Category Archives: Christian Living

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To Believe Is to See

Credo Ut Intelligam

Getting Closer to Jesus: “Sir,” replied the official, “come with me before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live!” The man believed Jesus’ words and went.

In essence, what this father in John’s story (John 4:43-54) said was, “I’ll see it when I believe it!” And that, my friend, is at the core of outstanding faith. Let me explain:

While we live in a time and in a culture where the scientific method has become man’s guiding theology, it is God who has set the rules for knowing and experiencing him. And he has declared that the avenue to knowledge and experience is by way of faith.

This is an infinitely critical point in light of the fact that modern man has elevated the empirical over revelation as the way to enlightenment. Obviously, a world that is determined to put faith only in that which can be demonstrated by data, where man’s reason is king and metaphysical faith is optional, is in direct conflict with God’s world.

But for the Christian, everything starts with God. Sensory data—what a person can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste—is not a bad thing; don’t misunderstand. In my humble opinion, scientific provability is God-given, and since God created it, we would do well to exercise it. It is not antithetical to faith—necessarily—but while physical proof can lead to knowledge or an acknowledgment of God, only revelation can lead to a knowledge of who God truly is—the God of the Scriptures who has revealed himself through Jesus Christ, and who, according to his own sovereign plan, at times breaks into our lives with his power.

Revelation is based on something other, something more. Revelation is based on the truth that God took the initiative to make himself knowable, that he has revealed himself—both spiritually and physically—to us through his Word and by his Son. Now the empirical and the revealed will not contradict each other, because both are from God. But what we see and what we can prove alone will not suffice.

In the eleventh century, St. Anselm argued that faith is the precondition of knowledge: “I believe in order that I may understand” (credo ut intelligam). In other words, knowledge and experience cannot lead to faith. It might get you close, but it won’t get you there. Faith is a gift from God, and when faith is experienced, true knowledge and experience flows.

What Anselm said was eloquently stated long before in the fourth century by another pillar of the Christian faith, St. Augustine. Augustine taught that, “faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.” In God’s world, we are to express faith in God first; then knowledge of God and experience with God will follow.

In the story we read about in John 4, this is exactly what is going on with the government official from Capernaum. Jesus has just made the frustrating observation that people will only believe when they see his miracles and wonders (John 4:48). And even then, it is very likely that their “belief” will only be temporary; only good until the next miracle is needed. But then this father, desperate for his deathly sick son to be healed, offers a different response to Jesus: He is willing to believe in order that he might see.

So what does that have to do with what you are facing in your life today? Plenty! God is discernable and knowable through the exercise of your faith. Perhaps you don’t see evidence of that right at this moment, but let me challenge you to believe what you don’t see, exercising faith in a loving God, and the reward will be that you will see, sooner or later, what you believe.

It takes faith—but that has been proven over the millennia! Just ask the father whose son was healed in John 4.

Take the Next Step Perhaps you have been depending on your sight more than your faith these days. If so, here is a prayer you might consider offering to God: “Gracious Father, I believe. Help any unbelief I may have. I don’t see everything I’d like to see, but I believe. And while I pray that you would reveal yourself in my life today in tangible ways, I also pray that I would trust your love, your care, and your promised favor even if the tangible doesn’t appear. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, the revealed Word, I pray. Amen.”

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How We Kill Our Christian Witness

Trigger Warning: This May Infuriate You

Getting Closer to Jesus: Unfortunately, for too many Christians, John 3:17 gets lost in the shadows of the verse that immediately precedes it—John 3:16. Who doesn’t love that verse? It is the heart of God—his sacrificial love for a sinful world. It is the Bible summed up in one short verse. It is the simplest yet most powerful collection of words the world has ever heard. The truth that Jesus declares in John 3:16 is the only hope for the world.

But Jesus’ followers often miss what follows: he didn’t come to force his gracious offer of eternal life down the throats of those who resisted. His plan wasn’t to set up a spiritual police state to enforce adherence to his sacrificial love. He wasn’t even going to publicly condemn those who foolishly, perhaps even violently, rejected the divine plan to eternal life.

So why do so many believers have an insatiable need to condemn the unbelieving world? If condemnation were what sinners needed, Jesus would have done that. Rather, Jesus understood that their very resistance to his grace and rejection of his atonement was all the condemnation that was needed. The unbelieving world already stood condemned. Why condemn what was already condemned?

Contrary to Jesus’ approach, condemnation seems too often to be our leading evangelistic strategy. But when believers, churches, and spiritual leaders take to their social media outlets to decry the current crisis of morality in America, or lash out on the airwaves about the obvious failures of our out-of-control government, or write in their blogs about the evils of gay marriage or the horror of late-term abortion or the ills of our increasingly secular culture, we are well on our way to destroying whatever Christian witness we might have once been able to exert. Does that mean I am in favor of those things or believe that we should never speak out about sin or injustice in the world? Not at all!

It’s just sadly interesting to me that we tend to pass too quickly over the greatest truth in the Bible, John 3:16, and go right for the jugular vein in condemning what already stands condemned when Jesus himself, the one we represent, didn’t even do that. Christian pollster George Barna recently summarized some research on the church’s perception in the world by stating, “The Christian community is not known for love.” If Jesus was known for loving the world so much that he gave his life to redeem it, why should that be any less true of his followers? He concludes that this perception renders ineffective most of our evangelistic efforts. Our condemning voice overshadows our loving heart.

So, what should be our response to all these ills in the world that need to be set right? Are we to just idly stand by, do nothing, and say nothing? No—we would be derelict in our discipleship to take that approach.

We would, however, be far more effective in reaching and redeeming the world if we would do what Jesus did. The best evangelism remains that by our love—for the Lord, for each other, and for the lost—that an unbelieving world will be attracted to our Savior. Like Jesus, when we demonstrate selfless, stubborn, sacrificial love, we will have the undeniable effect that Jesus had: the world will be both repulsed yet attracted by God’s irresistible love in us.

That is the strange thing about God’s love: while every human being fundamentally craves it because of sin, many foolishly, sadly reject it. Those who do stand condemned already. Yet the fact remains, whether our witness is embraced or repulsed, we have an undeniable impact in forgoing condemnation and letting love speak for itself. The Apostle Peter said,

You’ve been chosen…to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his light …[So] live such good lives among unbelievers that even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us…Always be ready [to share your faith], but do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 2:9 & 12, 3:16)

I watch too many believers who are anything but that as they engage in politics, cultural issues, or theological debates. It seems that some Christians are more passionate about their point of view than pointing people to Jesus. We would win more debates, elections, and souls, too, if we’d learn to offer our opinions with more love and less condemnation.

The word “evangelism” is from a compound Greek word, “eu,” meaning “good” (euphoria) and “aggelos” meaning “messenger” (angel.) So euaggelos is simply “a good messenger.” Our task is just translating the Good News by our selfless, sacrificial lives in a way that reconnects lost people with a loving God.

Bottom line: Jesus didn’t condemn; he just fiercely, stubbornly, unconditionally loved. We should go and do likewise.

Take the Next Step: Your assignment this week will be to light a candle instead of cursing darkness when you come across the temptation to condemn. And believe me, you will face such a temptation.

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Rebirth Is Required

You Must Be Born Again!

Getting Closer to Jesus: Nicodemus was a very bright man. He had given himself to much study and he had grown quite famous as a teacher in Israel, but he had little wisdom as to how to be in right standing with God. He knew a lot about God, but he didn’t know God.

Nicodemus was rich. Tradition tells us that he was one of the three richest men in Jerusalem. But how much a person has does not change who they are! You can have plenty of money, a lot of fame, and an enviable place in life, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are still a sinner in need of a Savior!

Not only was he rich, but Nicodemus was also respected. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the prestigious ruling spiritual body of Israel. He was a rabbi. Jesus refers to him in verse 10 as “Israel’s teacher,” which suggests that he had attained celebrity as a master communicator. However, what you have achieved doesn’t change who you are before God. The truth is, hell will be populated with many admired people, because admiration, though not necessarily a bad thing, does not equal salvation!

Nicodemus was rich, respectable, and he was religious. He was a Pharisee! He kept the Mosaic Law down to its minutiae. He was morally pure to a degree that you and I can’t imagine! But religion doesn’t redeem the heart; religious ritual is not the same as right relationship with God. Titus 3:5 reminds us, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.”

Nicodemus was a person who did all the right spiritual things, spoke the right spiritual language, and gained everyone’s spiritual admiration, but he was still empty on the inside because he was still spiritually lost! That’s why Jesus said, “Nicodemus, you must be born again.” He is simply saying that human beings must have two birthdays to get to heaven. We must have a physical birthday, and we must have a spiritual birthday.

Jesus uses the picture of physical birth to point out the need for spiritual birth because of the obvious comparisons. To begin with, physical birth provides life. All babies have life because they are born! Likewise, spiritual life cannot begin until spiritual birth occurs. Not only that, but physical birth also means a brand-new start. No baby is born with a past! They only have a future! So it is with the spiritual birth. When you get saved, you get a brand new start. Your past is wiped away and the future begins! That’s why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Most profoundly, physical birth takes place because of the suffering of another. A mother literally, through the pain of childbirth, comes close to death to bring life into this world. Jesus didn’t come close to death—he experienced death so that you and I might be born again. Spiritual birth rests squarely on not only the pain and suffering of another but also on the passion and love of another!

So, what does this mean? It means that salvation requires a new beginning. Not just a reformation of your flesh, but a rebirth from death to life. It means that someone else had to die so that you could be reborn. That is why you can’t do it on your own. It only comes through depending on the complete and adequate supply of God’s saving love through Christ’s passionate suffering for your eternal salvation. It means because of Christ’s adequacy, you can have a brand new beginning and an unending future with God.

As Jesus said to Nicodemus, he would say to you: “You must be born again!” Have you?

Take the Next Step: Although spiritual rebirth still might seem mysterious and inexplicable to you, it is clear from Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus that all human beings must be “born again” if they are to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That includes you. The question of all questions is, “Have you?” If you haven’t, consider offering this heartfelt prayer of surrender: “Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. Please forgive me. I repent of my sins and turn to you. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the tomb to give me eternal life. Come into my life and be my Savior and Lord. And with your help, from this day forward, I will live for you.”

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Believe!

Christianity Boils Down To Belief

Getting Closer to Jesus: If you were a spiritual seeker exploring what the Christian faith was all about, and John’s Gospel was your only source, it wouldn’t take you very long to discover the key component of Christianity. It can be boiled down to just one word—a very simple word that is repeated throughout the book; a single, simple word, yet a word that carries with it the most profound implications. That word is “believe.”

That is Christianity at its purest and simplest: To believe in Jesus Christ.

Now, this is the belief that is more than a mere intellectual acknowledgment of the historical Jesus. It is more than just acknowledging that he was a good man, a wonderful religious leader, or even saying that he was God come in the flesh.

Rather, the kind of belief John is describing—the kind that brings us into an experience of the abundant life of God now and eternal life after we die, is to believe that Jesus Christ is both Savior and Lord. It is to be fully persuaded of whom Jesus is and convinced that what Jesus said is true. It is to have complete confidence that the claims and demands Jesus made are credible beyond any shadow of a doubt. It is the kind of belief that entrusts one’s life and stakes one’s eternity upon the veracity of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It is to be so radically won over that all of a person’s life will be placed under the guidance, pleasure, and worship of Jesus.

In the twenty-one chapters of John’s Gospel, all but three use the word “believe” to describe either people’s response to Jesus or Jesus’s call to those who would be his followers.

In John 1:7 John the Baptist is introduced as the one whose entire purpose is to prepare people to believe in Jesus, the coming Messiah.

In John 1:12, the Apostle John explains of Jesus, “All who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to become the children of God.”

In John 3:14-18, which includes the most famous verse in the entire Bible—the Bible summed up in just one verse—John 3:16, we learn that Jesus will ultimately die on the cross so that people might believe and thereby live forever: “The Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him,” Jesus said. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Now in this present chapter, John 2:11 tells us that after Jesus performed his first miracle, his disciples believed in him. Toward the end of the chapter, the Jewish leaders ask Jesus for a miraculous sign to prove his authority for driving the merchants from the temple. Jesus only offers them the sign that will come after they destroy the temple, which he will raise up in three days (a veiled reference to his own death and resurrection). Speaking of that in John 2:22, the Apostle John writes, “After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled that he had said this, then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”

When you get to the end of the Gospel, John reveals to the readers of his Gospel account why he has recorded the stories and teachings of Jesus:

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)

Believe! That is Christianity pure and simple. And as you read the Gospel of John nearly 2,000 years after John wrote it as an eyewitness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, that same purpose is still in effect: That you might believe—place totally, radical, life-altering trust—in Jesus Christ as both Savior and Lord!

Missionary David Seamands told the story of a Muslim man who became a Christ-follower. His friends ask the man, “Why have you become a Christian?” He answered, “It’s like this: Suppose you were going down a road that suddenly forked in two directions and you didn’t know which way to go. At the fork were two men, one dead, one alive. Who of those two would you ask which way to go?”

Friend, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the proof! Do you believe?

That is the most important question you will ever be asked.

Take the Next Step: As you read through the Gospel of John, underline any place where you see the words “believe” or belief” as it relates to either people’s response to Jesus or Jesus’s call to those who would be his followers. And above all, ask that God would deepen your own belief as you absorb the Good News of Jesus Christ.

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Access Denied

Never Stand In the Way of People Finding Your Heavenly Father

Getting Closer to Jesus: I have always enjoyed this story of Jesus cleansing the temple. I love the robust image it paints of him. It stands in stark contrast to most of the historical paintings as well as the more recent images we get from the portrayal of Jesus by filmmakers. For some reason, artists from the Renaissance on up to this very day have given us a soft, tender, doe-eyed, almost porcelain-like Jesus—a kinder, gentler Jesus, if you will.

That is not the Jesus of John 2:13-17,

To those who had, in effect, turned God’s holy temple into a one-stop shop place of commerce, he said, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!” (John 2:16, The Message)

Jesus doesn’t appear all that soft in this encounter, does he? As a matter of fact, he opened up a can of comeuppance on these greedy merchants of religion, and no one dared stop him. Go down to your local Saturday Market and do that and see what happens. People typically don’t take too kindly to their economic system so abruptly and ingloriously disrupted.

Jesus was different. He was right—and people knew it. His anger was one of righteous indignation and holy zeal for the House of the Lord. So why was he so angry? Was it simply because these merchants had ruined Jesus’ preferred way of experiencing worship at the temple? I don’t think that was really it.

No, Jesus was upset because, at the end of the day, enabled by a religious system that had grown corrupt and with the full support of a self-serving priesthood, these merchants had made it more difficult for worshipers to come and freely experience the love, acceptance, and forgiveness of their Heavenly Father. The drift in temple worship had been to restrict access of people seeking God, whereas everything Jesus stood for and did—his miracles, his teaching, and ultimately his death—was to open up a “new and living way” into the very throne room of God (see Hebrews 10:19-25). If you want to get Jesus mad, just make it hard for people to find his Father.

In this case, a house cleaning of the strongest order was long overdue, and if the worshippers present that day didn’t overtly cheer him on, my sense is they were applauding on the inside.

Now as much as we enjoy this story, it really is incomplete if we don’t fast-forward to our time and ask how Jesus would respond if he walked into our church today. How much more zeal would Jesus have for his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit—that is, the church? How much more holy fire and righteous indignation would he display for that which he suffered and died to purify and redeem? How much more upset would he be that the new community of grace—the New Testament church—had denied access to seekers by the very activities, programs, and systems it claims will attract them?

In the new economy of the Kingdom of God, the church has replaced the temple as the dwelling place of God on earth. Of course, that refers more to a people than a place—and yet both are the church. What would Jesus see in your church—in you, in your brothers and sisters in the local community of Christ, and in the activities that take place in your church building?

I have a sense that each—both people of worship and places of worship—is due for a little divine house cleaning. How about we get started before the Lord of the church is forced to show up and do it for us? And if nothing else, let’s eliminate anything that in effect, communicates “access denied” to people desperately needing to experience the presence of God.

Take the Next Step: Is there zeal—a fire in your bones—for God’s house? If not, rethink your attitude and repurpose your energies toward the place where you worship. And not only the physical house in which God’s people gather, but also in the spiritual house made up of his redeemed children—the Body of Christ. Examine your attitudes toward the worldwide church of Christ. And one more thing: How about your physical body? God’s Spirit dwells there, too. Is the way you treat it God-honoring? Change the way you treat God’s house so that it will be said of you, “zeal for your house consumes me.

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Under The Radar Miracles

Let the Miracles Do the Talking

Getting Closer to Jesus: It was his first recorded miracle—and even then, Jesus was reluctant to perform it. It was not yet time to launch his public ministry as Messiah of Israel, but he was at a wedding with his family and the wine was running low. The event planner was in a panic, so Jesus’ mother said, “No worries, my son will take care of it.” Thanks, Mom! So, Jesus turned water to be used for ceremonial cleansing that was being stored in several thirty-gallon jars nearby into the best wine the world has ever tasted, before and since.

Of the many things that could be discussed from this water-into-wine miracle, one of the facets that stands out the most to me is how understated Jesus was in performing this miracle. When the great-tasting wine was discovered, neither the master of ceremonies nor the happy partygoers knew where it came from. Only those who brought the water jugs to Jesus knew that he had transformed the liquid. And Jesus wanted it that way.

In fact, that seemed to be the way Jesus performed most of his miracles. He never made a big deal out of them, other than to draw praise to his Father. He never made a spectacle of his divine powers. He never showcased the recipient of a miracle like a zoo exhibit. Jesus’ miracles, you might say, were under the radar.

Yet there is no way to keep an authentic miracle under wraps—not for very long anyway. Sooner or later, the power of God breaks containment, and word gets out. Maybe that is why Jesus handled miracles the way he did—he let the miracles do the talking.

Unfortunately, too many spiritual leaders today who have been used in the miraculous don’t follow Jesus’ lead. The bigger the miracle, the quicker the press conference, the book deal, or the fund-raising letter! Now, to be fair, if I turned water into wine, raised someone from the dead, or performed some other sensational miracle, I’m afraid I, too, would head right to the local Christian network to tout what God had done through me. That is too bad! God doesn’t get all the glory when we grab some of it for ourselves.

Maybe we would see more supernatural displays of God’s power in our culture if we would commit to allowing the miracles to speak for themselves—and to fiercely make sure that all the glory goes to God when he graces us with one.

Take the Next Step: In his book, The Way of the Heart, Henri Nouwen wrote, “To live and work for the glory of God cannot remain an idea about which we think once in a while. It must become an interior, unceasing doxology.” Spend some time today—and make it a practice every day—thinking of how to give God glory through your life. Do that and your life will be an amazing doxology of praise!

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Exerting Eternal Influence

Just Be Faithful and Available to God

Getting Closer to Jesus: I would argue that Andrew is one of the most inspiring and important figures in the New Testament because of his simple, non-threatening, doable example of bringing lost people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The cumulative effect, compounded through history, of his simple but winsome witness ranks him among the greatest in terms of exerting eternal influence.

Andrew didn’t have any special skills or advanced evangelism training; he just simply brought people to meet Jesus and then let Jesus do the rest.

Even though Andrew was the first disciple Jesus enlisted, and even though he was the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, he never achieved the fame that his brother Peter did. Jesus never included Andrew in his inner circle, like Peter. Andrew wasn’t there at the Transfiguration, like Peter. Andrew wasn’t there when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, like Peter. Andrew never preached like Peter, never wrote a letter that got included in the New Testament, like Peter, and was never recognized as a key leader in the early church, like Peter.

Peter’s name appears close to 200 times in the New Testament, 96 times in the four gospels—only Jesus is mentioned more often. We find Andrew in only 11 different places, 10 of them in the Gospels—mostly in a list of the disciples, and 5 of those were as “Peter’s brother.” Only 3 times do these passages tell us any details about Andrew—and even that is minimal. Someone once asked a conductor what the most difficult instrument to play in the orchestra was. He said, “second fiddle.” That was Andrew!

Yet beneath everybody’s radar, Andrew was being used in the most powerful way of all—to bring people to Christ. Andrew not only brought Peter to Jesus, but in John 6:8, we find it was Andrew who brought the boy with the loaves and fish to Jesus, and then one of the outstanding miracles of the Bible took place: The feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. On account of Andrew, we have a story preserved that has helped millions to understand that Jesus is the true and only Bread of Life. Then, in John 12:20, some Greeks came to Philip and said, “We want to see Jesus.” Philip took them to Andrew, and what did Andrew do? He hooked them up with Jesus.

Andrew became both the first home missionary—when he led Peter to Christ and the first foreign missionary—when he led these Gentiles to Jesus.

In Andrew, you don’t find any special skills, or an incredibly charismatic personality, or an extremely articulate speaker. You just found a guy who is faithful, available, and useful. He just kept bringing everybody who got near him to Jesus.

 

Tradition tells us that Andrew just kept on introducing people to Jesus for the rest of his life. He was finally put to death at a ripe old age in Greece. His death came after he befriended Maximilla, the wife of the Roman proconsul Aegeas, and led her to faith in Christ. Aegeas became so enraged over this that he ordered Andrew to offer sacrifices to a heathen god. When Andrew refused, he was severely beaten, tied to a cross, and crucified. That cross, shaped like an X is today called St. Andrew’s cross. It is said that he lingered for two whole days before dying, but the whole painful time, he preached the Gospel to everyone who came by. Andrew never stopped introducing people to Jesus, even to his last breath.

Every time Andrew is mentioned, he’s bringing someone to Jesus—then Jesus does the rest, and lives get transformed. His single talent seems to have been leveraging his earthly relationships to introduce seekers to eternal life through Christ. He doesn’t lay the “Four Spiritual Laws” on people; he doesn’t whip out a “Roman Road” tract on them. He just says, “Hey, come with me; I’ve got someone I want you to meet.”

That’s exerting eternal influence, which is as simple as inviting family, friends, and acquaintances into your spiritual environment—your church, your small group, your ministry team—and letting God do the rest.

Take the Next Step: Following Andrew’s example, exert some eternal influence this week by bringing someone to church with you.