Pushing Others Down, While Lifting Yourself Up

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“There is a mysterious evil within us, that causes us to treat people with contempt. It is a corruption we are born with, but through Jesus we can become new people.”

Contempt. In relationships with other people, it reflects how one treats another person. A customer treating the waitress that is serving him with disrespect, or a homeowner feeling the man that picks up his trash is beneath him. When we relate to others this way, we are lowering the other person, and thereby elevating ourselves above them. Such actions are a strike against the image of God they were created in, no matter who they are or what they have done.

Jesus once told a story about this, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (Luke 18:10-13)

The differences between the two men are startling. The religious man saw himself as a good person because of the good things he did. He was not like everyone else. He was better. Meanwhile, the tax collector saw himself as nothing. There was an admission of all he had done wrong. A sense that he was undeserving, so in brokenness he called out for mercy.

Our world is filled with people like the religious man. Multitudes that are filled with contempt toward others. Morally, spiritually and in other ways they feel good about themselves and are better than certain groups of people. They are superior to the neighborhood drug dealer or the local corrupt politician. They see “those type of people” as the ones who really need prayer, or the ones who really need saving. Privately they admit they have flaws and have fallen short in different ways, but counter that with their efforts at trying to be morally or spiritually good. To them, it is akin to insurance when they stand before God.

These attitudes are dangerous. They will produce a spiritual obnoxiousness that will lead to a sterile church, empty of spiritual power. It will also lead to a divided nation between those whom are good, and those whom are not good enough.

We all are sinners with evil lurking in our hearts. Regardless of our religion, political party or standing in our community. We have all done wrong. Who has never told a lie, never had a bad thought about another person or never has done something from a selfish motive? Who? God once said, “None is righteous, no, not one . . . no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:11,12)

There is a mysterious evil within us, that causes us to treat people this way. It is a corruption we are born with, no matter if we grew up in a religious home or not.

Because of this we face the judgement of God and His penalty of eternal death. But there is good news! This was the reason Jesus came from heaven to earth. He came to go to war against the evil within us by dying on a cross. There He took our place. He took our penalty. Then He rose again, securing the promise of forgiveness and a new life in Him.

Admit before God you have treated others with contempt. Admit you have tried to put others down, in order to lift yourself up. Admit this darkness inside you, then take on the humble spirit of the tax collector, and cry out to God for mercy. And because of what Jesus did on the cross for you, you can become a new man, a new woman.

A prayer for you – "Lord God, examine our heart. Point out to us if we have treated people with contempt. Let us no longer live this way, where we disgrace the image of You in others. Forgive us O, God. In Jesus’ name. Amen."

Belief In God Is More Than Words

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“There is a mysterious evil within us, that causes us to treat people with contempt. It is a corruption we are born with, but through Jesus we can become new people.”

Have you ever known someone where what they said, did not match reality? Like a person who talks about the purple heart they were awarded while they served in the military, only to find out they never were actually in the military. Or like one who shares about the college they graduated from with honors, only to learn the person never attended college.

When there is a gap between what a person says about themselves and the truth, it is a dangerous place to live. How so? Because they are living a lie.

Likewise, when someone says, “I believe in God,” “I believe in Jesus,” or “I am a Christian,” but their life shows the opposite, he also is living a lie. In some places, it is almost part of the cultural to believe this way, where nearly everyone does, from respected elected officials and local businesspeople, to inmates at the county jail and regulars at the local bar,

What do people mean by “believing?” It is an acknowledgement of their belief in the existence of Lord God. Also, their belief might mean they either ask for prayer, or pray to Him. Maybe they even go to church. Overall, in terms of their life choices, they will admit they are not perfect, but they feel their belief in God does count for something.

Let me ask, “Is there a standard for belief in God, or is it more whatever an individual feels it means to them?” Does God have something to say about this, and should it matter? Should it take precedence over what we think?

Jesus directly addressed this, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? (Luke 6:46) Put another way, “Why do you say you believe in Me, but you do not do what I tell you?” If Jesus asked you that question, what would you say? On another occasion Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word…Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.” (John 14:23-24) Jesus is saying the same thing here, but in a different way. Instead of saying “believe” He uses “love.” These statements from Jesus are summarized by God who said, “…this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me…” (Isaiah 29:13)

When we say we believe in God, it is a form of honoring Him. Notice God is more concerned about how one’s heart is toward Him, rather than what one’s lips say about Him. What demonstrates the attitude of the heart? One’s lifestyle, choices, habits. In other words, what a person does in public and private, shows the true condition of their heart toward God.

You say you believe in God, but how do you live? Do you do what He tells you?

Keep in mind the devil believes in the existence of God. The Bible says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19). But do you know what the devil does not do? Obey God. The only person he is going to obey is himself.

When you do what God commands it is a recognition of His Lordship over your life. It is a demonstration of your submission to Him. It is a true reflection of your heart toward Him.

No longer try to deceive yourself, others or God by honoring Him with your lips, while your day-to-day life is far from Him. To do so, is to live a lie. Jesus died and rose again to show He is Lord of lords and King of kings. As such, He commands everyone to turn to Him with their entire life because He has proven He is worthy of it.

A prayer for you. “Lord God, reveal if we have merely honored you with our lips, but not our lives. If we have, we confess our sin and humble ourselves under your Kingship. From this day forward we yield our lives to you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

The Righteousness of God?

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"Who can live according to God’s righteous, perfect standards and never fail? And since this brings His judgement upon us, who can escape His wrath? Only one person can live this way and that person is the world’s only hope. Jesus!"

Who is God? That is a big question. If someone were to ask you that, what would your answer be? Maybe you might say that He is love or the Creator of heaven and earth.

The Bible is known as God’s Word. It is the book He wrote to reveal Himself to us, so if anyone wants to know more about God; that is the first place to go. It contains many descriptions about Him. In 1 John 4:8 it says, “…God is love.” In Revelation 4:8 it is written, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty…” Psalm 47:7 declares, “…God is the King of all the earth…” But there is one quality of God I want to focus on. In Isaiah 45:21, God speaks of Himself this way, “And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God…” And in another place, the Bible says regarding God’s gospel, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed…” (Romans 1:17)

Righteousness is not a commonly used word in our everyday conversations. What does it mean? The root word “right,” helps with the definition. It refers to God’s rightness, perfection, guiltlessness, innocence, faultlessness and justice. Therefore, because God is righteous, He acts in righteous ways. The Bible reveals this through His commands. They lay out God’s expectations, not just for His followers, but all mankind.

Have you heard of the Sermon on the Mount? In it Jesus said, “…everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment…” (Matthew 5:22) He also spoke, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:27-28) And in another place He stated, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matt. 5:43-44)

Why is Jesus laying out these commands? In them He is revealing His own righteousness, but also stating the kind of life He expects from us. He wants us to be righteous, just as He is. Jesus is very clear about this when He says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48) This is His standard. We are to be morally perfect. Who can achieve this though? Can you? Your neighbor? Your Pastor, Rabi, Priest, or Cleric?

Why do we have to live up to this standard? We might say, “This is God’s standard, not mine. I do not have to burden myself with trying to live this way.” In response, the Bible says, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed…” (Acts 17:30-31) All of us, whether we believe in God or not, or live by His commands or not, will stand before Him at one point in the future to be judged by His righteousness. And what if we fail to live according to His ways? We will face His certain judgement and eternal death in the unquenchable flames of hell.

Where is our hope then? For who can live this way and never fail? Only one person. Jesus. He is our hope, and this is why He went to the cross. He died and rose again to become our righteousness. We can never live perfectly enough to be forgiven, but we do not have to. Why? Because Jesus already has. When a person meets the conditions of repentance and faith in Christ, then Jesus’ righteousness covers him.

A prayer for you. “Lord God, we have failed to live according to your ways. We are imperfect people. We repent, and call upon you in faith, that the righteousness of Christ would become our own, and that we would be made acceptable in your sight. In Jesus name. Amen.”

Centrality of the Cross

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“What if there never was a cross? What if Jesus never died? What if He never rose again? What would be different?”

All over the world there are signs of the cross of Christ. Churches prominently display it. Both the religious and non-religious drape it around their necks as a beautiful piece of jewelry. Homes have crosses hanging as pieces of art on their walls. May I ask, “What if there never was a cross? What if Jesus never died? What if He never rose again?” If that was the case, what would change as a result?

Let me boldly state, if there never was a cross, the world today would be completely different. There would be nothing but evil, darkness, emptiness and hopelessness in every home. Why? Because the cross of Christ is the centerpiece of our world. It is the foundational hope of all humanity. Praise God for the cross!

Peter, one of Jesus’ Apostles, gave a message at the home of Cornelius, a man who lived 70 miles outside of Jerusalem. There were several people gathered to hear what Peter had to say about Jesus’ and what was happening in Jerusalem following His death. In that brief message Peter stated the following about Christ, “They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day… (Acts 10:39-40) What was Peter communicating to his listeners? The centrality of the cross of Christ. If that one statement was removed from his talk, it would have changed everything.

What do I mean when I say, “the cross?” I am referring to the death and resurrection of Christ and the judgement and mercy of God shown through it.

Why was Peter talking about the cross, and why do people still talk about it, nearly 2,000 years after Jesus hung on a tree outside Jerusalem? Because their Lord commanded them to. It is written, “Then he [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’” (Luke 24:45-47)

Why did Jesus command the message about Him and His cross be shared with the world? Because of the implications it has for every human being.

From the earliest days of humanity, evil and lawlessness have reigned upon the earth. Amid this, was always a remnant of God-fearing men and women through the Jewish nation that worshipped and served the Lord God. This proved to be a restraint upon evil, when people were called to turn from their immoral ways and live according to the holy ways of God. When Christ died and rose again, God took what He was doing through the Jewish nation and expanded it to the whole world. As a result, this became good news for all. Salvation then became available to all humanity, regardless of gender, race, religion, or culture. And what does salvation refer to? The forgiveness of sins.

Every human being has the curse of sin within them. It is the cause of all immorality in the world. The death and resurrection of Christ means mankind can be delivered from this.

When someone engages in any form of disobedience against God, which often reveals itself in how we treat others, it exposes the sin that unknowingly is enslaving them.

The cross broke this curse! It provided a way for you to be set free. If you acknowledge your sins, turn from them and place your full faith in Christ alone, there is mercy. It waits for you at the foot of the cross. You can avoid the judgement of God, and become a new creation. Jesus has the authority and power to make this available to all who cry out to Him in faith. Come to the cross and be changed today.

A prayer for you. “Lord God, thank you for the cross. We praise you for all you have done for the whole world. We come to the cross this hour, and ask for our heart to be searched and changed by your grace. Make us new creations. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Exclusively Jesus

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“We live in an age of loud voices calling for tolerance and equality. The Jesus we celebrate at Christmas and Easter, strikes at the heart of this. What is the offense? The demands of His exclusivity.”

We live in an age of loud voices calling for tolerance and equality. The Jesus we celebrate at Christmas and Easter, strikes at the heart of this. What is the offense of Christ? The demands of His exclusivity.

Two of Jesus’ followers, Peter and John, were preaching before a large group of people following an astounding miracle. A paralyzed man was instantly healed. While they were speaking officials from the Sanhedrin came and arrested them. They sat in jail overnight before they were brought before the council to be questioned. The Sanhedrin was the highest and most powerful religious and political body in Israel. A couple months earlier they had sentenced Jesus to death.

After they were questioned about the miracle that happened, Peter gave a brief defense. Near the end of his remarks, he made this statement “…there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

These words were offensive to them. As a result, the council agreed and charged them to “…not speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:18) Why was Jesus so offensive? First, in their religion of Judaism, they were worshippers of the Lord God, who made heaven and earth. And they had their Jewish Bible, where they regularly read the writings of Moses and the prophets, which included the studying and following of the Torah. To tell the Sanhedrin that they can only find salvation in Jesus, was immensely divisive. Second, knowing what this council had done a couple months earlier, Peter confronted them. He directly addressed the evil they had done when they blatantly rejected Christ and crucified Him. Clearly, the council did not want Peter or anyone else speaking about Jesus, because of the guilt it brought on them for the evil they committed against the Son of God.

The same offenses surrounding Jesus, from centuries ago, are still offenses today. And the root of them is the exclusivity of Christ. Let me ask a question, “Can someone believe in God, but not Jesus?” That was an issue with the Jews Peter was addressing, and can still be a problem with some today. Jesus had an answer for that when He said, “I and the father are one.” (John 10:30) Jesus was communicating that because of the oneness of the Lord God and Him, the two cannot be separated. Therefore, if one truly believes in the Lord God, the evidence will also be his belief in Christ. To trust in Almighty God is to trust in Jesus.

Let me ask another question surrounding the exclusivity of Jesus, “Can a person believe in Jesus, and also other gods? That was an issue in Peter’s time, when the good news of Christ was shared among the Romans and Greeks, who had cultures filled with gods. In our day, the world is filled with multitudes of religions, and some religions themselves have numerous gods. Peter has a straight answer though when he says, “there is salvation in no one else.”

And another offense the Sanhedrin experienced, was how Jesus exposed their evil deeds. When the authentic good news of Jesus is shared, it will confront us with our own evil. It is naturally what the light of Jesus does. When a person turns to Christ, He wants them to be exclusively His. “Sin no more,” (John 8:11) Jesus once told a woman. Are you willing to trust in Jesus exclusively? What is keeping you from doing that today?

A prayer for you. “Lord God, we praise you for sending your beloved Son to die and rise again. He is worthy to be worshipped and followed with all our heart. Search us, O God, if we are trying to hold on to you and someone or something else. Right now, we give it to you. We declare our submission to you and you alone. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Freedom Through Sacrifice

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“Freedom is a gift available to every person in the world. Is not a freedom of religion or speech. It is something better than all those? It is a freedom of the soul. How can one obtain this for themselves? Through the blood of Jesus.”

Freedom. It is a gift available to every person in the world regardless of race, income, education, culture, or what type of government they live under. It is not a freedom of religion or speech. It is something better than all those? A prisoner once remarked, “I am freer in here, than I ever was out there.” What is he talking about? A freedom of the soul.

How can one obtain this for themselves? Through the blood of Jesus. Read what Matthew, one of His disciples wrote, “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” (Matthew 26:27-28)

Perhaps you have participated in a solemn act of worship in the church that goes by different names. The Lord’s Supper, The Eucharist, Communion, The Lord’s Table. It contains a significant feature: the cup. Jesus gave the meaning of it when He said, “for this is my blood of the covenant…”

Why is the blood of Jesus necessary in order to receive divine forgiveness? Because of the severity of sin. The Lord God is the Creator and Judge of all humanity and has a moral law, of which all are held to account. Have you entertained a selfish thought? Have you used God’s name as a curse word? Have you bore a grudge against someone? God tells us that if we violate just one of His many laws we are condemned to eternal death. Since all of us have, from the first man and woman until now, then all of us are under this sentence.

There is only one way humanity can be saved from this everlasting punishment. It is not by religion, trying to be morally upright or through service to others. God has declared it must come through a sacrifice. There is no other way. And not just any sacrifice. It must be a perfect one. In other words, we ourselves, are not good enough. It must be someone more holy, virtuous and honorable than you. This leaves only one man standing – Jesus.

When He left heaven and came to earth, He was on a mission. One to sacrifice Himself and pour out His blood for you and me. And His blood was not that of a mere man. Human sacrifice God forbids. Instead, as strange as it may sound, it was the blood of the Son of God. And it was not a forced sacrifice. No! It was a willing one, where He chose to lay His life down, and it came from a heart filled with love and mercy for the whole world.

Every drop of Jesus’ blood that came from the crown of thorns, the whips on His back, the blows to His head, the nails in His hands and feet and a spear in His side – every drop was a sacrifice for you. It was to spare you from the wrath of Almighty God against your disobedience. It was to cleanse you from the stain of your sin, and remove its divine penalty.

When the cup is taken in honor of the blood He shed, it is a symbolic and worshipful remembrance of His sacrifice. And the benefits of this holy work are available to all. It is both free and costly. Free, meaning you can do nothing to earn or deserve it, but it will cost something that is most valuable to you – your life.

Remember, God requires life for life. Jesus shed His blood for you, so you must lay down your life for Him. How do you do that? By turning from your sin and to Christ by faith, with all your heart. Not 10% or 50%, but 100% of your heart. Are you ready? Freedom is moments away!

A prayer for you. “Holy and Glorious God! We praise you for your most precious sacrifice – your only begotten Son. Thank you for His blood that was shed for the whole world. Today, bring people to cry out to you, to be cleansed and set free by its power. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”