Jesus is a Friend of Sinners
I
did not need to read George Kinnaman and Gabe Lyon's book with the above title.
(Baker Books 2007) The chapter titles were enough to tell me that the Barna
Group's latest study would come close to matching my own suspicions. In short,
many in the younger generation in America today consider "the church"
to be irrelevant, out of date, judgmental, sheltered, antihomosexual, and
hypocritical.
The
authors do move on to offer helpful suggestions for changing how we do things,
so this is a very worthwhile read.
Since I
don't intend to give up on Christ's church or the Lord Jesus, I decided I did
not want to be numbered among the "irrelevant majority" and I should
therefore check and see if I could find ways to fall more into line with what a
Christian was supposed to look like from a First Century perspective.
God
expressed his sore displeasure at Israel through the prophet Isaiah when He
announced that He would save them not because of their meritorious life style
or track record, but only to protect His own name and reputation which had been
attached to that nation.
I wonder
if God is similarly unhappy with the church twenty centuries after it was
founded? Could we collectively be in big trouble with God and not even know
it?
"Son of man, when
the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways
and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary
impurity. "Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had
shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. "So
I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the
countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. "When
they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name--when
they said of them, 'These are the people of the LORD, and yet they have gone
out of His land.'
"But I had
concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the
nations wherever they went. "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus
says the Lord GOD: "I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but
for My holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you
went. "And I
will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which
you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the
LORD," says the Lord GOD, "when I am hallowed in you before their
eyes."
"For I will
take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you
into your own land. "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you
shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your
idols. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I
will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
"I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and
you will keep My judgments and do them. "Then you shall dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
"I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain
and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. "And I will multiply the
fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never
again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. "Then you will
remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe
yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations.
"Not for your
sake do I do this," says the Lord GOD, "let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your
own ways, O house of Israel!" 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "On the day
that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in
the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. "The desolate land shall be
tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. "So they
will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and
the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.'
"Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the
LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD,
have spoken it, and I will do it." (Ezekiel 36:17-36)
Yet
here in this example is to be seen the Love that never lets go, saving and
redeeming men and women in spite of ourselves--"for His namesake."
Here is love that goes further in turning our sins and failures into new works
of beauty. In commenting on Psalm 51, regarding David's sin or murder and
adultery, Ray Stedman once said,
"God
gives us back more than we have lost."
"God
cleanses to a deeper level than the level of the immediate sin."
"God cleanses deeper than the Law allows for."
For
nearly two years, since teaching through the book, I have been often reminded
of some key truths about our God hidden away in the book of Leviticus. Ray
Stedman points out that five different offerings--all pointing to Jesus
Christ-show us how God meets us sinners with open arms, so that we can become
whole new men and women. Ray writes,
"Five offerings. The first element is a series
of five offerings. I believe that God gave us five fingers on each hand so that
we can remember the five offerings: (1) the burnt offering, (2) the meal
offering, (3) the peace offering, (4) the sin offering, and (5) the trespass
offering. These five offerings are pictures of what Jesus Christ did for us
when He was sacrificed upon the cross. They are also pictures of the great,
fundamental needs of human life.
These five offerings speak of the two essential ingredients of human existence:
love and responsibility.
We
can never be complete persons if we lack this first ingredient, love. We can
never be all that God created us to be if we are not loved and if we do not
love others. Love is an essential ingredient of life. We were made to love and
be loved. Nothing hurts and distorts a human soul like the denial of love.
The second essential ingredient is a sense of responsibility. As human beings,
we have duties and responsibilities to other human beings and to God. When we
live responsibly, meeting our responsibilities to God and others, we gain a
sense of self-worth and self-respect that comes from God.
In
order to be whole people with healthy relationships, we need to experience both
love and responsibility. The offerings that are presented in Leviticus show us
the role that love and responsibility play in our lives..." (http://www.raystedman.org/leviticus/leviticus.html#anchor21135207).
In
effect, our sin before God and our sins against one another are not dealt with
personally until we come to the last two sacrificial offerings described in
Leviticus. The first three offerings emphasize God's unconditional love for
us--and our need to respond to the offered love of Jesus. It is after we have responded to Jesus that God
begins to deal with our sins and failures.
"God
is Love" is a rock-solid Biblical statement about the nature of God. But
the meaning of the Biblical word "love" needs a lot of unpacking.
Agape love gives of itself freely for the good of the beloved and can not act
selfishly. "In this is love, it is not that we loved God but that He loved
us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)
God is a
living Person--a relationship with God must be Person-to-person. It is not
enough for God to offer his personal love to us, if we fail to respond, that
offered-love does not benefit us. We all know that one person can offer love to
another, but without the consent of both parties, no relationship will result.
The lover may even suffer from a broken heart if the object of his or her
love says "no," and love can not be forced nor manipulated. Rejection
of Christ as man's Lover happens most of the time; only a tiny handful of us
who are of Adam's race--a remnant--consents to receive God's love and to
respond.
The gods
of Greece and Rome, the pagan deities, as well as Allah, are not like the God
of the Bible. Yahweh is a living, eternal Being who enters into personal
relationships (covenants) with individuals, and with groups of individuals. The
root of the covenant name of God, Yahweh, is the Hebrew verb "to be"
as seen in the expression "I am who I am."
The core
message of Christianity is called "the gospel," (the word means
"good news"--Paul goes into detail on this in 1 Cor. 15). The message
is about God's love for us up-front. God as personal, incarnated Love offers us
all hope, freedom and a new life. Specifically "the gospel" is about
God's love for us through the entry into human history of God's Son Jesus.
Jesus died as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. He was buried, but
returned from the dead on the third day. "For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John
3:16-17)
Today
Jesus is in active control of the universe ruling from the spiritual realm--and
He will soon be returning to claim His inheritance here on earth. Since all sin
has been taken care of by God, the only remaining barrier between us and God is
our will. It is quite true that our response to God's love will mean we must
learn how sinful we were and are. But Jesus takes each us by the hand all the
way as we each "work out of own salvation..." -- after we come to know
Him.
God has
chosen that the usual way people will come to know Him is in response to the
proclamation of the gospel. We do the announcing and God does the saving. Paul
discusses this in Romans 10:
"...But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, 'Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?"' (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, '"Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.' For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For 'whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.' How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!' But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed our report?' So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God...." (Romans 10:6-17)
Basically
our job as Christians is to convey the love of Jesus in word and in deed--with
simplicity but with content--to our friends and neighbors, and to as many others
as we can.
When God
is speaking to those who are already supposed to be His people, it is
appropriate to suggest up-front that such people need to repent--that is, they
need to come back to the God they have drifted away from or have been ignoring--the
God about whom they have already been informed. Hence the approach of John the
Baptist when Messiah arrived on the scene. Jesus was coming to God's own people
as promised, and they were not ready for His arrival.
However it
is surely incorrect to demand repentance as a condition of salvation when bringing the
gospel to the lost and the previously uninformed. Repentance (a changed heart
and a new life-style) ordinarily follows true conversion. After making the love of God known
as clearly as possible to people, questions will inevitably come up as to the
actual human condition. People do need to have some idea that God is worthy of
our love and response. They also need to know early on that our natural
condition is that we start out as enemies of God, totally lost, without hope,
and completely unable to please God in any way.
Sadly
polls show that the majority of Americans today think they are already good
enough to get into heaven (if such a place exists). Nothing could be further
from the truth.
From a
recent newsletter:
"Late in 2007, a
courageous Christian dropped a handful of one of our tracts ("The
Atheist Test") at a gathering of atheists, who meet once a
month at the local IHOP at the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California.
The atheists then invited me to join them for dinner on January 8th, 2008. They
requested that I get there an hour early to 'set a baseline,' because some of
their members 'do get a bit hot headed when discussing religion.' I accepted
their invitation and decided to take my manager with me (Mark Spence is the
Dean of the "School of
Biblical Evangelism"). Before we went I got permission to also
take a handheld HD camera. I was determined not to go there to win an argument,
but to simply show that I deeply cared for them as people, as most atheists
seem to have the impression that Christians don't like them. We arrived about
five minutes early, shook hands and sat down. After the orders were taken, I
quietly approached the waiter and told him to give me the bill for the entire
party. When he brought it to me I was almost shaking with excitement. If
someone had tried to take it off me I would have physically fought them. I felt
like I used to feel with my kids early on Christmas morning. When they found
out that I had personally paid the tab they were very grateful, polite,
pleasant, kind, and extremely thankful (see 1 Peter 2:15). The experience was a
highlight of my life. Then about ten of us huddled around a table and talked
about the things of God for about an hour. It was up close and personal. Mark
answered every question and objection they had, calmly and eloquently. It's all
on film and we hope to be able to make it available through the ministry (to
them and you) in a month or so. I took copies of my new book, How to Know God
Exists, and all the folks at our table wanted one (it's a strange
feeling signing books for atheists). Then we posed for pictures and left,
almost bursting with joy after such a wonderful opportunity to meet and talk
with these dear people. Maybe the next time they meet for dinner (at the
International House of Prayer) hundreds will show up saying 'We heard that this
is the atheist group where you get a free meal.' Seriously though, please pray
for the 'Orange County Atheists.'" (from http://www.livingwaters.com/)
The
Internet itself is home for thousands of "Christian" web sites set up
by individuals, but personal web sites are not always trustworthy or
useful. The web has neither police nor elders-anything goes. Anyone who wants
to be effective on Internet for our Lord should realize that good taste,
content, integity and credibility are important.
MySpace
(Beverly Hills, 300 million accounts), Facebook (Palo Alto, 60 million users)
and Xanga (NYC, 27 million bloggers) are examples of a new generation of web
sites which provide users with their own personal pages complete with photos,
video clips, a personal profile, and a list of "friends." YouTube.com
(San Bruno, 64 million videos) allows users to upload their favorite video
clips. All of these groups are great places for posting Christian testimonies,
articles, and discussions.
As one
example of the very effective use of a Facebook site see Mark Driscoll's page
on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504171597&ref=mf.
[Speaking
of Mark Driscoll, teaching pastor of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, don't miss his
current sermon series, accessible in video or audio on their web site, http://marshillchurch.org].
I have
maintained my own pages on MySpace, Facebook and Xanga for a couple of years
now. Last month I decided to do some "fishing" on a marginal x-rated
web site. I posted my real name, photo and age along with the following profile
statement,
Freewheeling follower
of Jesus Christ
I am eager to let people
know how deeply, unconditionally we are ALL loved by the one true God.
I became a Christian at
the age of 30 after a very long search. Now I know clearly the difference in
"before" becoming a follower of Jesus as opposed to my past 45 years
of life "in Christ."
Since I have been there,
done that--I'm ready to pray for you, to encourage you, to be a friend, or
mentor or older brother--no strings attached. All questions welcome, any
subject. BTW, I am single, never married, currently celibate.
I am opposed to
religion (as is Jesus)--my life is all about the man Christ Jesus, and my day
to day relationship with Him. Jesus said, "I came that you might have real
life and have it more abundantly."
Jesus is very much alive
today--you can get in touch with Him in person. I assure you He will welcome
you gladly. Obviously if Jesus offers us His personal love we can't benefit
unless we respond to him. Real love requires the consent of two parties, not
just one. His goal for us is wholeness and fulfillment in this life and the
next.
A couple of favorite
quotes:
"You see, at just
the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very
rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might
possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While
we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by
his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For
if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of
his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his
life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." (Romans 5:6-12
NIV)
"For Christ's love
compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all
died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for
themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on
we regard no-one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ
in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who
reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not
counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of
reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were
making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled
to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)
"The teaching of
the New Testament is that now, at this very moment, there is a Man in heaven
appearing in the presence of God for us. He is as certainly a man as was Adam
or Moses or Paul; he is a man glorified, but his glorification did not
de-humanize him. Today he is a real man, of the race of mankind, bearing our
lineaments and dimensions, a visible and audible man, whom any other man would
recognize instantly as one of us. But more than this, he is the heir of all
things, Lord of all lords, head of the church, firstborn of the new creation.
He is the way to God, the life of the believer, the hope of Israel, and the
high priest of every true worshiper. He holds the keys of death and hell, and
stands as advocate and surety for everyone who believes on him in truth.
Salvation comes not by accepting the finished work, or deciding for Christ; it
comes by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole, living, victorious Lord
who, as God and man, fought our fight and won it, accepted our debt as his own
and paid it, took our sins and died under them, and rose again to set us free.
This is the true Christ; nothing less will do." ( A. W. Tozer)
Lambert, lambert@ldolphin.org, Web
site: http://ldolphin.org/asstbib.shtml
To
date I have 121 "friends" on this particular web site. They have each
responded to my invitation email--which reads as follows:
In case you would
like to have an old follower of Jesus Christ as your friend, I am your man.
However, I am NOT into religion.
Jesus said, "I came
that you might have life and have it more abundantly." I did not become a
Christian until the age of 30, and I am 75 now so I know all about the
"before" and the "after" of knowing Jesus.
I care about people very
deeply and am happy to be a sounding board for any friend. I'm glad to pray for
anyone. Thanks for listening, Lambert
I
consider this an experimental seed-planting endeavor and I very much need
prayer for my 121 lost "friends"-they are mostly 18-25 years old. I
have had three or four unpleasant rejection emails so far (to be expected), but
half a dozen very positive responses all in the past month. If any
well-grounded Christians want to join me in this front-line foxhole ministry,
let me know. You might want to sign up on this site as I have done and post
your own profile and message? In this venture I think of Paul's words, "I
planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who
plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase." (1
Cor. 3:6-7)
In the
last chapter of his book The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis brings up the question
of what God is like and why He bothered to create a universe in the first
place. Lewis points out that our very existence, the existence of the entire
universe was not necessary. The sum total of all we are adds nothing to the
completeness and fullness of the Godhead. We are superfluous--since the Persons
of the Godhead are always fulfilled in their eternal round of self-giving love.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are eternally in harmony and always pouring
themselves out in self-giving love.
But in
creating us humans and making us very much like Himself, God desired to share
His self-giving love with us, knowing that such an experiment would involve the
Persons of the Godhead in enormous pain, grief and sorrow. Only a few of us
would respond apparently, but enough to make the entire "experiment"
worthwhile from the Divine point of view.
Even more
difficult than persuading us sinners to respond to His freely-offered love, God
desires that we should each move on to learn how to give ourselves away
to others in love as God gives away Himself freely. The radical nature of the
Christian call is that the goal is to change totally self-centered,
self-seeking persons (us) into the very likeness of God's Son. We change by
learning to give ourselves away, and to die to self, one day at a time. In this
we are only channels for the limitless love of Jesus. Our "natural
love" rooted as its is in the flesh, is of no value.
God's
kind of love gives itself away, seeking the best interests of the beloved.
God's love does not seek to be repaid and hopes only for the free, uncoerced
responding love of its object. The classic nature of God's kind of love is seen
in 1 Corinthians 13.
What this
means for us Christians who are seeking to engage the world is that we must get
personally involved with real people--no matter how lost we may think they
are--and we need to take risks in faith to be channels of the love of Jesus to
all manner of people around us. Some today teach that we must first get our own acts together before we
can be servants of Jesus. But the reverse is true--flawed though we may be, we
will only be healed through "in service training." The message we
spread is all about reality and real love. Jesus, the Messenger working in us, wants
to love all sorts of lost persons through us if we will but grant Him
permission to do so.
Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Matthew 9:10-13)
Other
Previous
newsletters are on my web site: http://ldolphin.org/news/.
My main web site library is http://ldolphin.org/asstbib.shtml,
with newer articles posted at the top. Links to mp3 files of my Bible
classes are there as well. Our
email team at the Paraclete Forum is
standing by to help, encourage or prayer for you. Email: inquiry@paracleteforum.org.
Lambert
Dolphin
January 14, 2008