Christ’s death

God Doesn’t Need Our Help

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. – 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 ESV

The concept of death by crucifixion, while not invented by the Romans, was certainly perfected by them. It was a horrific means of death, intended as much for crime prevention as it was for punishment. To those living under Roman jurisdiction, crucifixion was viewed as a hideous way to die, reserved for the vilest of criminals and the scum of the earth. Yet, Paul reminds his readers, it was the God-ordained means of death for Jesus Christ. The death of Christ on the cross was at the heart of the gospel message preached by Paul, Apollos, and Cephas. Paul insisted, “We preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23a ESV). What made that message even more “foolish” to the ears of those who heard it was the fact that Christ’s death was followed by His resurrection. It was His death, followed by His miraculous Spirit-empowered resurrection, that made the message “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23b ESV).

And yet, the message of the cross revealed the very wisdom of God. It was His chosen means of providing justification for sinful men and women. It was through the “foolishness” of the cross that sinners could be restored to a right relationship with a holy God. But as Paul points out, “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV). There is nothing about the message of the cross that makes sense to sinful men; it sounds ludicrous, far-fetched, and unbelievable. Many write it off as a fable or myth. Others laugh it off as nothing more than the wishful thinking of the uneducated. But Paul insists that it is the very “power of God.” As Paul wrote in his letter to the believers in Rome, “It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16 ESV). And God was using this message to “destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent” (1 Corinthians 1:19 NLT).

By arguing over who was a follower of Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, and which leader was more impressive than the other, the Corinthian believers were diminishing the true message of the gospel. They were making the wisdom of man more important than the wisdom of God. They were elevating eloquent speech and impressive oratory skills over the simple yet profound message of Christ crucified. The ability to debate theology or impress others with your knowledge of the Scriptures means nothing without the cross. Which is what led Paul to ask, “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?” (1 Corinthians 1:20 ESV). The wise and religious didn’t come up with the idea of the cross; God did. The Jewish scholars didn’t recognize the prophecies concerning the suffering Savior. In fact, Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40 ESV).

They were unable to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, because He didn’t appear as the kind of Messiah they were expecting. They had been looking for a conquering king, not a suffering servant. The crown they envisioned Him wearing was made of gold, not thorns. They expected Him to free them from bondage to Roman rule, not sin.

The “wisdom of the world” to which Paul refers has little to do with intellect or book knowledge. He is speaking of the philosophical insights men use to explain the world and our place in it. It is man’s attempt to understand and explain the presence of evil, suffering, and pain, as well as to present an acceptable, rational path to hope and happiness. But nothing man has come up with has worked. Materialism, religion, hedonism, pacifism, pleasure, wealth, love; mankind has tried it all. Yet, as Solomon so succinctly put it: “But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere” (Ecclesiastes 2:11 NLT).

As believers, we are to be followers of Christ, not men. We are to place our hope in the cross, not the clever arguments or convincing messages of this world. Like Paul, we are to believe that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25 ESV). Our salvation was the result of the cross, not the words of men. Our sanctification or ongoing transformation into the likeness of Christ is based on the message of the cross, not human wisdom. And it is the cross that will make possible our ultimate glorification, the resurrection of our bodies, and our final transformation into the image of Christ.

To some, it all sounds like foolishness. To others, it acts as a stumbling block, preventing them from embracing the good news of Jesus Christ and experiencing the power and wisdom of God found in His Son, Jesus Christ. For Paul, the message of the cross was more than enough. He didn’t feel compelled to trick it up, tone it down, make it more palatable, or gloss it over with clever-sounding words or sophisticated philosophical arguments. As he told the Corinthians later in his letter, “When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2 NLT). For Paul, the message of the cross of Christ was enough, because it revealed the wisdom and the power of God. If the simplicity of the cross was good enough for God, it was good enough for Paul.

After warning the Corinthians about the danger of division within the body of Christ, Paul reminded them that the work of salvation had nothing to do with man. Paul, Apollos, and Peter were nothing more than messengers of the Good News. Their role was to tell what God had done through Christ’s death on the cross. Paul made this point quite emphatically when he wrote, “Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!” (1 Corinthians 1:13 NLT).

Salvation was God’s idea, not man’s. Mankind had not been able to come up with a way to restore its relationship with God. No amount of good works, sacrifices, worship, or religious rituals had ever fixed the problem created by the sin of mankind. So God came up with His own plan, and it appeared as nothing less than foolish from man’s perspective. God chose to send His holy and righteous Son to die on a cross for the sins of mankind. But to those who are lost, “The message of the cross is foolish” (1 Corinthians 1:18 NLT). To the philosophers, scholars, and brilliant debaters of this world, the message of the cross sounds like superstitious nonsense; the creation of pathetically simpleminded people.

“But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24 NLT). To those who humbly accept the message of Christ’s substitionary death on the cross as real and life-transforming, the power of God is self-evident and non-debatable. The work of salvation is the work of God from beginning to end. Man has nothing to do with it. God chooses, calls, and unites us with Christ, and it is Christ who makes sinful men right with a holy God. Through the atoning work of Christ, we are made pure and holy. It is He who frees us from sin, not Paul, Apollos, or Peter. So there is no reason for anyone to boast, either in themselves or any other human being.

Salvation is God’s work, and He accomplished it through the death of His own Son. The only role we play is that of the foolish, powerless, helpless, despised, and sin-enslaved human being. We bring nothing of value to the table. We have no worth or merit in God’s eyes. He doesn’t look down from heaven and select the best and the brightest. He doesn’t choose the rich, famous, or successful ones. He isn’t impressed with anyone’s talents, efforts, resume, or attempts at self-righteousness. In God’s eyes, all men are sinners and stand separated from Him. All men are deserving of His wrath and destined to spend eternity being punished for their rebellion against Him. But God had a plan and a solution to man’s problem that didn’t involve man at all. It was His work, and it required the death of His Son. It was His plan and “this foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human reason” (1 Corinthians 1:25 NLT).

So there is nothing for us to boast about, except in the fact that God has chosen us. We need to boast about God. We need to brag about Him. We need to constantly remind one another that, without His plan of salvation, as foolish as it may sound, none of us would have any hope.

Father, thank You for Your incredible plan of salvation. Without it, I would have no hope. I would have no future. But because You sent Your Son to die on a cross in my place, and You chose to open my eyes so that I could see the futility of my situation and the reality of salvation made available through His death, I now stand as holy and righteous before You. I have nothing to boast about, except You. Don’t ever allow me to make it about me again. Don’t let me to make more of anyone than I do of you. Amen

 

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

And This Is the Thanks I Get?

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. – Jeremiah 32:22-23 ESV

Jeremiah 32:17-25

Sometimes a little bit of reflection can go a long way. Jeremiah had taken time to look back on Israel’s long relationship with God and had recalled the faithfulness of God. He had remembered all that God had done for them as a people. From the moment He had called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees to the day He had appointed David the king of Israel, God had been there for nation of Israel. He had promised them the land of Canaan and He had made good on that promise. When they had taken possession of the land God had reminded them, “I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant” (Joshua 24:13 ESV). He had done these things, not because they had deserved it or had earned it, but out of His grace and mercy and in order to fulfill His word.

And how had they responded to the kindness of God? With disobedience. In exchange for His unmerited favor and undeserved love, God had simply asked that they treat Him with the dignity and respect He deserved. He expected them to stay faithful to Him alone and worship no other gods beside Him. He gave them laws to follow that would set them apart from all the other nations and protect them from committing sins that could result in their own harm and destruction. But as Jeremiah so sadly recalled, “But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do.” They had returned God’s faithfulness with unfaithfulness. They had repeatedly disobeyed, disrespected and dismissed God, treating Him as irrelevant, replaceable, or even optional in their lives. And now they were about to reap the results of their long history of ingratitude and insubordination. God was not going to tolerate their behavior any longer. 

Sometimes, in our obsession over the grace and mercy of God, we can tend to neglect the doctrine of God’s holiness. We can forget that God is holy in all His ways and cannot tolerate sin. Yes, He is able to offer forgiveness and extend mercy to mankind because of the sacrificial death of His own Son. But Christ’s death did not diminish the seriousness of sin, it simply provided a payment for the penalty. In fact, the death of God’s Son provides us with some idea of just how serious God takes sin. The only payment He could accept that would satisfy His own need for justice and cover the steep price to cover the penalty due for the sins of mankind was the life of His own sinless Son. When we look back at the history of Israel and see God bringing destruction on the people He had chosen as His very own possession, we should be reminded of just how much God hates sin. He couldn’t just overlook it and dismiss it. He couldn’t just say, “Boys will be boys” and act as if it was not that big a deal. Sin was and always will be a bid deal to a holy, righteous God. Sin is an affront to His character. It is rebellion against His sovereign rule. It is a slap in the face of God by the ones He has made and who exist only by His grace and mercy.

As believers, while our sins have been paid for in full by Jesus, that does not give us the right to act as if our sins no longer matter or carry no weight. Paul had to deal with this kind of illogical thinking when he wrote to the Christians in Rome. “Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!” (Romans 6:15 NLT). In fact, Paul had told them, “Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace” (Romans 6:12-14 NLT). As those who had benefited from the grace of God made possible through the death of His own Son, they were to take sin seriously and treat God with the gratitude and respect He deserves by glorifying Him through obedient, righteous living. God’s grace is not a license to sin. It is a gift to be appreciated and treated with great honor and respect. God paid a high price in order for us to enjoy a right relationship with Him. He gave His own Son and made it possible for us to exchange our sin for His righteousness. He died so that we might live. Our sins were the cause of Christ’s death. His death was the cost required for our salvation. Our obedience is the least we could do to express our thankfulness for all that God has done. Our hatred and rejection of sin is a great way to let God know just how much we love and appreciate Him.  

Genesis 9-10, Matthew 5

/ kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

A Holy God & Sinful Man.

Genesis 9-10, Matthew 5

You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire. – Matthew 5:21-22 ESV

Noah and his family survived the flood, but they would quickly find themselves deluged with the constant presence of sin. While the majority of the population had been wiped out in God’s judgment, the small remnant of people who made up Noah’s family were more than adequate to repopulate the planet and provide a steady supply of sin to recontaminate the world. But God would remain faithful.

What does this passage reveal about God?

God kept His word and protected Noah and his family from the devastating consequences of the flood. He even made a covenant with them, promising to never destroy the earth again by means of a world-wide flood. This covenant was ratified with Noah, but included all the creatures who had survived the flood as passengers on the ark. God knew that sin was still present on the earth. He knew that man was still prone to sin and that the flood had not eradicated the root problem of sin from the earth. But in spite of all that, He was willing to make a binding covenant with Noah and his descendants, promising to never bring another world-wide flood on the earth again.

God’s original command to Adam and Eve to multiply and fill the earth still stood, and God passed it on to Noah and his sons. After they exited the ark, God blessed them and commanded them to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1 ESV). Chapter ten of Genesis provides a genealogical listing of how Noah’s three sons fulfilled this command, multiplying and spreading across the earth. Animals, birds and mankind alike, procreated and repopulated the environment. But God gave Noah and his sons an interesting warning. Something had changed since the time He had created the world. When He had placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, He told them, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food” (Genesis 1:29-30 ESV). But in the post-flood environment, something had changed. God now told Noah and his family, “All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables” (Genesis 9:2-3 ESV). Man’s diet was now expanded to include birds, fish and animals. But God placed a very specific restriction with this newly expanded diet. “But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it” (Genesis 9:4 ESV). God, as the creator of all life, put a high priority on life, and designated blood as the symbol of life. Man was restricted from eating any animals that had not had their blood drained from them. The blood was to be spilled, symbolizing the loss of life. And this concept of spilled blood would play a significant role in the history of God’s people for generations to come.

What does this passage reveal about man?

Knowing that mankind will end up taking this newly expanded dietary opportunity and pervert it, God warned that all those who took life would be held accountable. He established the principle of a life for a life. Human life was  precious to God and it was to be treated with care. God would not tolerate actions like those of Cain who murdered his brother out of jealousy. So He changed the rules, saying, “And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die” (Genesis 9:5 ESV). Man was made in the image of God, and no one was permitted to take the life of man but God. In time, God would establish laws and civil government as a means to legislate this decree. The problem with sin is that it eventually leads to loss of life. Sin is ultimately destructive in nature. It never leads to life, but always to death. Jesus Himself warned that the enemy came to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), but that He came to bring life.

Man requires rules. Left to our own devices, we will gravitate towards sin and end up behaving in ways that are not only self-destructive, but harmful to others. But God requires more than rules, He demands righteousness. Laws don’t change the heart of man, they just regulate behavior. Laws restrict, but they don’t reform. When Jesus showed up on the earth, He revealed that the laws given to regulate the behavior of men were inadequate. In His great Sermon on the Mount, found in chapter 5 of Matthew, Jesus spoke these startling words to His listeners: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brotherwill be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:21-22 ESV). At the heart of murder is anger. To simply restrict someone from murdering another person does not alter their desire to do so. It merely reigns in and restricts their desire. But Jesus came to change all that. He came to provide mankind with a means to live differently. He came to offer heart transformation that would lead to true behavior modification. Apart from Christ, men require rules to control them. But for those who are in Christ, our behavior is regulated by the Spirit of God. Our motivation is internal, not external. God’s standards for His people are high and lofty, far greater than any set of rules to regulate and enforce. Holiness can not be legislated, but must be motivated by the presence and power of God within the life of the individual. Right living must be based on a right relationship with God made possible through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

Without Christ, I would be sin-prone and self-destructive. I would be left trying to live my life by a set of rules I can’t keep and attempting to live up to a set of standards I could never achieve. I am a rule-breaker by nature. I don’t want to abide by God’s laws. And like every man who has been born since the flood, I would be hopeless and helpless had it not been for Jesus’ death on the cross. He shed His blood so that I wouldn’t have to have mine spilled. Because until I placed my faith in him, I was just as guilty as the rest. I was guilty of anger and therefore, guilty of murder. I was condemned and worthy of death. But Jesus allowed His blood to be spilled instead of mine. He allowed His life to be taken in place of mine. He died so that I might live. God, in His rich mercy and grace, provided a means by which I might be made right with Him, when I could never have pulled it off on my own. He gave me a way to live a brand of righteousness that is far greater than anything the Pharisees or even Noah was able to pull off. It’s not a righteousness based on rules and regulations, but on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. He gave me His righteousness in exchange for my sinfulness. He covered me with His cleansing blood and clothed me with His righteousness, so that I might stand before God as holy and wholly acceptable to Him.

Father, You alone have made it possible for me to be made right with You. Thank You for sending Your Son to live the life no other human being could live. He lived without sin and so made a perfect sacrifice to pay the price for all the sins committed by mankind, including mine. So I can live righteously, not because of a set of rules I keep, but because He has placed His Spirit within me. My motivation is internal, not external. And I am grateful. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Romans 3

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

Good News. Bad News.

Romans 3

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. – Romans 3:22 NLT

We’ve all heard plenty of “good news – bad news” jokes. They usually start out with the statement, “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.” In a way, that is exactly what Paul is saying in his letter to the Roman believers. Except that his message was anything but funny. He had good news for them, which they had already heard and believed. But he also wanted to make sure they grasped the bad news that “all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin” (Romans 3:9b NLT). Paul was addressing a common misconception that still exists today. In his day, the Jews believed that because they were the chosen people of God, they were exempt from God’s wrath. They saw themselves as a privileged people and because of their position as God’s chosen race, He was somehow obligated to protect and preserve them, regardless of what they did. They put so much stock on the faithfulness of God, that they twisted it into some kind of blind allegiance to them, that would overlook their failures and bless them, in spite of them. In other words, their sins would somehow be ignored by God, just because they were His chosen people.

But Paul doesn’t mince words when he exposes the fallacy in their argument, and he uses the writings of King David to make his point. “No one is righteous – not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away, all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one” (Romans 3:10-12 NLT). That is the bad news. And just to make sure that there is no confusion as to just how bad the bad news is, Paul reinforces it with these familiar and powerful words: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23 NLT). You can’t make it any clearer than that. Everyone has sinned. There are not exemptions and exceptions. All men have failed to live up to God’s glorious standard. The Jews, because they had been given the law by God, somehow thought that was enough. Earlier in this letter, Paul had addressed the Jews directly. “You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him. You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law” (Romans 2:17-18 NLT). But here’s the problem: “You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it” (Romans 2:23 NLT). They knew the law, but didn’t keep it. They knew what God expected, but failed to meet those expectations. And they stood condemned, just like the Gentiles.

But here’s the Good News. In spite of all men, whether Jew or Gentile, having sinned and fallen short of God’s righteous standard, “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood” (Romans 3:24-25 NLT). All men can be made right with God, not by keeping the law, but by believing in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Their sinfulness was rebellion against a holy God, and Romans 6:23 tells us that the penalty for that rebellion was death. Yet Jesus paid our penalty in full with His own life. He took our place. He bore our burden. He died the death we deserved and then made available to us a righteousness we could never have achieved on our own. He made us right with God. “He declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus” (Romans 3:26b NLT). That is incredibly Good News. And it all that much greater when we realize just how bad the bad news really is. None of us deserve God’s mercy, grace and forgiveness. None of us can boast, because we have done nothing to be accepted by God. The restoration of our right standing with God is all the result of His grace and Christ’s sacrifice. “We are made right with God through faith” (Romans 3:28 NLT). Now, that truly is Good News!

Father, never let me take for granted the Good News about Jesus Christ. Don’t let me ever assume that I somehow deserved Your grace and mercy. Keep my former sinful state seared into my brain. Yes, I am forgiven, redeemed and restored to a right relationship with You. But don’t ever let me forget that it was my sins that sent Jesus to the cross. It was for my sins that He died. My sins required that You give up Your own Son and that He willingly sacrifice His own life. I deserved death, but He took my place. My condemnation was real. My guilt was deserved. But I am right with You, because of what Jesus did for me. Thank You. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org