Tag: Jesus

Is the Sermon on the Mount for Christians Today?

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life2 Comments

By Jason Smith

Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch, 1877 (Wikimedia Commons)
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24, ESV)

With these words, Jesus concluded His world famous discourse found in the Gospel of Matthew, now called the Sermon on the Mount.[1]

It’s hard to overstate the impact this sermon has had on the church throughout history. Augustine called it “a perfect standard of the Christian life.”[2] Others have devoted their whole lives to searching out its meaning and understanding its application for today. Regarding the Sermon on the Mount, biblical scholar R. Kent Hughes has said, “Every phrase can bear exhaustive exposition and yet never be completely plumbed.”[3]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor who resisted Hitler’s tyrannical rule, based his famous work The Cost of Discipleship on this power-packed sermon. The Sermon is all about what it means to enter the Kingdom of God. It’s an explication of what it means to live your life under God’s rule.

It has even influenced non-Christians, such as Gandhi who came to revere (but not worship) Jesus because of His words spoken here in Matthew 5-7. Nietzsche hated it. He said that the Sermon captures the “slave morality” of Christianity. Apparently, he wasn’t a big fan of loving your enemies. But to be fair to Nietzsche, Jesus’s words here are pretty shocking to all of us, and so we all naturally resist them. Here are some statements found in the Sermon:

“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” (Matthew 5:29, NIV)
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14, NIV)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:38-45, NIV)

Again, these words come from the lips of the Lord Jesus Himself. The fact that He, the incarnate Son of God, lived out this ethic is incredible, but that doesn’t make them easy to obey. If we really take them seriously, they are indeed jarring.

There are some Christians who have softened the blow by arguing that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount as a lofty ideal, a virtually impossible ethic that was only for the spiritual elite.[4] Others have proposed that the Sermon on the Mount was only for the old covenant Jew or for the age to come when Christ’s kingdom is fully consummated.[5] For many reasons, I cannot accept that interpretation.

For instance, in this very sermon, Jesus taught His followers to pray for the kingdom’s arrival: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10, ESV). So how could this sermon be addressing a future era and not today?

Those who claim this ethic is too lofty for the Christian today are forgetting that we now have the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts and lives. In fact, it’s worth comparing all that Jesus calls His followers to in the Sermon on the Mount with the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” I would also add humility, a trait implied in all of these and one which Paul commonly lists elsewhere (see Ephesians 4:2; Philippians 2:3; Colossians 3:12).

I’m not arguing for Christian perfectionism. But like Paul I believe we are to strive for holiness through God’s empowering grace. “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3:12, NIV).

Those who claim that the Sermon on the Mount doesn’t apply to today’s world remind me of something G. K. Chesterton said: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”[6] Followers of Jesus should never avoid the difficult passages in Scripture. They are there for a reason.

Without a doubt, Jesus has set a high goal for us to aim at. To claim that the Sermon on the Mount’s ethic is too lofty to attain may sound humble. But ultimately such a response ignores what Jesus later told His disciples: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15, NASB). He also ended His sermon by saying, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24, ESV).

Jesus is our King today, not merely in the future. And this is His kingly address to us. If we consider ourselves followers of King Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount isn’t an optional add-on. It is something we need to read, cherish, and obey now more than ever. Why don’t you read through Matthew 5-7 right now? It might just change your life.

[1] Matthew 5-7. Portions of the sermon are restated in Luke 6:20-49.

[2] Quoted in Philip Schaff, NPNF1-06. St. Augustine: Sermon on the Mount; Harmony of the Gospels; Homilies on the Gospels, Chapter 1.

[3] The Sermon on the Mount, R. Kent Hughes, 14.

[4] This was Thomas Aquinas’s view. See Charles Quarles, The Sermon on the Mount: Restoring Christ’s Message to the Modern Church, Kindle edition.

[5] For instance, Lewis Sperry Chafer said, “As a rule of life, it is addressed to the Jew before the cross and to the Jew in the coming kingdom, and is therefore not now in effect.” L. S. Chafer, Systematic Theology (Dallas: Dallas Theological Seminary, 1948), 5:97.

[6] G. K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong with the World.

Spirit-Empowered Relationships

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional1 Comment

By Jason Smith

Photo from Shutterstock
"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:3)

Several years ago, a friend of mine told me about how another friend had betrayed his confidence by sharing sensitive information with others. Apparently, this person had even made light of something that had caused my friend a great deal of pain. This caused a rift in their relationship that wasn’t quickly healed.

Former NFL defensive linemen and motivational speaker Joe Ehrmann has talked about how men who are constantly competing and comparing themselves to others can end up feeling very isolated. And with the rise of social media, “friend” has become a verb, but studies have pointed out that it’s becoming increasingly common for men over 30 to have no authentic friends.[1]  

Friendships are precious things. Sadly, most of us don’t take stock of how incredibly valuable genuine friendships are to our overall well-being. However, friendships are also very fragile. They can break if we aren’t careful with them. As my friend Jamie has put it, “The thing about relationships is that my brokenness inevitably bumps up against your brokenness.” You don’t have to live long before you realize that people will let you down. Imperfect people are just that – imperfect. So we need help in our relationships.

The Primary Cause of Relational Conflict

Very often, when a married couple is having issues one spouse will point out all the ways that the other spouse is failing them. The problem, it is said, is that their spouse is too selfish. Of course, what such a person often ignores is that their spouse is usually saying the same thing. Both spouses believe the other is being selfish!

The Bible actually agrees that this is the primary cause of relational conflicts. The problem in each of our hearts is this desire to have our own way. This desire is at the root of every conflict from the minor quarrel to the violent attack.

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.” (James 4:1-2, NIV)

If relational conflict stems from the desires battling within, then we have to ask ourselves, “How can I change in this area of relationships?” We all know intuitively that humble and selfless people tend to have more fruitful and thriving relationships. Their personalities are so attractive because they are not so self-consumed.

The good news is that Jesus has not left us alone to navigate the rough terrain of human relationships.

Love: The Missing Ingredient

We talk a lot about love in our culture, but I often wonder if we really know what it is. Love isn’t merely an emotion or feelings of attraction. It is a conscious act of the will, where we go out and meet the needs of others. When God loved us, the Bible said that He showed it, not by merely talking about warm feelings, but by meeting our greatest need through real sacrifice, as when Jesus went to the cross.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10, NIV)

Jesus called His followers to love one another. This kind of love needed to be visible and show up in how we treat one another. It’s what would draw the world to His message of forgiveness. When we as Christians fail to love one another, we are acting no better than the world and implying that we have nothing better to offer.

But gritting our teeth and trying with all our might to work up love in our hearts will never work. It’s something that the Spirit of God has to work in your life. “The fruit of the Spirit is love” (Galatians 5:22).

So How Do I Change?

I have a tan sweater hanging in my closet that I really like. I have worn it on many occasions. I even wore it on several dates when my wife, Whitney, and I just started dating. I have many fond memories while wearing that sweater.

There’s just one problem. Whitney thinks it looks atrocious on me – something about it clashing with my skin tone. She’s had to remind me of this fact on numerous occasions. It’s in my closet right now, but she would rather I get rid of it. For some reason, I just have trouble parting with that beloved sweater.

Why do I bring this up? Because taking off and putting on clothing is the metaphor the Apostle Paul uses when he describes how we change in our relationships in Colossians 3:

“But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Colossians 3:8-10, NIV)

Notice Paul says our old habits of relational dysfunction (anger, malice, slander, and filthy language) belong to our old self. And he doesn’t say, “You need to take the old self off.” He says, “You already have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self.” In other places, we learn that our old self “died” and has been “crucified with Christ” (Romans 6:6-8; Galatians 2:20). When you come to Christ, you are given a whole new identity – a “new self.” Or to keep in step with Paul’s clothing metaphor, we don’t just need to get our old clothing resized or patched up. We need a whole new set of clothing, which is really the righteousness of Christ.

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.” (Isaiah 61:10, ESV)

To go back to behaving like our “old self” in our relationships is to contradict the change that has taken place in us. It’s like me putting on that old sweater that shouldn’t even be in my closet. Instead, we need to embrace the new clothing meant to replace the old ones.

But Paul’s point is that this can only happen through saturating our hearts and minds with the gospel and letting “the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15-16). The God of love comes inside so that we can extend that love to others.

The Spirit Makes the Difference

It’s not that we need to produce this love in our hearts by our own willpower. Instead, we need to yield to what Christ is already doing in us by the Holy Spirit. Many people look for evidence of the Holy Spirit chiefly in external signs, but the most definitive evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power is a radically transformed character. In other words, you know the Holy Spirit is dwelling within you if your life starts to match Paul’s description.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:12-14, NIV)

Again, notice this is all about our relationships with others: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. As forgiven people, we are now empowered to forgive those who wrong us. Paul says, “Because you are God’s chosen people, holy, and loved, you need to dress like it.” Christians need to adorn themselves with the traits that match who they really are now. We need to be on Earth who we already are in Heaven.[2] When we do that, our relationships will take on a radically different shape.

The final overcoat that binds these all together is love (v. 14). When we are yielding to the Holy Spirit and His power, love will be the hallmark our lives. We will care more about the unity that glorifies God than satisfying our own self-centered desires. And differing personal preferences and opinions won’t have to divide followers of the same Lord.[3] Spirit-empowered relationships make unity in the church possible. They are also what will draw those outside the church to Jesus Christ.

[1] See Mark Gaisford, “Why do many middle-aged men like me have absolutely NO FRIENDS – and what toll does it take on our health?” The Daily Mail. ; https://www.huffpost.com/entry/men-friendship-crisis_l_5dbc9aa7e4b0576b62a1e90f ; https://www.menshealth.com/uk/mental-strength/a759609/the-truth-about-male-loneliness/

[2] See Colossians 3:1-4.

[3] See Ephesians 4:1-6.

Wired for Community

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life2 Comments
Photo by FreePik

From the moment we emerge from our mother’s womb, we crave closeness and connection. New mothers are encouraged to practice skin-to-skin contact to bond with their babies. Have you ever wondered why a baby’s head smells so good? It’s because God designed their scent glands to secrete pheromones which actually make their perspiration smell sweet.[1] Everything about our physiology seems to point to this need for community. Through eye contact, we connect. Through a hug, we comfort. Through body language, we convey emotions.

Humans naturally long to be with other humans. When we are left in isolation, we quite literally start to go insane. Just watch the film Castaway, where Tom Hanks’ character is stranded on a desert island and forced to befriend a volleyball named “Wilson.” Sure, there are days where we tell ourselves, “Life would be great, if it weren’t for other people.” But like it or not, at the end of the day, we crave human contact.

This has everything to do with how God originally wired us. We were created in the image of a personal God of community. He has eternally existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In other words, God is by nature a God of relationships. That’s why God said “it is not good that the man should be alone” when He made us to reflect His nature (Genesis 2:18). From the very beginning, we were wired for community!

Many today will ask the question, “Why should I bother with the church anyway?” Perhaps, you can relate to this question. Maybe you were hurt by others in a church, and you feel church is not worth the effort or the risk of being hurt again. After all, they reason, I can have a relationship with God without being part of a church.

It’s this sentiment that has led to the mantra we often hear: “I’m spiritual, but not religious.” Although I have an idea of where this statement comes from, that response has always somewhat bothered me. There seems to be a whole bundle of worldview assumptions buried in that simple declaration. The worst part about this is that it seems to draw a solid black line between that which is spiritual and that which is religious (or even church-related). Such a dichotomy seems to fly in the face of so much of what I know personally and what I see in Scripture.

Is it true that we can have a relationship with God without being involved in a church? The answer, according to Scripture, is that at the moment we come to Jesus Christ in repentant faith, we are indeed reconciled to our Creator. We don’t need the church or a leader in the church to establish our conversion; that’s something God alone can accomplish. So the answer to the question above is “yes,” but it is a qualified “yes.”

Here’s what I mean. To be in a relationship with someone implies that you are living with that person — not merely speaking to that person, but also listening to that person. And God, in His Word, has a lot to say about the great importance of regularly gathering with a local church.

For example: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25, NIV). So, for the Christian, “meeting together” should be a regular, consistent part of our life. In fact, the emphasis on “encouraging one another,” implies that we will benefit spiritually as we meet together in the context of the local church.

In the past year, with the spread of COVID-19, this has taken a different shape for many who cannot meet for various reasons. Either way, meeting together should be the norm for the church – barring exceptional circumstances. In this past year, many have found ways to “meet” or interact online. Would Paul have this in mind as a form of gathering? Since he lived in the first century, not the twenty-first, the answer is clearly “No.”

Technology has its limitations, and I don’t think it’s an ideal permanent substitution for the vast majority of Christians who can meet together. But even if it’s not the ideal, at least it allows believers to study God’s Word together, pray for each other’s needs, and talk with one another. Several people have told me how grateful they are that our church has online options available; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to participate in church life at all. I know what it’s like to be encouraged when talking with Christian brothers and sisters on Skype who are halfway around the world. Sure, the fellowship is not as sweet as when we meet in person, but I can still say I’m thankful for the connections that technology gives us. Overall, the in-person gathering is certainly the ideal the church should strive for because there’s a certain level of fellowship or community that technology can’t achieve.

And since definitions are important, by “church” I do not mean that brick building with stained glass windows. The Greek word we translate as “church,” ekklesia, simply means “a gathering or assembly of people.”[2] However, in the Christian sense, it refers to a “gathering of believers in Jesus Christ.”

Too often, men today can think of true manhood as being this solitary, John Wayne-like individual who has no need for friendships. It’s as if being alone and independent of others is the epitome of manliness. But that’s not true! Our Creator says, “It’s not good for the man to be alone.”

In the words of the theologian-poet, John Donne: “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

Not only is perpetual isolation unfulfilling, it is also unwise. It can often reveal a stubborn unwillingness to listen to the counsel of others. Proverbs 18:1 says, “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.”

Here’s how this can work out. In our pride, we can think, “Of course I know what’s best for me. I don’t need to listen to anyone else.” What about when others are counseling you not to go down a road in life they consider unwise or dangerous? They can easily be ignored, because you don’t consider yourself in community with them. Proverbs says that when you isolate yourself from others who can speak wisdom into your life, you are raging against sound judgment. You are actively choosing the way of destruction.

God calls believers to live in community with other believers, so that they are in a context where others can know them well and speak biblical wisdom, love, and encouragement into their lives. God says, “Don’t isolate yourself. Christian men, unite with other Christian men and seek accountability as a band of brothers, walking together in the journey of life. Christian women, form close bonds with other Christian women as your sisters in the Lord who can share life with you.”

In the dark days of Israel recounted in the sobering book of Judges, we are told: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25). It’s a tragic thing to see men and women refuse counsel and accountability to others. Although they imagine they are building up a fortress of protection around themselves, in reality they are cutting themselves off from growth, hope, and the joy of Christian fellowship.

If you are a Christian, God calls you to not neglect the gathering of a local body of believers when you are able. From the moment the church was first launched, the Holy Spirit came upon the gathered group of believers on the Day of Pentecost. Note the way Luke explains this: “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer” (Acts 2:42, NLT). Whether we are willing to admit it or not, we need one another. We were designed for community.

[1] Rachel Nuwer, Smithsonian Magazine, (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-smell-of-newborn-babies-triggers-the-same-reward-centers-as-drugs-58482/  September 24, 2013)

[2] See Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 2nd Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020),), 1048. Grudem points out in footnote 2 that even in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) the word ekklesia “refers frequently to the assemblies of God’s people.”

When a Christian Leader Falls

On By Jason SmithIn Theology for Life1 Comment

In the past several months, there has been an outside investigation into sexual misconduct allegations of Ravi Zacharias, who was a well-known and sought after Christian apologist and speaker. The law firm conducting the investigation, Miller & Martin, released some devastating news in recent weeks: the allegations were all true. The firm found “convincing and credible evidence” that Zacharias had indeed engaged in sexual misconduct with multiple women over the course of many years.[1]

This news stunned many Christians. Zacharias was known for his rhetorical eloquence and powerful presentations in defense of the Christian faith. Perhaps even more troubling is that Zacharias, who died in the spring of 2020, never repented of his secret sin.

I for one looked up to Zacharias as an incredible man of faith, who spoke the truth boldly yet with genuine love for others – a truly rare quality. I have been helped by many of his books and talks, and I was equally shocked to read the report.

As I considered this news, two thoughts entered my head. What will be the long-term impact of Zacharias’s sin? Will this devastate the faith of thousands of young men and women that he greatly influenced? Secondly, I considered the pain this must cause his family. I can’t even imagine their grief. I’m praying for their hearts, as they desperately need the comfort and peace only God can give.

Although very saddened, I do have some takeaways from all this.

Sin always has consequences

Although we know this intuitively, it’s so easy for Christians to forget this: sin always has consequences. It always harms both ourselves and those around us. Especially grievous sins – and sexual sin definitely makes the list. It shatters trust. It boggles the mind. It cuts through bonds meant to last a lifetime. It divides couples who promised to love each other no matter what. It tears families apart. And sexual sin is always shrouded in deception. Unless it is quickly confessed and repented of, lies inevitably abound. It also has a distorting effect, twisting the way we view our relationships.

I’ve spoken to a man who cheated on his wife about this. While still feeling numb in the aftermath of his sin coming to light, he shook his head and said, “I never meant to hurt her. I never meant to hurt anyone.” That’s how it always goes. Our tendency as fallen people is to put all our focus on the pleasure of the moment, rather than the long-term consequences of one sinful choice. Only the Holy Spirit can break the power of sin and lead us to walk in faithfulness and self-control.

Christian leaders must hold themselves to a higher standard

It is both sad and reprehensible how some Christian pastors, authors, and thought leaders have not taken the influence they carry seriously. They abuse the power they have been entrusted with by manipulating others or hurting those who oppose them.

Others ignore biblical standards and mock those who still cherish historic Christian teachings. Perhaps they forget all the warnings the Bible gives about those who abuse spiritual influence. “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1, NIV). Whether you are a pastor or teacher or blogger, this verse should be engraved on your heart.

Christian leaders carry a lot of influence among the Lord’s people, and they should not downplay the seriousness of their role. If you lead others, please remember that you will be held accountable for how faithfully you stood against the tide of worldly influences.

After surveying the grandeur of His creation, God says in Isaiah: “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2, ESV). Do you still tremble at the thought of teaching God’s sacred Word? Don’t be so concerned with being admired among the cultural elites. Make your aim the faithful teaching of God’s Word. You have been entrusted with the life-changing message of the gospel, and that is no small thing.

It is the better part of wisdom to gather around you wise and godly believers who will have access to you, to correct you when you’re wrong, to ask you the hard questions, and to encourage you to stay the course. You have been put in a position with so much potential to advance God’s kingdom for good. God takes your role seriously; so should you. This is a loving warning all Christian leaders – including myself – need to hear.

Never put yourself in a compromising situation

One stand out example from the Bible is Joseph. Betrayed by his brothers, Joseph ended up as a slave in the house of Potiphar, an officer in Pharaoh’s army. Because Joseph trusted in God and worked hard in his master’s service, Potiphar put him in charge of his whole household. When Potiphar’s wife summoned Joseph to her quarters and tried to seduce him, he responded, “My master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God” (Genesis 39:8-9, NLT).

But apparently she didn’t give up easy. “She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible” (v. 10). Joseph knew that temptation is something to avoid at all costs – not something to go exploring out of curiosity.

Finally, the time came when Potiphar’s wife catches him alone in the empty house. Once again, she tried to lure him into the bedroom. So how did Joseph respond? Did he stand his ground to see how much temptation he could resist? No! He bolted out of there as if the whole house was about to burst into flames. Joseph understood the importance of avoiding compromising situations. He cared more about God’s honor than his self-serving pleasure. He did exactly what the Bible commands us to do: “Run from sexual immorality!” (1 Corinthians 6:18, HCSB).

Jesus Is the Real Hero of the Story

Never forget that the gospel makes everything about Christ and what He has done – not you or what you have or haven’t done. That doesn’t take away our sense of responsibility, but it does offer us incredible hope. Jesus, through His cross, can overcome all your shame, sin, and failure. His grace allows us to live out of our identity in Christ, not some self-made identity.

Since Jesus is the real hero of the story, we should never put all our hope in a Christian leader. God has put them in our lives to help guide us, but they are not our Lord. They did not die for our sins.

This should make us treasure the perfect life of Jesus. Whereas Christian leaders will always be fallible and inevitably make mistakes in this life, Jesus is the King who will never fail us. If a Christian leader has failed you, keep in mind that this doesn’t change the truth about Jesus. He was, is, and always will be the sinless Savior you and I desperately need. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Make Jesus your ultimate hero, because He will never let you down.

[1] Daniel Silliman, “RZIM Confirms Ravi Zacharias’s Sexual Misconduct,” Christianity Today: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/december/rzim-evidence-confirms-ravi-zacharias-sexual-misconduct.html

The Surprise of Christmas

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional1 Comment
Thomas Cole, “The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds,” 1834

During the Christmas season, my wife, Whitney, and I like to sit down and enjoy a good holiday movie together. Frequently, we turn to the Hallmark channel to watch one of their one million Christmas movies. I don’t want to knock Hallmark movies, because they are generally good, wholesome films with a guaranteed happy ending. Nevertheless, something I’ve found while watching these movies is that after you have watched a few of them, you begin to see some (how shall I put it?) consistency to the plot and character development. Before long, you can’t help but make some surefire predictions in the first five minutes, like “Oh, there’s the guy she’s going to fall in love with” and “That’s the guy who’s about to be dumped… Somebody better warn him!”

But for many of us, this predictability is not a bad thing. If you are watching a Hallmark movie, you’re not looking for a surprising plot twist or a suspense-filled ending. You just want to get into the Christmas spirit with an escape to the land of “feel good fiction.”

Maybe you can think of a time you were reading a book or watching a film, and you assumed the conclusion was well in hand. You can already imagine how everything is going to work out for all the characters involved. But then, in the final minutes, the plot takes a shocking twist, and the ending rocks your world.

As we read the Christmas story found in the Bible, one thing we have to see is that this is a script no one but God could write. Despite how familiar with the story we may be, there is a surprising truth to Christmas. Imagine, for example, what it would be like to be Joseph and to have your whole world turned upside down when you learn that your fiancée is pregnant via supernatural conception.

Or put yourself in the sandals of Mary, a young Jewish virgin probably still a teenager, who is visited by an angel telling her that she is about to give birth to the long-expected Messiah, who is also the eternal Son of God. What do you think was running through her head? She probably already had a life planned out for herself. Although we may know how the Christmas story goes, Mary did not. This was the last news she expected to receive.

Nevertheless, she humbly responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38, NIV). As her belly began to swell in the following months, she must have pondered late at night many times the magnitude of what was about to happen. She was going to give birth to the Savior of the world.

The problem with familiarity is that we can sometimes grow numb to how shocking the gospel really is. It is the news that the angels call “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). Because the Creator of all laid aside the glory of Heaven to come as a little baby, we can have joy beyond measure.

The true story of Christmas tells us that God has not abandoned us. He did not leave us to the misery and chaos of this world. He came after us in Christ to redeem a lost and hurting world.

Recently, Whitney and I were with another couple, and the wife complimented her husband by simply saying, “He gets me.” That statement encapsulates what we all truly want: to be fully known and fully loved. Because of Christmas, we can say of God, “He gets me.” Because He has lived a full human life on this planet, He is acquainted with all our sorrows, joys, struggles, and emotions. Because of Christmas, no one can say, “God doesn’t understand me.” He does.

Now think of this. When the Sovereign King of the universe steps into His world, shouldn’t we expect Him to be raised in a palace, reigning over the world empire, and wearing a crown of gold? But what happens instead? When God finally shows up, we can’t even make room for Him in a small town inn. Instead of being wrapped in silk and laid in an ornate crib, He is laid in a manger — a feeding trough for farm animals! If you’ve spent any time on a farm, you know that this a filthy nursery for a newborn baby. This is how the Lord God came to us.

Many have wondered, Why the shepherds? Of all the people that God could have chosen to make His great announcement to, why them? He doesn’t send the angels to make a royal announcement in Caesar’s palace or among the Jewish nobility in the temple. He didn’t come at a time when He could broadcast the announcement on cable news. No, He sent those angels out to the grassy fields outside of Bethlehem to tell none other than lowly shepherds – the guys who spend their whole lives chasing stubborn sheep around.

And while this too could be surprising, isn’t it only fitting that the God whom the Jews have long called the “Good Shepherd” should send the first invitation to them. Shepherds, after all, picture one who must care for, protect, and at times rescue those who are constantly wandering from the fold.

The Bible says that we are all like sheep who have gone astray. And that, ultimately, this is the whole purpose of Christmas. Jesus came as a baby, but He didn’t stay a baby. Jesus came not only to identify with us in our struggles but to save us from our sin. That is why Jesus came not to wear a crown of gold, but a crown of thorns. And that’s why He came to ascend not a throne, but a cross.

It is at the cross that our ultimate need is met – our need for forgiveness. Because of His great love for you, the Lord God Himself came from the highest realm of glory to the lowest of lows. He bore your burden of sin so that you can be free of your past – totally forgiven and restored to fellowship with your Creator. In the end, that is the surprise of Christmas.

Jesus Was a Fetus

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life5 Comments
Photo by The Olive Press

“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.” (Luke 1:31, NIV)

In the ancient world, human life was viewed as very cheap. Someone’s value came from what they could offer to others. If you were useful or skilled, you had value in the eyes of others; if not, you were expendable. Babies were often viewed as disposable, and women and children were treated as property. Before Jesus came, human beings almost universally had only instrumental value in the eyes of others, not intrinsic value.

The birth of Jesus Christ changed all that. The Bible says of Jesus, “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him” (Colossians 1:19, NIV). His primary purpose for coming was to accomplish our redemption from sin and make us new. Yet the Creator of the cosmos was not above entering this world through a virgin’s womb. Although He was supernaturally conceived, He otherwise entered this world like you did, growing inside His mother’s belly for most of a year. And like you, after coming down the birth canal, He was totally dependent on His mother’s nourishment and care.

Here lies the greatest enigma of all. The Supreme Creator who spoke everything into being was coddled and nursed by His teenage mother. No wonder the angels look on in stunned amazement at what God has done (1 Peter 1:12). The One through whom and for whom all things exist had made Himself small. Simply put, Jesus was a fetus.

The word fetus simply means an “unborn baby.” Although there’s nothing degrading about the term itself, it is often used as a way to dehumanize the unborn. Not long ago, my wife, Whitney, and I visited OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). One of the most fascinating exhibits is called Prenatal Development. In a circular room, you find preserved unborn babies at every stage of development in utero.[1] What struck me was that from a very early stage, perhaps around nine weeks, the tiny baby revealed features that were so undeniably human. Already at that point, miniscule limbs have sprouted and little black eyes can be seen on the bean-shaped head. I came away from the exhibit agreeing with King David that we truly are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). How incredible to think that Jesus too passed through each one of those stages in Mary’s womb!

Luke records that when the pregnant Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, who was also pregnant, Elizabeth’s baby – later known as John the Baptist – leaped in his mother’s womb. And then Elizabeth tells Mary:

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” (Luke 1:42-44, ESV)

Today, many in our nation are asking, “Why should we care about the unborn?” One abortion rights advocate even mockingly called the pro-life position a “love affair with the fetus.”[2] The unborn child has even been likened to a parasite or blob of tissue.[3] No doubt the dehumanization of these precious little image bearers of God has led to the slaughter of millions.

So, why should we care about the baby in the womb? Here is one very good reason: Because Jesus was once a baby in the womb. And even while unborn, He brought joy to another unborn baby! If experiencing joy in the presence of another doesn’t qualify for personhood, I don’t know what would!

It’s worth noting that the Greek word used for baby here –βρέφος (brephos) – is the same word Luke uses for babies outside the womb elsewhere, showing that God’s Word doesn’t distinguish between babies inside and babies outside the womb (see Luke 2:12, 16; 18:15). Either way, they’re all babies.

It is because Jesus came as a baby and welcomed and loved the little children He encountered that Christians have always made the care of children a priority. In ancient Rome, where babies were often aborted or abandoned, the early Christians were known for saving thousands of babies. They brought them into their homes, adopted them as their own, and taught them the Christian faith.

When the disciples tried to hold the children back as little nuisances, Jesus famously said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them” (Matthew 19:14a, NIV). Those words inspired Christians throughout history to be the first to start orphanages, foundling homes, and eventually start Sunday Schools for children to learn about Jesus at an early age.[4]

Christians today are known for being at the forefront of the pro-life movement and starting the 3,000 to 4,000 crisis pregnancy centers across the United States. These clinics are known for offering free services and demonstrating compassion to thousands of young pregnant women in difficult situations and empowering them to make wise and informed decisions.

Many today view the pro-life movement as an obstacle to the women’s rights movement. However, those who hold this notion ignore the fact that the same Jesus movement that brought about the pro-life position also paved the way for equal treatment of women.

In ancient times, nearly every culture viewed women as having a lower status than men. Aristotle even argued that a woman ranked somewhere between a free man and a slave. Considering that a slave held no more value than cattle in ancient times, you get a glimpse of how poorly women were treated. As you review the accounts from ancient India, China, Rome, and Greece, the widespread consensus was that wives were the property of their husbands. Modern westerners can hardly fathom such a low view of women. So what changed all that? What inspired the now widespread perspective that women and men have equal value, rights, and dignity?

In the words of historian Rodney Stark, the elevation of women has its roots in the “triumph of Christianity.”[5] That is, Jesus Himself elevated women to a level of dignity and respect. He honored the women who followed Him, engaged them in conversation, and was eager to teach them alongside the men, all social taboos at the time. Jesus treated women as equals to their male counterparts. It is the early Christians who taught the then-pagan world that husbands are to love and be faithful to their wives, widows should be cared for, and polygamy was forbidden by God. Stark writes, “In response to the special appeal that the faith had for women, the early church drew substantially more female than male converts, and this in a world where women were in short supply.”[6]

What does all this have to do with Christmas?

By daring to become a human Himself, Jesus imbued all human life with greater dignity than it ever had before His birth. In the Christian worldview, unborn children, women, and men all have equal value as image bearers of God, and consistent followers of Jesus have always stood for the rights of each.

All this because of Christmas. When you trace the roots of all these changes back far enough, you will find that they all began in a little manger in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago.

[1] According to the display, all of the unborn children died as a result of “natural causes or accidents,” not abortion.

[2] Joycelyn Elders, quoted in The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/30/magazine/joycelyn-elders.html

[3] Randy Alcorn, Pro Life Answers to Pro Choice Arguments (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1992, 1994, 2000).

[4] George Grant, Third Time Around: A History of the Pro-Life Movement from the First Century to the Present (Franklin, TN: Legacy, 1991, 1994).

[5] Rodney Stark, The Triumph of Christianity (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2011), 121-135.

[6] Ibid, 135.

The Secret Sauce for Happiness

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life1 Comment
Photo by Chris Collins

You are on a quest for happiness. From the moment you entered this world, you’ve had this impulse. Deep within your soul, you have a powerful urge — an unquenchable thirst — for joy. Whatever the good life is, we don’t want to miss it.

The philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal once said: “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”[1]

That’s a bold statement. But it’s impossible to argue with, isn’t it? Some of us seek happiness through political power or professional success; others through material accumulation or limitless sexual excursions; and even others try the route of popularity, likability, or athletic accomplishment.

The only problem is that our quest for contentment often leaves us frustrated. The road we thought led to delight often turns out to be a dead end.

If I only had my dream career, I’d be satisfied. If I only found my soul mate, my life would be complete. If only I had children, I know I’d be happy. If I could just reach a point of financial security, I’m sure I would be content.

Certainly, such things can bring a type of happiness, at least for a time. Then we find a new longing growing in our heart — one more ingredient for lasting joy that we hadn’t considered before. We begin to ache until that one more thing is ours. Once we finally have what we thought was the final ingredient, the cycle repeats itself. A new emptiness begins to swell inside, and we are back to square one. Lasting happiness seems tantalizingly out of reach.

We’re like the puppy who chases after every bird he sees only to find that every time he nearly catches it, the bird takes flight. Genuine joy always seems just beyond our grasp. Perhaps this is why many feel bored, listless, and empty inside. They’ve become cynical about life – even happiness itself.

In our more honest moments, we recognize how little we know about where to find true happiness. We are like explorers hiking through the wilderness, unaware that the compass in our hand is broken. We know that joy is out there — it must be! — but we are clueless on how to find it. Oh, there are times when we think we’ve found it. Most people would say that when they finally accomplished something great they had been working toward for many years, they were suddenly on cloud nine.

However, just as suddenly, this thing we thought would give us happiness vanishes before our eyes in a puff of smoke.

In a revealing interview on 60 Minutes, NFL quarterback Tom Brady expressed his surprise that despite reaching the pinnacle of athletic success (a three-time champion at the time), he was still unsatisfied. “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me?” Many have told Brady that considering where he’s at in life — having all the success, loads of cash, being married to a supermodel —he must feel like he’s on top of the world. His response: “Me? I think, there’s gotta be more than this.” When asked what that missing thing is, Brady replied, “I wish I knew… I wish I knew.”[2] I wish I could sit down and talk with Brady.

In the book of Jeremiah, God pleads with His people to not seek that happiness our soul is craving apart from Him. Trying to find happiness apart from Him is like trying to slake your thirst by running to a well that looks good on the surface, but is actually broken and can hold no water. Instead, God urges Israel (and us!) to return to Him, “the fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13, ESV).

Your soul thirsts for something far more real and lasting than the hollow and fleeting joys of this world. That inner sense of emptiness is like a fuel gauge for your heart, telling you of your need for God and the fulfillment only He can give.

C. S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.”[3]

After Jesus fed a massive crowd by multiplying loaves, many were drawn to Him. In fact, at that point the fickle crowds “were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king” (John 6:15, ESV). Interestingly, Jesus would have none of it. He knew that they weren’t seeking Him as the Savior who came to satisfy their souls, but as a compliant king who could satisfy their earthly desires. Jesus warned them about trying to fill the infinite hole in their souls with things that are destined to perish.

He told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35, NIV).

Jesus was teaching them the secret sauce for happiness, which none of the sages throughout ancient history understood. Supreme happiness cannot be achieved by aiming first at happiness; it is found only as a result of first finding Jesus – through having a personal relationship with your Creator. When you look at the chasm within your hungry heart and then at the eternal life Jesus can give, it’s a perfect match. In Jesus alone, the abundant life – not just the good life, but the very best life! – is found.

Here is Jesus’s promise for you: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full” (see John 10:10).

[1] Blaise Pascal, Pascal’s Pensees, trans. W. F. Trotter (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1958), 113, thought #425.

[2] This interview can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HeLYQaZQW0.

[3] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 1952), 136-137.

The Self-Giving Love of God

On By Jason SmithIn DevotionalLeave a comment
Niagara Falls, beautifulworld.com

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13, KJV)

It is impossible to fathom the depths of the humble, self-giving love required for the God of the galaxies to limit Himself to the workbench of a Jewish carpenter. At the same time, knowing that Jesus, the God-man, stooped to such a level out of love for us should get our attention. Too often, because we are such fickle creatures, we are in awe of things that are destined to pass away — inspiring films, beautiful buildings, a sports victory — while at the same time hardly affected by the most sublime truth in all reality. You have an enemy who would love to steal your attention away, with countless daily concerns and distractions, from that which matters most.

Can I encourage you to do something right now in the midst of all of life’s pressures? Reflect on the passion of Christ for a moment. Perhaps the story of the Crucifixion is something you have heard countless times. But the truth of God’s love for you is no less powerful after hearing of it one million times.

Even now, as I consider Christ hanging there like a common criminal of His day, I have to ask: How much must God love me if He was willing to go through the unspeakable torment of the cross in order to bring me to Himself? I encourage you to ask the same question. Peer back through the centuries to that lonely figure on the cross. Take some time to gaze at His nail-pierced hands. Consider His humiliation before ever getting to the cross. Trained torturers whip Him and beat Him and mock Him. One particularly brutal Roman guard grabs hold of His beard — a symbol of honor for a Jew — and rips it out by the roots (Isaiah 50:6). “So, you want to be known as the King of the Jews, do you?” one soldier sneers, as he firmly presses a crown of razor sharp thorns onto His sacred head. By the time they have finished with Him, He has been reduced to a mangled mess. Even His closest friends could hardly recognize Him when He stumbles pass them under the weight of the giant beam of timber they’ve forced Him to carry.

When they reach Golgotha (“Skull Hill”), the soldiers strip Jesus of His clothing, His only earthly possession. The idea was to maximize His experience of shame before all the jeering crowds. After driving the nails through His hands, they hoist Him up on the wooden cross so everyone can laugh at how pathetic this would-be Messiah looks now. He has never felt more alone. Even His own Father, too holy to look on the sin-bearing sacrifice, has turned His back on Him.

The eerie mid-afternoon darkness is environmental evidence that the judgment of God is being poured out. In a hoarse and cracking voice, the bleeding and battered man screams at the heavens, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). I cannot think of a more excruciating, painful, and humiliating experience than what Jesus went through that Friday afternoon.

Now think on this: Jesus freely submitted to all of this for you. He looked over His Father’s plans from beginning to end, then looked up and said, “I’m in.” Even if you were the only sinner in the whole world who needed saving, Jesus would have endured every bit of just for you.

At the same time, this was no easy decision for Jesus. Picture Him in the Garden of Gethsemane the evening before the crucifixion. Jesus is laying prostrate before the starry heavens, crying out to His Father in agony. Already, the darkness of night has enveloped Him. As He contemplates what He will endure in the next twenty-four hours, beads of bloody sweat begin to dot His face. A tear rolls down His cheeks.

Jesus prays, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” The cup Jesus spoke of was the cup of God’s wrath, and it could not be taken from Him. The only way for us to be spared from God’s righteous wrath was through a sin-bearing substitute taking our place. So Jesus prayed, “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39, NIV).

Perhaps the most shocking thing of all is that we were in no way worthy of saving. We hadn’t sought God out. We had turned and run from Him. Each one of us – in no small way – have rebelled against God. We’ve heard His footsteps behind us. We’ve heard Him calling out to us. But we’ve run to hide in the bushes.

Like a loving Father earnestly seeking His missing children who have run away, knocking at every door in the neighborhood, God has passionately pursued us. But we stayed hidden in the shadows. The Bible says that even while we were running down the path of self-centered pursuits, God did the most selfless thing of all.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8, NIV)

At the very point where all hope for us had faded and it would only be fair and just to leave us alone on our way to hell, God stepped in. He sent His own Son ahead of us to bear the punishment meant for us. As one grabbing the coattails of a blind man headed over a cliff, Jesus reached out to rescue us and give us sight. Because Jesus broke through the death barrier, we too can experience newness life.

One of my favorite hymns, “And Can It Be?” by Charles Wesley, captures this truth perfectly:

“And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?“

Let this truth sink in anew: The God who made you loves you more than you ever dared imagine. His love is like a massive waterfall or ever-flowing fountain that never runs dry. No matter what you have done, His love for you has not diminished one bit. He’s offering you a fresh start. Full forgiveness for all past wrongs. He’s longing for you to let Him love you as a Father. He wants you to know that life can look beautiful again. Turn your life over to Christ today, perhaps for the first time. Surrender your everything to the God who loves you with all that He is.

Feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Set Free from Fear

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life2 Comments

By Jason Smith

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV)

You know that moment when you first sense fear rising in your heart? We’ve all felt it. It can happen when you look over the railing above a steep canyon wall that descends hundreds of feet below. You can feel it when you hear the sound of a woman screaming, a child shrieking, or brakes squealing. We all know that feeling when our stomach lurches and our heart sinks. I see it on my three-year-old’s face when he tells me he’s scared of the dark. The experience of fear is common to us all.

But is fear always a bad thing? If you hear an unmistakable rattle while hiking in Eastern Oregon, fear can keep you from stepping into a rattlesnake’s nest. If you are afraid of what too much alcohol might do to you, fear may keep you from driving while drunk. Fear of a loss of income may keep you from sleeping in.

So fear does serve a purpose – at times. But fear should not be our default mode of life. We shouldn’t operate hour by hour persistently dwelling on the “What ifs” of life. “What if this goes wrong?” “What if something happens to the ones I love?” “What if I fail?” In the midst of this ongoing pandemic, many Americans have become chronic worriers. Countless bad decisions are made when we are driven by fear. Growing up, I remember my mom saying to us kids, “You don’t want to be a worry wart.” That’s sound advice, Mom.

In fact, it sounds a lot like something Jesus said: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27). In that context, Jesus was talking about those who worry about not having the basic necessities of life, like food and clothing. So if we cannot lengthen our days by worrying, why do we do it? How do we break free from the shackles of fear?

It has everything to do with replacing your toxic fear of loss with a healthy fear of God. Interestingly, “fear not” (or some close variation of that) is the most common command in Scripture, and our need to “fear the Lord” is one of the most common themes. When talking to His disciples about facing persecution for their faith, Jesus put it this way: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). To fear God is to revere Him, to honor Him as holy and powerful. It’s less a cowering dread and more a humble submission to God as the Almighty Sovereign of the universe. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,” writes King Solomon (Proverbs 1:7). To fear God is to recognize that only His grace can save us from the worst thing imaginable – a Christless eternity in hell. In a strange paradox, when we fear God properly, we can actually grow in our love for Him. This is because He loved us first and He alone can ultimately deliver us from every conceivable danger.

The psalmist writes, “You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday… Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place – the Most High, who is my refuge – no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent” (Psalm 91:5-6, 9-10).

All other fears steal away our confidence, but fear of God instills us with a humble confidence. Why? Because if we know that through faith in Jesus, God rescues us from even the worst thing imaginable (an eternity apart from Him), we ultimately have nothing to fear in this life. That’s how Jesus’ logic works in the statement above. The worst possible thing to happen to you is condemnation from God, but because Jesus washed away all our guilt through the shedding of His blood, believers are set free from fear. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). What can anyone or anything possibly do to one who is secure in Christ’s loving arms? Nothing, ultimately.

The Apostle Paul asks a series of “who” questions to drive this point home: “If God is for us, who can be against us? … Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:31, 33-35).

Does anyone doubt that people still fear such things today? Paul’s response is emphatic: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (v. 37). Notice that Paul doesn’t say believers in Jesus are barely scraping by while cowering in fear. He says “we are more than conquerors” not because of how great we are, but because of Him who loves us. We are safe in Christ and not even death can separate us from His love. For the believer, nothing can ultimately destroy you or sever your bond with Jesus.

This doesn’t mean we now can throw caution to the wind and brazenly make reckless decisions that would likely harm ourselves or others. But it does mean that we make decisions based on love for God and others, not fear.

If you don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus Christ, I have to ask: What are you waiting for? I invite you to turn from your sin and come to Jesus by faith, trusting not in your good works but in His good work of dying on the cross for your sins and rising from the dead. When you do that, you can have the fear-crushing assurance of being forgiven and spending eternity surrounded by His love.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV). So fear not.

Feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Photo Credit: American Expedition

Hope for Racial Reconciliation Today

On By Jason SmithIn Theology for Life, Why I Believe8 Comments

By Derek L. Jackson and Jason Smith

Our hope in this article is to set the stage for how to think about racism in our nation through a biblical and gospel lens. Racism is so deeply enmeshed in our nation that we cannot afford to ignore it for the problem that it is. We also need to look for peaceful and sustainable solutions. Each of us needs to ask, “How can I do my part in seeing racial reconciliation happen?”

It’s so easy for people of different skin color to talk past one another rather than listen carefully with the goal of understanding. That’s why we made a point of writing this article as a collaborative effort between a black man (Derek) and a white man (Jason). Both of us love Jesus dearly and pray that those in the throes of racial violence may find the hope and peace that only our Lord can give. Although we want to confront some tragic realities in our world, we are also filled with hope because the gospel of God’s grace is greater than all our sin.

Only One Race

We both believe that the Bible is emphatically opposed to any and all forms of racism, bigotry, and hatred. Some have ignorantly claimed that the Bible supports racism by misreading and distorting certain passages, but the reality is that the biblical message offers the only genuine remedy to the plague of racism.

The very first chapter in Genesis, the Bible’s first book, tells us that God created the first man and woman in His image (Genesis 1:26-27). Of all the descriptions of humanity’s origin available, in both ancient and modern literature, you will not find a more magisterial description of our nature. In the Bible alone, we see the fascinating combination of humanity’s extraordinary greatness and tragic depravity.  Because we bear God’s image, every person has unfathomable dignity. Because we are fallen, we are all prone to treat our fellow humans in horrendous ways.

The Bible’s teaching on the image of God condemns every form of racism.  God did not create a white Adam, a black Adam, and a brown Adam, and so on, so that we might wonder if one is superior to another. Instead, the biblical argument goes like this: If we are all images of God, how can you hate another image of God (James 3:9)?  How can you say you love God, whom you have never seen, but hate your brother, your neighbor, God’s image, whom you see every day (1 John 4:20-21)?

According to the Apostle Paul, we all have descended from one man (Acts 17:26). Therefore, we are all blood relatives. The black man and the white man truly are brothers by blood. This doesn’t squelch the beauty of cultural diversity; rather, it affirms the dignity of every person because of our common bond as image bearers of God – a truth that transcends every culture.

The Ultimate Source and Cure for Racism

Many have spoken about the need to end “systemic racism,” and we agree that racial injustice has infected nearly every corner of our nation. However, we also believe that every sin – including racism – begins with the human heart. Our Lord Jesus put it this way, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19). Therefore, it requires a solution that addresses the heart.

In other words, while new laws and policies certainly must be worked for, they ultimately lack the power to uproot all forms of racism. Each of us personally needs nothing less than a total renovation of the heart. That’s where the gospel of Christ comes in. In Christ, people of every ethnicity, background, and gender are united. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Jesus died for those of every nation and skin color, and through Him, believers are all brought into the one family of the church together.

Paul writes that Christ Himself “is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility” (Ephesians 2:14-16, ESV).

We all have equal access to God through the one cross. All the racial injustice and prejudice that is all too prevalent in this world is rendered powerless by Christ’s bloody cross, where He absorbed all our sin and reconciled us to our Maker.

The Need to Listen Well

When we hear about racial injustice in the news, we’re often guilty of jumping too quickly to conclusions. I (Jason) know, as a white person, how easy it is to minimize the prevalence of racism in our nation. In many ways, I would like to think that we’ve moved past the racism that has plagued our nation’s history. But in reality the stain of racism has not gone away, and we need to do our part in confronting prejudice wherever we find it, beginning with our own hearts.

We need to listen to those of a different skin tone and background to try and understand and help contribute to the solution. The point of Derek sharing the stories below isn’t to undermine the necessary and noble service of good and faithful police officers, but to give a better understanding of the experience of countless black men and women in America.

There are so many things I (Derek) can say about the death of innocent and/or unarmed black people at the hands of white police officers.  I could say that this a new phenomenon, but that would be a lie.  It’s being recorded on camera more often, but this has been happening for years.  There are television shows and movies that try to shine a light on “The Talk” black parents have with their children, but I don’t know if it is understood by non-blacks that these types of conversations are real. 

As a teenager, I was sat down by my father who taught me how to react to police officers who pull you over or seek to question you.  “Always make your hands visible, always be polite, always follow directions, and always repeat vocally the directions as you’re doing them.” But the lesson that has always stuck with me is when my father told me that the police will always see me as black first. Not as human, not as a man, not as a person, just black. What’s really sad is that I have now had to have the same conversation with my son, and he’s only 11.

The color of my skin comes with certain stereotypical misconceptions.  To some I’m seen as a criminal, dirty, less than, worthless, unintelligent or uneducated, a thief, a murderer, and a gang member.  This has been the plight of the black man and woman for centuries.

I will give one example of my run in with law enforcement. As an Oakland, California, native, I know most areas of the city. While in my early twenties, I was in the Rockridge area of Oakland near College Boulevard.  It is a more astute area of Oakland.  I was coming from a friend’s dance studio in the area one evening, just after dark. The crosswalk light was so fast you would not be able to walk across before it changed. So, as the light turned green, I ran across the street just as a police officer was coming down the street and stopping at the red light. I got into my Honda Accord and waited to see if the police officer would drive past, because in my experience he was going to follow me. He didn’t move after the light turned green. I knew if I could make it to the freeway about a mile away, I’d be fine. So, I started my car and began to drive. Of course, the police officer began to follow behind me.

As I drove towards the freeway, I was extra cautious to follow all traffic laws. The police officer followed me the entire mile. Just before I got to the freeway, he turned his lights on and pulled me over. I remember what my father taught me. Before the officer made it to my door, I already had my wallet out with my license and registration on my dash and my hands on the steering wheel, with window down and engine off.  So, when the officer made it to my car’s driver’s side window, he didn’t ask the usual, “License or registration?”  He stated, “This car has been reported stolen.” 

Now, my little light blue Honda Accord wasn’t much to look at, but it was the first car I bought with my own money and it was in my name. So, how did my car get reported as stolen?  The officer then asked for my license. As I gave him my driver’s license, an operator came over his radio stating the car belongs to Derek Jackson. The officer looked at my license, then at me, and reluctantly handed my driver’s license back to me and told me I was free to go as he walked back to his car.

It may not be a big thing to some, but the fear I had at that moment is something that I should not have had.  This officer didn’t ask if my car had been stolen, he stated that it had been reported as stolen.  I believe if I had not heard what the operator said, it would have been a different story.  That, I believe, was God’s protection.

I have other stories, such as being cursed out by a cop for being young and black or another incident of being handcuffed and put in the back of a police car after being pulled over driving to school. I can’t even get into the times I’ve been followed by police or followed in a store. God has protected me because those situations could have ended with someone posting an RIP on their Instagram or Facebook page. 

We (Derek and Jason) both thank God for those police officers of every skin color who have faithfully served and protected the citizens under their care with diligence, sacrifice, and justice. We need more like them now more than ever.

What Can We Do About It?

But what about those who have suffered death, beatings, false accusations, and harassment from the police or Caucasians who hate blacks because of their skin color? Neither of us had a say in our skin color, but we exult in the fact that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). You were made the way you were on purpose, and we affirm God’s joyful creativity seen in the mosaic of all our varying skin tones. With grieved hearts, we both acknowledge the hatred and racism that can be traced through every era of our nation’s history.  From the unjust killings of American Indians to the unspeakable atrocities of the enslavement of African men and women.

Together, we affirm God’s denunciation of hate and racism. He tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). He doesn’t say, “Love the neighbor who shares your skin color.” He just says, “Love your neighbor.”  Your neighbor is anyone you come in contact with.  We’re to love as God loves, and He loved us so much He sacrificed His Son on a cross to save us from our sin. The blood of Jesus can wash away the stain of hate, the stain of racism, and the stain of bigotry and discrimination.

Scripture tells us to speak up for the rights of the hurting and the oppressed (Proverbs 31:8-9). To be silent is to be complicit in the evil happening before our eyes. At the same time, we must not take personal vengeance into our own hands. Violence only begets more violence. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” We must demand justice for those who are oppressed, but we must always do so in love. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21, NIV). Will you join us in working for racial reconciliation today?