Mercy and Judgment -- James 2:13-18

James 2:13-18


"For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." (NKJV)

What are the works of faith?

It seems that every day another moral crisis hits a famous Christian. (Perhaps part of the problem is that very phrase: "famous Christian." Maybe we were never intended to be famous.) Satan and nonbelievers use every opportunity to point out how hypocritical Christians are. (Translation: How sinful we are when the world thinks we are to be sinless.) And it’s difficult to know which side of the argument to take. Should we expect other Christians to be overcomers, living lives without sinning? John Wesley believed that Christians can live without sinning. And Paul preaches over and over again that we are to step away from our sinful pasts and to embrace the holiness and righteousness that is, and always has been, God.

On the other hand, we are told to live lives that reach out in the love of Christ to those who are less than perfect. We are told to be Christ’s hands, His feet, His heart to a hurting world. (And that hurting doesn’t just extend to those outside of the Church). And so, what become the works of faith? Are we only faithful when we give physical comfort to the hungry, to the homeless, and to the sick? Or are we also faithful when we extend mercy to those who have made bad—even horrible—choices?

Are we to be merciful, even to each other? For, according to James, mercy triumphs over judgment. Every time and in every way.

I find it interesting that the Greek work used in James 2 for "judgment" is krisis (Strong’s G2920). According to Vine’s, krisis can mean both the investigative process and, sometimes, the condemnation that results from the investigation. In James 2, it appears to have that meaning of the justice that rightly brings condemnation as a result of an act which is wrong or sinful. The RSV translates this verse this way:

"For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment."

There are two great truths here. First, there is judgment and there is mercy and we can choose how we approach life. As Christians, we have the right to either (within the Church) and can approach other Christians as we deem appropriate. But knowing that, the higher road is mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

So when do we extend mercy and when do we judge?

"Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:1-2 NKJV).

Restore. In the Greek, katartizo. To mend what has been broken. There are those times when we are overtaken by sin. Vine’s defines it as this: "where the meaning is not that of detecting a person in the act, but of his being caught by the trespass, through his being off his guard." These are times when we are tired—physically or emotionally—when we have been stretched beyond our normal limits, when life comes crashing in with disaster or distress, and suddenly we find ourselves turning to sin, enmeshed in its grips because it was easy or available or offered. This isn’t the kind of sin where someone chooses again and again and again, but rather the single sin that presented itself and we fell into it because we failed to stop ourselves and ask if we should be involved.

In these cases, mercy triumphs over judgment. In these cases, we are immediately convicted of the sin and our sinfulness. Regardless of the intensity of the sin, we want to find a way out and the Church should gently restore us. We, who see others in similar situations, should also gently restore those, and heeding to the warnings of scripture, not fall ourselves into the same (or similar) sins.

These are not the same situations as Christians who have embraced the same sin time after time after time. These sins the apostle Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 5:

"I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner— snot even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore put away from yourselves the evil person." (1 Corinthians 5:9-13 NKJV).

Notice that while Paul begins the paragraph describing sexual sins, he doesn’t stop there. This list isn’t intended to be inclusive, but rather exemplary in nature. In other words, Paul isn’t just saying don’t associate with these people, but the intent is that we not associate with any Christian who embraces evil as a matter of habit or daily practice.

"Put away from yourselves the evil person." Not the evil person (or people) who are outside of the Church, but the evil people who are inside the Church.

Wow! That is a harshness that we often don’t see. How do we balance that with mercy? I believe the balance comes from Galatians 6:1 in the restoration process. If the person wants to be restored and genuinely demonstrates that resolve, then we work with them to mend the brokenness and restore them in mercy. However, that being said, if the person continues to live in the sin, then we must—as Paul emphatically commands—separate ourselves completely from that person until they decide to stop sinning. That is when we must choose judgment over mercy.

"Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? . . . Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:2, 9-11 NKJV).

The apostles and leaders of the New Testament Church expected that believers would strive to live without sin (not embrace it). And if someone else who claims to be a believer is living this kind of lifestyle, it is our duty to "judge" them in the sense that Paul spoke of in Galatians 6. We are to go to them and, as gently as possible, lead them away from the sin. But if they resist, then we are to put ourselves away from them; they are an evil person.

That being said, there is no room for gossip or talking about that person with someone else. If they refuse to turn from the evil, our next and only recourse is to pray for them. That is so hard in a society where social networking (and gossip) is our daily communicative diet. You can’t even go onto the Internet or turn on the television without hearing gossip about someone or another. But we aren’t to gossip. Ever. Regardless of the reason. And even more so when we are talking about another Christian:

"Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?" (James 4:11-12 NKJV).

We are, instead, to pray for each other.

"Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16 NKJV).

Why pray? Because we may find ourselves in a similar situation and need all the help and prayer we can get from our brothers and sisters in Christ:

"For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:22b-23 NKJV).

And in this way, mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy from others brings prayer into our lives. Mercy from us compels us to pray for others. Mercy from the Lord grants forgiveness when we seek Him.

© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Let's Celebrate Resurrection Day . . . Every Day! -- Romans 6:5-11

Romans 6:5-11



"For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NKJV)

Gods cannot die . . . and yet, the Lord Jesus died. He subjected Himself to that which He never had to experience unless He chose to experience it. He subjected Himself to death.

Death is not something that most people willingly embrace. We were created to be body-soul-spirit and the thought of being without our bodies is, in the least, uncomfortable, and in the greatest, frightening. Paul alludes to this in 2 Corinthians:

"For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down—when we die and leave these bodies—we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life." (2 Corinthians 5:1-4 NLT).

And if death is to be avoided, if death is that which we don’t want to experience, then why would the Lord Jesus willingly embrace it? Why, even though He was God, walk fearlessly through that which He knew was something a human didn’t want to experience?

The Lord Jesus chose death because He knew there was no other way. As a race, we humans were lost in our sin, with no hope of ever meeting God’s requirements for a relationship with Him. And there was no other way. No other way to give us eternal life with Him. No other way to pay for our sins. No other way to redeem us.

Stuart Briscoe, in his book, The Fullness of Christ, explains:

"The perennial question of man is: Why is the death of His Son necessary? Couldn’t God just forgive and forget? Not—it is not so easy. God is a merciful, gracious, loving God as we can see in the gracious and loving gift of His Son to die on the cross, but He is also a righteous, just and holy God. This means that He can always be relied upon to do the right thing. Man expects God to be just, righteous and holy, and therefore logically he must expect God to do that which is just, righteous and holy, and that includes His dealings with sin.

"Because He is holy, He hates sin; because He is righteous, He rejects sin and because He is just, He can be relied upon to judge sin. Therefore we see that before God could forgive sin, He had to judge sin, either individually in the person of the sinner, or collectively in the person of the substitute." (Briscoe, The Fullness of Christ, Zondervan, 1965, p. 13).

It comes down to this: Judgment comes before forgiveness. Holiness comes before love. Why? Because God couldn’t love us with His sacrificial agape love if He wasn’t holy. And He wouldn’t be holy if He didn’t judge sin rightly.

There was only one way. The Lord Jesus had to die. He had to become the sacrifice for our sin. It was the only way to save us. There was no other way.

But the great beauty of God’s plan was so far greater! The Lord Jesus would not only die, but He would be resurrected as the promise of our new eternal life. And, by going through death to life, He showed us the way. He embodied the Promise given to each and every believer . . . that death no longer has power over us, that death itself becomes only a doorway to a life far greater, far more wonderful than we could ever imagine. In a very real sense, the Resurrection became "our ticket outta here!"

As Christians, then, why do we ever run from death? Why are we afraid to die? Why do we not, instead, rejoice gloriously that soon we will be in a life far more amazing than anything we could ever imagine? "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV).

We get excited over a new movie or TV show. We get excited about vacation trips to exotic destinations. We get excited about our favorite sports team winning or going to Disneyland. Instead of that, why don’t we start getting excited about what awaits us just around the bend in that magical, marvelous, amazing place called Heaven? Why don’t we start living like the Lord Jesus really did rise from the dead and promise us eternal life? Why don’t we start making every day Resurrection Day?

© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission to use in entirety granted to ministry and non-profit groups. Please include this notice with all uses. Permission for excerpts and other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Loving as Christ Loves -- Philippians 2:3

Philippians 2:3


"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." (NKJV)

A week or so ago, a terrible tragedy happened in Europe; a jet plane full of passengers, including over a dozen high school students, crashed in the Swiss Alps. It seems that there are a lot of problems with planes these days, but this crash, as it turns out, is very different.

In this crash, the co-pilot deliberately crashed the plane.

I don’t know about you, but this accident has weighed heavily on my mind since it happened. Yes, I suppose there is some comfort in knowing that the people on the plane were killed instantly. But it is such a terrible loss; such a senseless act of wickedness. It’s one thing to commit suicide; it’s another to take others with you.

And yet, this kind of thing is happening more and more often. Usually we hear about it in relationship to someone going into a crowded building and shooting people, only to either end up killing themselves or allowing the police to kill them. But the outcome is the same. The killer not only dies, but causes others to die as well.

There is a great deal of speculation about what might cause a young person to do such a terrible thing. Investigators have been reluctant to attached a specific cause. The people in the media have made all sorts of guesses including depression, mental illness, and possible side effects of psycho-tropic drugs. It’s likely we may never know the true reason why this young man did what he did, but one Christian doctor has a speculation that rings very true for me. He believes that this co-pilot was suffering from narcissism, an inflated view of one’s importance and a strong sense of entitlement.

(For the article, please refer to http://www.aleteia.org/en/lifestyle/article/narcissism-kills-a-lesson-from-the-germanwings-plane-crash-tragedy-5817073980669952?)

I grew up in the 60's, in the era that birthed the whole idea of self-esteem, self-worth, and self-importance. If you are younger than me, you might be surprised to learn that the Christian Church hasn’t always taught "me first, then everybody else" like it does now.

In fact, most of the Christian "self-esteem" doctrine is taken from one concept in the Bible:

"Jesus said to him, ‘"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’" (Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV).

I can remember sitting in church and hearing preachers say, "You cannot love anyone else until you love yourself. You must learn to love yourself." The fact is, we all love ourselves if we understand how "love" is truly defined. What the Bible is talking about isn’t self-acceptance or self-approval. What the Bible is actually talking about is egocentricity, putting ourselves and our interests ahead of others. And that we all do with great alacrity and ability. We are born egocentric!

"Ego" is a psychological term that basically means our sense of self. It is the essence of who we are as a person. Centric: located at the center of. Egocentric basically means that we see ourselves as the center of the universe with everything and everyone revolving around us.

We are born this way.

Have you ever known a baby to be willing to put aside what she feels are her needs in order to allow someone else to have what they need? When a baby is hunger, he cries. If he is ignored, he will only scream louder and more insistently until the adults around him respond to him. Babies are created with this ability because they are unable to meet their own needs . . . for a time. But as children mature, it is expected that they will begin, at some point, to meet their own needs or (even more importantly) learn how to wait to have their needs met. Children need to learn that their needs are not the only needs that are important.

As Christians, we are commanded to "esteem others as better than ourselves." In essence, what Paul is saying is that we are to put our own needs aside and to use our efforts, our resources, and our priorities to look out for the needs of others. In fact, we are to do so in a very self-sacrificing way. The Lord Jesus Himself taught:

"You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away" (Matthew 5:38-42 NKJV).

This commandment is about how to treat those around us. I’m convinced that the Lord used the example of how we are to treat evil persons so that we will know this is how we are to treat everyone. I mean, think about it. Don’t we think even the nicest person is at least a little bit evil when they make demands on us that interfere with our plans to take care of ourselves? And the Lord tells us, in every one of those situations, we are to give more than is asked of us.

This is how we love as Christ loved.


Let nothing be done through self ambition or conceit . . .
There is within all of us a real sense of wanting to convince others that our needs are more important than theirs. Have you ever found yourself, in a conversation, only waiting to find a point where you could jump in and give your opinion or talk about your experience? How about trying to convince your boss that you deserve the raise or the promotion over someone else? The fact is, we have been raised to think of ourselves first. We were born loving ourselves. It doesn’t matter whether or not we like ourselves; we think of ourselves first. Even for those of us who naturally gravitate toward "doing" for others, our motivation is selfish. We do it because either it makes us feel good, it is how we define ourselves, or we are hoping to get something out of it.

And yet Paul tells us to let nothing be done for these reasons. Rather, we are to learn how to look out after others, taking care of their needs, meeting their desires, making sure they have everything they want or need without regard for what we need.

Why would God ask that of us?

Because He has promised to take care of us Himself. When we focus our hearts, minds, and efforts upon the needs and desires of others, we are also learning how to fully trust God to take care of us. Reaching out and ministering to others, without regard for our own needs or desires, is a way to mature spiritually, a way to grow closer to the Lord, a way to learn how to trust Him more fully each day.

If it is true that putting the needs of others first (and probably only) is the way to emulate Christ, then I am fully convinced that it is possible for the young co-pilot on the Germanwings plane to have consciously decided to end his own life as well as the lives of the other 149 people on that plane. Why? Because doing "whatever" he needed to do to fulfill his own needs became more important than the needs of the other passengers and crew. He was doing what was natural to him; he was doing the exact opposite of what God would do.

It is also fully possible, as much as we could like to not admit it, for any of us to sacrifice any number of people around us in order to get what we need out of life. That is the reality of egocentrism. That is why the Holy Spirit is commanding us to choose to meet the needs of those around us. We need to learn how to be others-centric through the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can become more and more like the Lord Jesus. The opposite of that is to act egocentrically which opens us up to all kinds of horrific decisions.

It is possible for us to be as vile as that young co-pilot. That evil exists within each and every one of us. Whether or not we find ourselves in a situation where we end the lives of people around us, we are fully capable of psychologically and/or spiritually damaging others to the point where they "die" emotionally.

As Christians, we need to begin to show the world the true definition of agape love, of that self-sacrificing love that is willing to give up all that I am in meeting the needs of others in order to become all that the Lord Jesus wants me to be to meet the needs of others. The purpose of our lives in Christ is always other-driven. Why? Because when we become focused on those around us, when we pour our lives out in order to love as Christ loved, only then do we begin to understand what it truly means to be a follower of Christ.

© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission to use in entirety granted to ministry and non-profit groups. Please include this notice with all uses. Permission for excerpts and other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Calling Evil Good: The Problem Isn't "Them," It's Us! -- Isaiah 5:13, 20

Isaiah 5:13, 20


"Therefore my people have gone into captivity,
Because they have no knowledge;
Their honorable men are famished,
And their multitude dried up with thirst. (v. 13)

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (v. 20) (NKJV)

It seems, these days, that I’m hearing a lot of pastors talk more and more about how our society is naming what is evil good and what is good evil. And, I think all of us would have to admit, that American social norms and morals have changed significantly in the last 75-100 years. There is a reality that what wasn’t acceptable behavior in the 1950s is often now more than acceptable; it’s considered to be best practice.

But I’m wondering if we’re not looking in the wrong direction when we apply this scripture to what’s happening. I wonder if the problem, rather than being with society in general, isn’t centered first and foremost with the Church, with God’s people.

In the last few years, in a rather public display, Christians (or at least those professing to be Christians) have begun to refuse to provide retail and professional services to the LGBT community, particularly in the way of wedding and family services. Several bakers across the country refused to bake wedding cakes. A florist or two refused to provide flowers for weddings. Most recently a pediatrician refused to accept a new baby into her practice when she learned that the parents were married lesbians. All of these incidents were directly related to the issue of civil gay marriage. In every case, the person refusing the service has openly stated that they are against gay marriage and can’t, by reason by conscience, provide the service because they believe that gay marriage is against the laws of God.

Pastors, then, have also begun to stand up and reject this secular turn of events, stating that now our society is calling what is evil good and what is good evil ("Homosexuality is good" and "Christian values are bad"). They are saying that this verse in Isaiah (v. 20) is about the world’s behavior and the world’s values. They are vehemently protesting that things in our society have turned around and are suddenly backwards.

I disagree.

Oh, of course things in our secular, unsaved society are crazy wrong. Everyone who isn’t saved is crazy wrong. Scripture has already guaranteed that! None of us can make good decisions about our lives, about our behavior, without the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to make us turn away from our sinful natures and embrace the righteous character of the most Holy God.

But this passage in Isaiah wasn’t written about unsaved people. It was written about God’s people! God’s people will begin to call evil good and to call good evil. "They" aren’t the problem; we are. And I’m not talking about the so-called Christians who are distorting the Bible in order to try to include gay marriage as an acceptable form of Christian behavior. I’m talking about those of us who have painted the red letter A on the chest of every non-Christian for their sinful behavior. I’m talking about you and me.

Now, I haven’t suddenly changed my own belief about what is sinful and what is not. Scripture is plain that sex outside of traditional marriage is sin. One cannot equivocate about that and still remain faithful to the idea that the Bible in infallible in the original manuscripts. No, what I’m talking about is that we have suddenly decided that there are sins committed by the unsaved that will somehow send them more to hell than other sins. Think about that for a minute. So there is an unsaved person who is LGBT. They get married or not. They have homosexual sin or remain celibate. They do whatever. If they are unsaved, they are doomed. It doesn’t matter whether or not they are LGBT. It doesn’t matter or not whether they are sexually active or not. It doesn’t matter whether they are married in the eyes of the government or not. If they are unsaved, their eternal destination is hell. Pure and simple. There isn’t anyone who can make any decision in life that will somehow send them more to hell than another decision. The fact is, our unsaved heterosexual neighbors are just as much going to hell. Homosexuality isn’t something that is more heinous to God than any other sin when it comes to determining where a person’s eternal destination is.

And that is something we need to seriously get in our heads and hearts. Why? Because I believe that Satan is using the current state of affairs in our society to get our eyes off what is actually really important and that is the ignorance among Christians of what the Bible says about how we are to live. Isaiah 5:13 (the beginning part of this passage) says: "Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge." The Hebrew word translated here "knowledge" is da’at and has connotations of discernment, understanding, and wisdom (Strong’s H1847). I believe God is telling us that His people weren’t sent into captivity because of what they did, but rather because of the root of why they did it. Their reasons for their sin were their undoing.

Do you know that most Christians in America are frightfully ignorant of what the Bible says? We read Christian books, go to Christian conferences, listen to Christian radio, but we don’t study the Word, not like we should. And we really don’t know what the Bible says about interacting with the LGBT community. If we did know, things like refusing to provide services for weddings or treat babies wouldn’t be happening. The Bible doesn’t tell us to do those things. In fact, the Bible tells us just the opposite.

"I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person." (1 Corinthians 5:9-11 NKJV).

God never meant for us to police the behavior of the unsaved around us. These dear deluded folks are simply acting according to their sin natures to which they are enslaved (Romans 6:15-23). But we are to police those within the Church, including ourselves, beginning with the idea that we are to ostracize those within our faith community who are sexually immoral . . . or covetous, or idolaters, or revilers, or drunkards, or extortioners. We are not to have any social interaction with them if they name themselves as Christians. (Notice that this list, while beginning with those who are sexually immoral, goes far beyond just those who have embraced sexual sin.)

We—those of us in the Church—are the ones who have things backwards. We are the ones calling evil good and good evil. We are willing to tolerate, to the point of ignoring, the sins of our Christian brothers and sisters, claiming that we aren’t allowed to judge their lives, but we turn around and persecute the unsaved LGBT community in the name of God. And yet Paul clearly tells us that he assumed we would keep company with sexually immoral unsaved people. Why? Because how else can they hear about the gospel unless the Christians around them embrace them with God’s love?

Oh, dear ones, we are the ones being sent into captivity because of our ignorance of what the Bible really says. We are the ones who are living in sin, calling what is evil good and what is good evil by persecuting the unsaved around us. We are the ones who are living upside down, refusing to be Christ’s hands and feet and heart in a dying world.

Inside our churches are people living in sin, people who claim the name of Christ, but who are living sexually immoral lives, Christians who are covetors, idolaters, revilers, drunkards, extortioners. We have refused to police ourselves, to hold ourselves and each other accountable for our sins. Instead, perversely, we have decided to label one group of sinners in our society as somehow more sinful than another group and to lay the blame of our society’s degradation on them! We are the problem, not them. We need to repent of our sin of ignorance, to repent of our own self-indulgence and sinfulness, and to reach out in love to those around us who are unsaved, regardless of how their "unsavedness" exhibits itself. Of course, they are sinning! They are slaves to sin and the only thing that will save them is the gospel! Our refusing to love them, to serve them, to embrace them won’t change them. We need to become the hands, the feet, the heart of the Savior!

© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Light Afflictions -- James 1:1

James 1:1


"James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings." (NKJV)

James, a bondservant of God. It’s interesting that the King James translates this "bondservant" rather than slave. Traditionally in European culture, a slave was someone who was usually kidnapped from their home and sold into slavery by others (like the story of Joseph in the Old Testament). But a bondservant was someone who sold themselves into slavery, often to pay the debt of another. The connotation is that the subjection into slavery is the decision of the slave herself, not the decision of another. Isn’t that how it is with us? No one has forced us to become Christians; we have willingly made that decision. And yet, how is it then that it is so difficult for us to submit ourselves to the will of the Lord and to the service of others?

I think that often we are drawn into Christianity under rather false pretenses. Either we are "born" into a Christian family, or a family that claims to be Christian but has lives that are rather otherwise, or we are "convinced" that our lives would be totally "fixed" if we accepted Christ. Both are probably bad beginnings for a life that is neither easy nor bereft of suffering. To put it bluntly, being a Christian, while far the best choice, is difficult at its easiest and very painful at its most extreme. It is a life of self-denial, of embracing whatever God demands, and of very often trusting in the darkness. When we read that James defined himself as a bondservant of the God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to understand that he had decided to live completely sold out to the will of God, regardless of what that will was, regardless of where it might take him.

Paul talks about all of the suffering that he went through as an apostle:

"In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness" (2 Corinthians 11;23-27 NKJV).

Yet, early in the same letter to the Corinthian church, Paul calls his sufferings "light afflictions:"



"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17 NKJV).

The Greek word translated here "light" is elaphros and means "easy to bear" (Strong’s G2347). Why would Paul say that? Because the pain is well offset by the eternal weight of glory that is working in and for us. Paul goes on to say:

"For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee" (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 NKJV).

This "earthly house" Paul talks about are our physical bodies, but not just our bodies, but in essence this life that we live here on earth. And his perspective on this "life" here is amazing. In verse 4, he says "that mortality may be swallowed up by life!" Despite everything we might try to think and say to convince ourselves, as human beings, we know that we are dying. We know that this life is filled with more misery than joy. We know that things here on earth are, simply put, messed up. We want something more and we try to get it through political, financial, social, and even sexual means, but nothing really works! Why? Because this isn’t really life. This is life messed up by sin. Sin permeates all of creation. There’s no way to get around it.

"For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay" (Romans 8:18-21 NLT).

All of creation—the entire universe—has been subjected to the penalties of sin. That is why both the apostles Peter and John write about the new heavens and the new earth that will someday be created (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1). This creation, so permeated with sin, cannot be saved; it must be destroyed and a new creation made for God’s people. We have the promise of new bodies and a new creation in which to live. This is why Paul called his sufferings light afflictions. This is why James was willing to become a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the promise that brings us hope. We aren’t looking for a better life here within this creation that cannot be fixed, cannot be saved. We are looking for a perfect life in the new creation waiting for God’s people! We are willing to do whatever He asks for us now because He is preparing for us a life—an eternal life—that is so wonderful, we can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like.

© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

I Need A Savior -- Psalm 70:5

Psalm 70:5


"But I am poor and needy;
Please hurry to my aid, O God.
You are My helper and My Savior;
O Lord, do not delay!" (NLT)

I need a Savior.

As I have gotten older, I’ve become more and more self-aware, aware of my limitations, aware of my faults, aware of actually how little control I have on my life. But more than that, I’m aware of how close I live to the abyss, to the point at where I am lost and alone and terrified of life.

All of us, in the darkness, when we can no longer try to pretend, live in the same place. There is that moment when life threatens to crash in, destroying the "best laid plans of mice and men" and we realize that we are facing a future for which we are totally unprepared. It doesn’t matter how much we think we are prepared. The forces which battle for this earth are far greater than our limited resources, far stronger than our feeble strength, more far reaching than we ever could imagine. It doesn’t matter whether or not you buy into the idea of global conspiracies, fatalism, or the power of optimism. It doesn’t matter whether or not you’re a conservative, a liberal, or an independent. It doesn’t matter whether or not you live in a developed nation or a developing one. The fact is—the undeniable fact is—there are powers at work beyond our control and life, at the very point that we thought we had all of our ducks in a row, has a habit of crashing in and destroying all our hopes, our plans, and our futures.

We need a Savior.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12 NKJV).

The battle exists on a spiritual level. That means that regardless of the laws we pass, regardless of the government under which we live, regardless of the efforts that we make to change our society, the battle goes on and it can only be fought at a spiritual level. The battle may appear to be in another realm; it may appear to be societal, political, financial, or legal, but it’s not! The only battle against humankind, the only battle that’s being waged, the only battle we need to address is the spiritual battle of Satan and his minions against the Almighty God and His armies. There is no other battle!

It’s taken me a long time to realize that every attack, every heartache, every struggle is related. The hurts of this world seem so diverse, so disconnected. The daughter of a famous singer lying in a coma. The persecution of Christians by a terrorist group. The passing of laws limiting the exercise of religious beliefs. The increase of resources for the rich and the decrease of resources for the poor. The divorce of a dear friend. A child suffering from cancer. The increase of autism and Alzheimer’s. The loss of jobs. The increase in the price of food. The list goes on and on of the events and circumstances which bring suffering into the lives of those we know and those we know of. And yet, if we take the Bible at it’s word, if we believe that what the Holy Spirit has said is true, then there is only one battle and what’s at stake are the eternal souls of everyone who has every lived.

I think of horrible tragedies, homes burning down or terrible car accidents. But when people walk away alive, the common agreement is, "You can replace stuff. You can’t replace lives." As Christians, we need to begin to have that kind of perspective, but on a far greater, more significant level. You can’t replace souls. Souls are eternal; everyone has one. And the battle that’s waging is for our very souls.

We need a Savior.

A number of years ago, I had a nervous breakdown. While many of my friends didn’t realize what was happening to me, I was spending most of my days sitting in a corner of my walk-in closet. I didn’t eat. I didn’t take care of my children. I didn’t help around the house. I simply sat in a closet, terrified of life. Twice a week I’d get dressed and go to church. I had a "role" I could act out and, in the comfort of that structure, I was able to function for brief periods of time. But most of the time, I was paralyzed by the anger, hurt, and fear that permeated my life. My beloved doctor tried various drugs, to no success. Most of them actually made me crazier!

What I needed was a Savior.

Oh, I believe I was still a Christian during that time, but I needed the Holy Spirit to reach in and tear away my self-pity. Only when my dear husband came and prayed for me, a prayer of desperation that God Himself would release me from the prison I’d created, did I begin to get better. I so needed a Savior because I was unable to save myself.

The world is unable to save itself. Different laws won’t save us. Different spouses or jobs won’t save us. Different doctors or lawyers or religious structures won’t save us. We need a Savior. We need the Savior. Only in His power and through His will can the spiritual battle that is the foundational problem of everything be won. And we need more than a Savior at the end of an aisle when we said the "sinner’s prayer." We need the Savior every day for every moment that we face life.

We need the Savior!

　

© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Exceedingly Wicked: That Includes Me -- Jeremiah 17:9-10

Jeremiah 17:9-10


"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings." (NKJV)

"More than anything else, a person’s mind is evil and cannot be healed" (NCV)

"The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" (NLT)

Very recently, Stephen Frye, a British comedian gave an interview to television host, Gay Byrne, on the show, The Meaning of Life. One of the questions Byrne typically asks on his show was what his guest might say to God if he saw God face to face. This was Frye’s response (answering what he would say to God):

"How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault? It's not right, it's utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God that creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain?" (http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/tv-host-asks-atheist-stephen-fry-question-about-god-you-have-watch-what-happens-next300115#sthash.nZohnqzl.dpuf)

"How dare You create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault?"

Most Christians would simply gloss over this response, knowing it is a typical response of a nonbeliever, but I think that Fry’s response is important for us to consider. Why? Because this is the heart of the world view of many people: that people are fundamentally good, so the evil in the world isn’t "our" fault. This incorrect and poor way of looking at things causes all kinds of problems. In fact, this is one of the greatest problems in the Church today, because we use this errant view to divide the "good people" from the "bad people." You see, if we believe that everyone is born "good," then when they do "bad" things, it becomes their choice. And if their choice is "bad," then they are now necessarily "bad people" (or "evil people"). It’s as if life is about those who wear the white hats and those who wear the black hats. And we do everything we possibly can to continue to this immensely bad doctrine.

Scripture tells us that the heart—our hearts—are "desperately wicked." Don’t you recognize that in your own heart? I know that my heart is desperately wicked, that I’m constantly doing things that hurt others, that ignore God’s will, that I know fail to bring glory to my Lord Jesus.

Paul understood this inescapable nature of being human: "I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." (Romans 7:14b-15 NKJV).

"What I hate, that I do."

The psalmist wrote:

"God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. Every one of them has turned aside; they have together become corrupt; here is none who does good, no, not one." (Psalm 53:2-3 NKJV).

We need God’s mercy and forgiveness precisely because we are so innately wicked! Not them. Us! Me! When we sing "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me," I totally understand why John Newton chose those specific words. He understood himself; he knew that he was capable of justifying evil deeds; he knew how wicked his own heart truly was.

A recent article on the Internet address this specific song and that word, "wretch":

"That first day at Grace Pointe, an interdenominational church with a membership of about 1,500, the pastors were leading an old-fashioned hymn sing. When they got to ‘Amazing Grace,’ Pastor Melissa Greene said something that ‘hit me right square between the eyes,’ Wigden says. Speaking about the line ‘that saved a wretch like me,’ Greene said the church didn’t agree with the word ‘wretch.’ ‘It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or who you are, you were born beloved by God,’ Wigden says she told the congregation." (http://news.yahoo.com/bible-belt-evangelical-church-embraced-gay-rights-201800629.html)

Of course we are beloved by God, but that doesn’t make us any less sinners and wicked. "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8 NKJV). The idea behind Pastor Greene’s words is that God loves us because He must have found something loveable in us. The Bible speaks so much to the contrary of that notion. God demonstrated His love, not our worthiness, in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. The word used here is hamartolos and means "devoted to sin, a sinner; not free from sin; pre-eminently sinful, especially wicked." (Enhanced Strong’s G268).

We don’t want to hear that. We want to look at ourselves and find not find ourselves lacking. We feel better about ourselves if we can find something redeemable within our own hearts and perhaps find something less redeemable in the hearts of those with whom we have disagreements. But the Lord knew that we would think that way:

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes" (Proverbs 21:2b NKJV).

"All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes" (Proverbs 16:2a NKJV).

We cannot trust our own hearts, our own valuations of people around us. There are no white hats and black hats; there are no good guys and bad guys. There are simply sinners (including me) who are desperately in need of the salvation that our Lord so graciously offers.

© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.