Obeying the Gospel

WHAT IF "REASON" WERE JUST A "NATURAL" PROCESS? (SEPTEMBER 14)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/reason-natural-process-september-14/"Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? . . . To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him" (Deuteronomy 4:33-35).WHEN GOD SPOKE TO ISRAEL ON MOUNT SINAI, SOMETHING HAPPENED THAT HAD NO NATURAL CAUSE. Assuming that what is recorded actually took place, the event was not triggered by any natural event that preceded it — it was the introduction of something “new” or “extra” into nature’s progression of cause and effect, something from outside that closed, deterministic system.I suggest that the operations of our own reason are similar, not that they are divine communications, but that they cannot be explained as the result of natural causes producing natural effects. Many neuroscientists today, of course, dispute this; they argue that what we call human “reason” is nothing more than the brain at work as a physical organ. When science has learned more about the brain, they say, we will recognize that a person never has any thought that cannot be accounted for neurologically and biochemically. Every firing of every neuron is the result of something within nature. Nothing freely decided upon ever comes into the sequence — whatever happens, it was determined materialistically.But think about this comment from Douglas Groothuis: “if materialism were true, we could never grant reasons for holding beliefs since all our brain states would be rigorously determined in a materialistically caused fashion. Thought would be reduced to a mere reflex action on the order of a muscle twinge. But can glorified muscle twinges weigh evidence and reach warranted conclusions?”We ought not to minimize what is required if our reasoning is to be objectively valid. It must be the working of something personal — an independent force not chained to the sequence of physical cause and effect. And in the biblical account, that is exactly the case: we are dual creatures who straddle the physical and spiritual worlds. We have a brain, but we also have a mind — a reasoning faculty that reaches far beyond what the brain (which is its servant) can do."The validity of our reasoning depends upon the transcendence of reason itself. Reason must stand outside of nature in order for it to give us truth about nature. Our thinking, if we are to regard it as true or false, must be a shot from Something beyond nature, a beam from the Light beyond the sun, a participation in the eternal Logos" (Joe Rigney).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

FORGIVENESS AND TRANSFORMATION (SEPTEMBER 13)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/forgiveness-transformation-september-13/"We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:15).WHEN WE OBEY THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, GOD’S FORGIVENESS OPENS THE DOOR TO OUR TRANSFORMATION. Not only does God want to forgive us of our sins; He wants to repair sin’s damage and rebuild our character, transforming us into creatures who can enjoy a perfect relationship with Him in eternity. The great importance of forgiveness is that it leads to this transformation. Our being molded, shaped, and conformed to God’s character is the main goal of all that He has done (and is doing) in Jesus Christ.A GRADUAL PROCESS. When we are baptized into Christ, we rejoice in the forgiveness of God — but we dare not underestimate the work that remains to be done. The sins of our past, which God has now forgiven, were produced by character traits that must be gotten rid of. These must be replaced by the virtues of God’s character (2 Peter 1:3-11) or else we will continue to live as we used to live. Such a drastic rebuilding of our character does not happen overnight. It takes time. But while there is a need for patience, we also need to be diligent. Our transformation will not take place automatically, by divine decree. We have to embrace the process actively and wholeheartedly, submitting to God’s training for however long it takes.A PAINFUL PROCESS. Most kinds of growth in this world require discipline, and we should not expect our spiritual growth to be any different. When we need chastening, that is exactly what God will provide. “He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:10,11).A GLORIOUS PROCESS. The gradual, and often painful, process of being transformed into godly creatures is one that we submit to because of its goal: we are on our way to becoming the sons and daughters of God, in the very highest sense. He created us in the first place, and through the gospel He is now re-creating us in the glorious image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Only God could do this, and if we persevere, one day we will see His face (Revelation 22:4). Sin will have been destroyed, and we will have forever to rejoice."Thus we enter through our heart into the heart of God, who embraces all of history with his eternally creative and recreative love" (Henri J. M. Nouwen).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

SALVATION BY BAPTISM ONLY? (SEPTEMBER 12)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/salvation-by-baptism-only-september-12/"And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord" (Acts 11:21).THE “FAITH ONLY” DOCTRINE IS NOT TAUGHT IN THE SCRIPTURES. Merely believing that Jesus is the Christ is not enough to save us from our sins. In the words of James, “As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” (2:26).But neither will we be saved by “baptism only.” The person who thinks his only problem is that he was attending services at the wrong church, and that he is now saved because he “got baptized” and the Lord added him to the “church of Christ,” is out of touch with reality. His problem was far deeper than attendance at an unscriptural church. It was the problem of sin — sin in his heart as well as in his actions. And if that problem is going to be corrected, a radical turning (or “conversion”) will have to occur.BAPTISM WITHOUT FAITH? For baptism to result in the forgiveness of sins, it must be an act of faith, or trust, in God (Ephesians 2:8).BAPTISM WITHOUT CONFESSION? Baptism is meaningless if it does not result in a life which confesses Christ — in deed as well as word.BAPTISM WITHOUT REPENTANCE? Like John the Baptist (Matthew 3:7-9), Jesus would rebuke us if we wanted to be baptized but were not willing to repent of the sins that had separated us from God.BAPTISM WITHOUT CONVERSION? In Acts 2:38, Peter told his hearers, “Repent and be baptized.” In the very next chapter, he told another audience in Acts 3:19, “Repent and be converted” (NKJV) or “turn back” (ESV). Baptism is the crucial turning point at which we pass from being lost into the state of being “in Christ” (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12). But if faith without works is insufficient (James 2:14-26), so is baptism without conversion. If we do not walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4), it is to be wondered whether we really did die with Christ when we were baptized.In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, Paul wrote that the believers in Thessalonica had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” And today, even if we’ve never worshiped a physical idol, this is what must happen. We must turn to God intentionally, ceasing from our old lives and living as those who are truly “in Christ.”"Conversion may occur in an instant, but the process of coming from sinfulness into a new life can be a long and arduous journey" (Charles Colson).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

TRUST, THE ONLY PATH TO TRUTH, IS DANGEROUS (SEPTEMBER 11)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/trust-only-path-truth-dangerous-september-11/"Commit your way to the Lord" (Psalm 37:5).IN OUR SECULAR WORK AS WELL AS OUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY, WE FIND THAT “REWARDS REQUIRE COMMITMENT.” If we are so averse to risk that we won’t trust anything enough to commit ourselves to it, we will, wanting mainly to avoid being wrong, never know the joy that could have been ours if the commitment was right. Nothing good comes from the commitment-free life. Commitments are scary, to be sure, but as the saying goes, he who hesitates is lost.We might say, “Well, yes, commitments are necessary, but before we make them, we need to make absolutely sure there is no possibility of our being wrong.” In the real world, however, there are no such scenarios. We never have enough information to be absolutely certain about our decisions, and even if we did, that kind of decision-making would not require any faith. For faith to be faith, there must be some risk, some element of uncertainty.Obviously, we need to be careful in our commitments. Even if complete information is not available, we need to gather all the evidence we can, so that our faith is not blind faith but serious trust based upon consideration of the best information we could get.But to return to our main point, all the good things in life require committing ourselves to them. Hesitancy, doubt, and tentativeness will cut the very heart out of our discipleship to Christ. Distrusting God, we will never get the answers to our questions.In her book on the practice of mindfulness, Kim Davies says, “The foundation of any practice is a certain level of commitment: you have to not only make a clear decision to try mindfulness but also to maintain your practice and awareness.” I agree. And when it comes to godliness, a practice much higher than mindfulness, the principle of “rewards require commitment” is even more true.David said in Psalm 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord.” This means counting the cost, accepting the risk, and putting our trust in God. It also means binding ourselves resolutely to the practice of godliness. Not only is this the right thing to do, but it is, in the end, the only way to know if the Lord’s way is good. The path to truth requires trust — the kind of trust that knows what commitment is."There is no discovery of the truth of Christ's teaching, no unanswerable inward endorsement of it, without committing oneself to his way of life" (J. B. Phillips).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

IF WE’RE NOT DISTURBED, WE’RE NOT LISTENING (SEPTEMBER 10)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/disturbed-listening-september-10/"There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, 'He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?'" (John 10:19,20).WHEN JESUS SPOKE, PEOPLE WERE STIRRED. As Eric Hoffer put it, “Jesus was not a conservative.” Even after He was gone, the teaching of His apostles continued to have a disruptive effect. When Paul and his coworkers went to Thessalonica, for example, the city was soon in an uproar. Some shouted, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also” (Acts 17:6).J. B. Phillips once said, “Of all the epithets that could be applied to Christ, ‘mild’ seems one of the least appropriate.” If Jesus is now seen as being tame and temperate, it is because His religion has been legalized. He has become familiar to us. We may believe the gospel is still revolutionary, but we think it is other people (the “wicked”) who should be disturbed by it. “Oh, how society would be transformed if people would just listen to Jesus,” we think.But are we listening? If we’re not disturbed by the “hard sayings” of Jesus (John 6:60), it may be that we’re not paying attention. Like the self-righteous scholars who came to hear John the Baptist preach (Matthew 3:5-8), perhaps we don’t see that what is being said applies to us as much as it does to anyone else.One reason we’re not disturbed by Jesus is that our outward lives are, for the most part, in conformity with His teachings. We don’t feel personally challenged because we think we’ve already made the adjustments that Jesus’ teaching calls for. We’re kind, we help the needy, we attend worship services, and we say thanks before eating our meals — so we feel pretty good about ourselves.But the external aspect of the gospel is easy compared to the harder part, which has to do with the heart. However “nice” my outward life may be, when I measure my heart (my thoughts, attitudes, and intentions) against Jesus’ teaching, I am ashamed. His teaching disturbs me greatly, if I have the least bit of self-honesty. So may we all — every one of us — listen to Jesus with a new attentiveness. We must be disturbed before we can be redeemed."The teaching of Jesus Christ does not appear at first to be what it is. At first it appears to be beautiful and pious and lukewarm; but before long it becomes a ripping and tearing torpedo which splits to atoms every preconceived notion a man ever had" (Oswald Chambers).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

“IN THE RIGHT CHURCH” AND STILL LOST? (SEPTEMBER 9)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/in-right-church-still-lost-september-9/". . . you still live as the people of this world live. When there is jealousy among you and you quarrel with one another, doesn’t this prove that you belong to this world, living by its standards?" (1 Corinthians 3:3 Good News Bible).THE QUESTION “HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE SAVED?” IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION. Paul urged the Corinthians, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). But we need to be careful what standard we use to make this test. Some suppose that salvation is on the group plan and that as long as their names are on the roster of a congregation that is faithful to the Lord, their salvation is assured. Such individuals would say to themselves, “I have obeyed the gospel, the Lord has added me to His church, and I am saved — end of discussion.” But the truth of the matter requires a deeper look.Some of the Christians in Corinth had not grown much since they became Christians. Their conduct showed that their hearts were the same as before they obeyed the gospel. As Paul said, “You are still of the flesh . . . and behaving only in a human way” (1 Corinthians 3:3 ESV). And if they didn’t repent, their salvation would be in jeopardy. The conclusion is sobering: it is possible to be “in the right church” (at least outwardly) and still be lost.Having obeyed the gospel, we certainly need to find a fellowship of faithful Christians to be a part of. Christ does have some requirements concerning the collective (or “together”) part of our discipleship. But while the faithfulness of others will encourage us, merely being attached to a faithful congregation won’t save us. We won’t go to heaven just because we were “in the right group.”Each of us needs to have a sense of personal responsibility. If after studying the Scriptures we realize that the religion we’ve been practicing is wrong, we need to leave that religion. If we find that we’ve been a part of a network of churches whose beliefs and practices are unscriptural, we need to disassociate ourselves. And if the particular congregation we’ve been a part of is not faithful to Christ, we need to worship elsewhere. But even if we’re surrounded by others who are faithful to Christ, the more important question is still about our own responsibilities before the Lord."Keep us, Lord, so awake in the duties of our callings that we may sleep in thy peace and wake in thy glory" (John Donne).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WE DON’T GET TO DESIGN THE PATH TO GOD (SEPTEMBER 8)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/design-path-to-god-september-8/"You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors . . ." (Hosea 10:13).TRUSTING IN OUR OWN WAY IS A PROBLEM THAT SHOWS UP IN MANY DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES. The basic problem is always pride, of course, but pride wears many different disguises. Some of those disguises are so subtle that we don’t see the danger of them.In regard to our relationship to God, for example, we tend to view things as we wish them to be. The existence of God? We may believe there is a God because it makes us feel better. The nature of God? We may envision God in ways that harmonize with our personal preferences. And the will of God? We may feel the need to reinterpret any text that seems unreasonable to us. In all of these things, rather than bow humbly before the objective truth about God, willing to be led by the evidence, we tend to accept only the “truth” that pleases us subjectively. We trust in our “own way.”Yet our track record (both individually and as a species) shows that our own opinions and judgments have not been sufficient to meet the challenges of life in this world. If we’re honest, we have to agree with Jeremiah when he said, “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). The essence of faith has always been trust in God’s wisdom — especially when it runs counter to our own. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8,9). We are at our wisest when we heed Solomon’s advice: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).The gospel is not a travel brochure showing various journeys to choose from; it offers just the “way of God” (Acts 18:26). The path that leads to God in eternity — the one He has laid out — will often seem narrow and illogical to us (Matthew 7:13,14). But that doesn’t matter. It only matters whether it is, in fact, “the Way” (Acts 24:14)."The question is not whether a doctrine is beautiful but whether it is true. When we wish to go to a place, we do not ask whether the road leads through a pretty country, but whether it is the right road" (Augustus Hare).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

THE POWER OF PENTECOST (SEPTEMBER 7)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/power-pentecost-september-7/"And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49).IN THE FINAL DAYS OF HIS LIFE, JESUS PREPARED HIS APOSTLES FOR THE WORK THEY WOULD DO AFTER HE ASCENDED BACK TO HEAVEN. They would be eyewitnesses of His resurrection, and they would be the authoritative proclaimers of His gospel. But He told them not to leave Jerusalem “until you are clothed with power from on high.” This clothing with power began to take place on the Day of Pentecost just a few weeks after Jesus’ ascension. We have a record of it in Acts 2, and that record is crucial to our grasp of the gospel.In Acts 2, we are told that the apostles began to speak of “the mighty works of God” (v.11). Miraculously, they did this in languages they had never learned, but the greater miracle, no less miraculously empowered, was the content of the proclamation: the saving message of Jesus Christ. The act of “speaking in tongues” facilitated the message that day, and it certainly underscored the authority of the apostles, but the emphasis in Acts 2 is on the content of the preaching. We would seriously fail in our appreciation of this text if we were so amazed by the signs and wonders that we didn’t pay attention to the message the signs were pointing to.In his sermon, Peter alluded to God’s promise in Joel 2:28-32: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh . . . [and] everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The subject of the sermon was salvation, so we’re not surprised that the hearers cried out, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). Peter’s reply was clear: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). In other words, as you call on the name of the Lord you will receive that which the Holy Spirit has made possible through the miraculously empowered preaching of the apostles: salvation from your sins. So the power that went forth from Jerusalem that day was not the miracles (those lasted only for a while), but the saving gospel of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 2:2,3)."God hides nothing. His very work from the beginning is revelation — a casting aside of veil after veil, a showing unto men of truth after truth. On and on from fact divine he advances, until at length in his Son Jesus he unveils his very face" (George MacDonald).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

HUMAN PROGRESS IS PERILOUS (SEPTEMBER 6)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/human-progress-perilous-september-6/"And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth'" (Genesis 11:2-4).THE “TOWER OF BABEL” IS A FAMILIAR STORY, BUT ITS POINT IS OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD. The problem was not the height of the tower but the presumption of the builders. Refusing to acknowledge their need for God, they declared their independence and said, in effect, “We will do as we please; there is no problem we can’t overcome and no goal we can’t achieve on our own.”Today, the effects of the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and Progressivism have combined to produce a presumption bolder by far than that of Babel. Our culture is built on the premise of human progress and perfectability. There is no inward unrest that can’t be calmed by mindfulness and meditation, and there are no outward problems that can’t be solved by science and technology. Even in the realm of spirituality, God is no longer essential. Our faults and foibles can be eliminated by looking deep within ourselves. Our authentic lives are waiting to be discovered by the wisdom and love that are already in our hearts.Postmodernism (to its credit) rejected the unbridled optimism of modernism, but we are currently seeing a resurgence of interest in the Enlightenment. Bestselling books are once again praising the Enlightenment, arguing that human reason and science have given us a world that is very good — and getting awesomely better.Yet despite the diminishing danger of war, hunger, and disease, the global incidence of suicide is increasing dramatically. Clearly, our “progress” has left many people deeply disturbed. Can it be that our profoundest problems have no human solution?The truth is, we can’t help ourselves where we need help the most. Yes, we can “science” our way out of some of life’s lesser problems, but the potential of human self-help is limited. We do not have it within us to solve the problem of sin. We cannot get back to God on our own — and that is what the gospel of Christ is about."The cross has revealed to good men that their goodness has not been good enough" (Johann H. Schroeder).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

GOD'S WAY IS CONDUCIVE TO HUMILITY (SEPTEMBER 5)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/gods-way-conducive-humility-september-5/"By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks" (Hebrews 11:4).WE DO NOT KNOW SPECIFICALLY WHY ABEL’S OFFERING WAS MORE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD, BUT WE ARE TOLD THAT HE DID WHAT HE DID “BY FAITH.” Unlike his brother, he trusted God enough to do things God’s way — whatever that might have involved — rather than substitute his own preferences in the matter.When we look over the entire history of God’s dealings with mankind recorded in the Scriptures, we see an interesting pattern. Whenever people have decided to follow their own inclinations, we see two differences between their way and God’s way.(1) GOD’S WAY IS MORE SIMPLE. Human beings have a tendency to complicate things. Our projects are usually complicated at the start, and they grow even more complex as time goes along. In contrast, God’s way of doing things is more plain and unadorned — His plan is so simple that we often see it as “simplistic.”(2) GOD’S WAY IS CONDUCIVE TO HUMILITY. Precisely because God’s way is more simple, it takes trust for us to believe it will work. To follow God’s instructions, we have to bow before His wisdom and rely on methods that seem insufficient, if not completely silly.If somehow we were able to build the kingdom of God according to our own blueprint, the result would be pride — and rightly so, because the achievement would have resulted from our own wisdom. Until our house of cards came crashing down (Psalm 127:1), we possibly could have said, “Look at what we have accomplished.” But when we follow God’s plans there can never be any pride in it. His way goes against our ideas and opinions, and the honest person will always have to admit, “Well, I didn’t think such a plan would work, but I was wrong. Although I would have set things up differently, God’s way turned out to be the best.”The wisdom of God is revealed to us today in the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16,17). We should study the Scriptures with a reverent, childlike trust in our Father. Such a trust is not naive; it is based on His proven reliability. He is the God of ultimate truth and reality, and reality is a thing that requires humility on our part."Humility is nothing but truth, while pride is nothing but lying" (Vincent De Paul).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

CONFORMITY TO CHRIST: BOTH A FACT AND A PROCESS (SEPTEMBER 4)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/conformity-christ-fact-process-september-4/". . . seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Colossians 3:9,10).FOR TODAY’S MEDITATION, CONTEMPLATE WITH ME THE CONCEPT OF “CHRISTLIKENESS.” Surely it is obvious that the Christian is to demonstrate a likeness to the character (or “mind”) of Christ. Having obeyed the gospel and entered the realm of God’s grace, we are to be people in whom the beauty of Christ can be seen.But is Christlikeness an accomplished fact or is it a goal we’re to grow toward? It is both, and Paul makes this point in two passages that are strikingly similar. In Colossians 3:9,10, he puts conformity to Christ in the past tense. He says that we have “put off the old self . . . [and] put on the new.” But in Ephesians 4:22-24, he puts it in the form of a command: “put off your old self . . . [and] put on the new self.” These texts are not contradictory; each contains an important truth. What we are in Christ imparts a sense of rest — and what we must become gives us a sense of responsibility. So the gospel has two sides to it: the indicative and the imperative.I suggest that both the indicative and the imperative parts of the gospel require a decision on our part; neither is automatic. It will not be true to say that we have put on Christ if we have not made a commitment to doing that. And we certainly will not grow in our conformity to His character if we don’t devote ourselves to that process. In both cases, we must exhibit the kind of decisiveness reflected in the song: “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back.” To put it another way, we must choose to become the people that, in fact, we are in Christ.Anyone who has been a Christian for very long will tell you that this is hard. There will never be a time in this life when the past does not try to pull us back — and sometimes the pull can be very strong. After all, we wouldn’t have been what we used to be if there weren’t some very pleasant (and easy) aspects of being that kind of person. But we can’t have it both ways. A choice has to be made.Growth is one of the best things in life, but it is also one of the most challenging. To put it plainly: growth requires sacrifice. But the choice we make is worth every bit of what it costs us in this world."To be another than I am, I must abandon that I am" (John Chrysostom).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

SENSITIVITY TO SIN (SEPTEMBER 3)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/sensitivity-sin-september-3/"They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity" (Ephesians 4:19 NLT).IT IS NOT A GOOD THING IF OUR SINS DON’T BOTHER US. Just as you wouldn’t want to be unable to feel physical pain, you wouldn’t want to be insensitive to the pangs of conscience. The “warning system” provided by our conscience is one of the most valuable assets in our spiritual makeup. We should give thanks for it.As important as it is, however, a sense of shame seems to be an endangered species of emotion in the culture that surrounds us. If we care about the world our children are going to have to live in, we can’t help but be concerned about current trends. But there is something else I want you to pay attention to: each of us needs to be more concerned about our lack of sensitivity to the sins that we know are in our own hearts. Whatever may be going on in the world around us, are we as sensitive to our own sins as we should be?Oswald Chambers spoke perceptively when he said, “Measure your growth in grace by your sensitiveness to sin.” The more we learn to love our Father, the more our hearts are going to hurt when we realize we’ve failed Him. The person who rarely sees any sin in his own life — or seeing it, is not bothered by it — is not a spiritual senior but only a sophomore. As we gain wisdom, our conscience becomes more keen, rather than more comfortable.And, of course, our increasing sensitivity to sin causes us to yearn all the more fervently for the perfection of our character in eternity. Thomas D. Bernard’s comment that our “sense of sin is in proportion to our nearness to God” sounds contradictory, but it’s not. The nearer we are to God, the more we see the gap between us and Him — and the more we long for that gap to be removed.So where are you, my friend, in regard to this subject? If the painful awareness of sin seems to be growing rather than diminishing, does that mean you are becoming a more wicked person? Not knowing you, I can’t say for sure. But your pain may just mean that your conscience is becoming more healthy. And if that be the case, you are moving in God’s direction. Frankly, I’d be more worried about you if you thought you were doing just fine."It is not when we are conscious of our faults that we are the most wicked; on the contrary, we are less so" (François Fénelon).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

NOMINAL CHRISTIANS (SEPTEMBER 2)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/nominal-christians-september-2/"But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent" (Revelation 2:4,5).THE CHRISTIANS IN EPHESUS, TO WHOM THE ABOVE WORDS WERE WRITTEN, WERE IN A DANGEROUS POSITION. Having been faithful to Christ in the past, they no longer loved Him as they used to. And Christ was clear: if they did not repent and come back to Him in their hearts, He would sever His connection to them.If Christ did end up removing their “lampstand,” the members of the church in Ephesus probably continued to call themselves Christians, at least for a while. They would have listed “Christian” as their religious affiliation, and might have thought of their salvation as being secured by their allegiance to “Christianity” rather than some other religion. But in reality, the word “Christian” would have been only a label and nothing more.Today, when we speak of “nominal” Christians, that is what we mean: people who are Christians in “name only.” They self-identify as Christians, and may even attend a few church services now and then. When it comes to defending the “true faith,” they may be militant, but inwardly there is no substance to their faith. They are the modern embodiment of the mentality God spoke of in Isaiah’s day: “[They] draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).Wherever Christianity becomes safe and socially acceptable, the number of name-only Christians will increase. They’re not truly religious, but Christianity will be their “religious preference.” And nothing could be more offensive to the Lord. To the Laodiceans, the Lord said, “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16).So in cultures where there are many nominal Christians, evangelism often amounts to converting the “Christians” to Christ. This is the hardest kind of evangelism by far. But think of the power that would be unleashed if even a few of those who have been wearing Christ’s name actually became His people!"If we were willing to learn the meaning of real discipleship and actually to become disciples, the church in the West would be transformed and the resultant impact on society would be staggering" (David West).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

ENTER BY THE NARROW GATE (SEPTEMBER 1)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/enter-by-narrow-gate-september-1/"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:13,14).HERE IS ONE OF JESUS’ MORE UNPOPULAR SAYINGS. Compared to the wide gate and the easy way, the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. Reconciliation to God, according to Jesus, requires a choice not many will be willing to make.The ”natural” path is always easier than any other — and it never goes anywhere but downhill. By definition, “natural” means what will happen if no effort is exerted to alter the outcome — we call it “taking the course of least resistance.” Even in our daily lives, we are not usually happy with the degradation that takes place when we simply do nothing. But taking the natural path is even more disastrous in the spiritual realm. Some hard choices have to be made, and we are the ones who must make them.God will help us, of course. Surrounding us with resources and circumstances that urge us in the right direction, God will open doors of opportunity for us. Without His help we could do nothing. In His love, He will even “discipline” (or “chasten”) us, as Hebrews 12:5-11 indicates. But having been disciplined by God, we will have to discipline ourselves. To be godly people, we will have to exert ourselves to go uphill rather than downhill — and the choice will usually involve more than doing what comes naturally.Comparing our situation as Christians to that of the athlete, for whom self-discipline is obviously necessary, Paul said, “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:25-27).It does no good to deny this challenging aspect of godliness. If we take God seriously, we won’t seek to soften the force of texts like Matthew 7:13,14 with a quick “yes but.” The fact is, relatively few will be interested in the life that leads to heaven. But whatever others may do, each of us must make our own choice. What will we do?"Sanctification means . . . a life of discipline such as nine out of ten of us will have nothing to do with" (Oswald Chambers).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

CHOICES THAT EXCLUDE EACH OTHER (AUGUST 31)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/choices-that-exclude-each-other-august-31/"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money" (Matthew 6:24).WHEN WE’RE MAKING UP OUR MINDS ABOUT A TOUGH CHOICE, THERE MIGHT BE MANY REASONS WHY WE DELAY THE DECISION. Perhaps we’re still unsure which fork in the road to take. Or maybe we’re mustering the courage the decision is going to require.At other times, however, we have a different problem: after we’ve made the decision, we try to hold on to the circumstances we would have had if we had chosen the other option. As the saying goes, we try to have our cake and eat it too.In the gospel, Jesus asks us to make life’s ultimate choice. Whether or not to follow Him is the most radical decision that will ever confront us — it requires making Him the Lord of everything about us, even our innermost thoughts and motives. To say the least, such a decision requires the sacrifice of every previous allegiance we’ve ever had. Whatever has been our ultimate priority up to now, that priority must be subordinated to the will of our new Master: we promise to follow the path that leads us to Him in eternity, forsaking every other path and every other preference.However, the time comes when we look back longingly at our past priorities — and perhaps we return to them. Without openly rejecting the Lord, we simply start following our own will in the so-called “secular” parts of life, thinking that maybe our way and Jesus’ way are not so incompatible after all. He will still be our primary Lord, we tell ourselves; we will make sure we keep the other things from getting out of hand. But we are deceiving ourselves, as anybody can see who really knows us (including our children). We have let something else sneak back onto the throne of our hearts.On this point, Jesus cut to the heart of the matter: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” It is impossible to maintain two ultimate priorities. Ultimate priorities, by definition, are mutually exclusive. They cannot coexist peacefully.So “no one can serve two masters” is a challenging saying, all the more so for those of us today who believe we can “have it all.”"The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom but its Master" (P. T. Forsyth).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WHAT THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST MEANS (AUGUST 30)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/what-lordship-christ-means-august-30/"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).IF WE THINK THAT OBEDIENCE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR CITIZENSHIP IN GOD’S KINGDOM, WE ARE MISTAKEN. For Jesus Christ to be our Savior, He must be our Lord. And the lordship of Christ involves more than just saying He is our Lord. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”The first hearers of the gospel two thousand years ago would have been more familiar with the word “lord” than we are. It simply meant “one who is in authority.” But used in reference to Jesus Christ it had a special meaning. In Matthew 28:18-20, He claimed that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. He was the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16).Remember that we have defined the problem of sin as the problem of rebellion against God. If that’s what our trouble is, it makes obvious sense that for our sins to be forgiven we are going to have to lay down our rebellion, come back to the rightful King, and once again submit ourselves to His rule. Wonder of all wonders, He is willing to forgive us of our treason, but His grace requires that we begin doing what we have not been doing: obey His will. He must be our Master, our Ruler . . . our Lord.But how do we know if Jesus is our Lord? We know by taking a look at whether we’re actually obeying Him or not. Whatever we may say, He is not our Lord if we are not obeying Him.Perhaps we could not do better than to end these thoughts with Jesus’ vivid conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27)."What gets me into the kingdom, from Christ's own statement, is not saying, 'Lord, Lord,' but acting 'Lord, Lord'" (Jim Elliot).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

SEEKING THE KINGDOM OF GOD FIRST (AUGUST 29)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/seeking-kingdom-god-first-august-29"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).A FIRM DECISION MUST BE MADE TO “SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD.” Very few people are willing to do this, even among those who profess allegiance to Christ. “Everyone wants the kingdom of God, but few want it first. Everyone wants high achievement, but few want to pay the price. Everyone wants God, but few want to put him first” (Charles L. Venable). Especially in the modern culture of so-called “Christian nations,” very few do anything more than add a little “Christianity” to their busy lifestyles.But Jesus was clear: we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). He said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Luke 11:23). When it comes to our discipleship, a radical choice has to be made. Will Jesus get all of my heart or will He get nothing? There is no middle ground.But did you notice the last part of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 6:33? If we put the kingdom first, “all these things will be added to you.” Whatever other needs we have, these will be supplied — but we have to be willing to do without them, if need be, in order to maintain the priority of the kingdom. And, of course, the very worst thing we could do is to serve God for selfish or utilitarian reasons: looking at religion simply as the best way to get “all these things.”Whether to put God’s kingdom first in our hearts is a hard decision, hard because of the sacrifice required and also the carefulness demanded by the decision. Consequently, we often dither about it and procrastinate. (I love the American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of “dither”: “to be nervously irresolute in acting or doing.”)We need to hear Joshua’s challenge: “If it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Or Elijah’s exhortation: “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). Or Moses’ plea: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). In this life, it pays to be careful what we grasp and what we give up."If you have not chosen the kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead" (William Law).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

CONFESSING OUR SINS (AUGUST 28)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/confessing-our-sins-august-28/"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).GOD’S GRACE IS A SOURCE OF JOY TO US. Where would we be if He were not “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”? But God’s forgiveness requires honesty on our part. Writing to Christians, John said, “If we confess our sins,” God will accept our honesty and forgive us.What does it mean to “confess” our sins? It means acknowledging what the sins are that we need to be forgiven of. This is far more than a generic statement that we “haven’t done as well as we should.” In confession, we specifically name the sins we are guilty of, acknowledging the full, unvarnished truth about our disobedience. Rather than pleading extenuating circumstances that might diminish our guilt, we confess the aggravating circumstances that make our guilt even worse than it might have been otherwise. In our own “trial,” so to speak, we accuse ourselves more thoroughly than any of the witnesses — saying exactly what the sin was and why it was so wrong, sparing no detail and offering no excuse.Anyone who has ever done this knows how painful it is. It comes from “a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17), and it hurts. But the joy of forgiveness is on the other side of this sorrow, and the process of confessing our sins and properly grieving them should not be rushed through. One reason many Christians have so little joy is that they have paid too little attention to the process of confession and grief for their sins. Eager to be happy, they have avoided the very thing that could have made them truly rejoice.But in addition to God, is there anyone else to whom we should confess our sins? In some cases, yes. If anyone else has suffered loss or damage by our sin, we must acknowledge how we have hurt them and seek to make whatever restitution is possible. In addition, there may be others we will want to confess our sins to because they love us and will be a great help to us as we learn to repent and live differently. Hard though it is, confession is one of the best parts of God’s plan for our redemption. It is a blessing because it is a courageous step in the direction of truth."Confession, which means to agree with God regarding our sin, restores our fellowship. It is a form of discipline which God requires" (Erwin W. Lutzer).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WHAT TRUST MOVES US TO DO (AUGUST 27)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/what-trust-moves-us-to-do-august-27/"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8,9).ONE OF LIFE’S GREATEST CHALLENGES IS TO TRUST GOD ENOUGH TO ACCEPT HIS MEANS AND HIS METHODS. Many are those who say they love God and trust Him, but in an age when human feelings are the ultimate source of authority, most people are willing to disregard anything in the Scriptures that does not seem reasonable to them. We say we believe God is non-negotiable, but when it comes to “means and methods,” we often see those as flexible.Few of us would have set up the gospel plan of salvation as God did. Even in the apostolic age, the gospel met with resistance from many who saw it as either ineffective or unsophisticated. Speaking as one who knew what it was like to reject the gospel as being unreasonable, Paul said, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:18-21).But what about us today? Are we willing to accept God in general matters like love and faith, but when it comes to His instructions in the Scriptures about how these principles are to be carried out, do we balk? The unavoidable fact is, if we do not trust God’s revealed instructions, we do not trust God Himself.We see no better example of someone yielding to God’s plan than Jesus yielding in the matter of His crucifixion (John 12:27,28). He went to the cross not because it was easy or because it was His preference, but simply because He trusted His Father’s plan. He trusted the plan because He trusted His Father. And make no mistake: it was His obedience that showed that He trusted Him."Faith reposes on the character of God, and if we believe that God is perfect, we must conclude that his ways are perfect also" (A. W. Tozer).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WHEN WE REACH GOD'S GOAL (AUGUST 26)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/when-reach-gods-goal-august-26/"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18).IF WE ARE IN CHRIST, WE ARE BEING TRANSFORMED. Beginning with our initial obedience to the gospel and the forgiveness of our past sins, we are being renovated and rehabilitated. When we reach the place that Christ has gone to prepare for us (John 14:1-4), we will enjoy an absolutely perfect relationship with God forever. The damage of our sins will have been totally repaired, the flaws in our character removed, and even our innermost thoughts and motives completely conformed to our Father’s holiness.The apostle John envisioned the completion of this process of character growth when he said, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:2,3). What a glorious vision of what we can be!At present, however, we are still in “rehab.” We ought to be powerfully pulled toward God by the vision of what we will be when the process is finished, but the fact is, we’re not there yet. Paul put it in the present tense when he said that we “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” As long as this life lasts, we’ll always be works in progress.But it is critically important to keep one thing in mind: God will not be content until He has finished doing what He has begun to do with us. Although His scheme of redemption obviously benefits us personally, the plan is primarily about God and His intention to redeem His creation from the ravages of sin. In Christ, He is transforming us into the sons and daughters that human beings were meant to be. He is, in effect, restoring our humanity to us.Sin marred God’s creation, taking creatures made in His image and defacing that image. As a result, we have never experienced what it is to be a human being — not fully and perfectly. At best, we have been stumbling along with lives that are only a faint echo of real life. But God does not plan to leave His masterpiece broken. In Christ, He proposes to bring us all the way back to life."The glory of God is man fully alive" (Irenaeus).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

REFRESHMENT IN THE LORD (AUGUST 25)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/refreshment-in-lord-august-25/"Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ" (Philemon 20).IN THE SHORT LETTER OF PAUL TO PHILEMON, PAUL MADE A BROTHER-TO-BROTHER REQUEST OF HIS FELLOW CHRISTIAN. Hoping the request would be favorably considered, Paul said, “Refresh my heart in Christ.” Today, let’s meditate on this aspect of becoming a Christian. Not only do we assume new responsibilities to the Lord, but we acquire a new connection to others who, like us, have obeyed the gospel. As we see with Paul and Philemon, we have the opportunity to “refresh” our brothers and sisters in Christ.The concept of “refreshing” another person is helpful. Perhaps it goes without saying that we all need to be refreshed from time to time, but most of us probably underestimate the extent to which we can have this effect on others. By our words and deeds, we can energize those around us, breathing new life into them.But Paul hoped that Philemon would refresh his heart “in Christ,” i.e., as a Christian. It is certainly possible for anyone, whether a Christian or not, to have a refreshing effect on other people, but in Jesus Christ this effect is deepened in significant ways. It is only in Christ that we have the ability to be refreshing in the ways that people most seriously need refreshment. But here is the point that all of us who are Christians need to ponder: we need to see being a Christian not only in terms of what we can get (being refreshed) but also in terms of what we can give (refreshing others).When all is said and done, we will act in rightful love toward others only when we have a right relationship with God and think about His nature as we should. As someone has said, our “sociology” flows out of our “theology.” If we think there is no God at all, that will have an obvious impact on our relationships with other human beings. But even if we are believers, if our view of God is in conflict with God’s revelation of Himself in the Scriptures as a whole — for example, if it is skewed in the direction of either His judgment or His forgiveness — our relationships will be hampered by that imbalance. So here is a very practical reason for learning about God as He truly is: it is the truth about God that will enable us to be genuinely “refreshing” as Christians."There is no brotherhood of man without the fatherhood of God" (Henry Martyn Field).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WILLFUL REFUSAL TO OBEY (AUGUST 24)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/willful-refusal-obey-august-24/"For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king" (1 Samuel 15:23).IN DESCRIBING SIN, ONE OF THE MAIN ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THE BIBLE IS “REBELLION.” This gives us the picture of a subject who commits treason against his rightful king. Rather than submit to the laws of the kingdom, he rebels. Willfully and treacherously, he declares independence from the kingdom with an attitude that says, “I don’t care what the king says; I’ll do my own will.”After all our rationalizations have been refuted by the facts, this is what sin always amounts to. It is rebellion. When we sin, we willfully refuse to obey God. Paul cuts through all the nonsense of our excuses in Romans 2:5 when he says “Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”On the judgment day, there will only be two classes of people: “to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, [God] will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:7,8). If we are lost, it will not be a miscarriage of justice. “Sin is not weakness, it is not disease; it is red-handed rebellion against God” (Oswald Chambers).Even in what we know of God’s will, there is often an element of rebellion in our ignorance. As Eric Hoffer said, “Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know.” So when the Scriptures speak of “ignorance,” it is often a reference to the moral blindness that comes from refusing the light that was available to us (Romans 1:28-32; Ephesians 4:17-19). It marks a huge step in our return to God when we acknowledge that our sins against Him have been deliberate. If all we can say is, “What I did was perhaps inadvisable, but I couldn’t have done otherwise,” we’re a long way from seeing our need for forgiveness. It is only when we acknowledge that we have chosen to disobey God that we’re ready to begin thinking about repentance."That is the inner nature of sin always, willful refusal to obey God. But still men go on trying to get conviction upon sinners by telling them they sinned because they could not help it" (A. W. Tozer).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

CHRIST'S WEAPONS ARE NOT FLESHLY (AUGUST 23)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/christs-weapons-not-fleshly-august-23/"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4,5).THE STRONGHOLDS DESTROYED BY JESUS CHRIST ARE NOT MILITARY OR GOVERNMENTAL. It is true that Jesus was victorious over the Roman Empire, but His victory was not gained on 28 October 312 (when Constantine won the Battle of the Milvian Bridge) or on 24 August 410 (when the Visigoths sacked Rome). No, in fulfillment of Daniel 2:44, Jesus broke in pieces the Roman Empire (and every other earthly empire) on the morning of His resurrection — and a few weeks later on the Day of Pentecost, when the truth about salvation in His name began to transform the hearts of human beings.As Paul put it so clearly, the purpose of the gospel is not to tear down earthly tyrannies or take over the halls of worldly power. It is to “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.” And if any captives are to be taken, the gospel will “take every thought captive to obey Christ.”We do not diminish the seriousness of the struggle when we say that the war between good and evil is an ideological warfare. Ideas are powerful, and you cannot think of a serious problem in the world that is not the result of some untruth that somebody has bought into. The devil’s main weapon is the lie, and Christ’s victory over His adversary consists of putting the truth back in its rightful place. Perhaps we may put it this way: Christ does not waste time hacking at the leaves of the tree; He goes to the very root of the trouble and cuts it off. In other words, as the Great Physician, He is not primarily concerned with symptoms; He is going for the cure.This being the victory Christ came to win, He did not resort to any of the means that are needed to win a political contest. The kingdom that resulted from His victory can’t be measured by any of the criteria the world uses to judge how powerful something is. And because it is spiritual, Christ’s kingdom is not vulnerable to any of the threats that earthly kingdoms have to worry about. This kingdom doesn’t need weapons. It’s a different kind of kingdom.Girded for war, humility his mighty dress,He moves into the battle wholly weaponless.(Madeleine L'Engle)Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, EVERY TONGUE CONFESS (AUGUST 22)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/every-knee-bow-every-tongue-confess-august-22/"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).CHRIST’S HUMILIATION WAS FOLLOWED A FEW WEEKS LATER BY HIS EXALTATION. The writer of Hebrews pointed his brethren to the example of Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). This is a reference to the prophecy of David in Psalm 110:1, a prophecy alluded to several times in the New Testament and always linked to the ascension of Jesus back to heaven following His resurrection: “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19).In Philippians 2:9, Paul said that “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.” The majestic rule of Jesus as God’s Son exceeds that of any other power or authority “in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” As Jesus Himself said on the occasion when He commissioned His apostles to preach the gospel of God’s forgiveness in His name, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).Paul said that God has given this authority to His Son so that “every knee should bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” The gospel now invites us to accept our Lord’s rule voluntarily and lovingly. If we refuse to do so, the time will come when He will return and bring the history of this world to a close. At that time, the reality of His rule will be unavoidable and there will be none who do not confess the truth. But if we have not done so before that day of judgment, it will be too late for our acknowledgement to save us. In reality, Christ is the Lord. But will we accept His lordship? That is what the gospel asks us to decide."If Shakespeare should come into this room, we would all rise; but if Jesus Christ should come in, we would all kneel" (Charles Lamb).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

HUMBLING HIMSELF, HE BECAME OBEDIENT (AUGUST 21)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/humbling-himself-became-obedient-august-21/"And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8).GOD COULD NOT HAVE DIED AN ATONING DEATH FOR OUR SINS WITHOUT BECOMING A HUMAN BEING. There was only one sacrifice that could save us, and He had to take upon Himself human form in order to make that sacrifice. From our limited viewpoint, we have no idea what it cost Him to humble Himself in this way.The word “humility” is the only word that can describe it, of course, but what we know of humility in our human relationships hardly seems sufficient. When God “humbled himself” by diving into the cesspool of the human race and allowing Himself to be killed on our behalf, He engaged in an act of sacrificial service that should make any of us reluctant to say that we’ve ever really given up anything for anyone. In eternally unfathomable ways, He “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7).But it was not merely by being humble that Jesus procured our salvation — it was “by becoming obedient.” We have learned nothing of Jesus Christ and His gospel if we have not learned the necessity of obedience. Our ears are deaf if we can’t hear the courage of His submission to His Father’s will on the eve of His execution: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36). But oh, how thankful we are for His obedience. We would be lost without it, would we not? “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:8,9).In the Roman Empire, there was no more humiliating death than crucifixion. Jesus was not the only person executed by Rome in this way, but the uniqueness of His crucifixion was that the most humiliating form of death was meted out to the most powerful Being in the universe: God Himself. And if God would submit to such a thing, what are the implications for us? At the very least, it means we cannot “follow” Christ or “accept” Him without emulating His example of obedience — even when it is costly."To be like Christ. That is our goal, plain and simple. It sounds like a peaceful, relaxing, easy objective. But stop and think. He learned obedience by the things he suffered. So must we" (Charles R. Swindoll).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

HUMBLY RECEIVING THE WORD (AUGUST 20)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/humbly-receiving-word-august-20/". . . take into your souls without pride the word which, being planted there, is able to give you salvation" (James 1:21 Bible in Basic English).GOD’S WORD, COMMUNICATED TO US IN THE SCRIPTURES, IS EXTREMELY POWERFUL. But in addition to His word, God has also given us freedom. Depending on the choices we make as we respond to the Scriptures, we will become either more receptive or more resistant. So in regard to our dealings with God’s word, James uses the word “receive” — or as some other translations render it, “take into your souls” (BBE), “welcome” (NET), “accept” (NIV), etc. The NIrV aptly paraphrases the entire sentence, “Don’t be too proud to accept the word that is planted in you. It can save you.”In our approach to God, all of us are hindered by pride. It comes in such subtle shapes and sizes, we may not see it for what it is, but none of us can truthfully say we don’t have any problem with pride. And pride never presents any worse problem for us than when it hinders us from “receiving” God’s word obediently. When we study the Scriptures, if we reject what the text clearly teaches, put up our defenses, or make excuses to convince ourselves that it’s not applicable to us, then the devil need not expend any more effort trying to claim our souls. He has got us already.As we’ve already seen, whether or not we’re receptive hearers is a matter of choice. If pride is hindering our hearing, we can change that. Doing so will be hard, even with God’s help, but the first step must be our decision to heed James’ advice: “take into your souls without pride the word which, being planted there, is able to give you salvation.” God’s word does not automatically save anyone — it is “able” (that’s the word James uses) to save those willing to receive it. And ultimately, it is by our deeds that we show how receptive we’ve been. As James says, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (1:22).In these days when Bibles are so plentiful, many of us know a good many things about the Scriptures. Indeed, some of us have studied the Scriptures our whole lives. But frankly, out of all we have learned, only a fraction of that has truly been “received.” Today, let’s determine that we will not let pride keep God’s word from pricking our conscience and moving us to greater obedience."The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation" (Dwight L. Moody).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

NONE OF US HAS ANYBODY WE CAN LOOK DOWN ON (AUGUST 19)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/none-has-anybody-we-can-look-down-on-august-19/"The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector'" (Luke 18:11).OUR “FORGETTER” IS A BLESSING, BUT IT CAN ALSO BE A CURSE. Some things it is best not to forget. In the above text, for example, the Pharisee felt good when he compared himself to the tax collector. But his good feelings were ill-founded. Having forgotten the seriousness of his own sins, he had a false self-image.THE SINS WE WERE FORGIVEN OF. Gratitude for God’s grace means that we rejoice in our salvation. We do not allow our past to drown us in despair. But even so, we must not forget how indebted to God’s grace we really are. Our gratitude (and hence our joy) will always be in proportion to our remembrance of the debt that was erased (Luke 7:40-47). If we forget the sins we were forgiven of, our joy will dry up and turn into the boredom of self-satisfaction.THE SINS THAT REMAIN IN OUR LIVES. Most of us are out of touch with the amount of sin that still resides in our hearts. It may have been many years ago that we obeyed the gospel and began walking with the Lord, and we may have grown a good bit in the meantime. When we compare ourselves to others, it may seem that we are doing pretty well, but compared to the Lord, it’s obvious that we still have a long way to go. We need to be humbled by the recognition of how sinful our motives often are, even when our outward behavior meets the standards of Christian conduct.There is nothing about any of us that is not known to God. “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12,13). What if God made known to the public everything He knows about us, even the “thoughts and intentions” of our hearts? Who among us would not be disgraced and ashamed?Thanks be to God for His offer of mercy in Jesus Christ! But if we have obeyed the gospel and received that mercy, let’s be careful in our thinking. None of us has anybody we can look down on."The best of us are but poor wretches just saved from shipwreck" (George Eliot).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

IS IT POSSIBLE TO "DRIFT" AWAY FROM CHRIST? (AUGUST 18)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/possible-drift-away-from-christ-august-18/"Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:1-3).IN CHRIST, WE ARE SECURE IN HIS LOVE AND PROTECTION, BUT OUR VERY GRATITUDE FOR GOD’S GRACE CAUSES US TO BE ALL THE MORE CAREFUL TO MAINTAIN OUR SALVATION. After affirming that God’s “divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,” Peter wrote, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:3-11). Both of these points of emphasis are needed. Each makes the other more meaningful.But think carefully. After obeying the gospel, we may cease being faithful to Christ and end up being rejected by Him. But under what circumstances might that happen? Is it only open defiance and rebellion that would cause Christ to turn away from us?Most of us would say we’re “doing our best” and any problems we have are only those of “weakness.” So if we believe that a deliberate, premeditated choice to leave Christ is the only way we can be lost, most of us will overestimate our security (Revelation 3:17).But even a quick look at the Scriptures shows that there are other ways we might turn away from Christ, short of outright rebellion. One is the problem of “drift.” As Hebrews 2:1-3 warns, we will lose our salvation if we “neglect” it. The writer hoped his readers would not be “sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12). Since the way is hard (Matthew 7:14), sluggishness can be deadly.In Christ’s letters to the churches of Asia, there were warnings against a lack of love (Revelation 2:4,5), doctrinal error (2:14-16), lukewarmness (3:16), etc. If they didn’t repent, these Christians were going to be disowned by Christ. Today, we need the same message of caution. Rebellion is a temptation for all of us, no doubt, but it is not the only way we may depart from Christ. In a dangerous world, our confidence needs to be balanced with carefulness — so don’t let the devil tell you that “drift” won’t ever be a problem for you."The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance" (John Philpot Curran).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

REVERENCE VS. PICK AND CHOOSE (AUGUST 17)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/reverence-vs-pick-choose-august-17/"But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge" (James 4:11).CONFRONTED BY GOD’S LAW, THERE IS A CHOICE WE MUST MAKE BETWEEN TWO ATTITUDES. Will we submit to it (and be “under” the law) or will we pick and choose which commandments to obey (and be “above” the law)? Most people obey God’s law occasionally, if and when it suits them, but very few are willing to make an unconditional commitment to obedience and submit to the Father with a simple “not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).Those of us who live in the United States are heirs to several historical traditions, and we are often influenced by these even in our attitude toward God’s law. First, we are heirs of the democratic tradition, which today has morphed into the egalitarian idea that hierarchies (and their requirement of submission) are never anything more than a necessary evil. Rulers only rule with the consent of the governed, and only the people have the right to say what the laws are going to be. Second, we are heirs of the Enlightenment, in which human reason became the test of all knowledge. And third, we have inherited the theory of capitalism, with its modern concept of consumerism, in which the customer is always right and the market makes its money by giving him what he wants.Having breathed this atmosphere all our lives, it is hard for any of us to come to the Scriptures with a completely submissive attitude. Trained by egalitarianism, we are suspicious of the very idea of authority, and as children of the Enlightenment, we view human reason as the final judge of what is true and good. As capitalistic consumers, we simply shop the religious “marketplace” for doctrines, duties, and worship styles that please us. If there are any that don’t, we pass them by just as conveniently as we would pass by a product at Trader Joe’s that didn’t fit our lifestyle.These days, “reverence” has come to be a meaningless word. The idea that God is the sovereign Ruler of the universe — and that He has the right to govern everything about us — is hard for us to swallow. But we must rise above our culture. If God is indeed our Creator, we are not free to sit in judgment on His laws. The truth must be embraced and acted upon. Not just some of it, but all of it."If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself" (Augustine of Hippo).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

THE ESSENTIAL TRUTH ABOUT GOD'S SON (AUGUST 16)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/essential-truth-about-gods-son-august-16/"Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son" (2 John 9).THE GNOSTICS IN THE FIRST CENTURY, WHO DENIED THAT JESUS WAS GOD IN THE FLESH, PRESENTED THEIR TEACHING AS BEING MORE ADVANCED. But John was emphatic: if we leave the teaching of Christ, we do not go forward; we go backward. In fact, we separate ourselves from God. As John worded it, we do “not have God.”The “teaching of Christ” is a teaching we must “abide in” if we hope to be saved from our sins. And whatever else the teaching of Christ may include, it certainly includes the fact that He was God in the flesh. This was the principal point of dispute between the Gnostics and the apostles of Christ. The apostles were the authoritative bearers of Christ’s teaching (John 14:25,26; 15:26,27; 16:12-15), and as one of those apostles, John did not back down. Either we adhere to the teaching of Christ and His apostles concerning the miracle of His Incarnation or we have departed from God.If there is one constant in human history it is that human beings always make things more complex as time goes along. So with regard to the gospel, it should be no surprise that very soon after it began to be preached, it began to be corrupted by those who wanted to make it more advanced — supplementing it with layers of increased complexity and making it more appealing to those who would be turned off by its original message. In this world, nothing stays in its original condition for very long. The tendency to “go beyond” seems almost irresistible. But to return to our point, John, along with all of the apostles, warned that to go beyond the teaching of Christ is not to improve the gospel; it is to degrade it.“Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God.” That is one of the starkest warnings in the Scriptures. Elsewhere, John wrote, “If we reject the Son, we reject the Father” (1 John 2:23 CEV). But on the other side of this warning is a hope that is the very heart of the gospel. If we have Christ, and hold on to the truth about Him, then God is not only His Father but ours as well. It is amazing what doors truth opens.Whoever stumbles upon Christ (who is a granite stone)Lies shattered; but grasp him and be led securely home.(Angelus Silesius)Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WHAT IF WE DENY THE INCARNATION? (AUGUST 15)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/what-if-deny-incarnation-august-15/"For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist" (2 John 7).WE CANNOT ACCEPT THE GOSPEL WITHOUT EMBRACING WHAT JESUS TAUGHT ABOUT HIS BEING GOD. This may go against the modern mindset, in which there is no proposition that is not negotiable, but when it comes to the salvation of our souls, the truth about Jesus Christ is necessary. There are some facts such that if we leave them out, what we have left is not the gospel of Christ.When John wrote, probably toward the end of the first century, what would later be called Gnosticism was beginning to influence Christians. Central to this teaching was a denial of the Incarnation: God actually taking upon Himself human form in the person of Jesus (John 1:14; 5:18; 10:30; 14:7-9; 19:7). To deny this, John says, is to be a “deceiver.” That is a strong term, obviously, and John does not use it lightly. There may have been some who were sincere in their denial that Jesus was God in the flesh, but sincere or not, the effect of such teaching is always the same. If Jesus was (and is) the Son of God, to deny that fact is to be deceived — and to teach such a denial to others is to deceive people concerning the way of salvation. The consequences of doing that are frightening indeed.It is interesting how John describes this denial. He says it is a failure to “confess” the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Here, then, is a truth that must be acknowledged — at whatever cost. It is not an optional truth; it is what it is, and our choice is simply whether to confess it or not. If we deny it, it still remains true.It would be impossible to overestimate the importance of believing in the Incarnation. The entire gospel depends on it. God could not have died an atoning death for our sins if He had not become a human being who was capable of being killed. So to leave this out of our “gospel” is to drain the gospel of its main meaning.Admittedly, the idea of the Incarnation is unpopular today. It is viewed as anachronistic and unsophisticated. As were people in the first century, we might easily be drawn to a more philosophical rendition of the gospel. But an idea is not false simply because its appearance seems ungainly. Appearances can be misleading."The handsomest flower is not always the sweetest" (Old Adage).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WHICH SINS DO WE PREACH AGAINST THE MOST? (AUGUST 14)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/which-sins-preach-against-most-august-14/"For all that is in the world -- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life -- is not from the Father but is from the world" (1 John 2:16).SOME SINS OPENLY FLY THE FLAG OF CORRUPTION AND REBELLION, WHILE OTHERS DO THEIR DAMAGE MORE PRIVATELY. Sins like pride and greed, for example, are every bit as destructive as sexual immorality (if not more so), but those of us who preach don’t preach against them nearly as often. We ought to ponder why this is so.Sins come in all shapes and sizes. They are all equal in that they will separate us from God, and that fact should make us treat every sin, even the “least” of them, as a deadly serious matter. But in other ways, sins may be different. Some are oriented toward God while others are more in the direction of other people. Some we confine to our hearts while others erupt into outward action. Some have greater temporal consequences attached to them than others.Admit it or not, all of us prioritize sins. If you’re a parent, there are some sins you would be more greatly concerned about if you saw them beginning to take root in your children’s lives. Such a prioritization of sins can hardly be avoided, I think. My concern is not that we view some sins as more serious — it’s that we get our priorities from the popular culture. Our “righteous indignation” is determined not by the scale of values in the Scriptures but by the ever-changing dictums of social stigma, political correctness, and modern psychology. So the problem is not that we have a list but that our ranking of the most dangerous sins didn’t come from Jesus.Looking into our own hearts, what do we see? Whatever mistakes we might make in our concern for others, we certainly don’t want to underestimate the danger of the sins that beset us personally. So what would alarm you most if you took an honest look inside and saw different kinds of sin in your heart?In heaven there will be no marriage and in hell, no fornication. But in heaven there certainly will be love and in hell, hatred. Even now, hatred will take you closer to hell than fornication will. Sexual sin is an abomination and it will damn your soul, but if things like pride, anger, and selfishness are in your heart, you are already farther down the road to hell than if lasciviousness was your only problem."The sins of the bedroom are not the only ones. The sins of the boardroom should be just as much a matter of concern" (Richard Harries).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

GOD’S WRATH IS A PART OF HIS CHARACTER (AUGUST 13)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/gods-wrath-character-august-13/"Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God" (Romans 5:9).HAVING BEEN JUSTIFIED BY CHRIST’S BLOOD IN THE PRESENT, WE SHALL BE SAVED FROM THE WRATH OF GOD IN THE FUTURE. It’s true that salvation in Christ is a present reality (Ephesians 2:8), but Paul is speaking  in Romans 5:9 of a future event: our being spared from the judgment that is coming upon the world. In 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, Paul wrote of the time when Christ will be “revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” Until that time, we wait “for [God’s] Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).Paul is clear in Romans 5:9 that it is “by him [Jesus Christ]” that we shall be saved. In Christ, we are assured of being protected from the wrath that will be poured out on the rebellious and disobedient. But even in Christ, we must not fail to take God’s wrath seriously. There are none among us who don’t need to be warned.It is a mistake to think of God’s wrath as something that needs to be apologized for — and it is hazardous to hurry past the many Scriptures that speak of this. The devil would love for us to forget the foundational truth that Solomon learned the hard way: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13,14).Let us remember, then, that wrath is a part of God’s character. If He treated evil as a trifle to be overlooked, God would not be the perfectly good God the Scriptures reveal Him to be. I would even suggest that God’s wrath is a part of His love. Very likely, it is nothing more than our immature concept of love that sees a conflict between the punishment of evil and the blessing of righteousness."God is love, not, God is loving. God and love are synonymous. Love is not an attribute of God, it IS God; whatever God is, love is. If your conception of love does not agree with justice and judgment and purity and holiness, then your idea of love is wrong" (Oswald Chambers).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

THE VALUE OF THE GOSPEL IS IN THE RESURRECTION (AUGUST 12)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/value-gospel-resurrection-august-12/"If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied" (1 Corinthians 15:19).IT’S AN AGE-OLD QUESTION WHETHER THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL HAS TO DO WITH THIS LIFE OR THE LIFE TO COME. In our age, the emphasis is so lopsided in favor of the here and now, one hardly ever hears from the pulpit about eternity, and there are many who say that if the gospel gives us a happier life right now, the question of the afterlife doesn’t really matter that much. Paul tackled this issue in 1 Corinthians 15, and he maintained, with all the other apostles, that the resurrection of Christ, and consequently our own resurrection, is the heart of the gospel. Leave out the preaching of the resurrection, and whatever it is that you have left, it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul didn’t duck the implications of this. If it turns out that there is no resurrection, Christians are pathetic to have believed such a lie. “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”Make no mistake: there are many earthly (or “temporal”) blessings that may accompany life in Christ. Yet none of these is guaranteed to every Christian. Some of us, for example, enjoy three meals a day, but many Christians, equally faithful to the Lord, do not. The fact is, the only blessing promised by Christ to all of His faithful people is reconciliation to God — leading to eternal fellowship with Him when our earthly tribulations have been left behind.In this life, the Lord may deliver us from some of our earthly problems. He certainly is capable of doing so. But sometimes it is His wisdom to allow us to suffer hardship, as He did with Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). When we are called upon to endure, we do so with the promise that He will help us.So if we are Christians, our hopes should not be pinned on deliverance from earthly hardships. The value of the gospel does not lie in its power to remove the pains and difficulties of this life; its power is the promise of resurrection to eternal life when Christ returns (1 Peter 1:3-5,13). May God help us, against the spirit of our age, to put the emphasis where the apostles put it. May we not destroy Christianity in the process of making it “relevant.”"Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion. The concept of resurrection lies at its heart. If you remove it, Christianity is destroyed" (John R. W. Stott).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

IF GOD COMMANDS IT, WE CAN BE COURAGEOUS (AUGUST 11)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/god-commands-we-can-be-courageous-august-11/"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9).FACING THE FEARS THAT LAY AHEAD OF HIM, JOSHUA WAS TOLD TO BE “STRONG AND COURAGEOUS.” I can hardly read this text without thinking of my son Brock, whose favorite song as a child was “Dare to Stand Like Joshua.” And I suppose there are few admonitions in the Bible of more practical value than what God said to Joshua. “Be strong and courageous” is extremely good advice.But today, what I want you to pay attention to is God’s question to Joshua. Just before telling him to take courage, God said, “Have I not commanded you?” This might mean that God was commanding Joshua to be courageous, but it might have another meaning as well. The situations in which Joshua would need courage were those that he would be in as a result of carrying out God’s commands. And I believe God was saying, “Joshua, as long as you are doing what I expect of you, you need not fear. I will always give you the help you need to do what I have commanded you to do.”In one of his books, C. S. Lewis had an entire chapter called “Is Christianity Hard or Easy?” And in typical Lewis style, his answer was: it is both hard and easy, depending on how you look at it and how you go about it. But Lewis would have been the first to admit that even when it is approached in the right way, Christianity still requires some very hard things. There is no way around this fact, and ironically, we only make the Lord’s commands harder when we try to take the hardship out of them.But if doing the Lord’s will is hard, so what? If He has commanded it, then we need to be brave. There is no such thing as a command of God that is doomed to fail due to a lack of resources. He is God, and He will help us do whatever He requires us to do.So as you consider obeying the gospel, many of the what ifs will be frightful. I won’t insult you by saying that your path will be easy. But what I will do is share my own experience: if God commands it, it can be done. Our prayer is not for ease but for boldness.I do not ask to walk smooth pathsNor bear an easy load,I pray for strength and fortitudeTo climb the rock-strewn road.(Gail Brook Burket)Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

FAITH: WHAT END IS IT MEANT TO HAVE? (AUGUST 10)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/faith-what-end-meant-to-have-august-10/". . . obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:9).FAITH IS A PRINCIPLE OF SUCH IMPORTANCE, WE MIGHT HOPE THAT EVERYBODY WOULD UNDERSTAND IT. But many people do not. And one of the most misunderstood things about it is what Peter here calls the “outcome” of faith. Before we go any further, surely we can see that this point is important. If we fail to grasp what the outcome of our faith is supposed to be, we are bound to have trouble.In 1 Peter 1:9, the word translated as “outcome” by the ESV is telos, a common Greek noun which usually meant something like goal or purpose. The corresponding verb meant to set out for a particular destination or goal. Even in English, however, these words are very flexible and can have different connotations; within a single usage, they can carry more than one meaning at the same time.When Peter wrote that the “salvation of your souls” is the telos of our faith, he may have meant that heaven is the end point of our journey. Our salvation will be the culmination of our earthly sojourn. Also, he may have meant that salvation is the consequence of our faith. For some other result to be produced, a person would have to do something besides follow Christ. And lastly, he may have meant that salvation is the meaning of our faith. When we say that history is “going somewhere,” we’re stating that it has a meaning and is not purposeless. Similarly, the faith of the Christian is not random or absurd; it will have a meaningful outcome.But if you’ve read the New Testament, you know something else about heaven: it is the reason why people become Christians. At least, that is what life in Christ was about in the apostolic age. Its purpose or intended goal was not a better world in the here-and-now; it was, as Peter saw clearly, “the salvation of your souls.”Stephen R. Covey said we should “begin with the end in mind.” And the New Testament leaves absolutely no doubt: the “end” we’re trying to get to is heaven. That’s the meaning of my life, and I hope it’s yours. Any other outcome will not have been worth the journey.My life, as his,slips through death'smesh,time's bars,joins hands with heaven,speaks with stars.(Luci Shaw)Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WHAT ABOUT THE 'CHURCHES OF CHRIST'? (AUGUST 9)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/what-about-churches-of-christ-august-9/"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 1:1).WE HAVE LOOKED AT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE “TOGETHER” PART OF CHRISTIANITY. Now let’s tackle another, more specific, question: if a new convert to Christ is searching for a faithful congregation (as we talked about yesterday), one that works together and worships God in the manner revealed in the New Testament, what about the groups that call themselves “churches of Christ”? Is it, more or less, among the “churches of Christ” that a person is most likely to find the individuals who are the people of the Lord?First of all, if there is such a thing as the “churches of Christ” denomination (and unfortunately, there is), that is something I would steer you away from. The concept of denominational Christianity is foreign to the New Testament, and I share no more spiritual DNA with members of the “churches of Christ” denomination than I do with people in any other denomination (and in some cases less).But, as you may know, I worship with a group that calls itself a “church of Christ,” so let me explain. When Paul said, “All the churches of Christ greet you” (Romans 16:16), he was merely saying that those churches belonged to Christ, which the CEV makes clear: “All of Christ’s churches greet you.” Any church that follows the Lord obediently is “of” Him, but how it identifies itself to the public is a question of expediency, as long as the identification is scriptural.That said, I must be transparent. Of the congregations that I know of personally, many, if not most, of those that are faithfully following the Lord (at least in the United States) do wear the name “church of Christ,” not as a denominational label but as a generic descriptor. They just want to be congregations that are “of Christ.”So yes, by all means investigate the “churches of Christ.” But when you visit, you’ll need to look deeper than the name and ask lots of questions. Sad to say, most of the “churches of Christ” departed from the gospel long ago. That designation expresses a noble idea, but a congregation is not “of Christ” just because it says it is. As at Sardis long ago, the Lord would say to some today, “You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead” (Revelation 3:1)."The people of God wear the name of Christ because they are His people; they are not His people because they wear His name" (Robert F. Turner).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WANTING TO ASSOCIATE WITH FAITHFUL DISCIPLES (AUGUST 8)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/wanting-associate-faithful-disciples-august-8/"And when [Saul] had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples" (Acts 9:26).IN TODAY’S READING AND TOMORROW’S, I WANT TO RAISE TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS, BOTH OF WHICH HAVE TO DO WITH THE IDEA OF “CHURCH.” The first is this: when a person obeys the gospel, is it necessary to associate oneself with a congregation of Christians?I’d be less than honest if I didn’t tell you that the answer is “Yes.” As far as the New Testament goes, there is no connection to Christ available to us that does not involve responsibilities to Christ’s people (1 Corinthians 1:2; 1 John 4:20-5:2; etc.). For one thing, we will need to partake of the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week, and in the New Testament, the Lord’s Supper was a congregational activity (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34).But I must be honest with you on another point. The brief days in the New Testament when all congregations were holding to the truth of the gospel are long gone. Most churches now professing Christianity are practicing a religion that is not even a forty-second cousin to the first-century faith. So today, you will need to look carefully for a group that takes the lordship of Christ seriously.Please know that I’m willing to help you. Wherever you live, I can put you in touch with brothers and sisters who are committed to the simple, unadulterated gospel found in the New Testament. Feel free to contact me, and I will do everything I can to assist you.If you’re a new Christian looking for a faithful congregation, you may feel as if you’re looking for a needle in a haystack. It is sad but true that most churches claiming to follow Christ are not doing that — they’re following their own preferences about what “seems right” (Proverbs 14:12). But don’t give up. It took you a while to find the true Messiah, and in a confused world, it may take you a while to find the Messiah’s faithful people. Don’t be misled by the attractions of modern entertainment masquerading as religion. You are searching for the Lord’s people, so “examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21 NASB)."It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God. One can only conclude that God’s professed children are bored with him, for they must be wooed to meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of religious movies, games, and refreshments" (A. W. Tozer).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

CHRIST TO HIS PEOPLE: CONGREGATE! (AUGUST 7)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/christ-to-his-people-congregate-august-7/"For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians" (Acts 11:26).MANY THINGS ARE NOW SEEN AS UNNECESSARY (AND EVEN HARMFUL) THAT USED TO BE VIEWED AS ESSENTIAL. One of these is marriage. Chelsea Sullivan, a friend who used to manage a Starbucks in Vermont, said that when customers would hear that she was married, they would express shock and disbelief. “Yes, a committed relationship is okay, but at this date why in the world would a seemingly normal person like you want to be married?”Another now-seen-as-unnecessary concept is “church.” When “organized religion” is spoken of today, it is usually not with admiration. As with marriage, many argue that the benefits can be enjoyed without the traditional obligations. “Yes, be a believer if you wish, but why would a spiritual person want to go to church? Nowadays, being spiritual doesn’t require you to be religious.”First of all, I agree that the “institutional” concept of salvation is wrong. The church does not stand between us and God or dispense salvation on His behalf. But on the other side of the road is an equally dangerous ditch: the notion that there is no collective or “together” aspect of Christianity at all. Our vertical relationship with God is primary, but that doesn’t mean that a horizontal relationship with other Christians is merely optional. So let’s break this issue into two questions, the answer to both of which is “Yes.”(1) DOES IT MATTER IF I “GO TO CHURCH” AT ALL? You can’t read what happened in Antioch in Acts 11:19-26 and imagine those people downplaying their duties to the Lord’s church in their locality. And this is not an isolated text. The entire New Testament assumes that Christians will be members of local groups of disciples.(2) IF I GO, DOES IT MATTER WHERE I GO? In the first century, it wasn’t long before people began departing from the apostles’ teaching (1 John 2:18,19; 2 John 7-11). Today, the problem is even worse. So we need to be careful. Not every church we might check out is one the Lord would recognize as being true to Him. And studying the Scriptures is the only way to know what markers we ought to be looking for."The New Testament does not envisage solitary religion; some kind of regular assembly for worship and instruction is everywhere taken for granted in the Epistles" (C. S. Lewis).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH (AUGUST 6)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/will-build-my-church-august-6/"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).PETER HAD JUST CONFESSED THAT HE BELIEVED JESUS WAS THE MESSIAH. When Jesus had asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (v.15), Peter had spoken up and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v.16). Following Peter’s confession, Jesus said He would build His church on this “rock” — not Peter himself, but the truth confessed by Peter. This truth, that Jesus is the Son of God, is the secure foundation on which the church is built.In the New Testament, the word “church” is a translation of the Greek ekklesia, which meant an assembly or gathering. Literally, it meant a “called-out” group, a convening of people who left whatever they were doing to answer the call to come together. So in Matthew 16:18, the Lord said that He would have a group of people who would be His church, His assembly — they would be separated from the world in order to belong to Him. We read in the Book of Acts about the fulfillment of this, where after the gospel was first preached following Jesus’ resurrection, many people were baptized and began living as members of the Lord’s church (Acts 2:1-47).So the Lord did just what He promised He would do: He built His church. The very word “build” signifies solidity and permanence. The church’s foundation is the truth about Jesus — the truth that He loved us and died to forgive us so that we could become His people. And because this truth is indestructible, the church built upon it is indestructible. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Satan could not prevent God’s Son from accomplishing His mission, and he cannot destroy the church which the Son has built.We err tragically when we minimize the church and fail to appreciate it. Shame on us if we think the church is nothing more than a topic that unbalanced preachers of a bygone era felt they needed to stress. If Christ built His church, it deserves our awe. Let us not “damn with faint praise” (to use Alexander Pope’s expression) that which ought to be gloriously and joyously exalted.I love thy church, O God!Her walls before thee stand,Dear as the apple of thine eye,And graven on thy hand.(Timothy Dwight)Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD (AUGUST 5)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/household-of-god-august-5/". . . the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15).THIS MEANINGFUL PASSAGE POINTS TO THE IDENTITY OF THOSE WHO ARE CHRISTIANS. Let’s look at it phrase by phrase:HOUSEHOLD OF GOD. It is not the church building but the members of the family who make up God’s “house,” as made clear by the translation “household” in the ESV. This marvelous household is referred to elsewhere as “the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD. The church is God’s. It belongs to Him and can rightly be called “the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). The “church of God” is not a denominational name; it is simply a description of ownership.PILLAR AND BUTTRESS OF THE TRUTH. In a building, both a pillar and a buttress (“ground” in the KJV, or “support” in the NASB) serve a foundational purpose. But how does this relate to the church? It does not mean that the church is the source of the truth, for the authority of God’s truth is derived not from God’s people but from God Himself (John 17:17; James 4:12). The idea in 1 Timothy 3:15 is that the people of God exhibit the truth in a tangible way, demonstrating its power observably. The truth is not produced by the church, but the church is produced by the truth, in order “that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known” (Ephesians 3:10). As the product of God’s truth, the church shows just how true — and powerful — God’s wisdom is.Doing this is the privilege of the church, the people who, like Israel, have been redeemed from slavery (not to Pharaoh but to sin). Paul urged his brethren to live consistently with the gospel in the midst of those who are still rejecting God, “among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). And not just by their example, it is by their words that members of the “household of God” are to be “a pillar and buttress of the truth.” Paul said to the Thessalonians that “the word of the Lord sounded forth from you” (1 Thessalonians 1:8). This, then, is how God’s family “supports” the truth — by living it truly and speaking it clearly."No other organization on the face of the earth is charged with the high calling to which the church is summoned: to confront men with Jesus Christ" (J. W. Hyde).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

GRACE TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED (AUGUST 4)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/grace-help-time-need-august-4/"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).FOR THOSE WHO HAVE OBEYED THE GOSPEL, THE THRONE OF GOD SHOULD ALWAYS BE THOUGHT OF AS “THE THRONE OF GRACE.” Needing help in so many ways and wanting our obedience to Christ to be steadfast, we can’t do without the confidence of which the Hebrew writer speaks. In order to keep from faltering in our faith, we’ll need to stay close to the throne of God’s grace.It is a marvelous thing that we may have this confidence, but in Christ, that is the good news. As a gracious God, He wanted to save us from our sins, and to do so, He made a sacrifice of unimaginable love. Having done that, there is nothing else He wouldn’t do to help us, in whatever way we need Him. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).The character of God, then, is the key to the assurance of our salvation. God being who He is, we do not doubt that He desires for us to overcome every discouragement thrown at us by the enemy (1 Peter 5:8). God will give us the help we need — abundantly.The prayer at the end of Jude’s letter to his embattled brethren is appropriate to our point: “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 24,25).“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” is one of the greatest hymns ever written. In it Martin Luther powerfully captured the essence of the Christian’s faith: “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing: Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth His Name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle.” It is, after all, a battle. But we do not doubt that we will “receive mercy and find grace to help.”Beneath the shadow of Thy throne,Thy people are by faith secure;Sufficient is Thine arm aloneTo make the soul's defenses sure.(Isaac Watts)Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

AFTER BECOMING A CHRISTIAN, THEN WHAT? (AUGUST 3)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/after-becoming-christian-then-what-august-3/"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love" (Ephesians 4:15,16).THE MOMENT A PERSON PASSES FROM SPIRITUAL DEATH TO LIFE IS A GREAT MOMENT. No small part of the new Christian’s rejoicing is a sense of relief. He has escaped, by God’s grace, the greatest of enemies, and it is right to celebrate, just as it was right for Israel to celebrate when God brought them through the Red Sea and destroyed the armies of Pharaoh (Exodus 15:1-21). But after the singing died down, Israel’s question would have been, “What happens now?” It was great to be alive, but there was work to be done and a wilderness to be crossed before Canaan could be their possession. And so it is with the new Christian. The joy of deliverance is appropriately followed by the question, “What do I do now?”The new Christian needs to understand that he has embarked on a process of spiritual growth. Yes, baptism marks the end of a person’s old life, but it is the beginning of the work God intends to do to remake that person’s character and restore it to the perfect image of His Son. Many texts speak of this, but none more clearly than Ephesians 4:15,16 where Paul says that “we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”But Paul also emphasizes the importance of the church in the Christian’s life and growth. The body of Christ needs — and is needed by — every Christian. It is “joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”So to the new Christian, I say this: your relationship to God is your primary concern, and your relationship to the church is secondary. But don’t underestimate either of these parts of God’s plan. (1) Your contribution to the church won’t be what it ought to be if your individual, private walk with God isn’t rich and vibrant, but (2) your relationship to God won’t be what it ought to be if you don’t participate in the mutual strengthening that takes place in the church. There is no way around it: congregations are given for our good. They are part of God’s means of producing mature, heaven-ready individuals."Churches: Soulariums" (P. K. Thomajan).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

THE CHURCH MANIFESTS GOD’S WISDOM (AUGUST 2)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/church-manifests-gods-wisdom-august-2/". . . so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 3:10).IF GOD’S GLORY IS SEEN IN THE HEAVENS, HIS WISDOM IS SEEN IN THE CHURCH. And as Paul points out, it is not just to human beings that the church reveals God’s wisdom; it is also “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” To every being God ever created, even in the heavenly realms, the church stands as an exhibition of just how wise the Creator (and Redeemer) truly is.THE PLAN OF SALVATION. When we see how God worked out His plan to save us, we stand amazed at the wisdom of it all. None of it happened by accident. Every bit of it was “according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v.11).THE LOCAL CHURCH. The design of the local church reflects God’s wisdom. The very idea that there needed to be such a thing as the local church was so wise that only God could have thought of it.Incidentally, one of the most striking things about the church in the New Testament is its simplicity. Universally, it consisted of all of God’s saved people, with Christ as their head (Ephesians 1:22,23). And locally, it was simply the saints in a particular area, led by bishops and served by deacons (Philippians 1:1). There was no ecclesiastical hierarchy that stood between Christ and the local church: no pope, no collegium of cardinals, no denominational structure — in fact, nothing like the complex religious machinery of today.The wisdom manifested in the church as God created it will not always seem wise to the world. As Joe Fitch observed one time, God created the buzzard as well as the bald eagle, and neither reflects the glory and wisdom of God any more than the other. It is only the wisdom of the world that would turn all buzzards into eagles. And so it is with the church. There are some things about God’s plan for the church that to our “common sense” seem unworkable, but those things reflect the “manifold wisdom of God” just as much, if not more so, than the parts we happen to like. Let us beware of trying to create the church along the lines of our own wisdom. It was meant to reflect God’s wisdom, not ours."The whole history of the world is discovered to be but a contest between the wisdom of God and the cunning of Satan and fallen men. The outcome of the contest is not in doubt" (A. W. Tozer).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

CHRIST'S AMBASSADORS (AUGUST 1)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/christs-ambassadors-august-1/"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20).SPEAKING AS ONE OF THE APOSTLES, PAUL SAID, “WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST.” This is a statement worth contemplating.An ambassador is an authoritative spokesman for a government. When he speaks for the government that is behind him, his words carry the full weight of the government itself. In this way, the apostles were Christ’s ambassadors, commissioned to speak with His full authority as the foundation of the church was being laid (Ephesians 2:20). If you had heard an apostle present the gospel, there would have been no need to worry whether he got it exactly right. When the apostles spoke, it was as if Christ Himself were speaking, and they had the credentials to prove their ambassadorship: the “signs of a true apostle” (2 Corinthians 12:12).So where does that leave us today? The apostles are dead, and Christ never said anything about a chain of apostolic succession. In the most important sense, however, we still have the apostles — we have their teaching in the New Testament. And that teaching is what everything must be measured against (Galatians 1:8,9).But, someone says, aren’t all Christians ambassadors for Christ? Perhaps we could say so in a very general sense (just as we could say that every American is an “ambassador” of the United States when he travels, expected to represent his country well). But in an age when people tend to think there is nothing to the gospel except each person’s individual opinion, we need to keep the emphasis on the authoritative statement of the gospel by those who were, in the truest sense, the ambassadors of Christ.Today, we would not be able to know anything definitive about salvation from sin if Christ had not made arrangements for there to be an authoritative deposit of the gospel in the writings of the apostles. So if someone tries to teach you and he says he’s an “ambassador” of Christ, be sure to test the conclusions his study has led him to against the teaching of Christ’s emissaries, the apostles. But if you are satisfied that what you have heard is, in fact, the gospel, then by all means obey it. Accept God’s offer. Do not turn it down!"The gospel is not so much a demand as it is an offer, an offer of new life to man by the grace of God" (E. Stanley Jones).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

ISRAEL'S DAY OF ATONEMENT (JULY 31)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/israels-day-atonement-july-31/"Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement" (Leviticus 23:27).ONCE A YEAR, THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL WERE TO OBSERVE A “DAY OF ATONEMENT.” The Lord required them to make special sacrifices for sin on this day, and on this day only, once a year, the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle with the blood of the sacrifices. All of the observances on this most special day of the year were detailed in Leviticus 16:1-34 and 23:26-32.On this day, a day when Israel was vividly reminded of the seriousness of sin, the Lord said, “you shall afflict yourselves” (Leviticus 23:27 ESV). The Hebrew word translated “afflict” denotes various forms of self-denial. The NIV renders it “deny yourselves” and the NASB, “humble yourselves.” (See its use also in texts like Psalm 35:13 and Isaiah 58:3.) The most usual form of this self-denial would be fasting, of course, but it might involve other forms of abstinence that would reflect a deeply humble and penitent frame of mind. However much Israel might rejoice in the Lord’s salvation and be grateful for His blessings, on this day each year they were to ponder the seriousness of sin and afflict their souls.The blood of the animals that were sacrificed on the Day of Atonement could not by themselves provide the forgiveness of sins. That would require nothing less than the perfect sacrifice of God’s own Son, a sacrifice that would reach back to provide their forgiveness just as it reaches forward to provide ours today.The writer of Hebrews says, “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:24-26).Israel was fortunate to have such a stark reminder of the price of sin’s atonement. And today, we lose much of the depth that should characterize our godliness if we never think of sin except to say, “Sin? It’s no big deal. God’s grace has got me covered.”"One reason sin flourishes is that it is treated like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake" (Billy Sunday).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

LOVE’S FIRE (JULY 30)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/loves-fire-july-30/". . . for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised" (Song of Solomon 8:6,7).JESUS SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES, “IF YOU LOVE ME, YOU WILL KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS” (JOHN 14:15). This is not only a requirement that those who love Jesus must keep His commandments; it is a statement of result, i.e., what will happen if we do, in fact, love Him. The doing of Jesus’ will flows naturally from a heart that loves Him.In a perfectly healthy spiritual state, our actions toward God would be moved by a beautiful blend of various motives. None of these motives would be insignificant or inappropriate. Yet while there are other honorable motives for doing God’s will, most people would agree that love is the highest. No motive is more noble.But we can just as easily say that love is the most powerful motive in our relationship to God. It is no wonder that the poets have always compared love to fire. As Solomon described it, love’s “flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.” If you’re not a poet but an accountant or an engineer, you might prefer that Solomon had just said, “Love is very powerful.” But Solomon knew, personally as well as poetically, the fire of love’s power. (Tragically, he also knew how destructive that fire can be when it’s not rightly governed.) There is simply no force in the world more potent than love — and when love is a holy passion for God, it is a force that will move us to do what is right with fiery energy. “Love in its essence is spiritual fire” (Emanuel Swedenborg).As we reflect on obeying the gospel, we would do well to ponder what it is that we most truly love. Perhaps we love God sincerely but have been ill-informed on what the Scriptures teach about how one becomes a Christian. If so, we need to act on our new knowledge — and then continue learning to love God more deeply. But maybe our lives are in the sad shape they’re in right now because, in all honesty, the love of God has not been our primary passion. If that be the case, it’s urgent that we learn to love God. If not, the lesser things we love more than Him will be the death of us."We are shaped and fashioned by what we love" (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

ONCE SAVED, IS IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO BE LOST? (JULY 29)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/once-saved-possible-lost-july-29/"For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them" (2 Peter 2:20,21).PETER’S WORDS INDICATE THAT IT IS INDEED POSSIBLE FOR A SAVED PERSON TO RETURN TO A LOST CONDITION. In fact, he says that “the last state has become worse for them than the first.” Despite what the Calvinistic “once-saved-always-saved” doctrine teaches, it is necessary for those who have obeyed the gospel to remain faithful to Christ — or they will forfeit their eternal salvation.It is sometimes argued that if a person appears to fall away from the faith, he or she was never really saved in the first place. But this won’t work. There are too many texts in the Scriptures where people who were in a saved relationship with the Lord either apostatized or were warned against doing so.We might think of Simon the Magician (Acts 8:9-24), the heresy in Galatia (1:6-9), the exhortations in Hebrews (3:6,12-14; 4:1,11; 6:11,12; 10:23,29,35-39; 12:1; etc.), Peter’s concern for his brethren (2 Peter 1:5-15; 3:17,18), or Paul’s warnings while in Ephesus (Acts 20:31) — and these are just a sample. It cannot be said that these warnings against apostasy were not really warnings or that the people they were addressed to were not in a saved relationship with Christ. The scriptural evidence is clear: after being saved from our sins, we will return to being lost if we do not remain faithful to Christ.It is no wonder, then, that we see so many exhortations in the Scriptures to keep the faith. These warnings are greatly needed. We should not be doubtful about our salvation, but as long as Satan is still in business, we can’t afford to be complacent (1 Peter 5:8-11).As you can see, the bottom line is freedom of the will. We are free to choose whether we’ll obey the gospel. But freedom doesn’t stop there. Having obeyed the gospel, we are free to remain saved or change our minds and go back to being lost. When He saves us, God does not take away our freedom — or its consequences."Freedom of the will means that all who have the capacity to exercise their will freely are responsible for the decisions they make and the consequences that arise from those decisions" (David McClister).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

THERE AROSE ANOTHER GENERATION (JULY 28)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/arose-another-generation-july-28/". . . there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel" (Judges 2:10).THE LAND OF CANAAN FINALLY HAVING BEEN GIVEN TO ISRAEL, THEY ENTERED UPON A TIME OF PEACE. “The people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel” (Judges 2:6,7). But then the text says, “All that generation . . . were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel” (v.10). Once the struggles were over, it did not take many generations before God was forgotten.Despite the numerous negative aspects of “warfare,” spiritual as well as physical, it is a fact that strength, not to mention gratitude, is generally built up through struggle and testing. (If you think danger is never one of the “good and perfect gifts” that might come from God, meditate on Judges 3:1-4 for a while.)As far as our dealings with God are concerned, there are many kinds of ease that tend to weaken us spiritually. If there was no more contending for the faith that needed to be done (Jude 3), no more hard work for others’ benefit (2 Corinthians 12:15), no more cost to our discipleship (Luke 14:28), and no more cross to be borne (Mark 8:34), we would be foolish to think that a generation would not arise that “did not know the Lord.” No age, including our own, has ever been exempt from the law of spiritual entropy.I fear that the very fact of social acceptability has hurt the Lord’s people in countries where “Christianity” is the predominant religion. Couple that with the affluence, ease, and comfort that many of us have gotten used to, and the mixture is a lethal cocktail. This essay is not a recommendation for seeing how hard we can make our lives. It is intended to be a warning: we are never in greater peril than when the war is over and peace has broken out."Events and circumstances awaken our religion, as though there were no need to pray to God except in illness and sorrow. As soon as affairs take a turn for the better and the danger is past, our devotion vanishes; the most we think of doing is to thank God for the successful end of our troubles; after a short act of gratitude we forget him and think of nothing but our pleasures" (Jean Nicolas Grou).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

DELIVERED BY A STRONG HAND (JULY 27)View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/delivered-by-strong-hand-july-27/"They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand" (Nehemiah 1:10).THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM OF WHOM NEHEMIAH SPOKE HAD BEEN DELIVERED FROM THEIR CAPTIVITY IN BABYLON. But this deliverance, as great as it was, foreshadowed a much greater deliverance: the redemption of the human race from slavery to sin.To “redeem” is to rescue someone from a plight in which they are helpless to deliver themselves. In Nehemiah’s day, the Jewish exiles who had returned to Jerusalem had been able to do so only because God made it possible. So Nehemiah could pray to God, “They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed.”When it comes to the matter of our sins against God, none of us can deliver ourselves from the consequences of those sins. No amount of moral effort would ever be enough to restore the innocence we had before we sinned. Our efforts are good as far as they go, but a whole lifetime of self-improvement would not be enough. Our sins have alienated us from our Creator, and that alienation is a wide gulf we are simply not able to bridge by our own diligence.But just as it was by God’s “great power” and “strong hand” that the Jews were delivered from Babylon, the same strength is sufficient to bring us out from the captivity of sin and death. Indeed, the power required to deal with sin is greater than what was needed to release the Jews from Babylon. In both cases, however, it is God’s power. He is our Deliverer just as much as He is our Creator.So heaven will not be for those who have earned it by their own success in being good people; it will be for those who have been rescued by the Great Redeemer. Will we accept this rescue or reject it? Answering that question is the most crucial challenge we will ever face in our passage through this world. But we need not make it harder than it is. Jesus waits eagerly to welcome us to His forgiveness. He is not looking for perfect people. He is looking for sinful people humble enough to see how much they need His forgiveness."If I had the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of John, the meekness of Moses, the strength of Samson, the obedience of Abraham, the compassion of Joseph, the tears of Jeremiah, the poetic skill of David, the prophetic voice of Elijah, the courage of Daniel, the greatness of John the Baptist, the endurance and love of Paul, I would still need redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of sin" (R. L. Wheeler).Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.comFor more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com