Tag Archives: Jesus

Foxhole Radio

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A razor blade and a pencil!  Prisoners of war in WWII who could scrape together a razor blade and a pencil were able to construct simple radios, allowing them to hear the truth about allied advances.  Their captors lied to them about who was winning the war in order to discourage them and manipulate them into doing self-destructive things.  But hearing the truth through these “foxhole radios,” many prisoners found the strength to resist.

You and I have been “prisoners” in this world, kept in the dark and lied to by Satan, in an attempt to control us and cause us to do self-destructive things.  We don’t need a razor blade or a pencil; we need God’s Holy Spirit to “guide [us] into all truth” John 16:13.  Jesus gives this Spirit to all those who fully trust Him.

Jesus said:

 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  (John 14:15-17)

Notice that the kind of trust Jesus responds to is the trust that is turned into action through obedience.  That is because Jesus’ commands tend to contradict the things the world tells us.  Who you trust is revealed by who you obey.  Also see in those verses that the Holy Spirit does not merely visit, He lives within the believer forever! This is the best part of the “Good News.”  If Jesus merely died for our sins, we would still be stuck in our same. sinful condition.  But by giving us the Holy Spirit, Jesus connects us to God in the way God designed for humans to operate.  Now we have access to the truth from within our souls, truth that contradicts the lies we are taught in the world.  (An example of a contradictory truth is Jesus’ teaching that the greatest person in a group is the one who takes the lowest position and serves the most.  Luke 22:26)

John has been living with this Spirit and knows how wonderful the difference is.  He also knows how deceptive and tempting the lies of the world are.  So John reassures believers with these words:

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them (deceiving spirits – in verse 3), because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.  (1 John 4:4-6)

The Spirit of God is our foxhole radio.  During the war, foxhole radios only helped the prisoners if they listened to them and believed what they were hearing.  You get the point…

The Spirit Test

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I once met a man who had devoted his entire life to spirituality.  He was revered in his community.  His main responsibility every morning, was to go up on a high hill and perform a ceremony that would wake God up for the day.  In order to be punctual, so God would not oversleep, this man set an alarm clock.  You can probably spot some logical problems with his form of spirituality.  

To know that someone is “spiritual” is no guarantee that they are telling you the truth, or that they even have your best interest in mind.  Some “spiritual” leaders actually use their position to abuse others.  We have to be discerning.  Jesus told His followers to be “shrewd as snakes” because He was sending them out like sheep among wolves (Matthew 10:16).

Here’s how John taught us what to look for:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,  but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.  (1 John 4:1-3)

At first glance, an odd test: Did Jesus Christ actually come in the flesh?  In John’s day there were all sorts of “spiritual” teachings that denied Jesus’ humanity.  Once they repackaged Jesus, they could make Him into a Messiah that conformed with their own ideas.  Others, over the years, have added and subtracted from the Biblical record of Who Jesus was, what He said and what He was like, in order to mold Him into a more understandable or comfortable Messiah.

But with Jesus, what you see is what you get.  He came in human flesh.  He lived a sinless life.  He claimed to be One with God.  He willingly died a bloody, agonizing death.  He was brought back to life by God.  He is God’s only plan to reconcile humans to Himself.  He is the Way, the Truth and the Life – for everyone who believes.

A teaching may be spiritual, but if it changes Jesus, it isn’t Holy Spiritual.

Confidence with God

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Who is your worst critic? Who runs you down the most?  It’s you isn’t it?  Most people tell themselves things that, if spoken to others, would qualify as emotional abuse.  That is why John talked about how to “set our hearts at rest… whenever our hearts condemn us.”  

Because we start life disconnected from God’s Spirit, we adapt; we learn to trust our feelings instead, to assess our situation.  But feelings are notoriously unreliable guides.  You can be surrounded by people who love you and still feel insecure.  You can have a problem at work and drag your feelings (anger, frutration, etc.) back home with you.  But when we trust Jesus, He connects us to His Spirit.  Now we can listen to His input and wean ourselves off trusting our feelings.  We still have feelings, but we understand how subjective and unreliable they are.  Jesus called His Spirit “the Spirit of Truth.” (John 14:17)  As Jesus says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

Freedom from having to trust our feelings, having access to the Spirit of Truth, comes with significant advantages:

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.  (1 John 3:21-22)

Marlon Brando played The Godfather with such skill, we could easily understand why people feared “the Don.”  People in his presence acted with great reserve and an exaggerated show of respect.  But there was one scene that showed him out in his garden, with his little grandson fooling around, trying to tackle him at the knees, laughing and playing.  Perhaps it is wrong to illustrate anything about God with a movie about the Mafia.  But can you see the freedom that comes when we know we can be confident in God’s presence, freely asking Him for things that we know will please Him?  Can you picture yourself in short pants, tackling God about the knees?  Laughing with Him in His garden?

Here is how:

And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us. Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us.  (1 John 3:23-24 )

Dead or Alive?

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If you get trained in CPR, they frequently say things like, “Don’t worry about tearing their clothes or breaking a rib; they are dead; they won’t care – that is, unless you can bring them back to life!   Puts the whole deal into perspective.  It really matters when you go from death to life.

Jesus knew that humans were not connected to the Holy Spirit and were dead – “dead” like a cell phone is dead without a cell signal. (For another analogy, see Who Can Fix It?)  But Jesus came with spiritual CPR.  He said,

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24)

Notice, that “eternal life” is not something given once a person dies, but is given at the moment of belief.  The crossover from death to life has already happened for those who believe. It is the Holy Spirit, living in their souls.  But this “new life” is given to people who had always assumed they were already alive!  But how can we be sure this new life is real?  How can we check?  On a phone, you make a call: if it goes through, you know your phone isn’t dead.  How can we know about eternal life?

John says:

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.  (1 John 3:14)

But what is “love?”  Anybody who has ever exchanged valentines in 3rd Grade knows that the word, love, is pretty loosey-goosey.  And everybody loves somebody in some kind of way.  But John doesn’t leave us wondering: He is talking about the kind of love that is the exact opposite of hate.

Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.   This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  (1 John 3:15-16)

Hate is a response designed to protect myself from someone who I think wants to take something away from me (could be money, girlfriend, fame, prestige, an aisle seat…).  Love, John says, is a response motivating me to give myself to someone because they have a need.  This isn’t 3rd Grade valentine love.  It’s not “I love you, I need you, I wa-aaaa-nt you…”  Not even close.  This is, “I will give myself up for you.”  Even if you hate me.

But let’s face it: we are not often in a situation where laying down our lives would make any difference for someone else.  So, John makes it practical, …  and threatening.  He says:

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.  (1 John 3:17-18)

Are you dead or alive?  John says, consider your response when you see someone in need.  If we turn away, hoping someone else takes care of the need, or perhaps rationalizing why it would be wrong for us to help, then “how can the love of God be in [us]?”  Whose love?  God’s!  Where?  In us! This kind of self-sacrificial love is so contrary to our ordinary human impulse that, when we see it in ourselves, we know God is doing it, we know God’s Spirit lives in us.   God’s love doesn’t just say, “I love you;” it puts that love into action!

John is not claiming that everyone who believes in Jesus is  immediately transformed into the person Mother Teresa wished she could be.  John knows that receiving the Spirit does not make us suddenly perfect in every way.  However, if you habitually harbor an attitude of hatred toward someone, or if you habitually turn away with indifference from someone else’s need, you have good reason to question whether you have “passed from death to life.”

But, if you notice a change in your heart, and find yourself acting with self-sacrificial concern for others, the costly kind of love Jesus extended to us,

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence  whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:19-20)

Just the Way it Is

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Lately I’ve heard a bunch of complaining from Christians because they are not respected in this world.  Some say they are hated and persecuted for their beliefs.  John says, “Duh! What else is new?”

John knew that Jesus saw people in two groups: those heading for eternal life and those heading for death.  There was no middle ground.  Here is an example:

But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.  I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be,a you will indeed die in your sins.” (John 8:23-24)

In this life we think we are making progress if we are going faster. But it doesn’t matter how well you are doing if you are heading the wrong direction, away from life and toward death.  The turning point comes when we believe in Who Jesus claimed to be (God).  

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)

Jesus moves us from death to life because He gives us the Holy Spirit, connecting us eternally with the life of God.  Our human bodies die.  When given the life of the Spirit, our souls live forever.  Jesus said,

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.   (John 6:63)

The thief (Satan, the ruler of “the world”) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  (John 10:10 – my added parenthetical notes)

When we believe, Jesus turns us away from death and toward life.  Our citizenship, our place of belonging, is transferred from “this world” to God’s family and His Kingdom.  Those who have the Spirit, take their cues and motivations from the Spirit.  Those who do not have the Spirit, take their cues and motivations from the ways of the world.  These two groups are moving in opposite directions and see things from two opposing viewpoints.  That is why John writes:

Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.   (1 John 3:13-14)

The “world” hates those who believe in Jesus?  Really?  That is what Jesus taught:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:18-19)

Gang members know, if they ever leave the gang to pursue a different lifestyle, with different rules and a different way of seeing the world, the rest of the gang will hate them.  May even try to kill them.  That’s what happens when you leave the gang of “the world” to follow Jesus.  No point complaining about it; it’s just the way it is.

Don’t be Fooled

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If all you had to go on was Hollywood movies, you would expect that all Christians were ignorant fools, and quite possibly hypocrites, hiding wicked acts.  Of course, you know better: you know there must be some good Christians.  But how can you tell one from the other?   It is not enough to see that someone has a fish on their bumper, or even that he or she attends church.  Who really has been changed by trusting Jesus?  Who is it that really is alive by His Spirit?

This is not a new question.  There were pretenders from the very beginning.  Think, Judas.  And lots of pretenders look very real.  Some of them have become famous pastors with huge congregations.  How can we safely sort out who is real?  Jesus taught that many “wolves” would infiltrate His followers, dressed as sheep.

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (Matthew 7:15-17 )

Likewise, John wrote:

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.  He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.  No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.  This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:7-10)

Just today I read of another so-called minister who swindled his congregation of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  These guys have always been among us.  Don’t be fooled.  What a person does shows in Whom or in what he or she really believes.

Is This You?

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The tech guy was baffled about why my computer was having so much trouble.  Then he asked me how I shut it off.  When I told him I just hit the power switch, he reacted with alarm and disbelief.  “You kidding me?  You don’t sign off and let the system power down?”  “Nope, I just kill the switch.”   Apparently, if you don’t let the computer shut itself off, it scrambles up the memory thingy.  It has to do with how the computer is designed.   Who knew?  Not me.  I never read the manufacturer’s instructions.  But once I had been told what to do, and why, I stopped doing it wrong.

God’s creation is like that.  Use it properly, according to the “Manufacturer’s” design and instructions, and it works well.  But, ignore those instructions, violate it’s design, and it breaks.   In the Bible, the short word for not operating according to the Manufacturer’s design and instructions, is “sin.”  Sin isn’t doing something fun that embarrasses God, it’s doing something that fouls up His carefully designed creation.  Sin hurts me; that’s why God warns me not to keep doing it.  That is the message John was attempting to convey with these words:

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.  (1 John 3:4  -NASB95)

That is quoted from the New American Standard Bible because the NIV, which I ordinarily use for quotes, leaves out the word, practices, and says “Everyone who sins.”  The word, practices, is in the original language and leaving it out is misleading.  John doesn’t mean anyone who happens to sin (which would include everyone) but rather, those who practice sin, who deliberately choose to ignore the Manufacturer’s instructions (who practice lawlessness).  

Computers are complicated enough that they come with built-in warning systems to alert us when we are about to do something dumb.  God’s creation is also complicated.  It is not possible for us to avoid misusing it without some kind of built-in guide and warning system.  That system is the Holy Spirit.  Jesus came to connect us to His Spirit, to make it possible for us to live in harmony with the design and instruction of the Manufacturer.

(If that statement confuses you, you can view the posts about the Holy Spirit by selecting that category on the right.  Or, read “Who Can Fix It?”)

That’s why John says:

But you know that he (Jesus) appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.  (1 John 3:5-6 )

Make sense?  I hope so; this is one of the most misunderstood passages of 1 John.

Extreme Makeover

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If you knew this family you’d be rooting for them, even though there isn’t much hope for them.  Recently widowed by the war, the single mom struggles to raise her children, one of whom really needs a special wheel chair – the cost of which is beyond thinking about.  She’s just been laid off.  She’s doing her best but the house, damaged badly from a super-storm, is beyond repair… Enter Ty Pennington and the guys from ABC’S “Extreme Makeover, Home Edition.” (This popular show is no longer on the air.)   Within moments of their arrival, the surprised family has been sent off on a posh vacation, bulldozers have been called in, along with ant-like hordes of construction volunteers, to scrape away the house and rebuild it into the home of her dreams.

English: VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (Feb. 2, 2011) Sa...

English: VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (Feb. 2, 2011) Sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) help build a home for a mother currently raising six foster children. The project is part of an episode of Extreme Home Makeover: Home Edition. Theodore Roosevelt is undergoing a multi-year refueling complex overhaul at Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Karen E. Eifert/Released) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s the thing:  While they are gone, It doesn’t take long for hotel living to wear thin, especially with a bunch of kids who have special needs. But they all know that one day they will be back home. They don’t have any idea of what “back home” will be like, simply that it will be unimaginably better. One day soon they will see it. And tour it. And get the keys for it, along with a paid-up mortgage.  Imagine her anticipation.   If you’ve ever watched that show, you know …

Now read this:

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  (1 John 3:2)

John says, “Fellow believers in Jesus, we have been born into the family of God and one day we are going home. We don’t have much of a clue what “home” will be like, but it’s going to be wonderful.”  Maybe that seems like a fantasy to you.  If so, if you think God can’t pull that off, plant some wild flower seeds in dirt – dirt mixed with manure – and wait and watch to see what God does.   Consider whether a caterpillar has any inkling of what the future will be like as a butterfly.

John says we know, that one day we will be like Jesus; that one day we will be able to see Jesus as He really is!   Imagine having eyes that are not startled to see Jesus strolling on a lake or healing the blind. Imagine one day being able to think like Jesus!  We are in for an extreme makeover!

There’s more to this – keep chewing and stay tuned…

Chrismystery

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Consider this:

King David of Israel:

  • Was born in Bethlehem
  • Was considered too little and too young to fight with the big boys and instead was assigned to shepherd his father’s sheep.
  • By the power of God, and against all odds, rescued the nation from an unstoppable threat (Goliath – cool name, huh?).
  • Became the best king Israel ever had.

Jesus

  • Was born in Bethlehem – a town considered too small to play any important role in the affairs of the nation.
  • Came as a tiny, homeless, poor baby – a descendant of King David.
  • Became a Shepherd for His Father’s flock.
  • By the power of God, and against all odds, saved His people from an unstoppable threat (Satan).
  • Will be revealed to be the King of Kings forever.

You might think this was mashed together by revisionists, after the fact, to make Jesus seem more important.  In truth, the synchronicity of those two men was mysteriously designed by God as an object lesson for His people and was explained by the prophet, Micah, 700 years in advance of Jesus’ birth!

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
And he shall be their peace.  (Micah 5:1-5)

A Mary Christmas

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Like most kids, I had heard about Niagara Falls.  I”d seen pictures of it and believed it was there.  But then one day, my family took a trip and I saw and heard Niagara Falls.  Standing on tip-toes, hanging over the rail, gaping at the awesome power, vibrating with the thunderous noise of it, feeling the mist – the tiniest particles of moisture from a deadly powerful flow of water – for the first time, Niagara Falls became real to me.

I suspect something like that happened to Mary, the day the angel, Gabriel, showed up and told her:

“Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30b-33)

Mary had been told about God and believed in Him, but on this day He became undeniably real – so real that she couldn’t pretend or play along as though the message was some kind of prank.  Mary knew, because it was real, she didn’t qualify; the angel had the wrong woman:

 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34)

Her response shows she was taking this seriously, it was real to her.   In reply, the angel told her that God’s Spirit would enter one cell in her body and complete it, bringing it to new life:

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)

For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

Mary’s next response reflected her faith, her humility (she didn’t argue or suggest a better plan) and her full surrender:

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:38)

You have heard that story.  You have been told about God and Jesus.  But one day, you will probably have an experience like Mary’s.  The details will differ, but one day you will go from believing about Jesus to suddenly knowing He is real.  No matter how that happens for you, I encourage you not to turn away.  Press up to the rail on tip-toes. Stretch out and get as close to His thundering, awesome power as you can.

Here’s why:  If you respond as Mary did, with humility and surrender, God’s Spirit will enter into your soul, complete it, and bring it to new life – His life.  To know Jesus is real, is to know He is God, to know He became human to reach you in a way you could understand and that He died to square all your debts with God forever.  And for you to say to Jesus, “Let it be to me, just as You have said,” is to receive from Him full forgiveness and eternal, “living water” life.

That’s the way to a Mary Christmas!

PS – If you would like more information, on the right column of this page, you can select posts by topic.  Select “The Good News of Jesus” and read through those.  Questions?  Send me a note.  Merry Christmas!