Blog

There are many churches. There are many things to do in these churches. Some carefully market to you. They have coffee shops and bookstores. You can pick up the Pastor’s latest book. They have comfy seats, and big crowds. Everything you want. But sometimes this careful marketing blitz misses a big point. Christianity is not about what you want it’s about what you need. 

Christianity is about Jesus, the Son of God, and what He did. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7) If you seek the face of God, look to Jesus. If you look for truth, look to Jesus. If you look for life look to Jesus.

Jesus’ Church looks to Him and His incredible sacrificial gift. He laid down His life so that you could be saved. Jesus’ cross is a reminder of this in every church. The season of Lent is about the cross, and the sacrifice. 

We remember what He has done for us. We remember the price paid to free us from sin. We remember the cross. We remember that is what we are baptized into. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:3-5)

As we have been buried with Jesus we will rise as surely as He rose. We will live as surely as He lives. Knowing that we are Jesus’ children and knowing that He has paid the price of our sin, we hoist up our own cross. “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

We are set free by Jesus” death on the cross. We are free to follow Him. Free to forgive, free to bring peace, free to care for our neighbor. We will not have to bear the punishment for our sin. Jesus has done that on a cross. With joy we follow Him.

You may not be in a church that has a coffee shop. You may not be in a church that has a bookstore. Your Pastor may have never written a bestseller. You may have simple pews of wood, and not comfy stadium seating. But none of those things is necessary. What is necessary? Look to the cross. Know that your salvation is won. Rejoice.  Pick up your cross. Love God and your neighbor. You have what you need. Amen.

It seems as if this year has lasted forever. We have spent eight months so far isolating for a pandemic. We have gone through a polarizing election. We are uncertain about the future. I know that is a normal state for people to be in. I imagine a Roman wondering what was going to happen after Caesar took power, that seems to be in the air again. Things change. Situations change. Life changes. 

However the season of Advent is here. We start a new church year with a fact. Jesus has come, and is coming again. There is no uncertainty here. We confess this regularly. Jesus will come again, judging the living and the dead. That day terrifies many people. But not us. We know that he came in humility, born a baby, humble and weak. He walked the earth. He died on a cross, a death that is singled out as cursed. He paid our debt, suffering, dying, in our place. The anger of God was spent on Jesus. He was resurrected. The sign that the price had been paid. The first, but not the last. We have been baptized into that death, that resurrection. We are heirs of God’s kingdom. 

Advent reminds us that Jesus came as that baby in a manger, and that he is coming again; this time with everyone knowing the king of creation. But we are not terrified. We shout, “come Lord Jesus!” Come and take away the sickness and the sadness! Come and take away the fear and the tears! Come, you who take away the sin of the world and bring us peace! Wipe away our tears! 

He is coming. We do not know the day or the hour. But He is coming. There will be a time when the uncertainty and the fear is over. Until then we live as people looking forward to a time that is coming. We work where God has planted us, and we wait, all the time singing, “come Lord Jesus.” 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! For many this Thanksgiving will be different. Family gatherings are discouraged, and let’s face it 2020 has been a hard year so far. What do we have to be thankful for? Plenty! We are God’s children and His heirs. God’s kingdom is ours. We were given this when we were baptized into Jesus death and His resurrection. Everyday as God’s holy people we return to that baptismal font carrying our sins, and that water that never evaporates assures us that we are still His children. What a reason to give thanks! But there are smaller reasons as well. We are still able to gather around God’s Word. I know that for those gathering online it’s not quite the same, but still there is God’s Word waiting for you! Give thanks! You have enough for your daily bread. You have people that care, including your church family. You have shepherds keeping you in contact. You have Stephen Ministers to help when times are hard. And your Pastor is praying for all of you. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  

Choice is one of the greatest joys that we have. We can choose our clothes. We can choose our cars. We revel in these choices. We love making them. However the Bible doesn’t allow us to choose God. We are sinners and slaves to sin. (John 8:34) Since the will of man is not spiritually free but is a slave to sin and the devil and since he can will and do no good whatsoever, man cannot save himself by his will. Since the will of man cannot desire what is good and right, how can it possibly choose Christ? 

The sinful man cannot choose Christ. That is very clearly taught in the gospel according to John. In John 6:44 we read, “No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Jesus teaches us that man cannot come to him unless God draws him. There is no “free will” in man that enables him to go to Christ. It takes a power outside of him, the power of God’s grace. Without that, no one goes to Christ for salvation. Jesus says, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit…” (John 15:16).

We can’t say that we are saved by our will and our choice. We may not say that we are saved because we made a decision for Christ or accepted Him. It is true that the Bible says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12). But this does not mean that we receive Him by the power of our own wills. The very opposite is true as is indicated in the next verse. We read, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”  Notice the apostle says that we are born “not of the will of man.”  The new birth, regeneration, does not come about because man chooses Christ with his enslaved will.

Salvation is of God because it is based upon God’s will. James says, “Of his (God’s)own will begat he us with the word of truth…” (James 1:18). The source of salvation, the determining factor in salvation, is God’s will. No one is born again unless God so wills it. When a man trusts in Christ it is because God has first chosen him. We read in Acts 13:48, “…and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” God’s eternal decree of election is the ultimate source of faith. Faith is not man’s work, but the gift of God which He gives in regeneration. Jesus is called the “author and finisher of our faith” (Hebr. 12:2) because no man has faith unless it is given to him by God through the working of the Spirit of Christ. The Scriptures teach us that God’s people “believe according to the working of his (God’s)mighty power.” (Eph. 1:19). The apostle Paul says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9). Faith is not of us. It is not our work. It is God’s gracious gift.

The joy in this is that since salvation is God’s gift, we can truly rely on it. It is not changed by our feelings, or our determination. It is of God. Therefore we rejoice that God has chosen us and given us salvation. We can choose our clothes, or cars, or friends, but God has chosen us. Rejoice.