FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: Romans 1:16; 1 Timothy 1:8-14

Hope

There’s a final reason why we can have confidence in the Christian faith. It provides us with a hope that will not die. The hope is expressed in two ways. First, we live with the hope for a better world. The theologian, Emil Brunner, once said that what oxygen is to the lungs, hope is to human life. Without hope, we die. With it, however, we live.

The voices of doom are everywhere. Surprisingly, and sadly, this doom is even heard among those of us who should, of all people, be the most hopeful. It is as if some have become convinced the human condition is so depraved that the only thread of hope left is in the second coming of the Lord. I often find myself wondering about the human condition in our world today. I believe in the visible return of our Lord. I believe, that when Christ does appear, the kingdom of God will be fully realized. But the world will have to go a period of judgment first. Even with that in mind though, I’m not ready to give up on the world and those that are spiritually lost. The Lord hasn’t told me the time of service is ended. Not just yet!

Standing on the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” That’s a question many people are asking today. “When, Lord, will You come and deliver us out of this mess?” I believe what we need is to have the angel ask of us what he asked the disciples, “Why do you stand gazing up into heaven?” (Acts 1:11). That’s just another way of saying, “Don’t give up, yet! God isn’t finished with the world just yet!” To give up hope is to destine ourselves to futility and despair.

The Christian faith also gives us hope in the world beyond. These days we place an inordinate amount of interest in material and financial security. Every effort is made to make us feel secure and self-sufficient. Insurance policies, stocks, bonds, IRA’s, and all our personal planning is designed to protect us from the accidental and inevitable. Yet, there is a curious paradox. With all of our planning and scheming, ours is the most neurotic generation on record. Is it any accident? Part of our neurosis and anxiety stems from the fact that we have lost a sense of hope in the world beyond. That is why we can be proud of the Christian faith. Its central message is that, in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord, death no longer writes the final line on the script of life.

I’ve had to deal with cancer a couple times in the last few years, undergoing chemotherapy as well as radiation treatments, so I often have to visit our oncology department for updates. I often get to witness to the wonderful caregivers there and they all know my stand on the Bible and eternity. I am not ashamed to share the Word of God with them and they have often stated they look forward to my visits because of the positive they witness in me compared to so much hopelessness they deal with on a daily basis. Everyone is looking for hope in something more than what they see in front of them.

I’m convinced the Christian faith answers our longing for what lies beyond what our eyes and senses are only aware of. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,” exclaimed Paul. Neither am I. It produces what it promises. It meets all our needs, and, it prepares us for life, not just here, but also beyond, in eternity.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Romans 1:16; 1 Timothy 1:8-14

Needs

There is a second reason why we don’t need to be ashamed of the Christian faith. It fulfills our most basic human needs. Though you could list a variety of “basic needs,” someone has said that all humans have three basic needs . . . to be noticed, nurtured, and needed.

A popular movie star was quoted as saying that all their life, they had wanted the whole world to know who they were, to be love by all, and to be affected by their audience. While she may not know it, she was saying, “I need to be noticed, nurtured, and needed.” We all do. The Christian faith does meet all these needs, and more.

Carl Sandburg, the writer and editor, once said, “We all want to play Hamlet!” Perhaps he overstated the case, but it’s true that we all want to be recognized. The cross of Jesus Christ is the single most poignant statement of our significance to God. When Jesus died on the cross it was as if God Himself were saying, “You’re somebody special!”

Remember the nursery rhyme?

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty took a great fall;
All the king’s horses
And all the king’s men,
Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Who can put Humpty Dumpty back together again? A contemporary song asks, “Where do broken hearts go?” Where do they go? The Christian faith says, “Come to God the Father through Jesus Christ!” I’m convinced one of the reasons that the poor, brokenhearted, and disenfranchised people came to Jesus with such openness and joy was because they felt He understood their condition and would help them put their lives together again.

Shakespeare had one of his characters say, “Life’s . . . it is a tale/Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury/Signifying nothing.” Is that the absolute truth? Perhaps for some, but, the Christian faith gives rhyme and reason to our living. By living as Christ lived, sharing words of hope where there is hopelessness; ministering to lives broken by sin, suffering, and disease; and offering love to the loveless, faith to the faithless, and strength to the powerless, we may hold our heads high, confident there is purpose, meaning, and goodness in all of life lived after the fashion of Christ Himself. The Christian faith answers our need for significance, sympathy, and service.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Romans 1:16; 1 Timothy 1:8-14

Promises – Continued

The second important thing the Christian faith promises to do is to put you in a right relationship to others. The Christian church is an amazing institution, isn’t it? Our critics say the church is responsible for much of the cruelty experienced in the world. It’s true that the organized church’s history is undeniably imperfect. The amazing thing to me is that, with all our imperfections, neither I or anyone else would wish to live in this world without the church as Christ intends it to be.

God has come in Christ to show us how to love and respect one another and to live free of a spirit of revenge toward those who have wronged us.

Recently, I heard a story which illustrates the spirit of revenge:

A fellow was driving down Hollywood Boulevard looking at the homes of movie stars. Passing by one attractive home, he saw a new Mercedes parked out front with a sign on it which read: “For Sale, $100.” Stopping, he went to the door and inquired about the Mercedes. “Is it true you are selling it for $100?”

“That’s what the sign says!” said the woman who answered the door.

Without hesitating he proceeded to purchase the car. When the transaction was complete he asked, “How is it that you can sell this new Mercedes for $100?”

Angrily she said, “Last week, my husband ran off with his secretary. He called this morning from Hawaii to tell me he had run out of money. He asked me to sell his car and send him the cash. So, that’s what I’m doing!”

Now, that’s revenge. Such behavior however, doesn’t need to be our response to mistreatment. The Christian faith promises to empower us to release our feelings of resentment and positively seek reconciliation with those who may have wronged us.

It promises to give us victory over our personal sins. All of us wrestle with a skeleton in our closet. Perhaps it’s a bad habit, a loose tongue, a debilitating lust, or an insatiable greed. Christ has come to help us with our “sin” problem and empower us in dealing with our personal sins.

Promises, promises, promises. They are everywhere. The Christian faith however really does deliver what it promises. It will help you know God’s forgiveness, learn to be forgiving, and experience victory over sin.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Romans 1:16; 1 Timothy 1:8-14

Promises

To begin with, we can be proud of the Christian faith because it does not disappoint.

By nature and experience we tend to be a suspicious people. For the most part, we have a right to be because we are bombarded on every front by promises which usually turn out to be disappointments. Consider, for example, the average television advertisement. An announcer reminds aging women with encroaching facial wrinkles that, if they will use a certain product, they will likely live to be as old as Methuselah, and even more beautiful. Granted the advertisers don’t quite go that far, but they do promise a youthful appearance for the duration of your life. Any thinking person, however, knows that’s just not true.

We’ve been promised so much, and the return has been so little that most of us feel a little like Spike who wrote Snoopy a letter in one of the “Peanuts” episodes:

“Dear Snoopy, I’ve just purchased a magic cape from a door-to-door salesman who promises me that, if I wear the cape, I will be instantly transported to a land of paradise. So, by the time you get this letter, I’ll be in paradise.” Several frames pass and in the final scene, Spike is standing right smack in the middle of a desert surrounded by cactus plants. In the caption below, Spike is complaining, “Somehow, I think I’ve been had.”

Spike’s problem is our problem. We’ve been “had” too many times. We are understandably suspicious. The unfortunate thing is that it affects the way many people look at the Christian faith. However, the Christian faith does not disappoint. It does produce what it promises.

What does the Christian faith promise? First and foremost, it promises to put you in a right relationship with God. A popular Christian song by Steve Green, says that “people need the Lord.” That is so very true. They most certainly do. When we come into the world, something goes horribly wrong. All of us fall subject to the effects of what theologians call “original sin.” What is original sin? Theologians say that original sin means we all originate out of a sinful nature which taints us from the very beginning of our existence. We don’t have to learn to sin, we just do. We all tend to make ourselves the center of the universe. When we make ourselves the center of the universe, then we’re lost to Him who is the origin of the universe. That’s what it means to be lost. In our lost state, God comes to find us. Like a celestial “Hound of Heaven,” He pursues us until we find Him. That doesn’t mean everyone will find the Lord, however. Some will be like the fellow who woke up in the middle of the night hungry. Opening the refrigerator door, he stood there feeling hungry but not knowing what he was hungry for. Those who do find the Lord and are found by Him, however, will discover their deepest hungers satisfied.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.