God Among The gods

Today’s Reading:

• Micah 6:1-7:20; 2 Chronicles 32:1-8; 2 Kings 18:13-18; Isaiah 36:1-3; 2 Kings 18:19-37; Isaiah 36:4-22

Faith-Stretching Verse(s):

• “Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The LORD will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem from me?” – Isaiah 36:18-20, NLT

Thoughts:

• It’s easy to wonder if perhaps our God isn’t so unique.

Obviously, if you’ve read anything I have written so far, you know that I am a Christian. I believe in the God of the Bible—of the Old and New Testaments—and I believe specifically that we are set free from our sins and invited to know Him through His Son Jesus Christ, who lived and died and rose from the dead and lives forever as the eternal God who also became a man. I believe that I have a relationship with God, and that His Holy Spirit lives in me and changes me and reminds me to look to Jesus day by day.

As a Christian, I also believe that this is the only true God. I deny that the God of Islam is the same God. I deny that those who follow Judaism know the true God, even though they share more than half of my Bible with me, because Judaism without Jesus Christ knows something about the true God but refuses to know Him as He has fully revealed Himself to be. I deny the many gods of Hinduism to be real gods—perhaps demons, but not gods. I deny the gods of ancient Greece, the gods of ancient Rome, the gods of animism, the gods of the cults, the gods that were worshiped by ancient Israel’s neighbors, and any other god or gods that anyone might claim deserve mankind’s worship. There is only one true God. And I know Him.

There. Now I sound really arrogant.

But more than that, in today’s world, I might actually sound stupid. Because in today’s world, with a whole academic field devoted to comparative religions, scholars have discovered not only that different religions are different, but that different religions and deity-related mythologies are eerily similar. For instance, see this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljRKhZ81aqY. The argument in this video is similar to the argument made by Sennacherib’s “chief of staff” (NLT): “Gods are all pretty much the same. The LORD/Jesus is a God/god. Therefore, the LORD/Jesus is no more powerful or real than any other deity.”

How do we deal with this argument? In some ways, it seems to have merit. After all, even though we Christians call many beneficial events in our lives “miraculous,” most of the events we call miracles happen to unbelievers from other religions, and even to atheists. How many of our experiences have been brought to scientists and subjected to their thorough scrutiny to such an extent that even atheists have to deal with scientifically documented evidence of God’s work in our world? And even if we had a bunch of scientifically inexplicable stories, it may well be that people from other religions have some, too—stories which they would use to leverage people toward faith in their gods. And then we would have to deal with the reality that these stories are not the norm—even Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego admitted that God might not help them out of their fiery predicament (Daniel 3:17-18). Christians often go through experiences just as horrible as the experiences anybody else would go through.

I have a couple of suggestions for refuting this argument. First, we should examine (as I still need to do more thoroughly) similar stories to find out whether they were viewed as true earthly history or not. Second, we should examine what archaeology has revealed about our own God, in order to find out what kinds of evidence exist regarding His impact on earthly history. Third, perhaps we should take better notes on current miraculous events—scientists are doing studies to compare healings among prayed for people and unprayed for people, and those of us who have seen God’s wonders ought to be helping them explore the evidence we have experienced. Fourth, we need to turn back to the pages of our Scriptures to remember what the Bible says that God has done in space and time history—the list is very impressive, and we need to consider whether history could possibly have resulted in today’s world without God’s intervention.

Because the Bible’s claim is that God sometimes does intervene. In tomorrow’s reading (2 Kings 19) Hezekiah is saved from an army of 185,000 Assyrians in response to his prayers. If that’s just a myth, then don’t believe it. But if this really happened, don’t just call it a coincidence (even if God used some horrible earthly plague to defeat the huge army). If this is history, then God is not just one of the gods. He is exactly who He claims to be, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe who loves His people, who sent Jesus to save all who believe in Him, and who is making all things new in His time.

Even if others sometimes think of Jesus as just “one of the (false) gods,” the question still remains – Are they right or wrong? The benefits of knowing Him are nothing to sneeze at just because others claim He’s nonsense. Don’t miss out unless there’s nothing to miss out on. Pursue the truth.

For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.

Living in a Blueprint

ALL – Psalm 106:13-31
ALL – Proverbs 27:7-9
OT – Ezekiel 16:43-17:24
NT – Hebrews 8:1-13

Interesting passage for the day: Their work is connected with a mere earthly model of the real tabernacle in heaven; for when Moses was getting ready to build the tabernacle, God warned him to follow exactly the pattern of the heavenly tabernacle as shown to him on Mount Sinai. – Hebrews 8:5, The Living Bible

Thought: How effective is life in a blueprint? The way that God commanded the Israelites to worship Him through Moses was just a blueprint of the way that we would all be called to live through Jesus.

Blueprints are guides. They aren’t comfortable. They aren’t harsh. They aren’t solid. They aren’t very satisfying. They aren’t reality. That is, they’re real visions and plans, but they still need to be realized before they can be very beneficial. Even if you go from blueprint to small-scale model, they’re only so satisfying. Which is more amazing, more useful, more fulfilling, more real: a full-sized train that drags tons of supplies across a nation or a model train that carts a few ounces of model cars and cabooses around our living rooms?

The old covenant was a blueprint and its tabernacles and temples were mere models. They were like samples given out at a grocery store—mere tastes of the full product. They were designed to prepare people for the glory of Jesus Christ and His heavenly tabernacle. Trying to live in them is like trying to live in a blueprint. But Jesus Christ has already done His work in the heavenly tabernacle on our behalf, and we can already begin to live in the realization that our sins are done for, even though we still live on earth. And one glorious day, we will experience the full life of heaven.

Question: How are you trying to build your relationship with God? What are you depending on? Where did you get your pattern? How’s it working for you? How much of a role does Jesus Christ play in your answer? He is the life our earthly blueprints have pointed to all along.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Sorry. This Relationship’s Exclusive.

ALL – Psalm 53:1-6
ALL – Proverbs 22:28-29
OT – Isaiah 3:1-5:30
NT – 2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Interesting passage for the day: I am anxious for you with the deep concern of God himself—anxious that your love should be for Christ alone, just as a pure maiden saves her love for one man only, for the one who will be her husband. – 2 Corinthians 11:2, The Living Bible

Thought: Ok, so it’s not all that shocking, but people don’t like being cheated on. We reserve our deepest displays of love for that “special someone.” Obviously, as a Christian I believe that the “special someone” should be a spouse. But even those who aren’t married expect their boyfriend or girlfriend to be faithful to them so long as they’re a couple.

So why is it so hard to understand that Jesus wants us to be faithful to Him? Why do Christians toy with pleasures Jesus hates and with lies that Satan promotes? Why does the world mock those who are faithful to Jesus for being “narrow-minded,” when even worldly couples want an “exclusive” relationship? Is it really so hard to understand? Jesus isn’t a style of clothing, a haircut, or a skin to cover our cell phones. We don’t change gods and religions at whim, as though the fall season religion is out and winter season religion is now in. We don’t trade Jesus in for a newer model.

Jesus is a person, a very real person. He’s not a philosophy. He’s not a daydream. His love for us is very real. His suffering for us is very real. His death for us was very real. His life is fully devoted to us, the church, His bride. And we are meant for Him. Exclusively for Him. Let’s be faithful and pure.

Question: What alternative loves are distracting you from Jesus? When are you tempted to pursue other interests? Why not call on Jesus now, confess your heart’s unfaithfulness and impurity, and ask Him to forgive you, purify you, and draw you even closer to Him?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

No Airbrushed Jesus

ALL – Psalm 44:1-7
ALL – Proverbs 22:10-12
OT – Job 34:1-36:33
NT – 2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Interesting passage for the day: We do not try to trick people into believing—we are not interested in fooling anyone. We never try to get anyone to believe that the Bible teaches what it doesn’t. All such shameful methods we forego. We stand in the presence of God as we speak and so we tell the truth, as all who know us will agree. – 2 Corinthians 4:2, The Living Bible

Thought: What would be the goal of tricking people into believing? What would be the benefit of fooling people into doing what we say? I can’t think of any positive reason to deceive people into agreeing with me.

I’m not saying that I can’t see any reason why tricking people could be fun, exciting, and even fulfilling. When people agree with me, it helps me feel better about my own perspectives. When people trust me so much that they don’t even question my thoughts, there could be a bit of a rush at the realization that I have the ability to lead them just about anywhere—at least for a while. And the more people who believe me and follow my lead, the more I would be able to pat myself on the back for being such a magnetic and charismatic leader. The experience of this kind of success might be like an ongoing shot of adrenaline. So there are reasons that tricking people into believing us could be an amazing experience.

But none of those reasons is positive. Especially not when we’re talking about Jesus Christ. Getting tons of people to follow me, thinking that I had led them to Jesus even though I had really just giving them pep talks with Jesus’ name liberally sprinkled throughout my inspiring speeches (perhaps a case of using Jesus’ name in vain?), would be useless for everyone involved. The people would not have actually come to know Jesus. I would have “gained the whole world and lost my soul.” And Jesus would look at me from His throne and ask, “How did you possibly think this would end well—stealing My glory for yourself?”

No, when we talk about Jesus, we want to be as straightforward and honest as possible. Sometimes—perhaps even often—we’ll draw smaller crowds. But our goal is to draw together worshipers for our great King Jesus, men and women who worship in spirit and truth. This kind of worship only happens when people really know who Jesus is. Let’s introduce Him honestly.

Question: What do you not like to tell people about Jesus and His Word? Let’s encourage one another to lovingly and honestly introduce people to Jesus Christ as He is.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Are You (Really) A Christian?

ALL – Psalm 11:1-7
ALL – Proverbs 19:10-12
OT – 1 Chronicles 19:1-21:30
NT – Romans 2:24-3:8

Interesting passage for the day: For you are not real Jews just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish initiation ceremony of circumcision. No, a real Jew is anyone whose heart is right with God. – Romans 2:28-29a, The Living Bible

Thought: By the time the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the letter to the Romans, there were no second-generation Christians—or at least, there were very few of them. Christianity was still counter-cultural, uncommon, different. The idea that Christians were the people of God was still a new idea.

The Jews, on the other hand, were not only a religious group, but a nation. And even though they were taught that each of them individually needed to obey God, the fact of the matter was that many of them felt as though being part of the Jewish people and being moderately aware of God and His expectations was enough to make them the people of God.

Almost two thousand years later, these verses no longer apply only to the Jews. Christians and their religious culture have spread globally for generation after generation. Even among those of us who teach our children that they must have their own relationship with God, there is almost a Christian-nationalistic expectation that our children will, in fact, put their lives in God’s hands. And our children have learned that other Christians are satisfied to accept them into the church if they claim to have prayed to Jesus for salvation—even if they continue to pursue their own desires and show little other devotion to Jesus.

So for us this verse could be re-phrased: You are not real Christians just because you grew up in a Christian home or because you prayed a prayer of salvation or were accepted into a Christian church, or even baptized! No, a real Christian is anyone whose heart is right with God.

Question: Why do you believe your heart is right with God? Is your reason only about your past interactions with God? Or is your heart right with God today?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Weekly Sermons in Swanton: Truth in Real Life

The message, preached on May 9th, 2010, covered 3 John, and it can be heard via streaming audio at http://www.swantonalliance.org. Truth is more than just knowing about Jesus Christ; it’s knowing Him. We need to do life with Jesus, not think of ourselves as more real than God, and imitate lived truth. Note: Past sermons can be accessed through the resources page.

Weekly Sermons in Swanton: Choose This Day…

The message, preached on April 25th, 2010, reviewed the key themes of 1 John, and it can be heard via streaming audio at http://www.swantonalliance.org. Not everything that seems good is good for us. In the area of spirituality, we’ve been told that only Jesus is good, that only Jesus gives life—but many people want to sit around experimenting with holding onto both Jesus and their sinful lifestyles, alternative beliefs, etc. At some point, we have to choose—Jesus or self, Jesus or alternative gods, Jesus or the world. Jesus is the real deal; every other so-called life is a counterfeit. Note: Past sermons can be accessed through the resources page.

Be Real

Joel 1-3; Psalm 130; Proverbs 29:21-22

Much of life is spent going through the motions, doing just enough to convince people that you’re alive and active and worth knowing—then sinking into bed, exhausted and apathetic. We know that people judge us by our accomplishments, and we work our tails off to impress them, even if our hearts aren’t in it.

But God is much less concerned with our accomplishments and activities than with our hearts. Not that we can impress Him with our hearts. But He sees them. He knows them. And He therefore knows whether we’re being real with Him or not. He expresses His desire for people whose hearts are truly focused on turning to Him in Joel 2:13—

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

God is gracious, but He’s gracious on the basis of our hearts, not of our impressive outward displays of humility, self-discipline, or anything else. So how are we trying to catch God’s attention? Through half-hearted but effort-filled outward displays of spirituality? Or through hearts torn to pieces by the recognition of how sinful we are and how much we need God’s grace?

Father, help me to seek You with my heart always, both when I’m physically energetic and outwardly solid and when I’m drained and lethargic. May my heart not be lazy about knowing You.

How has God opened your eyes to the laziness and apathy of your heart toward Him?