Christianity

The Divine Contrast

As I was preaching through Jesus’ life in the book of Luke, I was struck by the “divine contrast” that exists between Christ’s baptism and wilderness temptation. Last Sunday, I shared this writing at the end of my sermon entitled “Is It.”

In each of our lives the brushstrokes of God reveal the masterpiece of divine contrast. Carefully, He blends the cool refreshing blues of the baptism with the warm arid hues of the wilderness.

Whether in the refreshment of baptism or the dryness of the wilderness: two things about Jesus are apparent: His obedience and His humility.

When we are in the cool waters of baptism, it is easy to get puffed up in pride: to believe that God blessings are a result of our goodness rather than His grace, to shift our focus from His will to ours. It is in the cool waters of baptism that the compassionate heart is tempted to fill with judgment, relationship yields to ritual, exhorting words are replaced with venomous words, and the life of courageous risk fades to an apathetic life lived in spiritual opulence.

Yet those that find themselves in the wilderness do not escape the piercing rays of temptation themselves. It is the wilderness that we are tempted to lose sight of grace, obedience, and love. When we succumb to the wilderness’ temptation, we sleep in darkness: replacing grace with doubt, obedience with rebellion, and love with fear. Beneath the wilderness stars we are tempted to show our dissatisfaction with God by embracing a life of self-sufficiency. We forget that the church is God’s gift of community, and we bathe in the mirage of isolated loneliness believing that the path to living water belongs to others.

Yet, when we remember the humility and obedience of our savior:

That is when the refreshing waters of baptism open the floodgates of heaven. When we remember the humility and obedience of our savior, that is when we live our lives in the rhythm of Father’s will; that is when we swim in the flow of the Spirit’s current. The cool refreshing blues of baptism restore our soul, announce new chapters, submerge us to new depths, and carve for us a path of purpose.

And when we remember the humility and obedience of our savior:

The divine contrast of the wilderness becomes a tranquil spring of growth for our souls. We march through treacherous days beneath the cadence of our Father’s instruction. The warm arid hue of the wilderness stretches our soul, burns the master’s mark into the plot of our lives, bends our will, and prepares our heart for the day when the dryness of the wilderness becomes the floor of the refreshing river from which we emerge a humble and obedient child of the Father with a soul that dances to the rhythm of the Divine Contrast.

Life from the Margins: Abnormally Normal

Among the battle-grounds in the same-sex marriage debate was an elusive, sought after quality called “normal.” For centuries, those with same-sex attraction were labeled as abnormal, so much so that society cut them off from what Justice Kennedy described as the “foundational” rights to love and marry. But that has now changed. In a 5-4 vote of the Supreme Court, the label of abnormal was officially removed. The White House, Coca-Cola, Cinderella’s castle were among the millions proclaiming their joy and support with rainbow gleam. Our culture celebrates when that which was abnormal is embraced as normal.

Among many Christians, there is a deep seething. You likely won’t see it marching down streets, hash-tagged, or acknowledged in the news. But, as a pastor, I have never seen such despair in the hearts of church-goers, especially those who remember America before the sexual revolution. They are depressed and frustrated; they feel betrayed, lost, and abnormal in their own country. Many of them feel they are being cut off from the “foundational” rights to exercise free-speech and faith. It is a painful irony that many in our culture also celebrate when the normal becomes the abnormal.

As a graduate of approximately 6,500 Christian worship services and 10,000 sermons, I have an observation: American Christians have been obsessed with being normal! We desire Jesus, love, grace, and the blessings of the cross, but we have often run from the scorn that accompanies His message. Have we forgotten that Jesus’ own culture wanted to kill him? The message of Jesus has always been abnormal. In our quest to be relevant, we have often abandoned our heritage and embraced the superficial. We have tweeted self-help with a twist of Jesus and unfriended the substantive preaching of sacred Scripture. We have envisioned church as an amusement park where we ride the Jesus-coaster to our preferred destination instead of a community of believers who profess that Jesus is the destination.

Where has our obsession with normal gotten us? Well, fewer people are now going to church, fewer people are being baptized, our cultural voice is on mute, churches are closing at an alarming pace, and we have a shortage of godly pastors. Meanwhile, our congregants struggle to understand page-one truths of Christianity like: life is a gift from God, gender as divine design, marriage and family as foundational to society and well-being, sexuality as an expression of biblical marriage, and new-life as both the destination of redemption and the action of God’s love. (https://lashbanks.com/2014/10/25/5-gifts-of-covenant-marriage/)

Now Christians are being forced to the margins of the discussion, perhaps we should take a deep breath, familiarize ourselves with our new surroundings, and realize that the margins are our earthly home. Genuine believers in Christ are not normal; we are abnormal. Remember the words of Jesus:
“If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours. But they will do all these things to you on account of My name, because they don’t know the One who sent Me (John 15:18-21,HCSB).

As Christians, we have a unique place within the social order. Our faith is anchored in sacred truth. For centuries, millions have lived their lives, loved their families, and cared for the world guided by the truths of Scripture. We understand that the 100 year window of earthy life is not the tense of past, present, and future. Our lives here are but a vapor and our future is with Christ in eternity. The cross is the place where the normal become abnormal; heaven is the place where the abnormal become normal.

When Good News Gets Twisted

I’m currently leading a Bible-study on the book of Galatians.  Galatians is one of my favorite books in the Bible, because it teaches us what it means to find freedom in Christ. Ultimately, our freedom is anchored in the gospel, and so Paul begins Galatians with a passionate plea to never twist the gospel or “good news” of Jesus.

Christ has rescued us from the world by giving Himself for our sins according to the will of God. Those who repent of sin and believe in Christ, receive the grace and peace of God and live for His glory forever and ever. This is the heart of the true gospel that Paul describes in Galatians 1:3-5:

3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. 5 To whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The gospel of Christ is the most uniting force on earth because it answers our universal problem of sin and our most basic need of forgiveness. The gospel empowers me to live a life of true significance where success is measured by eternal rather than earthly means. The gospel causes me to lose control and discover the joy of life beyond the box. It demands that I take the risk of faith and get beyond my sanitized world of control and power. The gospel frees me from the prison of self. To be God’s means that I no longer have to spend all of my energies trying to be God. “I do because I am not in order to be.” I pursue holiness because I am God’s child rather than attempting to be God’s child through my holiness.  Talk about good news!

In Galatians 1:6-7, Paul dropped his jaw in amazement that those who have experienced the liberating power of the gospel, abandon freedom in favor of enslavement to selfishness and pride. Paul wrote:

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7 not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to change the good news about the Messiah.

False gospels are subtle, because they wear Christ’s robes while stripping His message, they speak Christ’s language without God’s dictionary, embrace Christ’s love while ignoring His holiness, and desire the benefits of the cross but not the savior.

In Paul’s day, the Judaizers were luring the young, Gentile Christians of Galatia to a false gospel that taught Jesus + Judaism = Salvation. Today, the equations of apostasy may read like this:

Gospel of Friendship--Church Activities + Friends = Community
Gospel of Accommodation--Your goodness + Jesus’ love = Success
Gospel of Legalism–Jesus + Rules = Control
Gospel of Self–Jesus + Opportunity = Admiration
Gospel of Exhaustion–Pleasing People + Doing Good = God’s Love

Paul’s response to the false gospel was, to say the least, rather firm in Galatians 1:8 he wrote:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you, a curse be on him!

Now, just in case you missed it or thought maybe Paul was just blowing off some steam. Paul and, if you have a high view of Scripture, the Holy Spirit say it again in verse 9: As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

False Gospels are such a BIG deal that they make Paul curse! In Greek, the word translated “curse” is anathema. The root idea is that false gospels should be banned, excommunicated, shunned to extinction. What gets really scary is that if we plunge into our souls there are times when all of us are tempted to settle for a message that only resembles the true gospel. It is often comfortable, encouraging, self-empowering, containable, and rewarding to listen to or communicate. False gospels can win friends, draw crowds, increase budgets, provide comfort, build careers, and elicit cheers. But, in the end, they fail to satisfy, fall short of grace, and enslave you into a prison of works producing a heritage of pride of selfishness.

So Paul brings us to the eternal conclusion in verse 10:

For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.

Christ has rescued us from the world by giving Himself for our sins according to the will of God. Those who repent of sin and believe in Christ receive the grace and peace of God and live for His glory forever and ever.

Let us shun to extinction any other gospel.

Rescued

Tonight I begin leading a new Bible study through the book of Galatians.  The study-group meets from 6:30-7:30 on Wednesdays at Murphy Road Baptist Church.  Galatians is a goto book in the Bible for me, because it teaches me what it means to find freedom in Christ.  Take a look at the opening statement:

Galatians 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. 5 To whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Have you ever been rescued from something? If so, you remember the overwhelming feelings of gratitude and joy when your liberator freed you from danger. The Bible says that Christ “rescued us from this present age “when he “gave Himself for our sins.” The vividness of this picture is a stark contrast to how we often envision salvation. Being rescued from evil, sin, and the shackles of this age is so much more than adding Christ to your life, getting dunked, finding religion, going to church, cleaning up your act, or knowing the ABC’s.

Repenting of sin and believing in Christ as Lord and Savior means all things become new: Christ rescues me from the prison of me. I am no longer shackled to my sins or confined the trap of the temporal. Instead of justice and law, God brings the freedom of grace. Instead of conflict and angst, the Father brings comfort and the calm of peace. Instead of chasing my glory to my grave, I exist for His glory forever and ever.

5 Gifts of Covenant Marriage

The Christian Scriptures begin with the words “In the beginning God created.” Before the first cup of coffee is finished in my reading of Genesis, the Scriptures reveal five gifts that for centuries have been the genesis to the Christian understanding of big questions like personhood, family556855_3584754975744_1232987464_n, sexuality, community and the beautiful gift of covenant marriage.

Gift 1—The Choice of Creation (Genesis 1:1–“In the beginning God created”)—The opening line of Christianity proclaims that life is not an accident; it is a gift. God designed it and infused it with purpose. Life is not merely a survival of the fittest quest toward nothingness: life has a divine purpose through which I find faith, hope, and love. I didn’t choose life; God chose to give me life.

Gift 2—The Complement of Gender (Genesis 1:27–“He created them male and female”)—Repeatedly, the Scriptures proclaim that humankind is created in the “image” of the creator: male and female. Human Beings are unique in that we seek the spiritual and search for deeper meanings. We communicate and create. Beyond the coldness of cause and effect, humanity seeks the beauty of art and the complexity of love. The simultaneous equivalency, distinctive, and complement of gender expand the reflection revealing more clearly what it means to be made in the image of God.

Gift 3—The Bond of Marriage (Genesis 2:24—“This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.”)—Marriage is the foundational human relationship through which family and community are built. Marriage compels a man and a woman to leave the homes of their youth and bond with one another in a life-long covenant. Marriage is a life-long covenant between husband, wife, and God, that unites them as one family.

Gift 4—Covenant Sexuality (Genesis 2:25—“Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame”)—Beyond drive, attraction, expression, or feeling, sexuality is an intimate display of the life-long, loving bond of marriage: a private renewing of public vows. It is mortal love’s most powerful act: bonding souls, expressing love, extending pleasure, and forming family. It exposes a couple’s mutual vulnerability and created compatibility revealing a passion that is not learned but instilled with divine intent.

Gift 5—Children (Genesis 1:28–“Be fruitful, multiply.”)—A beautiful baby lying gently in a mother’s arms is inherent to the Bible’s creation and redemption stories. New life is the product of divine creation; it is the destination of redemption and the action of His love. It is through new life that our past finds forgiveness, our present finds meaning, and our future finds hope. It is through new life that the ancient remains modern. Through the birth of a child, the stories of creation and love are readily seen. Through the welcoming of a child into the bond of family, the story of redemption is quietly proclaimed.

As a Christian, my belief in God and Jesus Christ as Savior is not a hobby or vehicle for political power. Nor, is it new thinking: the by-product of greater connectivity, mobility, and awareness. My faith is foundational to who I am as a person and grounded in centuries of heritage. I understand that not everyone is a Christian. But, religious or not, we all have a worldview; it’s how we process life’s ultimate questions: Where do I come from? Why am I here? What happens when I die? What should I value? How should I treat others?

For 2000 years, in the lives of millions, these page-one gifts have formed the fabric of how we understand marriage, family and community. They have been viewed as givens: inherent to the human experience and not to be unraveled. Today, there are many, even within Christianity, who feel that these gifts must be scorned or, at best, repackaged, for society to progress. But before pronouncing these gifts as ancient and irrelevant inviting them to kiss goodbye, perhaps we would first do well to remember what Jesus said, “what God has joined together, man must not separate (Matthew 19:6).”

10 Mind Blowing Realities About God’s Love For You
  • God sent His son because He loves you—John 3:16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
  • God loves you even though you sin—Romans 5:8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
  • God saves you through grace—Ephesians 2:8-9 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift not from works, so that no one can boast
  • God is faithful to forgive—I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
  • God gives you a new life—Galatians 2:19b-20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
  • God’s love for you lasts forever—Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love is eternal.
  • God’s love brings quiet to your soul—Zephaniah 3:17 Yahweh your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will bring you quietness with His love. He will delight in you with shouts of joy.”
  • God’s love matures you—Ephesians 3:17b-18 I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love,
  • God’s love exalts you to new heights—I Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you.
  • God’s love brings you victory—Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Lash Banks is Lead Pastor at Murphy Road Baptist Church (murphychurch.com).  Lash’s weekly podcast/sermon can be heard at http://www.buzzsprout.com/17504   
 
All Scripture citations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.  Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

When Pride Meets Love

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Pride is an interesting word. You can’t say pride without saying I and without saying ride. We all ride pride sometimes through the streets of life. Pride is odd in that it can be a positive word conveying love or admiration, or it can be a distasteful word conveying egotism, vanity, rebellion, and sin.  

In pride, I am the object of my faith. Pride elevates me to a position that rightfully belongs to God. Pride focuses on my needs and selfishly views God and others as existing to serve me. Pride is confusing; it shuffles my perspective and causes me to embrace rational lies. I see my arrogance as confidence. My superiority expresses itself in cynical humor. The ride of pride leads me to a fictional world where I am all knowing and everyone around me is trapped in foolishness. Pride draws me in with that new car smell and soft ride. Pride drives fast and reckless; the law does not apply when I grip the wheel of pride. But in the end, the ride of pride leaves nothing more than a mangled mess of broken dreams, manipulated relationships, and a cold soul. 

 The Bible teaches, “Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).” Three times in Scripture we are reminded that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, I Peter 5:5). By contrast, “Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited. . . (I Corinthians 13:4).” Pride is to sin what love is to grace.  

The ringing of Calvary’s hammer is a collision of pride and love. The cross is necessary because of my pride, but it also necessary because of God’s love. The cross is a clumsy display of my hideous pride and a graceful display of God’s forgiving grace. On the cross, love is pierced by pride and grace is crowned by evil. On the cross pride drains the veins of love: drop by drop pride’s antidote puddles below. When His head bowed in death, pride raised his head in victory. But when the earth stood still and the tomb stood opened, it was pride that had died and love that was alive. 

The antidote to pride is the cross. When I look upon the humility and love of the cross, I see the magnificence of His love for me and I have nothing left in which to boast. From the cross the purity of His righteousness shines into the corners of my heart exposing the darkness of my sin and contempt is poured on my pride. From the cross the glories of money, power, and fame lose their allure and my richest gain I count but lost. At the cross, my broken dreams, my manipulated relationships, my cold soul collide with love. When my pride surveys His love, I bow beneath the cross, my faith is transferred from me to Him, and the drops of grace cleanse me and make me fully whole. At the cross, pride dies and love comes alive. 

Lash Banks is Lead Pastor at Murphy Road Baptist Church (murphychurch.com).  For more on this subject you can listen to Lash’s sermon When Pride Meets Love http://www.buzzsprout.com/17504/151296-faces-when-pride-meets-love  

Inspired by Isaac Watts’ great hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

No Other Gospel

Christ has rescued us from the world by giving Himself for our sins according to the will of God.  Those who repent of sin and believe in Christ, receive the grace and peace of God and live for His glory forever and ever.  This is the heart of the true gospel that Paul  describes in Galatians 1:3-5:

3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. 5 To whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The gospel of Christ is the most uniting force on earth because it answers our universal problem of sin and our most basic need of forgiveness.  The gospel empowers me to live a life of true significance where success is measured by eternal rather than earthly means.  The gospel causes me to lose control and discover the joy of life beyond the box.  It demands that I take the risk of faith and get beyond my sanitized world of control and power.  The gospel frees me from the prison of self.  To be God’s means that I no longer have to spend all of my energies trying to be God.   “I do because I am not in order to be.”  I pursue holiness because I am God’s child rather than attempting to be God’s child through my holiness.

 In Galatians 1:6-7, Paul dropped his jaw in amazement that those who have experienced the liberating power of the gospel, abandon freedom in favor of enslavement to selfishness and pride.  Paul wrote:

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7 not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to change the good news about the Messiah.

False gospels are subtle, because they wear Christ’s robes while stripping His message, they speak Christ’s language without God’s dictionary, embrace Christ’s love while ignoring His holiness, and desire the benefits of the cross but not the savior.

In Paul’s day, the Judaizers were luring the young, Gentile Christians of Galatia to a false gospel that taught Jesus + Judaism = Salvation.   Today, the equations of apostasy may read like this:

  • Gospel of Friendship–Church Activities + Friends = Community
  • Gospel of Accommodation–Your goodness + Jesus’ love = Success
  • Gospel of Legalism–Jesus + Rules = Control
  • Gospel of Self–Jesus + Opportunity = Admiration
  • Gospel of Exhaustion–Pleasing People + Doing Good = God’s Love

Paul’s response to the false gospel was, to say the least, rather firm in Galatians 1:8 he wrote:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you, a curse be on him!

Now, just in case you missed it or thought maybe Paul was just blowing off some steam.  Paul and, if you have a high view of Scripture, the Holy Spirit say it again in verse 9:

9 As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

False Gospels are such a BIG deal that they make Paul curse!  In Greek, the word translate “curse” is anathema.  The root idea is that false gospels should be banned, excommunicated, shunned to extinction.  What gets really scary is that if we plunge into our souls there are times when all of us are tempted to settle for a message that only resembles the true gospel.  It is often comfortable, encouraging, self-empowering, containable, and rewarding to listen to or communicate.  False gospels can win friends, draw crowds, increase budgets, provide comfort, build careers, and elicit cheers.  But, in the end, they fail to satisfy, fall short of grace, and enslave you into a prison of works producing a heritage of pride of selfishness.

So Paul brings us to the eternal conclusion in verse 10:

For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.

Christ has rescued us from the world by giving Himself for our sins according to the will of God.  Those who repent of sin and believe in Christ receive the grace and peace of God and live for His glory forever and ever.

Let us shun to extinction any other gospel.