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Today’s reading is Ephesians 1:1-2:22.

Ephesians 1:3-14 gives me all kinds of hope. Sadly, many people misinterpret it and provide themselves with false hope. Others misinterpret it and have absolutely no hope, just fear. 

Some misinterpret this passage claiming the predestination mentioned means God has chosen before time who would be saved and they will be saved no matter what. Of course, the only people I’ve ever met that believe this all believe they are part of that chosen elect few. How convenient. I think this provides some false hope. That is not what the text is saying.

However, others, in order to combat the above false hope have almost sucked all the hope out of the passage completely. They hone in on words like “holy and blameless” and act as if we have accomplished that through our own perfect obedience then we don’t actually have the hope. We are striving for that holiness and blamelessness and if we reach it, we’ll be adopted and saved, but we just can’t really be sure if we’ve done enough to reach that. What hope is there in that? We all know ourselves too well to deceive ourselves into thinking we’ve really attained true holiness and blamelessness by our own righteous deeds.

So what is the truth that lies in between these two extremes of false hope and no hope?

The text does not say God has predestined who will be in Christ. Rather, it says He has predestined those who are in Christ to be holy and blameless. Before the world began, He chose those who are in Christ to be adopted as sons, to be to the praise of His glorious grace, to have forgiveness and redemption. 

Do you see what this means? The passage does not say if we are holy and blameless then we get to be in Christ. It says if we are in Christ, then God makes us holy and blameless. No doubt, this does not mean that I get to have a moment of mental assent, now I’m in Christ and what I do doesn’t matter. Of course not. When we truly hope in Christ and believe in Him, then our lives change. But the point is, I don’t have to fret my days away wondering if I’m being holy and blameless enough to get into Christ in the end. Rather, I can get into Christ and have confidence that God has predestined that I will be holy and blameless. As Romans 8:29 says, those whom God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Maybe today I’m still struggling, but I can have confidence that as long as I stay in Christ, God will work in my life to conform me to Jesus. It is a path of progress not perfection, but we are not working alone. God has placed His stamp on us to grow us to the image of Christ. 

What is the take away? Instead of spending today worrying if I’m good enough, I’m just going to abandon myself to Jesus and let Him have His way with me, conforming me to His image.

***Question: Why do you think we so readily try to establish our own righteousness instead of relying on the righteousness of God? (This ties in with our previous readings in Galatians 3 and Romans 10)

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is John 15:1-16:33.

Sorry to have been gone for so long. However, after a week of vacation, a day in Alabama for some spiritual lectures, and a birthday, I’m back at a computer and ready to discuss God’s word together. I hope you have been keeping up with your reading even though I haven’t been posting. If not, that’s okay, just get back in the saddle today with John 15-16.

Apart From Jesus We Can Do Nothing

John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

I fear that I often miss that last statement. Jesus didn’t say, “Apart from me you can’t do everything.” He didn’t say, “Apart from me you can only do some things.” He didn’t say, “Apart from me you can only do the small things.” He said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” 

Once again, this passage places us smack dab in the midst of a heated debate. My Calvinist friends are saying, “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along, Edwin.” My non-Calvinist friends are saying, “Wait a minute. Has Edwin lost his marbles and gone nuts?” 

The problem is the Calvinists look at verses like this and act as if I can only abide in Christ if Christ makes me. Why would Jesus even give this teaching if that were the case? On the other hand, many non-Calvinists completely destroy the meaning of this passage in their attempt to deny it to the Calvinists. They act as if I can bear all kinds of fruit and by that I abide in Jesus. Both of these approaches are wrong.

Let’s examine the statement. Jesus says we can do nothing apart from Him. But what is He talking about? He isn’t actually talking about everything in the realm of possible action. I think even Calvinists would concede this. After all, when I’m not abiding in Jesus I can sin all I want. Jesus isn’t saying I can only sin when I abide in Him. That doesn’t make any sense at all. Therefore, the “nothing” of this verse is limited by the context. That is, I can do “nothing” of a certain kind of activity. What kind of activity? I cannot bear any fruit that glorifies God unless I abide in Jesus.

Here is where my Calvinist friends miss it. Within the context of this passage abiding in Jesus is not fruit that glorifies God. Abiding in Jesus is the means by which I gain strength to bear fruit. Consider the metaphor Jesus is using. A branch may be connected to the vine, but that connection is not bearing fruit. Rather, it is because the branch is connected to the vine that it can bear fruit. Jesus is not saying I cannot choose to abide in Jesus unless I abide in Him. Rather, He is saying I must choose to abide in Him if I want to bear fruit that glorifies God. I don’t sit around waiting for God’s unconditional election and irresistible grace to put me in Jesus so I can bear fruit that glorifies God. Rather, I must choose to abide in Jesus. Then I will bear fruit to glorify God.

The Calvinists are just flat wrong when they suggest the only choice in this matter is God’s. They are simply wrong when they suggest I don’t have to make a choice. They are wrong when they claim I will only be in Christ if I was unconditionally elected before time and can only abide in Christ if the Spirit irresistibly bestows His grace upon me. Rather, God is offering me the option to live in Christ. When I do, I’ll bear fruit to God’s glory.

At the same time, many non-Calvinist miss the point as well. In their haste to deny this passage to the Calvinists, they get it backwards. Many act as if it is by bearing fruit that I abide in Jesus. That is just not true. This passage says I can’t bear fruit that glorifies God unless I abide in Jesus. It doesn’t say I cannot abide in Jesus unless I bear fruit. That means if I’m outside of Jesus, I can’t begin to bear fruit. Therefore, I cannot possibly fruit-bear my way into Jesus. Granted, this does demonstrate that if I’m not bearing fruit that glorifies God, I am not abiding in Jesus. Bearing fruit is evidence I am abiding in Jesus; it is not the means by which I enter Jesus.

Therefore, non-Calvinists are flat wrong if they teach or act as if I have to bear a certain amount of love, demonstrate a certain amount of patience, exercise a certain amount of self-control to enter Christ (cf. Galatians 5:22-23). Rather, it is only when I abide in Jesus that these things will truly be part of my life. They are flat wrong when they speak of a person who has been in Christ, growing in Christ, becoming more Christlike and then act as if they might not quite have done enough to be good enough to go to heaven when they die. This is why we have the sad condition of so many strong faithful Christians who have been bearing fruit that glorifies God for years saying things like, “I hope I make it to heaven when I die. I hope I did enough.”

Since I am not a Calvinist, this is the mistake I have often made. I have acted as if I have to develop a certain level of righteousness to be in Christ and be good enough to go to heaven. Sadly, that very approach kept me from having true righteousness. That approach kept me from truly abiding in Christ. This hearkens back to John 15:2: “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away…” There are some branches that are “in Jesus” but they are not abiding in Jesus. That is, they have a connection or were grafted in, but they never made a life-sustaining connection. They were baptized into Christ (Romans 6:3), but they are not living in Christ. They may “go to church,” read their Bibles, pray, perform other duties and rituals to show themselves righteous, but they are really only trusting in themselves and their works to get them into Christ and go to heaven. As much as they deceive themselves, they are not glorifying God, they are glorifying themselves. Sadly, they are not bearing fruit that glorifies God and by that they demonstrate they are not really abiding in Jesus.

John 15:7 says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you…” How do I abide in Jesus? By letting His words abide in me. I don’t read the Bible as a means to be good enough to go to heaven. I read the Bible because Jesus has the words of eternal life (John 6:68). It’s only when I quit trying to control my own life and quit trying prove I’m good enough to go to heaven that I can abide in Jesus. It is only when I give myself over to the control of Jesus’ words and just follow wherever He leads that I will bear fruit to God’s glory and prove myself His disciple. 

Let’s Get Practical

 When I preach I often try to be very practical. I’ve preached upon the home and talked about how patient, loving, joyful, self-controlled, etc. we need to be. I’ve preached about ethics at work. I’ve preached about neighbor relations. I’ve preached about school time behavior. Most often, I’ve preached it from the standpoint of, “If you want to be good enough to go to heaven, here is the kind of fruit you will bear.” 

What I’m discovering is I often get it backwards. I can’t make myself good enough to go to heaven by doing all these things. Rather, if I want to do these things, I have to abide in Christ. I should not say that if I want to be in Christ, I have to love my wife and children more. Rather, if I was really in Christ, I would be growing in love for my wife and children. I should not say that if really want to be in Christ, I should be more honest in my business dealings. Rather, if I have dishonesty in my business dealings, that is an indicator that I am not really living in Christ. I should not say that if I gain more self-control, I’ll enter Christ and be good enough to go to heaven. Rather, if I’m really in Christ, I’ll increase in self-control.

Instead of focusing on what I do to glorify God, I need to focus on how to live in Christ and let Christ live in me. Then Christ, working through me, will glorify God.

That, of course, gets us right back to John 15:7. Jesus’ words have eternal life. Only when I’m filled with His words and letting them completely run my life will I bear fruit that glorifies God. As Galatians 2:20 says, I must crucify myself and simply live by faith in Jesus, giving Him control of my life. If I don’t give Him control, I won’t bear fruit that glorifies God.

Which brings us down to one final comment about what we are doing on this website. If we are reading daily to show how spiritual we are, it isn’t doing us any good. If we are reading because we know we are powerless to bear fruit that glorifies God and we are surrendering to what Jesus says to us through His word, then we are abiding in Him and we will prove ourselves His disciples.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

Today’s reading is II Thessalonians 2:1-3:18.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but II Thessalonians just keeps shocking me with its perspective. In II Thessalonians 3:5, Paul said, “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” Paul did not direct the Thessalonians to direct their hearts to the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. He prayed that God would do that for them.

This simply ties in with yesterday’s point. We have enough Bible to recognize that we do have choice and free-will. Yet, we simply cannot lose the proper perspective about God’s involvement. We must rely on God. We must pray to God. This text doesn’t say how God will do this. It is not asking God to do something against our will. Yet, we need to be willing to pray what Paul prayed in Scripture. We need to be willing to pray that God will direct our hearts toward God. The psalmist prayed the other side of this in Psalm 141:4: “Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies.”

Yes, I must be committed to working out my salvation in fear and trembling, as Eric reminded us yesterday. However, I can only do that with confidence knowing that God is at work within me (cf. Philippians 2:12-13).

Keep the faith and pass the word along,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

Today’s reading is I Thessalonians 5:1-28 and II Thessalonians 1:1-12.

II Thessalonians 1:11-12 shocked me. “To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

What? 

This passage turns the common concept up on its head. Back in Ephesians 4:1 the statement was, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” Ephesians 4:1 says we must walk worthy. The emphasis is placed on what we do. We have a choice. We can either walk worthily or unworthily, which will we choose. II Thessalonians 1:11-12 seemingly says the exact opposite. In this passage Paul prays that God make the Christians walk in a worthy manner. The emphasis is on God’s work. If we will walk worthy, it will because of God’s work in our lives, because of His power and grace.

What is going on here? Is this a contradiction?

No. Rather, it is merely another representation of the great balance we have to find through scripture. We must walk worthy of the calling. It is our choice to do so. However, apart from God we will not walk worthy of the calling. Sadly, different people who claim to follow Jesus will lob these verses at each other like doctrinal missiles and never see what they mean together. In fact, they will often so polarize each other that the two sides will balk at using the verses that come from the other side.

For instance, my tendency is to take the side that emphasizes my choice and free will in serving God. I’ll preach sermons all day long that encourage others to step up the plate and walk worthy. I’ll rebuke folks for not walking worthy. In a moment of rigorous honesty, I have to admit I’m leery of praying that God make someone walk worthy or encouraging others to pray that God would make them worthy of the calling and bring their every spiritual resolve to fruition. My first reaction is that removes free will. Yet, I need to be able to say what Scripture says. I need to be able to do what Paul did. I need to get comfortable with praying that God will make us worthy of His calling, that God will bring to fruition and fulfill our every resolve for good, that God will fulfill our work of faith by His power and not our own. 

On the other end of the spectrum, some folks so want to emphasize God’s power and God’s work that they balk at telling folks to buck up and walk worthy of God’s calling. They fear saying anything about our free will and our choice and our work is to take something away from God’s sovereignty. Yet, Paul told Christians to walk worthy of God’s calling. He laid responsibility on us to choose, to work, and to walk. We had better buck up and do it.

We need to see the balance this provides and we need to take up both concepts at once. This is summed up in the great statement that is increasingly becoming my mantra: “Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not.” I cannot walk worthy of the calling without God’s power working in my life. However, God’s power will not work in my life if I am not choosing to walk worthy of His calling. If I take a position that leaves out God, I’ll fail miserably. If I take a position that leaves out me, God will not make me succeed.

Today, I pray that God will make you and me both worthy of His calling, that He will fulfill our every resolve for good, and that He will fulfill our every work of faith by His power working in our lives. And today, I choose to walk in a manner worthy of that calling. I hope you will do the same.

Keep the faith and pass the word along,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

Once again, I am completely astounded that Calvinists view Romans as a stronghold of their faith. Calvinists teach us that it is impossible to fall away. Some suggest if a person appears to have fallen, it means they were never part of the body to begin with. Some suggest that it is impossible for a person to be cut off from Christ once they are connected to Him.

However, Romans 11:19-24 is pretty blatant:

“Then you will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree” (ESV).

There it is. People have been cut off from Christ and we can be. If we become self-confident rather than have a healthy fear… If we step away from God’s kindness… If we choose to quit serving the Lord, His way, we will be cut off. 

Of course, there is the great comfort, however, that no matter how badly we have botched it in our rebellion, if we return to the Lord in humility, He will regraft us into the tree which represents His body.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

I know this is counted as heresy among the mainstream religion. I take comfort that Jesus was also considered a heretic among the maintsreamly religious of His day. However, can anyone truly ignore what Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-4? Why is it that this passage is so often skipped over in all those Roman Road tracts?

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? by no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 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” (ESV).

Please, beloved reader, do not gloss over this passage with words of “symbolism” and “outward sign of inward grace.” Read it again. And Read it again. Can you not see what it says? It says that we die with Christ when we are baptized into Him? When are we baptized in Him? Not just when we go under the water with words about it being in His name or in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are baptized into Jesus and into His death when we are buried with him by baptism into death in order that (did you see that? in order that) we might walk in newness of life. We cannot possible be baptized in order that we might walk in newness of life if we think we had the newness of life moments, days, weeks even months before we were baptized.

Yes, yes, I know baptism is symbolic. It is symbolic of us dying with Christ, being buried with Christ and then being raise with Christ. But its symbolism does not suddenly mean it is not essential to our salvation. Its symbolism does not suddenly mean that it is not really, truly and emphatically the doorway into a real relationship with Christ.

Please, do not ignore this very serious part of the Roman Road to salvation. Without it, you are not on the Roman Road but some other road and I fear that road will not lead you to salvation.

Keep the faith and keep reading,
ELC

To be quite honest, I am often amazed how those who live on the spectrum of Calvinism believe Romans is their stronghold. To be sure, there are a few statements here or there when taken out of context that lend some credence to the view. But, when the whole is examined thoroughly, Romans is so thoroughly anti-Calvinism it isn’t funny. And I mean it is anti-Calvinism whether in its complete five point form or its watered down versions that try to accept bits and pieces without following the logic to all five points.

Take Romans 4:12 for example: “…to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised” (ESV).

Did you see that? Don’t skip over it just because Calvinistic teachers have observed the Passover with this verse. Did you notice Abraham is not the father of those who sit in the butt prints of faith doing nothing? No. Abraham is the father of those who walk in the footsteps of faith. If there aren’t any footsteps, there is no faith. If there is no walk, there is no faith. Saving faith is not a mental activity. It is an obedience activity.

Abraham was not counted righteous because he mentally assented to God’s ways. His faith was accounted for righteousness because his faith led him to act. If we want to be saved like Abraham, we must not make up unbiblical concepts saying we are saved by faith without its footsteps. Further, we must not try to get around it by saying our faith and footsteps were some how preordained by God. No, we must choose to believe and we must choose to walk in that belief. Only then are we Abraham’s offspring.

It is not enough just to believe the belief, we actually have to walk the footsteps of faith, just as Abraham did.

Keep the faith and keep reading,
ELC