THE TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF MARCH IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN Click here for Part 1 We are thinking about three sentences in a context, of which John 3:16 is the second, central, and climactic sentence. The statement that God "so loved" does not describe the intensity or extent of his love (as if it said "s-o-o-o loved") but rather tells "how" God loved--it is the same "so" we saw in the first sentence and, like that one, it points to the text immediately before it. How did God love the world? The answer is found in an old story about poisonous snakes. "As Moses … [Read more...]
THIS IS HOW GOD LOVED (1 of 2)
THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF MARCH IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN We are familiar with Jesus' comforting words in John 3:16 about God's love and the believer's eternal life. But, as my preacher Jeff Christian noted recently, we often read or quote verse 16 in total isolation, are surprised to discover that the verse has a context, and are shocked to realize what that context says. In fact, John 3:16 is the climactic center and high point of four supposed-to-be-inseparable verses (John 3:14- 17) that include the two sentences Jesus spoke immediately before and after it. … [Read more...]
FAITH REFUSING BAPTISM?
A gracEmail reader in Arizona asks, "Do you believe that the 'sinner's prayer' can be an appropriate and sufficient substitute for baptism by someone who believes the gospel, as a personal transaction event of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Has such a person truly believed if they leave out water baptism as a part of their response to the gospel message?" A person truly trusts (believes) and truly repents on the inside -- in the heart, where none but God sees precisely what is present. We read, for example, that "God, who knows the heart, bore witness" to what he saw … [Read more...]
FAITH MORE THAN INTELLECT
A gracEmail subscriber in Australia suggests that believing in Jesus might not be sufficient since James 2:19 says the demons also believe and tremble. This subscriber suggests that a life of obedience is also necessary to please God. * * * We might be using "believe" in different senses (it has more than one, you know), and therefore be talking past each other. When James says that the devils "believe," he explains that they accept the academic proposition that there is one God. He does not mean that the demons put their trust in God or entrust themselves to God as their … [Read more...]
FAITH — ITEM OR ATTITUDE? (2)
A gracEmail subscriber asks, "Must we merely believe to be saved, or do we also have to obey God? Some say that faith is enough by itself, and others say that faith in the Bible includes obedience." * * * The Churches of Christ, in which I was nourished from birth and from which I now serve as my home base, early went astray on this point. Not uncommonly, our own feeble efforts at obedience stole the spotlight from God's work of salvation accomplished in Jesus. Just this week I listened to a set of sermon tapes in which the speaker based salvation wholly on our … [Read more...]
FAITH — ITEM OR ATTITUDE? (1)
A gracEmail subscriber asks, "Must we merely believe to be saved, or do we also have to obey God? Some say that faith is enough by itself, and others say that faith in the Bible includes obedience." * * * If we think of "faith" as something we do, one item in a checklist containing other items as well, we are ripe for the error of thinking that we contribute something to our reconciliation with God, whether it be one item (faith) or several (repentance, baptism, etc.). The fact is, while all these things are commanded and are to be expected, not one of them contributes … [Read more...]
CALLING ON THE NAME OF THE LORD
A gracEmail subscriber asks the meaning of the biblical expression "calling on the name of the Lord." * * * Calling on the name of the Lord means crying out to God for help or rescue, or in reverence and worship (1 Kings 18:24; Psalm 116:17; Isaiah 12:4). The ancient biblical story says that in the days of Adam's grandson Enosh "men began to call on the name of the Lord" (Gen. 4:26). The name "Enosh" means "humankind" or "mortal." Those who recognize their creaturely frailty are the people who cry out to God. From a Christian standpoint, calling on God's name often means crying out to God … [Read more...]
FAITH ONLY
A gracEmail subscriber chides, "I see you saying that you believe in salvation by faith alone, which is an improvement over the doctrine of salvation by works, but is not satisfactory to careful Bible students. (I teach that we are saved by faith and not by works, but not by faith only.)" * * * Good brother, we can't have it both ways. We are either saved by or we are saved by. Either Jesus did it all, or we do some of it. We either bring something to God, in exchange for which we hope to receive his favor, or we come to him with empty hands trusting his promise that he loves us and … [Read more...]
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
Paul promises that whoever confesses Jesus as Lord and believes that God raised him from the dead will be saved (Rom. 10:9-10). Jesus warns that in the Day of Judgment he will turn away some people who had called him "lord" (Matt. 7:21-23). A gracEmail subscriber asks how both statements can be true. * * * Paul and Jesus are describing two different sets of people. The only thing the two groups have in common is something they say. They both call Jesus "lord," but the similarity ends there. One group means what they say, and their lives show it. The other group is simply saying words, words, … [Read more...]
CHRIST DIED FOR ME
For six decades he travelled a quarter-million miles by horseback, spreading the message of Jesus. He scandalized 18th-century British sensitivities by taking the gospel out of the pulpits to the factories, market-places and mines where he found the unchurched. He began a worldwide revival that still bears his name. Among his converts was William Wilberforce, credited with ending Great Britain's slave trade. I speak of John Wesley (1703-1791), surely one of the greatest evangelists of all time. Yet Wesley testified that the grace of God entered his head long before it finally claimed his … [Read more...]