What a sense of awe and wonder Moses must have felt, there in the silence of the wilderness, when God spoke to him from the burning bush! Can we even imagine the awful terror with which the Israelites waited to hear God speak from Mount Sinai--the mountain quaking, its form hidden by smoke, the air charged with lightning on a day as black as night? What awesome joy surged through Peter, James, and John on the mount of the Transfiguration as God spoke from heaven and Jesus shone with the brilliance of his divine glory. Do we wish we could have been there when these encounters took place, or are … [Read more...]
JESUS LENS READS ‘DO’ AND SAYS ‘DONE’
It was a typical Monday morning in the old Harris County Civil Court House in downtown Houston, Texas. I was one of many lawyers waiting to argue either for or against a motion in some lawsuit, listening to the proceedings until my case was called. A lawyer before me had filed a motion and the judge had granted it, but the lawyer kept arguing his point. Finally the judge interrupted him, "You can stop talking," the judge said with a smile. "I have already granted your motion." The motion had reached its "end" in two senses. Having achieved its purpose it had no reason to continue. Similarly, … [Read more...]
out of chaos new world emerges
With the Flood, order reverts to chaos and creation is undone. Outside the Ark beneath the silent primordial ocean, the earth again is formless and empty of breathing life. Soon will come a new creation--as was the first, wakened by breath or wind of God. Like the first creation, it emerges step-by-orderly-step out of the primordial Deep, following the general pattern of the Six Days of Genesis 1:3-31, to become the home of a new creation and a rescued humankind. Just as the spirit (or Spirit) of God originally hovered over the chaotic and oceanic Deep (Gen. 1:2), now a "wind" from God … [Read more...]
One mighty act that includes all
Did Jesus' work merely make it possible for sinners to enjoy at-one-ment with God if they follow through, correctly and precisely, so that they complete what Jesus only started? We find answers in the opening words of a single sentence: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor. 5:19). From the moment of the first human sin and even before, restoring right relationship between sinners and God was top priority on God's personal list of things to do. This job was too important to delegate it to any angel, much less to any mere mortal. God assigned this task to Jesus of … [Read more...]
A man like no other
The Greek word used of Jesus and translated "only-begotten" in the King James Version of John 3:16 is monogenes. This means that as son of God, Jesus is unique or one of a kind. He is also unique as a man. And how? Not in his physical appearance, we will see in this gracEmail, nor because he died, or even because he died by crucifixion. On a few subsequent Sundays we will explore some ways that Jesus is entirely unique, truly one of a kind, indeed a man like no other. Jesus did not stand out from others based on physical appearance (Isaiah 53:2). If we had visited first-century Nazareth on … [Read more...]
JESUS: NEW MAN FOR A NEW WORLD
Mama Cass Elliott sang the song and her words echoed the good news Jesus himself had preached. "There's a New World Coming / And it's just around the bend / There's a new world coming / This one's coming to an end" (Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing). Jesus called it "the kingdom of heaven," the new dimension of reality in which God will restore everything, redeem our bodies and liberate creation itself. These things are absolutely certain and, equally as certain, not yet. Even martyrs seeking justice cry "How long, O Lord, how long?" and must wait a little longer. To follow after Jesus is to … [Read more...]
‘TRUSTING’ NOT ‘TRYING’ (2)
Many who consider themselves zealous Christians today are wearing themselves out trying to obey God's commandments in hopes they will obtain his favor. Yet their zeal is misguided (Rom. 10:2), for they seek the divine acquital, "not by faith but as though it were by works" (Rom. 9:32). The way to God's approval is altogether different, Paul affirms. That way is to trust God. To illustrate this, Paul borrows and adapts the very language from Moses which he had just used to explain "righteousness-by-trying." We do not need to go up to heaven to bring down a Savior, Paul says, for the Savior … [Read more...]
‘TRUSTING’ NOT ‘TRYING’ (1)
"Christ is the end of the law for righteousness," writes Paul, "to everyone who believes" (Rom. 10:4). The word translated "end" here is telos, and it means "goal" rather than "termination." Many Jews in Paul's day tried to keep God's laws so well and so thoroughly that God would examine their record of obedience and pronounce them "righteous" (Rom. 9:31-32; 10:2-3). Their goal to be found right with God was commendable but they were ignorant of the way to attain it. Their approach would never work, according to Paul, because no human besides Jesus ever obeys God's laws perfectly. The … [Read more...]
JESUS PAID IT ALL
An independent Christian church minister in Missouri writes: "Jesus paid it all on Golgotha, plus or minus nothing. It is finished! The cross of Christ was and always will be enough." * * * Amen and hallelujah! As the apostle Paul put it in Romans 4:16, God's promised salvation "is by FAITH [we can only trust God for it], that it might be in accordance with GRACE [for it is his undeserved gift], that the promise might be CERTAIN [since it depends only on God for its fulfillment] to all those who are of the faith of Abraham." The alternative to this is to say that salvation depends on us … [Read more...]
GRACE-ONLY NOT CLUTTER
A gracEmail subscriber complains that I am "cluttering up" his email with my "grace-only teaching." * * * I do not use the term "grace only," but I am glad that you did, because it states an important truth. That truth is that we sinners cannot, through any amount of effort, obedience, good intentions or good works, ingratiate ourselves to God, place him in our debt, or create a situation which requires God to treat us well because of something we did first (Rom. 11:33-36). In this most elementary sense, we are set right with God on the basis of "grace only" -- both now and in the Day of … [Read more...]