In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and life was the light of men. - John 1:1-4, ESV Ever since Jesus walked the Earth, skeptics and unbelievers have routinely challenged Jesus' deity, often claiming that He could not be God. Often, those seeking to discredit Jesus question His physical death physical resurrection, debate the authorship and validity of the Gospels, or quote "lost" or Gnostic gospels as evidence of Jesus' supposedly imperfect nature. But historical fact provides evidence, time and again, that Jesus' life and ministry happened in accordance with the Gospels as they are written in the Holy Scriptures. At this point, many skeptics turn to one last counterpoint against the claim that Jesus was, in fact, God: that He never, as recorded in Scripture, uttered the line, "I am God."
It is true that Jesus often spoke of Himself in other ways, frequently calling Himself the "Son of Man" or "Son of God" (which, ironically, would have been clearly understood in first-century Israel as an official claim to be God, which is why the Jewish leaders of the day accused Him of blasphemy and sought to kill Him). But let us, for the sake of argument, write all those instances off as poor interpretation or our own misunderstanding. Did Jesus really ever claim to be God? The complete deity and the complete humanity of Jesus Christ are central to the Gospel of John, which sits apart from the other three "synoptic" gospels as a more poetic and more focused history of the ministry of Jesus. In it, John seeks to pull in history that validates that Jesus Christ not only claimed to be God, but that He was able to accurately fulfill Old Testament prophecy and that He could back His claims up with miraculous evidence. In John chapter 4, verses 1-41, we see Jesus having a curious discussion with a Samaritan woman at a well. The woman was coming during an unusual part of the day - midday - likely to avoid the public eye as a result of her later-revealed scandalous lifestyle of having been married five times and yet living with another out of wedlock. Later in the chapter, thinking Jesus to be a prophet following his statements regarding Himself as "living water," her life history, and the true worship of the Father in Spirit and in truth, she responds, "I know that Messiah is coming (He Who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things." (John 4:25, ESV). Jesus responds quite bluntly: "I Who speak to you am He." (John 4:26, ESV) Anyone at the time with even a working knowledge of Old Testament Scripture would have understood that Jesus, in saying He was the Messiah, was saying He was sent from, equal to, and one with God. Indeed, later in John we see Jesus Christ repeating the claim of His title as Messiah to the Jewish leaders. "So the Jews gathered around Him and said to Him, 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.' Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.' The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him." (John 10:24-31, ESV) It is hard to miss Jesus' claims here. some of the Jews wanted to kill Him for blasphemy by claiming to be Messiah (Who is, again, equal to and one with God), so they wanted to trap Him and make Him say it openly. They got more than they bargained for: when pressed, He not only told them that He had previously made that claim, but that they would not listen or understand because they did not follow Him. He makes two seemingly similar statements that connect in a supremely theological way: no one can snatch His sheep from His hand, and no one can snatch the Father's sheep from the Father's hand - and He and the Father are One. He's not saying He is "One" with the Father as in merely unified in purpose or objective, but "One" with the Father as in the same eternally existing, all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good Being. The Jewish opposition picked up stones at that point, because they understood clearly that Jesus was making Himself out to be God. But it was actually before this moment that Jesus made the most open and startlingly profound statement about His deity. In John 8, Jesus is confronted by more opposition who also seek to trap Him into a "blasphemous" statement. Near the end of the chapter, Jesus says, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad." (John 8:56, ESV) Confused and already enraged, the jeering crowd asked, "'You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?' Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.'" (John 8:57-58, ESV) This statement absolutely cannot go missed. Jesus was not just saying that He was God. He was defining Himself and His attributes. He was describing What kind of a God He was. He was using the supreme title that God the Father gave Himself when speaking to Moses during the meeting at the burning bush. "I AM" was a title of existence above all; the title of absolute authority and sovereignty. Philosophically, the title speaks to God's eternal and supernatural nature and His Being before, during, and after everything in the universe. As the book of Revelation describes Him, "the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." (Revelation 22:13, ESV). Jesus' clever use of the title after preceding it with a past tense form of Abraham's being further illustrates that it was no mistake - Jesus was saying He was absolutely and completely God come in the form of man. He was no mere prophet or teacher, nor was He a demigod with some attenuated or weakened form of supernatural power. He carried every last attribute of God the Father in His Being every moment of His time spent on the earth - even during His death, resurrection, and ascension. We should be eternally grateful that Jesus was absolutely God and absolutely man, and that Jesus made the claims about Himself that He did. Without Christ's deity, His work on the cross would have been utterly meaningless, and His resurrection completely impossible. But, because He was a sinless, perfect God come in the form of man, He bore the entirety of God's wrath on man's sin in an infinitely small amount of time, died, and rose again for our sins to be never remembered or held against us again. Christ's deity is central to the message of the Holy Bible, and thankfully, Jesus repeatedly spoke of it on record. It is not the concoction of mere men or radical, religious followers - Jesus was God, and He said it, plain and simple. Thank God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ for His power, love, mercy, and grace!
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“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for He Who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. - Luke 1:46b-49 (ESV) Mary, the mother of Jesus, is one of the most fascinating characters in the Bible. Indeed, a few religious groups even worship her as diety - wrongly, but her role in God's plan certainly was very important. To give birth to and to raise the Son of God had to be quite the intimidating task.
Mary surely had plenty of questions when her dreams one night were suddenly interrupted by the news that she would carry the Child of God within her. She must not have been much older than a young teenager; she was unmarried, betrothed to an understandably shocked and hurt Joseph (until he received the same news from Gabriel the angel, of course). Scared, and full of questions, she responded nonetheless with obedience: "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38, ESV) Surely she faced ostracizing from her community. She likely faced disbelief, hurt, and disappointment from her family. She could have faced criminal charges leading to death by Joseph, had he not been already set to walk away from her silently before being told the good news himself. Yet, just as God began working out His plan and all the questions still lingered, she visited Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, and penned one of the most beautiful and insightful songs in Scripture. Mary understood two things - and likely only two things - about the situation: she was unworthy to be blessed so richly by God, and that He was more than deserving of all her praise because of that blessing. Even facing the judgmental attitudes of her community and possible persecution, she felt nothing but gladness and honor - instead of trepidation and fear - for being chosen to be the mother of Jesus. It is entirely possible that we tend to fall on one side of the fence or the other when considering God's gift of Jesus in our lives. We can take the negative side - focusing on our unworthiness to such a degree that our supposed humility becomes guilt and we feel the need to constantly be appeasing a God we see as disappointed in and angry at us. This can lead us to fear God in an unhealthy manner and turn to legalism or false piety as means of gaining favor with God. Mary instead understood and believed the angel that she had already found favor with God, but also knew that it was not because of anything that she had done or that she was especially worthy or prepared to face the challenges ahead. We can also do the opposite: fail to see our sin and our lowly estate and look to God as little more than a gift-giver Who owes us a showering of blessings because of our own self-righteousness. This can lead us to try to shoehorn God into our own selfish wills and to become angry and embittered when trials and trouble come our way. Mary instead never forgot that she was just a humble Israelite girl that did not deserve exaltation, but instead faced the trials ahead with a sense of gratefulness that she would be chosen. The gift of Christ Jesus - His birth, His death, His resurrection, His Holy Spirit, His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness - is one that should fill us with a sense of joy and thankfulness, and yet it should also fill us with humility and wonderment. Joy that we have received grace; humility that God has shown us mercy. Thankfulness that we have been richly blessed; wonderment that God would provide His blessings to us. Mary did not just exhibit humility in her life; she experienced exaltation through her obedience to God. She had a balance that allowed her to carry on with a sense of gladness and joy in her heart without losing a very real sense of position before God and before others. Pray today that we never forget that Jesus' love and forgiveness is both sufficient and complete, and that we also never forget that we do not deserve it. Pray that God gives us humility when we are tempted to become prideful and arrogant, and pray that God allows us to see how He - not us - has exalted us before Himself when we are tempted to succumb to the accusations and unrighteous guilt of Satan. Pray that we, like Mary, are always able to face the troubles ahead with gratefulness in our hearts and God's provision in our minds. Most of all, thank God for the mighty things He has done for us, and praise His holy Name. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. - Phillipians 4:12-13 (ESV) It's a busy time for most Alabamians this year. Thanksgiving signals the beginning of the "holidays" for many, the Black Friday is the biggest (and most intense) shopping day of the year, and Iron Bowl Saturday is, by several orders of magnitude, the largest and most important sports event in the state. But while most of us are guilty of having eaten far too much turkey, browsing the Black Friday ads, setting up the Christmas tree, and preparing for our Tide vs. Tigers parties, many of us (myself included) have all but forgotten to really think about what we're truly thankful for.
Thanksgiving Day for the U.S. has always been a national day of prayer, feasting, and celebration for God's many provisions for us and the country's prosperity. However, are we only able to give thanks to God in times of plenty and in times of abundance? After all, being grateful to God should be more than a casual gesture of appreciation after we manage to nab a new television for a less than half price or for the victory of our preferred team. It is not something we should only feel when we experience excess in our lives. It should be a constant, never ceasing, motivating element of our Christian walks despite our circumstances, good or bad. Paul started with thanksgiving in his letter to the Philippian believers: "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.... for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel."(Philippians 1:3-5; 7b , ESV) You see, Paul was experiencing some serious trials in his life. He was imprisoned. He was on his way to Rome to await trial and execution at the hands of one of the empire's most violent and dangerous leaders in its history. And yet, Paul was thankful. He was thankful that he had come this far, and that other believers were still supporting him and encouraging him to continue. He was thankful he had partners who were willing to put him above themselves for the sake of the spread of the gospel. Paul was not thankful because he had an excess of material wealth or perfect physical health. He was thankful because he had learned to be content in all circumstances. He wrote further to them: "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need." (Philippians 4:12, ESV). What was his secret? "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13, ESV). God's grace was enough for him to endure everything that came his way, and it gave him the joy necessary to give thanks to God despite trying times. That second verse is one of the most oft-misquoted verses in the Bible, as if it it means that God will bless our every endeavor as long as we try really hard at it. This verse is no promise or guarantee of success. It doesn't mean that prosperity and wealth and excess will be ours if we only trust that God will give it to us. It means that whatever circumstances may come our way, even if it may be want, pain, suffering, or loss, we have the power through Christ to overcome it and have joy. Thanksgiving is the natural overflow of joy in our hearts. If we have joy, we will give thanks. We will begin to look beyond the troubles and the heartache of the here and now and begin to see the many blessings that God has bestowed on us. Maybe this holiday season is tough for you. Maybe you've struggled with being laid off, or you've lost a loved one, or you've had a physical ailment, or you've just experienced great uncertainty in your relationships with God and with others. But maybe you have close family that grieves with you, or a church that loves and supports you, or maybe just a friend who has been praying for you or with you. With God's grace giving you the strength to carry on through whatever hardship you may be facing, you can find something to be thankful for. Perhaps, on the other hand, you are experiencing great prosperity and excellent health. Or maybe you've experienced a raise or promotion. Or maybe something positive has unexpectedly come up in your life. That's fine, enjoy it! Give cheerfully out of your excess to others, but enjoy the material blessings you've received. Give thanks to God for the many things He's given to you, and do not take those things for granted. Just don't let things distract you from giving thanks for the spiritual blessings so richly provided to you or let things be the source of your hope and security. Whether in abundance or plenty, or in need or want; this holiday season, give thanks that our Lord Jesus Christ is in control. He loves us and cares for us and will give us everything we need to successfully overcome life's hardships and be effective witnesses and servants for Him, if we only allow His joy and peace to fill our lives and His Holy Spirit to guide us in His will. 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. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. - Matthew 5:43-45 (ESV) When I was in nursing school, I hated a specific type of multiple choice question commonly found on exams: the "choose the most correct answer" question. Often when a patient presents in visible distress, critical thinking is necessary to drill down and determine two things: what, exactly, is going on, and what is the fastest and most effective method of correcting the problem before it gets worse. These questions did not merely test my ability to recall a simple one-step solution to a simple problem. Instead, they tested my ability to critically think through a complex problem or a series of problems and determine the very first, most important, step among many possible solutions. These types of questions were tough - but necessary.
In lieu of the recent tragedies that have occurred in Paris, France - a series of heinous crimes I do not intend nor want to diminish in any way - I implore my fellow Christians to critically think about the problems affecting our world today and to consider what I believe to be the most correct solution to the issues at hand. Across the entire spectrum of social and political views, there have been many solutions posited. One would suggest bombing. Another, invasion. Another, diplomacy and negotiation. Another, taking in refugees from Syria. Yet another, refusing refugees from Syria. All of these are, in fact, possible solutions, each with their own distinct set of pros and cons. Indeed, taking some of these actions might become inevitable as the ISIS threat continues to rise. But I see a more correct solution. See, the core problem is sin. And that sin, specifically, is in the delusion that one can reach a higher state of eternal luxury if one can only destroy those that belong to other faiths. The sin is the belief that waging violent, cowardly war against Jews, against Christians, against "infidels," and against Western culture brings a person closer to enjoying the material and sexual riches of a false diety, called "Allah," that appeals to man's basest and most degenerate desires. This is not a sin that Jesus is incapable of forgiving. Paul writes in Romans 10:13 (ESV), "For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" Everyone means everyone. It means the Jew. It means the American. It means the Frenchman. It also means the Syrian terrorist. Paul goes on to say in Romans 10:14-15 (ESV), "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'” You see, it's not enough for us to pray for Paris - although that is important. I certainly pray that God provides comfort and healing to the survivors and the loved ones of those that were involved in this terrible tragedy. It's not enough that we simply feel for the hurting in France. We should not experience and internalize this tragedy and convert those feelings into anger and hatred and vengeance against the members of ISIS. They should instead break our hearts and our souls to see people so entrenched in selfishness and in sin that they sacrifice their lives willingly to a cause that sends them straight to eternal torment and anguish in hell. Under no circumstances do I suggest that we do nothing militarily. Sometimes, we must defend ourselves and our allies. Sometimes, that sadly results in war, and war results in lost lives and, often, civilian casualties. But a physical war should not be our ultimate solution - the measure that we desire to see put in place. We should instead be taking up arms in a spiritual war, taking the good news of the Gospel to the hurting Muslim people, and offering them the unmerited grace and mercy and love that Yahweh, God, extends to everyone. We are to "put on the whole armor of God" (Ephesians 6:11, ESV) in our quest to conquer Satan's delusions to the Muslim people. We are to equip ourselves with truth, righteousness, faith, and salvation. We are to be ready to carry the gospel of peace to the world. We are to be given offensive power against the forces of darkness with the Holy Spirit living through us. We should not forget that "Allah" cannot be more powerful than Yahweh. Just as the statue of the ancient Philistine god Dagon fell and broke into pieces before the presence of the Lord in the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 5:1-12), so must the delusion of Islam fall before the eternal power of the gospel of Christ. We have been given, through the Holy Spirit, the most powerful and most effective weapon against ISIS: not warheads, not guns, not diplomacy; but Jesus Christ. Christ is the most correct answer to the problem of ISIS. I realize what I am saying is not easy. I realize that I am calling for the evangelism of a people who want nothing more than to put us to death in their search for spiritual enlightenment. But God is stronger than Islam. God may call you to take the gospel boldly to these people. God may call me to take the gospel boldly to these people. In whatever case, God is most definitely calling His people to rise up and proclaim the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a coalition of religious extremists who desperately need God's grace and mercy now more than ever. Are we as Christians prepared to be sent to evangelize the world? I mean the whole world, not just the parts that are mostly or relatively tolerant towards Christianity? There are likely only a select few that will be called by God and will obey and carry out this mission. But for those of us who are called elsewhere or are unable to do this, we need to pray for our enemies in Syria. We need to love them. We need to ask God that He equip and send His Church and give them victory over the darkness of radical Islam. He will allow the sun to rise on them tomorrow, just as He will allow the sun to rise on us tomorrow; He wants to love them as His people, and He graciously gives us the duty - no, the privilege - of carrying His Holy Word to them. Only two questions remain: Will you pray? Will you go? Jesus stood up and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.' - John 8:10-11 (ESV) The story of the adulteress forgiven before the scribes and Pharisees is one that succinctly summarizes a number of theological truths about the life-changing act of experiencing Jesus' forgiveness. Though the story has a troubled written history (missing from the earliest manuscripts and transposed to other gospels in later ones), theologians mostly agree that the story corroborates with the whole of scripture and is rich with imagery of Christ's love for people.
The story goes as such: the religious leaders drag in a woman in adultery, "caught in the act" (curiously absent: the other guilty party, who must have been present at the time). Seeing an opportunity to test Jesus and potentially charge Him with blasphemy or subverting the law, they asked Him whether they should stone her. He gives no response for a time before instructing them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7b, ESV). They slowly leave, one by one, before Jesus forgives her and instructs her to sin no more. That last verse is an interesting chunk of theology often missed by those who are enamored with the "Jesus" that's mystical and all-inclusive and universally loving and never judgmental. After all, here's a woman caught in sexual sin, condemned to death by the religious system of the day. Jesus doesn't stone her. Jesus doesn't even make any negative remarks toward her. He simply forgives. But He doesn't stop there. He does not offer forgiveness and say "From now on, you are forgiven, so indulge in whatever passions you see fit and I will be totally okay with it." He tells her bluntly to "sin no more." He acknowledges it. He recognizes the grasp of adultery's enslaving power and offers her freedom. He erases the debt of sin and is already working the kind of faith in her that it takes to free her from lifestyle of sin. It's not hard to see the potential for this woman's testimony to others: here is a woman, once deviant and enslaved to adultery, now alive and free and satisfied in Christ; changed forever by His power and His love. To those ensnared by a sense of self-righteousness and false piety, it may also be easy to miss the order in which forgiveness and the instruction to sin no more are given. Jesus did not instruct her to "first, find this guy you were with, go down to the courthouse, sign a marriage license, go through a twenty-step church-funded program about how to combat lust and adultery, then successfully work through this marriage faithfully for two years, and then join the church membership roster and I will extend to you the offer to walk down and accept Me as your Lord." There's no extra requirement that Jesus gives before offering forgiveness. Jesus sees the person - a sinful, wretched person - and offers spiritual, emotional, and psychological healing because of His sacrifice and ability to forgive, not because of a person's preemptive repentance and self-motivated move toward righteousness. Romans 3:10 (ESV) says, "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God." Paul follows up in Romans 5:8 (ESV): "But God shows His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Again, he writes in Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV): "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." These are all oft-quoted verses when laying out salvation for someone, but they all echo a key truth of salvation often lost on us: God loves and died for the ungodly, the sinners, the unrighteous. We should never impose a rigid, religious moral standard on the unbeliever before seeing them as somehow more worthy or more deserving of experiencing Christ. Indeed, Christ died for the murderer; Christ died for the thief; Christ died for the liar; Christ died for the adulteress. Christ wants us to look beyond a person's faults and failures and see the true potential of a Spirit-led life and share His love and His forgiveness openly with them. Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) goes on to say this: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Like Jesus commands the adulteress to go and sin no more, Jesus commands us to no longer lead a life of sin but instead a life of righteousness and obedience to Him. He has forgiven us, and He has given us His Word and His Holy Spirit to equip us and change us into the kind of God-fearing, God-serving people He wants us to be. He is continually sanctifying us and using us as His representatives to the world around us. He has, in His perfect will, created for us every opportunity to do good works for Him - and as believers who have tasted the grace of God and found it to be of utmost value, we will, out of gratitude and thankfulness, walk happily in His will. We will be overjoyed to cast off sin and follow Him and serve Him. It is impossible that the adulteress in the John 8 story experienced the kind of forgiveness that Jesus offers and went immediately back to her sinful lifestyle, finding the kind of contentment and satisfaction in repenting of sin and following Jesus to be wanting in comparison to the cold, transient pleasure of an illicit sexual relationship. No, she entered into the courts ready to be stoned as an adulteress, but instead was offered grace and forgiveness at her lowest, most undeserving point, and walked away alive and free as a child of God. Pray today that God would prevent us from using His awesome gift of grace as a cover for immoral, sinful purposes. Pray also that we would not withhold the message of the gospel of Christ from others out of a self-righteous and judgmental attitude. Pray that God would use us to make manifest His amazing power of forgiveness and sanctification to everyone - from the most altruistic to the most vile. Finally, pray that God would bring salvation and grace to these people, give them the faith to walk in the good works He has prepared for them, and let their inevitable sanctification be a beacon of hope to the transformative power of the grace and mercy of our Lord Christ Jesus. In our country of religious freedom, it's easy to get caught up in the here and now of an increasingly disgruntled political atmosphere towards Christians. We see coaches being suspended for praying on the football field, bakers' doors being closed for refusing to bake homosexual wedding cakes, and businesses refused government benefits for refusing to include abortions in mandatory health insurance. While these things do, in fact, indicate that America is increasingly becoming hostile towards Christians, we cannot forget that we should be eternally grateful for the freedoms that we do still enjoy - to congregate openly, to worship together, to share our faith, and to have nearly limitless access to Christ-focused and theologically sound resources to help grow us in our spiritual walk and in our evangelistic mission. The truth we must not forget is that many Christians around the world risk their livelihoods, their families, their health, and even their lives just to meet together to pray and to read the Scriptures. The suffering and martyrdom of Christians around the world continues to increase each year. It is more than our duty to pray for these brothers and sisters. No, it is our privilege to pray for these brothers and sisters. There are roughly 40 countries where any form of Christianity is prohibited and actively persecuted by the government, and over 10 more where Christians are persecuted openly despite supposed government protection. The top 50 most dangerous nations, according to The OpenDoors World Watch list, include: Image courtesy Christianity Today, 1/7/2015. Accessed 11/1/2015. Retrieved from http://www.christianitytoday.com/images/52588.jpg. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. - John 15:18-19 (ESV) It should come as no surprise to us that the church will endure persecution until Jesus' return. It should not catch us off guard. It should not be cause for us to re-think our commitment to Christ. Instead, it should sober us up and make us look to our home in heaven as our permanent residence - and how we can share Christ even when surrounded by those that hate us here on earth. Moreover, it should compel us to be in earnest and unceasing prayer for the Christians around the world who are being ostracized from their families, banned from the markets, thrown into prison, and condemned to death around the world. These are the true heroes of the faith; these effectively demonstrate "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:8b, ESV). We should pray for their strength to never fail, for God our Father to comfort them and give them an all-surpassing peace, and for their witness and testimony to be effective in bringing a lost world into the light of Christ. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. - Matthew 5:44 (ESV) But I encourage the church to go further than merely praying for persecuted Christians. We should be in prayer for their persecutors. We should pray that they see the love, the grace, the mercy, and the forgiveness of Christ at work in their captives. We should hope that the commitment and long-suffering of these Christians convicts their captors and gives them an opportunity to plant the seed of truth in them. We should earnestly long to see the Holy Spirit at work in these people and their sins be washed away and be replaced with zeal and fervor for the Gospel of Christ.
So pray. Pray first that God remove the distractions of comfortable living from our eyes and open them to the suffering around. Pray for these persecuted Christians' strengths. Pray for the world to see the light of the Gospel through their testimonies. Finally, pray that God would build in us the same kind of faith and give us the same kind of eternal perspective that He is building in them. It is far past time that we stop closing our eyes to the world around. We should join hands as God's bride and begin to support and pray for and encourage each other more every day. Join proverbial hands with me as we pray for God's Kingdom today. ... A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. -- 2 Corinthians 12:7b-9 (ESV) I struggle with depression. That's not a medical diagnosis from a physician or psychologist, but it is a chronic, recurring issue in my life. I find myself, even in the best of times, grasping for a higher purpose, feeling insignificant, inadequate, and inconsequential in doing God's will. I often feel as though I make little to no difference in my place of work, and that my existence is often relegated to work, eat, sleep, go to to church, and repeat. I dream of something bigger and better that would make me happy. When presented with the smallest opportunity to serve God, then, ironically, I immediately become paralyzed by the threat of failure because of my own feelings of spiritual inadequacy and seek to escape it.
As a result of this, I have prayed countless times for God to reveal His will to me. "God, show me what I need to do to be happy serving you. To let my light shine among the world. To go therefore and make disciples of all nations," I'd pray. "Maybe give me an opportunity to use my music to reach someone. Or give me the opportunity to be involved in a different job that really matters. Help me to not be afraid to reach out and grab hold of a new opportunity." I would inevitably become frustrated with the apparent silence that would ensue after this prayer. But is God really being silent? Does He really not care about the constant drudgery of surviving corporate America? Can't I be put in a place where I'll be happier, doing bigger and better things for Him besides recovering patients from anesthesia after they wake up? The truth is that I will never find greater satisfaction elsewhere in this state, because the true enemy is my faith failing from my depression, not God failing to strengthen me. When Paul cried out to the Lord three times from whatever it was torturing his soul, he was denied reprieve but was granted God's power to overcome it. The flesh - and Satan - will likely continue to throw depression in my face and attempt to make me feel inadequate over and over again. But God's grace is sufficient and is powerful enough to overcome it, if I should only take hold of it and let that strengthen me. My joy should not be defeated by the mundane nature of my job, nor the routine quality of my week. It should not be crushed by my limited sphere of influence. The problem is not God's, it's mine. My sin is not trusting that God will give me "a mouth and wisdom" (Luke 21:15, ESV) when presented with opportunities to share His love despite my fear. My sin is the selfish feeling of inadequacy that I can't be useful to God in whatever menial position I'm in. My sin is letting depression hold me back from deriving my ultimate joy and satisfaction in the eternal promise of God's grace and letting His overcoming power work through me anyway. Maybe God, like the manager distributing wealth ("talents") to His three servants (Matthew 25:14-30), is watching and expecting me to "faithful over a little" before He sets me "over much." Or maybe God is planning to use me in a much mightier way in my current position than I ever could have imagined. Whether my role in life is to be over a little or over much, I want to be faithful to let God use His grace and His power to work through me. I may suffer from chronic feelings of depression for the rest of my life. You know what? I'm okay with that, because those feelings are merely transient emotions that provide a stark contrast for God's power to work through. Perhaps you're like me: you see yourself as a product of routine, an insignificant and useless cog in a machine that makes empty promises of happiness through a faster car, a bigger house, a thrilling vacation, or a larger retirement fund. Or maybe, also like me, you see yourself as useless to God because you feel like He has not provided you with an adequate mission field or failed to prepare you to take His gospel to those around you. My advice: flee those sinful thoughts. Cast them away. Hunger for God to provide you with contentment and happiness and joy at the mere thought of His overwhelming love and grace toward us. Pray daily that God reveals His will to you through His Word and that He would manifest His great and awesome power to the world in spite of your human weaknesses. Go, therefore, to your job and to your church and to your grocery store and to your ball park and to your favorite restaurant and to your golf course and to your local mall and make disciples. He is with you, and He has given you the power to accomplish His will despite all the weakness, fear, and doubt that your flesh may try to use to hold you back. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.' -- Ephesians 5:11-14 (ESV) When developing this website, I wanted to capture the essence of the Christian walk and my motivation for starting this project in a single verse. To me, Ephesians 5:14 is one of the most beautifully succinct and poetic verses in the New Testament: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Indeed, when we awake from our ignorance to Christ at the moment of salvation, we arise from the spiritually, psychologically, and emotionally dead state that we existed in prior. It is once we arise from spiritual death to spiritual life by confessing our sins and repenting and having our faith in Jesus' perfect sacrifice worked out by the Holy Spirit that Christ begins to shine on us and through us.
This carries significant ramifications, as Paul cautions the Ephesian believers. There is no way that, once we are awake and alive in Christ, we should be spiritually able to continue in the works of darkness that we ignorantly and selfishly took part in before. Moreover, not only should we become averse to such acts, but we should feel shame in speaking about these acts. As Paul writes to the Colossian believers in chapter 2, verses 13 and 14: "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross." (ESV) If, then, Christ nailed our sins and our lifestyles of sin to the cross, how can we in good faith continue in those "unfruitful works of darkness"? As Christ Himself suffered as he bore the fullness of God's wrath on the Cross, we too should feel the shame and the burden of sin in our lives and cast it off, pursuing and following Jesus. Not only should we feel the shame of sin when we are engaged in it, but we should feel sin's ugliness and it's shame when even speaking about such things. Too often we as believers are bombarded with materialism, depictions of lust and of adultery, depictions of violence and of wrath, and "filthiness" and "foolish talk" and "crude joking" (Eph. 5:4). Even more alarming is our propensity to subject ourselves to such depictions, believing our faith to be stronger than the sinful content presented to us, but clearly not feeling the shame and discomfort that these conversations and demonstrations should make us feel. Even if we don't engage in the physical behaviors of sin, we should be repulsed at the thought of taking part of it psychologically or emotionally. After all, Jesus made it clear on the Sermon on the Mount that our motives and thoughts and intentions are what drive sin, and that they are just as destructive as the physical act of carrying them out. The antidote to psychologically poisonous sin is, not surprisingly, the Word of God; the Bible. As Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (ESV) The words, the concepts, the ideas, and the teachings of Scripture prepare our hearts for works of righteousness. Reading and meditating on Scripture equips us spiritually and psychologically to carry out the works of light instead of the darkness. When we walk in the light and the life of Scripture, we expose the works of the darkness and introduce Christ's light to the world around us. It is a holy, pervasive light that convicts those around us of sin and forces them to experience and to respond to the Holy Spirit working both in our lives and in theirs. As we continue our daily walk with the Lord in our lives, we should constantly be hungering and thirsting for the Word of God. It's words should be ever more desirable and pleasurable to us. Our thoughts and motives should be growing ever further from the works of darkness and ever towards the works of righteousness that Scripture prepares us to do. We should be awake, alert, sober, on guard against all the evil surrounding us, and prepared to shine Christ's light brightly before the world around us. Today, pray that God makes His Word exponentially more desirable to you, and that the unfruitful works of the world become exponentially less desirable. Pray that the Holy Spirit prepare your mind for every good work that He gives you the opportunity to walk in. And finally, pray that God would use His light shining through you to make an impact on those around you. Welcome to the brand-new Awake & Live Media webpage!
Things are a bit empty right now, but that's okay - come back very soon for new content! To introduce myself, my name is Clifton Gardner. I live in Birmingham, Alabama with my beautiful wife, Courtney, and I'm currently a Registered Nurse employed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. In my limited free time, I blog, as well as write, record, and produce praise and worship music in my home studio. It was these disparate hobbies and interests that led me to create this website. Instead of having separate pages for all my various online activities, I created "Awake & Live Media" as a sort of hub for all of my endeavors. However, I hope this will become more than merely an internalized location for web content. I really hope and pray that God uses it as a collection of tools to equip, disciple, and edify the church - specifically, teachers and worship leaders. Here is some of the content the viewer should expect from Awake & Live Media:
The vision of Awake & Live Media is to provide Christ-centered, Biblical resources in various web-based content delivery systems, catering to the wide range of learning and content consumption styles that the twenty-first century has introduced. The goal is not to change the message and the absolute truth of the Gospel, but to make that message more accessible and enjoyable for all. Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:13 and 4:16: "Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching.... Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers." As the culture shifts away from traditional forms of media consumption (such as books and television), there is a great need for Christians to step into the growing world of internet media to engage the culture, provide resources to others, and to evangelize the world. I am merely trying to go take the truth of the Holy Bible where the hearers are going, and to provide them with solid, scriptural reading, exhortation, and teaching. I pray that God uses this webpage - and everywhere that it's content spreads to - for the glory of His Kingdom, for the evangelism of the world, and for the edification of the Church. Come back soon! -Clifton |
Clifton J. Gardner lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, Courtney. He is a Registered Nurse, musician, and writer, as well as an active member of Ezra Baptist Church in Oak Grove, Alabama. Archives
January 2017
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