Obeying the Gospel

That Where I Am You May Be Also (June 19)

THAT WHERE I AM YOU MAY BE ALSO (JUNE 19) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/where-i-am-you-may-be-also-june-19/ "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also" (John 14:1-3). IT IS EXTREMELY ENCOURAGING FOR US TO READ OF THE DEPTH OF JESUS’ CONCERN FOR HIS DISCIPLES. As He came down to the bitter end of His life, even on the night before He knew He would be crucified the next day, His concern was for them — to comfort them, reassure them, and establish hope in their hearts. In the Gospel of John, we hear Him saying, “You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22). And, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (16:33). So in our text in John 14:1, we find the familiar words, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” But what idea did He want them to be encouraged by? He wanted them to keep in mind that, although He would be leaving, He would come back and take them to His eternal abode. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (v.3). This is the hope that lies at the heart of the gospel of Christ. Having responded obediently to the gospel and been reconciled to God, we can anticipate the time when our Lord will return for us. And when He does, He will take us to be with Him forevermore. Whatever imagery may be used to portray eternity with God, this should be the aspect of it that moves us most deeply: we will be with God. Having lived all our lives in this broken world, frustrated by our inability to have direct, face-to-face access to our Father, imagine what it will be like to actually be with Him! To be with God where He is, of course, will require the removal of the imperfections that remain within us at present: the sinful attitudes, ungodly habits, and broken relationships. We will need to be, as one of my favorite songs says, “mended and whole.” But therein will lie the joy of heaven. Our relationship with God, our Heavenly Father, will have been perfected — and sin will no longer interfere with the exchange of love between us and Him! "Where imperfection ceaseth, heaven begins" (Philip James Bailey). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

A Powerful Clue to God’s Nature (June 18)

A POWERFUL CLUE TO GOD'S NATURE (JUNE 18) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/powerful-clue-gods-nature-june-18/ ". . . as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man" (Acts 17:28,29). THE WORLD WE LIVE IN IS FULL OF WONDERS. It is, as Tolkien said, “full of strange creatures beyond count.” But surely, the strangest of these by far is the human race. Human beings are so different from any of the other creatures, the more we learn about our human qualities, the more we see just how wide the gap is. (If you want to read a book that will make you think, get a copy of Mortimer J. Adler’s The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makes.) In Acts 17:28,29, Paul pointed out that the personal nature we know we possess is a clue to the nature of God. The Greek poets had acknowledged that we are the “offspring” of God. If that’s true, Paul argued, how can we think God is any less personal than we are? He was right. If we have personal minds, those minds can’t be explained by impersonal forces. Even if our physical brains could have evolved, what scientists call the “mind” is a phenomenon the brain simply cannot produce by itself. Today, neuroscience believes it is making progress in explaining human consciousness in completely naturalistic, biological terms. We are told that it’s only a matter of time before science discovers how the physical brain produces the “mind.” But honestly, the campaign promises of that bold project will be hard to fulfill. Human “personhood” is very familiar to us (it may be hard to define, but we know it when we see it), and it can’t be explained from below itself — its origin can only be from above itself. The non-personal could never have produced the personal, no matter how many trillions of years it had to work with. And our physical brains can never be, all by themselves, the generative source of our rational thought and free will. In our heart of hearts, we know this. We know that what we are can only be explained by the creative act of a Personal Being who had the power to make us in His image. "I can't understand man, Agnos, without invoking the transcendent, the supernatural, the immaterial . . . Augustine once confessed, 'The manner in which the spirit is united to the body cannot be understood by man, but it is the essence of man.' Even with theism man remains a puzzle, but to me the puzzle is augmented geometrically if theism is false" (Arlie J. Hoover). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

Letting the Scriptures Decide (June 17)

LETTING THE SCRIPTURES DECIDE (JUNE 17) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/letting-scriptures-decide-june-17/ "And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures" (Acts 17:2). IN THE TEXT ABOVE, NOTICE THE STANDARD OF AUTHORITY TO WHICH PAUL APPEALED. With the task of convincing a Jewish audience that Jesus’ claims were true, he “reasoned with them from the Scriptures.” If Jesus was the promised Messiah, everything about Him would match up with the portrait of the Messiah in the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures. And if the case for Jesus could not be made from the Scriptures, it would be reasonable for Paul’s Jewish hearers, and everyone else, to reject the gospel. The Scriptures are our only worthy standard. Having originated in the mind of God (John 5:39; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:20,21), the Scriptures are able to make us “wise for salvation” (2 Timothy 3:15). To say that they are dependable is a considerable understatement. Jesus went so far as to say, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). So these writings are no ordinary documents. To disregard the authority with which God speaks to us in the Scriptures is to do a very foolish thing. In all the great issues of life, it is the standard of the Scriptures that must govern us. When we are considering controversial matters, it is hard to keep our feelings from influencing our decisions. When I served on the jury for a very sensitive child molestation trial many years ago, I well remember the judge’s instructions to the jury: “Your decision should be based solely on the evidence, not on your feelings, preferences, or personal opinions.” She was right. And when it comes to questions about our relationship to God, it is even more important to have an objective standard by which to measure. At this point in history, however, few people believe there is any objective standard by which we can navigate. Most people assume that personal feelings and experience are the “voice of God” within them. But God has not left us to the chaos of such subjective uncertainty, and His servant David was on the right track long ago. “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7). "We must guard against grounding our spiritual commitment on the quicksands of fluctuating experiences. Experience . . . must be constantly tested and verified by the objective truths of the Word of God" (Erwin W. Lutzer). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

Different Soils, Different Hearers (June 16)

DIFFERENT SOILS, DIFFERENT HEARERS (JUNE 16) View on Website -- https://wordpoints./different-soils-different-hearers-june-16/ "Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them" (Matthew 13:5-7). IN THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER, JESUS MADE THE POINT THAT THOSE WHO HEAR THE GOSPEL DON’T ALL HAVE THE SAME KIND OF HEART. He used the analogy of four different kinds of soil — just as the seed sown by a farmer doesn’t always fall on productive soil, the gospel doesn’t always fall into receptive hearts. (1) ALONG THE PATH (VV.4,19). Some seed is picked up by the birds and never germinates at all. This is the person whose lack of interest in understanding the truth gives it no chance to affect him. (2) ROCKY GROUND (VV.5,6,20,21). Some seed falls into soil that is shallow, resulting in short-rooted plants that die when the sun gets hot. This is the person who is not a commitment keeper, so when it comes to the gospel, he can’t be counted on to remain steadfast. Hardship causes him to change his mind about the Lord. (3) AMONG THE THORNS (VV.7,22). Some seed sprouts but the plants are choked by thorns. “The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (v.22). (4) GOOD SOIL (VV.8,23). Other seed, however, falls into fertile ground. It germinates, grows, and produces a crop. In Luke’s account, Jesus said this soil is like those who “hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). This kind of hearer is obviously the one Jesus sought, and He often found such hearers in unlikely places. But how often do we, when we think of the Parable of the Sower, raise the question of our own receptivity to God’s word? It may be that for all our talk about the need for honesty and courage, we ourselves do not bow before the truth as receptively as we should. To be frank, it is a rare human being who is willing to follow the truth wherever it goes (and sadly, we preachers are often the least willing). Today, as we contemplate obeying the gospel, let’s challenge ourselves. God does not decide what kind of heart we have; we decide. So let’s make the decision a good one. "A sound head, an honest heart, and an humble spirit are the three best guides through time and to eternity" (Sir Walter Scott). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

An Insurmountable Objection (June 15)

AN INSURMOUNTABLE OBJECTION (JUNE 15) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/insurmountable-objection-june-15/ "Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, 'We will hear you again about this'" (Acts 17:32). THERE IS NO PROPOSITION SO COMPELLING THAT EVERYONE ACCEPTS IT. No matter what is affirmed, some objection or other is always possible. So with any idea, the question is not whether anyone can come up with objections but whether those objections are valid. Taking an opinion poll won’t help us much either. Regardless of which way the opinions of the majority may be running, the only question worth asking is always: is this idea true? In Acts 17, when Paul was asked to speak to a group of philosophers in Athens about Jesus Christ, he first talked about the nature of God. But as his argument progressed, he came to Jesus’ resurrection. At this point, “some mocked,” while others said, “We will hear you again about this.” They all heard the same words — but the response of the audience was a split decision. In the end, the gospel was not received as obediently in Athens as it was elsewhere, and perhaps that is not surprising. But Paul’s preaching was acted on affirmatively by some who heard it: “some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them” (v.34). Today, we could make a long list of objections that people offer to the resurrection of Christ. Some of these are based on misunderstandings which can be cleared up, while others come from a lack of acquaintance with the evidence. But there is one objection that can’t be overcome by supplying additional evidence: the belief that the resurrection cannot have taken place. If a person approaches the question maintaining that such a thing is inherently impossible, he will not believe it no matter how much evidence there is. So when it comes to miracles, and especially the resurrection, our presuppositions are crucial. In an age of astonishing discoveries, haven’t we learned to use the word “impossible” very sparingly? It is a strange world, is it not? Let us, then, be open-minded enough to admit the possibility that the resurrection could have happened — and then have the courage to assess the historical evidence fairly. "If anything extraordinary seems to have happened, we can always say that we have been the victims of an illusion. If we hold a philosophy which excludes the supernatural, this is what we always shall say" (C. S. Lewis). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com