Tag: christian faith

Spiritual Confidence (2 Corinthians 3:4-11)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! (New International Version)

The Christian religious tradition holds to the great Three-in-One of God – God is indivisibly One, and at the same time, a Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit. Christians typically have no problem expressing their prayers and devotion to the Persons of the Father and the Son, as well as connecting their ministry efforts to them. 

However, when it comes to the Spirit, this Person of the Holy Trinity is often referred to as an “it” or a “force.” Yet, the Holy Spirit is as much God and a Person as the heavenly Father and the Savior, Jesus Christ. The Spirit is the One who provides the guidance and energy for Christian ministry – and not the Law.

We very much need the Holy Spirit of God. Without the Spirit’s help, Jesus is merely looked at as one person out of thousands of individuals crucified in history; and only an example of one who was martyred for his faith. But Jesus is infinitely more than that. 

Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Through Jesus Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension, people can be redeemed from empty lives, saved from destructive life-patterns, and given the kind of security and purpose in life that God intended from the beginning for people to possess. 

And the Spirit of God is the One that takes these redemptive events of Jesus and applies them to our lives. Apart from the Holy Spirit, we are lost, because we are unable to see the genuine spiritual truth about the cross of Jesus Christ unless God the Holy Spirit breaks into our lives and does an intervention – showing us our denial about how we are really doing and our delusions about who we really are (1 Corinthians 2:1-16).

This, then, is the basis for spiritual confidence. And this sort of confidence does not and cannot come from obedience to the Law.

Admitting that we absolutely need the Holy Spirit of God means that the power of Christianity does not reside with me or you; power for the Christian life rests upon Jesus Christ and him crucified, with the Spirit witnessing to us of this truth. 

In other words, we are largely powerless. 

Now, I realize this is not a popular message, especially in Western society. That sounds ridiculous to a particularly can-do kind of people, like most Americans. We believe we’ve done fairly well on our own, thank you very much. A couple of cars, a house, a job, and a family. I work hard. I’ve earned my stuff and my accomplishments. 

But the thing is, any worldly success may lead us to the delusion that we have the power to do what we want – as if I am the sole captain of my soul. I did it. And I did it my way.

“Oh, sure,” many a person may reason, “we have problems just like everybody else. After all, I can’t control everything!” Yet, we are not powerless just because we have difficult circumstances and a few problem people in our lives. “God will step in a take-over where I leave off, right?” Wrong. 

It’s all wrong, because it’s based in one’s effort to obey a personal creed, the rules of the game, or even the Law and the Ten Commandments. But if we could really do it on our own, there’s no need for any of this spiritual stuff.

In truth, apart from the Holy Spirit of God, we are unable to be Christians and live the Christian life. If we think we manage our lives just fine, with a bit of help from God, then we are likely in denial. We are probably placing ourselves at the center of the world; and believe we should be able to deal with whatever comes in life. 

Whenever the consistent response to adverse situations, or the realization that we are not handling something well, is to try and fix ourselves, then we are surely living in the delusion that we hold the power to change – independently without anyone or anything helping us.

If our first reaction to adversity or problems is:

  • Searching Google for more knowledge
  • Dealing privately with personal issues
  • Expecting that willpower should be enough

Then, we are feeding the delusion that we do not really need the Holy Spirit of God; we are actually believing that we need more effort, or information, in order to find the power to overcome whatever is in my life that needs overcoming.   

Unfortunately, it typically takes a tragedy or crisis to break our delusions of power. Let me ask: How bad must we hurt before we admit that we are not managing our lives well at all, and that the real power to change resides with the Holy Spirit?

Our spiritual power and confidence resides in the cross of Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit testifying to us of God’s great grace. 

The Apostle Paul believed this with all his heart. Although he was a very intelligent and learned person, he did not rely on his abilities, but on God’s. 

The cross of Jesus is not just an historical event, but an ongoing reality for us to experience victory over all the brokenness of this world, and all the mess we have made of things by putting ourselves at the center of the universe. 

We need the Holy Spirit of God to intervene and apply Christ’s finished work to us. 

None of this means that the Law, or that you, are bad. Both you and the Law are good. It’s just that we, by ourselves, and the Law by itself, are inadequate to save, deliver, and overcome. For that, we need God’s Spirit, and to tap into the spiritual reality that exists.

If the Ten Commandments were introduced with glory, and we ourselves were created with glory, then how much more glory and life is there through an intimate relation with the Spirit?

O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Whoever Believes (John 3:14-21)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Interview Between Jesus and Nicodemus, by James Tissot (1836-1902)

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

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. 

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (New International Version)

For many, the truth about God’s purposes in Christ is confusing, even troubling. It was for Nicodemus. And even though there many today who simplify the exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus with a single Bible verse of John 3:16, taking a good look at the Gospel of John puts most of us with Nicodemus.

Nicodemus, a learned Jewish scholar, a Pharisee, found Christ’s words both confusing and troubling because it required him to let go of everything he understood – to let go and become like a newborn baby, receiving and discovering the world on new and different terms. In other words, Nicodemus had to unlearn some things before he could learn truth.

There are some things that are hard to grasp, not because they are so intellectually challenging, but because those things ask a lot of us, demanding our very lives. And so, we don’t so much want to understand; it would require a radical change.

But why would anyone not want to understand the good news that God so loved the world that gave the Son so that we may believe and have eternal life? Because we would then have to contend with the ways Jesus describes himself.

Jesus likened himself to the serpent that Moses lifted up in the desert (John 3:14; Numbers 21:4-9). In that story of Moses in the Old Testament book of Numbers, God sent poisonous snakes into the Israelite camp as punishment for the people’s incessant complaining against God.

Then, when the people repented, God told Moses to make a bronze snake, put it on a pole, and lift it up, so that anyone bitten by one of the poisonous snakes could see it and live. Jesus likened himself to the story. In the same way the bronze snake was lifted on a pole, Jesus explained that so must the Son of Man be lifted up, or exalted high above the people.

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ, by John La Farge, 1880

In the typical language of the Apostle John, using double meanings to a single concept, he meant to communicate that Jesus would be physically lifted onto the cross, above the people; and also that Jesus would be lifted up by God as the exalted One above all creation. (John 8:28; 12:32)

Just as the ancient Israelites were facing death because of their sin, and deliverance because of God’s action through Moses, so people everywhere in every age face the consequences of their sinful complaining; yet through the action of God through Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, they can look up to the exalted and glorified Lord and receive deliverance from sin, death, and hell.

There is more to looking up at the lifted One than a mere incline of the head and eyes. In modern terms, we would refer to the sheer action of looking as an intellectual assent to faith. The Apostle John, however, means to have us believe, not simply acknowledge.

Jesus did not tell Nicodemus to simply acknowledge him as Savior, to accept him into the heart, and so, be saved. No, this was an encounter that left an intelligent man and an accomplished scholar scratching his head in bewilderment as he went back out into the darkness.

Today’s Gospel lesson is a story about how any one of us might reject the light offered to us because of the way it exposes what is dark within us. Therefore, to believe requires ultimate trust in another. It isn’t to acknowledge that Jesus was real and had an actual ministry on earth; it’s more than believing something happened in history in the ancient world of the first century.

To believe is to let our own lives be transformed by the Jesus we encounter in this story. And here is what that means:

  1. Realizing and becoming aware of the ways we are complicit in and benefit from having our loyalties elsewhere, other than Jesus. To believe demands us answering the question: Whom shall you serve?
  2. Placing our ultimate trust, allegiance, and loyalty in Jesus Christ. To believe begs the question: To whom will you commit all that you have, and all that you are?
  3. Forsaking all other competing loyalties and “gods,” including both secular and religious deities. To believe means a single-minded devotion, which asks of us all: To whom and to what will you forsake in order to embrace Jesus?
  4. Confronting inconvenient truths of our own personal values which clash with Christ’s ideals of righteousness. To believe presses us to answer the question: To whom and for what are you truly living for?
  5. Willing to die to self and to anything that would hinder knowing Jesus and him crucified, risen, ascended, and coming again. To believe forces us to ask ourselves: Am I willing to die for Jesus?

While there is nothing in this world worth killing for, there are things worth dying for. The lifting up of Jesus lets us know that the true life God has promised us is not the life that we can secure for ourselves through self-interest, caution, and theological debate.

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Spiritual Blessings (Ephesians 1:7-14)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Trinity, by Ukrainian artist Feodosiy Humeniuk, 1981 

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.He did this when he revealed to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ—the things in heaven and the things on earth.

In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory. And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory. (New English Translation)

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Church at Ephesus. Believe it or not, the first chapter of Ephesians  comprises only two sentences in the Greek language for which he originally wrote. Ephesians 1:3-14 are one sentence, and Ephesians 1:15-23 is the other sentence. Thankfully, understandably, and mercifully, English translators have created multiple sentences for us so that we can better make sense of the text. 

It’s almost as if Paul was so excited to talk with the Ephesian believers about who they are in Jesus Christ and what they possess in him that he blurted out in writing with a flurry of enthusiasm and excited fervor without stopping to take a breath or a break.

Paul stacked word after significant word, on top of each other, in order to communicate the spiritual blessings that believers in Christ enjoy. Redemption, forgiveness, grace, wisdom, insight, predestination, faith, inheritance, and salvation are just some of the blessings given to those in union with Jesus Christ.

And, if that wasn’t enough, God has also graciously given us the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the one who comes alongside and helps us to live into the blessings we possess. Because God the Father predestined and elected us, God the Son redeemed us, and God the Spirit took possession of us, we are delivered from sin, death, and hell.

It’s as if we came to Christmas day expecting a package of underwear, and found instead a bunch of big boxes with some of the most lavish and expensive gifts we’ve ever seen!  This says much more about the giver than it says about us.

It was according to God’s good pleasure in Christ through the Spirit that believers in Jesus have such privileges.  Like the parent who sits back and watches the unpackaging of presents happen with great joy, so God delights and is pleased with the gifts given to us. The Lord absolutely delights in watching us unpack them and use them in this life.

These gifts, these blessings, are all lavishly provided because they are extensions of God, as if the Lord meticulously handmade each present with us in mind.

Throughout the entirety of Holy Scripture, all the stories and narratives, teachings and writings, are about God. The Lord of all creation is both the subject and object of each book of the Bible. Every good thing we have in this life is because of God’s gracious presence and power in this world.

Each positive experience we have is a direct result of God’s steadfast love toward people. All good gifts come from a good God who is delighted and pleased to give them.

Not a one of us purchased our own gifts and stuck them under the tree. God bought them all with the precious blood of Jesus and sent the Spirit to deliver them to us. 

Consider setting aside time today or tomorrow in a quiet place, and reflect on just one of the words in today’s New Testament lesson. Think about redemption or forgiveness, salvation, or grace, or any of the words which grab you.

Say the word repeatedly and meditatively, quietly and loudly, thoughtfully and with flavor. Consider what God did to bring you that gift. Contemplate the way(s) in which you have received the gift. 

Plan one way in which you might share your gift with another person. And make sure to give glory and praise to God for the grace lavishly given to you.

May your meditation lead to a deeper appreciation of what God has done for you; and may that revelation result in praise, honor, and glory to the One who accomplished so much on our behalf.

Gracious God, you have revealed and made known the way of deliverance from the power of darkness and brought me into your marvelous light. Help me to better understand all the ways you have acted on my behalf so that my life might reflect your grace and steadfast love to the world, through Jesus Christ, my Savior, in the enablement of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

True Faith (Hebrews 11:1-3, 13-19)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible….

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. (New International Version)

Faith is important. It’s part of us. We are all people of faith – maybe not sharing the same faith – but it is faith, none-the-less.

Belief transcends time. Faith is rooted in the past, experienced in the present, and future-oriented. In Christianity, faith is historically moored to the redemptive events of Christ’s incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

This historic faith has continuing ramifications into the present time. And it is a faith which believes Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead.

People of faith allow their belief in what is coming to shape how they live now in daily life.

The biblical character of Abraham is synonymous with faith. And for good reason. God had told Abraham he would have a son with his wife Sarah. This would not be unusual except for the fact the couple were well advanced in age, and Sarah was incapable of having children.

Yet, despite the overwhelming odds, Abraham believed God. Years later and with a mix of patience and impatience from the would-be parents, the promise from God was realized. Abraham and Sarah had a son, Isaac.

But true faith never comes without anguish…

Isaac was known as the child of the promise. So that’s why this command of God was so perplexing: Take your son, this child of the promise, and go to the mountain and sacrifice him there. (Genesis 22:2)

Huh? What the #&%!  But it only seems strange and super-weird to us. There was no reaction from Abraham, no questioning, no talk back. He simply went about the business of saddling up the donkey, chopping some wood for the sacrifice, and took his only son with him on the journey to the mountain. (Genesis 22:3-5)

The Sacrifice of Isaac, by Marc Chagall, 1966

We might wonder what was going through Abraham’s mind through all of this. While you and I might try and figure out if we really heard God or not, Abraham had a history of talking with God. He knew God’s voice as well as he knew his own.

Abraham was well down the road of relationship with the God he served. We gain the insight from the author of Hebrews into Abraham’s thought process, a line of thinking consistent with a person who has a regular habit of talking with God.

The promise was given to Abraham that it would be Isaac who receives the family blessing. So, when Abraham’s faith underwent a maximum test, he was willing to sacrifice Isaac. He reasoned and believed that God could raise people to life. Abraham simply thought he would get Isaac back from death.

Abraham did not try and figure out God’s mind. He didn’t get into a debate with God about the contradiction of ethics he was being asked to do. He just obeyed. Abraham knew that it didn’t matter if Isaac were killed because God would raise him from death.

This, of course, is not what happened. It was all a test of faith. Abraham knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is the Lord who provides. (Genesis 22:9-14)

You and I, along with all the faithful believers who have gone before us, rarely know why we are facing the unwanted and unasked for circumstances we are enduring. We don’t always know what in the world God is thinking.

Yet, like Abraham, if we have a spiritual history of walking with God and hearing the Lord’s voice, we don’t hesitate to respond. We are convinced God will provide. Obedience for the follower of Christ is not a burden but a privilege, even when we are being tested beyond our seeming emotional ability to do it.

True biblical faith is neither an existential leap into darkness, nor a simple recognition of certain facts. Rather, Christian faith is a reliance upon and commitment to the promises of God that results in taking a risk. 

Sovereign Lord, your ways are sometimes strange and confusing. Yet, I know that everything you do is always right, just, and good. It is to your gracious and merciful character that I know you will provide. My allegiance is to you, in the Name of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.