Changed

If television shows, news reports, or the movies are correct ... then everyone goes to Heaven.  No one needs to worry, God is so loving and kind, so understanding ... after all, He made us like we are; therefore He's obligated to take us to Heaven when we die.

Sorry ... that's not what Jesus said.  Jesus said in John 3:3 ... "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

I want to take a new look at this scripture for a moment.  The first word, "Except" is a conditional word meaning ... unless.

Next we have "born again."  Even though they are two separate words, they need to stay together to truly understand what Jesus is saying.  Yes, "born" means birth, but here the birth Jesus is speaking of is ... a spiritual regeneration.    Add to that the original meaning of "again," which is ... from above or anew.  Both are correct.

The last word I want to address in this scripture is ... "see."  It's first meaning is literally correct as used.  It means ... to see.  But by implication, how it's used, it should mean ... to know, be aware of, perceive, or understand.

If I were to edit this scripture using these new meanings it would read ...

"Unless a man has a spiritual regeneration from above, he is un-aware of and unable to perceive or understand the kingdom of God."    

Let's consider what this scripture is now saying.  I see two things in this statement by Jesus. 

First ... until you are born again, you really can't see or perceive that there is a spiritual realm presently all around you.  It's unseen to the physical eye.  It can only be felt with the heart, the soul of man ... although many times it seems as though you can physically feel the Lord's presence and even His touch.

Second ... to most people, the common understanding is, if you want to go to Heaven when you breathe your last breath, you must be born again, which involves repentance from sin, and having your soul regenerated anew by the Holy Spirit ... commonly spoken of as being "saved," or becoming a Christian, a believer in Jesus.

If you are like me ... just a saved sinner, a believer trying to follow Jesus ... you must have the Holy Spirit operating in your heart, mind, and soul, or you won't be aware of how God is operating and directing the "affairs of life" for your good.

When you are born again your life should be ... "changed." 

Some people may ask ... why is that? 

The Apostle Paul answers this question in 2nd Corinthians 5: 17 ... "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

"All things?" ... well, it sometimes takes a while.  With God's help, our affections, our motives, and our thoughts should become a little less carnal or fleshly.  That's why I say we are "changed."  We are no longer an un-regenerated fallen man.  We have been made into a new creature ... spiritually.  That's what is new.

The word "creature" in this scripture, in the original translates as ... "formation."  We are just like Adam, who was made out of a lump of clay, molded on the outside by God's hands.  But when we are "born again," God makes us into a new formation on the inside, changing who we are by depositing the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

Once again I turn to one of the old teachers of the faith, John Gill and his mastery of words far beyond mine, as he speaks to the phrase, "... if any man be in Christ ..."

"When a man believes in Christ, and gives up himself to Him; faith does not put a man into Christ, but makes him appear to be in Him.  Such an one is a new creature, or as some read it ... 'let him be a new creature.'

This phrase is applied by the Apostle Paul to converted persons; and points not to an outward reformation of life and manners, but an inward principle of grace, a creation work ... and not man's, but God's.  And this new creature, because it is something anew implanted in the soul, which never was there before ... it is not an improvement of the old principles of nature, but an implantation of new principles of grace and holiness.

Here then is a new heart, and a new spirit, and in them new light and life, new affections and desires, here are new eyes to see with, new ears to hear with, new feet to walk, and new hands to work and act with ... old things are passed away."   

I think that pretty much covers why we are changed and how we are changed.

Forty years ago I heard a preacher say ... "If you sin everyday, you had better get saved."  That was his way of saying, there should be a visible, outward change in your life.  Sin should be the exception in a believers life.

I don't know what else needs to be said concerning what happens to us when we are born again, and changed from above.  And it will happen ... as John Gill said, when one ... "gives up himself to Him."
 
Changed.

They Simply Believed

I find there is a similarity between Abraham and the Apostle Paul.  I'm speaking of how both men, upon hearing from the Lord received what was told to them and simply believed it would come to pass because God said it.

In Romans 4:3 there are three words that explains Abraham's faith and what he did to hold on to that faith while waiting for the fulfillment of God's promise to him.  Now this might be a shock to you, but here's what it says, "Abraham believed God ..."

Let those three words be a break thru for you with your faith.  Do what he did.  Simply ... believe God ... by believing God's word.  That's all Abraham did.

God spoke to two old people and gave them a promise of a son.  Wow ... they were twenty years older than I am, and I don't plan on having any more children at my age, and I know the grandmother I'm married to certainly doesn't either.

God doesn't always work the way we think things should go.  I have wondered if He does things just to prove to us He can.  Not always, but many times God makes us wait.  In Abraham's case it was a few years.

Here's what simply believing God at His word did for Abraham.

Romans 4:19-21 ... "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform."

Most of us have heard all the teaching on faith we can take.  "Strong in faith.  Great faith.  Oh ye of little faith."  I've heard it all, so have you.  I'm not even sure if "believing" and "faith" are really the same things.  It does say that Abraham … "was strong in faith."  It also says that he ... "believed God."
 
I don't want to talk just about our faith.  I want to speak about what faith does.  Faith ... believes. 

As I said, Abraham and Paul were alike, at least in one important way; they simply ... "believed the word of God" ...  spoken to them.  The Lord Himself came to Abraham; with Paul it would be an angel of God that brought the word.

Paul had been arrested by the Roman army at the request of the Jewish Sanhedrim and was charged with teaching a new illegal religion, profaning the Temple, and sedition offending Caesar ... charges that they could not sustain.  Paul is forced to appear bound in chains before the governing authorities; Felix, Festus, Agrippa and later Caesar.   

If the Romans had sent him to the Jewish courts for judgment, it would have been a death sentence for Paul.  But as a Roman citizen, Paul had the right to appeal before Caesar, so Festus says ... "unto Caesar thou shalt go" ... which brings us to Paul's fateful journey at sea. 

In Acts 27:1-44, Paul's faithful companion Luke, describes in detail the arduous adventure at sea that he and Paul experienced as they sailed to Italy, along with many other Roman prisoners.

Luke writes that the winds were contrary, blowing them off course.  At one port they had to change ships.  The contrary winds either wouldn't blow, and when they did, they blew up a tempestuous wind, turbulent and violent, most likely one of the Mediterranean hurricanes well known for that area. 

Luke, writing in the first person says in Acts 27:15 ... "And when the ship was caught, (by the hurricane) and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive."   
   
Believing the storm was going to sink the vessel, the crew decided the only thing left to do was to lighten the ship by tossing the freight overboard into the sea during the second day of the storm.
 
The third day, with the storm continuing, Luke writes ... "we cast out with our hands the tackling of the ship."  They basically gutted the ship of everything that wasn't nailed down.

Next he says ... "And when neither sun nor stars were visible for many days and the tempest kept raging about us, all hope of our being saved was finally abandoned."

The men of the ship had given up ... they believed there was no hope; they and the ship would be lost at sea.  But Paul steps up and assures them to take heart ...

In Acts 27:22-25, Luke records Paul's words of encouragement to all those on board ...

"I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of life among you, but of the ship.  For there stood by me this night, the angel of God, whose I am, and who I serve, saying, 'Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.'  Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me."

How was Paul like old Abraham?  This is written of Abraham ... "Being fully persuaded that, what God had promised, He was able also to perform."

Now compare what was written about Paul's confession ... "I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me."
     
Luke, being a historian, gives his personal account of how God saved the lives of all two hundred and seventy-six souls on board of this ill fated voyage, of which he was one.

Yes, the ship did run aground and was broken up on an island now called Malta; but Luke closes this account in Acts 27:44 this way ... "And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land."

The promise made to Paul was kept, just like the one given to Abraham years before ... proving, whether on land or sea ... we are safe in God's power of protection, keeping His people from danger.

Abraham and Paul.  They simply believed.

Are Christians Naive

The average scientist does not believe in God.  Science deals in provable facts unless there are none; then they use something called theory.  A theory is anything they try to pass off as truth when there is no proof.  Science calls it a supposition ... what is supposed to be possible.  In other words, a theory is a collection of unproven ideas. 

Now, I've never been accused of being too smart; but I'm intelligent enough to recognize that there would be no world for scientists to observe if there were no Creator.  Let me say right up front; I believe in ... intelligent design ... which means this universe just didn't happen on it's own.

So, yes ... I am naive enough to believe in ... GOD.

But, naive is really not the correct term to describe someone who believes in God.  I understand the definition of naive to be ... "a person showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment."

To me, I find this is exactly the opposite description of the Christian believer.  They show exceptional wisdom and judgment by believing in God.

I must admit that to a degree, I accept the statement that God created the universe as though he were a watchmaker.  He wound it up and time started winding down when it started ticking.  Only God knows when this big timepiece will stop.

But I don't agree with those who say God merely watches the universe work from afar and never gets involves in the daily affairs of life.  If He does this, and I have wondered the same thing; He would never have sent Jesus to deal with our sin problem.

In this great big universe, as we live on this one tiny insignificant planet called Earth, there are primary and secondary causes just like a watch has built into it's inner mechanisms.  In the watch, the main spring turns a wheel which in turn causes a secondary wheel to turn the hands and so on. 

Likewise in nature, a primary cause activates or causes a secondary movement which allows a third thing to live or die accordingly.  The rain falls, a plant grows and drops it's seed which in turn feeds one of God's creatures which may become food for man. 

I believe and teach that God is the cause and author of all things, period.  This is the foundational principle of Christian theology which says ... nothing in this world has intrinsic power or even exists of itself.

R.C. Sproul, one of my favorite Bible teachers puts it this way ... "Nothing has any power except the power that is invested in it, or lent to it, if you will, or worked through it, which ultimately is the power of God."

To me, what this boils down to is ... either God created and controls everything; or if there is some things He has no control over ... then some things just happen by chance.  It must be one or the other.

If some things can happen by chance ... if chance is a possibility ... what does that do to our faith in God?  That would mean we would not be able to believe that God is directing all things for our good.  That would also mean that "chance" would have the power to be the primary cause of certain things instead of God.

There is nothing that "chance" can do.  It is not an entity.  Chance is nothing.  It has no power because it has no being ... which means chance can exercise no influence over anything.

Everything we can see and touch, everything that is has a "cause" ... and the power behind that cause ... is God.  If I can't believe that God controls everything ... the weather, the sunrise, the food supply, time, including the number of my days ... then how can I believe in the future and the promise of eternal life with Jesus.

 Naivete' ... may not be the right word for believers like me.  Atheists might say that about believers.  That's okay ... they say a lot worse things than that.

Have you noticed that I haven't used any scripture in this post?  I"m going to use only this one.  Isaiah 1:18 ... "Come now, and let us reason together saith the LORD ..."

Believing that God is the cause behind all things seems perfectly obvious and logical to me.

And I'm at peace with that. 

  

             

Many are Weak and Sickly

What is the favorite thing to do when Christians get together?  Well, bring out the food and eat of course.  Seemingly things haven't changed in two thousand years.  The Apostle Paul had to spend some time in his first letter to the Corinthian church to correct some things that were not pleasing to God.

I'm speaking of the last half of Chapter 11 where Paul deals with the Eucharist, the communion-meal which represented the Lord's Supper.  The Eucharist proper was originally celebrated as a private expression of devotion usually in connection with a common meal.

In this communion-meal of the first century it became a social fellowship to which each person or family brought their own provisions to eat.  The Christians in Corinth were accustomed to meet together on the Lord's Day, Sunday, the first day of the week as believers do today.  It was after this common meal that the Eucharist was celebrated.

But a problem developed ...

1st Corinthians 11:20-21 ... "When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.  For in eating every one taketh before others his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken."

The phrase ... "this is not" ... should be read ... "it is not possible."  In fact, Paul may have been saying ... "You cannot eat the Lord's Supper in this manner."  

Albert Barnes, the old American Presbyterian biblical scholar and theologian explains the meaning of this expression this way ...
 
"Though you come together professedly to worship God, and to partake of the Lord's supper, yet this cannot be the real design which you have in view.  It cannot be that such practices as are allowed among you can be a part of the celebration of that supper, or consistent with it.  Your greediness in partaking of the food and not in common; your intemperance in getting drunk, cannot be a celebration of the Lord's supper.  Whatever therefore, you may profess to be engaged in, yet really and truly you are not celebrating the Lord's Supper."

The problem was that even though it was customary in Corinth to eat a meal together as Christ did with His disciples during Passover; at this meal each party in Corinth sat apart and ate their own food when it was ready.  The result was that some began before the others were ready, and many had been drinking too much wine, while the poor, coming without much food were still hungry when the Eucharist celebration began.

This meant that those still hungry would partake of the Eucharist ... "the body and blood of Christ" ... for their meal because many others would not share their food.

Many of the poor came for no other reason but to partake of the common meal, but because so many would not share ... the end result left to the poor was to eat their fill of the Eucharist ... the bread and wine symbolizing the body and blood of Christ.

This may have been the poor's chief objective, to eat food, and not the Lord's supper ... but the whole Corinthian church acted in such an inappropriate way, not waiting for one another, nor keeping within the bounds of sobriety, indulging their appetites to such a degree ... they were unfit for any of them to partake of the Lord's supper.

Paul continues in 1st Corinthians 11:22 ... "What?  Have you not houses to eat and to drink in?  Or despise you the church of God, and shame them that have not?  What shall I say to you?  Shall I praise you in this?  I praise you not."

The conduct of the Corinthians made it impossible to eat the Lord's Supper in any way but in ... an unworthily manner ... and there would be a price to pay for that.

1st Corinthians 11:27-30 ... "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, (irreverently) shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, (irreverently) eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."

These four verses cause a lot of weak Christians to not receive the Eucharist.  The excuse is ... "I am unworthy to partake of this holy ordinance."  This is an incorrect understanding of this scripture.

Many people seem to suppose the word is "unworthy" ... referring to their personal qualifications, to their "unfitness" to partake of it, rather than to the manner in which it is received.  The word is "unworthily" not "unworthy."  Unworthily, has reference to the lack of respect and in the irreverent manner of observing the ordinance ... not to their personal qualifications or fitness.

While it is true that in and of ourselves we are all "unworthy" to come to the table of the Lord ... but if you are a "born again" believer, weak or not, Jesus has made you worthy through His own blood ... which is the purpose of the communion service, to remember and celebrate that very fact.

Now ... because of how irreverently they partook or received the Lord's supper in such a careless manner, Paul told the Corinthians ... "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."

Would I be correct in saying, it looks to me that the obvious interpretation of this scripture is clearly that God, directly or indirectly ... either sent or allowed sickness to come to them, even to the point of death ... because of the "unworthily" manner they partook of the communion supper.
 
I believe the Apostle Paul is saying that this is an expression of God's displeasure and judgment for their improper manner in receiving the Eucharist ... "the body and blood of Christ ... not discerning the Lord's body."

Paul goes on with this warning in verses 31-32 ... "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."

These are strong words from this Apostle ... for he knew and understood the value of the body and blood of the Son of God that was given for our salvation.

I wonder just how many believers truly understand ... "the value and worth" ... God places upon celebrating the communion supper?  It is the most important and sacred ordinance instituted in the New Testament Church.

Do not enter into it lightly ... there are consequences if you do.



Comments welcome.