Tables Added to the Blog...!

Here's a new bit of formatting that promises to make this blog even better. Things that are directly related to the blog topic will go over here.	With notes and other things in the middle.	Over here can go unrelated comments and thoughts.

Why didnt I think of this sooner???

Power and Offence

Paul gloried in the Cross, not the Resurrection. He talked about the offence of the Cross, not of the risen Christ. Of course, it is understood that there could be no Resurrection without the Cross. But what is the offence of the Cross?

A Barnes Explanation-In-A-Nutshell is the it erased any ability of man to paticipate in his own redemption. In fact, it amplified humanity's lack of spiritual perception and inability to live in the Spirit.

Point: God came to earth as an act of grace, taught His ways to those who would listen, placed Himself into the hands of the people He had created and let events proceed. Those people did not perceive the truth and became jealous. They falsely accused, tried and convicted Him of crimes against Himself and killed Him.

The Cross simultaneously convicted humanity and redeemed it. Those who reject its power are immeasureably offended by this truth. To them, it is foolishness or blasphemy. Paul's glory in the Cross came as a result of the revelation of these things.

Remember that Paul was a systematic mass murderer before he met Jesus. We only fall short of calling him genocidal because most of the people he killed were of his own people. He was intent on wiping the name of Jesus from history and squelching His teachings. No number has ever been recorded regarding how many lives he was responsible for ending. What we know is that his heart was different after Damascus Road. He realized his sin and let it go under the blood of Christ. Is it any wonder that he would glory in the Cross? Where else could all those murders be erased?

Dont you mean covered? No. I mean  E-R-A-S-E-D !

THAT  is the power and the offence of the Cross of Christ.

Turning

Galatians 1:6 - Paul was amazed that these believers were turning away from the truth of Christ. Since that time, we have learned not to be amazed. In this New Millennium, we are more amazed when they dont. Why is that?

I think it's that Paul worked hard to instill the basics of Christianity deep into the collective conciousness of the 1st Century believers. Years were spent teaching and living an example before them. When Paul moved on, he was confident that these were able to walk godly in communion with one another. He fought the infiltration of worldly philosophies into the churches like fire in a library.

Today, though, we dont fight it. We advise against it. We encourage people to stay away from things that might be harmful to their spiritual lives, but we stop short of standing in their way. Do we understand the cost of such passivity?

Pardon me while I process this for my own life...

The Cross

I used to feel guilty about the Cross. The fact that my redemption required it made me feel responsible, but I'm not. The Cross was planned before creation. Without delving into the debate about predestination, scripture is clear that God knew we would fall and made His plan before He began the work.

The fact is that God recognized our sin before He made us and made a way for us to be reconciled. Before He said "Let there be light", the plan was in effect. Before He set Adam and Eve in the garden, or the serpent brought its convincing lie, the Cross was already on the horizon. I was only involved by implication.

If we need to place blame on a person, we have to lay it on Adam. He was the one who passed Sin to all of us. In Galatians 4, Paul discusses God's promise to Abraham, that "in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed". He makes the point that Abraham believed God and God counted it as righteousness. The implicit point is that Abraham was guilty before God, even though his previous actions had been reflective of deep faith. The righteousness only came after God made a promise and Abraham believed it.

Did Abraham know that a cross was in the future? Did Adam? Job lived about the same time as Abraham, and he knew something (Job 19:23-27). That whole book is about his claim to integrity. He wanted his friends to understand that he hadnt done anything wrong. Still, he voiced his need for redemption.

To take his point literally, he didnt believe he had done anything worthy of punishment, yet he knew he was condemned. Where would that condemnation have come from? For that, we have to go back to Adam.  Before that, though, we must go back to eternity before creation. God knew what would transpire in the garden, but He created us anyway, triggering the chain of events that would lead to our condemnation. Is God responsible for our sin? No. He knew it would happen, though, and had a plan in place to circumvent the consequences.

The plan? The Cross.

So, should I feel guilty for the Cross? I dont think so. What I should feel is gratitude.

Gideon

Okay, the holidays are over. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day. I've had a lot of fun with family and friends. There was a lot of food, football and hockey...but now it's time to get back to other things.

Deliverance and duty. What a can of worms this can be. For the lesson series, this took us to Gideon (Judges 6-7). In his day, all of Israel had been brought into the bondage of Baal worship. They also lived in fear of outsiders who constantly raided their villages and fields, leaving nothing for the the people to eat.

As we looked at this man, we discovered that he was actually quite fearful. Several times in the narrative about his first battle, God had to reassure him with signs and dreams. In the end, though, Gideon pursued the enemy without mercy. This was his duty as a judge in Israel. He was called, supernaturally empowered and given victory by the hand of God.

Today, most of this applies to us. While we are not judges, we do have duties. We are to live godly and call the unsaved to repentence.

This begins much like it did with Gideon. We turn to God and accept His promise by faith. At that moment, we are freed from the rules of this world. Does that mean I can defy its laws? Not unless they are in conflict with His written word. In Gideon's case, they were.

As we examine this moment in history, we see a relationship between faith and action, which results a balance of deliverance and duty.

The first thing God told Gideon to do was to destroy the idols and set up a new altar in their place. Metaphorically, that's what we have to do. When we begin to trust God, He expects to stand alone in our affections. There can be no other objects of devotion or worship. This goes for alcohol, drug use, religious practices, rituals, etc. The very first thing we must do is to place Him first in our hearts.

Wow. That's legalism! No, it's a reflection of the deliverance that's already taken place. In my own life, I was able to lay those things down because they no longer had any hold on me. The drugs I'd enjoyed became a burden. In fact, my whole lifestyle became a burden. I didnt enjoy the things I was doing and things very quickly changed.

At the time, I was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Within a month, God impressed me to stop. I tried and cut back to about a pack and a half. One night I had to admit to him that I couldnt quit. I simply told Him that, if He wanted me to quit, He'd have to take the addiction away from me. Sometime in the middle of the next day, my dad mentioned that I hadnt smoked a cigarette all day. It's the first I'd noticed. The difference: I tried on my own and failed. When God did the work, it was immediate and noticeable.

Lesson: If you are a believer and have been frustrated because your life, or that of another believer, isnt what you think it ought to be, stop trying to do it. Let God work.