Today is Good Friday and it reminds us of one of the most important events in the history of the world-----the sacrificial, atoning death of God, in the form of Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God With Us. Just a little under 2,000 years ago, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In that one verse, Paul explains the reason for Jesus' death on the cross and how exactly happened on the cross. In Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" the final scene where Jesus was beaten to an inch of his life by the Roman guards was hard to watch. Them nailing Him to the tree was painful but despite all of that, that didn't atone for one sin of one person.
The atonement didn't happen during the physical abuse from the guards or the people or Pilate. That was man's evil sinfulness on full display. No the actual vicarious, atoning sacrifice of Christ to God for our sin happened from noon to three on that historic day. Matthew, Mark and Luke record the time of the actual atonement because it was from noon to three that God punished Christ for our sins.
In those three hours, God turned away from His Son because at that time my sin and yours were placed upon Christ. I heard a preacher say it like this; "It was as if a great wall of God's wrath had been building ever since the first sin in the Garden. The only thing holding it back was the wall of God's grace and mercy but when Jesus was on the cross and there was placed upon Him all of the sins of all of His people from all eternity past, present and future, the thunderous roar of God's wrath came crashing down upon Christ, unleashing all of the fury and righteous judgment of God's holiness upon Him for three long hours.
Then when it was all over with, when the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, signaling that the perfect sacrifice had completed His mission, Christ cried out to His Father, "It is finished. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Jesus died.
You see quite literally, Jesus was physically beaten by God for our sins. God's Holy demands that sin be dealt with and because we don't have the ability to pay for our sins, someone else had to step up and take our place.
All of the Old Testament symbols of sacrifice pointed to that one actual, historical event. While the beating of Christ by the guards was horrific, what God did to Christ on our behalf was so much worst we can't possible imagine.
Romans 5 states, "6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Earlier I had written that represented one of the most important historical events in the history of the world. Well on Sunday we will celebrate the other....the Resurrection.
A long time ago a preacher got up and said:
It's Friday. Jesus is arrested in the garden where He was praying. But Sunday's coming.
It's Friday. The disciples are hiding and Peter's denying that he knows the Lord. But Sunday's coming.
It's Friday. Jesus is standing before the high priest of Israel, silent as a lamb before the slaughter. But Sunday's coming.
It's Friday. Jesus is beaten, mocked, and spit upon. But Sunday's coming.
It's Friday. Those Roman soldiers are flogging our Lord with a leather scourge that has bits of bones and glass and metal, tearing at his flesh. But Sunday's coming.
It's Friday. The Son of man stands firm as they press the crown of thorns down into his brow. But Sunday's coming.
It's Friday. See Him walking to Calvary, the blood dripping from His body. See the cross crashing down on His back as He stumbles beneath the load. It's Friday; but Sunday's a coming.
It's Friday. See those Roman soldiers driving the nails into the feet and hands of my Lord. Hear my Jesus cry, "Father, forgive them." It's Friday; but Sunday's coming.
It's Friday. Jesus is hanging on the cross, bloody and dying. But Sunday's coming.
It's Friday. The sky grows dark, the earth begins to tremble, and He who knew no sin became sin for us. Holy God who will not abide with sin pours out His wrath on that perfect sacrificial lamb who cries out, "My God, My God. Why hast thou forsaken me?" What a horrible cry. But Sunday's coming.
It's Friday. And at the moment of Jesus' death, the veil of the Temple that separates sinful man from Holy God was torn from the top to the bottom because Sunday's coming.
It's Friday. Jesus is hanging on the cross, heaven is weeping and hell is partying. But that's because it's Friday, and they don't know it, but Sunday's a coming.
To that I will just say; SOLA DEO GLORIA (to God only be the glory)
Friday, April 6, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
I'm not a sinner, you are!
In Chapter 9 of Charles Colson's book "Loving God" he looks into an important issue by asking "Whatever Became of Sin?"
He goes into great detail about why the word "repentance" is hardly used anymore. The biblical word for repentance is "metanoia" from the two Greek words Meta which means "change" and noia which means "mind". Richard Trent, the Archbishop of Dublin said it means "that mighty change in the mind, heart and life, wrought by the spirit of God."
While few sermons call for people to repent anymore, the call to repent is all through out the Old and New Testament. The very first words our of Jesus' mouth when He started His earthly ministry was "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 4:17) as well as one his last words to His disciples in Luke 24 when He said " 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 and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." (verses 46-47).
Colson rights concludes that, "Repentance is an inescapable consequence of regeneration, an indispensable part of the conversion process that takes place under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. But repentance is also a continuing state of mind. Without a continuing repentant attitude--a persistent desire to turn away from our own nature and seek God's nature--Christian growth is impossible. Loving God is impossible."
So it begs the question, if repentance is so important then why is it seldom preached and misunderstood.? Colson gives three reasons, which I agree with them all.
First he says, "The appeal of modern evangelism is not for repentance but for enlistment." Colson correctly states, "The Gospel must be the bad new of the conviction of sin before it can be the good news of redemption." Today's gospel presentation is watered down to the point that people who have no understanding of the call of Christ in their live and quite frankly don't have any desire too mistakenly believe they are true followers of Christ. It's Christianity without cost. German pastor during World War II, Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it "cheap grace" by stating "no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin...denial of the living word of God, in fact, a denial of the incarnation." In other words, a total lack of understanding what happen when the Holy Spirit changes a person's life at conversion.
Secondly, "often we are simply unwilling or unable to accept the reality of person sin and therefore to accept our need for repentance." As the title of this devotional states, "I'm not a sinner, you are!" It's easy to see Mickie Cohen's sin of murder and the like, but if we were to honestly look into the mirror, we to will see that our sin is equally offensive to a Holy God, after all, while most professors might grade on a curve, God doesn't. Sin is sin.
Lastly, Colson says "our culture has written sin our of existence." Sadly while this is true what is even more sad is it has almost been written out of the church. Don't preach on the sin of divorce because possibly half of your church has been divorce. Don't preach on the sin of homosexuality because that is hate speech and besides, that sin isn't any more sinful than gossiping. While that may be true, the consequences of homosexuality is far greater than gossiping and beside, we are not loving the homosexual when we don't lovingly and compassionately tell them the truth of their sinful life style.
So here is the question for each of us, have you repented of your sin? Have to had a change of mind? How do you know? Well the first way is to look back on your life and see if you now have a desire to love and serve God and when God convict you of you sinful ways do you try to deal with it or ignore it.
Ask God today to give you an attitude of repentance and then you will "taste and see that the Lord is good."
He goes into great detail about why the word "repentance" is hardly used anymore. The biblical word for repentance is "metanoia" from the two Greek words Meta which means "change" and noia which means "mind". Richard Trent, the Archbishop of Dublin said it means "that mighty change in the mind, heart and life, wrought by the spirit of God."
While few sermons call for people to repent anymore, the call to repent is all through out the Old and New Testament. The very first words our of Jesus' mouth when He started His earthly ministry was "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 4:17) as well as one his last words to His disciples in Luke 24 when He said " 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 and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." (verses 46-47).
Colson rights concludes that, "Repentance is an inescapable consequence of regeneration, an indispensable part of the conversion process that takes place under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. But repentance is also a continuing state of mind. Without a continuing repentant attitude--a persistent desire to turn away from our own nature and seek God's nature--Christian growth is impossible. Loving God is impossible."
So it begs the question, if repentance is so important then why is it seldom preached and misunderstood.? Colson gives three reasons, which I agree with them all.
First he says, "The appeal of modern evangelism is not for repentance but for enlistment." Colson correctly states, "The Gospel must be the bad new of the conviction of sin before it can be the good news of redemption." Today's gospel presentation is watered down to the point that people who have no understanding of the call of Christ in their live and quite frankly don't have any desire too mistakenly believe they are true followers of Christ. It's Christianity without cost. German pastor during World War II, Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it "cheap grace" by stating "no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin...denial of the living word of God, in fact, a denial of the incarnation." In other words, a total lack of understanding what happen when the Holy Spirit changes a person's life at conversion.
Secondly, "often we are simply unwilling or unable to accept the reality of person sin and therefore to accept our need for repentance." As the title of this devotional states, "I'm not a sinner, you are!" It's easy to see Mickie Cohen's sin of murder and the like, but if we were to honestly look into the mirror, we to will see that our sin is equally offensive to a Holy God, after all, while most professors might grade on a curve, God doesn't. Sin is sin.
Lastly, Colson says "our culture has written sin our of existence." Sadly while this is true what is even more sad is it has almost been written out of the church. Don't preach on the sin of divorce because possibly half of your church has been divorce. Don't preach on the sin of homosexuality because that is hate speech and besides, that sin isn't any more sinful than gossiping. While that may be true, the consequences of homosexuality is far greater than gossiping and beside, we are not loving the homosexual when we don't lovingly and compassionately tell them the truth of their sinful life style.
So here is the question for each of us, have you repented of your sin? Have to had a change of mind? How do you know? Well the first way is to look back on your life and see if you now have a desire to love and serve God and when God convict you of you sinful ways do you try to deal with it or ignore it.
Ask God today to give you an attitude of repentance and then you will "taste and see that the Lord is good."
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Is it possible to live the Christian life on your own terms?
"We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners."
R.C. Sproul
The next section of Charles Colson's classic "Loving God" is called Sin and Repentance and starts off with a humorous chapter entitled "A Christian Gangster". No this isn't the place to insert you own joke, believe me there are plenty but it is a wonderful section that is often misunderstood in the life of those who call Christ their King.
Colson closes Chapter 7 with these hard hitting words, "We Christians are usually quick to say we want to "be like Jesus." but if we are honest about what those familiar Sunday School words really mean, we'll see they compel us to adopt His attitudes; and that means belief in, and submission to, the Scriptures. Instead, we find a thousand ways to resist their truth, to rationalize their calling on our lives. For deep inside we know that obedience to the Scripture without concern for consequences is penetrating and painful. It requires us to die to self and follow Christ. It demands that we recognize the sin in our lives and that we acknowledge and repent of that sin. Many prefer to turn off at this point, or think they can live the Christian life on their own terms---that is, without conversion in attitude and action that must follow the conversion of heart."
I can't tell you how many people, even within my own family, believe they can call themselves a Christian without regard to how they conduct their own life. Not ever searching for Holy Scriptures to see what they believe is true or not. Not ever considering what they watch or listen to honors God. Not even giving a glimpsing thought about the way they spend their money. Rarely, if ever, praying or reading the Bible. Never once considering sharing the gospel with their lost friends or neighbors. Absolutely thinking it not a big deal if they are not involved in a local Bible-believing Church, much less attending one on a regular basis.
Now before we go much further, allow me to add that DOING those things won't get you into heaven. Our salvation is fully depended upon the saving work of Christ on the cross but once the Holy Spirit changes you (Ephesians 2: 1-10) you life is changed and the evidence of that is a desire to love and serve God by doing at least those things. Only now you do them out of love and obedience to Christ and not our of hope of your good works will please God.
In chapter 8, Colson tells the story of a real life gangster named Mickey Cohen and his meeting with Billy Graham. Los Angeles in the 1940's and 50's was controlled by Myer Harris Cohen, known to his friends and enemies as Mickey.
In 1949 Cohen received a phone call from one of his employees, a man named Jim Vaus. Vaus called Cohen late one night and asked to meet with him. So Cohen invited Jim and his wife Alice to his home. Vaus then explained to the mobster that he had attended a Billy Graham Crusade in downtown LA and had become a Christian. Vaus said that because of his decision to follow Christ he was giving up his life of crime and he couldn't work for Cohen anymore.
When Vaus called some gangsters in St. Louis that he could no longer do work for them, a couple of men came to visit him. Vaus knew what they wanted, to either kill or cripple him, but he stood on his porch for 45 minutes and explained the life-changing experience he had with Christ. When he was done, the men turned and walked off, never to bother him again.
Because of Vaus' conversion and Graham's popularity, Cohen wanted to meet the young evangelist. So a meeting was made and along with 60 or so people Graham shared the gospel and then offered an invitation. They also gave out a copy of the Gospel of John and Mickey took one.
In 1951 Mickey went to jail and got out in 1955 and while he had lost most if not all his power, Vaus offered to help him and introduced him to a Christian layman named W.C. Jones to implored Cohen to give his life to Christ after explaining God's plan of salvation to him in detail.
Eventually Mickey prayed the sinner's prayer. Jones was sure that Mickey's prayer was genuine and soon word spread in the Christianity community that the gangster turned to the gospel. Jones knew that Mickey needed more instruction so they flew him to New York City to meet with Graham. Cohen was taken to an area reserved for special guest and it was there he heard the gospel once again.
After the service he went back to LA and called Jones and Vaus less often. He started hanging out with his underworld friends again. Jones heard this and went to him to counsel him but Cohen wanted nothing of it.
"Jones," Mickey said. "you never told me that I had to give up my career. You never told me that I had to give up my friends. There are Christian movie stars, Christian athletes, Christian businessmen. So what's the matter with being a Christian gangster? If I have to give up all that---if that's Christianity--count me out."
Cohen was echoing what million of professing Christians who, though unwilling to admit it, through their very lives pose the same question. "Not about being Christian gangsters, but about being Christianized versions of whatever they already are---and are determined to remain. And, like Mickey, we cannot love God--cannot obey Him--and remain what we are. There must be a change of actions and attitudes.
Loving God means striving to have all of our actions and attitudes resemble Christ. Ask God today to, as King David said in Psalms 139, " O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar." (Psalm 139:1-2 ESV) to the honor and praise of His Holy Name.
R.C. Sproul
The next section of Charles Colson's classic "Loving God" is called Sin and Repentance and starts off with a humorous chapter entitled "A Christian Gangster". No this isn't the place to insert you own joke, believe me there are plenty but it is a wonderful section that is often misunderstood in the life of those who call Christ their King.
Colson closes Chapter 7 with these hard hitting words, "We Christians are usually quick to say we want to "be like Jesus." but if we are honest about what those familiar Sunday School words really mean, we'll see they compel us to adopt His attitudes; and that means belief in, and submission to, the Scriptures. Instead, we find a thousand ways to resist their truth, to rationalize their calling on our lives. For deep inside we know that obedience to the Scripture without concern for consequences is penetrating and painful. It requires us to die to self and follow Christ. It demands that we recognize the sin in our lives and that we acknowledge and repent of that sin. Many prefer to turn off at this point, or think they can live the Christian life on their own terms---that is, without conversion in attitude and action that must follow the conversion of heart."
I can't tell you how many people, even within my own family, believe they can call themselves a Christian without regard to how they conduct their own life. Not ever searching for Holy Scriptures to see what they believe is true or not. Not ever considering what they watch or listen to honors God. Not even giving a glimpsing thought about the way they spend their money. Rarely, if ever, praying or reading the Bible. Never once considering sharing the gospel with their lost friends or neighbors. Absolutely thinking it not a big deal if they are not involved in a local Bible-believing Church, much less attending one on a regular basis.
Now before we go much further, allow me to add that DOING those things won't get you into heaven. Our salvation is fully depended upon the saving work of Christ on the cross but once the Holy Spirit changes you (Ephesians 2: 1-10) you life is changed and the evidence of that is a desire to love and serve God by doing at least those things. Only now you do them out of love and obedience to Christ and not our of hope of your good works will please God.
In chapter 8, Colson tells the story of a real life gangster named Mickey Cohen and his meeting with Billy Graham. Los Angeles in the 1940's and 50's was controlled by Myer Harris Cohen, known to his friends and enemies as Mickey.
In 1949 Cohen received a phone call from one of his employees, a man named Jim Vaus. Vaus called Cohen late one night and asked to meet with him. So Cohen invited Jim and his wife Alice to his home. Vaus then explained to the mobster that he had attended a Billy Graham Crusade in downtown LA and had become a Christian. Vaus said that because of his decision to follow Christ he was giving up his life of crime and he couldn't work for Cohen anymore.
When Vaus called some gangsters in St. Louis that he could no longer do work for them, a couple of men came to visit him. Vaus knew what they wanted, to either kill or cripple him, but he stood on his porch for 45 minutes and explained the life-changing experience he had with Christ. When he was done, the men turned and walked off, never to bother him again.
Because of Vaus' conversion and Graham's popularity, Cohen wanted to meet the young evangelist. So a meeting was made and along with 60 or so people Graham shared the gospel and then offered an invitation. They also gave out a copy of the Gospel of John and Mickey took one.
In 1951 Mickey went to jail and got out in 1955 and while he had lost most if not all his power, Vaus offered to help him and introduced him to a Christian layman named W.C. Jones to implored Cohen to give his life to Christ after explaining God's plan of salvation to him in detail.
Eventually Mickey prayed the sinner's prayer. Jones was sure that Mickey's prayer was genuine and soon word spread in the Christianity community that the gangster turned to the gospel. Jones knew that Mickey needed more instruction so they flew him to New York City to meet with Graham. Cohen was taken to an area reserved for special guest and it was there he heard the gospel once again.
After the service he went back to LA and called Jones and Vaus less often. He started hanging out with his underworld friends again. Jones heard this and went to him to counsel him but Cohen wanted nothing of it.
"Jones," Mickey said. "you never told me that I had to give up my career. You never told me that I had to give up my friends. There are Christian movie stars, Christian athletes, Christian businessmen. So what's the matter with being a Christian gangster? If I have to give up all that---if that's Christianity--count me out."
Cohen was echoing what million of professing Christians who, though unwilling to admit it, through their very lives pose the same question. "Not about being Christian gangsters, but about being Christianized versions of whatever they already are---and are determined to remain. And, like Mickey, we cannot love God--cannot obey Him--and remain what we are. There must be a change of actions and attitudes.
Loving God means striving to have all of our actions and attitudes resemble Christ. Ask God today to, as King David said in Psalms 139, " O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar." (Psalm 139:1-2 ESV) to the honor and praise of His Holy Name.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Watergate and the Resurrection
This week, we as Christians, celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. In Chapter 6 in Charles Colson's classic "Loving God", he takes a look at the conspiracy theory concerning the resurrection in the light of the famous Watergate cover up.
For those who are too young to remember, I was 12, Watergate is a hotel in Washington DC that, at the time, housed the Democratic National Committee (DNC) office. The president was Richard Nixon and he was running for re-election. Little did he know that he was about to win, at that time, in the biggest landslide in the history of the nation.
On a warm Saturday afternoon, June 17, 1972, Colson first heard about the break in of the DNC when he was called on the phone and asked about it. He didn't think much about it and in November Nixon was re-elected President. But the shadow of Watergate stilled loomed. In February, with the Vietnam War finally over, Colson went to the Oval Office and told President Nixon that "Whoever did order Watergate, let it out...let's get rid of it now. Take our losses." Now while Nixon didn't order the break in, he did something much, much worst. He ordered the cover up and the obstruction of the investigation.
On March 21 of 1973 Colson talks of the first serious discussion of criminal involvement. While he wasn't involved with it at this time because he was no longer working for President Nixon, Colson was recorded as saying he was worried about someone close to the president being charged with obstruction of justice. Then on April 9, John Dean, special counsel for the president met with the Watergate prosecutors and revealed the cover up.
Colson writes, "With the most powerful office in the world at stake, a small band of hand-picked loyalists, no more than ten of us, could not hold a conspiracy together for more than two weeks. Yet even the prospect of jeopardizing the President we'd worked so hard to elect, of losing the prestige, power and personal luxury of our office was not enough incentive to make this group of men contain a lie."
He continues, "As I reflect today, was the pressure really all that great; at that point there had certain to be keen embarrassment; at the worst, some might go to prison, though that possibility was by no means certain. But no one was in grave danger; no one's life was at stake. Yet after just a few weeks the natural human instinct for self-preservation was so overwhelming that the conspirators, one by one, deserted their leader, walked away from their cause, turned their back on their power, prestige and privilege."
What does their have to do with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ you might ask? Well Colson talks of the modern criticism of the historic truth of Christianity boiling down to three propositions: 1--the disciples were just mistaken; 2--the disciples knowingly perpetrated a myth or 3--the eleven disciples conceived of a Passover Plot--robbed the body out of the tomb and got rid of it and to their dying breaths maintained conspiratorial silence, even though most of them was eventually give up their own life for that seemingly lie.
Blaise Pascal, the brilliant mathematician, scientist, inventor and follower of Christ, observed that "man in his normal state will renounce his beliefs just as readily as Peter renounced Jesus before the Resurrection. But as the same Peter discovered after the Resurrection, there is a power beyond man that causes him to forsake all. It is the power of the God who revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ."
Have you experienced the power of Jesus' resurrection? Ask yourself this, are you willing to forsake all to follow Christ? If you are not sure please email me at dmccrosky@comcast.net and I will be glad to help you know, that you know, that you know.
For those who are too young to remember, I was 12, Watergate is a hotel in Washington DC that, at the time, housed the Democratic National Committee (DNC) office. The president was Richard Nixon and he was running for re-election. Little did he know that he was about to win, at that time, in the biggest landslide in the history of the nation.
On a warm Saturday afternoon, June 17, 1972, Colson first heard about the break in of the DNC when he was called on the phone and asked about it. He didn't think much about it and in November Nixon was re-elected President. But the shadow of Watergate stilled loomed. In February, with the Vietnam War finally over, Colson went to the Oval Office and told President Nixon that "Whoever did order Watergate, let it out...let's get rid of it now. Take our losses." Now while Nixon didn't order the break in, he did something much, much worst. He ordered the cover up and the obstruction of the investigation.
On March 21 of 1973 Colson talks of the first serious discussion of criminal involvement. While he wasn't involved with it at this time because he was no longer working for President Nixon, Colson was recorded as saying he was worried about someone close to the president being charged with obstruction of justice. Then on April 9, John Dean, special counsel for the president met with the Watergate prosecutors and revealed the cover up.
Colson writes, "With the most powerful office in the world at stake, a small band of hand-picked loyalists, no more than ten of us, could not hold a conspiracy together for more than two weeks. Yet even the prospect of jeopardizing the President we'd worked so hard to elect, of losing the prestige, power and personal luxury of our office was not enough incentive to make this group of men contain a lie."
He continues, "As I reflect today, was the pressure really all that great; at that point there had certain to be keen embarrassment; at the worst, some might go to prison, though that possibility was by no means certain. But no one was in grave danger; no one's life was at stake. Yet after just a few weeks the natural human instinct for self-preservation was so overwhelming that the conspirators, one by one, deserted their leader, walked away from their cause, turned their back on their power, prestige and privilege."
What does their have to do with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ you might ask? Well Colson talks of the modern criticism of the historic truth of Christianity boiling down to three propositions: 1--the disciples were just mistaken; 2--the disciples knowingly perpetrated a myth or 3--the eleven disciples conceived of a Passover Plot--robbed the body out of the tomb and got rid of it and to their dying breaths maintained conspiratorial silence, even though most of them was eventually give up their own life for that seemingly lie.
Blaise Pascal, the brilliant mathematician, scientist, inventor and follower of Christ, observed that "man in his normal state will renounce his beliefs just as readily as Peter renounced Jesus before the Resurrection. But as the same Peter discovered after the Resurrection, there is a power beyond man that causes him to forsake all. It is the power of the God who revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ."
Have you experienced the power of Jesus' resurrection? Ask yourself this, are you willing to forsake all to follow Christ? If you are not sure please email me at dmccrosky@comcast.net and I will be glad to help you know, that you know, that you know.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The Conversion of Augustine demonstrates the power of God's Word
"We owe to Scripture the same reverence which we owe to God."
John Calvin
The above quote starts the section called "The Word of God" in Charles Colson's classic "Loving God". In Chapter Four, Colson tells the story of the conversion of one of the greatest Christian writers.....Aurelius Augustinus or better know as Augustine.
The story is fascinating. Augustine was the top scholar of his time in pretty much in topic or field. People would travel miles just to listen to him speak and for the majority of his life he had little to do with Christ or with Christianity.
Oh he would list to others as they tried to convince him of the true nature of the gospel. His mother Monica would plea to him to give his life to Christ, almost to the point of him tuning her out when she spoke about God. Augustine was in love with wisdom but even as a lost person he rightly understood the demands of the Gospel.
"to follow Plato, one merely thinks like Plato. To follow Christ is something much more. You must put your whole life into it and leave behind whatever hinders you from following him. I don't know what it is exactly that enables a man to give himself to God---to commit himself to a life of sacrifice and faith. That's more than adopting a particular point of view, isn't it."
BINGO!!!!!!
God used Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, to break down the intellectual walls that Augustine put up. Then one day, Augustine heard an inner voice speaking to him. "Take up and read. Take up and read" was what he heard over and over again. The Bible was laying near him and it was opened to Romans 13: 13-14, "13Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."
Colson writes, "Instantly, as if before a peaceful light streaming into his heart, dark shadows of doubt fled. The man of unconquerable will was conquered by words from a book he had once dismiised as mere fable lacking in clarity and grace of expression. Those words suddenly revealed that which he had so long vainly sought. Now he knew with assurance he had confronted truth. The very words, 'clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ,' had settled it; whatever it cost, he would give his life to Christ."
Hebrews 4:12 states, "12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." and Isaiah 55:11 says, "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
If you are a follower of Christ, your life has been affected by the conversion of Augustine. For the next 44 years, Augustine published some of the most famous writings like his autobiographical Confessions and his masterpiece tome The City of God.
We have Augustine to thank for the classic defense of the authority of Scripture that has lasted the test of time.
While God used others to plant and water the seeds of the Gospel, it was the very Word of God found in the 13th Chapter of Romans that the Holy Spirit used to dramatically change his life and in turn influence us today.
So it begs the questions, if God's Word is so powerful, why don't we as followers of Christ, spend more time reading and memorizing it?
Good question. What say you?
John Calvin
The above quote starts the section called "The Word of God" in Charles Colson's classic "Loving God". In Chapter Four, Colson tells the story of the conversion of one of the greatest Christian writers.....Aurelius Augustinus or better know as Augustine.
The story is fascinating. Augustine was the top scholar of his time in pretty much in topic or field. People would travel miles just to listen to him speak and for the majority of his life he had little to do with Christ or with Christianity.
Oh he would list to others as they tried to convince him of the true nature of the gospel. His mother Monica would plea to him to give his life to Christ, almost to the point of him tuning her out when she spoke about God. Augustine was in love with wisdom but even as a lost person he rightly understood the demands of the Gospel.
"to follow Plato, one merely thinks like Plato. To follow Christ is something much more. You must put your whole life into it and leave behind whatever hinders you from following him. I don't know what it is exactly that enables a man to give himself to God---to commit himself to a life of sacrifice and faith. That's more than adopting a particular point of view, isn't it."
BINGO!!!!!!
God used Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, to break down the intellectual walls that Augustine put up. Then one day, Augustine heard an inner voice speaking to him. "Take up and read. Take up and read" was what he heard over and over again. The Bible was laying near him and it was opened to Romans 13: 13-14, "13Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."
Colson writes, "Instantly, as if before a peaceful light streaming into his heart, dark shadows of doubt fled. The man of unconquerable will was conquered by words from a book he had once dismiised as mere fable lacking in clarity and grace of expression. Those words suddenly revealed that which he had so long vainly sought. Now he knew with assurance he had confronted truth. The very words, 'clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ,' had settled it; whatever it cost, he would give his life to Christ."
Hebrews 4:12 states, "12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." and Isaiah 55:11 says, "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
If you are a follower of Christ, your life has been affected by the conversion of Augustine. For the next 44 years, Augustine published some of the most famous writings like his autobiographical Confessions and his masterpiece tome The City of God.
We have Augustine to thank for the classic defense of the authority of Scripture that has lasted the test of time.
While God used others to plant and water the seeds of the Gospel, it was the very Word of God found in the 13th Chapter of Romans that the Holy Spirit used to dramatically change his life and in turn influence us today.
So it begs the questions, if God's Word is so powerful, why don't we as followers of Christ, spend more time reading and memorizing it?
Good question. What say you?
Friday, March 30, 2012
What is the key to loving God?
For the majority of my Christian life I wondered inwardly how could I best love and serve God. When I was saved at 11, nothing in my life was ever the same again. As a Christian teenager I knew that I needed to be a witness for the gospel, mostly in the way I lived out my life so that my verbal witnessing may be of some value.
It wasn't until I read the third chapter of Charles Colson's book "Loving God" did I completely understand the key to the Christian life was found in one simple word.....obedience. I was in my third year of seminary when a friend of mind found me in the school's library. I was just looking around and he came up to me and said, "Have you ever read this book?" pointing to "Loving God". He went on to tell me it would be a Christian Classic in the truest sense of the word like JI Packer's "Knowing God". I bought it then and there and could not put it down.
In the third chapter Colson explains "that unquestioning acceptance of and obedience to Jesus' authority is the foundation of the Christian life. Everything else rests upon this."
He goes on to explain in the Kornfeld story, "God wants from His people is obedience, no matter what the circumstances, no matter how unknown the outcome.
It was always been this way. God calling His people to obedience and giving them at best a glimpse of the outcome of their effort.
"Most of the great figures of the Old Testament died without ever seeing the fulfillment of the promises they relied upon. The great colonial pastor Cotton Mather prayed for revival several hours each day for twenty years; the Great Awakening began the year he died. The British Empire finally abolished slavery as the Christian parliamentarian and abolitionist leader William Wilberforce lay on his deathbed, exhausted from his nearly fifty-year campaign against the practice of human bondage. Few were converted during Hudson Taylor's lifelong mission work in the Orient; but today million of Chinese embrace the faith he so patiently planted and tended."
While some might think this pattern is unfair, I agree with Colson when he states, "The very nature of the obedience He demands is that it be given without regard to circumstances or results."
I find it senseless that people shout to the top of their lungs how much they love Jesus but live a life contrary to His spoken word.
When a lawyer tried to trick Jesus by asking the question "which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Christ's response was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22: 34-40)
And how do we love the Lord? Jesus gives us the answer "If you love me you will obey what I command." (John 14:15).
As Colson writes, "And that leads us to just one place: the Holy Bible. to obey His commandments, we must know His commandments. that means we must know and obey the Scriptures, the key to loving God and the starting point for life's most exciting journey."
It wasn't until I read the third chapter of Charles Colson's book "Loving God" did I completely understand the key to the Christian life was found in one simple word.....obedience. I was in my third year of seminary when a friend of mind found me in the school's library. I was just looking around and he came up to me and said, "Have you ever read this book?" pointing to "Loving God". He went on to tell me it would be a Christian Classic in the truest sense of the word like JI Packer's "Knowing God". I bought it then and there and could not put it down.
In the third chapter Colson explains "that unquestioning acceptance of and obedience to Jesus' authority is the foundation of the Christian life. Everything else rests upon this."
He goes on to explain in the Kornfeld story, "God wants from His people is obedience, no matter what the circumstances, no matter how unknown the outcome.
It was always been this way. God calling His people to obedience and giving them at best a glimpse of the outcome of their effort.
"Most of the great figures of the Old Testament died without ever seeing the fulfillment of the promises they relied upon. The great colonial pastor Cotton Mather prayed for revival several hours each day for twenty years; the Great Awakening began the year he died. The British Empire finally abolished slavery as the Christian parliamentarian and abolitionist leader William Wilberforce lay on his deathbed, exhausted from his nearly fifty-year campaign against the practice of human bondage. Few were converted during Hudson Taylor's lifelong mission work in the Orient; but today million of Chinese embrace the faith he so patiently planted and tended."
While some might think this pattern is unfair, I agree with Colson when he states, "The very nature of the obedience He demands is that it be given without regard to circumstances or results."
I find it senseless that people shout to the top of their lungs how much they love Jesus but live a life contrary to His spoken word.
When a lawyer tried to trick Jesus by asking the question "which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Christ's response was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22: 34-40)
And how do we love the Lord? Jesus gives us the answer "If you love me you will obey what I command." (John 14:15).
As Colson writes, "And that leads us to just one place: the Holy Bible. to obey His commandments, we must know His commandments. that means we must know and obey the Scriptures, the key to loving God and the starting point for life's most exciting journey."
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The Power of the Gospel, Part 2
If I have said this once, I have said this a million times and I will continue to say it, "You never know whose life you are affecting for time and eternity for the Kingdom of God when you faithfully and obediently share the life-saving, life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ." Never is that more true than the story that Chuck Colson tells in Chapter 2 in Loving God.
Boris Nicholayevich Kornfeld is not a name that a lot of people in the Christian faith will know but that doesn't mean he didn't have a major impact on the Kingdom of God and it is a story of obedience and the tremendous power of the Gospel. You will be encouraged and challenaged after reading today's devotion.
Kornfeld was a medical doctor during Stalin's reign of terror in Russia in the 1950's. While it isn't know what crime he committed that sent him to the concentration camp in Ekibastuz, unbeknownst to this Jewish doctor, he was about to come face to face with the one true God.
Kornfeld had followed his parent's beliefs in Communism. Although Jewish in birth, Kornfeld was probably what was called "enlightened Jew" because he accepted the philosophy of rationalism and "cultivated a knowledge of the natural sciences."
Somehow Kornfeld found himself in a Russian gulag. A place known for its "brutality, the waste of lives, the trivialities called criminal charges made men like Kornfeld doubt the glories of the system of socialism...behind the wire prisoners had time to think." It was there that he became a Christian.
For a Russian Jew during that time period to become a Christian was rare because before the Russian Revolution, the Russian Orthodox Church's anti-Semitism made life unendurable for almost 200 years. Stalin demanded total loyalty to his government but Christians and Jewish people a like knew their loyalty belonged only to God.
So in the Russian prison, Kornfeld came in contact with a devout Christian who spoke of a Jewish Messiah "who had come to keep the promises the Lord had made to Israel. He pointed out that Jesus had spoken almost solely to Jewish people and proclaimed that He came to the Jews first. This man often recited aloud the Lord's Prayer, and Kornfeld heard in those simple words a strange ring of truth."
Colson goes on to tell the internal struggle that the Russian doctor had with his previous beliefs and this new message of hope and peace. Over time, his heart and his arguements were slowly being won over by the power of the gospel.
"He found himself almost unconsciously, repeating the words he had heard from his fellow prisoner. 'Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.' Having seen his own evil heart, he had to pray for cleansing. And he had to pray to a God who suffered, as he had: Jesus."
Suddenly Kornfeld was a new person. He stopped signing forms saying patients were healthy enough for solitary confinement because now he couldn't lie. While that was bad, Kornfeld did the unforgiveable; he turned in an orderly, who was stealing food from sick prisoners. In doing this, he knew his life was endanager but he had to be obedient to what he knew to do.
"Having accepted the possibility of death, Boris Kornfeld was now free to live. He signed no more papers or documents sending men to their deaths. He no longer turned his eyes from cruelty or shrugged his shoulders when he saw injustice. And soon he realized that the anger and hatred and violence in his own soul had vanished. He wondered whether there lived another man in Russia who knew such freedom."
Kornfeld desperately wanted to share his newfound faith of obedience and freedom with someone and he found it in a cancer patient. So he began to tell his story to the sickly patient. Told him of his conversion to Christ and "once the tale began to spill out, Kornfeld could not stop." Coming in and out of anesthesia, the patient missed the first part but knew he was listening to something very real and "knew he was listening to an incredible confession....he hung on the doctor's words until he feel alseep."
It was during the night that someone came up behind the doctor and hit him eight times with a plaster's mallet, killing him.
"The patient pondered the doctor's last, impassioned words. As a result, he, too, became a Christian. He survived that prison camp and went on to tell the world what he had learned there.
The patient's name was Alexander Solzhenitsyn."
For those who don't know that name, let's just say that he was one of the greatest Christian apologist along the lines of CS Lewis. Look him up.
You see, when we are faithfully sharing the gospel of Jesus we are taking part in changing the world. Look for ways to actively share your faith. Who knows, the person you lead to Christ or help lead to Christ will be the next Christian leader.
Boris Nicholayevich Kornfeld is not a name that a lot of people in the Christian faith will know but that doesn't mean he didn't have a major impact on the Kingdom of God and it is a story of obedience and the tremendous power of the Gospel. You will be encouraged and challenaged after reading today's devotion.
Kornfeld was a medical doctor during Stalin's reign of terror in Russia in the 1950's. While it isn't know what crime he committed that sent him to the concentration camp in Ekibastuz, unbeknownst to this Jewish doctor, he was about to come face to face with the one true God.
Kornfeld had followed his parent's beliefs in Communism. Although Jewish in birth, Kornfeld was probably what was called "enlightened Jew" because he accepted the philosophy of rationalism and "cultivated a knowledge of the natural sciences."
Somehow Kornfeld found himself in a Russian gulag. A place known for its "brutality, the waste of lives, the trivialities called criminal charges made men like Kornfeld doubt the glories of the system of socialism...behind the wire prisoners had time to think." It was there that he became a Christian.
For a Russian Jew during that time period to become a Christian was rare because before the Russian Revolution, the Russian Orthodox Church's anti-Semitism made life unendurable for almost 200 years. Stalin demanded total loyalty to his government but Christians and Jewish people a like knew their loyalty belonged only to God.
So in the Russian prison, Kornfeld came in contact with a devout Christian who spoke of a Jewish Messiah "who had come to keep the promises the Lord had made to Israel. He pointed out that Jesus had spoken almost solely to Jewish people and proclaimed that He came to the Jews first. This man often recited aloud the Lord's Prayer, and Kornfeld heard in those simple words a strange ring of truth."
Colson goes on to tell the internal struggle that the Russian doctor had with his previous beliefs and this new message of hope and peace. Over time, his heart and his arguements were slowly being won over by the power of the gospel.
"He found himself almost unconsciously, repeating the words he had heard from his fellow prisoner. 'Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.' Having seen his own evil heart, he had to pray for cleansing. And he had to pray to a God who suffered, as he had: Jesus."
Suddenly Kornfeld was a new person. He stopped signing forms saying patients were healthy enough for solitary confinement because now he couldn't lie. While that was bad, Kornfeld did the unforgiveable; he turned in an orderly, who was stealing food from sick prisoners. In doing this, he knew his life was endanager but he had to be obedient to what he knew to do.
"Having accepted the possibility of death, Boris Kornfeld was now free to live. He signed no more papers or documents sending men to their deaths. He no longer turned his eyes from cruelty or shrugged his shoulders when he saw injustice. And soon he realized that the anger and hatred and violence in his own soul had vanished. He wondered whether there lived another man in Russia who knew such freedom."
Kornfeld desperately wanted to share his newfound faith of obedience and freedom with someone and he found it in a cancer patient. So he began to tell his story to the sickly patient. Told him of his conversion to Christ and "once the tale began to spill out, Kornfeld could not stop." Coming in and out of anesthesia, the patient missed the first part but knew he was listening to something very real and "knew he was listening to an incredible confession....he hung on the doctor's words until he feel alseep."
It was during the night that someone came up behind the doctor and hit him eight times with a plaster's mallet, killing him.
"The patient pondered the doctor's last, impassioned words. As a result, he, too, became a Christian. He survived that prison camp and went on to tell the world what he had learned there.
The patient's name was Alexander Solzhenitsyn."
For those who don't know that name, let's just say that he was one of the greatest Christian apologist along the lines of CS Lewis. Look him up.
You see, when we are faithfully sharing the gospel of Jesus we are taking part in changing the world. Look for ways to actively share your faith. Who knows, the person you lead to Christ or help lead to Christ will be the next Christian leader.
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