Category: Matters of Faith

Forgiveness is something people who claim the title of Christian wear like an Olympic medal. They say things like, “Because I believe in Jesus, I am forgiven of my sins.” and walk around feeling very confident regardless of the things they include in their lives. 1 John 1:5 (and following) says:

⁵ This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Continue reading “Forgiveness”

In Romans chapters 6 ,7, and 8 Paul is teaching about the relationships between our flesh, our spiritual self, and our bondage to three laws. The first law is the law of the flesh. Our fleshly bodies are ingrained with a tendency for sin by following our base natures. The law of the spirit comes upon us when we accept Jesus and the Holy Spirit indwells us. This helps us fight against the law of the flesh. The law of God is made up of the rules God has set out to His people, beginning with the Ten Commandments.

Our physical bodies can be alive in the flesh, but dead to the Spirit because we are following the law of the flesh. Even gracious, loving, people are the walking dead if they have rejected Jesus. Their bodies have mortal life but because their spirits are dormant the law of the flesh reigns in their life, leading them toward sinful behaviors which results, eventually, in spiritual death (which does not refer to a cessation of awareness, but the eternal separation from God. All spirits are immortal: where they spend eternity is determined on the day of judgment). Continue reading “Spiritual Zombies”

In Romans 5 Paul talks about how sin came into the world through the disobedience of one man: Adam. God gave him one rule; do not eat the fruit of this tree, and Adam broke that one rule. Sin has been with us ever since: we are born into a sin-filled world.

Sin is dealt with through one man: Jesus. “⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.“

Since the time of Moses, God has dealt with sinfulness through sacrifice. The Israelites atoned for their sin by sacrificing unblemished animals. But this did not eliminate sin, only paid for sins committed. Continue reading “A Friend In Jesus”

Some churches have several dominant personalities in leadership positions – even if they are not officially leaders.  Sometimes diversity causes frictions between these people and others that erupts into sparks of distention.   I’ve seen it happen many times in the various churches I’ve been a part of.  Sometimes these frictions are over what is most important in a church or how it is to operate.  In most cases those butting heads are following their own hearts and truly believe in what they propose as being most important and what everyone should focus on.

What is often overlooked is that our diversity is often our greatest strength.  1 Corinthians 12 puts it this way: Continue reading “Unity in Diversity”

Can someone be justified (saved) through good works alone? Romans 3:20-26 says, “²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶ to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (NKJV).

Here Paul is speaking to a mixed crowd of Jews and gentiles. Jews claimed to be justified by the Law of Moses. The problem is that no man (except Jesus) has or can keep the Law perfectly, so he must constantly make sacrifice as atonement:”by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight”. The purpose of the Law was not to justify unto salvation, but to make it clear how far man is from perfection: “the Law is the knowledge of sin.” Continue reading “Righteousness Through Faith”

I was reading in Romans and came upon a passage that said, “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,”. Paul is speaking here of people, not pottery, but using an analogy of a potter who creates some vessels to be honored and some to be destroyed. It took me aback a bit: does God create some people with the intention of destroying them or using them in diabolical ways, such as Judas Iscariot was? Let’s take a closer look at this passage.

Romans 9:18-24

¹⁸ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” ²⁰ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? Continue reading “Prepared for Destruction”

I once was a member of a church that had the Deacons rotate through offering an invocation at the opening of the worship service. There was one Deacon whose prayers I dreaded. They always went something like, “Oh, Lord, we are disgusting worms, undeserving of your presence, much less your grace. We should be crushed…” you get the idea.  He counted this as showing humility.

While I do agree that believers are undeserving and we are not to present ourselves to the Lord with a haughty attitude, was such self-deprecation really necessary every time he prays for the congregation? Is abasing oneself (and everyone else present) humility? A dictionary definition of humility reads:

NOUN

1. a modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness.
   synonyms: modesty · humbleness · meekness · diffidence ·
   _{Powered by Oxford Dictionaries}

Continue reading “Humility”