Today’s reading is 2 Corinthians 4:1-5:21.

I was struck by 2 Corinthians 5:18. “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” Then 2 Corinthians 5:19 says God entrusted us with “the message of reconciliation.”

To hear some Christians today, you might get confused and think the Bible message is one of condemnation. But that wasn’t Paul’s focus. Paul’s focus was reconciliation. Certainly, the scripture condemns sin and says those who remain impenitently in sin will be condemned, but the message of the Gospel is not about all the sins for which we’ll be condemned. Rather, it is the message of Jesus through whom we can find forgiveness, reconciliation and the strength to overcome our sins.

I want to focus on that today. The message of the Old Covenant was condemnation. The Old Testament condemned everyone under sin (Galatians 3:22). Our message is that of reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. The fact is most of us know we stand condemned. We need to hear how we can be reconciled.

Jesus is the way for that.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Revelation 13:1-14:20.

Perhaps because of my Granddad’s recent death, I’m struck by Revelation 14:13. “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’”

For God’s child, meeting death is not frightening as it seems to most. Death is not a mystery. It is a door into eternity with the God we’ve been glorifying in our lives. It is the opportunity to be able to fully accomplish what we’ve been desperately striving to do in this life. We will be taken to paradise and then on to heaven at the judgment. In those arenas, we will gather around the throne of God and glorify Him with our incorruptible bodies, our new voices, and our perfect unity. 

I also can’t help but notice it says then we’ll rest from our labors. That means it is not time to rest from my labor today. Today, while I still have breath, I need to labor for the Lord. A rest is coming. It will be a glorious rest. But to prepare for that rest I need to labor now.

Let’s get to work for the Lord today.

***Question: What do you do to labor for the Lord each day?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is 2 Peter 2:1-3:18.

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-9).

What a comfort. I don’t know how many times I have been asked by people, “What if I’m, like you know, driving in my car and someone pulls in front of me and I yell some cuss word and give the guy the bird right as I get in a car wreck and I didn’t have time to repent? What then? Will I go to heaven or hell?”

First and foremost, I have to say that I’m not God to decree what judgment you will actually receive. However, more importantly, I wonder what kind of God you think we actually serve? Do you truly think we serve the kind of God who is going to take an otherwise faithful servant and kill him/her the moment they have slip just so He can cast their soul into hell? Do you think we serve a God who is waiting for opportunities to squash us like bugs and then watch us burn for eternity? Really? That’s the God you serve?

I don’t serve that God. My God is a patient God. The God I love is a God who wants everyone to come to repentance. He is patient with each and every one of us. That tells me something about Him. I can trust Him to do what is right with me. I can trust Him to do what is merciful with me. I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. For all I know, I may die in a car wreck in which I slipped with my mind and my tongue. Here is what I’m confident about. If I am judged to spend eternity in hell, it is not going to be because I committed one sin right before I died without having time to repent. Further, if, as some believe and teach, it is true that the one slip would make me guilty of hell, then I know my God will give me time to repent. 

That is comforting to me. I don’t have to dream up crazy scenarios to test God’s grace or to increase anyone’s fear for eternity. We serve a God who wants us with Him forever. We serve a God who wants to bestow grace upon us. We serve a God who wants to welcome us into His heavenly home. He’s not waiting to punish us forever. We can trust in Him and His grace.

So, why not take the patience God has extended to us today and use it to turn from whatever is still enslaving us in sin. Turn your life over to God today in every way. 

***Question: What other aspects of God’s nature provide you with comfort in Him?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Acts 5:1-6:15.

To me, Acts 5 contains one of the most shocking stories of the entire New Testament. Ananias and Sapphira lied about the price of their property when they laid the money at the apostles’ feet. With very little time to repent, God took extreme measures and killed the couple. Admittedly, that seems a little harsh to us. Death for lying? When some read this today, they believe God is immoral, hateful, cruel. That is sad, because they are missing the point.

The story is not to teach us that our God is an immoral killer. The story is to teach us exactly how bad sin is. Ezekiel 18:20 had said, “The soul who sins shall die.” Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” 

Here, at the beginning of the new covenant, God gave a great demonstration. Our sins are not light matters. Our sins make us worthy of death. God, as judge of the universe, has every right to meet out that judgment immediately. The fact is with every lie we’ve told, we deserved death from God for sinning against Him. When we think that is harsh, that doesn’t mean we are more enlightened than God; it means we lack the understanding of how tragic every sin really is. Have you ever lied? Then you need a Savior.

What is truly amazing is not that God struck down Ananias and Sapphira immediately. Rather, it is amazing that the pages of Scripture are not covered with the blood of sinners. It is amazing that you and I are still standing, having been given time to repent and receive the free gift of God which is eternal life (Romans 6:23). The pages of the New Testament are not covered with the blood of sinners because they are covered with the blood of Jesus who died so we don’t have to. Praise God!

***Question: What are some other shocking things you find in Scripture and what do you learn from them?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Matthew 23:1-24:51.

Left Behind and other books have had such success, many people can’t read Matthew 24:36-41 without seeing the Rapture. When I say “Rapture,” I am not using it as a synonym for Christ’s second coming. I am not referring simply to the time when the saved go to be with Jesus. I believe Jesus is coming again. I believe the saved will be taken to be with Him forever. When I say “Rapture,” I’m referring to the premillennial doctrine that claims a day is coming when all the saved will be taken off the earth and the lost will be “left behind” on earth to endure a period of tribulation. As far as I can see, there is actually no biblical support for the idea that when Jesus returns and takes the saved to be with Him forever that He’ll leave anyone behind on earth to endure tribulation or receive another chance to be saved. Matthew 24:36-41 is no exception.

First, note to what this judgment is compared in Matthew 24:38-39. The judgment described in this chapter is compared to the days of Noah. Did you happen to notice who was taken in that judgment? Not the saved. The saved were left behind. The worldly and unrighteous were the ones that were taken. This is a picture of judgment on the lost, not a picture of removing the saved.

Second, trying to think like a first century reader who was well aware of what national and city sieges were like, we get a completely different picture. The taken and left behind don’t refer to the wicked taken and the righteous left behind or vice versa. It actually presents a great picture of a raiding horde as it approaches a city. When they drive their force through the field, hacking and chopping at all in their path, one will be killed, another will be missed. As they pillage the mills, one woman may be grabbed and hauled off for the soldiers pleasure while another is simply left behind. That is exactly the way a raiding Roman horde would have acted. Jesus is saying, if you stay in Jerusalem, you may get lucky. But then again, maybe not. One will be killed or captured and another won’t. It will be the luck of the draw.

Third, look at the greater context. Back in Matthew 24:15-21 a picture completely different from the Rapture is given. When all these events occur, Jesus tells His followers to flee immediately. If they are on the housetop, they shouldn’t even go back into the house to pack. They should rather run from housetop to housetop out of the city. If they are in the field, they should not go back to get their cloak. They should just run. Those who are in Judea should flee to the mountains. Jesus said it will be a bad day for pregnant and nursing mothers in that day. Why? Because it will be hard for them to flee quickly. Then He says pray that it won’t be in the winter or on the Sabbath. Why? Once again, it will be hard to flee at those times. Please be honest with this passage, Jesus is not giving instructions to folks who won’t believe Him and get left behind. He is giving instructions to His followers about what to do when this day comes.

Think about the picture here? Does this sound like an instantaneous moment in which the saved are just taken? No, it sounds like something occurring for which the saved need to pay attention because they will be able to flee and avoid it. But if they want to escape, they have to act quickly. They have to get on the ball. Let me ask, if the Rapture scenario is what is being presented, why would it matter if it happened on a Saturday or in the winter? Why would it matter if the person was pregnant or nursing? None of this would matter because the Rapture scenario does not present a need to flee. It will just happen and the saints will be gone, whether it is winter, Sabbath, or any day, whether the person is pregnant, nursing, old, young. 

The picture here is not Rapture. It is national judgment on Judea. In AD 70, the Romans attacked Jerusalem with finality, destroying it and the temple. As they approached and raided the city many were killed, some few by luck of the draw survived. However, the Christians who remembered the message of Jesus, saw the Roman “eagles” coming (cf. Matthew 24:28), they got out of dodge. They fled, just like Jesus had said. They were saved from the tribulation during the time of this destruction. They were saved from God’s wrath then.

I’m sorry, I don’t care how you cut it, you just can’t get Rapture from Matthew 24.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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

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

Sorry about the end of last week. I had several computer and server problems Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I had scheduled the entries for my other site ahead of time, but not this one. Anyway, we’ll get back on track today. Thanks for your patience.

II Corinthians 2:4 struck me today. Paul wrote: “For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was somewhat harsh. He rebuked them for several issues, not the least of which was the impenitent sinner they needed to discipline. That sinner repented and now Paul is going to advise the Corinthians to love and comfort him.

However, before getting to that, he talks about his mindset. Every Christian has seen times when someone needed rebuking. But that puts us in a very awkward position. First, who are we to rebuke anyone when we have committed so many grievous sins ourselves? Second, and more to Paul’s point here, how can we rebuke someone and let them know we are doing so out of love? 

This was Paul’s point in the verse. He had not written as an apostle from on high who was living perfectly and bringing judgment down upon those unworthy Corinthians Christians. He had written as a fellow traveller who saw the terrible end the Corinthians were making for themselves and wanted to help. He did not write with vengeful glee, laughing as he scribbled out the words. Rather, he wrote with tears, affliction, and anguish. He wasn’t trying to hurt the Corinthians; he was trying to help.

There are certainly times when we need to rebuke others. When we do, we need to check our motives. For what purpose am I rebuking this person. Is it to show myself as righteous? Is it to put them in their place? Is it to pronounce judgment? Or is to humbly help them surrender to the Lord? In order to check this motive, I need to check how I feel about their sin. Am I silently glad because it reminds me I’m better than them? Am I silently arrogant because at least I have done what they did (at least not for a while)? Am I internally happy for this opportunity to show my own spirituality? Or am I afflicted and in anguish because of where their sin is leading them? Am I humble because I remember my own sins and what they’ve done to me?

I once heard the story of a preacher who for years had preached sermons directly intended for the husband of one faithful sister. The husband attended regularly and regularly received a spiritual diet of sermons designed to get him to repent and serve the Lord. But nothing phased him. Nothing changed him. Then one Sunday a guest speaker presented a lesson and the husband came forward in tears wanting to submit to the Lord in baptism. The local preacher was amazed. He couldn’t believe it. He asked the man why he hadn’t budged for so many years despite hearing so many lessons, but on that day he finally did. The man responded, “Preacher, I don’t want to hurt your feelings. But, I’ll tell you. For years you have told me in your sermons that I was going to hell. You always sounded like you were happy about that. That made me feel like God was happy about it too. Today, this fellow told me I was going to hell and it sounded like it broke his heart. He let me believe that if I went to hell it would break God’s heart too. That broke my heart.”

I have to ask myself, when someone needs rebuking how do I sound when I talk to them?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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

Today’s reading is I Corinthians 4:1-5:13.

I didn’t get far in today’s reading before I received my V8 moment. I Corinthians 4:3 says, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.”

I spend far too much time worried what others think about me. I want them to think I’m cool. I want them to think I’m smart. I want them to think I’m right. I want to make sure they all know I’m part of the in-crowd (no comments from the peanut gallery on that one, Terry Francis). 

With that going on inside my head, I make some serious blunders.

1. I stifle what I’m really like and don’t let folks get to know the real me. I’m just too afraid they won’t like me. 
2. I rarely confess my struggles because then others will know I’m weak. So I miss out on their help and strength.
3. When I make a public mistake, I obsess for hours and days, lying awake at night wondering what people think of me now.
4. I put myself forward too much as the one in the know. If they would just listen to me, they would be alright.
5. I fear letting others know what I think about something, especially some biblical issue and especially if it is different from the norm because I don’t want them to think I’m a heretic.

I’m sure I could continue the list. However, you get the point. My problem is all too often for me it is a huge thing to be judged by people. It occupies too much space in my mind and never even pays me any rent. I understand the need to be a good example and not cast out stumbling blocks before others, but in the context of what I’m talking about here, I recently heard a great mantra I’m trying to remember.

“It’s really none of my business what everyone else thinks of me.” 

I just need to do what I believe is the next right thing. I just need to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness the best way I know how based on my study of God’s word. If you don’t like it, good. If you do, good. Really, it’s none of my business what you think of me. What you think of me and judge about me should be a very small thing.

I need to work on that.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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

“For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (Romans 2:13, ESV).

I recognize Paul is discoursing about the Old Law, but the principle applies across the board. In the context, he was saying that just because the Jews had heard the Law each Sabbath didn’t mean they were right with God. They actually had to obey it.

However, as we consider how the principle in this text applies to us right now in 2008, we need to understand that just listening to someone preach, even if they are preaching the truth, doesn’t cut the mustard. We actually have to live this stuff.

I’ve seen two kinds of people violate this principle in my years of preaching. There are those who love to come hear about God’s grace. They love to come hear that God loves them and Jesus died for them. They love to confess how awful and rotten they are and then rely on the blood of Jesus to simply cleanse them because salvation is by grace alone. But they missed the boat. It is not merely hearers of God’s word that have life, it is the doers.

But there is another kind of listener who violates this principle. This guy is at the opposite end of the spectrum. He doesn’t like to hear about God’s grace. He likes to hear hellfire and brimstone. He likes to hear about how bad he is. He likes to have mounds of guilt thrown on top of him. He likes to be beaten up with Bible. He thumps the preacher on the back and says, “You stomped all over my toes, Preacher.” Somehow, because he hears these hard messages all the time and agrees with them, he thinks it is okay if he doesn’t actually do what they say. As if it were some kind of baptism by fire, he loves to listen to hard preaching, he just won’t live it. He has also missed the boat. It is not merely the hearers of God’s word preached hard that have life, it is the doers.

James commented on this as well. I will end with his words.

“Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:23-25, ESV).

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC