in 1 John, Part 3
I’m not saying that if we get serious about fellowship with God, America will turn around and God will once again make her a great nation. That’s not the point at all to 1 John and frankly, I believe we have passed the tipping point there long ago. God wants us to fellowship with Him because He wants to use us in the Great Commission. A time is coming when things will be exceedingly dark and even though I believe the Rapture will occur prior to the Tribulation, I have absolutely no idea when the Rapture will occur or specifically how dark and evil things will get before that event. We cannot count on it whisking us away to the safety of heaven though it will happen.
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