He Changes Not.

In Malachi 3:6 the Lord declares:  "I am the LORD, I do not change." This sentiment is repeated through the apostle Paul in the New Testament when he writes in Hebrews 13:8: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." God according to the scriptures in constant: His character is consistent. 

The concept of a consistent, changeless God seems to be in direct contradiction with the ever-changing world in which we live. All around us it seems that things are changing. In fact we often state matter-of-factly that the only constant is change or that the more things change the more things stay the same. 

But what is our role in relationship to change? Is change a good thing? Does God's seeming changelessness mean that we are also to be changeless? These are the types of questions that seem to bubble up to the surface of our consciousness when we are experiencing change in our lives. 

To answer these questions there is no more potent source of inspiration than holy writ. The bible tells us God is the potter and we are the clay. Writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Isaiah states:

        But now, O LORD,

You are our Father;

We are the clay, and You our potter;

And all we are the work of Your hand. Isaiah 64:8

We are the work of God's hands. We are to be moldable and pliable in the skilled hands of our creator. While God is unaffected by time and temptation we are to formed daily into the image of our creator. Continued adjustments will be made at His discretion and if we are in right relationship to Him the changes we experience will be welcomed. The apostle James writes:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4

You and I do and should change. Change is not something to be feared, but embraced. Because as we change within the constraints of a saving relationship with Christ we are continually molded into new creations. So the next time you see a potential change on the horizon or around the corner just remember that God has great plans for your life and change is the street that gets you there.

Corporate Justification and Transubtantiation

At first glance corporate justification and transubstantiation do not have a lot in common. But as we look deeper into the arguments that propel these ideologies certain similarities appear in the methodologies used to support these concepts.

Transubstantiation as held by the Roman Catholic church states that at the Eucharist, which is the regular taking of the emblems of bread and wine, these emblems become the real body and blood of Jesus Christ. Proponents of this view believe that mystically Christ is sacrificed again and transformed into the local bread and wine. As a result of this denominations, that believe this, typically do not allow ordinary parishioners to serve themselves, but rather a priest or member of the clergy must officiate.

Proponents of transubstantiation arrive at their conclusion based upon the words of Christ in Matthew 26 and elsewhere in the gospels:

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Matthew 26:26-28

Christ uses the actual words for eating and drinking in these texts. Roman Catholics therefore take Christ's words in the most literal sense and believe that the bread became Christ's body and the wine His blood. In addition when Christ says do this in remembrance of me the literal application of the body and blood of Christ in the emblems carries over and Catholics along with some other Christian denominations believe that Christ is crucified afresh.

However this view based upon a literal understanding of the retelling of the last supper has conflict in other passages of scripture. For instance in Hebrews the author states:

For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. Hebrews 7:26,27

According to this text Jesus offered himself once for all for sinners on the cross. No further sacrifice was needed. Thus we can conclude that the concept of crucifying afresh our Lord every time we partake of the Last Supper is at odds with the aforementioned selection. This section of scripture is not the only text at odds with this interpretation: 1 Peter 3:18 also makes it clear Christ suffered only once.

Christ also stated in the Sermon on the Mount that if the right eye offends to pluck it out for it is better that one part of the body be cast off than for the whole body to be thrown into hell. Of course very few Christians take this advice literally and understand this to mean that we need to do whatever is necessary to guard the doorways to the soul.

The connection of transubstantiation to corporate justification follows in that the arguments to support both are similar while these concepts deal with very different ideas. Proponent of corporate justification believe that Christ legally justified the entire world at this death. In elaboration this means that every person has been justified by Christ's death whether they are in a saving relationship with Him or not.

One of the texts used to put forth this belief comes from 2 Corinthians 5:

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died. 2 Corinthians 5:14

Expositors of corporate justification explain that since Christ died for all and all means every person that has ever lived, every person that has ever lived died when Christ died. The problem with this view of course is that while Jesus physically died the rest of the world did not physically die at this time. Thus while Christ obviously died on the cross the rest of the world did not obviously die. Therefore the obvious understanding of the text is not possible.

The reader is left to conclude that there must be some other way to understand that Christ died for all and subsequently all died. Proponents of transubstantiation believe that Christ becomes the bread and the wine and in a similar way proponents of corporate justification believe that all the people of the world died when Christ died, but in both places this does not work with the flow of the texts.

In the case of the Lord's Supper Christ had not yet been sacrificed in any way and He claims that the bread and the wine were His body and blood. As a result this obviously cannot be true. Christ must be using the bread and the wine as symbols. In the case of Christ's death on the cross Christ died while no one else died (that we know of) when Christ gave up His spirit. Thus when Paul says that all died in Christ it must mean that everyone vicariously died through Christ's death. When we vicariously do something we are doing it through someone else while they actually experience the action.

Paul goes on to say in 2 Corinthians 5:

He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:15-17

The argument carried forth is that Christ died that others might live. The emphasis on this substitutionary death of Christ is on the living and those that are in Christ. While God wishes that none would perish not everyone chooses to die with Christ or to experience His death vicariously.

In conclusion there are many metaphors that God uses to explain what happened at the cross. Just as Noah's ark was large enough to physically save the world at the time of the flood so to was the sacrifice of the cross large enough for everyone to be saved. But only those that got on the ark where saved and only those that take up the cross with Christ through a willful cognizant choice will be spiritually saved.

Gratitude!

Recently I have realized that I am so tremendously blessed. Certainly part of this blessing has been the material provision of the Lord, but I find that I am greatly rich in other ways as well. The bible says:

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. Psalm 127:3-5

We are expecting another arrow in our quiver this October and this time we're getting more rose than thorn. God is great! As David so poetically wrote "My cup runneth over!" While there are times when the well is low the spring of the Lord never runs dry.

May God add blessings to your life and may you praise Him for His wonderful provisions!

Don't Miss "Christ"mas!

The hustle and bustle has been going on now for several weeks now as people forage for for the latest developments in fashion, grab the newest gadgets or snatch all the stocking fillers they can find. I can’t say that I’m staying above the fray either. It’s our culture; one that we’ve exported to the world en masse. But despite our leanings we need to cultivate a culture of Christ.

Originally December 25th did not have Christian significance as far as we know. There is no document that tells us with certainty when Christ was born. In fact the impetus for Christmas was actually reactionary. Romans celebrated the “Day of the Birth of the Sun” on December 25th and it is likely that Christians reacted by promoting worship of Christ on this day.

Promoting Christ should be our principle concern. We may be preoccupied by presents but returning to our roots as Christians we should realize it is better to give than to receive. So give the gift of Christ in thoughts, words, and actions. In a paraphrase of the apostle Peter do not let your adornments be merely decorative, arranging the tree, wearing green and red, or putting on Christmas music, but rather let it be the hidden person of the heart.

Christ is knocking this season like He does every season waiting for you and I to respond. But He doesn’t just want us to respond He also wants us to report the blessing that He has bestowed upon us individually and as the body of Christ.

As we enjoy Christmas this year we should remember to continue to seek for Christ in all the gifts we share and in all the moments we record. Perhaps December 25th did not begin with Christ, but there is no reason that it can’t end with our Lord and Savior. As we await for the blessed hope to return don’t miss Christ this Christmas.

The Mask

Halloween is over and little children have generally stopped dressing up like supeheroes, princesses and ghosts. But despite the untimeliness we still need to put on masks. Not masks worn to frighten, but masks to cover our sins. At our core we are sinful people. We were conceived in iniquity into a world filled with iniquity and we need to put on a mask.

Recently I was watching Conan O'brien's self-titled show "Conan" the day after it aired (I don't stay up that late anymore) and in a segment of the show Conan pulled out masks for himself and his sidekick Andy Richter. The masks were suppose to resemble Conan himself, but because the company that produced the masks did not have the right to produce masks named after Conan they were instead called "The Ex-talk Show Host" masks. Conan feigned anger that they could be so cruel to name the masks that way given his recent and public exit from being the host of the Tonight Show. But the truth is that is exactly what he had been up until that night: an ex-talk show host.

Too often we have a hard time coming to grips with who we really are. But the fact is that apart from Christ we are blind and naked. We bring nothing into this world and if we were left to our own devices we would bring nothing out of it. That is why we need to put on a mask; not a mask of Conan, but of Christ.

Christ's righteousness should wrap our sinful sores like mummified corpses. If we daily choose to put on Christ so that others can see Him when they look at us, then I believe that by faith we will be changed into His likeness and someday when we take the mask off there really won't be anything to take off because we will be like him.

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." 1 Corinthians 13:11,12

Sacred Vs. Secular

The terms sacred and secular are often used to describe two distinct areas of life. We may equate sacred as referring to things that are not for everyday use but are set aside for religious purposes. Secular than would mean the opposite and refer to anything that is used in the everyday course of life. Is this dichotomy helpful or even natural? Should this type of thinking be embraced or ignored?

In the ancient biblical world God Himself declared that there are somethings that are Holy or set apart from other things. In Exodus 16:23 God said: ‘Tomorrow (the seventh day of the week) is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD." In Exodus 20:8-11 God explained that while the Israelites had six days to work the seventh day was a day of rest where no work of any kind would be done. Later in Exodus 31:13 God would say "Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. "

Jesus kept this sign of sanctification in His life and declared that He was Lord of the Sabbath in Mark 2:28. This evidences that God intended that the Sabbath be eternally set apart from the rest of the week. At the very least there is one institution that reminds us that the dichotomy of sacred and secular continues to exist.

If God intended that the seventh day be set apart for remembrance and reverence does this imply that during the other six days we are allowed a Godless existence? Certainly not, but the distinction of sacred and secular still remains because of our human limitations. It is very important for us not to mix the sacred and the secular. At this point there are some that believe this type of thinking smacks of legalism sighting such well known texts as "in everything you do, do it all to the glory of God." But texts like these do not imply that there is not a distinction between the secular and the sacred.

Paul himself says in 1 Corinthians 46 "However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual." The physical comes first just as the six days of God's work came before the sacredness of the seventh day Sabbath and each week this cycle continues and will continue for all time.

There can be problems when people begin to artificially and independently make there own separations. For example when people believe they can lie and deceive outside the walls of the church but they need to be good and honest inside the walls they are missing the point. This is not the purpose of the distinction between sacred and secular. The purpose of this distinction is merely to provide a time and a place for human beings to the everyday things of life and a time and a place to allow the spiritual side to flourish. We are not without spirituality at the office, or at the construction site, but we are less able to focus on spiritual things.

The separation between what is sacred and secular is meant to optimize our ability to function in both places by providing a time and place for reflection that cannot exist to the same degree when we are concentrating on completing secular activities. This does not make the other six days of the week a time for debasement it only means that that there is a specialness in sacred things that allow us to pause and reflect on the greatness of our God.

Melting From Pressure

Pressure produces heat. When a material like air or water is condensed as the result of pressure heat is created because the space between particles is reduced causing more collisions between the particles and the subsequent release of energy from the collisions. This may sound like a science textbook but the reality is that we as human beings find ourselves under pressure quite often.

There are external forces in our lives that seem to weigh down on us and create heat that tends to destabilize the integrity of the support systems in our lives. The question is are we merely subject to external forces or can we repel these forces to keep them from reshaping our lives?

The bible tells us that there are many times that our "soul melts from heaviness." Psalm 119:28a We are after all physical beings with limitations. And yet are we really limited by our natural state of being? It often feels that way, but the bible tells us that there is a way to buttress ourselves under the impending stress that we feel. Continuing on in Psalm 119 the author says to the Lord "Strengthen me according to Your word."

God's word is our strength. This is not some generic prescription for success, but a carefully proscribed tool for our success.

Are you lonely? The bible says

"I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Are you tempted? The bible says:

"Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10

Do you lack wisdom? The bible says:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. " James 1:5

Doubting the power of these texts? Well the bible unequivocally tells us that the word of God is our source of strength. We have a choice: do we melt from the pressure or do we listen to God's word? May you find strength in God's word for today's challenges.