Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: truth

  • That you may have Certainty – 2

    That you may have Certainty – 2

    That you may have Certainty in these Uncertain Times

    In our introduction to this post-resurrection day series, I suggested that we live in uncertain time. I also inquired into the nature of the news we digest. And I might ask you today if this week’s news brings any more certainty?

    Our series will examine the continuity of Christianity as followers of The Way became known as Christians in the first century A.D. While primarily exploring the recorded history by the Gospel writer, Luke; we will also examine other transitional times for God’s faithful.

    Allow me to  point out to new readers that the purpose of talkofJesus.com is to spread the gospel. I insert links to my own scriptural and historical research in order that you may examine the truth of Christ Jesus.

    These uncertain times will remain and in these last days the faithful cry out to the Lord for certainty.

    Certainty Defined

    We began our series with an excerpt from Dr. Luke’s traditional Greek prologue stating his purpose:

    to write an orderly account for you,

    .. that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. – Excerpt Luke 1:1-4

    Let’s dive into Luke’s meaning. In fact, Luke does not use the word ‘certainty,’ but a Greek word: ἀσφάλεια [asphaleia]. Translators of the English Standard and other versions take it directly from the Greek definition. Other translations refer to this certainty as ‘the exact truth.’

    1:4 ἵνα ἐπιγνῷς περὶ ὧν κατηχήθης λόγων τὴν ἀσφάλειαν

    STRONGS NT 803: ἀσφάλεια
    • a. firmness, stability: ἐν πάσῃ ἀσφάλεια most securely, Acts 5:23. tropically, certainty, undoubted truth: λόγων (see λόγος, I. 7), Luke 1:4 (τοῦ λόγου, the certainty of a proof, Xenophon, mem. 4, 6, 15).
    • b. security from enemies and dangers, safety: 1 Thessalonians 5:3 (opposed to κίνδυνος, Xenophon, mem. 3, 12, 7).

    Interestingly enough, Luke uses the same word in describing the certainty of the security of a prison in Acts  5:23

    “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.”

    Secure certainty we would like to have in the Truth. Christ assures us that He IS “the way, the truth and the life.”

    The appropriateness of examining the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ seems pressing in uncertain times like these. Yet so that you may know the other use of this Greek root used by Luke let’s examine another witness of this truth by Paul.

    The Day of the Lord

    The Day of the Lord will come suddenly and the uncertainty of these last days will be replaced by certainty of the judgment. The resurrection of Christ Jesus is our certainty of eternal life.

    The church endured suffering at the hands of those rejecting the truth of the Gospel. Rome was world power of the day. Christian witness in the mid first century AD takes place just a generation after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Witnesses still lived and preached the Good News of Christ as they had personally encountered the risen Lord.

    Paul’s assurance to the church at Thessaloniki answered their doubts and guided their way. 

    1 Thessalonians 4

    14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

    These first century Christians lived in expectation that Christ could return at any time.

    ‘We.. will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air…’

    An astounding statement!

    Of course, the Lord did not return… yet. These first century Christians all died.. some as martyrs. They are those who have fallen asleep who will come with the Lord. 

    And if these times of Rome’s fall was not the end, how much nearer to the omega of these last days must we be? How much more expectant we should be.

    Here the Spirit speaks to the church though the Apostle Paul:

    1 Thessalonians 5

    2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

    There it is, certainty given falsely by this world and its leaders. They say, “There is peace and security…” Of course, though they cannot hide all of their violence and evil, there is no peace. We certainly have no security in their uncertain actions.

    Christ Jesus IS the root of our certainty.

    Trace back to the root of the root word of certainty and you will find Christ here:

    He IS the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

    In the third installment of our look at certainty we will examine the Hebrew root word and uncertain times after the death of Moses.

    To be continued…

    God willing and if the Lord does not return first

     

  • WE do not presume

    God’s Righteous Judgment

    Romans 2:

    .. do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

    So I ask you: are you repentant? Are you sorry for your sins? Shouldn’t we confess our sins against God? Yet repentance demands both confession and turning back to the way of righteousness.

    The LORD is God and we are not! Bow down, o man of dust, to the One Who IS and was and will be forever, the LORD!

    WE seem to have forgotten

    Listen to the lyrics of our music. Much ado about ‘us,’ or ‘me,’ some about ‘you’ and even a little about God. Not so surprising in our worldly wireless abyss of media, but subtly self-centered in an emotional entertainment of worship music. Paul cautions the church at Rome in the preceding verse:,

    3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 

    Who are we to claim Christ with words rarely mentioning Jesus by Name?

    While we rail against the outside world, ‘christians’ claim WE are a people favored by God. Was fallen Israel so different after Solomon? A fallen nation abandons God’s favor for freedoms of over-expression. We accuse each other of forgetting our roots, never once claiming that we have forgotten the Lord.

    Prayer of Humble Access

    We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.  …

    What presumption that the Lord God should accept our everyday sin without just punishment or consequence. Most certainly this age-old problem of sin confronts every created being of every generation.

    13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

    Regardless of your church traditions of worship and the law, the Lord must judge rightly. Listen to law or ordinance with indifference or never consider it, yet the Lord must judge sinners.

    Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this Law.

    God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. – Romans 2:16b ESV

    Presumption

    Look to today’s news  (or news of any era); presumptuous leaders rise to prominence, replacing our presumptions of yesterday. I speak not only of a president, leader or another country or political party, but of all ambitious men and women. 

    Can any stand before the Throne of the Almighty with a claim of innocence? The time of their judgment will soon enough be at hand, as it has been in every generation.

    Ecclesiastes 1(ESV)

    All Is Vanity
    1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

    We hear accusations and counter-claims from the rich and powerful. Yet even Solomon recognized the inevitable fall of a mighty kingdom given to his leadership. Solomon advised:

    Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake…

    [to the messenger of the media, if you prefer]

    For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear. – Ecclesiastes 5:6a,7

    WE presume much in the contention of carefully-crafted words and excesses of mistaken condemnations. Agendas of man will fail without the purpose of the Lord.

    The antonyms of presumption are knowledge, truth and humility.

    God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

    psalm 5:

    Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies;
    make your way straight before me.

    For there is no truth in their mouth;
    their inmost self is destruction;
    their throat is an open grave;
    they flatter with their tongue.

    Make them bear their guilt, O God;
    let them fall by their own counsels;
    because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
    for they have rebelled against you.

    Truth

    Who can we believe?

    Only God; only the humble. (May the Lord make us humble before Him.)

    John 1:

    14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

    17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

    Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. – John 14:6

    And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. Matthew 23:12 KJV

    Confession of the humble before God

    Prior to communion with our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus; prior to our confession: “We do not presume…” Our hearts ought to have come to a more complete acknowledgement of our sin.

    Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all men; We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness..

    Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake…

    The simplicity of Christ’s Sacrifice for us: humility on a cross does not presume forgiveness, but the love of God for repentant sinners.

    Father, forgive us, for we do not know the Sacrifice of Your love.

     

  • Reflections: man vs. GOD

    Reflections: man vs. GOD

    Eden, as we read previously, was a place – a walled garden – created by God for His pleasure and the pleasure of Adam and Eve: a man, and a woman made for man, joined as one; even as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One.

    God walked with man in the garden of pleasure.

    And it was good.

    When man is in relationship to God, in conversation with God, in prayer with God – when we are one with the Father, we mirror his holiness.

    When man (woman) misses the mark of perfection, the ideal of holiness – when we do not mirror the essence of the Father’s goodness, it is sin.

    Trespass, crossing the forbidden line, climbing over the hedge of protection – when a man or woman turns from the direction of perfection, it is sin.

    So what was so wrong with Eve and Adam wanting to sample from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

    Should we not recognize evil, that we might follow good?

    Should we not attain knowledge, that in ignorance we might fall from the will of God?

     Genesis 3 English Standard Version (ESV)

    He [the serpent] said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

    2 And the woman said…

    +

    Wait! Let’s pause here a moment and ask, What’s wrong with this image [picture]?

    First: Satan lies. The enemy of good is subtle in his lie.

    Second: The woman is receiving knowledge [information] from the devil! Can that possibly be good?

    Third: The woman is not seeking the answer of her husband, from whom she was made and for whom she was made. So how can her response be as a women one with the spirit and flesh of her husband? (I know this is touchy, controversial topic in a church where the wife is not expected to honor her husband as her personal lord only after the worship of the Lord they worship as one.)

    Fourth, yet not least of importance: Eve, and for that matter, Adam, does not take the issue and application to God before they sin – before they act – before they exercise their Self-will over the will of God.

    It is disobedience!

    They have used their freedom to choose, within the hedges of the garden of good, to do what is evil in the eyes of the LORD.

     +

    4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

    6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

    +

    Michelangelo-Forbidden_frui

    NO, Adam didn’t consult with God either. He listened to his wife, who had listened to Satan.

    But was it really such a bad sin?

    Allow me to play devil’s advocate for a moment. After all, don’t we hold our universities and learning in high esteem? Isn’t knowledge a good thing for us? Have we not made life on earth so much better by the great learning of man from generation to generation?

    Now from the other side of the bar I ask you to judge: how good is mankind now that we have all this knowledge? How good is man?

    Have you ever played the telephone game?

    Suppose God tells Adam… then Adam tells Eve… Eve and the serpent whisper something back and forth… then Eve entices Adam with what the serpent has said… yet eventually, the conversation gets back to the LORD.

    What has happened to truth?

    It is like the telephone game, when we have listened to Satan and not God?

    Eventually, news of our sin will prompt the question of conviction from the Father of righteousness. Eventually, man, made in the image of God, is accountable to the Creator who does judge that which the Lord created, even in His Image.

    +

      9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

    10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

    11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

    +

    After the LORD hears Adam confess his fear, the LORD asks the obvious question:

    MAN, who have you been listening to that is NOT the LORD!?

    Is the evidence of the sin of the telephone game not convicting?

    ‘Did GOD really say?’ Was this not the first deception of Satan?

    So in the beginning, the good and the innocence of holiness and sinlessness is broken by one simple disobedient ‘choice’ by man (and woman) free to choose good or evil, yet destined to also receive the judgment of consequence.

    And the Lord saw it was good… or must the Lord see the nakedness of your sin?

    Adam rightfully fears punishment of a Holy and loving Father God, our All-Powerful Creator. FEAR now enters into the relationship of man to God – fear because of the just judgement of sin.

    To be continued.