March-25-24 | Daily Devotions

Esther Agrees to Help the Jews

3/25/24 And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. ¹³Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” ¹⁵Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ¹⁶“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”^[c] ¹⁷Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him. (Esther 4:12-17) ESV

“If I Perish, I Perish”

Amy Orr-Ewing

2020-07-17

In this webcast, Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing shines a powerful and original light on the Old Testament book of Esther. Esther’s story is a “testimony to the unthwartable promises and purposes of God” and is a rousing call, so important at this uncertain time of coronavirus, to practice the discipline of “remembering” how God works and the breakthroughs He has achieved in the past. It is a discipline that builds trust that God is at work even when we can’t see it.

Run time for this video is 26 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkVNzRrmwEAandfeature=emb_logo

Triumph in Christ

3/24/24 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, ¹³my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, ¹⁶to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 12:16) ESV

Triumph in Christ

Triumphant in Christ

A compilation

2016-05-24

Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us. For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow,or where we are—high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us.—Romans 8:37–39¹

Triumph is fleeting. Hardly does one taste victory before it is gone. Achieved, yet now history. No one remains champion forever. Time for yet another conquest, another victory. Perhaps this is the absurdity of Paul’s claim: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession.”²

The triumph of Christ is not temporary. “Triumphant in Christ” is not an event or an occasion. It’s not fleeting. To be triumphant in Christ is a lifestyle … a state of being! To triumph in Christ is not something we do, it’s something we are.

Here is the big difference between victory in Christ and victory in the world: A victor in the world rejoices over something he did—swimming the English Channel, climbing Everest, making a million. But the believer rejoices over who he is—a child of God, a forgiven sinner, an heir of eternity. As the hymn goes, “Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.”

Nothing can separate us from our triumph in Christ. Nothing! Our triumph is based not upon our feelings but upon God’s gift. Our triumph is based not upon our perfection but upon God’s forgiveness. How precious is this triumph! For even though we are pressed on every side, the victory is still ours. Nothing can alter the loyalty of God.

A friend of mine recently lost his father to death. The faith of his father had for years served as an inspiration for many. In the moments alone with the body of his father, my friend said this thought kept coming to his mind as he looked at his daddy’s face: You won. You won. You won!

As Joan of Arc said when she was abandoned by those who should have stood by her, “It is better to be alone with God. His friendship will not fail me, nor his counsel, nor his love. In his strength I will dare and dare and dare until I die.”

“Triumphant in Christ.” It is not something we do. It’s something we are.—Max Lucado

I will come to you

What does Jesus do when you’re at your moment of desperation? Mark 6:48 says, “About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water.”³ Notice he didn’t tell the disciples to come to him. He knew they couldn’t get to him. He went to them. When you’re at that point of desperation, Jesus comes to you!

I love the fact that Jesus did not stand on the shore and shout instructions. When you’re in a storm, you don’t need advice. You need a miracle! You need somebody to show up, and this is what Jesus did. He intervened in the disciples’ storm.

This is the gospel—that God doesn’t stand on the shoreline telling us what to do. He comes out and meets us in our pain, our fear, our depression, our storm, and our discouragement. He comes to us. What a God!

You may feel abandoned right now, but you’re not. The Bible says in John 14:18, “I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm—I will come to you.”⁴ You can count on it!—Rick Warren

Faith praises no matter what happens

Job had obviously lived a godly life for many years, but it took the implosion of the power of God from without to put the pressure on by means of the trials and afflictions of the Devil, before the power that was within exploded into a mighty atomic chain reaction of some of the most beautiful poetry in the Bible—the Song of Suffering which has echoed down through the ages to encourage countless millions with its reverberations of faith, patience, and praise in the midst of adversity. When everything goes wrong and seems contrary to God’s Word and the usual, those with great faith can say with Job, “even though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”⁵ Real gold—no matter how hot the fire or how long the fire, how hot the test or how long it lasts—will still come out gold, even finer gold!

God has a purpose in everything He allows, even if it is only to compel us to exercise our faith … and to demonstrate it for the encouragement of others, to inspire the faith of others and to encourage their trust in the Lord. How can we be more than conquerors when everything goes wrong and seems contrary to the Word and the usual? By being good losers, and even praising God in the midst of our losses. God often gets His greatest victories out of seeming defeat, and He often brings them along the neglected path of praise. Praise is the voice of faith!—David Brandt Berg

All-inclusive love

David said we should give thanks because “the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”⁶ The Lord is good. What an important statement this is. The world is often evil. But God is good. His love never wavers. We may waver in our love for Him, but He never wavers in His love for us. Max Lucado has written:

How wide is God’s love? Wide enough for the whole world. Are you included in the world? Then you are included in God’s love.

It’s nice to be included. You aren’t always. Universities exclude you if you aren’t smart enough. Businesses exclude you if you aren’t qualified enough, and sadly, some churches exclude you if you aren’t good enough.

But though they may exclude you, Christ includes you. When asked to describe the width of his love, he stretched one hand to the right and one to the left and had them nailed in that position so you would know he died loving you.

But isn’t there a limit? Surely there has to be an end to this love. You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But David the adulterer never found it. Paul the murderer never found it. Peter the liar never found it. When it came to life, they hit bottom. But when it came to God’s love, they never did. They, like you, found their names on God’s list of love.

David tells us that God’s faithfulness extends to all generations. When others fail us, He does not. When others desert us, He stands with us. When we declare our anger, He continues to declare His love. God is consistent. He is good. He is loving. Even when we don’t understand the circumstances of life, we should give thanks for the God whose character is without question. This character is what we rely on.

We give thanks for a sure Hope beyond the grave. How do people survive who see this life as all that there is? The Bible tells us that when we die, we go to be with the Lord. We are given a home prepared by God’s loving hands. We are given bodies that will never decay, malfunction, or embarrass us. We are reunited with loved ones who have died before us. And we will be with Jesus. Heaven is described by taking the most precious things of this life: gold, silver, precious stones … and making them the common things of Heaven. It is a reminder that this life is nothing in comparison to the splendor of the world to come. Heaven is depicted as a place of joy, singing, celebration. It is a place where wrongs are made right, where good is rewarded.

We give thanks for the Savior who made this hope possible… We give thanks for Jesus in every circumstance because He is our reason for hope. It is faith in Him that has made us new.—Bruce Goettsche⁷

Published on Anchor May 2016. Read by Jason Lawrence. Music by John Listen.

¹ TLB.

² 2 Corinthians 2:14.

³ NLT.

⁴ TLB.

⁵ Job 13:15.

⁶ Psalm 100:5 NIV.

⁷ http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/111900.html.

The Resurrection of Christ

3/23/24 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[a] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If in Christ we have hope^[b] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²²For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. ²⁴Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷For “God^[c] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. ²⁸When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

²⁹Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? ³⁰Why are we in danger every hour? ³¹I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! ³²What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” ³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”^[d] ³⁴Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. (Corinthians 15:1-34) ESV

The Resurrection Confirms the Gospel

Charles Price

2013-03-29

An inspiring and lively talk of death, life, and the resurrection, and the place that Christ’s resurrection has in the life of a Christian and that of the Christian worldview. Run time is 40 minutes.

Charles Price has been the Senior Pastor of The Peoples Church in Toronto, Canada, since September 2001, with a weekly congregation of 3500 people. He has a weekly hour-long television program, Living Truth, which is broadcast coast to coast in Canada each week, as well as in the United Kingdom, Europe, India, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Korea, and Japan. He has preached in over 75 countries on 5 continents around the world and is the author of 7 books, some of which have been translated into German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Hindi, Malayalam, Farsi, Korean and Latvian.

Straining Toward the Goal

3/22/24 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. ¹⁶Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

¹⁷Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. ¹⁸For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:12-21) ESV

The Story—Part Two

Peter Amsterdam

2016-08-16

This article continues with the story behind the message of the gospel. As I mentioned previously, while the plot and story line remain the same, there are many ways of telling the story. This summary might bring to mind aspects which you haven’t thought of for some time and might help you when relating the message to those you’re ministering to. This second part begins at the New Testament.

At the time of Jesus’ birth, Israel was an occupied country. Because of the promises given in Scripture, many of the Jewish people were hoping for and expecting that God was going to raise up a king, a messiah, who would throw off the Roman yoke and restore Israel’s political independence. They were expecting that Israel would be ruled by a righteous king, and that this would usher in a new era.

Jesus preached that the kingdom was near. There are over 70 mentions of “the kingdom of God” and “the kingdom of heaven” in the Gospels. The first-century Jews understood this to mean that Jesus would lead a movement that was going to defeat the Romans and bring about all the blessings God spoke about throughout the Old Testament. From things said in the Gospels, it seems that some of the disciples were thinking in these terms as well.

But that wasn’t God’s plan at all. In fact, much of what Jesus said, the parables He told, and His actions, such as casting the moneychangers out of the temple and overturning their tables, proclaimed judgment on Israel, much like many of the Old Testament prophets did. Jesus taught that the old way of forgiveness of sins through the temple sacrifices was over, and the physical temple, the sacrifices, the strict adherence to the Torah, the Laws of Moses, were no longer necessary.—That Israel, because of her sins, was going to be judged and destroyed. Only a few decades later, in 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the temple and the city and didn’t allow Jews to live in Jerusalem any longer. In 132 AD some of the Jewish people again revolted against Rome. This led the Romans to destroy nearly 1,000 villages in central Judea, killing, enslaving, or exiling the inhabitants.

The fulfillment of God’s promises that salvation would come through Israel to the rest of the world was going to happen in a manner that was completely unexpected. It was going to come through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Their messiah was going to look like a failed messiah, someone who had made big, bold promises, only to be executed by the authorities. But this “failed messiah” rose from the dead and never died again, and in doing so, He defeated death. Never before had someone died, been resurrected, and not died again eventually. There had been a few people who were raised from death, such as Lazarus, but these eventually died again. Jesus did not. In Jesus, God did a completely new thing.

Everything the Scriptures had foretold about the salvation of the world came to a climax through these events. There was a fundamental change which ushered in a new age, known as “the last days”; an age which started with the resurrection of Jesus and will end with His return, when the victory over death is completed, and those who have chosen to be His will be raised—body and spirit.

Jesus was the first to be resurrected, including His body, and He is now in heaven, body and spirit. His body was changed. God created a new kind of body in resurrecting Jesus’ body, one that was material in that it could be touched, but was beyond material in that it could disappear and pass through walls and doors. This kind of body did not exist before, but it does now in Jesus. This is the kind of body that human beings will possess at the end of the “last days.”¹ Jesus ascended into heaven bodily. The risen and exalted Lord exists today in body and spirit. Those who receive Jesus as their Savior will be raised in the same manner—body and spirit.

Jesus’ death and resurrection fulfilled the promises and covenants contained within the Jewish scriptures, and in doing so changed everything!

With His death and resurrection, the temple was no longer needed, for sins would no longer be forgiven yearly through temple sacrifice, but would be forgiven eternally once and for all through the sacrifice of Jesus’ death. The temple was no longer to be the dwelling place of God, because after Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit dwelt in believers.

The Torah was superseded by the words of Jesus, as He was the Word made flesh. When He said, “You have heard it said … but I say to you,” He was stating that His word had more authority than the Laws of Moses, that He was giving a new version of it, and that He had the right to do so.

When Jesus ate His last meal with His disciples, He was celebrating Passover, the event when the blood of a lamb was sprinkled on the doorposts, which saved the Jewish firstborn children from the angel of death and made the Jews’ exodus from Egypt possible. However, He taught at that last meal that the sacrifice that was about to take place represented a new covenant, a new agreement—that the shedding of His blood would permanently save us from sin and would bring a new exodus from the bondage of sin and death.

The gate that was closed after Adam’s sin has now been opened. The separation is no longer there. The opportunity to become part of God’s family is now available to all. Humankind has been given the right to become children of God through Jesus.² God’s Spirit will dwell within and empower anyone who receives Jesus.

The clincher in this story is that Jesus’ death and resurrection began a new era, a new creation, the beginning of the kingdom of God on earth. The people of the world can now be reconciled with God. Permanent forgiveness of sin is available without our having to pay the price for that forgiveness, as it was paid in full by Jesus’ death. We are part of God’s new creation. We are reconciled to Him, received back into His favor, able to become one of His children, and are called to help others find that same reconciliation.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us.³

The story doesn’t end there, as death itself will eventually be defeated and creation will be fully restored, with no curse, no sin, no evil.⁴

Jesus, God the Son, was born of a woman and lived the life of a human. He was the nature and character of God in human flesh. His actions, His words, the life He lived, manifested what God is like, made tangible in the life of Jesus. The ultimate love, the deep compassion, the hatred of evil; the anger at injustice, hypocrisy, and taking advantage of the poor and weak; the mercy and understanding; all of these were the personality of God played out in a way that we, as humans, could understand.

Jesus was God’s love, God’s Word, walking the earth. He was called to pay the ultimate price of dying for the sins of those in the world, and in doing so, He made it possible for us to be reconciled to God, to become God’s children, to have the right to receive the inheritance of our Father, which is eternal life.

We, as members of God’s family, His adopted children,⁵ play a role in God’s great story, in His love for humanity, His love for His creation. For we are called to share this story with those who haven’t heard it, who don’t understand it, and who have trouble believing it. With God’s Spirit dwelling in us, we are temples of the Holy Spirit. We are ambassadors of Christ, who have a personal relationship with God, and our commission from Jesus Himself is to share the message, to tell the story, to let others know that they can be part of God’s family. They can become part of God’s kingdom, of His new creation. Their sins can be forgiven, all for free, since the price of their entry into God’s family has been paid for. It’s theirs for the asking.

It’s helpful to remember the end result of it all, what God is offering, so it’s fresh in our hearts and minds when we offer it to others. Those who become members of God’s family will live forever in a place of incredible beauty, which is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,”⁶ with the radiance of jewels,⁷ with a wall constructed from precious stones.⁸ A place with no need of the sun or stars, for God will be its light.⁹ There will be no death, mourning, crying, or pain.¹⁰ It’s a place that is free from all evil,¹¹ a place where God will dwell with men.¹²—Forever! Ours is a message of joy, of happiness, of the possibility of eternal life in the most wonderful place possible, and a renewed life now. It truly is the most important message there is.

As partakers of these eternal blessings, as His ambassadors, His messengers, we should do our very best to live in a manner which reflects God and His love, which lets people see God’s light and feel His warmth through us, His children. We are to be messengers of the divine invitation, inviting one and all to the feast, to the kingdom of God.¹³ We are to preach the gospel, the good news that anyone can become God’s child, that His free gift is available to everyone.

We are to be messengers of love, in word and in deed, to a world desperately in need of God, of His love, His forgiveness, and His mercy.¹⁴ We are His messengers; our job is to pass on the invitation, to share the good news, to tell the story, and to do so in a language that they understand, through our words, our actions, and our love. Invite them!

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.¹⁵

Originally published February 2012. Republished on Anchor August 2016.
Read by Jason Lawrence.

¹ Philippians 3:20–21, 1 Corinthians 15:42–44, 49, 1 John 3:2.

² John 1:12.

³ 2 Corinthians 5:17–20.

⁴ Revelation 21:1, 4–5.

⁵ Galatians 4:4–7.

⁶ Revelation 21:2.

⁷ Revelation 21:10–11.

⁸ Revelation 21:18–21.

⁹ Revelation 21:23.

¹⁰ Revelation 21:4.

¹¹ Revelation 21:27.

¹² Revelation 21:3.

¹³ Luke 14:23.

¹⁴ Romans 10:14.

¹⁵ Revelation 22:17.

Put On the New Self

3/21/24 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your^[a] life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 1:1-4) ESV

Easter Is Newness of Life

A compilation

2015-03-30

All the disciples were in a mood of deepest and darkest depression. The light had been cut off from their minds. They were in the dark. The taste had gone out of their lives. Everything had become stale and profitless. Simon Peter was gloomy with despondency and haggard with remorse. … Mary Magdalene started at the “early dawn” to carry spices to the grave, but there was no dawning in her spirit, and the roadway was wet with her tears. …

And then came the cry, “He is risen!” The Lord is alive. His tomb is empty! He has shaken off death, He has marched out of the grave! Think of that trumpet note pealing through the late night. Think of that great burning light streaming through the darkness, kindling life after life into blazing hope again. …

Now what did the apostles find in the resurrection which made them give it weighty and unfailing emphasis? What was its practical significance? What did it mean? First of all, it meant this, that Jesus of Nazareth had been clearly manifested to be the Son of God. Before this wonderful morning, the disciples had been the victims of uncertainty, chilled by cloudy moods of doubt and fear.

But with the resurrection, the uncertainty ends. It is not only that the immediate darkness passes, but the troublesome mists are lifted as well, and the Master emerges as the clearly manifested Son of God. “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee!” …

In the power of the resurrection, the apostles saw a vast reservoir of spiritual energy for the quickening and emancipation of the race. This was their reasoning and their faith … that in Christ we, too, can rise out of death into newness of life, that, just as He walked out of that tomb, we, too, can walk out of the grave and graveyard of our own corrupt past, and in vigour and sweetness of being, become alive unto God.—Dr. J. H. Jowett¹

If you come to seek His face, not in the empty sepulcher, but in the living power of His presence … then your hearts will be full of true Easter joy, and that joy will shed itself abroad in your homes. And let your joy not end with the hymns and the prayers and the communions in His house. Take with you the joy of Easter to the home, and make that home bright with more unselfish love, more hearty service; take it into your work, and do all in the name of the Lord Jesus; take it to your heart, and let that heart rise anew on Easter wings to a higher, a gladder, a fuller life; take it to the dear graveside and say there the two words “Jesus lives!” and find in them the secret of calm expectation, the hope of eternal reunion.—John Ellerton

What is His message to us this springtime? If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.² It is not just risen with Christ, but resurrected. It is not rising a little higher in the old life, but it is rising from the dead.—A. B. Simpson

“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”³

“Newness of life”—what does it mean? It means this: When we are born again, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ … we receive a life which we never before possessed. We begin to feel, to think, and to act as we never had before. The new life is something foreign to our fallen nature. … The carnal mind knows nothing of spiritual things. The man who is not born again cannot understand what the new birth means. … In your rebirth you received a light which had never before shone in your bosom—a life that came not from men, neither by men. … No seeds of eternal life lie buried in the dunghill of fallen nature. Eternal life is the gift of God.

This novel life is new in its principles. The old life at its very best only said, “I must do right that I may win a reward.” Wage-earning is the principle of the old legal life when it tries to be obedient. Now you are moved by gratitude, and not by a mercenary motive. … Now, you serve not as a hired servant, but as a loving child. Grace reigns. The love of Christ constrains you. It is your joy to obey out of love, and not from slavish fear.

This life is swayed by new motives. You live now to please God; before you lived to please yourself, or to please your neighbors. Once you lived for what you could get for yourself; you lived for the passing pleasures of a fleeting life; but now you have launched upon eternal seas. Eternity holds your treasures; eternity excites your efforts; eternity elevates your desires. You live as seeing him who is invisible, and your conduct is controlled, not by the judgment of fallible men, but by the rule of the heart-searching God.

Your new life has new objects. You aim higher; yes, you aim at the highest of all; for you live for the glory of God, and seek that “your light may so shine, that men may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” The will of God has now become your law. You count yourself only happy as you may fulfill his purposes, honor his name, and extend his kingdom. …

God has made us “rich in faith,” and he has given us greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. When the Lord lifts up his countenance upon us, we no longer cry for corn and wine and oil. Though flocks die, and crops fail, our bread shall be given us, and our waters shall be sure. Instead of groaning that life is not worth having, we bless God for our being, because our well-being is in Christ. …

We are happy creatures now. Once we were doleful enough, save when we were in our cups and inflamed with a delirious mirth; but now we have peace like a river, and a secret joy which no one can take from us. We drink of a well which will never dry up; we have bread to eat that the world knows not of. Truly our fellowship is with the Father; and this, even to ourselves, is so vast a joy that it overwhelms us. When we are nearest to God, and are absorbed in him, we cannot comprehend our own delight.—Charles Spurgeon⁴

The miracle of Easter is that because Jesus didn’t remain in the grave, we don’t have to either! We don’t have to suffer the payment for our sins in hell, or experience eternal separation from God. He took that payment for us, and then rose in new life! And His new life can be inside us, giving us hope and peace, as we are filled with His love. He arose! And we were also born anew. Hallelujah!—David Brandt Berg

Published on Anchor March 2015. Read by Jerry Paladino. Music by Michael Dooley.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

3/20/24As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” ³⁷But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. ³⁸And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish,^[b] ⁴³and he took it and ate before them.

⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷and that repentance for^[c] the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
(Luke 24:36-49) ESV

A Spirit Hath Not Flesh and Bones

Timothy Keller

2012-04-03

A discussion about Luke 24:37-43 by Dr. Timothy Keller.

https://gospelinlife.com/sermon/doubt-joy-and-power-easter/

“I believe that this little story is written especially for the average [Christian] today, because the average [Christian] is actually comfortable with the message of Easter. When the disciples heard the real message of Easter, look at all the words: startled, terrified, troubled, filled with doubts, disbelief, joy! The average [Christian] experiences none of these. … I’m here to show you that it’s almost like Luke anticipated that, because this passage comes right out essentially and says, ‘If you spiritualize the resurrection, if you say that Jesus is just living on in spirit, you will have comfort, but you won’t have the truth.’ … If you are comfortable with Easter, if you’re not terrified by it and rapturously lifted into joy by it, it’s because you have either spiritualized the message of Easter or you haven’t thought out the message of Easter. If you understand it the way the disciples understood it, you’ll be moved from absolute terror to absolute joy, but you won’t just be comforted by it.”

Run time of the audio, if you download it, is 34 minutes. (Note: There seems to be a problem with the streaming version, in that it repeats partway through and comes out to be over an hour long.)

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

3/19/24For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” ¹¹Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”^[d] ¹²But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” ¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— ¹⁴so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit^[e] through faith. (Galatians 3:10-14) ESV

Easter—Yesterday, Today, and Forever!

Peter Amsterdam

2016-03-21

I have been reflecting on Jesus’ resurrection and its significance. What did it mean to His original disciples—all of those who believed in Him during His lifetime on earth? And what does it mean to us today?

By the time Jesus ate the last Passover meal with His disciples, just hours before He was arrested, tried, and killed, they had come to understand that Jesus was the Messiah spoken of throughout the Scriptures (the Old Testament). Their understanding of His Messiahship, however, was different from our understanding today, because it was rooted in the Jewish people’s interpretation of the Scriptures at the time.

The Jewish people in first-century Palestine believed and expected that God would send a Messiah, as was spoken about throughout the Old Testament. According to their interpretation of Scripture, this Messiah, the anointed one, was going to be an earthly king of Israel. The expectation was that the king of the Jews would free the nation of Israel from oppression and domination by various other kingdoms, from which it had suffered for centuries. As they saw it, the kingdom to come was going to be an earthly one.

The disciples’ understanding of Jesus as the Messiah up until the time of His death was still based on this interpretation. They were expecting that Jesus would be the anointed king of physical Israel. When Jesus told His disciples about His upcoming death, it was difficult for them to accept this, because there was no conception in the popular Jewish understanding of the role of the Messiah that the Messiah would be killed.

Jesus didn’t want to spread the news that He was the Messiah, at least not at that point, possibly because it would have brought Him into political conflict with the Roman government. While Jesus didn’t want the disciples to spread the news of who He was, He did inform them.

Peter’s reaction to Jesus’ statement that He was going to go to Jerusalem to die was basically to tell Him that He was wrong. Why would a disciple tell Jesus that? Because, according to the Jewish perception, the Messiah was not going to die in Jerusalem—he was going to take over the physical kingdom of Israel and would rule and reign in righteousness, which in some way would affect the whole world. So, from the natural point of view, Peter’s response is understandable, as is James and John asking Jesus to let them hold positions of power in Jesus’ earthly kingdom. Their expectation was an earthly kingdom with an anointed king, the messiah.

The events of the days before the Passover added to this anticipation. Seeing the large crowd of those who had come to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover taking branches of palm trees and going to meet Jesus, crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel,¹ would have been exhilarating for the disciples! Jesus arrived in the capital city (as the Messiah was expected to do), and many were proclaiming Him as king. And why wouldn’t they? People had heard that He had recently raised His friend Lazarus from the dead. Throughout His ministry He had healed multitudes of sick people, He had fed thousands of people miraculously, and He had spoken God’s Word with authority. His arrival caused those who didn’t know who He was or what was going on to ask about it, and the crowds who were following Him said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”² The expectation of many that Jesus was likely the Messiah was high.

However, to all appearances, everything soon went wrong. Within days Jesus was dead—unfairly accused and savagely killed in the most degrading manner, a manner which the Jews understood to mean that the person dying was cursed by God.³ The Messiah was expected to bring the pagans to justice, not to suffer unjust violence at their hands.

You can imagine how devastating this shocking turn of events must have been for the disciples. The teacher they followed, their beloved Master, whom they were sure was the Messiah, was dead. Their hopes of Jesus being the Messiah had been dashed, and they were deeply saddened by His death.⁴

But then, the resurrection changed everything! God raised the so-called “failed” Messiah from the dead. There had been no Jewish expectation that the Messiah would be raised from the dead, so it wasn’t as if the disciples, or the Jewish people in general, were waiting to see whether Jesus would fulfill some biblical promise in that respect.

During Jesus’ trial the high priest had asked Him if He was the Christ, the Messiah, and upon hearing Jesus’ affirmative answer, the high priest and those with him decided that Jesus must die.⁵ They accused Him of blasphemy, which by their law was punishable by death. The Jewish leaders rejected Him, did not believe He was the promised Messiah, and feared that if He lived, the Romans would take away their place in the temple and the nation as a whole.

Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator, condemned Jesus to death on the basis of His claim of being a king. It seems he didn’t consider Jesus a threat, but due to the insistence of the crowd and the Jewish authorities, he chose to apply the law.⁶ There could be no kings without the sanction of Rome, so under the Roman anti-sedition laws He was crucified. Jesus was executed because the Jewish leaders rejected Him as the Messiah, and because the Romans said no unauthorized king could live. Yet the extraordinary and unexpected event of His resurrection reversed the verdicts of both the Jewish and the Roman courts.⁷

Despite Rome’s rules that would-be kings must die, and the Jewish leaders’ belief that Jesus was not the Messiah, God Himself overturned their judgments, validating Jesus as both King and Messiah by raising Him from the dead. This in turn validated all that Jesus taught about Himself and about God the Father, about the kingdom of God and salvation. The resurrection, which proved that Jesus was in fact the Messiah, coupled with the coming of the Holy Spirit, established a new understanding about God.

The significance of the resurrection in Jesus’ day was that it validated that Jesus was who He said He was. Before the resurrection, the disciples didn’t fully understand the things Jesus had told them about His death and resurrection. However, after He rose, during the forty days before He ascended into heaven, He explained the Scriptures to them and they then understood.

The realization that through Jesus’ Incarnation, death, and resurrection, salvation was available to all, was the reason the apostles preached about the resurrected Christ throughout the book of Acts. It’s why the New Testament writers wrote about the significance of the resurrection, stating that it proved He was the Son of God, that we are born again, that we have assurance of our salvation, and that without it our faith would be in vain.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.⁸

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.⁹

The resurrection was proof that God had indeed entered into the world in a new way, through His Son. Fifty days later, after Jesus had ascended, the Holy Spirit also entered the world in a new way by dwelling within believers. These events motivated the disciples and the early church to spread that news throughout the world of their day. They shared the news that through Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, humanity could be reconciled with God.

For the disciples then, and for us now, Easter is the bedrock of Christian faith and hope. The early disciples, while initially faced with crushed hopes due to their expectations, soon came to see that because Jesus arose, what He did, said, and promised are true. That carries down through history to us today. The risen Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, gave proof of His divinity by dying for our sins and rising from the dead.

Because He died for our sins and then rose from the dead, we know that all He said is true: that we have salvation, that we have eternal life, that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, that we have the promise of answered prayer, that He will lead and guide us when we ask Him to. The separation between us and God has been bridged. We are God’s children, who will live with Him forever, and we can bring others to Him through our witness.

Because of the resurrection, we have the assurance of salvation, the ability to lead a Christ-infused life today, and the honor to live with God forever.

Let’s rejoice in the significance of Easter—yesterday, today, and forever. Happy Easter!

Originally published March 2013. Excerpted and republished March 2016.
Read by Simon Peterson.

¹ John 12:13. Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV).

² John 12:12–18, Matthew 21:6–11.

³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:13–14).

⁴ That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him (Luke 24:13–16).

⁵ The high priest said to [Jesus], “I adjure You by the living God, tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard His blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death” (Matthew 26:63–66).

⁶ Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar” (John 19:12).

⁷ N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 576.

⁸ 1 Peter 1:3.

⁹ Romans 10:9.

The Resurrection of Christ

3/18/24 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[a] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

Approaching Eternity

Reflections 298
2005-04-02

Jesus Christ came to Earth to show man God’s love, yet when He was tortured and crucified, it seemed He had lived and died in vain. But after three days in the tomb He was resurrected and seen by many people
(The Bible, Matthew1-8; 1 Corinthians 15:3-6).

Jesus holds out to us a similar amazing miracle—new inner life right now and a heavenly life with Him after we die—through our accepting Him, our believing in Him, our taking His love and power and spirit into ourselves.

Here three writers express what Jesus’ resurrection at Easter means to them.

The miracle of Easter is that because Jesus didn’t remain in the grave, we don’t have to either! We don’t have to suffer death, the payment for our sins in Hell, or eternal separation from God. He took that punishment for us, and then rose in new life! And His new life can be inside us, giving us hope and peace, as we are filled with His love. He arose! And we who believe were also born anew. Hallelujah!—David Brandt Berg

A spot along the way home

A little girl who had to walk through a cemetery on her way home from school was asked if she was afraid. “No,” she replied. “I simply cross it to get home.”

That is what the Resurrection has done with death. It has turned it into a harmless pathway on our journey home.

That doesn’t mean that God won’t let you or your loved ones die. The message of Easter is not that faith is easy, but that above the greatest storms of your soul, there is hope.

The Resurrection struck a new note of hope in the lives of Jesus’ disciples. And likewise it strikes a note of new hope in the lives of those in sick rooms, in hospitals, in cemeteries burying their loved ones—those who suffer.

We will at times be in pain or grieve, but thank God, we are not left hopeless and helpless. That is because of an event that took place in one awesome moment in history some two thousand years ago, in a small cemetery outside the walls of Jerusalem.

It was early on a Sunday morning. Some women had walked together to visit the grave of their beloved friend and heard the angel say, “He is not here; He has risen.”—Vince Gerhardy (Australian pastor)

Approaching eternity

Plenty of great teachers, mystics, martyrs, and saints have spoken words full of grace and truth. In the case of Jesus alone, however, the belief has persisted that when He came into the world, God deigned to take on the likeness of a man in order that men might reach out.

For myself, as I approach my end, I find Jesus’ outrageous claim ever more captivating and meaningful. Quite often, waking up in the night as the old do, I feel myself to be half out of my body, hovering between life and death, with eternity rising in the distance.

I see my ancient carcass, prone between the sheets, stained and worn like a scrap of paper dropped in the gutter and, hovering over it, myself, like a butterfly released from its chrysalis stage and ready to fly away. Are caterpillars told of their impending resurrection? —How in dying they will be transformed from poor earth-crawlers into creatures of the air, with exquisitely painted wings? If told, do they believe it? I imagine the wise old caterpillars shaking their heads—no, it can’t be; it’s a fantasy.

Yet in the limbo between living and dying, as the night clocks tick remorselessly on and the black sky implacably shows not one single streak or scratch of gray, I hear those words: I [Jesus] am the resurrection and the life, and feel myself to be carried along on a great tide of joy and peace.—Malcolm Muggeridge (British journalist who became a Christian late in life, 1903-1990)

R298—April 2005
Reflections © 2005 The Family International.
Visit our website at www.thefamilyinternational.org.

The Resurrection of the Dead

3/17/24Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If in Christ we have hope^[^b^] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

The Resurrection of the Dead

Easter Wonders

Peter Amsterdam

2015-04-04

At this time of year we celebrate the very heart of our faith—the resurrection of Jesus. It is the central theme of the gospel, the key component which proves the validity of everything Jesus taught. The resurrection tells us that Jesus is the Son of God; that as believers we have salvation and forgiveness, we are God’s children, and we’ll be with Him for eternity in heaven.

The apostle Paul said that if Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead, then the message of Christianity would be without foundation, and the faith of those who believe would be worthless.¹ But as the angel told the women who came to Jesus’ tomb, He has risen from the dead, just as He said He would. This fact validates our belief system and our faith. Jesus is alive! He lives! And because He does, so do we. Jesus said: I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.²

I love that we celebrate Easter and all that it means. I’d like to talk about three effects of the resurrection that are especially meaningful for me.

A sense of renewed awe and wonder

Jesus rising from the grave means that He conquered death, and in doing so, freed us from being bound only to this earth life. Though we presently live in a broken world, we have the promise of a perfect world to come. While we experience heartbreak and disappointment today, our tears and fears will be forever wiped away in our life after this life. He will make all things right. While we presently sometimes struggle with confusion, sadness, fear, and uncertainty, when we join Him and are in His presence, we will experience joy unspeakable.

This is possible because God, who so deeply loves us and wants us to be in relationship with Him, made a plan by which we could become His children. This plan required God entering this world through a miraculous birth and, after living among us, giving His life for us on the cross—and then rising from the dead. Through the completion of His plan, we can enter into the relationship with Him that we were created for—both now and forever.

That God has made it possible for us to have His presence in our lives now and to dwell in His presence eternally is awesome. The appropriate response on our part is one of eternal gratitude, praise, worship, and adoration, for we have been given the greatest gift possible.

Increased faith for life

I believe that if we think about, meditate on, and appreciate what Jesus’ resurrection meant, what it achieved, and how it has changed our lives forever, we can gain increased faith for every area of our lives. Jesus not only rose from the dead, but He’s in the business of helping us rise above the dead ends, deadwood, and deadweights in our lives.

Sometimes we resign ourselves to situations and circumstances because we feel there’s no hope for change, that things are what they are and that we simply have to endure them. However, God is in the business of changing things, of breathing new life into hearts, relationships, or situations that may be or seem “dead.” Perhaps you’re in a situation that seems out of your control or as if all hope is gone, but no situation is beyond Jesus’ control; His power is unlimited. When Jesus was on earth, He regularly did the impossible. He multiplied the loaves and fishes, walked on water, healed the paralyzed, and gave sight to the blind. Dead people were even raised to life.

Mark Batterson expressed this concept well:

If you read the Gospels, what you discover is this: Jesus routinely reversed the irreversible! He reversed weather systems, He reversed blindness. There were no nerves between the optic nerve and the visual cortex, nothing there, no one had ever heard of a man being born blind and then receiving sight, but Jesus reverses things that are irreversible. He reverses leprosy. 2,000 years ago, He reversed death itself. So what we celebrate is the fact that there is a God who is higher than, who is bigger than, the universal laws and the universe that He has created. What God accomplished on that resurrection morning is He defeated death, He reversed the irreversible. And I would suggest that that is exactly what He came to do in your life. He came to reverse the effects of sin. He came to reverse the effects of death. That’s who He is and what He does.³

Renewed commitment to spread the Good News

Jesus coming to earth, dying on the cross for us, and His subsequent resurrection forever changed the course of history. These actions allowed each of us the opportunity to accept Jesus and become part of God’s family. We should be impressed with how wonderful the gift of salvation is and be moved by the great need to share it with as many as we can. This is the most precious gift anyone can possibly receive, and we who have been blessed with it should feel compelled to share it with others.

It’s easy to get so busy with our responsibilities and daily commitments, and end up feeling that there’s no time left to be one of God’s ambassadors. But is that really the case? Or is it a matter of priorities? When we give careful thought to the magnitude and meaning of the priceless gift God has given us, it motivates us to regularly share it with others.

Receiving Jesus’ gift of salvation and reconciliation is the singularly most important thing that anyone can ever do. It’s a gift that will better their life, heal their heart, give them hope for the future, and enable them to help those that they love, not only here and now, but in the life to come.

Jesus telling His disciples to preach the gospel throughout the world to everyone informs us that He wants each man, woman, and child to have the opportunity to become a part of His family, to be saved from their sins, and to experience His forgiveness and reconciliation. Each of us who has already received His marvelous gift, who know what it is to live within God’s family, to be forgiven for our sins, to have God’s Spirit within us, should feel compelled to share the gospel with those who are searching.

We who believe in the resurrection, have been saved because of the resurrection, and will experience resurrection, should remind ourselves as we celebrate the resurrection of God the Son that we are proclaimers of the risen Christ to those who have not yet heard that God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.⁴

Happy Easter!

¹ 1 Corinthians 15:12–20 HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible).

² John 11:25–26 ESV.

³ Mark Batterson, National Community Church, April 12, 2009 (Easter).

⁴ John 3:16 ESV.

Isaiah 53

3/16/24 Who has believed what he has heard from us?^[^a^]
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
²For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
³He was despised and rejected^[^b^] by men,
a man of sorrows^[^c^] and acquainted with^[^d^] grief;^[^e^]
and as one from whom men hide their faces^[^f^]
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
⁶All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
⁸By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
⁹And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;^[^g^]
when his soul makes^[^h^] an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
¹¹Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see^[i] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹²Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,^[^j^]
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,^[^k^]
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

The Sacrifice of Love

Words from Jesus

2011-04-22

When I gave My life for you, I did not merely die for you. I not only suffered My own hurt and pain, but it was given to Me to also take on your sufferings and pain. I came in the flesh that I might taste death for every man. I died for every man, woman, and child who has ever walked the face of the earth. I bore the pain of each one. I not only suffered My pain, but I felt your pain too, so that through My stripes you can be healed.¹

I took the pain, My children, of each of you, the suffering of each of you. I did not die for only one or feel for only one, but I died for all, I felt for all—each one’s pain, each one’s suffering—so that you could have a way of escape. When you give your burdens, your cares, your sufferings to Me, I will sustain you, because I already bore them for you. I already took on your pain and your sufferings, so that you, through My suffering, may be healed and delivered and find relief in your hour of need.²

When I was dying on the cross, I felt forsaken. But when I rose from the dead everything was new, everything was different. All the pain was forgotten. There was no remorse or sorrow, because the anguish of dying was consumed by the joy of My resurrection. The pain of death was swallowed up by victory.

When you celebrate Easter, celebrate victory, triumph, and overcoming. Think about the good things I’ve brought your way. Think on the good, the positive. It’s a day to focus on the joyful and the victorious.

Remember the great love I have for you—the love that led Me to give My life for you, and the love that gave Me the power to rise up in new life, also for you.³

My resurrection life within you, within each of My children, is more actual energy than you’ve probably ever realized or utilized. You have the Spirit of My Father which raised Me from the dead dwelling within you, and just as He raised Me from the dead, so can He quicken your earthen frames by His Spirit. That’s one of My wonderful truths and promises I’ve given to you, and this resurrection power that is within you through Me has given you power to rise above. Claim it as yours!⁴

One day you are going to see Me just as I am. One day I’m going to break through the thin veneer of your sky and shower My radiance, brilliance, magnificence, and majesty upon the earth. Angels will herald My second coming, just as they did My first. The air will be filled with the sound of the trumpet and the praises of the saints and the angels as they peer from heavenly curtains to watch My Bride’s beautiful return.

And in that moment, when you see Me coming through the clouds with such strength and beauty, all pain and suffering will be washed away as if it took place only for a moment, only a small speck of time in the whole scope of eternity. Your life on earth will suddenly seem short-lived, as you rise to embrace Me and to enter heaven in My arms. You will know then, in that twinkling of an eye, that it was worth it all.

One glimpse of My face and your sorrows will be erased. One glimpse of My glory and greatness will overwhelm you into complete rapture. I can hardly wait for the day! What a beautiful thing we have to look forward to! What a beautiful, compelling promise you have to hold on to—our wonderful reunion, My glorious return.⁵

Published April 2011. Read by Bryan Clark. Music by Daniel Sozzi.

¹ Isaiah 53:5.

² Originally published August 2005; adapted.

³ Originally published March 2001.

⁴ Originally published November 2001; excerpted.

⁵ Originally published October 2006; excerpted.

I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

3/15/24^“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;^[a] believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?^[b] ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴And you know the way to where I am going.”^[c] ⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.^[d] From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:1-7) ESV

What We Have to LookForward To

A compilation

2023-05-16

For Pastor Tim Keller, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is more than an abstract belief that good will triumph over evil one day. It’s a powerful, life-altering truth that gives him hope, peace, and comfort as he faces his own mortality.

(Note: Keller learned of his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in May 2020 while writing his book, Hope in Times of Fear, which focuses on the transformative power of the resurrection.)

In April 2021, Keller told The Christian Post: “When you know you could die very, very soon, you realize that you basically live in denial of the fact of your death. When it suddenly strikes you, you have to ask, ‘Do I have the faith for this? Do I believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened and that if I die in faith in Jesus, I will know that resurrection too?’

“Here I am, writing a book about the resurrection, and I realized I only half-believed I was going to die. I went back and realized that in some ways, I also only half-believed in the resurrection—not intellectually so much, but all the way down deep in my heart. I realized I needed to have a greater, a deeper faith in the resurrection…” he continued.

While undergoing treatment for cancer over the next several months, Keller said he did both “intellectual and emotional work,” looking at the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ while also immersing himself in prayer and in Scripture, asking the Holy Spirit to make it real to his heart.

“It took several months in which I had to take my abstract belief down into my heart to existentially and experientially know it and grow in assurance, and it worked,” he said. “If you are willing to embrace the truth of God’s Word and immerse yourself in it day in and day out, and then ask the Holy Spirit to make it real to your heart, He will.”

Most people, Keller contended, live in denial of death. But facing one’s own mortality and spiritual reality, he said, both changes the way we view our time on Earth and magnifies the transformative power of the resurrection.

“The things of Earth become less crucial. They’re not so important to you; you realize you don’t need them to be happy. Once I believe that, I start to enjoy them more. I don’t try to turn them into God; I don’t try to turn them into Heaven, which is the only thing that can really satisfy my heart,” he explained.

“You find that you have to really have a real spiritual experience of God’s reality so that the things of this Earth ‘grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace,’” Keller said, quoting the century-old hymn.¹

[In May 2022] The pastor told Christian Post that regardless of what happens, he was “ready for anything.”

“What the future holds, I don’t know. Pray that I would have years and not months left and that the chemotherapy would continue to be effective. But [my wife and I] are ready for whatever God decides for me. We’re spiritually ready.”

“I do know,” he added, “that the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened. And when I die, I will know that resurrection too.”²—The Christian Post

Jesus’ resurrection means that death is not the end. That though my body may lie moldering in the ground, Jesus, whom the Father raised from the dead, gives me eternal life. Ultimately, we Christians believe, our bodies, too, will be raised from the dead.

And since Jesus is not dead, people can encounter Him today. You can know Him through a personal relationship. I could point to lots of people who can testify what Jesus has done in their lives to bring them from the brink of disaster to peace and meaning and joy. He changes people for good.—Ralph F. Wilson

The vision lasted only a few seconds, but it left a big impression. I had been talking with a friend, when suddenly I saw a glimpse into the future. We were hugging, laughing, and talking about our lives—and we were in Heaven. This has happened to me several times. Sometimes it has been with a close friend, and other times it has been with someone I had just met. In each case I was left with the profound feeling that friendships in Heaven are much deeper and more meaningful and longer lasting than the ones we enjoy in this life.

I find that thought very comforting, perhaps because I’m somewhat isolated and lonely in my present situation. I have always been gregarious and had many friends, and friendships have always been very important to me. But fibromyalgia has a way of making a hermit of even the most sociable person. The aching muscles, fatigue, and sleep problems that come with this neurological disorder leave me too sick to go out with friends or attend parties, and often too sick to even talk on the phone. What do I have to talk about anyway, when I live in such an isolated world?

And what about all of the people I met and helped in the course of my years of volunteer work before I got sick? Do they even remember me now? Are they thankful for my prayers, and have those prayers made a difference? Does my friendship still mean something to them? What’s left to show for those years? I’ve asked myself those questions while lying alone in a dark room.

But now, through this series of little visions, I understand better that this life truly is only a brief moment in time and that regardless of how things are going now, someday these friends and I will be together again in heavenly bliss. It will be like old times, except that then it will be in a perfect world where there is no more parting, pain, or sorrow.

And most wonderful of all, we’ll be face to face and heart to heart with the One who loves and understands us like no other, the One who lived and died for us and rose to life again that we might live together in His love eternally, the ultimate forever Friend, Jesus.—Misty Kay

“Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”—Colossians 1:12

What is this inheritance?

It is a tearless state: God himself will wipe away all tears. Now He puts them into His bottle; then He will stop their flow.

But it is also a place. There is a heavenly “city.” This suggests the idea of locality, society, security; there will be sweet companionship.

It is a “fold” where all the sheep of the Good Shepherd will be safe: He who brought them there will guard them.

It is a “kingdom,” and there the glory of God will be revealed.

It is a “feast,” and there the bounties of the great Giver will be enjoyed.

It is a “garden,” an Eden, a paradise: and there will bloom, in immortal freshness, the most beautiful and fragrant flowers.

It is an inheritance in light.—Rev. Canon Money, adapted

Brief life is here our portion;
Brief sorrow, short-lived care;
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life, is there.

There grief is turned to pleasure;
Such pleasure as below
No human voice can utter,
No human heart can know.

And after fleshly weakness,
And after this world’s night,
And after storm and whirlwind,
Are calm, and joy, and light.

And He, whom now we trust in,
Shall then be seen and known;
And they that know and see Him
Shall have Him for their own.

The morning shall awaken,
The shadows flee away,
And each true-hearted servant
Shall shine as doth the day.

There God, our King and Portion,
In fullness of His grace,
We then shall see forever,
And worship face to face.
—Bernard of Morlaix, translated by John M. Neale

I go and prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also.—John 14:3

Published on Anchor May 2023. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso. Music by Michael Dooley.

¹ https://www.christianpost.com/books/tim-keller-on-cancer-death-and-the-hope-of-the-resurrection.html

² https://www.christianpost.com/news/tim-keller-cancer-update-gods-given-me-more-time.html

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

3/14/24What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶We know that our old self^[a] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For one who has died has been set free^[b] from sin. ⁸Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹²Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ¹³Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:1-14) ESV

“If God Could Do That…”

A compilation

2013-03-28

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”—Matthew 28:1–20¹

There are two ways to look at human history, I have concluded. One way is to focus on the wars and violence, the squalor, the pain and tragedy and death. From such a point of view, Easter seems a fairy-tale exception, a stunning contradiction in the name of God. That gives some solace, although I confess that when my friends died, grief was so overpowering that any hope in an after-life seemed somehow thin and insubstantial. There is another way to look at the world. If I take Easter as the starting point, the one incontrovertible fact about how God treats those whom he loves, then human history becomes the contradiction and Easter a preview of ultimate reality. Hope then flows like lava beneath the crust of daily life.

This, perhaps, describes the change in the disciples’ perspective as they sat in locked rooms discussing the incomprehensible events of Easter Sunday. In one sense nothing had changed: Rome still occupied Palestine, religious authorities still had a bounty on their heads, death and evil still reigned outside. Gradually, however, the shock of recognition gave way to a long slow undertow of joy. If God could do that…—Phillip Yancey²

Mark tells us, “They came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun”³—this little group of His devoted followers who had trudged along with the jeering, taunting mob up the steep hill to the place called Calvary. Just a few hours before had they seen His enemies nail His precious body to an old wooden cross, and He had been left there to die on the hill lone and gray outside the city wall of old Jerusalem. How bleeding and broken were their hearts! How crushed their spirits! Suddenly all their lights had gone out and their future hopes had been snapped, as it were, in twain. When hope is gone, the last hope—desperate despair—invariably follows.

Had He not told them that He would rise again? Had He not said to Mary and Martha, “I am the Resurrection and the Life”? And had He not raised Lazarus after he had been dead four days! How easily His precious words are forgotten when we are plunged into a night of thick darkness, an hour of naked faith, and we cannot see our Father’s hand or discern His presence! We fail to remember that “In the pitch-black night when there’s no outer light, it is the time for faith to shine.”

What wondrous surprises awaited these weary-hearted, bewildered followers! They were greeted by angels! They heard them make the announcement, and it was made exclusively to them: “He is not here: for He is risen as He said!” What rest is brought to them! It whispered peace! Sweet peace! Their bitter night of weeping now ended in a morning of joy! “Never the exquisite pain, then never the exquisite bliss.” Oh, the gladness, the shouts of triumph on that first Easter morn! The morning time of all the ages! Christ’s triumph over Satan! It reaches down the ages and touches our own hearts at this very hour. We triumph in His resurrection victory! Forever is Satan a defeated foe!—Mrs. Charles E. Cowman⁴

He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.—Paul the Apostle⁵

And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.—Paul the Apostle⁶

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.—Paul the Apostle⁷

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.—Paul the Apostle⁸

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead—Simon Peter, one of the twelve⁹

Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. It’s the celebration of the fact that He’s alive. He defeated death and hell and Satan. He redeemed us from our sins. He lived and loved and died for us as individuals, and He’s with us today just as much as He was with those He walked the earth with two millennia ago.

He’s alive! There was a short time when His disciples didn’t realize it, as they only saw the circumstances they were in.—He had been crucified, He was gone and no longer with them. But that was short-lived. The confusion, fear, and uncertainty passed once they realized that He lived, and that His love, His truth, His compassion, His words and actions, were still there with them, even if their physical circumstances were different. He was alive and was working through them to change the world, to spread His truth and love, His redemption and salvation.

He’s just as alive today, working through you to do the same. No matter what circumstances you are in, no matter what changes have occurred, no matter how difficult things may be, He’s alive in you. His power, anointing, and Spirit are there with you. The power to fulfill the commission He gave to His first disciples, and to all who have answered His call since then, is still active.—Peter Amsterdam¹⁰

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.—Jesus¹¹

Published on Anchor March 2013. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.
Music by Michael Dooley.

¹ NIV.

² The Jesus I Never Knew (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995).

³ Mark 16:2.

⁴ Streams in the Desert, Volume 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1977).

⁵ Acts 1:3 ESV.

⁶ Romans 1:4–5 NLT, adapted.

⁷ Romans 6:8–11 NIV.

⁸ Philippians 3:10–12 NIV.

⁹ 1 Peter 1:3 NIV.

¹⁰ http://directors.tfionline.com/post/hes-alive.

¹¹ John 11:25–26 NIV.

Warning Against Idleness

3/13/24Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. ⁷For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, ⁸nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. ⁹It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. ¹⁰For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. ¹¹For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. ¹²Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.^[d]

¹³As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. ¹⁴If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. ¹⁵Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. (2 Corinthians 3:6-15) ESV

The Effects of Christianity (Part 4)

The Effects of Christianity

Peter Amsterdam

2019-04-30

(Points from this article were taken from How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt¹)

This fourth and final article about some of the effects Christianity has had on the world will touch on three ways in which Christianity and/or individual Christians significantly helped change the world—by changing the way physical labor is viewed, changing the understanding of money-lending, as well as making various scientific discoveries.

The Dignity of Physical Labor

The ancient Romans, along with the Greeks before them, had a very low view of physical labor. The way they saw it was that only the lower classes and slaves did manual labor. Christians, like the Jews, had a much more positive view of work. As a first-century Jewish man, Jesus labored as a carpenter (skilled laborer), and the apostle Paul worked as a tentmaker. In the book of 2 Thessalonians, Paul wrote: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.² Jesus’ and Paul’s examples of working caused Christians to view labor and work as being honorable and God-pleasing.

In monasteries during the Middle Ages, work was seen as honorable, while slothfulness was considered one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The sixth-century Benedictine monks saw labor as an integral spiritual part of their discipline [that] did much to increase the prestige of labor and the self-respect of the laborer.³ Work was also seen as an antidote to the sin of laziness. St. Basil of Caesarea in the fourth century said: Idleness is a great evil; work preserves us from evil thoughts.⁴

During the Reformation (1517–1648), the idea of valuing work and manual labor received further support. Martin Luther considered work a calling, a way to serve God. This led to the understanding that there was no low-status or high-status work, nor was there good work and bad work. No matter what type of work a Christian did, it was seen as honorable, something the person did for the glory of God and to serve humanity. It was noble and was considered a Christian duty, a calling, a vocation.

Adjustment of Views on Money-lending

John Calvin (1509–1564), the French theologian and reformer based in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation, and the father of the branch of Christian theology known as Calvinism, played a major role in changing the church’s understanding of usury—the loaning of money with interest.

The Old Testament injunctions regarding lending money stated:

If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.⁵

If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.⁶

Calvin’s stance regarding interest was in opposition to what Christians from earlier times believed. From the fourth century on, Christian theologians defined lending money for gain as a sin and an evil in itself. In the Middle Ages, lending money at interest for a guaranteed return was illegal for Christians and seen as immoral, unless the one lending the money shared in the risk of the venture.

Calvin knew that there were two Hebrew words which were translated in Scripture as “usury.” One was nashak, which meant “to bite” as well as “to pay interest,” and the other was tarbit, which meant “to take legitimate increase.” Calvin considered that “biting” loans were the only ones forbidden. He felt it was legitimate to lend money with interest to people who would make a profit from the money. To someone who was poor but had some sort of employment, loans could be made without interest, but with the expectation that the money would be repaid. To someone who was destitute, money should be given without expecting repayment. This interpretation was very different from the earlier negative perspective that the church had on usury, and this revision of traditional moral teaching brought about significant and positive change in the economies of Europe and America in the following centuries.

Science

The ancient Greek and Roman polytheistic cultures believed in gods who engaged in jealous, irrational behavior in a world that was nonrational, which made the concept of systematic investigation of the world and how it functions futile. However, Christianity, along with Judaism, teaches that God is a rational being. Because humans are made in His image, we too are rational beings who are able to use rational processes to study and investigate the world in which we live.

For 1,500 years, the concept taught by Aristotle (384–322 BC) that knowledge could only be acquired through using the mind in deductive reasoning was prominent. In the 12th century, some Christian philosophers such as Robert Grosseteste (1168–1253), a Franciscan bishop and the first chancellor of Oxford University, proposed the inductive, experimental method as an approach to gaining scientific knowledge. Grosseteste’s pupil Roger Bacon (1214–1292), another Franciscan monk, asserted that “all things must be verified by experience.”⁷

Three hundred years later, Francis Bacon (1561–1626), a devout Anglican, propelled the concept of inductive reasoning forward by means of keeping a written account of his experiments and their results. He promoted the concept that science involves careful and methodical observation along with rigorous skepticism about what is observed. As such, he is known as the father of the scientific method.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) was raised by his uncle, a Catholic priest. He received a doctor’s degree and was trained as a physician. He also studied theology and canon law, and for a time was part of a religious order, but he didn’t become a priest. He introduced the heliostatic theory, which states that the sun is the center of our solar system and that the earth rotates around the sun. Until that time, people thought the earth was the center of our solar system. He was hesitant to publish his theory, because the Catholic Church at the time often considered new scientific discoveries heresies and persecuted their authors as heretics. However, two Lutheran friends persuaded him to do so shortly before his death.

Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) studied for three years to become a Lutheran pastor. When he was assigned to teach mathematics in Austria, he took up astronomy. His mathematical calculations proved that the planets orbit the sun elliptically and that they do not move at a uniform speed. Moments before he died, when asked by a Lutheran pastor where he placed his faith, he responded, “Solely and alone in the work of our redeemer Jesus Christ.”⁸

Isaac Newton (1642–1727), building on Kepler’s planetary laws, discovered the laws of gravity. Newton’s Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy is considered “one of the greatest single contributions in the history of science.”⁹ Although some historians contend that Newton was not a Christian, some of his writings clearly express belief in God.

“God governs the world invisibly, and he has commanded us to worship him, and no other God … he has revived Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who has gone into the heavens to receive and prepare a place for us, and … will at length return and reign over us … till he has raised up and judged all the dead.”¹⁰

Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) was a physicist, chemist, and a pioneer of electrical science. He was the inventor of the electric battery. He was raised a Catholic, and throughout his life he continued to believe. It’s from his name that we get the terms volt and voltage. He wrote:

I do not understand how anyone can doubt the sincerity and constancy of my attachment to the religion which I profess, the Roman Catholic and Apostolic religion in which I was born and brought up, and of which I have always made confession, externally and internally.¹¹

Robert Boyle (1627–1691) was a natural philosopher, physicist, and chemist. He is considered to be the “father of chemistry” and is known for “Boyle’s law.” He is also known as one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific methods. Besides his focus on science, Boyle wrote in defense of the existence of God and the resurrection of Christ. He spent a great deal of money promoting Christianity in the East. He believed people should access the Bible in their own language, and therefore helped to finance translations of the Bible or portions of it into various languages, including the Old and New Testament in Irish for his fellow countrymen.

George Washington Carver (c.1864–1943) was born into American slavery. When he was a week old he, his sister, and mother were kidnapped, taken to another state, and sold as slaves. Their original owner, Moses Carver, hired a detective to find them, but he was only able to find George. When slavery was abolished, Moses and his wife raised George and his brother James (who had not been kidnapped and had remained with the Carvers) as their own children. They encouraged George to pursue his education. After being accepted at one college, they rejected him upon arrival because of his race. Later he attended Iowa State Agricultural College as its first black student. He went on to earn a master of science degree.

He then joined Tuskegee University, a university for African Americans, as a teacher and researcher. He became America’s top authority on peanuts and sweet potatoes. He developed over three hundred byproducts from peanuts, ranging from instant coffee to soap and ink. From the sweet potato, he developed over one hundred byproducts, including flour, shoe polish, and candy. He convinced Southern farmers to grow peanuts, sweet potatoes, and pecans instead of only cotton, which diversified the agriculture of the South. He received numerous awards for his work, and his name is on a variety of buildings, schools, and parks. Carver became a Christian at age ten. Author Henry Morris writes that Carver was “a sincere and humble Christian” who never hesitated “to confess his faith in the God of the Bible and attribute all his success and ability to God.”¹²

While there have been many notable Christians throughout history whose achievements have greatly influenced our world, there have also been billions of Christians who we know nothing about who have also positively impacted the world. There are the moms and dads who taught their children about Jesus and who, through their example of living their faith, helped their children decide to become Christians. Teachers, caregivers, missionaries, godly employers, Christians in every walk of life, in every profession, who have shared their faith with others have helped to change people’s lives. Each of us, every single day, can positively affect our part of the world through loving others, being kind, fair, understanding, generous, positive, and helpful. We can be inclusive, respectful, forgiving, humble, meek, patient, and kind. As we do our best to live our faith, to emulate Jesus, to love God and others, we too will change our part of the world for the better.

Notes

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

¹ Alvin J. Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004).

² 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

³ Lynn D. White, “The Significance of Medieval Christianity,” in The Vitality of the Christian Tradition, ed. George F. Thomas (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1945), 91.

⁴ Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World, 197.

⁵ Exodus 22:25.

⁶ Leviticus 25:35–37.

⁷ Roger Bacon, Opus majus, trans. Robert Belle Burke (New York: Russell and Russell, 1962), 584.

⁸ Max Caspar, Johannes Kepler (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1948), 73.

⁹ Eric Temple Bell, “Newton, Isaac, Sir,” The World Book Encyclopedia (Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1958), 12:5619.

¹⁰ Isaac Newton, “God and Natural Philosophy,” in Newton’s Philosophy of Nature: Selections from His Writings, ed. H. S. Thayer (New York: Hafner Publishing, 1953), 66–67.

¹¹ Alessandro Volta, Epistolario, Volume 5 (Zanichelli, 1955), 29.

¹² Henry Morris, Men of Science—Men of God (San Diego: Creation-Life Publishers, 1982), 104–5.

The Final Judgment

3/12/24“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³²Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,^[f] you did it to me.’

⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”(Matthew 25:31-46) ESV

The Effects of Christianity (Part 3)

The Effects of Christianity

Peter Amsterdam

2019-04-23

(Points from this article were taken from How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt¹)

In this third article of the series, we will continue to examine the positive effects that Christianity has had on the world since the death and resurrection of Jesus. The focus in this post will be twofold—the advent of hospitals and schools.

Hospitals

There is some evidence of a concept of healthcare facilities prior to the rise of Christianity. In ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt (5000–2000 BC), some sort of hospitals existed, and as early as the 5th century BC in India, the Buddhist religion had institutionalized healthcare facilities. In Roman times there were military hospitals for soldiers, but these were not available to the public.

For the first three centuries, Christians were intermittently faced with severe persecution; therefore, the only way they could care for the sick was to take them into their homes to tend to their illnesses. Once Christianity was legal and could be freely practiced, beginning in 324 AD, Christians were in a much better position to provide institutional care for the sick and dying. The church council of Nicaea in 325 AD instructed bishops to establish a hospice in every city that had a cathedral. The purpose of a hospice was not only to care for those who were ill, but also to provide shelter for the poor and for Christian pilgrims. This aligned with what Jesus taught.

I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”²

The apostle Peter wrote, Show hospitality to one another without grumbling,³ and the apostle Paul instructed church leaders that an overseer (bishop) must be … hospitable.⁴ As a part of hospitality, church leaders were expected to take in both strangers and other Christians in need, which included helping to care for the sick and dying. The first hospital was built by St. Basil in Caesarea, Cappadocia (Eastern Turkey), about 369 AD. The next was built in a nearby province, Edessa, in 375 AD. The first hospital in the West was built in Rome about 390 AD by Fabiola, a wealthy widow who was an associate of St. Jerome, an important Christian teacher. She founded another hospital in 398 AD, about fifty miles southwest of Rome. St. Chrysostom (d. 407) had hospitals built in Constantinople in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. By the sixth century, hospitals had become a common part of monasteries. In the ninth century, during the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, numerous hospitals were built. By the mid-1500s there were 37,000 Benedictine monasteries that cared for the sick. By that time, hospitals were plentiful in Europe.

While the Crusaders, who fought eight wars between 1096 and 1291 to liberate the Holy Land from Muslim rule, deserve harsh judgment for some of their actions, one thing they did right was to construct hospitals in Palestine and other Middle Eastern areas. They also founded healthcare orders, which were dedicated to the provision of healthcare for all, Christian and Muslims alike. The Order of Hospitallers recruited women for nursing the sick. The Hospitallers of St. Lazarus devoted themselves to nursing.

The Knights of the Order of Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem not only operated and maintained hospitals, but also admitted the insane. They founded a Christian insane asylum in 1409 in Valencia, Spain.⁵

In the United States, one of the very first hospitals was founded by the Quakers in the early 1700s, and that was one of only two hospitals until the early 1800s. In the second half of the 1800s, many more hospitals were built, usually by local churches and Christian denominations. The hospitals were often named after the denomination which sponsored them, such as Baptist Hospital, Lutheran Hospital, Methodist Hospital, and Presbyterian Hospital. Others were given names such as St. John’s, St. Luke’s, St. Mary’s, etc.

Education

Another area influenced by Christianity was public education for all children. Today, free public schools are common; however, this wasn’t always the case. Prior to the 1500s, most education in Europe, especially at the elementary level, was supported and operated by the church in cathedral schools. Sadly, few people overall were literate, as very few attended the church schools.

Martin Luther (1498–1546) advocated a state school system in which students of both sexes would be taught in the local language in primary schools, followed by Latin secondary schools and universities.⁶ His coworker Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) persuaded the civic authorities in Germany to start the first public school system. Luther also advocated that the civil authorities should compel children to attend school. Over time, Luther’s idea of compulsory education took root in other countries. Today the concept that every child should attend school is written into law in most countries.

Education for the Deaf

Teaching the deaf an inaudible language largely originated because of three Christian men—Abbé Charles-Michel de L’Épée, Thomas Gallaudet, and Laurent Clerc. L’Épée was a priest who developed a sign language to use in teaching the deaf in Paris in 1775. His goal was that the deaf would be able to hear the message of Jesus.⁷ Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc brought L’Épée’s sign language to the United States.

Laurent Clerc, born in a small village near Lyon, France, lost his hearing when he was one year old. He attended the National Institute for Deaf Children of Paris and eventually became a teacher there. Thomas Gallaudet, a clergyman who wanted to help the deaf, attended the school where Clerc taught in order to learn sign language. These two men decided to travel to the United States in order to open the first school for the deaf there. Before returning to Europe in order to learn more about working with the deaf, Gallaudet said to a deaf girl, “I hope when I come back to teach you much about the Bible, and about God, and Christ.”⁸ The two men started a school for the deaf in 1817. In 1864, Gallaudet’s son founded the first college for the deaf, which later became known as Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

Education for the Blind

Not much is known about care for the blind in the first few centuries after Jesus’ death and resurrection. In the fourth century, Christians operated some facilities for the blind. In 630, a typholocomium (typholos = blind + komeo = take care of) was built in Jerusalem. In the thirteenth century, Louis lX (St. Louis) built a hospice for the blind in Paris. In the 1830s, Louis Braille, a dedicated Christian Frenchman who lost his sight at an early age, developed a means by which the blind could read. He came upon a system used by the military which incorporated raised dots to enable the reading of messages in the dark. From this idea he developed his own system of pricked raised dots which allowed the blind to read. On his deathbed, he said, I am convinced that my mission is finished on earth; I tasted yesterday the supreme delight; God condescended to brighten my eyes with the splendor of eternal hope.⁹

Universities

It is commonly accepted that the oldest existing university in Europe is the University of Bologna, Italy, founded in 1158. It specialized in canon law (church law). The next university in Europe was the University of Paris, founded in 1200. It originally specialized in theology, and in 1270 it added the study of medicine. Bologna became the mother of several universities in Italy, Spain, Scotland, Sweden, and Poland. The University of Paris became the mother of Oxford and of universities in Portugal, Germany, and Austria. Emmanuel College, a British Christian college within the University of Cambridge, became the mother of Harvard in America.¹⁰

Harvard University, one of America’s most prominent, was established to train ministers of the gospel. Its original motto was (in Latin) Truth for Christ and the Church. It was founded by the Congregational Church. Other prominent American universities were also founded by Christian denominations, such as the College of William and Mary (Episcopalian), Yale University (Congregational), Northwestern University (Methodist), Columbia University (Episcopalian), Princeton University (Presbyterian), and Brown University (Baptist).

Christianity played an important role in the history and development of educational facilities and hospitals, and thus has helped to make the world a better place.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Notes

¹ Alvin J. Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004).

² Matthew 25:36–40.

³ 1 Peter 4:9.

⁴ 1 Timothy 3:2, also Titus 1:7–8.

⁵ W. E. H. Lecky, History of European Morals (New York: Vanguard Press, 1926), 81.

⁶ Martin Luther, “Preface,” Small Catechism, in The Book of Concord, ed. Theodore G. Tappert (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 338.

⁷ Harlan Lane, When the Mind Hears (New York: Random House, 1984), 58.

⁸ Ibid., 185.

⁹ Etta DeGering, Seeing Fingers: The Story of Louis Braille (New York: David McKay, 1962), 110.

¹⁰ Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World, 187.

The Resurrection

3/11/24 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ²And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. ⁴And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. ⁵But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he^[^a^] lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” ⁸So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:10) ESV

The Effects of Christianity (Part 2)

The Effects of Christianity

Peter Amsterdam

2019-04-16

(Points from this article were taken from How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt¹)

In this Easter season, we continue to look at the profound effects that Christianity has had on the course of human history since the death and resurrection of Jesus. This article will focus on the fundamental change that Christianity wrought regarding the dignity and status of women.

Throughout the reign of the Roman Empire, women lived under the law of patria potestas, which declared that the paterfamilias (male head of the family) had absolute authority over his children, even adult ones. Married women remained under the authority of their father unless the marriage was a manus marriage, which meant that the woman ceased to be under the authority of her father and came under the control of her husband. As such, a husband could legally physically chastise his wife. If she committed adultery, he could kill her; if she committed some other serious offense, the husband was generally required to get the consent of his extended family before killing her. A manus marriage gave the man complete authority over his wife, so that she only had the legal status of an adopted daughter.

Women were not allowed to speak in public settings. All places of authority, such as city councils, the senate, and legal courts were only accessible to men. If women had any legal questions or complaints, they had to convey them to their husbands or fathers, who would take the matter to the proper authorities on the woman’s behalf, as women were required to remain silent on such matters. In general, women were held in very low regard.

In the Jewish culture throughout the rabbinic era (400 BC to 300 AD), there also existed a strong bias against women. They weren’t allowed to testify in court, as they were considered unreliable witnesses. They were likewise barred from all public speaking. They weren’t allowed to read the Torah out loud in the synagogues. One rabbinic teaching proclaimed that it was “shameful” to hear a woman’s voice in public among men.² Synagogue worship was conducted by men. Women in attendance were separated from the men by a partition.

Some Jewish women were confined to their homes, and didn’t even approach the outer door of their homes. Young women remained in parts of the house specified as the women’s quarters to avoid being seen by men, and when they had (women) visitors, they would host them only in these parts of the home. Married women in rural areas had a bit more freedom of movement, as they helped their husbands do the farming. However, it was considered inappropriate for them to work or travel alone. Any income a married woman may have received, including inheritances, belonged to her husband.

Throughout the Gospels, we find that Jesus had a very different attitude toward women than was customary at that time, one which raised their status. Through both His teachings and actions, He rebuffed the common beliefs and practices which espoused that women were inferior to men. One example is His interaction with the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John. At that time, Jews didn’t interact with the Samaritans at all, yet Jesus requested that she give Him a drink from the well. She was surprised and wondered why He would ask her to give Him a drink, as the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.³ Jesus not only ignored the fact that she was a Samaritan, but He also spoke with a woman in public, which contravened the oral law (Jewish religious laws which were not included in the original Laws of Moses but were added over the centuries): He who talks with a woman [in public] brings evil upon himself.⁴ A similar rabbinic teaching stated that a man may not converse with a woman in the marketplace.⁵

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record that women followed Jesus, which was very unusual at that time, as other Jewish teachers and rabbis did not have women disciples.

The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.⁶

There were also women [at His crucifixion] looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.⁷

After His resurrection, Jesus appeared first to women, and instructed them to tell the rest of His disciples that He had risen.

After the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. … But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.” … And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”⁸

The early church followed Jesus’ precedent, ignoring cultural norms regarding women. Women played an important role in the church, as seen in the Epistles of Paul stating that they had churches in their homes. In the letter to Philemon, he addresses Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house.⁹ Nympha was a woman who had a church in her home in Laodicea.¹⁰ He referred to Prisca and her husband Aquila, who had a church in their house, as my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.¹¹

In the book of Romans, Paul wrote: I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae.¹² The Greek word translated as servant is diakonos, which is sometimes translated in the Epistles as deacon and other times as minister. Paul refers to himself as diakonos numerous times in the Epistles. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace.¹³ Paul used the same Greek word diakonos when referring to his co-workers and co-leaders. He referred to Tychicus as a faithful minister in the Lord¹⁴ and Epaphras as a faithful minister of Christ.¹⁵ So when he commended Phoebe as a diakonos of the church, it appears that Paul was acknowledging that she was a deacon or minister within the church.

Paul made the point that within Christianity, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.¹⁶ Jesus, Paul, and the early church worked against the concept of keeping women secluded, silent, subservient, and segregated in worship.

Jesus’ message of salvation resonated with women in the early church, so much so that early church historians maintain that generally women were more active in the church than men were. St. Chrysostom, in the fourth century, said:

The women of those days [early apostolic church] were more spirited than men.

The historian W. E. H. Lecky stated:

In the ages of persecution female figures occupy many of the foremost places and ranks of martyrdom.¹⁷

German church historian and theologian Leopold Zscharnack wrote:

Christendom dare not forget that it was primarily the female sex that for the greater part brought about its rapid growth. It was the evangelistic zeal of women in the early years of the church, and later, which won the weak and the mighty.¹⁸

In the early centuries, women outnumbered men in the church, and thus some of them married unbelieving men. When they did, the overwhelming majority of children from these “mixed marriages” were raised within the church.¹⁹

For the first 150 years of Christianity, women were highly regarded within and very important to the church. Sadly, after that time, some of the church leaders began to revert to the practices and attitudes of the Romans relating to women, and women were slowly excluded from leadership roles within the church. Over the next three centuries, church leaders incorporated views of the inferiority of women into general Christian understanding.

Clement of Alexandria (d. 215) taught that every woman should blush because she is a woman.²⁰ Tertullian (d. 220) said:

You [Eve] are the devil’s gateway … You destroyed so easily God’s image, man. On account of your desert, that is death, even the Son of God had to die.²¹

Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) argued that women were to pray in church by only moving their lips. He wrote:

Let her pray, and her lips move, but let not her voice be heard.²²

These attitudes were both misguided and wrong.

Even with these distorted attitudes toward women, there were still many ways in which women were on equal footing with men within the church throughout that time. For example, women received the same instruction as men when becoming members of the church, they were baptized in the same fashion as men, they participated equally with men in receiving communion, and they prayed and stood with men in the same worship setting.²³

While there was some divergence from what the New Testament taught across the centuries, there were also major legal changes for the better concerning women throughout the territory of the Roman Empire. Within a half-century of Christianity being legalized, Emperor Valentinian l repealed the one-thousand-year-old patria potestas in 374 AD so that the paterfamilias no longer had absolute authority over his wife or children.

Women were granted substantially the same rights as men in control of their property … They also received the right of guardianship over their children, who previously were the sole possession of men.²⁴

This also meant that women had a choice in who they married, instead of having their husband chosen by their father, which had been the case in ancient times. This also allowed them to marry later. Because of Paul’s teachings, husbands started seeing their wives as partners, both spiritually and practically. Today, women in the Western world are no longer compelled to marry someone they don’t want to, neither can they be legally compelled to marry as a child bride—as still happens in some places in our world.

During Jesus’ lifetime, and before, many ancient societies, especially in the Middle East, allowed polygyny (a man being married to more than one woman at the same time). Many of the Jewish patriarchs and kings such as Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, and others had multiple wives. While Jesus entered a world that accepted polygyny, when He spoke of marriage, it was invariably in the context of monogamy.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.²⁵

Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents…²⁶

St. Paul seems to add support to the concept of monogamy when he writes that bishops/overseers should be the husband of one wife.

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife.²⁷

The literal translation from the Greek of “the husband of one wife” is “one-woman man.” While there are other possible ways of interpreting what Paul wrote, historically the understanding leans toward monogamy in marriage. A number of the early Church Fathers in the second and third centuries wrote against polygamous marriage. When marriage is mentioned in the New Testament, it is understood to refer to monogamous marriage. The Christian view of marriage as comprising a monogamous relationship has permeated the laws of Western society.

In the Gospels, we see that Jesus had compassion for women who were widows. He raised a widow’s son from the dead,²⁸ denounced the Pharisees for taking financial advantage of widows,²⁹ and commended the poor widow who sacrificially gave two mites as an offering to the temple.³⁰ The apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, instructed the Ephesian church to honor widowed mothers, and in the Epistle of James we read,

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.³¹

In the early second century Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, wrote:

Let not the widows be neglected. Be thou, after the Lord, their protector and friend.³²

Later, widows were often chosen to be deaconesses in the church.

Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and the salvation it brought to those who believe in Him has made a monumental difference in countless lives over the centuries. His example and teaching caused His disciples and the early church to accord a higher level of dignity, freedom, and rights to women. Therefore, women today in countries which have been influenced by Christianity for the most part have more freedom, opportunity, and human worth than in countries without that influence.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Notes

¹ Alvin J. Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004).

² Berakhoth 24a.

³ John 4:7–9.

⁴ Aboth 1.5.

⁵ Berakhoth 43b.

⁶ Luke 8:1–3.

⁷ Mark 15:40–41.

⁸ Matthew 28:1, 5–6, 9–10.

⁹ Philemon 1:1–2.

¹⁰ Colossians 4:15.

¹¹ Romans 16:3. See also 1 Corinthians 16:19.

¹² Romans 16:1.

¹³ Ephesians 3:7.

¹⁴ Ephesians 6:21.

¹⁵ Colossians 1:7.

¹⁶ Galatians 3:28.

¹⁷ W. E. H. Lecky, History of European Morals: From Augustus to Charlemagne (New York: D. Appleton, 1927), 73.

¹⁸ Leopold Zscharnack, Der Dienst der Frau in den ersten Jabrhunderten der christlich Kirche (Gottingen: n.p., 1902), 19.

¹⁹ Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 127.

²⁰ Instructor 3.11.

²¹ On the Apparel of Women 1.1.

²² Procatechesis 14.

²³ Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World, 110.

²⁴ William C. Morey, Outlines of Roman Law (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894), 150–151.

²⁵ Matthew 19:5.

²⁶ Luke 18:29.

²⁷ 1 Timothy 3:2.

²⁸ Luke 7:11–15.

²⁹ Mark 12:40.

³⁰ Luke 21:2–3.

³¹ 1 Timothy 5:3–4, James 1:27.

³² Ignatius, “The Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp,” in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1:94.

The Word Became Flesh

3/10/24 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In him was life,^[^a^] and the life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁹The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to his own,^[^b^] and his own people^[^c^] did not receive him. ¹²But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son^[^d^] from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:1-5,9-14) ESV

The Effects of Christianity (Part 1)

The Effects of Christianity

Peter Amsterdam

2019-04-09

(Points from this article were taken from How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt¹)

With the approach of Easter—the celebration of Jesus conquering death by rising from the grave to bring salvation to the world—it seems an opportune time to look at the positive effect Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection has had on humanity in the two thousand years since. When Jesus laid down His life so that those who believe in Him can enter into an eternal relationship with God, He changed the lives and eternal destinies of billions of people. Through the lives of those who believed in and followed Him, He brought great change to the whole world. This short series will explore some of the ways in which Christians and Christianity have made the world a better place.

Of course, many Christian values originated from the Jewish Torah (the Old Testament in Christian Bibles), but Christianity has been the major vehicle for the spreading of Judeo-Christian culture, and is also the means by which the message of salvation through Christ has been spread throughout the world.

Value of Human Life

Jesus was born at a time in history when the Roman Empire ruled much of the known world. As such, the moral standards of Rome permeated much of society. The Romans held a low view of human life. A person was regarded as having value only if he contributed to the political fabric of society. This is seen in several ways in the Roman world, such as the practices of infanticide, gladiatorial games, and suicide.

The early Christians, on the other hand, held a more sacred view of human life, as they believed what Scripture teaches about the value of life and that human beings are made in the image of God.

God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.²

You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.³

They understood that God honored human life by sending His Son to become incarnate as a human being:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.⁴

Because God values human life, the early Christians understood that life was to be honored and protected.

Infanticide and Child Abandonment

The killing of newborn children soon after birth was common in the Greco-Roman world. Infants were killed for a variety of reasons, such as due to being born deformed or frail, unwanted, or because the parents felt they couldn’t afford to care for the child. The Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca wrote, mad dogs we knock on the head … unnatural progeny we destroy; we drown even children who at birth are weakly and abnormal.⁵ Often the means of killing an unwanted child was through exposure, the abandoning of newborn children on the side of the road or on dung heaps or in garbage dumps.

To Christians, infanticide was murder, and early Christian writings condemned it. The Didache (written between 85 and 110 AD) stated, Thou shalt not … commit infanticide. Christians throughout the first four centuries AD did not have the political power to put a stop to the infanticide commonly practiced in Roman times, and were themselves suffering persecution and martyrdom. However, during that period Christians often took abandoned babies into their own homes or placed them with other believers, who cared for them and often adopted them. This differed from many non-Christians, who would sell abandoned children into slavery. In 374 AD, the Emperor Valentinian formally outlawed infanticide due to the influence of a Christian bishop. While infanticide was never fully eradicated in the Roman Empire, Christians continued to condemn it. After the fall of Rome, when separate countries developed in Europe over the centuries, infanticide was no longer a common or legal practice.

Gladiatorial Games

Another example of the low view of human life in ancient times is the gladiatorial games in which gladiators fought, often to death, as a form of entertainment. These popular events were held in arenas throughout the empire from 105 BC to 404 AD, the largest of which was the Roman Colosseum. It is estimated that 500,000 people were killed in the Colosseum alone. At times, 30–50 thousand spectators would watch these games. The Emperor Trajan (98–117 AD) held gladiatorial games which lasted four months, during which ten thousand gladiators fought, resulting in thousands of them being killed—all for entertainment. (Eventually, persecuted Christian martyrs were killed for their faith in the Colosseum.)

Christians of the time were appalled by the heinous disregard for human life and blatant disregard of God’s command, “You shall not murder.” Church leaders condemned these games because they shed human blood, and they admonished Christians not to attend. As Christianity grew, it was eventually recognized as an official religion, when the Emperor Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD. Christian emperors such as Theodosius the Great and Honorius eventually banned gladiatorial games throughout the Roman Empire. In his book about life in Rome, Author Jerome Carcopino stated that the butcheries of the arena were stopped at the command of Christian emperors.⁶ W. E. H. Lecky wrote:

There is scarcely any single reform so important in the moral history of mankind as the suppression of the gladiatorial shows, a feat that must be almost exclusively ascribed to the Christian church.⁷

Human Sacrifice

Throughout Old Testament times, we read of societies which practiced human sacrifice. Child sacrifice was common among the followers of Baal in Canaan. In the vicinity of the ancient city of Megiddo in northern Israel, archeologists discovered the remains of infants who had been sacrificed in the temple of Ashtoreth during the rule of Ahab and Jezebel.⁸ Some fallen kings in Israel turned away from God and sacrificed their own sons to the Canaanite god Moloch.⁹ Such human sacrifice wasn’t limited to the Canaanites or the fallen kings of Israel. While human sacrifice was outlawed throughout the Roman Empire by Jesus’ time, Christians encountered it centuries later in pagan lands. For example, before the gospel was brought to them by St. Patrick, the Irish people sacrificed prisoners of war to war gods and newborns to the harvest gods.¹⁰ Human sacrifice was common among pagan Prussians and Lithuanians until the thirteenth century. This came to an end because of Christian influence.

Suicide

In Roman times, the taking of one’s life was often considered an act of self-glory, and suicide was widely practiced. Many well-known Roman philosophers and writers, as well as some Roman emperors, committed suicide. It was also used as a punishment, as emperors sometimes ordered people they were displeased with to “open your veins.” While there was no prohibition on Roman citizens taking their lives, it wasn’t allowed for slaves, as they were considered property; nor for soldiers, unless they were surrounded by adversaries on the battlefield.

Christians preached that since God is the giver and creator of life, it is His prerogative only to end a person’s life. Christian leaders in the third and fourth centuries, such as Clement of Alexandria, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Eusebius, opposed suicide. Church councils from the fourth through the fourteenth centuries also opposed it. Thomas Aquinas wrote that taking one’s life was morally wrong because it was a sin against nature:

Everyone naturally loves himself; suicide also injured the community of which man is an integral part; it was a sin against God’s gift of life.¹¹

For more about suicide, see Living Christianity: The Ten Commandments (Safeguarding Human Life, Part 3).

In the Roman world of Jesus’ day, the value placed on human life was very low. The killing or abandoning of newborn children didn’t to our knowledge evoke moral outrage. Taking one’s own life was not generally understood to be morally wrong. Watching gladiators killing one another for the purpose of entertainment was considered normal. (Of course, today there are many movies and television shows which egregiously portray violence, death, and murder; a difference is that while they may not be spiritually healthy to view, the death portrayed in them is acting, and not actual death.)

Life was cheap in ancient times. However, as Christianity started to spread throughout the Roman Empire, the value placed on life began to increase. The message that human life was sacred and the understanding that taking the life of an innocent human being was morally wrong took root. The impact of the Christian message over the centuries brought about a moral understanding regarding human life which has spread throughout the world, and has helped to change the world.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Alvin J. Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004).

² Genesis 1:27.

³ Psalm 8:5.

⁴ John 1:1–2, 14.

⁵ Lucius Annaeus Seneca, On Anger 1.15.2.

⁶ Jerome Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940), 247.

⁷ W. E. H. Lecky, History of European Morals: From Augustus to Charlemagne (New York: D. Appleton, 1927), 73.

⁸ H. H. Halley, Halley’s Bible Handbook (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1965), 198, 206.

⁹ 2 Kings 16:3, 21:6.

¹⁰ Thomas Cahill, “Ending Human Sacrifice,” Christian History 60 (1998): 16.

¹¹ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province (Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1948), 2:1463.

The Crucifixion

3/09/24 As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. ³³And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), ³⁴they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. ³⁶Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. ³⁷And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” ³⁸Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads ⁴⁰and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ⁴²“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. (Matthew 27:32-44) ESV

The Message of the Crucifixion

David Brandt Berg

2015-04-03

Tonight Christians around the world are celebrating the Lord’s Supper and the Lord’s Passion. On this day, known worldwide as Good Friday, there are many celebrations and observances of the Lord’s last day here on earth before His crucifixion. Literally hundreds of millions of Christians, at least professing Christians, have been celebrating this day and especially this night. Some have been celebrating all week, beginning last Sunday with Palm Sunday, the commemoration of our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection, you and I were brought into the kingdom, and the kingdom moved its headquarters to the New Jerusalem on high. He was no longer a mere king of the city of Jerusalem and the little kingdom of Israel, but the King of the whole universe, the kingdom of God!

He was the King of kings and Lord of lords and the King of the entire universe, as well as the whole world and heavenly Jerusalem—rather than a mere earthly, physical, ancient little Middle Eastern city called Jerusalem. He became the King that He was and showed His power by dying on a cross, crucified like a common criminal. But even in that moment of His death, God showed His power that this was His Son in whom He was well pleased, as the earth shook and heaven thundered and people trembled at the manifestation of the wrath of God over their iniquity.¹

Nearly the whole world is compelled to honor Jesus’ birthday and His death day, the two most outstanding events in His life, and one more, Easter Sunday, His rising day, Resurrection day, to live aloft forever in an immortal, eternal body, which shall live forever—like us—in the heavens. “We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”²

Hundreds of millions of professing Christians around the globe—be they Catholic, Protestant, or nondenominational—are celebrating the last day of Christ’s life here on Earth before His mortal death, as well as the Last Supper. The Feast of the Passover was a celebration, a feast in which the Jews were celebrating an event of their salvation from death by the blood of a lamb killed in a certain ceremonial way that night, cooked in a certain ceremonial way, and eaten with joy and thanksgiving that God had saved them from annihilation in Egypt.

The original Passover event was a happy occasion, a feast, a holiday. Jews came from all over the world, and Gentile believers as well, to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. It was a happy occasion, not at all sad. It was only going to be sad for one small group eventually, but at first it wasn’t necessarily sad. The Lord found His disciples a place to have the supper by a miracle, and I’m sure provided the food for them, and they sat down and enjoyed a good meal. And then they had the first Communion or Eucharist.

They even had lamb stew that night. We know it was a kind of a soup, otherwise they wouldn’t have been sopping the bread in it.³ They drank wine that night too. And it wasn’t until they were through eating and drinking that the Lord suddenly took more of a sober bent and train of thought and began to predict what was going to happen and to somewhat solemnly lead them into a ceremony, one of the few that the Lord commended. It seemed to be something which He considered believers would want to observe to commemorate His death. “As oft as ye do this, ye do it in remembrance of Me.” And Paul said, “Ye do show the Lord’s death till He comes.”⁴

The Lord was beginning to illustrate for them what He was about to do. That night His body was to be broken, scarred, torn, pierced, lacerated, His blood shed and finally His life given. His body was broken for us. He suffered pain and agony of the physical body, as some suffer today in sickness and in pain, that He might bear our sufferings in His own body. “For by His stripes ye are healed.”⁵ Not by His death on the cross, not by His final shedding of His blood in His life; that was for our salvation.

He had to suffer not only all His life for 33 years all of the things that we go through, so He could sympathize with us and empathize with us and feel what we feel, but He also had to suffer the final excruciating agony of the physical body to heal our human ills, as well as save us from our sins. He said, “Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for you.” “He bore our infirmities in His own body,” God’s Word says, “and by His stripes ye are healed.”

And He said, “Take, drink, after the same manner the cup. This is My blood of the New Testament shed for the remission of your sins. Drink ye all of it.”⁶

In other words, He was saying, “I’m also going to suffer agony and pain and illness in My body to empathize with you and your physical troubles and distresses and afflictions to let you know that I know how you feel. I’ve been through it. I know the pain. I know the agony. I know the suffering! I’ve been through it all, even worse than you. I know what you’re going through, so don’t worry.”

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.”⁷ He was as good as saying, “You need all these afflictions. You’re going to have to have them to keep you righteous. But I will deliver you from them all, one after the other, time after time.” You and I are no exceptions; we have our ups and downs, even discouragement sometimes.

The common people had heard Jesus gladly!⁸ Thousands upon thousands had heard and believed His message, received it, been healed and fed, and they loved Him. But where were they that night when the religious leaders and their paid mercenaries were shouting, “Crucify Him!”? They must have been home watching television—they certainly weren’t there to stick up for Him. No doubt quite a few of them were even deceived by the lies and figured they had been deluded and deceived and it had turned out He was a false prophet. They thought He was true, thought He was right, but they were so easily deluded and deceived and misled.

The seed had fallen on shallow or stony ground, and had been choked out by thorns and bore no fruit, and they were led astray and led away.⁹ Perhaps afterward some of them were sorry when they saw how far the enemies of Christ went and how horrible it was. Let’s hope they were convicted and repented and came back, and a lot of people did. There were lots of Christians led by the apostles and disciples who were left, so that on the Day of Pentecost 3,000 got saved with one sermon, and a few days later 5,000 with one healing!¹⁰

The ground had been sown and watered and softened and prepared, so that even after Jesus was crucified, many were prepared to understand, comprehend, believe, and receive the whole truth, to then know that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and to receive Him as their Savior. Not just to follow a personality, a human being, His words, His miracles, His free meals, but to finally understand the deep spiritual meaning of it all, that He was the Messiah who had been expected to come for thousands of years.

Jesus died for our sins; He’s the only one who could have done it. Only the Son of God could pay for our sins on the cross. Only God Himself in His Son could have taken our sins in His own body on that tree and borne the suffering of a dying sinner and taken our punishment for us and suffered for us. Only God could have done that in the person of His Son Jesus.

God’s message was: “Only I can save you; you cannot save yourself!” Christ’s message was clear, His death was plain. The message of God was very clear throughout the Old and New Testaments—especially the New Testament, but very clear even in the Old Testament. Abraham was the father of the faithful because he was a man of faith, demonstrating faith that he couldn’t do it himself, he just had to have faith in God.

Tonight hundreds of millions of Christians around the world are commemorating the death of Jesus. And millions of others know it as well and are hearing about it, knowing that this is a very special holy week for Christians. Virtually the whole world is hearing the message, and even if they’re not Christians, even if they’re of other religions, they know that this is the Christians’ holy week and this is its holiest night of all.

Considering the extent of communications and the dissemination of information today, probably the whole world, in all countries, of all faiths, nationalities, and religions are hearing about this week and know that the Christians are celebrating their holiest days of the year, and they are at least getting a little tiny glimpse of the message of Christ or hearing about Jesus, even if they don’t understand it.

Millions of Christians who understand the message of Christ and His death are choosing this week and this night to commemorate this event, and of all the nights in the year, it seemed that we should celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the night in which He and His disciples celebrated that First Supper.

So we thank You for Your sacrifice, Lord, Your blood shed for the remission of our sins, the New Testament in Your blood which was shed for us on that tree that we are commemorating this night—Your suffering, Your love, that You died for us in our place. You took our punishment for us. Instead of us dying for our sins, You died for them, Lord. And we now attest and testify and witness our faith in You and Your death for us and Your sacrifice of Your blood for our salvation to wash away our sins.

What we’re commemorating should not be a sad event, but a happy one, because if it hadn’t been for tonight, we wouldn’t be saved. Praise the Lord for the night that Jesus died for us! He not only died for us, but He went down into the bowels of the earth, three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, and He preached to the souls in prison down there to give them a chance to be saved too. Think of it! Isn’t that wonderful? A lot of people don’t believe that, but I do. The Bible says so. So why not believe it?¹¹

And then, praise God, come Sunday, we’ll be able to sing all those wonderful hymns about “Up from the grave He arose!” Let’s not just remember the death of the cross; let’s not always be seeing just a Christ on the cross and a crucifix, the suffering and the death. We don’t have a Jesus on the cross; He has left the cross! We have a bare cross. Jesus is no longer there! We don’t have a Christ in the grave. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”¹² We don’t have a dead Christ hanging there on a crucifix; we have a live Jesus living in our hearts!

Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a Victor o’er the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His Saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!
—Robert Lowry, 1874

He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives! He lives, salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart.
—A. H. Ackley, 1933

Originally published April 1984. Adapted and republished April 2015.
Read by Simon Peterson.

¹ Matthew 27:51.

² 1 John 3:2.

³ John 13:26.

⁴ 1 Corinthians 11:25–26.

⁵ Isaiah 53:5.

⁶ 1 Corinthians 11:24–25; 1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:5.

⁷ Psalm 34:19.

⁸ Mark 12:37.

⁹ Matthew 13:7.

¹⁰ Acts 2:41 and 4:4.

¹¹ Matthew 12:40; 1 Peter 3:19, 4:6; Ephesians 4:9.

¹² 1 Corinthians 15:55.

I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

3/08/24 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;^[a] believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?^[b] ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴And you know the way to where I am going.”^[c] ⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.^[d] From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John14:1-7) ESV

The Uniqueness of Christianity

A compilation

2019-10-29

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”—John 11:25–26

God created the entire universe by His supernatural power, and this is something we must believe, regardless of explanations and theories that try to persuade otherwise. The conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit, His miracles, teaching, His resurrection, ascension and indwelling of His Spirit are all a supernatural work of God, which we must come to believe as truth; not partially, but wholly. There is no other way we can experience God for who He is other than to believe.

The credibility of Christianity either falls or stands based on the authenticity of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are two things in particular unique to the Christian message. The first is the identity of Jesus. He is not simply a street preacher who got the ball rolling, nor did He just happen to be in the right place at the right time with the right thing. Jesus is the Son of God and part of the triune Godhead, co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Secondly, Christ is unique in what He did. He died, was buried, and was raised to life again.

Most of the world’s religions are based on philosophical propositions. That is, if you want life to work well for you, you need to know certain things and live in the good of those things. Four of these major religions are personality based. Judaism regards Abraham as its father, and Abraham lived, died, and was buried. Buddhism was founded by Buddha in the 5th century [BC]. A translation of his death is quoted as saying, “His death was with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind.” Islam was founded on the teaching of Mohammed, who died in 632 AD at the age of 61. His tomb is visited by thousands of pilgrims in the city of Medina, and there has never been a claim that Mohammed rose from the dead.

Jesus died a young man at 33 years of age. He was buried, and there are two claims to His tomb in Jerusalem—one within the city walls of Jerusalem and one just outside the city—but both tombs are empty. The empty tomb is not just one of the many tenets of belief in the Christian gospel. It is the indispensable fact of the Christian gospel. Paul tells us, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”¹ In the Christian life, we walk by faith, not by sight, and are truly blessed by a God-given will to believe.—Charles Price

The only way

“All paths lead to God” is a tempting sentence. It has a certain positivity to it. But in actuality only Christianity even claims to lead to God. The Christian destination is an intimate, flourishing, life-giving relationship with God Himself: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent”²; “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”³ Primarily, for a Christian, heaven is not a place but a person; it is not a reward but a relationship.

The Christianization of Western culture has sometimes resulted in us projecting the destination of intimate fellowship with God on to other religious worldviews. But in fact this is distinctively Christian. In Buddhism and some traditions of Hinduism, the destination of Nirvana is the cessation of self and the elimination of desire, two essential components of personal relationship. According to tradition, it was on the very night that his son was born that Gautama Buddha left to pursue his life of detachment from anything or anyone that could cause him suffering. Contrast that with Jesus Christ, who did everything He possibly could to attach Himself to our suffering in His pursuit of relationship with us.

Likewise, the destination of Islam is not relationship with Allah. The paradise spoken of in Islam is one in which Allah is almost entirely absent. Instead, paradise is depicted as a place of carnal pleasure: wine, sex, perpetual virgins, young boys who wait on men. Hasn’t this paradise already been tried and found wanting? How many who have reached the pinnacle of earthly pleasure have testified that it is anything but paradise, that ultimately our longing for authentic relationship cannot be satisfied by anything else?

Christianity is distinctive in its claim to lead to God. But actually, there’s a twist. If we are being precise, even Christianity doesn’t claim to lead us to find God. In fact, it claims the opposite: it claims that God came to find us: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”⁴ … Contrary to every other major belief system, the Christian God “does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”⁵ Because where we are heading in Christianity is based on what God has already done and not on what we might do, we can be assured of our destiny. … Jesus Christ’s starting point is everyone else’s finish line—the assurance of salvation! …

So to return to our question, do all paths lead to God? No. None do… Even Christianity claims not that we are led to God but that God’s love led Him to us.—Vince Vitale⁶

What makes Christianity unique?

Is Christianity really unique, or is it just one of many roads on the path to Truth? Is Christianity truly unique among the many religions around the world? If it is, what makes it so?

Unique among all religions, Christianity makes several claims that others do not. First, all other religions exhort man to reach up to God and grasp hold of Him through their own efforts. Christianity is the only religion where God reaches down to man. Second, other religions are systems of do’s and don’ts to appease God; whereas Christianity is a relationship with God. Third, Christianity looks to the Bible as the singular source of Truth. Finally, Christianity is based upon truly the most amazing event in all of human history—the resurrection…

Perhaps the most defining principle of Christianity that makes it truly unique in every way and provides its fundamental basis is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Within Christianity, the resurrection is vitally important, for without it, Christianity does not exist, and our faith is useless.⁷ It was Jesus’ resurrection that changed the lives of the disciples. After Jesus was crucified, the disciples ran and hid. But when they saw the risen Lord, they knew that all Jesus had said and done proved that He was indeed God in flesh. No other religious leader has died in full view of trained executioners, had a guarded tomb, and then rose three days later to appear to many people. The resurrection is proof of who Jesus is and that He did accomplish what He set out to do: provide the only means of redemption for mankind.

Buddha did not rise from the dead. Muhammad did not rise from the dead. Confucius did not rise from the dead. Krishna did not rise from the dead. Only Jesus has physically risen from the dead, walked on water, claimed to be God, and raised others from the dead. He has conquered death. Only in Christianity do we have the person of Christ who claimed to be God, performed many miracles to prove His claim of divinity, died and rose from the dead, and claimed that He alone is “the way, the truth, and the life,”⁸ and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.—From gotquestions.org⁹

Aren’t all religions basically the same?

Although our basic needs and heart’s desires are the same, the world’s great religions prescribe many different and often contradictory means of meeting those needs. A brief look at some of the most common beliefs and practices makes this evident. Devout believers of many faiths try to fulfill their spiritual needs by regularly attending places of worship—shrines, temples, mosques, cathedrals, and so on—where prayers are made, incense is offered, and a multitude of different traditions, ceremonies, and rituals are observed.

Some seekers of truth worship one God, while others worship hundreds or even thousands of gods. Some of the world’s major religions began simply as moral or ethical philosophies, and their founders never intended that any deity or god should be worshipped. Yet today these very founders are venerated as if they themselves were gods.

For many believers, their highest hope and aspiration is that they will survive after death as an individual personality in a happy and heavenly afterlife. Others scorn the idea of continuing to live on as an individual, but rather look forward to the obliteration of their individual self, so that they may become one with the ultimate reality of the universe. Some believe that after they die they will return to live other lives on earth, over and over again, that their present life is just one of many births and rebirths that will continue indefinitely until full enlightenment or salvation is attained.

God, from the pages of the Bible, lovingly calls out to all people of all nationalities, saying, “Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, the God of all flesh, and besides Me there is no other.”¹⁰ The Bible’s appeal is universal: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, for the Lord would have all men to be saved, to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For God shows no partiality and is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, all who love Him are accepted by Him.”¹¹—The Family International

Published on Anchor October 2019. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.

¹ 1 Corinthians 15:14 NIV.

² John 17:3.

³ Revelation 3:20.

⁴ Luke 19:10.

⁵ Psalm 103:10.

⁶ Vince Vitale, Jesus Among Secular Gods (FaithWords, 2017).

⁷ 1 Corinthians 15:14.

⁸ John 14:6.

⁹ www.gotquestions.org/Christianity-unique.html.

¹⁰ Isaiah 45:22.

¹¹ Romans 10:13; 1 Timothy 2:4; Acts 10:34–35.

Peace with God Through Faith

3/07/24 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we have also obtained access by faith^[b] into this grace in which we stand, and we^[c] rejoice^[d] in hope of the glory of God. ³Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

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. (Romans 5:1-11) ESV

What Easter Represents

Maria Fontaine

2017-04-10

Anything so unspeakably priceless as Jesus offering His life in payment for our sins required immense strength of spirit and depth of character and closeness to His Father in order to accomplish such a colossal mission—His ultimate goal.

Even then, in the midst of facing what He had to do for the salvation of humankind, Jesus requested that if it were possible that the Father would let the cup pass from Him.¹ What was the cup? It was His great agony and the suffering that He would have to endure. We might picture His cup filled with the consequences of the sins of the world!—All that God’s justice had decreed was due for all the sins that had ever been committed—past, present, and future. As a paraphrasing of 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him the cost of our sins. Then, in exchange, He poured the pure gift of God’s goodness into us.” He who was without sin bore the weight of punishment for the transgressions of the entire world, in order to free us from them.

Out of love for us, He who knew no sin suffered the price of sin for us and was made a curse for us, so that through His death He could destroy sin’s power over those who would come to Him.²

Our human intellects, no matter how brilliant, can never fully understand these deep spiritual truths. However, physical illustrations of these concepts, even though insufficient at their best and “seen through a glass darkly,” can at least help us to a partial, very limited understanding. Jesus taking our sins and evil into Himself could be symbolically likened to a terminal disease permeating the body and infiltrating the cells. His becoming sin for us was like His taking into Himself the resulting consequence of death.

The Bible says that Jesus poured out His soul unto death, and set us free through His blood.³ The cup now symbolizes new life through His blood shed for us.⁴ Sin, death, ungodliness, and all that is evil is swallowed up in victory.⁵ All of the evil of mankind, and the full settlement for all sin for all time was made. And what does Jesus ask of us? The Scripture says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”⁶

He who was life and truth and the Word made flesh was destroyed in the flesh, but His spirit could not be destroyed.⁷ What was destroyed for all who turn to Jesus was the power of sin and death, the spirit of the world, and those spiritual forces bound to them. Their power was broken and conquered by Christ for any who would receive His sacrifice and gift of love. These forces of Satan no longer have any power or authority over His children beyond what Jesus allows for a purpose—to teach us and strengthen us, to cause our witness to shine even brighter, and to draw us closer to Him.

What Jesus did through His death and resurrection to bring us salvation is something so very mysterious and beyond our human comprehension that we won’t be able to fully understand it until we’re liberated from the realm of the flesh into the spirit—and maybe not even then. However, every time we reflect on what Jesus did for each one of us—and for all of us—it renews our sense of reverence and awe.

What, in practical terms, does such limitless love mean to us as Christians? What does it say to us? What is its significance? What does it mean to us personally?

Christian writers throughout the years have tried to explain the essence of Easter in various ways:

A demonstration that life is essentially spiritual and timeless.
The rare beauty of new life.
News of a great victory, the assurance of a great triumph.
A declaration that we are immortal children of God.
The “out of the grave and into my heart” miracle.
A fact of history, without which history does not make sense.
The door of the holy sepulcher—the portal through which we enter the kingdom of God.
The descent of God to the human level and the ascent of man to the divine level, becoming the sons of God.
The thing that turns the church from a museum into a ministry.
A second chance.
The assurance that the truth does not perish; it cannot be destroyed.
The crowning proof of Christianity.
The right to live nobly now because we are to live forever.
The knowledge that we are living in a world in which God has the last word.

Easter represents all that our salvation is.⁸—And that’s worth celebrating! Easter stands for everything that has been and forever will be possible in our resurrection-empowered lives. It represents:

Freedom from condemnation of past mistakes and failures.⁹
Liberation from fear of death.¹⁰
The guarantee of hope for an eternal future in a home that Jesus has gone to prepare for us.¹¹
An alternative to the temporal, sin-laden, suffering-plagued existence of this world.¹²
The opening of the door of heaven to us.
The blind given sight.¹³
Common men and women becoming kings and queens.¹⁴
The drowning man rescued.
The brand snatched from the burning.¹⁵
The power to preach good tidings, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.¹⁶
The paralyzed becoming mobile.¹⁷
The earth coming to life in the spring.
The knowledge that man can live forever.¹⁸
A demonstration that anything wonderful can happen when all hope seems gone.
Complete forgiveness.¹⁹
Freedom from the law of death.²⁰
The truth let loose in the world.²¹
The sting taken out of death.²²
The guarantee that there are no illnesses nor pain in heaven.²³
The promise of eternal life with our loved ones.²⁴
The assurance of a glorious future, no matter how bad the world gets.
The power to conquer all impossibilities.²⁵
Divine healing power.²⁶
A way of life, not just a religion or a ritual.²⁷

All of the above impossibilities became possible—all the potential of the universe was released—when Christ’s victory over death was won.

The resurrection and its results are worth repeatedly examining, since in this—one of the greatest moments of history—we continue to find Easter wonders.

Like the little girl said when her daddy asked her, “Do you know what Easter means, honey?” The three-year-old, throwing up her arms, shouted at the top of her voice, “Surprise!” Yes, indeed! Death was surprised! Sin was surprised! The grieving disciples were surprised! Modern man is surprised! Jesus is alive—and the whole world is filled with His resurrection miracles!

Originally published March 2010. Adapted and republished April 2017.
Read by Carol Andrews.

¹ Matthew 26:39.

² 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:14; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24.

³ Isaiah 53:12.

⁴ 1 Corinthians 11:25.

⁵ 1 Corinthians 15:54.

⁶ Galatians 2:20; Romans 5:8–11, 6:6–11.

⁷ Luke 23:46; 1 Peter 3:18.

⁸ John 11:25–26.

⁹ Romans 8:1.

¹⁰ Hebrews 2:14–15.

¹¹ John 14:2–3.

¹² John 16:33.

¹³ 1 Peter 2:9; John 9:25.

¹⁴ Revelation 5:9–10.

¹⁵ Zechariah 3:2.

¹⁶ Isaiah 61:1, 3.

¹⁷ Matthew 11:5.

¹⁸ 1 John 2:17.

¹⁹ Isaiah 1:18.

²⁰ Romans 8:2.

²¹ John 1:17.

²² 1 Corinthians 15:55.

²³ Revelation 21:4.

²⁴ Acts 16:31.

²⁵ Luke 1:37.

²⁶ Mark 16:17–18.

²⁷ John 10:10.

The Resurrection of Christ

3/06/24 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[^a^] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

The Resurrection: The Turning Point in History

A compilation

2014-04-14

What mere human can choose his own birthplace? Or what mortal man can—or would—cause the officials of a foreign government to order his death by a terribly agonizing execution? How could anyone manipulate their bitter enemies to pay a specific price for their betrayal, mock and revile them as they are dying, much less cause a band of soldiers to gamble for their clothing and pierce their side after they’ve died, and cause a rich man to bury their body in his own personal tomb? Yet Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled not only these, but over 300 more specific predictions regarding His birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection. Truly He was—and is—“unique” in every sense of the word!

Not one of the great recognized religious leaders—not Moses, not Buddha, not Confucius, not Mohammed—ever claimed to be God. True, some have been deified by their followers after they died, but none ever personally claimed to be deity.—That is, with the exception of Jesus Christ. In fact, He not only claimed to be the Son of God, God manifest in human flesh, but He convinced a great portion of the world that He in fact is God’s Son.

There is no reason to doubt that after His death, something incredible happened which transformed His tiny band of dejected followers into a company of witnesses whom all the persecution of Imperial Rome could not stop. Downhearted and discouraged, their Lord cruelly crucified by His enemies, it looked to those disciples as if their hopes had died and their dreams had been shattered.

But three days after Jesus’ death, their faith was rekindled in such a dramatic manner that no force on earth was able to quench it! And that lowly handful of His original followers went on to tell the entire world the Good News.—That God not only sent His Son into the world to teach us His truth and show us His love, but also that Jesus suffered death for our sake, and then rose from the grave.—So that we who know and believe on Him never need to fear death again, for we are saved and on our way to heaven, thanks to Jesus.

The New Testament also tells us that Jesus personally appeared to over 500 eyewitnesses after His resurrection.¹ This was the resounding message that His first disciples boldly proclaimed throughout the world: “God raised Him from the dead!”²—From “Who Is Jesus,” TFI

Early Christianity was a “resurrection” movement through and through. … To preach the Resurrection is to announce the fact that the world is a different place, and that we have to live in that “different-ness.” The Resurrection is not just God doing a wacky miracle at one time. We have to preach it in a way that says this was the turning point in world history.—N. T. Wright

Belief in the resurrection is not an appendage to the Christian faith. It is the Christian faith.—George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury

Think of it! God sent His own Son, the very Lord of heaven, the master of the universe, down to earth to become one of us. He was miraculously conceived in the womb of a humble and lowly virgin named Mary, and took on the form of human flesh just like ours. Therefore He was the Son of Man as well as the Son of God.

Jesus not only adapted Himself to our bodily form, but He also conformed to our human ways of life, customs, language, dress, and living so that He might understand us better and be able to communicate with us on the lowly level of our human understanding. He became a citizen of this world, a member of humanity, a man of flesh, so that He might reach us with His love, prove to us His compassion and concern, and help us understand His message.

He came down and lived like us, worked like us, had to sleep like us, eat like us, and do everything that we have to do. There were times when He was weary, tired, and footsore, when He was hungry and thirsty, sad and discouraged. He became one of us, and as the Bible says, “was tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.”³

Jesus spent His time going around everywhere doing good—feeding people who were hungry, healing those who were sick, cheering and comforting those who were sad and brokenhearted. He loved everybody, even the poorest of the poor, and those whom everybody else looked down on.

He never had any kind of religious buildings, denominations, or formal congregations. He simply went out and met people on the streets, by the seashore, in the marketplaces—wherever He could reach them—and shared His message of love with all who would listen to it. He befriended even the most despised and rejected members of society: tax collectors, drunks, prostitutes, and sinners.

His religion of love was so simple that He said, “You must become as a little child to receive it.”⁴

Jesus didn’t have to die on the cross. He said, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.”⁵ He was the Son of God, and all the powers of the universe were at His disposal, at His command. He told His captors, “You could have no power over Me at all unless it was given to you from My Father. … I could lift My little finger and thousands of angels would immediately deliver Me from your hand.”⁶ He could have called on all the forces of heaven to slaughter His enemies, conquer Rome, and take over the world. But instead, He chose to lay down His life for you and me.

Why would the King of kings, the Lord of the universe, God in the flesh, allow himself to be captured, falsely accused, tried and condemned, whipped, stripped, and nailed to a cross like a common criminal? The answer is simple—because He loved you and me!

Three days after His lifeless body was buried, something happened that shocked His enemies and proved to all of His followers that He really was the Son of God: He rose from the dead, the victor over death and hell forever!

After His resurrection, He personally appeared to literally hundreds of His followers, encouraging, strengthening, and comforting them. He told them that He was going to return to be with His heavenly Father, but that He would always be with them in spirit, living in their hearts forever. He also gave His followers a wonderful promise, that one day, “I will come again.” The Son of Man shall “come in the clouds, with power and great majesty.”⁷—David Brandt Berg

Against the background of the modern predicament, the traditional Christian hope of the resurrection takes on an even greater brightness and significance. It tells man that he is no orphan after all, but the personal image of the Creator God of the universe; nor is his life doomed in death, for through the eschatological resurrection he may live in the presence of God forever.

This is a wonderful hope. But, of course, hope that is not founded in fact is not hope, but mere illusion. Why should the Christian hope of eschatological resurrection appear to modern man as anything more than mere wishful thinking? The answer lies in the Christian conviction that a man has been proleptically ⁸ raised by God from the dead as the forerunner and exemplar of our own eschatological resurrection. That man was Jesus of Nazareth, and his historical resurrection from the dead constitutes the factual foundation upon which the Christian hope is based.—William Lane Craig

The entire plan for the future has its key in the resurrection.—Billy Graham

I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned, and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world—and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.—Charles Colson

See, then, the power of His resurrection—it proves without a doubt the faith once delivered to the saints. Supported by infallible proofs, it becomes itself the infallible proof of the authority, power, and glory of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God … the power of our Lord’s resurrection is an evidencing power … a justifying power, a life-giving power, and a consoling power.—Charles H. Spurgeon

The blessings of the Gospel are substantial facts and not mere theological opinions. As the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead was a plain visible matter of fact, such is the evidencing power of the resurrection of Christ, that when every other argument fails your faith, you may find safe anchorage in this assured fact. The currents of doubt may bear you towards the rocks of mistrust. But when your anchor finds no other hold, it may grip the fact of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. This must be true. The witnesses are too many to have been deceived. And their patient deaths on account of their belief proved that they were not only honest men but good men who valued the Truth of God more than life. We know that Jesus rose from the dead—whatever else we are forced to question, we have no question on that score. We may be tossed about upon the sea in reference to other statements, but we step to shore again and find terra firma in this unquestionable, firmly established Truth—“The Lord is risen, indeed.”—Charles H. Spurgeon

There is more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar ever lived or that Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three.—Billy Graham

Historical argument alone cannot force anyone to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. But historical argument is remarkably good at clearing away the undergrowth behind which skepticisms of various sorts have been hiding. The proposal that Jesus was bodily raised from the dead possesses unrivaled power to explain the historical data at the heart of early Christianity.—N. T. Wright

It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.—Paul addressing Governor Felix, Acts 24:21

Published on Anchor April 2014. Read by Simon Peterson.

¹ 1 Corinthians 15:6.

² Acts 13:30.

³ Hebrews 4:15.

⁴ Matthew 18:3.

⁵ Matthew 28:18.

⁶ John 19:11; Matthew 26:53.

⁷ John 14:3; Luke 21:27.

⁸ Proleptic (adj.): foreshadowing, anticipatory.

The Resurrection of Christ

3/06/24 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[a] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

The Resurrection: The Turning Point in History

A compilation

2014-04-14

Belief in the resurrection is not an appendage to the Christian faith. It is the Christian faith.—George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury

His religion of love was so simple that He said, “You must become as a little child to receive it.”⁴

The entire plan for the future has its key in the resurrection.—Billy Graham

There is more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar ever lived or that Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three.—Billy Graham

It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.—Paul addressing Governor Felix, Acts 24:21

Published on Anchor April 2014. Read by Simon Peterson.

¹ 1 Corinthians 15:6.

² Acts 13:30.

³ Hebrews 4:15.

⁴ Matthew 18:3.

⁵ Matthew 28:18.

⁶ John 19:11; Matthew 26:53.

⁷ John 14:3; Luke 21:27.

⁸ Proleptic (adj.): foreshadowing, anticipatory.

The Way of Love

3/05/24If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;^[b] ⁶it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
(1Corinthians 13:1-7) ESV

35 – More Like Jesus: Love

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2018-09-04

In the book of 1 John we read that God is love¹ and that in this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.² While the phrase God is love isn’t found in the Old Testament, we read of God’s love throughout it. The most commonly used Hebrew word to express God’s love in the Old Testament is chesed, which is translated as steadfast love (ESV), lovingkindness (NAS), faithful love (CSB), and mercy (KJV). Of the 194 times this word is used, it refers to God’s love 171 times.

When God revealed Himself to Moses, He called Himself:

“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands.”³

Twice in this verse He referred to Himself using the phrase steadfast love, and when repetition was used in ancient Hebrew, it was for the purpose of emphasis. Throughout the Old Testament, God refers to His steadfast love:

The LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.⁴

As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.⁵

The steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children.⁶

From Genesis through Malachi, God is portrayed as the One who faithfully and eternally loves. And the New Testament states outright that God is love.

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is portrayed as being His Father’s love for humanity.

God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.⁷

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.⁸

Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.⁹

Jesus was God’s love manifested on earth, and He instructed those of us who love Him and believe in Him to follow His teachings so that we will abide in His love and reflect His love to others. In order to help us do this, He sent the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.¹⁰ One of the fruits of the Spirit is love.¹¹

It’s helpful to understand that there are a few words that are translated into English as love, but which have different meanings in the original Greek of the New Testament. One of these Greek words is eros, which expresses the “being in love” feeling as well as sexual love, and is not used in the New Testament. Another word translated as love is phileo, which is used for fondness, a close bond of deep friendship, love for fellow human beings, compassion, and brotherly love. A third word is storge, which relates to the love and affection people have for members of their family, especially parents for their children.

The fourth and the most commonly used word for love in the New Testament is agape. As used in Scripture, it means the love of God. For example, in 1 John 4:8 when it says God is love, agape is the original Greek word. Everything God does is motivated by and flows from His love. Agape also refers to the love we have for God,¹² and the Christlike love we are to show others:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.¹³

When we read about love (agape) in the Gospels and Epistles, we see love which chooses to put the needs of others before self, which accepts being inconvenienced, which voluntarily suffers for the benefit of someone else while not expecting to receive anything in return. It is a love that shows goodwill, faithfulness, commitment, and strong character. It is the love that Jesus displayed and that motivated Him to lay down His life so that we could live with Him forever.

Agape love is the sacrificial love that Jesus manifested and that we are called to imitate.

Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.¹⁴

It’s the love that Jesus said we are to give one another as Christians.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.¹⁵

It’s also the type of love we are to show to those who persecute us.

I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.¹⁶

In the King James Version, agape is often translated as “charity,” which helps us understand that this love is a giving, unselfish love. It does to others those things that you would want done for you. The call to imitate Jesus’ love is a call to love not only those we are close to and comfortable with, or those whom we think deserve our love. It means loving those we don’t feel are deserving; who think, believe, and act in ways we don’t agree with. After all, Jesus told us to love our enemies and those who wrong or mistreat us.

The apostle Paul put skin on love (agape) when he defined what love is and does and how it is manifested in 1 Corinthians 13, which is often referred to as the “love chapter.” Most of us are quite familiar with this passage in the language of the King James Version, so I’m including four other Bible translations here in order to take away some of the familiarity we may have with it.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.¹⁷

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.¹⁸

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.¹⁹

Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.²⁰

This challenging list is a good touchstone for us if we desire to emulate Jesus, as Jesus embodied this love through his outgoing, longsuffering, self-giving, self-effacing love.²¹

Jesus instructed His disciples to love one another.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.²²

These things I command you, so that you will love one another.²³

He gave examples of the kind of love He was speaking about and how to demonstrate love in our daily lives.

Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.²⁴

Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.²⁵

The book of 1 John echoes Jesus’ commands by focusing on love.

This commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.²⁶

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.²⁷

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.²⁸

If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.²⁹

Having and exhibiting love is vital when trying to live a life that reflects Jesus. In a sense, all the ways in which we try to be more like Jesus have love at their core. In looking back at the articles in this series, we can see that love for the Lord and others are the basis for the attributes which help us move toward Christlikeness. Compassion, honesty, forgiveness, kindness, goodness, gentleness, patience, self-control, hope, humility, joy, peace, gratitude, holiness, and faithfulness are all rooted in love. Making the decision to develop Christian character, to put off the old self and put on the new self,³⁰ as the apostle Paul wrote, is also rooted in love. We love God because He first loved us, and based on His love, we want to live in a manner which glorifies Him. We make the effort to change, to renew our heart, will, mind, soul, and spirit because we love the Lord and want to be more like Him, to reflect Him—even if that reflection is only a dim glow of who He fully is. But as dim as that glow may be, it shines in this world of darkness and gives glory to the one who made, loves, and saved us, and with whom we will spend eternity.

As we conclude this series, my prayer is that it has in some way helped you grow in Christlikeness, better reflect Him to others, and has drawn you closer to Him. May God bless you in your efforts to become More Like Jesus.

Note

¹ 1 John 4:8.

² 1 John 4:9.

³ Exodus 34:6–7.

⁴ Deuteronomy 7:9.

⁵ Psalm 103:11.

⁶ Psalm 103:17.

⁷ John 3:16.

⁸ 1 John 4:8–10.

⁹ John 15:9–10.

¹⁰ John 14:26.

¹¹ Galatians 5:22.

¹² Mark 12:30.

¹³ John 13:34.

¹⁴ Ephesians 5:1–2.

¹⁵ John 13:34.

¹⁶ Matthew 5:44.

¹⁷ 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV.

¹⁸ 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NIV.

¹⁹ 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NLT.

²⁰ 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NAS.

²¹ Eerdmans’ Handbook to the Bible (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973), 594.

²² John 15:12.

²³ John 15:17.

²⁴ Luke 6:30–31. See Jesus—His Life and Message: Jesus on Love for more on this passage.

²⁵ Luke 6:35–38.

²⁶ 1 John 4:21.

²⁷ 1 John 3:16.

²⁸ 1 John 3:18.

²⁹ 1 John 4:12.

³⁰ Ephesians 4:20–24.

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager

3/04/24“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. ¹¹If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? ¹²And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? ¹³No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:10-13) ESV

34 – More Like Jesus: Faithfulness and Honesty

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2018-04-10

Faithfulness

Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, much is said about faithfulness. By definition, faithfulness expresses the concept of being unfailingly loyal to someone or something in any and all circumstances. It also expresses being firm in adhering to promises one makes.

Throughout Scripture, God is spoken of as being faithful. When He revealed Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai, He declared:

The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.¹

Elsewhere we read:

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.²

We’re told He is a God of faithfulness³ and that the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.⁴

In the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as being faithful:

Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son.⁵

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it [Jesus] is called Faithful and True.⁶

Faithfulness is also listed as a fruit of the Holy Spirit.⁷ Clearly God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is faithful, unwavering in His promises and His love for us. Even if we weaken or lose faith, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.⁸

In the context of our seeking to be Christlike, faithfulness can be seen as being loyal to Jesus, in a similar sense as a married couple are loyal to one another because of their love for one another and also because they pledged themselves to be committed to one another. Faithfulness means being true to our commitment to live in accordance with God’s Word, to put Him first, and not give anything else priority over our commitment to Him. This concept is expressed in the first of the Ten Commandments:

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.⁹

The commitment for us, as Christians, is to be faithful to God by giving Him our primary allegiance, our love and dedication.

Faithfulness also means being trustworthy. When you give your word, you keep it. You fulfill your obligations.

LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He who keeps his oath even when it hurts.¹⁰

When we make a vow or promise to the Lord, we have given Him our word, and thus are committing ourselves to keeping it.

If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.¹¹

When we make a commitment to someone, we are morally obliged to follow through on what we’ve said we would do. This includes promises or commitments we’ve made to ourselves.

Jesus taught about character and spoke of the results and consequences of faithfulness and unfaithfulness:

One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much. … If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?¹²

We are called to be equally faithful in all matters, whether large or small. Jesus pointed out that if we are unable to properly use money (unrighteous mammon), then we can’t be trusted to administer greater riches. If we can’t care for someone else’s things, then we can’t be trusted with responsibility for our own things. What a person does reveals their character. Someone who is faithful, who keeps their word, who acts honorably, will do so no matter what the situation. Our decisions, choices, and subsequent actions in small day-to-day matters tell us and others much about our faithfulness and our character.

As Christians, we should be known as those who are faithful, honorable, trustworthy, and reliable in our speech and our interactions with others. In so doing, we reflect the Lord to others.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.¹³

Honesty

Another important element of becoming more like Jesus is being truthful and honest. Jesus stated:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life.¹⁴

In the Gospel of John we read that Jesus, the Word of God, became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.¹⁵ Twice, Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.¹⁶

When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.¹⁷

Truthfulness is part of who God is.

In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul wrote about being honest:

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.¹⁸

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.¹⁹

In the Psalms, we’re told that God takes pleasure in honesty:

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being.²⁰

In the book of Hebrews, we read that it is impossible for God to lie.²¹ If we truly desire to embrace Christlikeness, being honest and truthful needs to be high on our priority list.

Lying and dishonesty are clearly and strongly spoken against throughout the Old and New Testaments. Scripture also encourages honesty and truthfulness. Let’s take a look at some verses which focus on being truthful.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.²²

Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth.²³

These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace.²⁴

Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right, for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.²⁵

Love truth and peace.²⁶

Love … rejoices with the truth.²⁷

Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.²⁸

Besides encouraging honesty and truthfulness, Scripture also condemns lying and deceitfulness, and instructs us to put away falsehood.

Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD.²⁹

There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: … a lying tongue … a false witness who breathes out lies.³⁰

No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.³¹

You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.³²

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.³³

Do not deceive with your lips.³⁴

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.³⁵

Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.³⁶

A dishonest man spreads strife.³⁷

A man of crooked heart does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.³⁸

Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.³⁹

Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.⁴⁰

Those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue.⁴¹

Jesus stated, I am the way, and the truth, and the life,⁴² making the point that He not only told the truth but He is the truth. Twenty-five times in the Gospel of John, Jesus used the phrase, Truly, truly, I say to you.⁴³ (Other translations use the corresponding terms Verily, verily; Amen, amen; or Most assuredly.) In using this phrase, Jesus implied that not only was what He was about to say true, but that He had firsthand, direct, divine knowledge that it was true. Jesus is the truth and spoke the truth.

A vital component of our day-to-day testimony is that we, like Jesus, speak the truth to others. In the book of Isaiah, when speaking of the promised Messiah, Isaiah wrote that there was no deceit in his mouth.⁴⁴ Jesus spoke only the truth, and as believers we are to follow His example of honesty.

Faithfulness and honesty are akin to each other. Faithfulness calls us to keep our commitments, to be trustworthy and act honorably. The call to honesty also leads to us being trustworthy and honorable. Jesus was both truthful and faithful:

“I am … the truth.” I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it [Jesus] is called Faithful and True.⁴⁵

May we do our best to be more like Him in these areas of our lives.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Exodus 34:6.

² Deuteronomy 7:9.

³ Deuteronomy 32:4.

⁴ Psalm 117:2.

⁵ Hebrews 3:5–6.

⁶ Revelation 19:11.

⁷ Galatians 5:22.

⁸ 2 Timothy 2:13 NKJV.

⁹ Exodus 20:3–5.

¹⁰ Psalm 15:1, 4 NIV.

¹¹ Numbers 30:2.

¹² Luke 16:10–12.

¹³ Proverbs 3:3–4 NIV.

¹⁴ John 14:6.

¹⁵ John 1:14.

¹⁶ John 16:13.

¹⁷ John 15:26.

¹⁸ Ephesians 4:25.

¹⁹ Ephesians 6:14.

²⁰ Psalm 51:6.

²¹ Hebrews 6:18.

²² Psalm 15:1–2.

²³ Psalm 86:11.

²⁴ Zechariah 8:16.

²⁵ Proverbs 8:6–7.

²⁶ Zechariah 8:19.

²⁷ 1 Corinthians 13:6.

²⁸ Ephesians 4:15.

²⁹ Proverbs 12:22.

³⁰ Proverbs 6:16–17, 19.

³¹ Psalm 101:7.

³² Psalm 5:6.

³³ Psalm 34:13.

³⁴ Proverbs 24:28.

³⁵ Colossians 3:9.

³⁶ 1 Peter 2:1.

³⁷ Proverbs 16:28.

³⁸ Proverbs 17:20.

³⁹ Psalm 120:2.

⁴⁰ 1 Peter 3:10.

⁴¹ Zephaniah 3:13.

⁴² John 14:6.

⁴³ John 1:51; 3:3,5,11; 5:19,24,25; 6:26,32,47,53; 8:34,51,58; 10:1,7; 12:24; 13:16,20,21,38; 14:12; 16:20,23; 21:18.

⁴⁴ Isaiah 53:9.

⁴⁵ Revelation 19:11.

The Promise Realized Through Faith

3/03/24 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.¹⁶That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, ¹⁷as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. ¹⁸In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness^[^b^] of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²²That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” ²³But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, ²⁵who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
(Romans 4:16-25) ESV

33 – More Like Jesus: Hope

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-11-07

(Some points for this article were condensed from the book Think, Act, Be Like Jesus, by Randy Frazee.¹)

When we read the Gospels, it’s apparent that Jesus knew beforehand that He was going to suffer and be killed, and also that He knew He was going to rise from the dead.

Taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”²

The confidence that Jesus had that He would rise from the dead is referred to in biblical terms as “hope.” Nowadays, when we use the word “hope,” it is generally understood as referring to something that someone would like to see happen. It conveys the idea that one doesn’t know what is going to happen, but they wish for a certain outcome. Scripture sometimes uses the word “hope” in this manner as well, but more often this word conveys a different and much more substantial meaning. The biblical understanding of the Greek word elpis, which is translated as hope, is “a desire of some good and an expectation of obtaining it.”

The meaning of “hope” and its cognates in the New Testament is radically different from that of the English word hope. Rather than expressing the desire for a particular outcome that is uncertain, hope in the New Testament by definition is characterized by certainty.³

The expectancy of biblical hope is akin to surety or certainty because it is rooted in the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. His death, followed by His rising from the dead, is what gives us the surety—or certainty—that we too will one day be raised from the dead. Thus our hope, our expectation, though not a reality right now, is a certainty. Our expectancy of obtaining God’s promise of salvation, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life with God are certain based on the promises of God.

When Jesus spoke of rising from the dead, He was expressing the biblical sense of hope, as He was assured that this was going to happen. Faith and hope are closely connected, as the certainty of hope is based in our faith in God. Hope, in the biblical sense, relates to the future, as it is the certainty that something promised by God will happen. It may not have happened yet, but we are assured that it will. For example, the apostle Paul speaks of the grace of God which teaches us to live godly lives in this present age, while we are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.⁴ The hope spoken of here is not hope in the sense that we wish for something to happen; rather it is the surety of expectation, knowing that Christ will appear in glory.

In the same way that Jesus was certain that He would rise from the dead, so we as Christians have the certainty that we will be raised from the dead. Having the certitude of biblical hope is part of growing in Christlikeness. Because we have the certainty of hope, we have trust in God and His promises. We know that His promises are true, even though we haven’t seen the complete fulfillment of them yet. These include the promises of forgiveness, salvation, and eternity with God.

An example of a person having such hope is found in the biblical descriptions of the patriarch Abraham. He and his wife Sarah had reached old age, and she was past the age of childbearing, yet God had told him that within a year Sarah would bear a son. The apostle Paul wrote of him:

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.⁵

Abraham was unwavering in hope, in belief, in the sure knowledge that God would do what He said. He wasn’t wishing that what God said would come true; He knew it would. That is what hope in God means.

Another example of the surety of hope is found in the book of Job. Job suffered immensely—he lost all his children, his wealth, and his health. Without specifically using the word “hope,” Job expressed the concept of biblical hope when he said:

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold.⁶

Despite his suffering, Job had the assurance that he would see God, which was the basis for his extraordinary perseverance—his hope.⁷

In the book of Hebrews, we see the concept of biblical hope expressed when we read of Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.⁸ Our Savior had surety (hope) of the joy that awaited Him when He returned to His Father, so He was willing to endure pain and suffering for our sakes.

God’s Word is the foundation of our faith and of the final outcome of our faith. Paul wrote about the hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.⁹ Paul speaks of this hope of eternal life as a future possession, as a certainty which is promised by God. Since God does not and cannot lie,¹⁰ we know without any doubt that we will be the beneficiaries of His promise. This is our hope, our surety.

When we understand hope in this biblical manner, we can find strength to endure life’s tests and trials. Sometimes the pathway of life leads us through trying and difficult times, but when we have hope, we have the assurance that the Lord will help us along that path and eventually we will overcome—if not in this life, then in the next. We place our hope, our surety, on the promises of God. We are able to endure hardship in the knowledge that we will live in the presence of our Lord forever. We have the conviction that whatever we face, no matter how difficult and trying it might be, in the end we will be forever with the Lord.¹¹

When we understand the basis of our hope, we can better understand those who have chosen to die a martyr’s death. Author Randy Frazee wrote:

Why would someone choose to die rather than renounce Christ? Why would anyone suffer torture at the hands of evil dictators because of a belief they will not rescind? Why would people suffer from a lack of food, water, and medical care solely because they are Christians? What drives them to place their faith above anything else in life? The answer? Hope. What else could be the answer to these questions? For millions of Christians, the hope of Christ has driven them to survive mind-boggling odds and die peacefully under unspeakable circumstances. The longing to see their Savior on the other side fueled their hearts to endure to the end.¹²

They have been willing to die for their faith, as their faith was based on the surety of hope, which Scripture calls a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.¹³

While the challenges we face day by day may inevitably take up much of our time and attention, having hope can keep our minds and hearts focused on the Lord and our wonderful future with Him. Such hope can give us the courage and fortitude to stay positive and praiseful through the tests and trials and the ups and downs we face. When we remind ourselves of what is ahead—the assurance of our salvation and promised blessings for eternity—we can face our challenges courageously, with the sure knowledge that no matter what the outcome, we have the hope of a future with God.

Regularly reminding ourselves of our hope—our knowledge that we are saved, that God’s Spirit dwells within us, that Jesus sacrificed so that we can be in relationship with God, that He is present in our lives each day, and that we are assured of eternity with Him—should affect the way we think and feel about our life. When we live with this hope, we know that the eternal outcome will be glorious, and therefore we can better face the difficulties of life. Regularly reminding ourselves of the assurance of our salvation and what it means to our eternity can cause us to be more positive about our circumstances. We are wonderfully saved, and will spend forever in love, joy, and peace with God. As the bearers of such hope, we are called to likewise share that hope of glory with others, to do our best to represent Jesus to them, to love them as He does, and to humbly help them feel His love and care through us. May we always consciously live with the hope we have through Christ, and share that hope with others, as Jesus shared it with us.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.¹⁴

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.¹⁵

Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.¹⁶

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.¹⁷

Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.¹⁸

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.¹⁹

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Randy Frazee, Think, Act, Be Like Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014).

² Luke 18:31–33.

³ Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids, eds., “Hope” in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 499–500.

⁴ Titus 2:13.

⁵ Romans 4:18–21 NIV.

⁶ Job 19:25–27.

⁷ James 5:11.

⁸ Hebrews 12:2.

⁹ Titus 1:2.

¹⁰ Numbers 23:19, Hebrews 6:18.

¹¹ 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

¹² Randy Frazee, Think, Act, Be Like Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 190.

¹³ Hebrews 6:19.

¹⁴ 1 Peter 1:3–4.

¹⁵ 1 Peter 1:20–21.

¹⁶ Titus 2:13.

¹⁷ Hebrews 10:23.

¹⁸ Ephesians 1:18–19.

¹⁹ Romans 15:13.

Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son

3/02/24Soon afterward^[c] he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. ¹²As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. ¹³And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” ¹⁵And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus^[d] gave him to his mother. ¹⁶Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” ¹⁷And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. (Luke 7:11-17) ESV

32 – More Like Jesus: Compassion

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-10-31

When we read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life, something that becomes abundantly clear is that Jesus showed compassion to others and taught that His followers should be compassionate as well. We read the parable of the Samaritan showing compassion to the beaten Jewish man by nursing his wounds, taking him to an inn to be cared for, and paying the expenses out of his own pocket.¹ In the parable of the lost son, a young man demanded his inheritance from his father, which was the equivalent of saying, “I wish you were dead,” and left home only to deplete his inheritance. Upon his return home, we read that his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.²

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He saw situations where people were in need, was moved with compassion, and took action to help them.

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

He then took seven loaves of bread and a few small fish and multiplied them so that four thousand people ate and were satisfied.³ Upon seeing a young boy falling down and convulsing, Jesus asked his father:

“How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood … if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Jesus showed compassion by delivering the boy from the spirit which was afflicting him.⁴

As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.⁵

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.⁶

During His time on Earth, Jesus embodied His Father’s attributes, one of which was His Father’s compassion. Throughout the Old Testament we read of God’s compassion:

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.⁷

The Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.⁸

“For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.⁹

Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant. Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them.¹⁰

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.¹¹

Compassion is a godly attribute that we who want to pattern our lives after Jesus are called to emulate. So, what is compassion? Dictionaries define it as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for someone who is in some kind of distress, combined with the desire to do something to alleviate it.” In Scripture, there are five Hebrew words in the Old Testament which are translated as compassion, and there are four Greek words in the New Testament translated as such. In the Old Testament, the words translated as compassion have the following meanings: to be sorry for; to pity; to spare someone; to sympathize; and to comfort or console (with the will to change the situation). One of the Hebrew words, racham, is related to the Hebrew word for “womb” and expresses a mother’s (or a parent’s) compassion for a helpless child—a deep emotion which expresses itself in acts of selfless service. This is a protective compassion, and this word is generally used in reference to God’s compassion. When God revealed Himself to Moses on the mountain, He used the word racham to describe Himself. Some translations translate it as merciful, but most as compassionate.

Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.”¹²

In the New Testament, there are four Greek words translated as compassion. The one used most often is splanchnizomai, which is related to the Greek word for “inward parts,” referring to the seat of human emotions. The term means “to be moved in one’s bowels,” conveying the idea of being moved in the core of one’s inner feelings, leading to acts of kindness and mercy. Another word, sumpathes, conveys the meaning of “to suffer with” or “to suffer alongside of.”

Compassion is having a strong feeling about someone else’s situation or state, and doing something to change it. It’s about making things better for someone in need. It’s not compassion if there isn’t some action taken. In some cases that might mean holding or hugging someone, praying for them, gently speaking with them, and conveying your sorrow or concern. It can also mean taking action which aims to change the situation or circumstances. It might mean standing up for someone. Perhaps it calls for protesting in order to change laws and bring about social justice. It can mean putting in time and effort to feed the hungry, help orphans, visit the sick or those in mourning, share the gospel with others, or other ways of helping those in need.

Joanna Collicutt wrote:

The sorts of words people use to describe the feeling of compassion include “sympathetic,” “tender,” “warm,” “soft-hearted,” “sorry for,” “touched,” “concerned for,” and above all “moved.” This movement involves an orientation towards the other and an empathetic placing of the self in her shoes; a drawing close to her culturally and mentally as well as behaviorally.¹³

Compassion is closely aligned with empathy—the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, and to put yourself into their shoes so that you understand what they are going through from their perspective. Having empathy can move you to compassion.

In short, compassion is part of love. But how do we cultivate this aspect of love? How do we become more compassionate? Something which can help is giving thought to Jesus’ instruction: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.¹⁴ We are to love ourselves, and therefore should show ourselves compassion. If we are kind to ourselves, even when we recognize that we have brought some of our problems upon ourselves, we can recognize that when others are in need, we should help—even if they are responsible for the situation they are in. When we have walked in their shoes, being compassionate to others comes more easily.

It also helps to ponder Jesus’ ministry. He saw people in need—the blind, the hungry, the mourning, the sick, the social outcasts—and instead of looking the other way and passing by, He noticed, stopped, and took action. It’s easy in our busy lives to not notice others who are struggling and in need, and to be preoccupied with our personal needs, problems, worries, and fears.

Something else that can help make us more compassionate is cultivating our awareness of the Lord’s love for us—remembering that though we are undeserving, full of faults, and sinful, God took action on our behalf, even at a deep cost. He sacrificed His beloved Son so that He could rescue us in our time of need. God has shown us costly compassion, and if we regularly remind ourselves of this fact by praising and thanking Him for doing so, we may find it easier to respond to others with His love and compassion.

Jesus had compassion for the suffering, the outcasts, the poor and needy. We may find ourselves thinking that we are impotent in our abilities to help others by comparison, since He was God incarnate and could perform mighty miracles. But while we may not be able to do miracles as great as Jesus did, showing compassion to others can feel like a miracle to someone in need. A little compassion can make a major difference in their lives.

A key to being compassionate is to be filled with the love of God. Experiencing His love through close communion and fellowship with Him, as a result of spending time communicating through prayer, reading His Word, listening to Him, seeking and receiving His guidance, causes us to be aware of His love for us personally. When we experience His kindness, mercy, generosity, compassion, and deep love, we are better able to let His love flow through us to others.

If we truly wish to imitate Christ, we will desire to cultivate a keen awareness of the needs of others, and also be willing to take steps to help and comfort them. Jesus compassionately served others, and as His followers we are called to be compassionate as well.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Luke 10:30–35. See also “The Stories Jesus Told: The Good Samaritan.”

² Luke 15:11–32. See also “The Stories Jesus Told: The Father and the Lost Sons.”

³ Matthew 15:32–38.

⁴ Mark 9:20–27.

⁵ Luke 7:12–15.

⁶ Matthew 14:14.

⁷ Psalm 103:13.

⁸ 2 Kings 13:23.

⁹ Isaiah 54:7–8.

¹⁰ Psalm 78:37–38.

¹¹ Isaiah 49:13.

¹² Exodus 34:6 NAU.

¹³ Joanna Collicutt, The Psychology of Christian Character Formation (London: SCM Press, 2015), 181.

¹⁴ Matthew 22:39.

The Lord’s Prayer

3/01/24“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.^[a]
¹⁰Your kingdom come,
your will be done,^[b]
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us this day our daily bread,^[c]
¹²and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.^[d]

¹⁴For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, ¹⁵but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:7-14) ESV

31 – More Like Jesus: The Call to Forgive

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-09-05

(Points for this article were condensed from the book Forgive and Forget, by Lewis B. Smedes¹)

Within the Gospels we read of Jesus being whipped, beaten, and then nailed to a cross. As He hung there, waiting to die, some of His last words were “Father, forgive them.”² Forgiveness was His response to an unjust trial, being lashed by a whip which had strands weighted with bone or metal and which lacerated the skin with unimaginable pain, the hammering of spikes through His hands and feet, and being left to die in agony. While on the one hand this is a very surprising reaction, it also makes perfect sense when we read what Jesus taught about forgiveness all throughout His ministry. He not only taught it, He embodied it, both in His life and in His death. He practiced what He preached.

God’s Forgiveness

Jesus’ forgiveness reflected His Father’s forgiveness. In the Old Testament, when God revealed Himself to Moses, He said of Himself, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”³ God was saying that forgiveness is one of His divine attributes, that it is rooted in His character. This point is made again and again throughout the Old Testament.

You are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.⁴

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.⁵

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness.⁶

We’re also told that when God forgives our sins, those sins will never be held against us.

I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.⁷

The magnitude of God’s forgiveness is seen in statements such as these:

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.⁸

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.⁹

In love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.¹⁰

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.¹¹

God, by nature, is forgiving. And true to His nature, He made a way for us to be forgiven through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. In a sense we can say that Jesus’ sacrificial death was the embodiment of God’s forgiveness. Thus, if we wish to emulate Jesus, we need to forgive.

Jesus made it abundantly clear in His teachings that we are to forgive others.

Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”¹²

“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.”¹³

Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone.¹⁴

“If he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”¹⁵

Jesus also made the point that there is a correlation between our willingness to forgive others with God forgiving us.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.¹⁶

If you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.¹⁷

Forgive … so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.¹⁸

In the parable of the unforgiving servant,¹⁹ Jesus told of a servant who had been forgiven an astronomical debt by his master, and after being forgiven his debt, refused to forgive another man who owed him a small amount of money. The master then told the unforgiving servant, You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.²⁰ Jesus then said to all who were listening: So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.²¹ (For more on this parable, see A Scary Thought.²²)

When we forgive others for things they have done to us, this reflects our understanding of divine forgiveness. We are to forgive others because we have been forgiven. Jesus died so that our sins could be forgiven, and we are called to forgive others when they sin against us or wrong us. That’s showing Christlikeness.

What Forgiveness Is, and Isn’t

When someone hurts us, whether intentionally or unintentionally, we are called by Christ to forgive them. In order to do so, it’s important to know what forgiveness is, and what it isn’t.

Some hurt is done intentionally. We are assaulted in some way physically, verbally, or emotionally. Someone steals from us, perhaps by intentionally misleading us so that we are defrauded and lose our money, possessions, etc. We are betrayed by someone we love—a spouse, a family member, a close friend. Some hurts we experience are minor, but eventually become major, if they are repeated over and over again.

Forgiveness isn’t denying the harm or wrongdoing someone has done to us. It’s not making excuses for why they hurt us, and it doesn’t minimize the seriousness of the offense. It doesn’t mean that the offense stops hurting, or that it is forgotten. Forgiveness is not resuming a relationship without changes; it’s not an automatic restoration of trust. It isn’t neglecting justice, as sometimes there are consequences to be faced even after the act of forgiveness. It’s not instant emotional healing.

Forgiveness looks at the wrong done to us, admits that it has wounded us, and then decides to forgive—which is actually a decision to start the process of forgiving. It’s recognizing that the hurt was personal, unfair, and deep, and choosing to forgive the person or persons who hurt you. Forgiveness is making a conscious decision to let go of the inner negative feelings we have toward someone who has hurt us, to leave them behind so that the hurt no longer negatively affects us.

As Kelly Minter explains in her book, The Fitting Room:

Forgiveness is not denying what our enemies have done; it’s not calling something whole that’s fractured or something pure that’s corroded. Forgiveness is looking in the face of what our offenders have done, recognizing their wound for all that it is, and then choosing to forgive. It has nothing to do with denying the wrong of those who hurt us, but has everything to do with changing our hearts towards them.²³

Sometimes we want to wait to forgive until the person who hurt us apologizes to us for what they have done. We want them to acknowledge that what they did was wrong, and to express sorrow for doing it. But there are a few problems with this. Sometimes the person doesn’t know they hurt you, and if that’s the case, they will never apologize. In some cases, the person knows they hurt you, but they don’t care; and other times, the individual is no longer in your life or you have lost contact with them. If you wait for someone to ask for your forgiveness before forgiving them, you may end up carrying your hurt for the rest of your life. We’re not told only to forgive if we first receive an apology, nor is our forgiving contingent on someone else telling us they are sorry.

There are cases where we are hurt by those whose own problems spill over on to us in some way. For example, parents’ marital problems may hurt their children, but that isn’t intentional hurt on the part of the parents. Sometimes we’re hurt by those who make mistakes. Sometimes someone is even trying to do something they think will be beneficial, but in the end it doesn’t work out the way it should, and some people are hurt by the final outcome. We are always to forgive those who hurt us, even if unintentionally. In such situations, it’s helpful to remind ourselves that just as others may hurt us unintentionally, we also do things which result in hurt to others which we didn’t mean to cause. When we do, and we realize what has happened, we of course hope that those we hurt will forgive us. And therefore we should be willing to forgive those who have harmed us without intending to.²⁴

There is also the factor that not every hurt that we experience needs to be forgiven. Many of the injuries we feel in life are caused by the actions of others who mean us no harm. We live in a world where we regularly interact with people just like us, who often say or do things with no intent to hurt others, but sometimes these things do cause hurt unknowingly. While those types of hurts might be taken personally, generally they weren’t meant to hurt. Such encounters generally don’t cause us deep or lasting hurt.

Author Lewis Smedes gives an interesting example:

There was once a person in my life who did outrageous things to me. She screamed at me all through dinner; she made me jump to her service anytime, day and night, no matter how busy I was with other things; and now and then she would pee on my best slacks. To make matters worse, she got acutely sick and drove me mad because she did not tell me what was wrong. There were moments when I felt like whacking her. But I never felt the impulse to forgive her. … She was my six-month-old baby, and I did not feel a need to forgive the outrageous things she did to me, because she did not hurt me wrongfully. I loved her and I took whatever she dished out.²⁵

Besides not needing to forgive those who cause us the unintentional hurt which can occur in the general run of our lives, we can’t forgive impersonal things which cause us harm. For example, we can’t forgive nature when we are hurt by it. If we are born with less health, beauty, or intelligence than we want; if we suffer from a natural event such as a hurricane; if a loved one dies a natural death; these are all events which can cause us pain, but we can’t forgive nature. Certain systems of society can also cause hurt, such as an economic system which keeps people in poverty, political systems which greatly disadvantage some people, or corporate systems which treat people like objects and discard them when they are no longer needed. These all can cause hurt, but we cannot forgive them, because we can only forgive people.²⁶

Forgiveness is personal. It’s one person forgiving someone else who has personally hurt them. We can only forgive those who have hurt us. We may be outraged at the way someone mistreats others, but we can’t forgive for what has been done to someone else, only for what has been done to us.

Letting Go, Healing, and Reconciliation

Understanding that Scripture tells us to forgive others and agreeing that we should do so is one thing. But the act of forgiving someone who has deeply wounded us can be a difficult and gut-wrenching task. C. S. Lewis wrote, Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.

The Greek word most often translated as forgiveness is aphiemi, which is used to express letting something go, or canceling a debt. When we forgive someone for what they have done, we release them from a legitimate debt. We acknowledge that we have been injured or wronged, our trust has been betrayed, and our life has been marred by someone else’s hurtful actions. But we also understand that we, too, are sinners, that we offend and hurt others, and that we have been forgiven for our offenses by God. When we forgive, we make the decision to let go of our pain, our desire for retribution, our anger and negative feelings toward the person. We put the person, and their actions, into God’s hands—and we move on.

Placing actions which have hurt us deeply, and the people responsible for them, into God’s hands means that we have entrusted them to Him and we can let them go. We no longer need to dwell on what happened or why, for we have committed it to God. Having done so, we are able to release our negative feelings toward the one who caused us injury, let go of resentment and anger, and allow our own emotional healing process to begin.

It can be natural to feel that if you forgive someone, it excuses them for what they have done. It doesn’t. Rather it sets you free to let go of the pain of the offense, to move on without your feelings of ill will toward the person who harmed you constantly plaguing you. When we forgive others, we generally begin experiencing a decrease in our negative feelings toward that person over time. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that we start to have positive feelings toward them, though that can and sometimes does happen.

If we wish to continue to have a relationship with the person who hurt us, the next step after forgiveness is reconciliation. Some teachers and authors feel that reconciliation is a step which must be taken in the process of forgiveness; others see it as an ideal, but recognize that sometimes reconciliation isn’t possible, and if it isn’t, the key elements of forgiveness can still be present and the process complete. Of course, sometimes it’s not possible to reconcile, because the other person is no longer in your life. Maybe they have passed away, or you have no way of getting in touch with them. It may also be the case that although you have forgiven the person, they are not someone you feel inclined to have a continued relationship with, or it is not beneficial for your spiritual life or emotional well-being. This doesn’t mean that you haven’t forgiven them; it only means that you are choosing not to renew fellowship with them for some reason.

Conclusion

Forgiveness is a complex topic with many aspects, and at some point in the future I hope to cover it more thoroughly. However, in the context of desiring to grow in Christlikeness, it’s clear that Jesus, by His example and His teaching, emphasized forgiveness. He instructed us as His followers to forgive, and He didn’t put caveats on that command. If we truly desire to be more like Jesus, then we must forgive others for their trespasses against us—as hard as it may sometimes be—because God has forgiven our trespasses against Him.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.²⁷

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive and Forget (New York: HarperOne, 1984).

² Luke 23:34.

³ Exodus 34:6–7.

⁴ Nehemiah 9:17.

⁵ Micah 7:18.

⁶ Daniel 9:9.

⁷ Jeremiah 31:34. See also Hebrews 8:12.

⁸ Micah 7:19.

⁹ Psalm 103:12.

¹⁰ Isaiah 38:17.

¹¹ Isaiah 1:18.

¹² Matthew 18:21–22 NAS.

¹³ Luke 17:3.

¹⁴ Mark 11:25.

¹⁵ Luke 17:4.

¹⁶ Matthew 6:12.

¹⁷ Matthew 6:15.

¹⁸ Mark 11:25.

¹⁹ Matthew 18:23–35.

²⁰ Matthew 18:32–34.

²¹ Matthew 18:35.

²² https://library.tfionline.com/?viewId=2798&treeId=2142

²³ Kelly Minter, The Fitting Room (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook Publishing, 2011), 90.

²⁴ Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them (Matthew 7:12).

²⁵ Smedes, Forgive and Forget, 8.

²⁶ Ibid., 6.

²⁷ Ephesians 4:32.

By Grace Through Faith

2/29/24 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^[b] ⁴But^[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1:10) ESV

30 – More Like Jesus: Kindness and Goodness

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-08-29

When the apostle Paul was writing about living a godly life, about living in and being led by the Holy Spirit, he listed what he called the “works of the flesh,” which included things like enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, and envy.¹ He then followed up with The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.² The fruit of the Spirit is the working of the Holy Spirit within us, which causes us to grow in godliness and Christlikeness.

Within this list we find two aspects of the fruit of the Spirit which go hand in hand—kindness and goodness. In reading what Scripture has to say about these two qualities, we find that both are described as attributes of God’s nature.

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, ‘The Lord.’” ³

Good and upright is the Lord.⁴

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.⁵

God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ … so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.⁶

When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.⁷

Because God is kind and good, and has shown His kindness and goodness toward us through Jesus’ sacrificial death to atone for the guilt of our sin, we are in turn called to be kind and good to others.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.⁸

The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone.⁹

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness.¹⁰

In 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, we are told that love is kind.¹¹

The Hebrew word chesed, which is used 248 times in the Old Testament, is translated as kindness, mercy, lovingkindness, goodness, and kindly. In the New Testament, the Greek word chrēstotēs is translated as kindness and moral goodness. It means tender concern, a kindness of heart and of acts. The Greek word agathōsynē is translated as goodness, indicating uprightness of heart and life.

Kindness and goodness are closely related, and the terms are often used interchangeably. Both express an active desire to help meet the needs of others. Jerry Bridges wrote:

Kindness is a sincere desire for the happiness of others; goodness is the activity calculated to advance that happiness. Kindness is the inner disposition, created by the Holy Spirit, that causes us to be sensitive to the needs of others, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. Goodness is kindness in action—words and deeds.¹²

Kindness and goodness can be seen as the way love thinks and acts, the way it behaves. They consist of good deeds which spring from love, done with the goal of being a blessing to others. They reflect Jesus.

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good … for God was with him.¹³

Kindness and goodness aren’t something shown only to people we love, but to all—even someone who might be seen as an opponent or enemy, because in doing so we imitate the kindness of God. Jesus made this clear when He said:

Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.¹⁴

Of course we’re naturally more inclined to show kindness to those we know and are close to, but the call is to develop a kind and good temperament so that we are sensitive to others and willing to do deeds which manifest love.

The apostle Paul wrote:

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.¹⁵

As believers we are new creations in Christ,¹⁶ transformed by the Holy Spirit, and called to go about and do good, as Jesus did. He was devoted to the welfare of humanity, and put that devotion into action through loving, caring, and acting in a manner which exhibited kindness, goodness, and care for others.

Kindness and goodness are often manifested on a large scale when there is some sort of emergency or great need which causes people, Christian and non-Christian, to reach out and help others. Many of us will help out in an emergency, which of course is kind and good, but the biblical understanding of this fruit of the Spirit goes beyond that. It is a transformation from our natural proclivity to look out for ourselves, to be selfish and concerned about our own needs, into a godly nature, influenced by the Holy Spirit, that is mindful of and willing to do something about the needs of others. It has to do with being transformed in a way that gives us a deep desire to mirror Christ.

Being kind and good to others is meant to be an everyday occurrence, not only a sporadic rising to the occasion and doing something unusual or heroic. Most of our opportunities for extending kindness through doing good to others are found in simple humdrum everyday activities. It’s helpful to regularly pray that the Holy Spirit helps us to recognize the needs of others and to nudge us to take action, rather than seeing these opportunities as an interruption of our schedules or an inconvenience to be ignored.

Scripture teaches that we are to look not only to our own interests, but to the interests of others.¹⁷ This requires fighting against our inborn selfishness and purposefully acting in ways that go against our human nature. Most of the things we do to become more Christlike butt heads with our human nature. Striving to become more like Jesus calls for change in our heart, mind, and actions; but it’s the heart where those changes must be deeply rooted.

Author Kelly Minter wrote:

I’ve realized how much the heart is central to all of [the virtues]. There is simply no way to detach my heart from my actions, especially when it comes to the characteristics of Jesus. If my heart is full of pride and arrogance, I will not extend mercy and patience to the people I encounter. When my heart is tied up with jealousy and anger, kindness and forgiveness will not run freely in my life. Conversely, when God has tenderized our hearts, humbled us, and aligned us with His Spirit, we will not be able to help the overflow of kindness, joy, and love.¹⁸

What do kindness and goodness look like? They’re found in our speech when the words we say to others are laced with love and concern for others, when we listen attentively to others, giving them our full attention when perhaps we would rather be doing something else. We recognize them in those who are self-sacrificing, who give of their resources, their time, or their attention to someone in need. They mean showing genuine interest in and concern for others. They turn the other cheek when someone wrongs us. They help us hold our tongue when someone has said something insulting or hurtful. They don’t seek revenge, but forgive. If a loved one or friend needs correction, it is given gently; the truth is delivered with love. Both kindness and goodness come from hearts which contain love, compassion, and mercy.

Kind people don’t gossip. They don’t betray trust. They display patience. They aren’t self-centered. They aren’t short-tempered or explosive. They don’t constantly talk about nor draw attention to themselves. They aren’t petty.¹⁹

As those who want to imitate Christ, we are challenged to lay down our lives for others. This means giving time to others, such as our spouse, children, and other loved ones, so they feel loved and cherished. It can mean simple things like washing the dishes, taking out the garbage, or playing with the kids so our spouse can rest. It also means being good to those outside of our own family or acquaintances; showing kindness by giving to others in need, even when it’s a sacrifice; speaking a kind word to someone, even when we’re struggling ourselves; and there are countless other ways we can be kind to others.

Kindness means loving words spoken and caring deeds done. It’s having a compassionate heart, and putting that compassion and love into action. All of us have opportunities to be kind to others throughout the course of our days. We can offer a kind word, lend a helping hand, do a deed—perhaps even one that goes unnoticed, with the goal of acting with love, of making life a little more pleasant for others. Sure, it will cost us time and effort and sometimes cost financially, but it’s well worth the sacrifice, as it reflects Jesus’ love to others and it pleases the Lord.

Jesus gave us an idea of how highly God regards showing kindness and goodness in this passage regarding the coming day of judgment:

The King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’²⁰

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Galatians 5:19–21.

² Galatians 5:22–23.

³ Exodus 33:18–19.

⁴ Psalm 25:8.

⁵ Psalm 86:5.

⁶ Ephesians 2:4–7.

⁷ Titus 3:4–5.

⁸ Ephesians 4:32.

⁹ 2 Timothy 2:24.

¹⁰ Colossians 3:12.

¹¹ 1 Corinthians 13:4.

¹² Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 2010), 215.

¹³ Acts 10:38.

¹⁴ Luke 6:35.

¹⁵ Ephesians 2:10.

¹⁶ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

¹⁷ Philippians 2:4.

¹⁸ Kelly Minter, The Fitting Room (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2011), 139.

¹⁹ Ibid., 137.

²⁰ Matthew 25:34–40

Keep in Step with the Spirit

2/28/24 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹envy,^[d] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do^[e] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
(Galatians 5:16-24) ESV

29 – More Like Jesus: Gentleness

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-08-22

One aspect of Christlikeness which is less frequently focused on than most is gentleness. Somewhat surprisingly, we find it mentioned throughout Scripture in reference to both Jesus and His Father. It is also included in the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience … gentleness; … against such things there is no law.¹

The prophet Isaiah, when describing God’s power, also spoke of His gentleness:

Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him … He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.²

King David, when extolling the Lord and all He had done, included the phrase You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great.³ The apostle Paul referred to Jesus’ gentleness when he wrote I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.⁴

As we seek to live God’s Word in our desire to become more like Jesus, we often pray for humility, patience, self-control, to be able to resist our recurring sins, etc., yet we seldom pray that we will become gentle, or at least that’s the case with me. Gentleness is something which we often consider to be part of a person’s natural disposition rather than a Christian virtue, and while most of us would consider a lack of self-control, pride, or impatience a sin, we wouldn’t see a lack of being gentle as one. Until recently, I never specifically prayed for the spiritual fruit of gentleness in my life.

So what is gentleness? The New Testament uses a few different Greek words to express gentleness. The first, epieikeia, is generally translated as gentle or gentleness, and conveys a thoughtful, considerate, and kind outlook as opposed to one that is hotly demanding of one’s rights. It connotes the trait of seeking peace in a calm way.⁵ The second Greek word translated as gentleness is praotēs, which Paul used when listing the fruit of the Spirit. This word was linked to the medical world and conveyed the idea of mild medication, like something easy on the stomach. It also was used in reference to tamed animals. Author Randy Frazee explains:

Think about a horse. These animals weigh an average of a thousand pounds and have the potential to seriously injure or even kill human beings. Yet we can walk up to the vast majority of horses, pet them, ride them, and deem them as gentle. Is this a reflection of their power and strength? No. It is an indication of their nature—what they are like after being trained. Gentleness for a horse is a choice to allow its power and strength to be controlled. A gentle person is not a weak person, but rather someone who is strong, secure, and mature. They use their strength to face real giants and challenges in their lives but choose not to run roughshod over others.⁶

Gentleness is power under control. Like the horse, each one of us is powerful. We can use our words and actions to wound others, put them down, or discourage them. Or, through gentleness, we can channel that power to help others, to lift them up, to influence them for good. Even when we need to correct or discipline someone, we can do it in a manner which is loving and encouraging. The apostle Paul wrote:

If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.⁷

Gentleness is often considered a synonym of meekness, and they are similar. One difference, however, is that gentleness is an active trait which describes the manner in which we treat others; whereas meekness is a passive trait which refers to a response when others mistreat us. Meekness is mildness, controlled strength, which implies the ability to bear reproaches and slights without resentment. Gentleness is actively showing goodness and kindness toward others by treating people in a gentle manner which shows concern and care for them.

Gentleness is manifested by being considerate, kindly in our attitude, tender toward others, polite. It’s having a mild temper and seeking to make those around us feel happy, loved, and cared about. A gentle person is mild-mannered, thoughtful, and friendly. Such a person doesn’t use force to get things done, but rather shows humble and genuine lovingkindness in their interactions and relationships with others.

Gentleness may be a difficult concept in particular for men, as men aren’t expected to be gentle, but to be “manly.” Gentleness is often seen as a sign of weakness, as opposed to being tough, aggressive, and unyielding. However, rather than weakness, gentleness is actually power that is harnessed and used wisely and lovingly. We see this concept expressed in verses such as these:

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.⁸

With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.⁹

When a person behaving with gentleness stands up for the truth and godliness, they do so in a humble and gracious manner. Gentleness is to be applied when we witness and teach or explain our faith.

Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.¹⁰

The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.¹¹

It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to be gentle in our speech, especially when we face confrontation or differing opinions. At such times it’s easy to fly off the handle and speak angry, cruel, or disparaging words. But the fruit of gentleness makes us respond with tenderness toward others, and leads us to show lovingkindness.

It’s helpful to remember the gentleness of Jesus, which can be seen in situations such as His interaction with the woman at the well. She had had five husbands, and was living with someone who wasn’t her husband, and Jesus wasn’t condemning of her, but treated her with love and respect.¹² When we read the story of the woman caught in adultery, we see that Jesus didn’t condemn her either, but loved her and forgave her in gentleness.¹³ When Jesus saw Martha’s rudeness toward her sister Mary, He addressed the situation with gentleness.¹⁴

We see God’s gentleness in His forgiveness of our sins, in the mercy He has bestowed upon us, in the patient long-suffering and steadfast faithfulness He has shown us. He is kind and gentle toward us. He is called the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.¹⁵ If we seek to grow in gentleness, we may want to spend time thinking about and praising God for the gentleness and kindness He shows us daily. As we do, it can remind us that we too are to be gentle with others, as He is with us.

Being gentle doesn’t mean being gullible or naïve. Jesus told His disciples to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.¹⁶ We aren’t to let people take advantage of us in order to manipulate us for their own purposes. Neither do we need to give in to others on issues which we should stand firm and be uncompromising about. But we can be gentle in our approach, even when taking a stance on a moral issue. If we want to become more like Jesus, we should be known for our gentleness. Gentleness must be applied with wisdom.¹⁷ Jesus said:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.¹⁸

How is gentleness manifested? It demonstrates respect for the personal dignity of others. It is thoughtful, bearing in mind that others are different than ourselves, and have differing opinions, feelings, etc., and it shows respect for those differences. It avoids blunt speech and an abrupt manner, and seeks to interact with everyone with sensitivity and respect, showing consideration to all. When necessary, it will seek to change a wrong opinion by persuasion and kindness rather than by domination or intimidation. It is sensitive to the reactions of others and considerate of how others may feel about what is being said. It does not feel threatened by opposition or resent it. Rather it seeks to gently instruct, looking to God to dissolve the opposition. It won’t degrade or belittle or gossip about others. If someone is in need of guidance or correction, it will seek to restore him gently. It’s caring about others, actively seeking to make them feel at ease, or restful in our presence, treating them as we would like to be treated, with love, respect, and kindness.¹⁹

The apostle Paul instructed:

Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.²⁰

He also directed believers to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.²¹ Elsewhere he said:

As for you, O man of God, … pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.²²

Sometimes it’s most difficult to be gentle with those who are closest to us. We become familiar, and we are faced with their faults, idiosyncrasies, and annoying habits on a daily basis. We can become short-tempered, unkind, impatient, and harsh. But our family, those whom we love most, deserve our gentleness, patience, care, and consideration. It is helpful to remind ourselves that we likewise have plenty of faults, habits, and idiosyncrasies that others are gentle with and kind enough to overlook or forbear. That helps foster gentleness with others.

I recently read an article on a blog by someone who had a problem with his communications with his family and friends and who decided to go on a “sarcasm fast” in order to change the way he spoke to others. If we tend to be critical, speak down to others, point out their faults, or draw attention to their weaknesses; if we easily display anger, or have little patience with others’ ideas and outlooks; then we need to ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to manifest more gentleness in our lives.

We may want to ask ourselves what the fruit of gentleness looks like in our lives and in our relationship with others. Do our attitudes and actions, behavior and conversation display gentleness? If not, will we commit to both prayer and definite action in order to cultivate this fruit of the Spirit?

It’s helpful to remember that God has been ever so gentle with each of us. He loved us, sent His Son to die for us, and gave us the gift of salvation. We didn’t have to earn it or labor for it; it was a gift He gently bestowed upon us. May this fruit of the Spirit be manifest in our lives. May the gentleness of Jesus shine through us as we reflect Him and His love to others.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Galatians 5:22–23.

² Isaiah 40:10–11.

³ Psalm 18:35.

⁴ 2 Corinthians 10:1.

⁵ Randy Frazee, Think, Act, Be Like Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 210.

⁶ Ibid., 210.

⁷ Galatians 6:1.

⁸ Proverbs 15:1.

⁹ Proverbs 25:15.

¹⁰ 1 Peter 3:15.

¹¹ 2 Timothy 2:24–25.

¹² John 4:4–29.

¹³ John 8:1–11.

¹⁴ Luke 10:40–42.

¹⁵ 2 Corinthians 1:3.

¹⁶ Matthew 10:16. Some Bible translations use innocent instead of harmless.

¹⁷ Points taken from a sermon by Rev. Charles Seet, given in 2006.

¹⁸ Matthew 11:29.

¹⁹ These points are summarized from The Practice of Godliness, by Jerry Bridges (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2010), 206–7.

²⁰ Ephesians 4:1–3.

²¹ Titus 3:2.

²² 1 Timothy 6:11.

I Have Overcome the World

2/27/24 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; ²⁷for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.^[a] ²⁸I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! ³⁰Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” ³¹Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³²Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. ³³I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:25-33) ESV

28 – More Like Jesus: Peace

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-08-15

(Points for this article were summarized from The Fitting Room: Putting on the Character of Christ, by Kelly Minter, and The Practice of Godliness, by Jerry Bridges.¹)

Peace, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, plays an important role in our becoming more like Jesus. It is rooted in our being in right relationship with God, which is possible because of His gift of salvation. Peace is also the outworking of our trust in God and our confidence in His love for us.

The Hebrew word for peace used in the Old Testament, shalom, along with its New Testament Greek equivalent, eirene, had a fuller meaning than the standard definition of peace in modern-day English. In addition to meaning tranquility, a state of exemption from the havoc of war, and the absence of anxiety or stress, these Hebrew and Greek words convey the concept of being whole or sound, completeness, safety, health, and prosperity.²

Throughout the New Testament, God is referred to as the God of peace.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.³

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.⁴

Jerry Bridges wrote that God took the initiative to establish peace with rebellious men, and He is the author of both personal peace as well as peace among men. Peace should be part of our character also because God has promised us His peace, because He has commanded us to let peace rule in our lives and relationships, and because peace is a fruit of the Spirit and therefore an evidence of His working in our lives.⁵

Peace as spoken of in Scripture is expressed from three angles: peace with God, peace within ourselves, and peace with other people—all of which complement one another and contribute to the manifestation of the fruit of peace in our life.

Peace with God

The salvation we have in Jesus has repaired the breach between God and us that was caused by our sins, so that we are reconciled with the Father.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.⁶

This peace has brought us back into relationship with God which was lost due to sin. It is because of this reconciliation that we can have wholeness and completeness; the peace of heart, mind, and spirit of shalom. Jesus is the pathway to this kind of peace.

A firm trust that God has forgiven us and that we are reconciled with Him, coupled with our knowledge that God loves and cares about us, gives us the true sense of full peace spoken of throughout Scripture:

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.⁷

The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.⁸

Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.⁹

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.¹⁰

The foundation of true peace is in God’s love for us and the reconciliation He made available through Jesus, and it is because of His gift of salvation that we can put our trust in Him and His promises that we live in peace with Him. Salvation is the basis for our peace with God, which makes peace with ourselves and others possible.

Peace Within Ourselves

We tend to feel at peace when things are going well; when we’re healthy, happy, doing well financially, and not facing any major challenges. But biblical peace goes far beyond the peace we experience when everything is running smoothly. It’s a steadying anchor even in turbulent waters.¹¹ True peace transcends circumstances. It has to do with God’s presence with us, with living in His kingdom, letting Him reign in our lives, and trusting that He is our Father who loves us and always has our best interests at heart. We have peace because we have Him.

While we may have peace with God through salvation, this doesn’t necessarily mean we have the peace of God in our lives. Although difficult things we face in life will often drive us into the arms of the Lord, that’s not always the case. And sometimes it’s more natural for us to go to the Lord when something major happens, whereas we forget to do so with petty and reoccurring everyday difficulties. Often we are robbed of peace because we worry and fret over fairly minor events or challenges. We try to deal with them ourselves, instead of bringing them before the Lord and casting our burdens upon Him in faith and trust that He is with us and cares for us.

It’s interesting that Jesus spoke to His disciples about peace the night before His crucifixion.¹² He spoke to them about the sorrow, trials, and tribulation they would face, but also of the peace they would have in Him.

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”¹³

These two promises that Jesus made to His disciples hold true for us as well. First, He says that we will face difficulties in our lives. The difficulties we encounter can rob us of joy and peace by bringing uncertainty. We don’t know what the outcomes will be, so we worry, become anxious, apprehensive, and fearful.

Second, Jesus promised that we could have peace in Him. We are to take heart in times of difficulty and uncertainty, because Jesus has overcome the world. This awareness brings us peace, as we put our trust in the Lord. Elsewhere, Jesus said:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.¹⁴

The apostle Paul exhorted:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.¹⁵

The remedy for worry is to bring our cares to the Lord in prayer and trust that He knows all our troubles and that He loves us. We are not promised that when we bring our concerns to the Lord we will always be delivered from them, but we are promised that peace in Jesus is available for us.

Sometimes the reason we don’t find peace in trying times is that we’re unwilling to settle for anything other than full deliverance from a problem. The promise, however, is that we can pray for the resolution of what is causing our anxiety, and we can then have that unexplainable peace which allows us to put our well-being into the Lord’s hands and trust that He knows our circumstances and will guard our hearts and minds against our anxiety.

Of course, generally speaking, when we bring our fears before the Lord we’re looking for a solution to the cause of those worries, a deliverance from them. While praying for a solution is completely legitimate, often a solution takes time—sometimes a great deal of time—during which we can find peace because we’ve put these matters into the Lord’s hands. We’ve made our requests known, and having petitioned the Lord for help, we can have His peace. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit, thus the Holy Spirit can produce peace within us. We are to pray for peace and look to God for it.

Peace with Others

Preceding the list of the fruit of the Spirit¹⁶ that Paul enumerated in the book of Galatians, he wrote:

If you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.¹⁷

He then included a list of “the works of the flesh,”¹⁸ sins we’re often tempted with, which include actions that are the opposite of peace, such as enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and envy.

Throughout the New Testament, there are a number of references to being at peace with others.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.¹⁹

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.²⁰

Let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.²¹

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.²²

Strive for peace with everyone.²³

Whoever desires to love life and see good days, … let him seek peace and pursue it.²⁴

We are to pursue peace, strive for it, seek it, and do as much as we can to live peaceably with others. We are to be single-minded about it, to leave no stone unturned in trying to achieve it, being willing to humble ourselves to reach the goal of peace with others. Of course, being at peace with others doesn’t only depend on us, which is why Paul wrote so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.²⁵ Sometimes the other party doesn’t want peace, but in such situations, we are called to do what we can to be at peace with them.

As Christians, we should be the ones to take the initiative to restore peace, regardless of whether we have wronged someone or they have wronged us.

If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.²⁶

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.²⁷

It doesn’t matter who was at fault, our goal should be to restore peace in a godly manner.

If we’ve offended someone, whether they’re Christian or not, it is our responsibility to do what we can to restore peace. If we have been offended by the actions or words of someone, we are never to seek revenge or repay evil for evil. If necessary, we can seek justice through the courts, but we should never take justice into our own hands.

As those who seek to live godly lives, who want to be more like Jesus, we must strive for peace with everyone.

Having Peace in Our Lives

When we have Jesus in our lives, we follow His Word; and following His Word, living in alignment with what Scripture tells us about how to live, is what gives us peace. The byproduct of living in conjunction with God’s Word is a life blessed with wholeness, contentment, security, peace of mind, and the other biblical definitions of peace. We’re told that the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.²⁸ Blessed are they that keep my ways.²⁹ When we make God’s Word the foundation of our lives; when we look to it for guiding principles for our thoughts, decisions, and actions; when we do what it says; we can experience the peace that comes from God. It’s not as if we will never face difficult problems, or suffer or worry; but when we do, we can still have the peace which comes from knowing and trusting that our Father will make it all right in the end. We may not find the resolutions to some problems in this life, but we can still be at peace knowing that His truth, justice, and love will prevail in the life to come.

The apostle Paul wrote:

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.³⁰

It’s in communion with the Lord, abiding in Him, trusting Him, following Him, that we find the path of true peace. Our possessions, relationships with others, finances, or circumstances are not what bring us peace. Abiding in God, living His Word, trusting Him for everything, is how we find the peace of God, which transcends all understanding.³¹

There isn’t anything wrong with being successful materially or happy in our relationships, but a problem can arise if we put our trust in our possessions or circumstances, believing that they will bring us satisfaction, our hearts’ desires, and peace. The truth is that when we prioritize our lives around material things or physical circumstances, peace is often the last thing they bring us, as we can end up struggling to sleep at night, our hearts heavy with worry, our minds racing, because by trusting in these things instead of in God, we have forfeited peace, one of the most wonderful gifts available to Christians.³²

The relationship between a life that pursues godliness and the gift of peace is touched on in Psalm 85:10, which says righteousness and peace kiss each other. Living in accordance with God’s Word and peace go together—you can’t have true peace without righteousness. Having a deep connection with the Lord, living His precepts, and having a clear conscience result in a soul full of peace, regardless of the challenges and adversities of everyday life—and this is something to be prized above all possessions and relationships.

If we truly value peace, the road we travel will need to be the path of righteousness,³³ of living God’s Word, following its direction, committing to do those things which will enhance the spiritual fruit of peace. Keeping our hearts right with God, while sometimes difficult, is well worth the effort because of the peace it brings.

Most of all, knowing that our Father loves us and has sacrificed His Son for us is the foundation for the confidence to trust Him with every aspect of our lives, no matter what our circumstances. That confidence is what ultimately gives us lasting peace.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Kelly Minter, The Fitting Room: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2011), 105–128.

Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2010), 175–185.

² For more about shalom, see Christmas Shalom.

³ Romans 16:20.

⁴ 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

⁵ Bridges, Practice of Godliness, 175.

⁶ Romans 5:1.

⁷ Isaiah 26:3.

⁸ Isaiah 32:17.

⁹ Psalm 119:165.

¹⁰ John 14:27.

¹¹ Minter, Fitting Room, 119.

¹² John 16.

¹³ John 16:33.

¹⁴ John 14:27.

¹⁵ Philippians 4:6–7.

¹⁶ The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22–23).

¹⁷ Galatians 5:15.

¹⁸ Galatians 5:19–21.

¹⁹ Matthew 5:9.

²⁰ Romans 12:18.

²¹ Romans 14:19.

²² Colossians 3:15.

²³ Hebrews 12:14.

²⁴ 1 Peter 3:10–11.

²⁵ Romans 12:18.

²⁶ Matthew 5:23–24.

²⁷ Matthew 18:15.

²⁸ Proverbs 3:17.

²⁹ Proverbs 8:32.

³⁰ Philippians 4:9.

³¹ Philippians 4:7 NIV.

³² The spiritual disciplines of good stewardship, simplicity, generosity, and giving and tithing are all things that help us keep the proper balance regarding possessions. You can read more on these topics in the series “Spiritual Disciplines,” which begins here.

³³ Proverbs 12:28.

Patience in Suffering

2/26/24 Be patient, therefore, brothers,^[a] until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. ⁸You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. ⁹Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. ¹⁰As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

¹²But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. (James 5:7-12) ESV

27 – More Like Jesus: Patience

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-06-13

In the book of Exodus, we’re told that when Moses was on Mount Sinai, God revealed something of His character:

[Moses] rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai … The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”¹

God’s being slow to anger means He is patient. Throughout the Old Testament, we read of His patience with the people of Israel, as they continually sinned against Him.

Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant. Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.²

He was patient over centuries.

For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself.³

Jesus made reference to His Father’s patience in the parable of the wicked tenants.⁴ The owner of a vineyard leased it to some tenants who didn’t give him his share of the crop. When he sent one of his servants to collect, the tenants beat him. Likewise when others were sent, the tenants beat some and killed others. Eventually he sent his son, whom the tenants also killed. Jesus then asked, “What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do? I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.” In this parable, Jesus made the point that His Father had been sending prophet after prophet to help Israel repent, and now He had sent His Son. Amongst other things, Jesus was pointing out His Father’s patience.

The New Testament authors made reference to both God’s and Jesus’ patience. When referring to Israel’s history, Luke wrote:

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.⁵

The apostle Paul wrote:

I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.⁶ What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?⁷

The apostle Peter wrote:

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.⁸

God’s patience is found all throughout Scripture, and numerous times within the New Testament we are called to be patient as well. Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.⁹ In the beautiful “love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13, we’re told: Love is patient.¹⁰ Certainly those who want to be more like Jesus, to live godly lives, should learn to be patient.

There are two Greek words used in the New Testament that are translated as patient or patience, and they are used in two different ways. The first is hypomonē. This is a compound word from hypo (“under”) and monē (“to remain”). This type of patience refers to learning how to live when we are in difficult circumstances and facing the pressures of life. It means to persevere, to bear up under; to not surrender or succumb when going through difficult times or tough circumstances. It’s often translated as endurance, the ability to stand up under adversity, and as perseverance, the ability to progress in spite of the adversity. This type of patience is responding to adversity in a godly manner.¹¹

Adversity in our lives can come from sources such as ill treatment by others, trials caused by the Devil’s attacks, tests or discipline given in love by the Lord to help strengthen our faith, or the normal circumstances of life. Throughout Scripture we read of biblical characters who patiently persevered in difficult or trying circumstances, sometimes for years on end, and were blessed by the Lord at the end of their ordeal. Job, David, Jacob, and Joseph all faced adversity with patience and trust in God, setting an example for believers.

This type of enduring and persevering patience has a strong connection to hope. We are patient in trying circumstances because we believe that the Lord will give us grace and will in His time bring us through to victory, just as He did for the forefathers of faith.

Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.¹²

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame…¹³

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.¹⁴

We endure, we persevere, because we have faith in God and in the hope of overcoming, if not in this life, then in eternity. Therefore we can be patient in adversity.

Another aspect of patience (hypomonē) has to do with learning to work according to God’s schedule and not our own. We’re often impatient as we wait for an answer to prayer, healing, a change of circumstances, a fulfillment of a promise. James, the Lord’s brother, wrote about patience, pointing out how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient.¹⁵ He pointed to prophets throughout Scripture who faithfully and patiently served God, yet died before their prophecies were fulfilled, and Job, who suffered greatly and patiently waited for God’s healing.¹⁶ Patience calls for us to trust God’s timing, to have faith that He knows best; when things don’t happen as rapidly as we would like, we acknowledge that He loves us, has our best interest at heart, and we trust Him.

Enduring and persevering patience is a patience which trusts God enough to wait on His timing, while having hope based on faith that He will answer. It’s patience that endures hardships. It’s patience that perseveres through difficulties.

The second Greek word translated as patience is makrothymia. Like hypomonē, this too is a compound word. It comes from makro (“long”) and thymia (“anger”). It expresses the quality of one who is able to avenge him- or herself, yet refrains from doing so. It’s slowness in avenging wrong. It’s often translated as longsuffering in the King James Bible translation. It is understood as not responding to a provocation, deliberately not doing or saying something when you could do or say it. Makrothymia is understood as patience with people. This is the word translated as patience in the list of the fruit of the Spirit.¹⁷ It’s also the word used when Paul wrote love is patient.¹⁸ Peter used it in the verse quoted earlier, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.¹⁹ God is makrothymia. He is able to avenge but often chooses not to—He is patient. We can understand this form of patience as being forbearing or longsuffering with the faults, mistakes, bad attitudes, and sometimes intentional unkindness or cruelty of people around us.

As hypomonē is connected to hope, so makrothymia has a connection to mercy. God is patient with us because He is merciful. In the encounter with Moses mentioned earlier, when God revealed something of His character, He not only said He is slow to anger (patient), but also that He is merciful.

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”²⁰

The apostle Paul referred to the connection between mercy and patience when he wrote, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.²¹ In God’s mercy, He is patient with us. By the same token, our being patient with others is akin to being merciful to others.

One area where patience (makrothymia) is needed is when we are mistreated in some way. Patience in such cases is considered longsuffering, as in suffering mistreatment without becoming resentful and bitter. Jerry Bridges wrote:

The occasions for exercising this quality are numerous; they vary from malicious wrongs all the way to seemingly innocent practical jokes. They include ridicule, scorn, insults, and undeserved rebukes, as well as outright persecution. The Christian who is the victim of office politics or organizational power plays must react with long-suffering. The believing husband or wife who is rejected or mistreated by an unbelieving spouse needs this kind of patience.²² (This is not referring to physical violence, which should not be tolerated.)

Though we don’t like being mistreated, when we are, we can patiently commit the person and their actions to the Lord, knowing that He will mete out justice. We can follow Jesus’ example:

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.²³

God is the one who judges justly, and as Scripture tells us, I will repay, says the Lord.²⁴ Therefore we are to be patient when we are in situations where we are mistreated. This doesn’t mean that we don’t try to change our circumstances, but it does mean that we don’t retaliate, we don’t seek revenge. Patience calls for us to trust God, to pray for the Lord to bring changes in others and in our circumstances, and to trust that our just God will bestow justice in His time. As hard as it might be, Jesus told us to Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.²⁵

Another area which calls for patience is tolerance of others’ shortcomings, faults, and failures. Everyone has shortcomings, ourselves included. Usually they’re minor things people do, which aren’t wrong or evil, nor are they directed at us, but they bother us. We notice them mainly in those that we’re around most—our spouse, friends, co-workers, etc. Patience in this case is tolerating the shortcomings of others that we find annoying. We are to patiently make allowance for each other’s faults, out of love.²⁶

It’s helpful to remind ourselves that God is patient with us every day, and not just with our personality quirks, but with our sins as well. He doesn’t get angry or annoyed at our faults and failings; rather, in His love and mercy, He is patient with us time and time again. As His followers, we are called to similarly extend mercy and patience to others. Sadly, we often lose our patience with those closest to us, those we love most, because of familiarity. We get bothered by the small recurring things they do that annoy us, sometimes not realizing that we also do things that annoy them. We don’t like it when they become impatient with us, so we should do to others what we would like them to do to us.²⁷

An interesting thing about patience is how interconnected it is with other virtues. When we practice patience toward someone, we are also showing kindness, compassion, gentleness, and humility—all traits that Jesus manifests. Being patient is a key factor in our growth in Christlikeness.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Exodus 34:4–6.

² Psalm 78:37–38.

³ Isaiah 42:14.

⁴ Mark 12:1–11 NLT.

⁵ Acts 17:30.

⁶ 1 Timothy 1:16.

⁷ Romans 9:22–24.

⁸ 2 Peter 3:9.

⁹ Galatians 5:22.

¹⁰ 1 Corinthians 13:4.

¹¹ Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2010), 200.

¹² Romans 15:4.

¹³ Romans 5:3–5.

¹⁴ Hebrews 10:36.

¹⁵ James 5:7–8.

¹⁶ James 5:9–11.

¹⁷ Galatians 5:22.

¹⁸ 1 Corinthians 13:4.

¹⁹ 2 Peter 3:9.

²⁰ Exodus 34:6.

²¹ 1 Timothy 1:16 NIV.

²² Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, 192.

²³ 1 Peter 2:23.

²⁴ Romans 12:19.

²⁵ Matthew 5:44.

²⁶ Ephesians 4:2.

²⁷ Luke 6:31.

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things

2/25/24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. ²⁵Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷But I discipline my body and keep it under control,^[b] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) ESV

26 – More Like Jesus: Self-Control

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-06-06

In Galatians chapter five, the apostle Paul listed nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, beginning with love and ending with self-control. Part of building Christian character, of becoming more like Jesus, is having the ability to control ourselves—our emotions, desires, and feelings—through the power of the Holy Spirit. (The KJV uses the word temperance instead of self-control.) The scriptural concept of self-control implies that as human beings we have desires that we should control instead of satisfy, that there are some impulses which should either be engaged in moderately or not at all.

In the book of Proverbs we read, Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.¹ In Bible times, a wall around a city was its main defense. Without such a defense, there was no safety; and if a wall existed but was breached, an enemy could enter into the city and destroy homes, plunder possessions, and make captives of the residents. In the same way that a wall offers physical protection and safety, self-control is the wall which defends us spiritually against sinful temptations. It helps us to govern our desires, stay within appropriate bounds, and avoid excesses.

Self-control has to do with controlling our physical actions, appetites, and desires as well as our thoughts, emotions, and speech. In the book of Titus, the apostle Paul wrote that the grace of God trains us to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.² Each one of us has negative elements in our hearts and minds that we struggle with, which we can limit or restrain through God’s grace and the help of the Holy Spirit, along with our willingness to exercise self-control over them.

Exercising self-control is key to growing in godliness, and for those who desire to live in a Christlike manner, self-control is essential. There are two Greek words which are translated as self-control in the New Testament. The first word, used in the list of the fruit of the Spirit and elsewhere, is egkrateia; it expresses the virtue of one who masters their desires and passions. The second word translated as self-control in the New Testament is sōphrosynē; it means soundness of mind, or sound judgment.

Self-control, then, as described in Scripture, can be understood as having the inner strength of character which empowers us to control our passions and desires, as well as to be able to exercise sound judgment when it comes to our thoughts, emotions, actions, and decisions. Sound judgment enables us to determine the right course of action, the proper way to respond to a situation, the ability to not only distinguish between good and bad but also between good and the best. Inner strength is needed to help us do what our sound judgment shows us is best. It’s one thing to know what to do; it’s quite another to have the inner strength to do it, especially when we don’t really want to. Self-control is the exercise of inner strength combined with sound judgment that enables us to think, do, and say things that are pleasing to God.³

One area that we as believers want to have self-control over is our bodies. When we look at the world God created, we see many beautiful and wonderful things we enjoy, and we are meant to enjoy them. God … richly provides us with everything to enjoy.⁴ The difficulty is that, due to sin, we tend to allow the pleasurable things God created to become overly important, to the point that they begin to dominate us. There are any number of activities which are perfectly acceptable in moderation, but problematic in excess. Drinking alcohol, eating, playing computer games, or watching television are examples. If we overindulge in such activities to where they lead to unhealthy or ungodly outcomes, or they become an overly important part of our lives to where they keep or hinder us from doing things that are more important and that we know we should be doing instead, then we have a problem. We have allowed legitimate, relaxing, pleasurable activities to get out of control to our detriment. There’s nothing inherently wrong with enjoying a pleasurable activity, but we need to exercise self-control to keep it in moderation.

Self-control is also needed when we are faced with doing things that are necessary but difficult for us. Exercising is an example. We know that exercise has many health benefits, strengthens our bodies, and even makes us feel good, and yet for many of us, it can be difficult to exercise consistently. Another example is setting aside a specific time each day to spend with the Lord and His Word. We know we need to do it and that it will benefit our relationship with God, but it can still be difficult to stick with it. Doing the things we know we should do is part of exercising self-control.

Resisting things that are detrimental to us or others is also part of self-control. For example, anger and untoward speech. One of the most difficult parts of our body to control is our tongue. James, the brother of Jesus, called the tongue a restless evil, full of deadly poison.⁵ He said, With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.⁶ We are told to watch over our words, to keep from shooting off our mouth in reckless speech.

I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle.⁷

Scripture speaks against gossip.

A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.⁸

A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.⁹

Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.¹⁰

The King James Bible uses the word talebearer, while other translations use whisperer or gossip to convey the concept of one who spreads gossip, betrays confidences, and slanders people. All these actions are wrong. A problem with gossip is that it involves more than one person. The first is the one gossiping, which is wrong and sinful, but there is also the one who listens to, or revels in, hearing “juicy news” about others. It takes self-control to keep from gossiping and from listening to gossip about others.

We’re also warned against slandering people, making false and malicious statements, smearing or defaming others.

Whoever utters slander is a fool.¹¹

You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people.¹²

Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.¹³

Practicing self-control over what we say is crucial to Christlikeness, so it would be wise for us to pray:

Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!¹⁴

In addition to exercising self-control over our physical actions, we are also called to harness our thoughts. While we take action with our bodies, those actions reflect what goes on first in our minds—our thoughts, decisions, self-talk, memories, etc. Some Christian authors refer to this as our “thought life.” What happens within our thoughts, or our thought life, is the basis for our actions and words. And since we are to exercise self-control in our actions and words, it stands to reason we must also use self-control in our thought life.

Jesus spoke of what is within us:

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.¹⁵

The Greek word translated here as heart means the soul or mind as the seat of the sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, appetites, and passions, as well as the will and character. As the saying goes, “The thought is the father of the deed.”

Exercising self-control over our thoughts is central to living in a Christlike manner. Author Jerry Bridges wrote:

The gates to our thought lives are primarily our eyes and our ears. What we see or read or hear largely determines what we think … We must not allow that which panders to sexual lust, greed (called materialism in our present society), envy and selfish ambition to enter our minds.¹⁶

As Christians, we should guard our thoughts. We often allow in our mind what we don’t allow in our actions; but in allowing such things in our thoughts, we risk them becoming actions. Having self-control in our thought life is a two-part process: one part is doing our best to avoid taking in what is ungodly, and the other is renewing our mind by thinking about the right things.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.¹⁷

Another aspect of self-control is keeping certain emotions in check. Anger, rage, resentment, self-pity, and bitterness are all examples of emotions which cause damage to ourselves and others. There are times when anger is justified, such as when it is righteous indignation (but even so, it should be kept in check); but the focus here is on anger which is manifested in outbursts of temper. Such outbursts are harmful in two ways—they release an ungoverned and ungodly passion, and they wound those who are the recipients of our anger. Jerry Bridges wrote:

Temper is a unique challenge in the area of self-control. Ungoverned thoughts and other emotions are sins within our own minds; they harm only ourselves, unless of course they lead to sinful words or actions. But an uncontrolled temper damages the self-respect of others, creates bitterness, and destroys relationships.¹⁸

The book of Proverbs has a fair bit to say about anger:¹⁹

A hot temper shows great foolishness.²⁰

A hot-tempered person starts fights.²¹

Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming.²²

An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins.²³

People who are unable to control their anger often have a tendency to lash out at others. They are usually sorry for doing so after the fact, but anger can leave hurt and broken relationships in its wake that can’t be easily restored. Self-control may not keep you from getting angry, but it can keep you from lashing out at others and hurting them.

People with understanding control their anger.²⁴

Sensible people control their temper.²⁵

Other emotions such as resentment, bitterness, and self-pity don’t necessarily harm others in the same way that anger does, but they are destructive to us and to our relationship with the Lord. They also usually affect those we have close relationships with. They eat away at our spiritual lives like a cancer. These emotions are destructive to our spiritual health, and they also dishonor the Lord.²⁶ Controlling our emotions isn’t an easy thing to do, but when we look at these emotions within the template of living in Christlikeness, we can see that working to control them is vital.

Growing in Christlikeness means letting God’s Spirit have full sway in our lives, including our thought life. It calls for us to be surrendered to the Lord both in mind and body, to think right thoughts and to take right action. This is done through self-control, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. As fallen human beings, we all have areas of our lives which are difficult for us to control. For some they may be physical; for others spiritual—their pride, their emotions, impure thoughts, or addictions.

The road to developing self-control starts with recognizing areas in our life where we lack it, and where if we had more self-control, we would live more closely in alignment with God’s Word. The next step is to acknowledge that such areas are a problem and bring the problem to the Lord in prayer, asking Him to change us. Then, we put feet to our prayers by practicing self-control—either by saying no to the things that we know we shouldn’t be doing and yet are, or by saying yes to the things we know we should be doing but aren’t. Making such changes in our mental and physical habits takes discipline and time. It’s a fight.

The apostle Paul likened mastering self-control to training hard like an athlete.

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.²⁷

Developing self-discipline is a lifelong endeavor, a process in which we sometimes take two steps forward and one step back. It requires prayer, as we work to change areas that don’t align with God’s Word. But the more we take a stand against our sins, the more our will is strengthened. The more we say no to ungodly desires, the more we are able to say no. The more we take action to do the things that are good even if difficult at times, the more we will have the strength to keep doing them. Growth in self-control helps liberate us from the bondage of self-indulgence, and empowers us to be more like Jesus.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Proverbs 25:28 NIV.

² Titus 2:12.

³ Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2012), 152–53.

⁴ 1 Timothy 6:17.

⁵ James 3:8.

⁶ James 3:9–10.

⁷ Psalm 39:1.

⁸ Proverbs 11:13 NIV.

⁹ Proverbs 20:19 NIV.

¹⁰ Proverbs 26:20 NIV.

¹¹ Proverbs 10:18.

¹² Leviticus 19:16.

¹³ 1 Peter 2:1.

¹⁴ Psalm 141:3.

¹⁵ Mark 7:21–23.

¹⁶ Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, 158.

¹⁷ Philippians 4:8.

¹⁸ Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, 160.

¹⁹ The verses in this paragraph are quoted from the NIV and NLT translations, as in this case they are expressed in a more contemporary English, which I thought would be helpful.

²⁰ Proverbs 14:29.

²¹ Proverbs 15:18.

²² Proverbs 27:4.

²³ Proverbs 29:22.

²⁴ Proverbs 14:29.

²⁵ Proverbs 19:11.

²⁶ Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, 160–61.

²⁷ 1 Corinthians 9:25–27.

Testing of Your Faith

2/24/24Count it all joy, my brothers,^[^b^] when you meet trials of various kinds, ³for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, ¹⁰and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass^[^c^] he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. (James 1:2-11) ESV

25 – More Like Jesus: Humility (Part 2)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-05-09

As touched on in Humility part 1, Jesus’ example of humility is something we are encouraged to emulate. When referring to Christ’s humility, Paul wrote that Christians are to Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.¹ Elsewhere within the New Testament we are encouraged to Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.² Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.³ We’re told that Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.⁴ Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.⁵ These verses show how important humility is in the Christian life.

Part of “putting on” the virtue of humility is “putting off” pride, the antithesis of humility. To begin with, we should understand that not all pride is wrong. The apostle Paul wrote of a healthy pride we should have in ourselves and others:

I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.⁶

“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.⁷

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.⁸

A healthy and appropriate sense of pride is present when we respect and value our character, abilities, efforts, and achievements, as well as those of our spouse and children.

While some pride is appropriate, the term “pride” within the Bible is generally used to refer to a negative character trait, one which is displeasing to God. The words used in Scripture as synonyms of pride include arrogance, presumption, conceit, self-satisfaction, boasting, insolence, and high-mindedness. Pride in this sense is a feeling of superiority, an attitude shown by someone who believes they are better than others, an undue sense of self-importance. From a biblical perspective, pride is an improper attitude in our relationship to God. While humility is a result of having an accurate view of God—that He is our Creator to whom we are answerable—pride is seen as rebellion against God by putting oneself above God or attributing to oneself the honor and glory due to God alone.

God’s attitude toward pride is clearly laid out in Scripture:

Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD.⁹

Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.¹⁰

“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”¹¹

The haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low.¹²

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.¹³

Seeing how God looks at our pride is reason enough for us to take the putting off of pride seriously. Clearly, it damages our relationship with Him. Pride also hurts our relationships with others. When we feel someone is inferior to us, we feel justified in putting them down—or simply ignoring them. Or, a problem from another angle is that if we think of someone as being superior to us, we feel lowly and unworthy; and we may then focus on what others think more than on doing the right thing or pleasing the Lord.¹⁴ Pride damages us and erodes our relationship with the Lord and other people. In short, we cannot love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, if we esteem ourselves above them.

Pride is a part of human nature that resides within us:

From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts … pride … all these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.¹⁵

While pride has many faces, some of the more common are pride of race, spiritual pride, and pride of riches. John the Baptist denounced pride of race when he made the point that every nationality is acceptable to God.

Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.¹⁶

The Lord addressed spiritual pride in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican.¹⁷

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.¹⁸

We read a warning to those with wealth about not being lifted up in pride about their wealth:

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.¹⁹

Let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.²⁰

However pride manifests itself within us, it is in essence a problem of self-centeredness. It often shows up in one of these forms: exalting ourselves, belittling ourselves, attacking others, or ignoring others. Let’s take a brief look at each of these.²¹

When we overvalue ourselves, we exalt ourselves in pride. We exhibit this kind of pride when we build ourselves up, whether in our own minds or in the minds of others. Some symptoms of exalting ourselves in pride are exaggerating the truth in order to gain attention; serving and helping for the purpose of being noticed by others; feeling entitled, that we deserve special attention or favor because of who we feel we are or what we have accomplished. If we have a position of authority, have achieved something major, are talented in some area, and if this causes us to feel that we are particularly special or worthy in comparison to others, then we are manifesting pride. If we find ourselves feeling that we deserve a preferred position, and especially if we are angling for status over others, then we are exalting ourselves in pride.

Belittling ourselves or feeling that we are worthless is also a form of pride. It’s deceptive, because it masquerades as humility; but it can be an attempt, consciously or subconsciously, to attract attention to oneself. It can be manifested in speaking about ourselves in a negative and demeaning manner in the hope that someone will take notice and refute our comments in an effort to build us up. It can be seen when we regularly point out our weaknesses and shortcomings and areas where someone else is better. Another symptom is having difficulty accepting help, gifts, or compliments because we don’t feel worthy or we feel ashamed or awkward about needing help.²²

If we are judgmental of others, devalue them by tearing them down, or even attack them, we are exhibiting pride. This happens when our tendencies are to be critical, irritable, intolerant, argumentative, and self-righteous. When we constantly feel we are right and others are wrong, or criticize others’ faults, we are showing signs of pride. Trying to change others so that they will conform to your personal standards and the way you feel they should be amounts to trying to take the place of the Holy Spirit in someone’s life. (Of course, sometimes people do need to change, and it’s fine and sometimes necessary to offer help and advice. If you do so, it should be with prayer, love, concern, humility, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.)

We exhibit pride when we undervalue others by ignoring them, or by not accepting their input. When we are unwilling to listen to others, are unteachable, have an attitude that we “have our act together” and so we close others off when they try to offer advice, we are being proud. Being unwilling to admit fault, refusing to accept correction, advice, instruction, or warning are pride. So is having an attitude of “you need to accept me the way I am” to the point of being unwilling to face that there are areas in your life which need to change, and not being interested in breaking the negative patterns you may be stuck in.

Every one of us exhibits pride in one way or another, as it’s a natural outcropping of the fallen state of human beings. It is manifested in each person’s life in varying levels of intensity, in diverse ways, and in different circumstances—sometimes subtly, other times blatantly.

Following is a list which might be helpful in identifying some of the ways pride is manifested in our lives.²³

Being judgmental of others
Expressing the attitude that others are not as good as we are
Thinking we are morally superior to others
Being critical of others who don’t meet our standards
Being intolerant or self-righteous
Ignoring or undervaluing others
Not listening to others’ ideas or opinions
Being unwilling to admit fault or receive advice or correction
Having a sense of entitlement
Being overly concerned about getting what we feel we deserve
Exaggerating, bragging, making ourselves the center of attention
Making ourselves feel worthy by overworking
Trying to be perfect so we will feel acceptable
Belittling ourselves as a means of drawing attention to ourselves
Tearing ourselves down so others will notice, disagree with us, and try to build us up
Being argumentative and regularly challenging others
Trying to manage the actions of others so that we feel in control
Being unwilling to accommodate opinions that are different from our own
Refusing to change and expecting others to accommodate our weaknesses
Being inflexible, stubborn, and unwilling to adjust our plans

Sadly, all of us manifest some aspects of pride, and we often don’t notice it in ourselves. The above list can help in recognizing areas where our pride shows itself. It was certainly helpful to me.

Following is a list of attitudes and actions which can serve as an antidote to pride and aid growth in humility.²⁴

Praise and Worship

Praising God for who He is, His attributes, and all that He has done, giving Him thanks and honor and glory, are vital for true humility. In worshiping God we are giving Him due honor. It reminds us who is truly great. He is the Creator and Savior; we are the created and the saved. When we praise and worship God, we are declaring that He is God and we are in submission to Him.

Self-esteem

Because God values each of us, we should accept God’s deep and unconditional love for us by valuing ourselves. Our gifts and talents, circumstances, and many other things about us may differ from others; but each of us is precious to the Father. God doesn’t value us because of what we’ve accomplished, our financial status, how popular we may be, or for any other outward reason. He loves and values us because we are His children.

Honesty

Being honest with ourselves and others builds humility. Pride leads us to exaggerate, hide, pretend, misrepresent, and even lie for the purpose of covering up our shortcomings, failures, and sins. Humility, on the other hand, helps us to trust in God’s grace and unconditional love and honestly acknowledge our shortcomings, failures, and sins to Him and others.

Holiness/Obedience

Holiness can be an unpopular word, as in modern times it tends to be looked at negatively, in the sense of someone who is self-righteous and “holier-than-thou.” But that’s not the meaning of it as expressed in Scripture. There are a number of Hebrew and Greek words, all coming from the same family of words, which are translated as “holy.” They convey the ideas of something that is sanctified, sacred, free from wickedness, set aside for God, separated. One of the main usages in the New Testament is the sense of setting something apart for God, to be exclusively His.²⁵

As Christians, we are meant to be set aside as belonging to God. This is often manifested in our being obedient to Him and His Word. It takes humility to obey God, as it requires giving up our ways and sense of entitlement to Him. Sometimes it’s difficult and requires sacrificing our own ways and desires. It takes humility to obey God and trust Him for the outcome.

Servanthood

Serving others requires humility. We may have notable gifts and talents, but that doesn’t mean they all have to be in use all the time. Sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances where we need to set aside our gifts and skills and simply do what’s needed in the situation, no matter how small or behind the scenes it may be. Perhaps there will be a time when you are needed to care for someone in need. Maybe there will be a period where you will need to sacrifice your wants and even needs for the sake of others, or for something the Lord may be calling you to do.

Waiting

Waiting means putting ourselves at God’s disposal so that He can put us in the role of His choosing. It’s allowing Him to direct us, instead of pushing our own agenda or demanding our own way. It’s being sensitive to the Lord’s direction, seeking His guidance, and giving Him time to impart it. It’s being patient, trusting Him for things to fall into place. Waiting calls for humility.

In closing

To sum this up, if we want to cultivate humility in our lives, the starting place is a focus on God. As we grow closer to Him, spending more time concentrating on Him, learning about Him, talking with Him, and making room for Him in our lives, He grows in importance to us and begins to take up more of our “field of vision,” so to speak. When He does, we are reminded of His perfection and our lack of it. When we are in right relationship with Him, we will be humbled by the fact that He loves and values us, as imperfect as we are. This right relationship leads us to a godly balance of healthy self-esteem with genuine humility.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Philippians 2:5.

² 1 Peter 5:5.

³ James 4:10.

⁴ Matthew 23:12.

⁵ Colossians 3:12.

⁶ 2 Corinthians 7:4.

⁷ 2 Corinthians 10:17–18.

⁸ Galatians 6:14.

⁹ Proverbs 16:5 NAS.

¹⁰ Proverbs 8:13.

¹¹ James 4:6.

¹² Isaiah 2:17.

¹³ Proverbs 16:18.

¹⁴ Floyd McClung Jr., Follow (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook Publishers, 2010), 82.

¹⁵ Mark 7:21–23.

¹⁶ Luke 3:8.

¹⁷ An article on this parable can be found here: https://library.tfionline.com/?viewId=2303&treeId=12869

¹⁸ Luke 18:9.

¹⁹ 1 Timothy 6:17.

²⁰ James 1:10–11 NAS.

²¹ Points condensed from Katherine Brazelton and Shelley Leith, Character Makeover (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 31–32.

²² In some cultures it is considered offensive to accept help or a gift without initially refusing it. This is a cultural expectation, and not necessarily related to personal pride.

²³ This list was condensed from Brazelton and Leith, Character Makeover, 35–36.

²⁴ Points condensed from Brazelton and Leith, Character Makeover, 41–43.

²⁵ For more on holiness, see More Like Jesus—Holiness parts 1–4, in this series.

Christ’s Example of Humility

2/23/24 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ²complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,^[a] ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,^[b] ⁷but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,^[c] being born in the likeness of men. ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-11) ESV

24 – More Like Jesus: Humility (Part 1)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-05-02

One key element in our pursuit of Christlikeness is emulating the humility of Jesus. By “putting on” humility, and “putting off” pride in doing so, we strive to become more like Jesus. In the ancient world of the Greeks and Romans, humility was seen as a negative trait. It denoted a subservient attitude on the part of someone considered to be of a lower class. It was seen as a cowed attitude, one of self-belittlement or degradation. The honor-shame culture of that time exalted pride, and humility was seen as undesirable. Jesus, however, redefined humility. He, the Son of God, humbled Himself by becoming human; thus showing that if even He, as exalted as He was, exhibited humility, it was something believers should emulate. His followers in the early church, through His teachings and example, learned to treat humility as a virtue, an important moral attitude, and a fundamental trait of Christian character.

Jesus both preached and lived humility:

For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.¹

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.²

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.³

Humility was a principal characteristic in Jesus’ life, so if our goal is to be more like Jesus, humility should become central to who we are.

Dictionaries define humility in a variety of ways, such as freedom from pride and arrogance, not thinking you are better than other people, having a modest or low view of one’s importance, a modest estimate of one’s own worth. While these are proper definitions, a Christian understanding of humility takes on a deeper meaning, as it is based on our relationship with God. In their book Character Makeover, Brazelton and Leith provide a definition of humility from a Christian perspective, as follows:

Humility is a natural result of having an accurate view of who God is and having a right perspective of who you are in relation to Him.⁴

And who are we to God? We’re His wayward children—broken, sinful, and unable to attain full righteousness before God. Yet despite our brokenness, He loves us unconditionally. We don’t deserve His love; it’s a gift of grace, of His unmerited favor. We can’t claim His love because we are sinners, but He gives it to us anyway. He sent His Son to die for us because of His deep love for us. It’s humbling to know that we are loved regardless of our sins. We know we aren’t worthy of His love, but He loves us anyway. This helps us feel secure in our relationship with our Creator. God’s love and acceptance is the basis of our self-worth.

Because we are unconditionally loved by the Lord, we can be honest with Him and ourselves about our strengths and weaknesses, since neither will change God’s love for us. He doesn’t love us more because of our talents, nor does He love us less because of our weaknesses. Knowing that we are accepted by God makes it easier for us to have a realistic picture of ourselves. We can be comfortable with who we are and not feel that we have to be ashamed of or hide the fact that we have weaknesses, nor feel the need to inflate our strengths.

Secular and popular definitions of humility generally include traits such as low self-esteem, lack of confidence, or being a doormat, but that’s not the humility Jesus taught. As Randy Frazee wrote:

A believer has a strong sense of self-worth and a secure position of identity as one who no longer feels the need to elevate the flesh or pump up personal pride.⁵

Knowing we’re loved by God can allow us to have a strong sense of self-esteem and thus be able to wear our self-worth lightly, with humility, because we are secure in God and His unconditional love for us. Being secure in God’s love, we recognize that there is no reason to try to exalt ourselves in His eyes or in the eyes of others. Doing so is an expression of pride, the opposite of humility. (Pride will be discussed in an upcoming article.)

As individuals created in God’s image and uniquely loved by God, we can have full confidence in our personal worth. We can candidly recognize and acknowledge both our strengths and weaknesses, our talents and negative habits. We should strive to have a realistic picture of ourselves, without thinking that we’re either wonderful or awful. We shouldn’t lift ourselves up in pride, nor consider ourselves worthless. Either extreme—feeling that everyone is better than us, or that we are better than everyone else—is wrong, and shows pride. Thinking we’re better than others is boastful, prideful thinking; whereas feeling that we are the worst can be false humility, which is also pride because it’s self-focused.⁶ Humility lies between these extremes. Recognizing that we are valuable to God, that He loves us, made us, and has given us gifts and talents can help keep us from demeaning ourselves, while also keeping us from thinking that it’s all about us, that we are better and more gifted than others. As Rick Warren said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”⁷

Author Todd Wilson wrote:

Humility isn’t meant to make you think less of who you are, but to enable you to love others regardless of who they are. Humility is how love expresses itself toward those of a different status, rank, or position. It’s the capacity to view everyone as ultimately equal. This doesn’t mean denying differences between people. But it does mean looking past those differences to the underlying equality of all people. There are two important senses in which we are all equal—as creatures made in God’s image, and as fallen creatures in need of God’s grace. These two facts, in turn, are the foundation for true humility, because they radically level the playing field.⁸

If we are humble, we recognize that we are sinners just like everyone else, and therefore we don’t feel more deserving of love or less responsible to show love to others. Humility frees us from worrying about prestige or position, physical features or attractiveness, success or failure, and many other anxieties that come along with pride and measuring ourselves against others.

As Christians, we know that humility is important, as it is laced all throughout Scripture.⁹ We’re called to live with humility and gentleness;¹⁰ in humility consider others more significant than ourselves;¹¹ put on humility;¹² be clothed with humility;¹³ humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God;¹⁴ walk humbly with our God;¹⁵ do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly;¹⁶ receive God’s word in humility;¹⁷ take the lowest place at a feast;¹⁸ seek humility;¹⁹ be humble in spirit.²⁰

The Bible repeatedly extols humility and tells of the positive attitude God has toward the humble. Humility goes before honor;²¹ the humble will inherit the land;²² blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth;²³ the humble will receive honor;²⁴ the Lord is on high, yet regards the lowly;²⁵ “I dwell with the lowly and contrite in spirit”;²⁶ “I look to him who is humble and contrite”;²⁷ God saves the humble;²⁸ God gives grace to the humble;²⁹ God teaches the humble his way.³⁰

Scripture also tells us that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted.³¹ He humbles and he exalts;³² he has brought down rulers and exalted the humble;³³ humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you;³⁴ humble yourselves and he will exalt you.³⁵

When writing to the Philippians, the apostle Paul spoke of Jesus’ humility:

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…³⁶

Some translations render that last sentence as “have this attitude” or “your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Being humble is to have the attitude of Christ, or the mind of Christ.

Paul then went on to either quote or compose an early Christian hymn,³⁷ which makes the point that Jesus provided us with the best example of true humility.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.³⁸

Here we’re told that our inner disposition should be similar to Jesus’, that the attitude we should have is like that of the Lord. What attitude was that? While Jesus had the same inherent character and quality and equal “rank” or “status” with God, He set it aside and took on the nature of a servant by becoming human. While He could have claimed power and glory, as was pointed out when the Devil tempted Him in the desert,³⁹ Jesus instead chose to lower His status and humbled Himself to the point that He was willing to die the cruel, torturous death of a common criminal for our sakes. Because of what He did, God “hyper-exalted Him”—which is the literal translation of this passage. He was exalted in the greatest possible manner. In a biblical sense, one’s name carries the idea of one’s character, position, role, rank, or dignity; so when we’re told that Jesus was given a name above every name, it can be understood as saying that He was given the highest rank or dignity of all, which indicates that He is the direct object of worship. Bowing and confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord is understood as declaring that He has sovereignty over the entire universe as its Lord.

While we are not on the same plane as Jesus, we can follow the principle of humility that we see in His example. During His ministry, Jesus did many mighty works. He healed the sick, cast out demons, fed 5,000 people by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish, and walked on water. He told the Roman ruler Pontius Pilate that He could ask His Father to send twelve legions of angels to protect Him—such was His ability, power, and status. But instead, He humbled Himself, lived His life in submission to His Father, and avoided the glory that many wanted to give Him. In doing so, He was ultimately exalted above all.

If we want to become more like Him, then we will strive to “put on” humility; and if we do, we will find ourselves blessed by the Lord.

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.⁴⁰

(To be continued in Part Two)

Note

¹ Luke 22:27.

² Matthew 23:12.

³ Matthew 11:29.

⁴ Katie Brazelton and Shelley Leith, Character Makeover (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 24.

⁵ Randy Frazee, Think, Act, Be Like Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 217.

⁶ Brazelton and Leith, Character Makeover, 25.

⁷ Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002).

⁸ Todd Wilson, Real Christian (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 58.

⁹ The collection of verses in this and the following two paragraphs is from A. C. Day, Collins Thesaurus of the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009).

¹⁰ Ephesians 4:2.

¹¹ Philippians 2:3.

¹² Colossians 3:12.

¹³ 1 Peter 5:5.

¹⁴ 1 Peter 5:6.

¹⁵ Micah 6:8.

¹⁶ Romans 12:16.

¹⁷ James 1:21.

¹⁸ Luke 14:10.

¹⁹ Zephaniah 2:3.

²⁰ 1 Peter 3:8.

²¹ Proverbs 15:33; 18:12.

²² Psalm 37:11.

²³ Matthew 5:5.

²⁴ Proverbs 29:23.

²⁵ Psalm 138:6.

²⁶ Isaiah 57:15.

²⁷ Isaiah 66:2.

²⁸ Job 22:29.

²⁹ James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5.

³⁰ Psalm 25:9.

³¹ Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; 18:14.

³² 1 Samuel 2:7.

³³ Luke 1:52.

³⁴ James 4:10.

³⁵ 1 Peter 5:6.

³⁶ Philippians 2:3–5.

³⁷ Many scholars believe that Paul is quoting an early Christian hymn. The basic question regarding form is whether these verses are an early Christian hymn. Most contemporary scholars interpret these verses as a hymn because of the rhythmical quality, rare words and phrases, and motifs. If the verses do constitute a hymn, which seems reasonable, they reveal something of the worship of the early church. At least two characteristics predominate: They express a depth of theology which reveals in particular a highly developed Christology; they reveal that the early church had formulated its Christology in cryptic but powerful language. Further, the fact that Paul could appeal to the (apparently) well-known hymn indicates the widespread interest the early church had in Jesus. (R. R. Melick. Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991. Vol. 32, 96–97).

³⁸ Philippians 2:5–11 NIV.

³⁹ Matthew 4:1–11.

⁴⁰ 1 Peter 5:5–6.

Teach Sound Doctrine

2/22/24 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, ¹²training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, ¹³waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.(Titus 2:11-14) ESV

23 – More Like Jesus: Joy (Part 2)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-04-04

While studying about Christian joy, I found it interesting to see that joy is intimately connected to faith, hope, and gratefulness. As I mentioned in the first article on this subject, for a believer, joy is connected to taking a long-range view of life that is based on faith in God, trust in what He has told us through Scripture, and knowing that our earthly life is only the beginning phase of our eternal relationship with the Lord.

Our joy is based in our faith in what Scripture has taught us: that God is our Creator; that though humanity is alienated from Him due to our sins, He has made a way for us to be reconciled with Him through the sacrificial death of Jesus and the forgiveness of our sins; that through this reconciliation, we enter a relationship with Him, His Spirit dwells within us, and our relationship will last for eternity.

Our faith in God and deep trust in His promises of salvation, reconciliation, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the ultimate fruit of salvation—eternity with God—help us have peace of mind and a confident outlook. Our beliefs generate hope, an expectation of good things to come, and cause us to live in joy.

That you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.²

The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.³

Gratitude is related to joy. When we’re grateful for what God has done for us; when we’re focused on His goodness, love, and care, and are content with His blessings, then we have reason for joy. Being thankful for God’s blessings helps us live in joy, as we have a positive attitude toward life.

Joy is a response to God in our lives—to His blessings, presence, promises; the relationship we have with Him; our being His children. It’s a response to who He is and His involvement in our lives, to His love.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.⁴

Because joy is a response to who God is and the blessings we have in Him, and not to our circumstances, joy can flourish even during times of pain and suffering.

We rejoice in our sufferings.⁵

You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.⁶

In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.⁷

As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.⁸

It’s not easy to rejoice in our sorrows. In fact, generally speaking, it’s not natural for us to be joyful and constantly rejoicing. Yet Scripture says Rejoice always.⁹ Many of us want to cultivate a joyful spirit, but it’s not something we can do through our own power. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and to cultivate it, we must raise our sails so that the breath of the Spirit will move us in the direction of joy.

One way to raise our sails is by reading, absorbing, and living the teachings of Scripture. Speaking to His disciples right before His crucifixion, Jesus said:

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.¹⁰

When the waves, winds, and storms of life assail us, we can find joy in knowing that All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.¹¹ We find comfort and faith to endure the difficulties we face and to be victorious as we look to the promises of God’s Word:

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.¹²

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.¹³

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.¹⁴

Hearing the voice of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit in verses like these gives us hope in time of trial. That hope can inspire joy, knowing that God is always there, even in our afflictions.

I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”¹⁵

As we read the Bible, God’s Spirit uses Scripture to speak to our heart to comfort and guide us, thereby giving us faith and hope, which are stepping stones to joy. We do what we can by abiding in God’s Word, and the Spirit moves within us to give us joy.

We cultivate joy by putting our trust in God. Being trustworthy is part of who God is; it’s part of His character. All throughout Scripture, we’re exhorted to put our trust in Him. Trusting Him means putting our confidence in Him, knowing that He loves us and has our best interests at heart.

Our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name.¹⁶

You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust.¹⁷

Those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.¹⁸

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.¹⁹

Trust leads to hope, and hope leads to joy.

We increase our joy when we develop thankfulness and gratitude for whatever situation we find ourselves in.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.²⁰

Regardless of whether our circumstances are pleasant or unpleasant, we are to be thankful. This doesn’t mean that we need to be thankful for difficult circumstances, but rather that we give thanks in the midst of every circumstance, good or bad. Scripture teaches us to thank the Lord that He is working in our present circumstance for our good, knowing that He will not give us burdens which are too much for us to bear and His grace is sufficient to enable us to bear it. As we thank and praise Him, we experience the joy that is our heritage in Christ.²¹

As we’ve seen, Christian joy is connected to and is a result of our belief system. We believe in God as our Creator and Father. We believe in His Word, which tells us about Him; we use His Word as the basis for decisions. We have an ongoing two-way relationship with Him, which will continue for eternity. His Holy Spirit dwells within us, and joy is a fruit of that indwelling. As Christians, we believe these things, but the question that I’ve asked myself, and which you may want to ask yourself as well, is: Do these beliefs bring joy into my life? Author Michael Zigarelli wrote about what it means to have this joy, and after reading what he wrote, I prayed about whether I was living with the richness of joy that I could be.

From a biblical point of view, we can define joy as “having a daily spirit of rejoicing through all circumstances.” It’s more than inner contentment, more than gladness, more than overall satisfaction with life.²²

On the basis of a survey of 5,000 Christians, Zigarelli concluded that consistent joy in a Christian’s life greatly benefited their character. He wrote:

In Christian circles, we often talk about joy as a virtue that drives Christlikeness.²³

Richard Foster commented on the importance of joy in a Christian’s life:

Joy is the motor, the thing that keeps everything else going. … Joy produces energy. Joy makes us strong.²⁴

Zigarelli found that those who reported that they were “often” or “always” joyful also exhibited more of other Christlike characteristics than those who were “rarely” or “only sometimes” joyful. He explained that the virtues most affected by consistent joy are kindness and patience.²⁵

While things of a spiritual nature are very difficult to quantify or measure, and a survey of course relies on interpretation, I found that Zigarelli’s survey provided helpful guidance by pointing out how practicing particular virtues seems to help one grow in Christlikeness. He found that many Christians, while strong in their God-centeredness and gratitude, reported below-average joy in their lives; and according to his survey, these folks tended to struggle with kindness and patience. He pointed out that when an otherwise godly person does not experience consistent joy in his or her life, the tendency is to be abrupt with others, to have little tolerance for life’s irritations, and to be less generous—often because they have too much to do, which hinders them from being kind and generous. Clearly, burnout is a major joy killer.

When speaking of the benefit of nurturing consistent joy in our lives, he pointed out that someone who is more joyful would be noticeably more patient and kind—overall, more like Jesus Christ. Although we cannot pinpoint the exact mechanisms by which this happens, it is not a stretch to speculate that consistent joy enhances patience and kindness because these two qualities are natural outgrowths of our overall disposition. In other words, a person who has a consistently joyful disposition is prone to sharing that joy by putting others first, by identifying and meeting others’ needs. In such a state of mind, we are more charitable towards others, more accommodating of others’ shortcomings, more relaxed in the face of annoying situations. Conversely, a person who is not consistently joyful cannot share what he or she does not have. The joy-driven empowerment to love and tolerate others is not reliably present in their lives. One thing that requires no speculation, though, is that consistent joy seems to help us overcome any hard-hearted or legalistic tendencies that can make us calloused, impatient, uncaring people—people who are truly the antithesis of Jesus.²⁶

Zigarelli’s survey also shows that people who “often” or “always” forgive others are twice as likely to be joyful as those who don’t. This makes sense, as one of the foundational factors for having Christian joy is our salvation—the fact that we have been forgiven for our sins.

It seems to be that a lack of forgiveness embeds in us anger, bitterness, indignation, and resentment—obstacles to our inner peace and joy. Alternatively, choosing to forgive can remove those encumbrances, paving the way for, among other things, more consistent joy.²⁷

Growing in joy calls for regularly thinking about and meditating on God’s goodness and love for us. Joy is an outgrowth of our reading, believing, and acting on God’s Word; of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us; and of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Christian joy is living life within the conscious framework of God’s love and care for us, facing the ups and downs of our lives with deep faith that the Lord is always there, comforting and caring for us; and being glad, rejoicing, that we are always under His loving care.

The joy of the LORD is your strength.²⁸

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ 1 Peter 1:3–5.

² Ephesians 1:18.

³ Titus 2:11–13.

⁴ 1 Peter 1:8.

⁵ Romans 5:3.

⁶ 1 Thessalonians 1:6.

⁷ 2 Corinthians 8:2.

⁸ 2 Corinthians 6:10.

⁹ 1 Thessalonians 5:16.

¹⁰ John 15:10–11.

¹¹ Romans 8:28.

¹² Romans 8:18.

¹³ 1 Peter 5:6–7.

¹⁴ James 1:12 NIV.

¹⁵ Isaiah 41:13.

¹⁶ Psalm 33:21 NKJV.

¹⁷ Psalm 71:5.

¹⁸ Psalm 9:10.

¹⁹ Jeremiah 17:7.

²⁰ 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

²¹ Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 2012), 129–30.

²² Michael A. Zigarelli, Cultivating Christian Character (Colorado Springs: Purposeful Design Publications: 2005), 49.

²³ Zigarelli, Cultivating Christian Character, 50.

²⁴ Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline (New York: HarperOne, 1998), 191.

²⁵ Zigarelli, Cultivating Christian Character, 50.

²⁶ Ibid., 52.

²⁷ Ibid., 54.

²⁸ Nehemiah 8:10.

The Return of the Seventy-Two

2/21/24 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” ¹⁸And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. ²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:17-20) ESV

22 – More Like Jesus: Joy (Part 1)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-03-28

As we try to model our lives after Jesus and His teachings, joy plays an important role in our efforts. While Jesus only specifically mentioned His joy twice in the Gospels,¹ joy permeated the events of His life and His teaching. We also find mentions and examples of joy throughout the New and Old Testaments.

There are seven Greek words used in the New Testament which refer to joy, intense joy, gladness, and rejoicing. The main two used are chairō (rejoice) and chara (joy). These words are used 72 times in the Gospels and 101 times in the rest of the New Testament. Such wide usage indicates that joy is important in our lives as Christians.

The night before He was crucified, Jesus said to His disciples:

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.²

As believers, we have the privilege of partaking of His joy. The apostle Paul wrote:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.³

We’re told that God’s kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, and that if we serve Him in these things, we are acceptable to God.⁴ Joy is listed right after love as a fruit of the Spirit:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control… ⁵

Clearly joy is important for a Christlike life. But what exactly is this joy that is spoken of here?

In the English language, for the most part joy and happiness are considered synonyms. However, the Greek words used in the New Testament for joy and happiness aren’t as close in meaning to each other as the two words are in English today. Greek words that express the concept of happiness weren’t used very often within the New Testament. One author explains:

One begins to suspect that for most of the Christian writers joy was more than a happy feeling, a pleasing mood or a sense of overflowing jubilation, although it might include these. Rather, by joy they seem to have been referring to something more profound, something more difficult to define yet real. Joy seems not to be laughter, gaiety, lightheartedness, and dance and song (at least in this present world) but something more akin to faith, more akin to a settled state of mind marked by peace. Joy is fundamentally an attitude toward life that views and accepts the world with equanimity, a confident way of looking at life that is rooted deep in faith, in a keen awareness of and trust in the sovereign God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection.⁶

As Christians we can have that settled state of mind, that confident way of looking at life, and the keen awareness of and trust in the sovereign God, all of which make up joy. What is the basis for that joy? It’s rooted in our salvation—that our names are written in heaven. When the seventy-two disciples returned after going two-by-two to towns that Jesus was about to visit, they returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” Jesus responded: “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”⁷ We have joy, we rejoice, because we have the hope of an eternal inheritance.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you… In this you rejoice…⁸

We can have joy because we take the long-range view, knowing that whatever hardships or setbacks we experience in this life, we will live with God forever. We see an example of looking beyond the present trials of this life to what lies ahead in eternity in Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.⁹

Joy is an outgrowth of our salvation.

May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners!¹⁰

I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.¹¹

My soul will rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his salvation.¹²

This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.¹³

I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.¹⁴

But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!” ¹⁵

We have joy because of the presence of God in our lives.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy…¹⁶

When we read of the presence of God in the Incarnation—of Jesus, God’s Son, coming to be present on the earth—the whole event is filled with joy. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice, the child (John the Baptist) leaped for joy in his mother’s womb;¹⁷ the angel appeared to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth proclaiming, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people;¹⁸ and when the wise men saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.¹⁹ God’s presence brings joy to those who believe in Him.

God’s presence becomes part of our lives as we are filled with the Holy Spirit; the Spirit is also connected to joy.

The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.²⁰

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy…²¹

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.²²

You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit…²³

Knowing God’s Word produces joy in our lives.

Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.²⁴

The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart…²⁵

I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.²⁶

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart…²⁷

Worshiping and praising the Lord evokes joy within us.

My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.²⁸

These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.²⁹

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!³⁰

They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.³¹

We are told to have joy in the Lord, and that believers rejoice.

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!³²

Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!³³

But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy!³⁴

The hope of the righteous brings joy…³⁵

The light of the righteous rejoices.³⁶

A righteous man sings and rejoices.³⁷

Even in difficult times we are encouraged to have joy.

In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.³⁸

As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing…³⁹

[Speaking of the churches in Macedonia:] In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.⁴⁰

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.⁴¹

The knowledge that the difficult times we face will one day pass away gives us a foretaste of heaven, where there will be no more grief, suffering, sorrow, or pain.

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.⁴²

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever! ⁴³

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.⁴⁴

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.⁴⁵

The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.⁴⁶

Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”⁴⁷

As believers, we can rejoice and be filled with His joy—joy that our names are written in heaven, that we are filled with God’s Spirit, are in communion and fellowship with our Creator, and that in whatever hardships we may find ourselves He is present with us. This doesn’t mean that we will always be happy, but no matter what our circumstances, we are able to stand on the solid rock of joy. We are a redeemed and blessed people who will dwell with God forever.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.⁴⁸

(Other aspects and applications of joy will be covered in the next article.)

Note

¹ Now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves (John 17:13).

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:11).

² John 15:11.

³ Romans 15:13.

⁴ The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men (Romans 14:17–18).

⁵ Galatians 5:22–23.

⁶ R. P. Martin and P. H. Davids, eds., in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, electronic edition (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 600–605.

⁷ Luke 10:17, 20.

⁸ 1 Peter 1:3–6.

⁹ Hebrews 12:2.

¹⁰ Psalm 20:5.

¹¹ Psalm 13:5.

¹² Psalm 35:9.

¹³ Isaiah 25:9.

¹⁴ Habakkuk 3:18.

¹⁵ Psalm 40:16.

¹⁶ Psalm 16:11.

¹⁷ Luke 1:44.

¹⁸ Luke 2:10.

¹⁹ Matthew 2:10.

²⁰ Acts 13:52.

²¹ Galatians 5:22.

²² Romans 15:13.

²³ 1 Thessalonians 1:6.

²⁴ Psalm 119:111.

²⁵ Psalm 19:8.

²⁶ Psalm 119:162.

²⁷ Jeremiah 15:16.

²⁸ Psalm 71:23.

²⁹ Psalm 42:4 NAS.

³⁰ Psalm 100:1–2.

³¹ Luke 24:52.

³² Psalm 32:11.

³³ Psalm 64:10.

³⁴ Psalm 68:3.

³⁵ Proverbs 10:28.

³⁶ Proverbs 13:9.

³⁷ Proverbs 29:6.

³⁸ 2 Corinthians 7:4.

³⁹ 2 Corinthians 6:10.

⁴⁰ 2 Corinthians 8:1–2.

⁴¹ 2 Corinthians 12:9–10.

⁴² Psalm 30:5.

⁴³ Psalm 30:11–12.

⁴⁴ Psalm 51:8.

⁴⁵ Psalm 126:5–6.

⁴⁶ Isaiah 35:10.

⁴⁷ Nehemiah 8:10.

⁴⁸ Philippians 4:4.

The Cheerful Giver

2/20/24 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully^[^d^] will also reap bountifully. ⁷Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency^[^e^] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written,

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-9) ESV

21 – More Like Jesus: Gratitude (Part 4)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-01-31

Gratitude is a mindset that enables us to see our circumstances through the lens of our thankfulness to God and to act in a manner that reflects our gratitude. Some of those actions, which were addressed in previous posts, are developing contentment, being grateful for all God has given us, and working to overcome gratitude killers—envy, covetousness, and greed. Another action based on our outlook of gratitude, which helps in our growth toward Christlikeness, is generosity.

Generosity

As our goal is to be more like Jesus, to be godly, one of God’s characteristics we can imitate is generosity. When we think of God in the context of generosity, we realize just how extravagant His giving is. We see His generosity in giving His Son to die for us so that we can experience forgiveness and eternal life. He gives us salvation as a gift:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.¹

He is generous with His grace.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us…²

The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.³

We also see God’s generosity every day in the world around us, in the natural beauty of creation, the magnificent colors, beautiful sunsets, the melody of a bird’s chirping, and so much more. Not to mention the working of creation:

You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.⁴

And then there’s heaven:

Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.⁵

When we understand that God is generous by nature, that all He has given us is both valuable and undeserved, then in our desire to be like Him, we too should be generous with others.

Generosity is in part an outgrowth of contentment. It’s easier to be generous if we carry an attitude that God has sufficiently cared for us and has fulfilled our needs. When we have the peace which contentment brings, that feeling of faith and trust that God has and will continue to supply what we need, then it is easier to be openhanded. Generosity is outward action which reflects our inner contentment. When generosity sees a need, it says, “I have enough, and you don’t, so I want to share what I have with you.”

Another key to generosity is having the right understanding of ownership—recognizing that as the creator of all things, ultimately God owns everything, and what He has entrusted to us is under our stewardship.⁶

Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.⁷

Even though we may earn the money to purchase things, it’s the Lord who ultimately gives us our life, abilities, and everything we have, which enables us to do what we do. This concept can be seen in Deuteronomy 8:10, where the Israelites were instructed to thank God for the food that they grew, as God was the one who gave them the land, the means by which they were able to grow food. Though they worked to produce the food, God provided the means.

You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

In the book Character Makeover, the authors make a good point:

Generosity is based on humility. It is humbling to credit God for everything we acquire, but when we do so, it helps us loosen our grip on our belongings and give them up to his control.⁸

When we accept that we are caretakers of what God has blessed us with, and that He is the ultimate example of generosity, we’ll want to align our attitude about giving with His. Let’s look at some of what Scripture tells us about God’s outlook on giving.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.⁹

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.¹⁰

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.¹¹

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.¹²

We must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’¹³

Many of us don’t have much money, but giving isn’t limited to money alone. As those called to imitate our generous Father, we can generously use our God-given abilities, time, talents, gifts, as well as finances when we have them, to help others. While we don’t all have the same amount of finances or material goods, or even the same amount of time to spare, we all can find ways to sacrificially carve out some time for the benefit of others, as a way to be generous.

Volunteering to watch someone’s children for a few hours, driving someone who can no longer drive to the store, helping out at a local food bank, mentoring someone, visiting the lonely, are examples of generosity that are sometimes even more difficult than giving finances.

Perhaps you have a special gift that you can use to bless others. For example, maybe you’re a good cook and could use your talent to help cook once or twice a month at a local soup kitchen. If you have a skill, you can probably find a way to use it to help others. We each have some God-given gifts, talents, and abilities to offer, so we might want to consider giving some of them back to Him through using them to help others in some way. Whether we give finances or time and talent, and whether we can afford to give a little or a lot of either, our giving is generous when we give what we can.

Becoming more like Jesus calls for honoring God by imitating Him in generosity in whatever way we can. As the stewards of all He has given us, when we use our gifts, talents, skills, and finances in alignment with God’s generosity, we honor Him.

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.¹⁴

Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the LORD.¹⁵

While giving of our finances or our God-given talents is a sacrifice, Scripture teaches that those who make this sacrifice are rewarded in this life and the life to come.

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.¹⁶

Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.¹⁷

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.¹⁸

The apostle Paul wrote about giving to those in need:

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!¹⁹

Paul made the point that generosity causes three effects. First, those who give are enriched—when they sow bountifully, they reap bountifully; God causes His grace to overflow on them so that they will have what they need, and He loves those who give cheerfully. Second, when people are enriched and blessed because of their giving, they are blessed with more, and therefore are able to be even more generous. And last, because of generous giving, those on the receiving end overflow with thanksgiving to God and give Him glory.

Of course, some are able to give more than others, as they have more. The blessings for those who give aren’t connected to the amount they give. Jesus made this point when He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”²⁰ We also see the point of giving what we are able in the book of Ezra, when the Jews, after being allowed to return to Israel, contributed to the building of the temple, according to their ability.²¹

The principle of generosity includes giving to the Lord. In Old Testament Scripture, the Jewish people were required to tithe ten percent of their increase to the Lord. Scripture in the New Testament doesn’t specify a specific percentage or require tithing, but the expectation is that Christians will give generously to the Lord; for after all, He is the one who has blessed us with it, and it all ultimately belongs to Him. When God spoke about giving in the Old Testament, it was understood that the tithe was the minimum, and that giving to the needy was over and above the tithe. That seems to be a good standard for giving—tithing ten percent to the Lord and His work, as well as giving what one can to help others in need.

Financially giving to the Lord and others can be difficult, especially if you are struggling to make ends meet. It’s logical to feel we can’t give when we don’t have sufficient. If you feel you are truly unable to tithe ten percent of your income, consider giving some small amount of your finances to begin with, and trust that as you do, He will bless you. As He blesses you, keep giving to Him, increasing the amount as you can with the goal of eventually tithing ten percent. If you don’t have any extra finances to help the needy, then remember that all giving doesn’t need to be financial; you can offer time or some other form of help to people in need.

As the Lord demonstrates His generosity to us in countless ways, and our desire is to be more like Him, generosity should be high on our list of ways to become more Christlike. Developing generosity calls us to believe that we are stewards of our material belongings—not owners—and that we are expected to be good stewards of what is entrusted into our care. As stewards, we are to look to the Lord for His direction regarding how to use what He’s blessed us with. This means asking Him how He wants us to use what we have for His glory. We can find much of that direction in Scripture. We know we are to provide for our family,²² to do what we can to help those in need,²³ to be compassionate,²⁴ to give to the Lord,²⁵ to live within our means,²⁶ to be content,²⁷ to have wisdom,²⁸ and to be prayerful.²⁹ We’re to trust God to provide for us and to thank Him whether we are abased or abounding.³⁰

Thankfulness

We have seen in previous posts in this series that developing gratitude in our lives calls for putting off envy, greed, and covetousness, and putting on contentment and generosity. As we do these things, we will progress in our gratitude to the Lord; we will be more aware of and thankful for His abundant blessings, many of which may now go unnoticed.

When we are thankful to the Lord, it shows Him that we recognize His goodness and faithfulness to provide and care for us. It tells Him that we know that we are totally dependent on Him, and that all we have comes from His hand. When we are grateful to Him, we acknowledge His majesty, His generosity, His love and care for us.

When writing the Colossians about some of the fundamentals of living their faith, Paul included thankfulness.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.³¹

Gratitude is an integral part of our walk with God. Sadly, we sometimes don’t acknowledge and thank God for our blessings. We read a sad example of this in the Gospels:

[As Jesus] entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” ³²

It’s hard to imagine that the other nine weren’t thankful, but only one specifically acknowledged and thanked God. Lord help us all to give thanks to Him for our blessings.

Gratitude is an important part of our interaction with God and becoming more like Him. Developing gratitude, like any other godly character trait, takes effort; but putting in that effort is important to our walk with Him. It’s easy to get used to our blessings, or even to not consider God’s hand in them. But if our desire is to become more godly, we must work to put on gratitude through contentment and generosity. We must put in the effort to make ourselves much more aware of the abundance of God’s blessings in our lives by developing the habit of recognizing our blessings, both big and small, and regularly praising and thanking Him for them; giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.³³

¹ Ephesians 2:8.

² Ephesians 1:7–8.

³ 1 Timothy 1:14.

⁴ Psalm 65:9–13 NIV.

⁵ 1 Corinthians 2:9 NAS.

⁶ See The Spiritual Disciplines: Stewardship/Simplicity.

⁷ Job 41:11.

⁸ Katie Brazelton and Shelley Leith, Character Makeover (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 248.

⁹ Proverbs 19:17.

¹⁰ Luke 6:38.

¹¹ 2 Corinthians 9:6.

¹² 2 Corinthians 9:7.

¹³ Acts 20:35.

¹⁴ Proverbs 3:9.

¹⁵ 1 Chronicles 29:9.

¹⁶ Proverbs 11:25.

¹⁷ Matthew 10:42.

¹⁸ 1 Timothy 6:18–19.

¹⁹ 2 Corinthians 9:6–15.

²⁰ Luke 21:1–4.

²¹ Ezra 2:69.

²² If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8).

²³ Deuteronomy 15:11; Ephesians 4:28; Hebrews 13:16; Matthew 5:42; Proverbs 3:27; Romans 12:13.

²⁴ Matthew 9:36; Colossians 3:12.

²⁵ Proverbs 3:9; Deuteronomy 14:22; 2 Chronicles 31:6.

²⁶ Proverbs 22:7, 26–27.

²⁷ Hebrews 13:5; 1 Timothy 6:6.

²⁸ Proverbs 2:1–15; Psalm 111:10.

²⁹ 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Psalm 105:4.

³⁰ Philippians 4:12.

³¹ Colossians 2:6–7 NIV.

³² Luke 17:12–19.

³³ Ephesians 5:20

What Defiles a Person

2/19/24 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”^[^e^] ¹⁷And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”^[^f^] (Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²²coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:14-23) ESV

20 – More Like Jesus: Gratitude (Part 3)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-01-24

In the previous article we looked at how “putting on” contentment is an important part of gratitude. Now we focus on three gratitude “killers” we’ll want to jettison from our lives to increase gratitude. These killers are envy, covetousness, and greed. Let’s start with envy.

Envy

Definitions of envy variously express it as wanting what somebody else has; the resentful or unhappy feeling of wanting somebody else’s success, good fortune, qualities, or possessions; a feeling of discontent and ill will because of another’s advantages and possessions; the feeling of the presence of something good in another person but lacking in oneself; a state where you experience yourself as lacking something that will lead you to be admired as much as you admire the person who has the desired attribute or possession you envy.

Envy is included in various lists of sins throughout the New Testament,¹ including Jesus’ list:

The apostle Peter wrote:

Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.³

In the Old Testament we see envy in the hatred which Joseph’s brothers had for him because their father loved him most,⁴ as well as in Rachel envying her sister Leah, because she had children and Rachel didn’t.⁵ King Saul was full of envy because David was admired for the victories he had won.⁶

Envy begins with desire. Of course, not all desire is wrong. Certainly we all want things—more finances, better health, for our children to do well, safety and security, etc. The problem arises when we see others with things we desire and we feel resentment, anger, or sadness. Envy doesn’t only focus on material things; it can also arise when someone achieves something that we want to accomplish, or has reached a certain status or position that we desire. Envy arises when we become aware that someone has some advantage or blessing that we want for ourselves; and sadly, it often expands into making us wish for the other person to lose whatever it is that we are envious of. Sometimes it even leads us to do things in an attempt to cause that to happen.

When we are envious of others, their success causes us to feel bad about ourselves; it makes us feel like failures. It causes us to feel that we are competing with others and that when they do better than us or get what we want, we are losing. This outlook can cause us to resent God because we feel that He is giving us less than we deserve or He loves others more than He loves us.

When we allow envy to influence us, we become increasingly unable to enjoy our blessings, because we see what we have or what we are only in comparison to what others have and are. We develop attitudes along the lines of, I’m not doing well financially because I have less than she has, or I’m not valued because he makes more money than I do. When we follow this line of thinking, we develop the mistaken attitude that our happiness depends on others having less than we do.

Being filled with envy makes it very difficult to be content or grateful. Rather than thanking God for our blessings, who we are, and what we have, we become resentful that we don’t have more. Even if God gives us more, envy causes us to still compare with others whom we see as being even more blessed. It becomes a never-ending cycle of discontent, dissatisfaction, and ungratefulness. We’re never satisfied, and any gratitude we may have is short-lived, as we’ll always notice that someone is better off than we are.

Envy kills gratitude and contentment, robs us of our joy, makes us feel animosity toward God, and causes us to draw away from Him. Gratitude and contentment, on the other hand, cause us to be appreciative of what we have, to thank the Lord for His care and supply, no matter what our situation. They are based on our love for and trust in God, who provides for, loves, and cares for us. In 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, we read that Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast.⁷ If we want to have a grateful spirit, we must overcome envy by loving others, rejoicing with them in their blessings and successes, thanking the Lord that He has blessed them, and responding to their improved circumstances as we would want them to respond to ours.

The key to overcoming envy is loving and trusting God. When we understand that we are His children, and that He deeply loves us, we can have faith that whatever our circumstances, He will always do what is best for us—even if it doesn’t seem so to us at the moment. When we trust Him, we are putting our confidence in who He is, in His character, knowing that He is good and loving, and therefore we can be content in whatever situation we find ourselves.

Covetousness

Coveting is an inordinate desire to possess what belongs to someone else. It is specifically forbidden in the last of the Ten Commandments:

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.⁸

Covetousness is also understood to be an excessive desire for material gain, for the possession of worldly things. Jesus said:

Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.⁹

The apostle Paul wrote:

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you … covetousness, which is idolatry.¹⁰

Covetousness must not even be named among you…¹¹

For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is … covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.¹²

Clearly the desire to want what belongs to others or an excessive desire for material gain is considered wrong and sinful in Scripture. If we develop the attitude that the accumulation of wealth and possessions is necessary to our happiness, and it becomes our focus, we begin to give our material goods first place in our lives instead of God, who rightly deserves it. Paul called covetousness idolatry, because it takes the place in our heart that belongs to God alone.

Money and possessions are not evil in themselves. The eighth commandment, you shall not steal,¹³ and the tenth, which tells us not to covet what belongs to our neighbor,¹⁴ both indicate that private property is sanctioned. However, when we place undue importance on material things, we become covetous. When our desire for possessions and money becomes our priority, we find ourselves serving mammon, which Jesus clearly condemned.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. … No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.¹⁵

Having a wrong attitude toward material goods is dangerous and to be avoided:

Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things.¹⁶

When our possessions or the inordinate desire for more occupy first place in our heart, when our happiness hinges on this, then we are plagued with covetousness. If we’ve allowed ourselves to become this way, we need to ask God’s help to reverse course, to focus on what He has blessed us with, rather than on what others have and we don’t. We must ask Him to help us be grateful for the blessings we have and content with what He has supplied for us, and to deliver us from the addiction of feeling that our joy comes from the accumulation of wealth and possessions.

Being aware of our blessings, grateful for them, and content in them—whether they are many or few—is key to fighting covetousness. We may want to ask ourselves, “Have I set my mind on earthly instead of heavenly things? Do I trust in finances for security instead of God’s love? Do I have an inordinate desire for money and material things? Have I set a ceiling on my lifestyle in order to avoid an overabundance of possessions, so that if God blesses me with abundance, I will not exceed that ceiling?”

Greed

Greed is an overwhelming desire to have more of something; the disordered love of riches, built on the mistaken judgment that one’s well-being is tied to the sum of one’s possessions. In a sense it works in two ways. It tells us, “You need to have that,” so that we pursue things; while at the same time saying, “You must grip tightly to this,” so that we desperately hold on to what we have, causing us to act in a selfish and stingy manner. Greed isn’t limited to those with wealth; it can affect those in need as well, because greed isn’t focused on what we have but on what we want.

While the desire to have things isn’t necessarily wrong, it becomes wrong when this desire becomes our focal point. Desire turns to greed when attaining what we want becomes the center of our thoughts; we want it to the point that we’re willing to compromise our values or integrity to get it. In many cases, people are willing to go deeply into debt because they crave things so badly but don’t have the money to pay for them. (This type of debt is different from home loans, business loans, etc., which can be seen as wise investments.)

Greed isn’t only about desiring money and what it can buy; it can grip any desire we have. We can be greedy about our achievements, so that we’re willing to sacrifice our marriage, family, children, or health in order to achieve more, be more successful, and receive praise and admiration from others. We can manifest greed in our relationships, to where we demand more and more of our loved ones’ time and attention. When we yield to greed, our natural desires can turn into an uncontrollable drive to attain more, with little or no regard for what is best for ourselves or others.

We can recognize the symptoms of greed in ourselves when we realize that we have an unrelenting desire or yearning for something we don’t have, to where it becomes the focus of our thoughts and attaining it becomes so important that it replaces our priorities in life. We can also see that we are yielding to greed if, when we achieve the goals we were striving for or acquire the things we wanted, instead of being satisfied and grateful that we’ve met our goal, we find ourselves discontented and wanting more, focusing once again on what we don’t have. Another symptom is wanting instant gratification, so that rather than patiently pursuing our goal, we look for shortcuts to get it as soon as possible at any cost, including being willing to act unethically to do so.

One way to combat greed is to understand that everything we have ultimately belongs to God and is His gift to us, and that He is generous. God blesses us in so many ways, yet when we’re greedy, we’re essentially saying that He doesn’t give us enough, He doesn’t care for us. One book gave this example of what greed is like in relationship to God:

Greed slaps God in the face and says, “You won’t have enough for me, so I will hoard for myself.” Slapping God in the face may sound harsh, but think about how you would feel if your child were to say something like this to you: “You might not give me enough food for dinner tonight, so I’m just saving this bread from lunch, and I’m sneaking some of Johnny’s lunch too. I got some cans out of the cupboard, and I have them hidden away in my sock drawer—you know … just in case you don’t come through for me.” That would be like a slap in the face, wouldn’t it? Well, that’s what I feel I am doing to God when I forget about his habitual generosity and start hoarding what he’s given me or grasping for more than I need.¹⁷

Greed is the feeling of entitlement, the belief that we deserve to have something and that God or the world owes it to us. We manifest greed when we’re selfish and self-centered, thinking only of our own desires, showing little compassion as we consider our own needs as more important than the needs of others. When we depend on self-effort instead of trusting in God, instead of waiting on His timing and supply. We manifest greed when we snatch what we want and hoard what we have. It’s as if we adhere to the motto that “he who dies with the most toys wins,” without taking into account that he who dies with the most toys still dies, and must give account of his life to God. Greed breeds anxiety, as we are always in pursuit of something more. When we harbor greed, we are never content.

If we want to counteract the grip of greed, one key action is to develop generosity and the habit of sharing. (More on generosity in the following article.) By cultivating generosity, we focus on storing up treasure in heaven.¹⁸ It also helps to remember that life is short and at death we leave behind all of our possessions, status, titles, and wealth, and therefore they shouldn’t take preeminence in life. Another thing to take into account is that Scripture gives many warnings of the danger of riches and the effect they can have in our lives. Neither our material possessions nor our status will ever fully satisfy us, as true satisfaction is found only in God. Jesus, when promised the kingdoms of the world and all of its wealth, rejected the offer, as He had no intention of turning away from what was most valuable—loving and serving His Father.¹⁹

If we desire to be more like Jesus, then we need to have the right attitude toward material possessions, status, and money, which starts with recognizing that everything we have belongs to God, and we are only entrusted as stewards to care for and manage them in accordance with His instructions. Scripture teaches that what God has given us should be used in a manner that glorifies Him; so we take care of the needs of our families and loved ones, give back to Him through our tithes and charitable giving, and help those in need whom He brings across our path. We are called to be grateful to God in whatever state we find ourselves, and to express our gratitude to God for taking care of us. In acknowledging His love and care for us, in learning to be content, in expressing our gratefulness to Him for His supply of our needs, and in believing and living the principles of stewardship, we will be able to overcome envy, covetousness, and greed, and live in contentment. This is part of our path to becoming more like Jesus.

(More on Gratitude in Part Four)

Note

¹ Romans 1:29–31; Galatians 5:19–21; 1 Timothy 6:3–6; Titus 3:3.

² Mark 7:21–23.

³ 1 Peter 2:1.

⁴ Genesis 37.

⁵ Genesis 30:1.

⁶ 1 Samuel 18.

⁷ 1 Corinthians 13:4.

⁸ Exodus 20:17.

⁹ Luke 12:15.

¹⁰ Colossians 3:5.

¹¹ Ephesians 5:3.

¹² Ephesians 5:5.

¹³ Exodus 20:15; Leviticus 19:11.

¹⁴ Exodus 20:17.

¹⁵ Matthew 6:19–21, 24.

¹⁶ 1 Timothy 6:9–11.

¹⁷ Katie Brazelton and Shelley Leith, Character Makeover (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 254.

¹⁸ Luke 18:22.

¹⁹ Matthew 4:8–10.

God’s Provision

2/18/24 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. ¹¹Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹²I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:10-13) ESV

19 – More Like Jesus: Gratitude (Part 2)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-01-17

We read in the New Testament and throughout this series that growth in Christlikeness calls for “putting on” and “putting off.” Gratitude is a key element in becoming more like Jesus, so learning what steps we can take to develop gratitude, as well as what actions we can take to counter ingratitude, can help us raise our sails so that the Spirit of God can move us progressively closer to Christlikeness. This article and the two following will touch on five different aspects of developing gratitude. Two of those topics, contentment and generosity, fall under the “putting on” category, while the other three—covetousness, envy, and greed—are clearly things we want to “put off.”

One aspect of a grateful attitude is contentment. What is contentment, as expressed in Scripture? It’s an internal satisfaction that keeps us at peace in spite of outward circumstances. We can see this reflected in what the apostle Paul wrote about his experiences:

I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.¹

Paul expressed that no matter what situation he found himself in, he was inwardly at peace regarding God supplying his material needs.

The Greek word used to express contentment and its cognates are found in verses such as:

If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.²

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”³

The same Greek word is also translated as sufficiency:

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.⁴

He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”⁵

When we are content, we are satisfied with and grateful for what God has given us, no matter what our circumstances.

One author describes contentment this way:

The contented person experiences the sufficiency of God’s provision for his needs and the sufficiency of God’s grace for his circumstances. He believes that God will indeed meet all his material needs and that He will work in all his circumstances for his good. That is why Paul could say, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” The godly person has found what the greedy or envious or discontented person always searches for but never finds: He has found satisfaction and rest in his soul.⁶

When we are content, we are satisfied with the necessities of life, with the care and supply that God is giving us at the time. This doesn’t signify a passive acceptance of our situation. It doesn’t prevent us from pursuing goals or remove the desire for improvement. It’s not complacency or self-satisfaction with no desire to make progress. Neither is it fatalism, which accepts things as they are and refuses to work to make things better. Rather it is the positive assurance that God has and will continue to sufficiently supply one’s needs. Contentment is rooted in trust and faith in God, in the knowledge that He takes care of us; and that because He does, we are to be at peace with what He has supplied during the current phase of life. Like Paul, who learned to be content in his situation, whether he had much or little, we can find that same peace and contentment.

Notice that Paul speaks of having learned to be content. He went through many difficult things in his life, including shipwreck, prison, and being whipped and stoned. He learned to develop the resources within himself to be thankful for God’s grace, care, and supply no matter what his state. Likewise, no matter what our situation may be, by His grace, we can be grateful for God’s provision. Our contentment doesn’t have to depend on circumstances or things; our joy comes from something that transcends poverty or prosperity—it comes primarily from faith in God, from trust in His love and care.

We find discontentment at the beginning of humanity, in the book of Genesis. God gave Adam and Eve all they needed, placing them in a garden where out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.⁷ They were told they could eat of every tree in the garden except one. They had all they needed, but were tempted with discontentment when the serpent pointed out that they couldn’t eat from the one tree. They were tempted to question the goodness of God, which is the root of discontentment.

Believers living in today’s consumer society face challenges with being content; it’s easy to adopt the materialistic attitude that more, bigger, and better things will make us happy. Advertisements come at us constantly, projecting the message that buying this or that product will bring fulfillment. The underlying inference is that if we don’t have these things, we will be unhappy and unfulfilled. If we buy into that message, we can become dissatisfied with what we have, wanting more or better. We can develop the attitude that what God has blessed us with is insufficient, and become discontent. Of course, it’s not only the feeling that we don’t have sufficient material goods that causes us to be discontent. We can find ourselves thinking that if we just get that job, or that raise, or that degree, or a boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, then we’ll be happy.

Sometimes the cause of our discontentment can be traced to our social or workplace standing. For example, we may be unhappy that we have to work for others and take orders, that we’re not in charge, that others advance faster than we do. When we are discontented, we tend to look to what’s ahead—what’s over the next hill, the next achievement, the next goal—to make us feel fulfilled, all the while losing sight of the blessings of our present situation.

When we are content with the blessings God has brought into our life and thankful for what He provides for us, then we are freed from the love of money, the fixation of gathering wealth, the never-ending craving to accumulate more and more. Of course, contentment doesn’t mean you never buy anything new or never progress financially. Things wear out, families grow and so do needs, and what sufficed before is sometimes no longer sufficient for present circumstances and it’s necessary to upgrade. In such instances, the upgrade meets a legitimate need, and if God has supplied the means for you to make that upgrade, then that is God’s blessing.

On the other hand, sometimes circumstances change in a way that would be considered a downgrade. It’s difficult to face situations where income drops and we are no longer able to maintain our lifestyle, whatever that may be. Once a certain level of income and spending is attained, many people go into debt by borrowing money in order to maintain a lifestyle they can no longer afford, instead of adjusting to living within their means. Learning to be content challenges us to put aside anxiety, to not fear the loss of things, but rather to positively adjust to our present situation, with trust in and thankfulness toward God. The apostle Paul, who experienced many changes in circumstances, and even many hardships, wrote:

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.⁸ … as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.⁹

Contentment is freedom from feeling that we are lacking, that we should have more or should be in a better situation. When our lacks become the center of our attention, we risk becoming disgruntled, less able to recognize what is good in our lives, and constantly feeling that things should be better. However, when we focus on the good that we experience right now, on the many blessings the Lord has given us, we become more appreciative, satisfied, and content. We move from feeling anxious and unhappy to having inner peace and thankfulness in our heart. We become content not only regarding what we have, but also what we don’t have.

So how do we foster contentment? One way is to remind ourselves that what we possess, we do not own; all that we have has been placed under our stewardship, and we are responsible to use it wisely. Whether we have much or little, it all belongs to God.¹⁰ As stewards of God’s possessions, we should be thankful for what He has provided and look to Him for guidance about how best to use what He has entrusted to us. It’s also helpful to remember that all we have comes to us as a result of His love and grace.

Both riches and honor come from you … and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.¹¹

When we realize that whatever we have is a gift and blessing from the Lord, we are more likely to be thankful toward Him and grateful for what He has given us.

Scripture puts a significant emphasis on having the right relationship with material things. Almost half of Jesus’ parables touched on handling possessions, and more than two hundred verses in the Gospels refer to money.¹² It can be helpful to familiarize ourselves with verses that help us to align our thinking with scriptural teaching, or even to memorize a few, such as:

Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.¹³

There is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.¹⁴

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”¹⁵

When meditating on these verses, we may want to ask the Lord to point out any areas where we are discontent, and work toward changing our attitude and to help us be content through the working of the Holy Spirit within us.

Another way to develop contentment is to focus on what God’s Word tells us are true values.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?¹⁶

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.¹⁷

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.¹⁸

Verses like these tell us what God considers important and what He wants us to value more than material things.

God’s blessings are given by God in a manner that is beyond our understanding. He owns everything, and how He chooses to dispense His blessings is His right; our responsibility is to trust that He knows best, and to not question His judgment or be envious of what He has given to others.

One further way to develop contentment is to recognize that if the Lord has blessed us materially, then we bear responsibility for how we use what He’s given us, and we are expected to be generous. (More on generosity in an upcoming article.)

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.¹⁹

Nothing of this world will permanently satisfy us, as we are made for God. Our ultimate satisfaction, joy, and fulfillment is found in the Lord—who loves us, made us, and sustains us. While we can enjoy the material blessings God has bestowed upon us, they aren’t what define us, fulfill us, or bring us lasting joy. If our overall goal is Christlikeness, then we should show our gratitude for God’s blessings in our lives by learning to be content with what blessings He’s given us, whether many or few.

(More on Gratitude in Part Three and Four)

Note

¹ Philippians 4:11–13 NAS.

² 1 Timothy 6:8.

³ Hebrews 13:5.

⁴ 2 Corinthians 9:8.

⁵ 2 Corinthians 12:9.

⁶ Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2010), 95.

⁷ Genesis 2:8–9.

⁸ Philippians 4:11.

⁹ 2 Corinthians 6:10.

¹⁰ For more on the principle of stewardship, click here.

¹¹ 1 Chronicles 29:12.

¹² Randy Frazee, Think, Act, Be Like Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 146.

¹³ Luke 12:15.

¹⁴ 1 Timothy 6:6–8.

¹⁵ Hebrews 13:5.

¹⁶ Mark 8:36.

¹⁷ Proverbs 3:13–15.

¹⁸ Psalm 119:14, 37, 72.

¹⁹ 1 Timothy 6:17–18.

Final Instructions and Benediction

2/17/24We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. ¹⁴And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle,^[c] encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. ¹⁵See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. ¹⁶Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray without ceasing, ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ¹⁹Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰Do not despise prophecies, ²¹but test everything; hold fast what is good. ²²Abstain from every form of evil.

²³Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (Thessalonians 5:12-24) ESV

18 – More Like Jesus: Gratitude (Part 1)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2017-01-10

Becoming more Christlike is about becoming a better Christian through a more committed application of the teachings of Scripture coupled with the guidance and grace of the Holy Spirit. This application of Scripture cuts two ways: first, it calls for doing away with ungodliness, for believing that what the Bible calls sin is in fact sin and needs to be resisted and overcome as much as possible. Second, it calls for us to put on Christ,¹ to embrace the godly virtues spoken of in Scripture, the fruit of the Spirit, and live in a manner which strengthens these virtues within our lives.

Growing in godliness is a lifelong pursuit. It requires intentional change, commitment, and willingness to regularly put in effort to positively alter our actions, thoughts, desires, and outlooks. It’s a spiritual transformation, a renewal of mind, becoming a new creation, determination to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life … to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.²

In previous articles, we covered the basic foundation of Christlikeness and Christian character, and also looked at sin and holiness. The rest of this series will focus on the various attributes and virtues which help us to develop Christlikeness in our lives, as well as the sins that work against it.

As a starting point for our study of these attributes, I will focus on gratitude, and the related virtues of contentment and generosity. We’ll also look at eliminating characteristics which work against gratitude, such as covetousness, envy, and greed. I chose gratitude as a starting point after reading Cultivating Christian Character by Michael Zigarelli.³ He conducted a survey of 5,000 Christians and found indicators of which virtues seem to help in the growth and development of Christian character. He identified three attributes which appear to be major building blocks in developing Christlikeness.

He wrote:

There are three attributes that best explain why high-virtue Christians are different from average-virtue Christians. Those attributes—those three pillars of success—are gratitude, joyful living and God-centeredness … Christians who have sown these three seeds into their lifestyle are far more likely to reap maximum Christian character … to see manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. Fundamental but elusive Christian virtues (e.g., love, inner peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, compassion, and the ability to forgive) all flow from the roots of gratitude, joyful living, and God-centeredness.⁴

Gratitude is key to Christlikeness because it is a “parent virtue”—a virtue that helps produce other godly virtues within us. It has a transformational effect on our character. While we’re looking at the virtue of gratitude from a Christian perspective, it is also widely understood in fields such as psychology and self-improvement to be beneficial, improving one’s health and emotional, social, and psychological well-being, among other things. Gratitude is universally considered a basic foundation for a better, happier life. Some of its benefits include making one more optimistic, spiritual, resilient, relaxed, and friendly; less materialistic, self-centered, and envious; causing one to have more self-esteem, better sleep, happier memories, a better marriage, more friends, deeper relationships, and more energy.

Besides providing these benefits, gratitude is a key element of growth in Christlikeness, especially when practiced concurrently with joy and God-centeredness. (The concept of God-centeredness was covered in a previous article, The Foundation of Christlikeness.) While gratitude, joy, and God-centeredness each individually help us grow in godly character, when practiced together, they effect growth in godliness in a much greater way. This combination of joy, God-centeredness, and gratitude is seen in what the apostle Paul wrote:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.⁵

Gratitude or gratefulness is expressed in Scripture as thankfulness and thanksgiving. It’s based on the concept that everywhere and in every situation, God’s people should continually give thanks to God, the One who has created and redeemed them. The giving of thanks in the Old Testament is indicated most often by the Hebrew word todah, which is translated thanks, thankfulness, and thanksgiving. It’s also how you say “thank you” in modern Hebrew. The word todah is found most often in the book of Psalms, which contains a great deal of praise and thanksgiving to God.⁶

The New Testament is also full of examples of expressing thankfulness to God, as well as instruction to do so. We read of Jesus’ example of giving thanks;⁷ of believers giving thanks to Christ,⁸ through Christ,⁹ and in His name.¹⁰ We also read of giving thanks before eating;¹¹ for the supply of our bodily wants;¹² for love exhibited by others;¹³ for deliverance from indwelling sin;¹⁴ for victory over death and the grave.¹⁵ In fact, we’re told to give thanks to God for everything¹⁶ and always.¹⁷ Gratitude is meant to be a way of life. While we express our gratefulness to other people as well, our ultimate gratitude is toward God, who has given us life.

As we focus on cultivating gratitude, it changes our outlook on life, as over time it produces a new context or lens through which we process our circumstances. We begin to see our experiences and everything we have in the light of God’s love, and thus we can be thankful. This changes our perspective, as we recognize that no matter what our situation, it could be worse—but it isn’t. This doesn’t mean we don’t do what we can to improve our situation, but we view it with thankfulness, thankful for what we have; that we are alive, that though there may not be abundance and we may not have what others do, we have sufficient.

In a sense, gratitude is a mindset, a worldview. No matter what our circumstances, we choose to see through the lens of thankfulness to God for His love, care, and supply. Rather than comparing with others or bemoaning our lot in life, we thank God for what we have. It requires thinking in a new way, focusing our thoughts on our blessings instead of what’s missing from our lives or having the attitude of how much better life could be “if only…” Gratitude causes us to want what we have, to be content with whatever state we are in, and to regularly thank the Lord for our blessings, whether they’re meager or abundant.

Developing a mindset of gratitude requires conditioning our minds to put off thoughts which cause us to be disgruntled with our circumstances and envious or jealous of others. The more we compare ourselves with others, wanting what they have, the less satisfied we become with our state. This causes us to develop an envious frame of mind, which blinds us to God’s love and care for us, causing us to be unappreciative of what He has done and continues to do in our lives. If we don’t rid ourselves of disgruntled and envious thoughts, we will be trapped in a mindset which steals the joy and happiness that comes from awareness of God’s presence and blessings.

How do we develop a grateful mindset? To begin with, we need to work on eliminating envy—the desire for what others have, the resentfulness and unhappy feeling we get when comparing ourselves with someone we feel is better off than we are, more successful than we are, or has qualities or possessions that we want. It’s expressed in the Old Testament as coveting:

You shall not covet … [or] desire … anything that is your neighbor’s.¹⁸

In the New Testament, envy is included among sins that are warned against in both Paul’s and Peter’s writings.¹⁹ (There will be more on envy in an upcoming article.)

Through Zigarelli’s survey, he found that Christians who rated high in gratitude were those who learned to be content, who rarely desired what others had. They consistently, throughout the day, remembered how much God had blessed them. It’s interesting that those in the survey who were most grateful generally came from a lower economic bracket, so their material possessions weren’t what drove or sustained their grateful heart.

He wrote:

What does drive [gratitude] is proper perspective—seeing clearly, remaining mindful moment by moment of what God has bestowed upon you. High-virtue Christians are perpetually aware of their bountiful life, regardless of what that life entails. They have trained their minds to think about the abundance in their life rather than the insufficiencies. And it is this habit—a habit of keeping perspective—that transports them to the next level of gratitude and of character.²⁰

Developing a grateful mindset is based on trust in God’s unfailing love for us. It’s often difficult to feel grateful when we face adversity in our lives, when it seems life doesn’t make sense, and our prayers seem to go unanswered. But a grateful attitude isn’t based on events around us, it’s anchored in faith that God loves us, that He hears our prayers; and a belief that even if circumstances don’t change, there are always things to be thankful for even in the worst of situations.

One way to cultivate gratitude is to keep track of the things you are thankful for. Keeping such a gratitude journal helps you to take account of and focus on your blessings. This is part of developing a positive and grateful mindset. Each of us has numerous things in our daily lives that we are thankful for, yet we rarely take time to realize that we are thankful for them. Since we don’t acknowledge them, they don’t consciously register in our minds as blessings and something we are thankful for.

I recently started to regularly keep such a journal, and I’ve been surprised at how many things I am thankful for that I’ve rarely given much thought to. I go through my day surrounded by blessings—food, clothes, a place to live, a loving wife, friends, work to do, good weather, health, etc.—and until I started listing five things I’m thankful for each day, I rarely took specific notice of the many blessings I experience. Of course, I regularly thanked the Lord for my blessings, but I did so in general terms. I’ve found that keeping track of specific things which have happened, or which are blessings to me on a regular basis, has helped me both to be aware of my blessings and be more specifically grateful to the Lord for the many things which I have taken for granted for so many years. Even in the short time I have been doing this, I’ve found it to be changing the way I respond to things. Just yesterday, I found out I had an unexpected bill to pay, and my first reaction was to complain about it; but shortly thereafter, I reframed my thoughts and was thanking the Lord that I had the funds on hand to pay it. I went from complaining to gratitude. It felt so much better.

There are so many things in our lives, both small and great, which we can identify as God’s blessings: our gifts and talents, goals we’ve achieved, opportunities which have come our way, our health, and much more. Some things are more mundane, such as the car getting fixed, food on the table, water in the faucet, and a toilet to use. Then there is our family and friends who love us, as well as people who have helped or cared for us in some way. There are countless things to be grateful for, yet we often don’t take the time to acknowledge them. Keeping a journal helps us to do that; and as we do, we begin to train our mind to recognize them, and eventually our mindset can change so that gratitude becomes part of who we are, putting us on the pathway to greater Christlikeness.

Another stepping stone to gratitude according to Zigarelli’s study is periodic fasting. He found that fasting is one of the spiritual disciplines that help people cultivate a strong and persistent feeling of thankfulness. There are a number of reasons Christians fast: to strengthen prayer, when seeking God’s guidance, in times of grief, when seeking deliverance or protection, or to overcome temptation.²¹ The final two reasons—to humble yourself before God and to express love and worship to God—seem most closely linked to gratefulness. When we fast as an act of humility before the Lord, we become acutely aware that we are dependent on Him and are thankful that He provides for us and takes care of us. Fasting as an expression of our love for and worship of God is an act of devotion. It’s acknowledging that He is our Creator, the One who gives and sustains life. Fasting helps make us more aware of our dependence on Him and more grateful for His care for us. Through fasting, we may feel more appreciative and more grateful to the One who sustains us.

There is also a link between the confession of sin and greater gratitude. When we regularly bring our sins before God, it reminds us of our flaws and of His mercy. Knowing that we have been forgiven and are recipients of His gift of mercy generates feelings of thanksgiving. This in turn can create a regular cycle of seeking His forgiveness. Confessing our sins to the Lord is part of the process of putting off the old self and putting on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.²²

Remembering the poor in our prayers can also enhance gratitude. When we pray for those who have less than we do, it reminds us of how difficult life is for some and makes us grateful for our lives. When we pray for refugees who have to leave everything behind and risk their lives to get somewhere safe, it helps keep our situation in perspective.

Zigarelli wrote:

Our frame of reference becomes the impoverished widow, the hungry child, the jobless father, the disease-ridden infant, the refugee forced from home by war, the third-world neighbor without electricity or running water. Praying daily for these people is a practice that illuminates our own existence in the blazing light of God’s providence, and as a result, one may experience a stunning series of reversals. Envy gives way to fulfillment. Resentment gives way to contentment. Complaints give way to praise. The catalyst through it all is gratitude, born of a clearer perspective that’s generated by reflecting on the poor.²³

As Christians, we possess the ultimate blessing—salvation, the knowledge that we will live forever with God. We are in relationship with the Creator and sustainer of all things. Our God is also our Father, who knows what we need and promises to take care of us. No matter our circumstances, we are in His presence. Ours should be a life of gratitude, of thanksgiving to God. Gratitude isn’t our natural state, and we need to develop this attribute; but as we do, as we work to cultivate gratitude in our lives, we will be on the path to greater Christlikeness.

(More on Gratitude in Parts Two, Three, and Four)

Note

¹ Romans 13:14.

² Ephesians 4:22–24.

³ Michael Zigarelli, Cultivating Christian Character (Colorado Springs: Purposeful Design Publications, 2005).

⁴ Zigarelli, Cultivating Christian Character, 24.

⁵ 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 NIV.

⁶ E. E. Carpenter and P. W. Comfort, in Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 188.

⁷ Matthew 11:25, 26:27; John 11:41.

⁸ 1 Timothy 1:12.

⁹ Romans 1:8; Colossians 3:17; Hebrews 13:15.

¹⁰ Ephesians 5:20.

¹¹ John 6:11; Acts 27:35.

¹² 1 Timothy 4:3–4.

¹³ 2 Thessalonians 1:3.

¹⁴ Romans 7:23–25.

¹⁵ 1 Corinthians 15:55–57.

¹⁶ 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

¹⁷ Ephesians 5:20.

¹⁸ Deuteronomy 5:21.

¹⁹ Galatians 5:21; 1 Timothy 6:4; Titus 3:3; 1 Peter 2:1.

²⁰ Zigarelli, Cultivating Christian Character, 31.

²¹ These points are taken from The Spiritual Disciplines: Fasting, found at Directors’ Corner.

²² Colossians 3:9–10.

²³ Zigarelli, Cultivating Christian Character, 36.

I Am the True Vine

2/16/24“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ²Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:1-11) ESV

17 – More Like Jesus: Christian Character (Part 2)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-12-06

(This article is based on points taken from The Practice of Godliness, by Jerry Bridges.¹)

As we saw in the earlier article The Foundation of Christlikeness, becoming more like Jesus requires devotion to God, which is rooted in our reverence of God and our understanding of His love for us as individuals. Being God-centered positions us to grow in Christlike character. Our love for and dedication to God opens the door for the Holy Spirit to transform our character, to develop the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In addition to these specific fruits, any other trait commended in Scripture as being godly can also be seen as a fruit of the Spirit, such as humility, compassion, gratitude, contentment, and more.

While it may seem like quite a challenge to manifest this fruit, we can comfort ourselves that we grow in these areas as a result of the Holy Spirit working within us. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit does all the work and that we bear no responsibility for developing Christian character. We must be open to and cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and fulfill our responsibilities to grow in Christlikeness through the Spirit’s direction and empowerment. We don’t become Christlike without God’s Spirit working within us.

Upcoming articles will cover in detail the fruit of the Spirit. But first, there are some general principles which would be helpful to mention, as they apply to all aspects of Christlike character.

Right motives

The first is having the right motives. We want to move away from motives which are self-centered rather than God-centered. While being Christlike will generally result in giving us a good reputation before others and making us feel good about ourselves, that shouldn’t be our underlying motivation. Our devotion to God should be our motivation for actions that are pleasing to God. We can see this motivation in the Old Testament story of Joseph, when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him. He didn’t refuse her on the basis of “If I did that and my master found out, he would have my head.” Rather he said:

How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?²

Jerry Bridges wrote:

I recall once being tempted with the opportunity to engage in a questionable business transaction, one of those gray-area situations in which we tend to rationalize our actions. As I pondered the matter I thought, “I’d better not; I might incur the discipline of God.” Of course, when all proper motives fail, it’s certainly better to be checked by the fear of God’s discipline than to go ahead with our sin. But that is not the right motive. In this situation the Holy Spirit came to my aid and I thought to myself: Now that (the fear of God’s discipline) is certainly an unworthy motive; the real reason why I should not do that is because God is worthy of my most honorable conduct. The Holy Spirit helped me to recognize the self-centeredness of my initial motivation and to correctly focus my motivation on God.³

Our motivation for our actions should be a sense of devotion to God. The apostle Paul wrote:

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.⁴

The source of power

The source of the power to live in a godly manner comes from Christ; therefore the means of experiencing that power is our relationship with Him. Jesus said:

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.⁵

By abiding in Christ we develop godly character and become more like Jesus. The power to transform us comes from outside of us. We must be plugged into the source—Jesus—and we stay connected to Him by abiding in Him and His Word, being in communion with Him through prayer and devotion.

Responsibility and dependence

The next principle is that though the power to have godly character comes from Christ, the responsibility for developing and displaying that character is ours. We’re told to Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it;⁶ pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness;⁷ train yourself for godliness;⁸ live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.⁹ While we can look to the Lord for the grace and power to grow in Christlikeness, we can’t just toss it in His court and expect Him to make us godly. Some effort, in fact a great deal of it, is required of us. This comes back to the concept of “putting on” and “putting off,” which we have covered in earlier articles.¹⁰ In a sense we are totally dependent on the Lord, through the Spirit, to transform us; while at the same time we are totally responsible to do our part to make it possible. We are called to the active pursuit of God’s moral will, to devote ourselves to God, to do all we can to develop Christian character, to live according to and align ourselves with the teachings of Scripture, while at the same time depending on the Lord to transform us into His image through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.¹¹

Balanced growth

When we endeavor to become more Christlike, we want to let all the fruit of the Spirit grow in our lives, including the fruit which isn’t included in the list in Galatians 5:22–23. This would include traits like compassion, humility, etc. Growing in Christlikeness isn’t about personality or temperament; it’s about seeking to grow, through the help of God’s Spirit, in every area of Christian character. We all have areas within our personality which align to some degree with Christian character traits. Some people are naturally generous, self-sacrificing, patient, etc.; but even in such areas, God’s Spirit nudges us to stretch and grow, often through our being faced with a challenge which calls for us to take an extra step or go an extra mile. In addition, there are fruits of the Spirit which may even run counter to our personality and will take much more focus to grow in.

For example, an optimistic and cheerful person may find it natural to have joy and compassion, yet they may find it difficult to have self-control or to be faithful with their responsibilities. Or someone who is calm and even-tempered, who doesn’t naturally show a lot of emotion, may find a challenge with the fruit of joy. Some who are naturally very self-disciplined might lack patience with those who are challenged in this area, and would want the Spirit’s help in patience and gentleness with others. One who is self-sacrificing, sensitive to the needs of others, and always willing to help out, might have a tendency to criticize others who do less and might need to focus on growing in love and kindness.

No matter which godly attributes come naturally to us, we all face the need to grow in manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. We each have varying challenges when it comes to demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. When we don’t naturally display certain fruit, it’s not enough to say, “That’s just the way I am.” The principle to learn and apply is that we are each responsible to exhibit all of the traits of godly character in a balanced fashion. Some godly traits are more difficult to grow in than others. These will require extra prayer and attention, but that is part of training for Christlikeness. Remember, growth in godliness requires both “putting off” and “putting on,” and just as athletes who want to be successful in their sport have to work hard to strengthen their weak areas, so we need to make the effort to manifest all the fruit of the Spirit.

Progressive growth

Growth in Christlikeness, in godly character, is progressive. No matter how much we grow, there will always be room for further growth. Like athletes who need to train regularly in order to maintain the progress they’ve made, we need to keep growing in godliness; if we aren’t progressing, we will regress. Whether we’re aware of it or not, the decisions we regularly make and the habits we form train our character. When writing about false teachers, the apostle Peter wrote:

They have hearts trained in greed.¹²

The implication is that we can train ourselves not only toward godliness but toward ungodliness as well.

Jerry Bridges makes this point:

The implication of Peter’s use of the word train is very sobering. It is possible to train ourselves in the wrong direction! That is what these false teachers had done. They had practiced greed so well that they had become experts in it—they had trained their hearts in greed! So there is a sense in which we are growing in our character every day. The question is: In which direction are we growing? Are we growing toward godly character or ungodly character? Are we growing in love or selfishness; in harshness or patience; in greed or generosity; in honesty or dishonesty; in purity or impurity? Every day we are training ourselves in one direction or the other by the thoughts we think, the words we say, the actions we take, the deeds we do.¹³

Growing in godly character calls for understanding the intimate relationship between conduct and character. When we repeat an action (whether good or bad) over and over again, eventually that action will become habitual; it will become part of who we are, part of our character. At the same time, our character can also determine our actions; for example, if we are unselfish in character, then we are more likely to help someone who is in need, as our character causes us to act generously. If, however, we are selfish by nature, yet we are training ourselves to overcome selfishness, then we make a point to regularly help those in need; and the more we do it, the more it becomes second nature to us, and we develop an unselfish character. What we do, we become, and what we are, we do. Our conduct is always feeding our character, and our character is also always feeding our conduct. This makes it very important that we practice godliness every day in both conduct and character.

Reasonable expectations

Growing in Christlikeness calls for commitment and determination, as well as the powerful work of the Holy Spirit within us. There are numerous godly traits spoken of throughout Scripture, and it would be overwhelming and unrealistic to try to work on all of them at the same time. Character formation takes time, both in “putting on” godly traits and “putting off” ungodly ones. Where to start is a matter for prayer, seeking the Lord to show you, by His Word and through the Spirit, which areas He may be leading you to give attention to for a time, and when it might be time to focus on a different trait. Let the Spirit of God guide you in this.

Don’t expect to become an overnight wonder. It takes time to change and grow. Make the commitment to pursue godly character, to become more like Jesus; and then work in conjunction with the Spirit, praying for guidance and for the strength to continue to work toward godliness in belief, action, conduct, and character. Do your part to put up your sails so that the breath of God can move you in the direction of growth in Christlikeness.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2010).

² Genesis 39:9.

³ Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, 60.

⁴ 1 Corinthians 10:31.

⁵ John 15:4–5.

⁶ Psalm 34:14.

⁷ 1 Timothy 6:11.

⁸ 1 Timothy 4:7.

⁹ Titus 2:12.

¹⁰ You can find the other articles in the “More Like Jesus” series that touch on this topic at the following links:

http://directors.tfionline.com/post/more-jesus-introduction-and-background-part-2/

http://directors.tfionline.com/post/more-jesus-part-3/

http://directors.tfionline.com/post/more-jesus-gods-likeness-part-2/

http://directors.tfionline.com/post/more-jesus-renewal-basics/

http://directors.tfionline.com/post/more-jesus-holiness-part-1/

http://directors.tfionline.com/post/more-jesus-holiness-part-3/

¹¹ 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV.

¹² 2 Peter 2:14.

¹³ Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, 70.

Teach Sound Doctrine

2/15/24 But as for you, teach what accords with sound^[a] doctrine. ²Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. ³Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, ⁴and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. ⁶Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. ⁷Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, ⁸and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. (Titus 2:1-8) ESV

16 – More Like Jesus: Christian Character (Part 1)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-11-29

(This article is based on points taken from The Practice of Godliness, by Jerry Bridges.¹)

A key factor in becoming like Jesus is developing godly character. Every individual has character, which is defined as the qualities that make up who someone is; and it’s reflected in how they feel, think, and behave. Character is the combination of attributes that determine a person’s moral and ethical actions and reactions. Most people naturally have some good and bad character traits. Some people, regardless of their religious faith, or lack of it, have good character and strong morals. We’ve each developed our character throughout our lifetime.

While each person, Christian or not, has character, the focus in this article and those following will be character traits that Scripture identifies as those which believers should emulate and which lead us to Christlikeness. These character traits, which I refer to as Christian character traits, can be differentiated from other character traits that, while good, don’t necessarily make one more Christlike. For example, creativity, flexibility, alertness, decisiveness, and others are good attributes to have, but they aren’t directly addressed in Scripture; whereas faith, gentleness, patience, love, gratitude, and others are. Our focus will be on Christian character.

Before we jump into the topic, a few points merit clarifying. The first is that no Christian is perfect; we all make mistakes, we all sin, and none of us has complete Christlikeness, nor will we attain it in this life. Our goal is to allow the Holy Spirit to work within us, to change our thoughts, goals, desires, our whole lives, to be more Christlike. Secondly, developing godly character can’t be achieved by “keeping rules” out of a sense of duty, or feeling that if we robotically do all the right things, we will be living in a Christlike manner. While there are specific things to do and rules to keep, it’s not the rote keeping of them that develops godliness; rather it’s doing them in response to our love for God, who dwells within us. The actions which reflect godliness come from within us, from the transformation which is rooted in our entering a relationship with God, our becoming new creations.² It’s by the work of the Holy Spirit that our character is transformed.

Of course, there is some work which needs to be done for us to grow in Christlikeness. There are moral decisions we individually need to make on a regular basis, along with specific efforts to undertake, and spiritual transformation needed to bring our lives, thoughts, and actions into alignment with the teachings of Scripture. But all of this must be seen within the framework of God’s grace. As was mentioned earlier in this series,³ it’s the Holy Spirit that brings about the changes in our lives which move us in the direction of Christlikeness. We have a part to play as well, but the actual transformation comes through the Holy Spirit. Like when sailing a boat, we have to put our sails into the right position in order to catch the wind. It’s the wind that moves the boat, but the sails have to be raised. The transforming power, the wind of the Spirit, is able to change us; but if we want to be moved, we must make the effort needed so the sails can catch the wind.

Part of raising our sails has to do with cultivating Christian character. There are godly traits that permeate a person—a pattern of thinking, acting, and being, which fully become part of the core of the person. It’s very different from a superficial, shallow show put on to be noticed and admired by others. Instead it’s the determination and effort to live in accordance with the teaching of Scripture to the point that it genuinely becomes part of the person. It’s more than one’s reputation; it’s who the person fundamentally is. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow.” Christian character is rooted in our belief about who God is—that He has spoken to us through His Word, that we are in relationship with Him, have dedicated ourselves to Him, and therefore desire to actively live our lives according to what He has revealed in the Bible.

Christian character calls for making conscious choices to allow the Holy Spirit to transform your character. It entails making right moral decisions over and over until doing the right thing, the godly thing, becomes second nature, part of who you are as a person. When you are tested or tempted in some area, you’ll automatically respond correctly because of who you have become. Having formed spiritual character day by day, year by year, when you are suddenly faced with a major moral challenge, you are able to overcome it because you have trained yourself in godliness or Christlikeness. In a sense you have built moral muscles; you’ve rewired your brain, or your soul, to respond in ways that glorify God. And it’s not all about being tested or tempted; it goes beyond that, as you develop certain attributes which reflect Christ, such as forgiveness, generosity, humility, gratitude, etc. However, the same principle holds true, because as you regularly choose to forgive, be generous, humble, and grateful, these qualities soon become part of who you are through and through. That’s the process of developing godly character.

Throughout Scripture we find what are seen as Christian characteristics, most notably in the list of the fruit of the Spirit: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.⁴ But they are not limited to these alone, as there are numerous other traits spoken of throughout Scripture. We’re told to have compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness;⁵ to think on whatever is pure, lovely, commendable, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise;⁶ to help the weak, as it’s more blessed to give than receive;⁷ to do to others as we’d have them do to us;⁸ to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, gentleness;⁹ to honor our word;¹⁰ to be temperate, dignified, sensible, kind, to have integrity;¹¹ to live honestly, speak the truth, and keep our promises even when it hurts;¹² to set an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity;¹³ to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry;¹⁴ to love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith;¹⁵ to be hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, holy, and disciplined;¹⁶ to be generous and willing to share with others.¹⁷

These and other characteristics are found in Scripture, and when we put effort into developing them in ourselves, we raise our sails so that the Holy Spirit can work in our heart, mind, and spirit to transform us. Some or many of these things may not come naturally to us, and in fact at first we may almost have to force ourselves to adopt them. It can be uncomfortable to feel that you’re being put into a mold, trying to force yourself into becoming something different than you naturally are. And that is in fact what’s happening. The purpose is to develop a Christlike character, and as the apostle Paul said, in order to do this we need to put off the old self with its practices and … put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.¹⁸ Christlikeness calls for deliberate change.

Look at the language that Paul used when writing about what goes into developing godly character, the moral effort that is called for:

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you…¹⁹

You must put them all away…²⁰

Above all these put on….²¹

This tells us that serious effort is involved in developing Christlikeness. It won’t come naturally at the beginning, but eventually, as character is formed, it will become part of you. But the steps you take to get to that point require difficult decisions and actions which run counter to instinct. We have to choose to “put to death” and “put away” sins which have become habitual. Breaking bad habits and replacing them with good ones is no easy task, and neither is replacing sinful attitudes, conduct, and actions with good ones. There are some habits of mind, body, imagination, speech, and more which we need to unlearn in order to make way for new habits which need to be learned.

In order to “put off” some things and “put on” others we must decide, over and over, to do or not do certain things so as to develop new patterns which eventually become habitual. At first it’s a fight, because it seems so unnatural, but over time a new godly habit is developed. For example, if we’ve been naturally selfish, breaking the habit of this character trait requires a change in the way we are. We have to fight against the natural selfish attitude which has become part of who we are by making conscious decisions to be generous, to not demand that things go our way, to in fact go out of our way to let others have their way. Such a change requires an internal fight, but over time, our tendency to think only of ourselves and what we want will diminish, and we will become more sensitive to and aware of the needs of others. We will become more Christlike in this area.

It’s important to note that Christlikeness calls for both putting off and putting on character traits. Often, believers focus on putting off traits of a sinful nature. We see stopping our sin as the goal, believing that we will be closer to the Lord, better people, more godly if we overcome this or that sin. While this is true, fighting against our sinful nature is only part of the battle. We are instructed to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.²² We must develop godly characteristics in addition to putting off ungodly ones. Just as we are called to put off the traits of our old selves, we are called to put on the traits of the new. We can’t neglect either.

The challenge is consciously putting off sin and putting on godliness, making it possible for the wind of God’s Spirit to move us toward Christlikeness.

Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…²³

Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.²⁴

At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.²⁵

Be imitators of God, as beloved children.²⁶

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2010).

² 2 Corinthians 5:17.

³ More Like Jesus: Raising Our Sails.

⁴ Galatians 5:22–23.

⁵ Colossians 3:12–14.

⁶ Philippians 4:8–9.

⁷ Acts 20:35.

⁸ Matthew 7:12.

⁹ 1 Timothy 6:11.

¹⁰ Matthew 5:36–37.

¹¹ Titus 2:2–8.

¹² Psalm 15.

¹³ 1 Timothy 4:12.

¹⁴ James 1:19.

¹⁵ 1 Timothy 1:5.

¹⁶ Titus 1:8.

¹⁷ 1 Timothy 6:18.

¹⁸ Colossians 3:9–10.

¹⁹ Colossians 3:5.

²⁰ Colossians 3:8.

²¹ Colossians 3:14.

²² Ephesians 4:23–24.

²³ Hebrews 12:1 KJV.

²⁴ Romans 13:12.

²⁵ Ephesians 5:8.

²⁶ Ephesians 5:1.

Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners

2/14/24I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, ¹³though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, ¹⁴and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.^[d] Amen. (1 Timothy 1:12-17) ESV

15 – More Like Jesus: The Foundation of Christlikeness

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-11-22

(This article is based on points taken from The Practice of Godliness, by Jerry Bridges.¹)

In our pursuit of godliness or Christlikeness, a key factor is that being more like Jesus can only be built on a right relationship with God. Godliness can be defined as a personal relationship with God and the actions which emanate from that relationship. The first step to being more like Jesus is developing a rich and full relationship with God. The foundation of Christlikeness is God-centered devotion, having the right personal attitude toward God, recognizing who He is and our position in relation to Him. This attitude is composed of three elements: the fear of God, the love of God, and the desire for God. (These three elements will be touched on in this article.)

It is from this godly attitude, God-centered devotion, that Christian character and conduct arise. When God is central to our lives, actions, and thoughts, we are in a position to live in a manner which both imitates Him and gives Him glory. We can be Christians who are devoted to a vision, a work, a ministry, but without true devotion to God, we will fall short in Christlikeness. It’s devotion to God that results in a life which truly reflects and pleases Him.

We can see elements of what devotion to God looks like in the short description of Enoch in the Old Testament.

When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God;then he was no more, because God took him away.²

The expression “walked with God” means to please God and have close fellowship with Him.

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.³

Elsewhere we also see that “walking with God” conveys being connected to Him, in verses such as these:

Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.⁴

What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?⁵

Like Enoch, we are called to have a close relationship with and a deep devotion to God, so that we can develop Christlikeness. Let’s look at the three elements which devotion to God consists of.

Fear of God

Scripture uses the phrase “fear of God” in two distinct ways: 1) as anxious dread, and 2) as veneration, reverence, and awe. Fear as anxious dread is produced by the realization of God’s impending judgment upon sin, such as Adam hiding from God after he had sinned because he was afraid.⁶ However, Christians have been delivered from God’s wrath and therefore the element of fear of eternal separation from God is done away with. We of course can fall under God’s discipline due to our sins, and we might fear His discipline, but we don’t have the dread of fearing God’s wrath.

For believers, the primary meaning of the fear of God is veneration and honor, reverence and awe. Jerry Bridges wrote:

It is the attitude that elicits from our hearts adoration and love, reverence and honor. It focuses not upon the wrath of God but upon the majesty, holiness, and transcendent glory of God.⁷

As such, when we think of the fear of God, we should look at it as reverence and awe.

We read that when Isaiah was in God’s presence he was overwhelmed by God’s glory and majesty. His response showed how in awe he was at being in the presence of such purity and holiness:

“I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”⁸

The apostle John, when writing about seeing Jesus in heaven, wrote:

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me … When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not …”⁹

These were responses to a profound sense of veneration, honor, and awe.

We often focus on the love, mercy, and grace of God, while paying less attention to His awesomeness, glory, majesty, holiness, and power. But all of these are attributes of God, and sometimes there is a healthy tension in our hearts between the two. Jesus told His disciples to address God as Father, which indicates a close personal relationship. Within Scripture the body of believers is described as betrothed to Jesus.

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.¹⁰

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.¹¹

This is another example of a close and intimate relationship, and it is right to express this closeness in our communion with God. By the same token, it is right to acknowledge the reverence, awe, majesty, and glory of God. And it is this side of our relationship to Him that is expressed when we experience the fear of God. We see this awe and reverence in both the Old and New Testaments.

Old Testament:

You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!¹²

Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!¹³

Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!¹⁴

New Testament:

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.¹⁵

Jesus Christ … he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.¹⁶

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.¹⁷

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.¹⁸

Part of our relationship with the Lord is to “fear” Him in the sense of venerating Him, giving Him profound reverence, honor, admiration, and adoration. Fearing Him also means confessing His absolute uniqueness, acknowledging His majesty, holiness, awesomeness, glory, and power. When we include this in our understanding of God, we are motivated to obey His Word, as we recognize that each of our sins is an affront to His dignity and majesty. Our reverence for God will influence our behavior and regulate our conduct. (For more on the subject, see the article “The Fear of God” on Directors’ Corner.)

Love of God

The second element of the right attitude toward God is an understanding and acceptance of His love for us. Because God is perfect holiness, He must separate Himself from sin; and because we as human beings are sinners, there is a separation between God and humanity. However, through Jesus’ death on the cross, that separation has been spanned. In the book of 1 John, we read that God is love, and John goes on to explain that God showed His love to us through sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins—to be the sacrifice which allowed our sins to be forgiven, and our relationship with God to be restored.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.¹⁹

As Christians, we understand that without God’s love manifest through Jesus’ sacrifice, we would be subject to God’s wrath. In His love for humanity, He made it possible for us to avoid the judgment that He must mete out on sin, because of His pure holiness; and He did this through Jesus’ incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. He ransomed us from the penalty of our sin. Of course, we see God’s love manifested in many ways—through the beautiful world we live in, His creation, His supply, our families and friends, and so much more. But the principal way we experience His love is through accepting the sacrifice He made in order to restore us to fellowship with Him—the sacrificial death of God the Son.

We give God our love and reverence because of His love and forgiveness. And as those who wish to be more like Jesus, we see salvation not just as something that God has made available to humanity, but to us personally. When we read that God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,²⁰ we take this to mean that “God loves me personally.” It is this knowledge of God’s personal love for us, His forgiveness of our sins, our personal restoration to fellowship with Him, which is the basis of our growth in Christlikeness.

The beauty of God’s love and forgiveness is that it is a work of grace; it rests solely on the work of Jesus, and is given to us as a gift of love. Since it is based on grace, and not on our works or behavior, His love for us can never change. His love is unconditional; so no matter how many spiritual ups and downs, sins, failures, or bouts of discouragement we may experience, we can be assured that God still loves us. It’s important that we grasp that our spiritual failures do not affect God’s love for us. We are accepted into God’s family and loved by God as one of His children for the sole reason that we are united with His Son through salvation. Nothing will separate us from God and His love.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.²¹

This awareness of and confidence in God’s unconditional love for us should motivate us to deeper devotion to God. This devotion isn’t just a warm, affectionate feeling toward God; rather it is an active force compelling us to align ourselves—mind, body, soul, and spirit—with Him.

Desire for God

The combination of God’s love for us, our reverence (fear) of Him, and our desire for Him is foundational to our devotion to Him. Our desire for God is seen in what King David wrote:

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.²²

Since God is spirit, David wasn’t gazing on God’s physical beauty, but on His attributes. Because of who God is, because of His love for us, we desire fellowship with Him. Like Enoch and Noah, we want to “walk with God.” We desire to dwell in the house of the Lord forever;²³ to abide in Him and He in us.²⁴

Our desire for God is more than serving Him and being busy in His work, and more than prayer or Bible reading, though these things are part of it. Desiring the Lord means longing for Him, for His fellowship and His presence in our lives. We see the culmination of our future fellowship with God in the description of new Jerusalem, when He dwells with His people on earth.

I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.”²⁵

The call that Jesus gave to one of the churches in Revelation is also a call for us today:

I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.²⁶

Sharing a meal with someone was understood to mean having fellowship with them. Our desire for God includes our wish to fellowship with Him, to know Him better, to love Him more deeply. When we spend time in His presence, we radiate His attributes—His glory, love, kindness, warmth, and mercy—to others. We reflect Him because we have become more like Him.

Our reverence and awe of the Lord, our understanding of His deep love for us, and our deep desire for Him are key areas of focus for those who wish to be more like Jesus. Together they create within us God-centered devotion, which is the foundation for becoming like Him.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2010).

² Genesis 5:21–24 NIV.

³ Hebrews 11:5.

⁴ Genesis 6:9.

⁵ Micah 6:8.

⁶ Genesis 3:9–10.

⁷ Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, 16.

⁸ Isaiah 6:5.

⁹ Revelation 1:12, 17.

¹⁰ 2 Corinthians 11:2.

¹¹ Revelation 19:7.

¹² Psalm 22:23.

¹³ Psalm 68:34–35.

¹⁴ Psalm 99:3.

¹⁵ Hebrews 12:28–29.

¹⁶ 1 Timothy 6:14–16.

¹⁷ 1 Timothy 1:17.

¹⁸ Jude 1:24–25.

¹⁹ 1 John 4:8–10.

²⁰ John 3:16.

²¹ Romans 8:38–39.

²² Psalm 27:4.

²³ Psalm 23:6.

²⁴ John 15:4.

²⁵ Revelation 21:2–3 NAU.

²⁶ Revelation 3:20.

Do Not Grow Weary

2/13/24Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. ⁴In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
⁶For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”

⁷It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. ¹¹For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

¹²Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. ¹⁴Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
(Hebrews 12:3-17) ESV

14 – More Like Jesus: Holiness (Part 4)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-10-18

In Holiness parts 1–3 we’ve seen that God is the standard of goodness and holiness. He has revealed His moral will through the Bible, and His will as presented through Scripture is an expression of His character. If we desire to be more like Jesus, we will aim to live in a way which expresses God’s character. This means making a conscious effort to align our thoughts, desires, attitudes, and actions with godliness and with the guidance provided through Scripture.

When we inwardly or outwardly contravene God’s moral will, we sin. Unfortunately, as fallen human beings we do this on a fairly regular basis; and when we do, our sin affects our relationship with our loving Creator. Of course, through Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, our sins have been forgiven; but that doesn’t mean sin doesn’t affect us. Salvation has brought us into God’s family as His adopted children, and being adopted into His family gives us, in a sense, a legal or judicial right to be permanent members of His family and enter heaven. But having a legal right to call God our Father isn’t the full extent of our relationship with Him.

Through Jesus’ atonement for our sins, we have judicial forgiveness. Salvation has brought us freedom from eternal condemnation for our sins. But there is another aspect of forgiveness, which can be called relational or parental forgiveness. God isn’t only our Father legally, but also relationally. So when we sin, while it doesn’t change our legal standing with God, it does change our relationship with Him. Author John F. MacArthur¹ explains the concept of God’s parental forgiveness:

[God] is grieved when His children sin. The forgiveness of justification takes care of judicial guilt, but it does not nullify His fatherly displeasure over your sin. He chastens those whom He loves, for their good (Hebrews 12:5–11). Let me show you the difference:

—Judicial forgiveness deals with sin’s penalty. Parental forgiveness deals with sin’s consequences.

—Judicial forgiveness frees us from the condemnation of the righteous, omniscient Judge whom we have wronged. Parental forgiveness sets things right with a grieving and displeased but loving Father.

—Judicial forgiveness provides an unshakeable standing before the throne of divine judgment. Parental forgiveness deals with the state of our sanctification at any given moment and is dispensed from a throne of divine grace. So the forgiveness Christians are supposed to seek in their daily walk is not pardon from an angry Judge, but mercy from a grieved Father.

While our sins (past, present, and future) are forgiven, and we have eternal life, we are still called to confess and ask our Father to forgive our sins. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.² Parental forgiveness is referred to here. When we confess our sins to the Lord and ask for forgiveness, we repair the damage sin has done to our relationship with Him.

Our desire to be more like Jesus calls for us to both avoid sin (going against God’s moral will) as well as to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness when we do sin. It’s part of our spiritual growth, part of sanctification. The Greek word translated as confess, homologeō, has a few meanings, the first one being “To say the same thing as another, to agree with, to assent.” When we confess our sins to the Lord, we are in essence agreeing with what God says about our sins; we are acknowledging that we have in some manner (through thoughts, desires, attitudes, or actions) acted against His moral will. We are agreeing that we are wrong, we are at fault, and have sinned against Him. All sin is ultimately against Him. This doesn’t mean that our sins aren’t sometimes committed against others and don’t cause them damage—often this is the case—however, ultimately God is the offended party.

He is complete goodness, love, and holiness; so when we sin, we cause a breach in our relationship with Him, and like any earthly parent, He is hurt by this offense. We get a sense of this from the account of the sin of those before the flood as expressed in Genesis 6:5–6:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. Other Bible translations render that last phrase as his heart was filled with pain (NIV), or it broke his heart (NLT).

Our sins drive a wedge between us and our Father.

It is easy to develop an attitude that sin doesn’t matter so much, since we have salvation and our sins are already forgiven, but such an attitude shows a lack of understanding of what the Bible teaches about sin and its effects. Scripture tells us that sin is an offense to God, including the sin of a Christian. Being judicially forgiven is a wonderful gift of God; but as believers, we are in relationship with Him, a relationship which suffers damage when we sin. While our sins are forgiven, there can still be consequences in our lives or in the lives of others due to our sin.

As pursuers of Christlikeness, those seeking for holiness, we must face the fact of sin in our lives and respond to it appropriately. God has given us a conscience, the inborn ability to discern the difference between right and wrong, which helps us judge whether or not an act we have planned or have already carried out is moral. As Christians, we fine-tune our conscience as we align it with God’s moral will, when we agree with what God has revealed in Scripture about what is right and wrong, what is godly, what actions reflect His nature and being. We are called to follow our Scripture-informed conscience, to avoid sin, in order to remain in close relationship with our Father.

Because we are human, we will sin; but because we are Christians, we are to put effort into not damaging our relationship with God by doing our best not to sin. We’re told to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.³

Of course, no matter how much we try not to sin, we do. And when we do, if we have the right understanding of sin, we feel guilt and sorrow. We damage our relationship with God, and in order to repair that relationship, we are called to confess our sins. As mentioned earlier, confessing our sin is agreeing that we have acted against God’s moral will; and while that’s a first step, we must also be sorry, or have contrition, for the sins we confess. Contrition is owning up to our actions, acknowledging they were wrong, having an aversion to the sin, and being sorry for sinning.

Besides confessing and having contrition, another element of repairing the damage caused by our sins is repentance—change of attitude, turning away and going the opposite direction. Repentance calls for change in our behavior, a commitment to stop committing the sins we have been committing. This isn’t easy, especially when we have made a habit of some sins or have accepted some sinful behavior as part of our personality, such as impatience, lack of self-control, being judgmental, anger, selfishness, pride, anxiety, sins of the tongue, addictions, etc. It can be a struggle to accept that because Scripture calls these things sins, they damage our relationship with God, and they are to be confessed, and we are expected to change, to stop doing them by God’s grace. All of us have sins which have become habitual, so much so that we hardly consider them sins. The problem is that regardless of our perception of them, they are.

If we want to be more like Jesus, then we have to face our sins. We can’t simply look at them as personality traits or excuse them as “this is the way I am, I can’t change”; nor can we justify sinning by thinking, “this is just a small sin, so it doesn’t matter much.” Part of Christlikeness is accepting what Scripture says is sin, recognizing our sins, confessing our sins, and crying out to the Lord for His help to overcome them. We may not be able to focus on all of our sins at once, especially if they have become habitual, but we can admit we have them, regularly ask God’s forgiveness, and make a conscious effort and commitment to overcome them.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.⁴

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ John F. MacArthur, The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1998).

² 1 John 1:9.

³ Ephesians 4:22–24.

⁴ Philippians 4:13 NKJ.

Put On the New Self

02/12/24If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your^[a] life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

⁵Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:^[b] sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶On account of these the wrath of God is coming.^[c] ⁷In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. ⁸But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self^[d] with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. ¹¹Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave,^[e] free; but Christ is all, and in all.
(Colossians 3:1-11) ESV

13 – More Like Jesus: Holiness (Part 3)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-10-11

(This article is based on key points from the book Decision Making and the Will of God by Garry Friesen.¹)

As we saw in Holiness parts 1 and 2, Christlikeness or godliness comes from transforming our will to be in alignment with God’s will. If we wish to become more like Jesus, the starting point is understanding God’s will in order to align ourselves with it. Doing what God wills means aligning ourselves with God’s moral will.

God has revealed His moral will through Scripture, which teaches us how we ought to believe and live. He makes it clear that some things are morally wrong, and thus are sin. Through God’s grace and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we endeavor to avoid sin and to take on specific traits, characteristics, and attitudes that reflect and imitate the nature and characteristics of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). For example:

Holiness: As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”²

Righteousness: Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.³

Purity: Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.⁴

Love: Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.⁵

Forgiveness: Forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.⁶

Compassion: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.⁷

Submission: Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.⁸

Humility and obedience: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.⁹

Kindness: Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.¹⁰

Through these and numerous other examples throughout the Bible, we are instructed on how to live in a way that aligns with God’s moral will. We are called to keep His teachings, to make them our own, and to use them as a compass throughout the course of our lives. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.¹¹As we apply the teachings of Scripture, we manifest a familial likeness to our Father. Be imitators of God, as beloved children.¹²

Becoming God’s children through faith in Jesus has made us new creations,¹³ those who are to be conformed to the image of his Son,¹⁴ who have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.¹⁵ Part of the process of being renewed in His likeness is conforming our lives to His moral will. We align our external behavior and actions as well as our motives and attitudes with His Word.

Knowing, understanding, and applying God’s Word is key to living in alignment with God’s moral will. From His Word we learn which attitudes and actions are right or wrong, what is sin and what is not, what pleases God and what doesn’t, and what reflects His character and what doesn’t. We can visualize God’s moral will as an area enclosed by a circle. The interior of the circle contains all the commands and principles that are morally binding upon believers. Any thought, attitude, or action that does not conform to the teaching of Scripture falls outside the circle and is unacceptable, displeasing to God, and is sin. And any decision or action which falls within the circle is acceptable to God, and is not sin. (Those which are not addressed in Scripture, such as which car to purchase, or what to eat at your next meal, are also acceptable.) So it’s essential that we know what lies within and outside of the circle.

We know this as a result of reading, meditating on, accepting, and applying God’s Word. Accepting what God says means that when we read of God censuring some actions, desires, and attitudes, we accept that they fall outside of the circle of His moral will, and thus are wrong and sin. For example, when we read in Ephesians that we aren’t to steal or let corrupting talk come out of our mouths, or in Colossians that we’re to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander and obscene talk, evil desire, lust, and covetousness, then we are to understand that these things fall outside of God’s moral will and thus are sinful and displeasing to God.¹⁶

For believers who are serious about becoming more like Jesus, it can be helpful to dig deeper in order to better understand what Scripture teaches about these things so as to recognize them in ourselves and rid them from our lives, as well as avoid them in the future. For example, the apostle Paul wrote about getting rid of slander in our lives. Looking up the definition of slander tells us that it is making false and damaging statements about someone. This is often done when we gossip about others. When we look up verses on the topic of slander, we get a deeper understanding of God’s view of it—God’s moral will. Let’s take a look:

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He … who does not slander with his tongue.¹⁷

Whoever utters slander is a fool.¹⁸

Out of the heart come evil thoughts … slander. These are what defile a person.¹⁹

You must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.²⁰

Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.²¹

They learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.²²

You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people.²³

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.²⁴

Clearly the Bible is telling us that slander, gossip, backbiting, spreading rumors, and being a talebearer are all outside the circle of God’s moral will and thus sin, which means that whenever we do these things, we sin. The same holds true of the many other prohibitions within Scripture: lust, unrighteous anger, dishonesty, envy, immorality, jealousy, pride, etc.

Of course, every command of God’s moral will is an expression of the greatest command of all: to love God.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.²⁵

We are called to act in love toward others:

Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.²⁶

These teachings of Jesus summarize all of the teachings about sin, and when we make love for God and others our guiding principle—when our actions, thoughts, and attitudes are based on the premise of a heart that fully loves God with all of our being, and has the same love for others as we have for ourselves—then we will avoid sinning.

As fallen human beings, we are sometimes inclined to justify our actions as being loving when in fact they are not. Or we may think some action is loving, and therefore not sinful, without fully exploring all of the potential ramifications of our actions, which can end up being unloving toward others. There are also occasions when through a lack of sufficient study we may misinterpret Scripture, thinking that something is not sin when it is. While Jesus did say that acting in love and doing unto others as we’d have them do to us summarized all of the Law and the Prophets, He also referred to specific sin. Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.²⁷ Clearly it’s important that we have a good understanding of what is and isn’t included within God’s moral will, which comes through reading, studying, and meditating on what the Bible teaches.

Our goal is not perfection. We aren’t trying to robotically obey every jot and tittle of Scripture, with the goal of being sin-free—that’s impossible. Our goal is to respond to God’s declared moral will in a manner that is a genuine expression of the reality of our saved soul, from a heart full of gratitude. We obey Him because we love Him. We love Him because of who He is—our Creator and Savior. We desire to imitate Him because He is pure love, pure goodness, and pure holiness. We want to emulate Him both inwardly and outwardly. Since God is the standard of godliness, and since He has revealed what He is like and what He approves and disapproves of, if we wish to be like Him, we will take these things to heart. When His Word tells us certain actions, desires, and attitudes are right, we are to believe and accept what He has said and act accordingly; and when that same Word tells us what is wrong and sinful, we will believe and accept His judgment, and do our best to avoid doing those things.

God is perfect good, perfect love, holiness, and righteousness. He is an example to us of moral and ethical perfection. While we can’t attain perfection, we are expected to understand and believe that His standards are right and true, and as such we should adopt them as our own. We’re called to internalize God’s standards and live by them, to do our best to reflect Him.

You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.²⁸

(Continued in part four.)

Note

¹ Garry Friesen, Decision Making and the Will of God (Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2004).

² 1 Peter 1:15–16.

³ 1 John 3:7.

⁴ 1 John 3:3.

⁵ Ephesians 5:1–2.

⁶ Colossians 3:13.

⁷ Luke 6:36.

⁸ 1 Peter 2:21–23.

⁹ Philippians 2:5–8.

¹⁰ Luke 6:35.

¹¹ 1 John 5:3.

¹² Ephesians 5:1.

¹³ 2 Corinthians 5:17.

¹⁴ Romans 8:29.

¹⁵ Colossians 3:10.

¹⁶ Ephesians 4:28–29; Colossians 3:8.

¹⁷ Psalm 15:1–3.

¹⁸ Proverbs 10:18.

¹⁹ Matthew 15:19–20.

²⁰ Colossians 3:8.

²¹ 1 Peter 2:1.

²² 1 Timothy 5:13.

²³ Leviticus 19:16.

²⁴ Exodus 20:16.

²⁵ Mark 12:30–31.

²⁶ Matthew 7:12.

²⁷ Matthew 15:19–20.

²⁸ Leviticus 19:2.

Jesus the Great High Priest

02/11/24Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16) ESV

12 – More Like Jesus: Holiness (Part 2)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-09-13

(This article is based on key points from the book The Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges.¹)

As we look for ways to be more like Jesus, it’s important to examine what God’s holiness means and how we can partake of it. In God’s plan of salvation, the second person of the Trinity—God the Son—became human, lived a sinless life, and then was sacrificed on the cross for the sins of humanity. Through both His life and death, He made our salvation possible. We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.²

Throughout the New Testament, we read of Jesus living a sinless life. He appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.³ He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.⁴ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.⁵ In the Gospels we hear Jesus’ own testimony concerning His holiness. In the presence of His disciples, who had lived with Him day in and day out, He challenged the Pharisees with:Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?⁶ It wasn’t only that Jesus had an absence of sin, He was also in perfect conformity to the will of God. I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.⁷ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”⁸ “I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”⁹

Of course, we aren’t sinless as Jesus was, nor can we be; but we can take comfort in the fact that Jesus’ righteousness is credited to us. Salvation makes us “in Christ,” so that His holiness and righteousness are credited to us. Because of His holy life and death on the cross, God imputed or credited our sins to Christ, and He credited Jesus’ righteousness to us. We are able to be in the presence of God, the ultimate holiness, because we are made holy through Christ. Because Jesus died for our sins, we are members of God’s family and can enter into relationship with the Father. All of this is due to God’s grace. However, the quality of our relationship with God depends on us.

Being Christlike, being holy, fundamentally has to do with our relationship with God, our Father. Jesus’ perfection cannot be attained in our lives, but it can be seen as a model, an ideal for us to move as close to as possible. He focused on doing God’s will, on doing the things that were pleasing to God. Have we made it a goal to do what pleases God? Are we willing to think as God thinks and to will as God wills? This is how Christlikeness is pursued. Jesus entered our world to do the will of His Father, setting an example for us to follow. If we are following His example, the motivating principle that guides our thoughts, actions, and character should be the desire to do the will of our Father.

When speaking of doing the will of God in this context, the focus isn’t on finding God’s will for specific decisions (such as what career to pursue, whom to marry, etc.), but rather doing the will of God as expressed in Scripture, actively pursuing those things He has specifically instructed His children to do. Part of that pursuit is putting off sin and putting on the new self Paul spoke of.¹⁰ By God’s grace and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can live in a more holy manner, more in alignment with His will; however, the responsibility to do so lies with us.

Sanctification, the progressive growth in holiness, in Christlikeness, isn’t something that simply happens because we are Christians. Through His grace, He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son;¹¹ yet we are also told to not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.¹² We have been delivered from the kingdom of sin and the rule that it had over us, but we still suffer its attacks. Indwelling sin has been dethroned and no longer has the same grip on us that it did previously, but it is still there, and something we need to regularly face and overcome.

To overcome sin in our lives, it is helpful to have the right understanding of sin. We are saved members of God’s family, and therefore we have a relationship with Him. Our sins don’t cause us to cease being His children. They do, however, affect our relations with Him. In the pursuit of Christlikeness, we need to realize that sin, all sin, is against God. King David, after sleeping with another man’s wife and then having him killed, understood that while his sinful offenses were done to the hurt of others, they were ultimately sins against God. In praying for God’s mercy and forgiveness, David prayed: Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.¹³ When we sin, no matter what the sin, we ultimately sin against God.

Sin is more than a personal weakness, and it’s more than some area in our lives that we need to work on. It’s a serious matter. Sin is a personal act of turning away from God and His will, an act against God on our part. It is deeply and profoundly personal to Him. Of course, some sins we commit aren’t a conscious decision to defy God, but are committed because we are ignorant or have an unguarded moment. While these are still sins for which we need forgiveness, they are different from those times when we make a conscious decision to sin, when we knowingly decide to act against God’s will.

For many Christians today, there is a tendency to not take most sin that seriously. Of course, when it comes to a heinous sin like murder, we see that as obviously being serious; but we often look very differently at “a little” lying here or there, or boasting, gossiping, etc. It’s easy for us to mentally categorize some sins as acceptable, or at least not totally unacceptable. If we are aiming at godliness in our lives, then we need to understand that all sin is wrong and is offensive to the holiness of God. Therefore, Christlikeness doesn’t allow for categorizing some sins as being okay. It calls for willingness to take personal responsibility for our sins. We of course have the wonderful grace of God to help us overcome our sins, but while “grace alone” works for our initial salvation, action is required to progress in our growth toward holiness.

It’s important to know that though we sin, we don’t lose our salvation, and we continue to be members of God’s family. We also can be forgiven our sins if we acknowledge them, repent, and ask God for forgiveness.

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.¹⁴ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.¹⁵

The idea of taking action against sin in our lives isn’t a “works trip” or a campaign to make ourselves perfect, neither is the goal to reach perfection. The purpose of actively opposing sin in our lives has to do with our relationship with God and our desire to draw close to Him and stay there. O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.¹⁶

Our desire is to be relationally close to God. We are already His children through salvation, but we want a close personal relationship with our Father. Part of that drawing near to Him has to do with personal holiness. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.¹⁷ Throughout the Epistles we read of the need to take action, to put to death,therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature;¹⁸ to lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and … runwith endurance the race;¹⁹to be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish;²⁰ toresist the devil, and he will flee from you.²¹

This doesn’t mean we have no help in overcoming sin in our lives, as we have the help of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit dwelling within us, we have the means to conform to the character of God.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.²² We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.²³ The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.²⁴

The Holy Spirit plays a role in our progressive sanctification; we’re not all on our own, but we do play a vital part.

One key aspect is taking personal responsibility for our spiritual growth, which includes putting off and putting on. Referring to putting off sin, the apostle Paul writes:

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you…²⁵ The Greek word used here, nekroō, has the meaning of both to kill as well as deprive of power, to destroy the strength of.

So this verse speaks of weakening and destroying the strength and power of the things in our lives that are sinful. How do we do that?

The first step is to decide that Christlikeness—part of which is holiness—is important to us, and that we are willing to work toward it by making right moral decisions. This calls for having personal conviction about believing, obeying, and applying what Scripture teaches about sin and then living up to that conviction. This brings about internal conflict, as our scriptural values and beliefs bump up against our “fallen” human nature and ungodly values of the world. When they do, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we choose to obey what Scripture teaches, even when it’s difficult or goes against what we’d prefer to do.

This is where the rubber meets the road in our desire to be Christlike. At its core, Christlikeness comes from believing the same as Jesus as far as what is good and right and what is wrong and sinful. The foundation of becoming more like Jesus is being transformed in our spirit, so that our outward actions reflect our transformed inner selves. This calls for being purposeful in our pursuit of godliness, confronting our sins, and overcoming them through prayer and action. Prayer for the help of the Holy Spirit in overcoming our sins, and action through purposefully resisting sin in our lives.

(Continued in part three.)

Note

¹ Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2006).

² Hebrews 4:15.

³ 1 John 3:5.

⁴ 1 Peter 2:22.

⁵ 2 Corinthians 5:21.

⁶ John 8:46 NIV.

⁷ John 6:38.

⁸ John 4:34.

⁹ John 8:29.

¹⁰ Colossians 3:5–10.

¹¹ Colossians 1:13 NAU.

¹² Romans 6:12 NIV.

¹³ Psalm 51:4.

¹⁴ Proverbs 28:13.

¹⁵ 1 John 1:9.

¹⁶ Psalm 15:1–2.

¹⁷ James 4:8.

¹⁸ Colossians 3:5 NIV.

¹⁹ Hebrews 12:1.

²⁰ 2 Peter 3:14.

²¹ James 4:7.

²² Romans 8:8–9.

²³ 2 Corinthians 3:18.

²⁴ Galatians 5:22–23.

²⁵ Colossians 3:5.

Called to Be Holy

02/10/24Therefore, preparing your minds for action,^[b] and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, ¹⁸knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

²²Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ²³since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; (1 Peter 1:13-23) ESV

11 – More Like Jesus: Holiness (Part 1)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-09-06

(This article is based on key points from the book The Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges.¹)

One of the key Bible passages quoted in this series is Ephesians 4:22–24:

Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

This passage instructs we who are new creations² to put on the new self which is created after the likeness of God, expressed here as true righteousness and holiness. For many, the word “holiness,” or the concept of “being holy,” brings to mind legalistic obedience or the distasteful holier-than-thou attitude. That isn’t what the apostle Paul is speaking about.³

Holiness is one of the attributes of God, part of His essential being. He is distinct, set apart, different from and greater than anything or anyone else that exists; He is also morally pure. His holiness is the essential difference between God and man. While we might be able to reflect God through doing holy acts, God is holiness. His holiness is an absence of evil, a perfect freedom from all evil. As humans, we are not capable of this. In 1 John 1:5, we read that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Light and darkness, when used this way in Scripture, have a greater significance than daylight and nighttime. John is telling us that God is absolutely free from any moral evil and that He is Himself the essence of moral purity.⁴

God is always in perfect conformity to His own character and always acts consistently with His holy character. Because He is holy, all of His actions are holy. Therefore we can be confident that His actions toward us are always perfect and just. God can never be unfair, as being so would be contrary to His essential nature.

Because God is holy, we too are called to be holy. The apostle Peter wrote:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”⁵

The Greek word translated here as conduct means manner of life, conduct, behavior, and deportment, the manner in which a person behaves. Elsewhere, Scripture teaches that we are to make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.⁶

Since God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is holy, we who wish to be godly or Christlike must also be holy. Of course, it’s not possible for us to be completely holy, as we are human and we sin. Nevertheless, holiness is part of our walk with the Lord and of becoming more like Him.

Holiness has two meanings. The first refers to separation or apartness. In the OId Testament, Israel was called a “holy people” because they belonged exclusively to God and were separate from other nations. This paralleled God’s separation or “otherness” from all created things. The concept of Christians as a holy people is also seen in the New Testament:

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.⁷

God’s people are holy by virtue of belonging uniquely to Him.

The second meaning of “holy” refers to purity and cleanness. The Old Testament contains much about ritual holiness, including ceremonial cleansing and distinctions between clean and unclean foods. It also speaks of being cleansed from sin:

For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins.⁸

In the New Testament Jesus did away with ritual/ceremonial purity and put focus on inward purity, moral purity, purity of the heart.⁹

Through salvation we become holy (sanctified).¹⁰ We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.¹¹ And yet, though we have been forgiven for our sins, we are by no means without sin. While sin no longer reigns in our lives, it is still present within us. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.¹² Clearly we still commit sins, yet if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.¹³

Sin doesn’t have the same grip on us that it had before salvation, but we still grapple with it. We are in a sense made “holy” at salvation, but there is also a progressive transformational process which we go through for the rest of our lives—a growth in holiness. The apostle Paul expressed it this way:

We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.¹⁴

This growth in holiness isn’t automatic; it requires effort, as seen in the imagery of running a race:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.¹⁵

There is a continual laying aside of sin throughout the “race” of our lives. We will never achieve complete Christlikeness nor eradicate sin in our earthly life. Yet, while we know that this will only fully happen in the life to come, we are called to work toward it in our present life.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.¹⁶

The words purifies and pure in that last sentence both come from the same Greek word that was used to express holiness and holy.

We should work to conform our whole person to the likeness of God—our heart, emotions, mind, soul, and spirit. As these become progressively transformed, the actions of our body will reflect that inner transformation; our actions, our words, our interaction with others will reflect Christ. As the apostle Paul wrote:

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.¹⁷

Author J. Rodman Williams wrote:

In the area of spirit surely much in the believer needs a continuing cleansing. There may be pride or haughtiness of spirit that needs reduction to humility, bitterness of spirit that needs a sweetening by God’s Spirit, a judgmental spirit that needs to be refined by love, a fretful spirit that needs to be renewed in calmness and peace. To these may be added especially an unforgiving spirit that needs to be released from hardness and ingratitude.¹⁸

Scripture points out the need for transformation through continual renewal of the mind: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.¹⁹ We’re called to develop a scriptural mindset so that our values, desires, and morals are based on the teachings of the Bible rather than on society’s norms.

Becoming more like Jesus means that our feelings, emotions, desires, and passions also need to become Christlike: training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.²⁰ Thus anger, envy, covetousness, lust, and jealousy need to be transformed into Christlike feelings.

Godliness also calls for transforming our will to be in alignment with His will as revealed in Scripture. We embrace what God wills and say no to what defies Him. Our choices, decisions, and actions are in harmony with His will and nature as revealed in His Word. God’s grace helps us make right moral choices.

Transformation to Christlikeness is holistic in that it transforms our total person. It’s a process which begins at the time of our salvation and continues throughout our life. It is achieved through God’s grace and the transformative work of the Holy Spirit, but this doesn’t mean that God transforms us into Christlikeness with no effort on our part. When we are serious about being more like Jesus, we of course pray for the Lord to change us, but we also make decisions that move us toward holiness and we put those decisions into practice.

The act of putting off the old self and putting on the new, as expressed in Ephesians 4:20–24, refers to transformation and holiness, as these acts both require putting off sin and putting on righteousness. The apostle Paul lists specifics in Colossians 3:

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. … Now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.²¹

Paul then follows with the positive:

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.²²

Christlikeness calls us to discipline ourselves and take a stance against the negative actions, impulses, and thoughts in our hearts and minds that lead to sin; and to embrace the virtues, values, and morals that reflect God’s nature. The next few articles will touch on sin—the “putting off” side of holiness, what we need to eliminate from our lives in order to be more like Jesus. After that, the focus will shift to the “putting on” side—developing within us the things which bring Christlikeness into our lives.

(Continued in part two.)

Note

¹ Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2006).

² 2 Corinthians 5:17.

³ For a fuller explanation of the holiness of God, see The Heart of It All: The Nature and Character of God.

⁴ Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, 22–23.

⁵ 1 Peter 1:14–16.

⁶ Hebrews 12:14 NIV.

⁷ 1 Peter 2:9.

⁸ Leviticus 16:30.

⁹ Matthew 5:8.

¹⁰ The Greek word hagios and its cognates are translated in the New Testament as holy, holiness, sanctify, sanctification.

¹¹ Hebrews 10:10.

¹² 1 John 1:8.

¹³ 1 John 1:9.

¹⁴ 2 Corinthians 3:18.

¹⁵ Hebrews 12:1.

¹⁶ 1 John 3:2–3.

¹⁷ 2 Corinthians 7:1.

¹⁸ J. Rodman Williams, Renewal Theology, Book 3 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 93–94.

¹⁹ Romans 12:2.

²⁰ Titus 2:12.

²¹ Colossians 3:5, 8–10.

²² Colossians 3:12–15.

The New Life

02/09/24Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. ¹⁹They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. ²⁰But that is not the way you learned Christ!— ²¹assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²²to put off your old self,^[f] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.(Ephesians 17-24) ESV

10 – More Like Jesus: Renewal Basics

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-08-23

As touched on in the last two articles, In God’s Likeness parts one and two, becoming more like Jesus calls for a renewal of our inner being—our heart, will, emotions, mind (conscious and subconscious), soul, and spirit—which then causes our actions to reflect our renewed inner self. If we wish to be Christlike, we must start with a changed spirit. (I am continuing to use the word “spirit” to represent the heart, mind, soul, and spirit—our inner self or inner being.) Salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us brings transformation to our spirit; it breaks the power of sin over us, which enables the process of spiritual growth that changes our fundamental inner nature.

The process toward having our thoughts, words, actions, and attitudes reflect Christ isn’t something that happens on its own; it calls for conscious inner transformation. The apostle Paul expressed it by saying put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and … be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and … put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.¹ So what do we do to be renewed in the spirit of our mind, to put on our new self?

One key factor in becoming more like Jesus is believing what Jesus believed, meaning that we believe what Scripture teaches. The type of belief that results in ongoing transformation isn’t one we give mere intellectual assent or acknowledgment to. Rather, it is a belief that becomes a foundation for how we live. It’s one thing to believe that God exists; it’s something quite different to live with the Creator as the center of our lives, so that our decisions and actions are based on our relationship with Him. Belief in this context means conviction and commitment to live by what we believe. Following are some key beliefs which play a major role in becoming Christlike.

Belief in God as taught in Scripture

Scripture teaches that God exists; He created the world (the universe) and everything in it out of nothing;² He is personal;³ He is triune (one God in three persons);⁴ He is actively involved with the created world,⁵ although He is not part of the created world;⁶ He loves and cares about the world and those in it;⁷ He loves and cares for us, His children,⁸ and is involved in our daily lives;⁹ He is good,¹⁰ and we experience His goodness in our lives;¹¹ and even though everything in our life isn’t good and we don’t always understand why some things happen, we put our trust in Him¹² as His ways are higher than ours.¹³

Our Creator wishes for us to enter a loving relationship with Him. However, sin and the cares of this life compete for our affections and desires. There are many distractions which pull our loyalty, focus, and desires away from God. We are often faced with a choice of whether to attach ourselves to and worship God, or turn to things which pull us away from Him and make them the object of our worship. Knowing that God wants us to resist evil, we look to Him for the grace and power to do so, and we do our part to resist and overcome sin in our lives.

We trust God because we believe that He is loving, personal, all-powerful, and that His ways are higher than ours. We embrace Him, knowing that He has our best interests at heart. He knows about us, cares for us, understands our weaknesses, and forgives us; so we trust Him, follow Him, and seek His guidance in our lives.

Redemption

Because of His love for humanity, our loving God made a way to restore us to fellowship with Him. Though we were sinners, in rebellion to Him, He made a way for us to be forgiven and reconciled. By accepting Christ as our Savior, we become children of God. Through God’s goodness, love, and kindness we have eternal life.¹⁴

In Christ

Through salvation we are “in Christ.”

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.¹⁵ For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.¹⁶ Because of him [God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God.¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.¹⁸ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.¹⁹

Being in Christ means that you are a member of the body of Christ,²⁰ a child of God and heir to His kingdom,²¹ a temple of God’s dwelling,²² a new creation,²³ and a citizen of heaven.²⁴ Knowing this brings confidence that we are part of God’s family; He is our Father, Jesus is our Savior, and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We are forgiven human beings who are loved by God Almighty. Because we are in Christ, we can express who we are in Him without having to prove who we are.

Author Randy Frazee explains it this way:

One of my favorite movies is the 1981 Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire, which tells the true story of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams … The movie depicts how they both ran and won gold medals. The difference? Harold Abrahams ran to prove who he was, while Eric Liddell ran to express who he knew he was in Christ … There is a scene in which Liddell’s sister is deeply concerned because she senses that his running is pulling him away from their commitment to go to China as missionaries. He looks deep into his sister’s eyes and says, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” … One of the most mystical, yet amazing ways we know we are truly expressing who we are in Christ is by using the gifts He gives us and tapping into the heart of God to “feel His pleasure.”²⁵

Knowing that we are “in Christ” sets us free to follow His leading in our lives so that we can use the gifts and talents God has given us for His glory. We understand that however and wherever He leads at each stage of our lives, we can be joyful, content, and grateful to be living within His will. It also tells us that even though we aren’t perfect, we are forgiven, loved, and accepted by the Lord.

Eternal life

Possessing eternal life means we will live forever. Scripture reveals that when we die, our bodies return to the earth but our spirits live on. It teaches that there will be judgment, but those who have received Christ have been forgiven for their sins and will be seen by God as guiltless on the judgment day.²⁶

Relationship to the Bible

It’s from reading, believing, and living according to the Bible—God’s Word—that we learn the truths it reveals. Within its pages, God has given us knowledge of Himself, His plan of salvation, and instruction on how to live our lives in alignment with His will. The Bible establishes our beliefs and guides our actions. It possesses authority in that it gives God’s instruction on how to be in relationship with Him, what is right and wrong, what is pleasing in His sight and what isn’t. As God’s truth is revealed to us, it’s meant to be the lens through which we view our world: a means of guiding us to make godly choices, have right attitudes, and live in alliance with God.

These basic beliefs (along with many others taught within the pages of Scripture) become the foundation stones upon which we base our decisions and actions; they shape our worldview, and thus direct how we live. They are a road map which guides us in the right direction. Over time, the way we think, feel, and act will be increasingly transformed into Christlikeness. The root cause of this transformation is based on what God Himself has revealed to us in Scripture. We are changed because we believe what God, through Scripture, has told us, and we act upon it.

When we truly believe in a loving, personal, all-powerful God, we trust Him and have confidence that He can, and will, do what He has promised. He will guide us, and if we follow His directions and live in accordance with the principles found within His Word, we will have confidence that we are operating within His will and will receive the benefits of doing so, both in this life and for eternity. Such belief changes how we think and live.

When we believe that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we recognize that God, within Himself, is a perfect loving community. Understanding that we are made in God’s image and likeness, we recognize that as human beings we are to operate in love and harmony in community. Our family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, other believers, and people in our town, country, and the world are all members of communities to which we belong. We are called to love others as we love ourselves and treat them as we want to be treated.

When we believe God loves each human being as a person created in His image, we understand that everyone has value. This leads to both self-respect and respect of others, no matter their religion, race, economic status, politics, or any other difference.

When we understand that God is holy and that nothing unholy can come into His presence, we live in gratitude toward Him for redeeming us. Had He not made the way of salvation available to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we would have no personal relationship with Him, no salvation, no indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We would receive the wages of sin, which is death, instead of the gift of God, which is eternal life.²⁷ However, because of His gift to us, we can live lives of joy, knowing that we are in relationship with God and that our sins are forgiven. In gratefulness we want to please Him, live for Him, and reflect Him and His love to others, to share the good news of salvation with them. Having been forgiven for our sins, we forgive others for their sins against us.

Being in Christ gives us self-worth, not based on what we accomplish but on our value to God. We don’t need to prove anything or put others down to bolster our ego or standing. Frazee wrote:

We will be set free to use our words for building bridges, not burning them. To use our hands to hug, not hurt. To use our feet to bring, not take away. To use our hearts to inspire, not conspire. To raise the level of any room we are in.²⁸

Knowing that we have eternal life changes the way we live in the present. We are accountable for our decisions, for the kind of person we become. Understanding our accountability should cause us to put priority on using the gifts and talents God has given us for His glory. Our focus should not be on worldly success, but on living lives which glorify the Lord. That doesn’t mean that we won’t have worldly success—we might—but our focus is on glorifying God and being guided by Him, because we have made it our priority to seek Him for direction and follow what He has shown us. Knowing that we will live with God for eternity should cause us to live with hope, even in trying times. No matter how difficult our lives may be, we know that this present time is only a moment compared to eternity.

The key component to becoming more like Jesus is belief in Scripture—not just head belief, but heart belief. If we truly believe what the Bible teaches and we make the effort to apply those truths to our lives, we experience ongoing transformation. If we truly believe the teachings of the Bible and align our inner self, heart, mind, soul, and spirit with those beliefs, then our thoughts, desires, feelings, decisions, and outward actions reflect those beliefs.

At the same time, the Holy Spirit will also use these truths to speak to our hearts about our shortcomings and sins with the goal of helping us to change. If we are open to the Spirit’s guidance and we desire to become more like Jesus, we acknowledge our sins and work to overcome them through the help of the Holy Spirit. This is part of our transformation, of putting off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and [being] renewed in the spirit of your minds, and [putting] on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.²⁹

Our starting place for Christlikeness is belief in God’s Word. When we believe Scripture, we build our lives on a rock-solid foundation, and we have the conviction to live by those beliefs. It is in living those beliefs that we become more like Jesus.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Ephesians 4:22–24.

² In the future I hope to write about the various Christian theories of Creation which are considered to be in alignment with what Genesis teaches.

³ He has a name: I AM, Yahweh; is spoken of as Father (2 Corinthians 6:18), as a judge (Isaiah 33:22), and as a husband (Isaiah 54:5). For more on God as personal, click here.

⁴ The Father addresses the Son as You (Mark 1:11); the Son refers to the Father as He (John 5:20); the Son differentiates Himself from the Father and from the Holy Spirit (John 15:26). For a fuller explanation of the Trinity, click here.

⁵ Colossians 1:17; Acts 17:28.

⁶ Acts 17:24; 1 Kings 8:27.

⁷ John 3:16.

⁸ 1 John 3:1.

⁹ Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 28:20; Joshua 1:9.

¹⁰ Psalm 119:68, 145:9.

¹¹ Psalm 31:19, 68:10; Isaiah 63:7; Jeremiah 31:12.

¹² Romans 8:28; Psalm 84:11.

¹³ Isaiah 55:9.

¹⁴ For a fuller explanation of redemption, see The Heart of It All: Salvation parts 1–5, beginning here.

¹⁵ 1 Corinthians 15:22.

¹⁶ Galatians 3:26.

¹⁷ 1 Corinthians 1:30.

¹⁸ 2 Corinthians 5:17.

¹⁹ Ephesians 1:3.

²⁰ 1 Corinthians 12:27.

²¹ Romans 8:17.

²² 1 Corinthians 3:16.

²³ 2 Corinthians 5:17.

²⁴ Philippians 3:20.

²⁵ Randy Frazee, Think, Act, Be Like Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 62–63.

²⁶ 1 Corinthians 1:4–8; Colossians 1:12–14.

²⁷ Romans 6:23.

²⁸ Frazee, Think, Act, Be Like Jesus, 63.

²⁹ Ephesians 4:22–24.

Keep in Step with the Spirit

02/08/24 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹envy,^[^d^] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do^[^e^] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
(Galatians 5:16-26) ESV

09 – More Like Jesus: In God’s Likeness (Part 2)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-07-26

(This article is based on key points from the book Classical Arminianism, by F. Leroy Forlines.¹)

Part one of “In God’s Likeness” touched on how we were created in the constitutional and functional likeness of God. As rational and moral beings, like God, we think, feel, and act in similar fashion to God. We have thinking minds, feeling hearts, and self-determination. The entrance of sin into humanity destroyed the ability of humans to not sin, and our sin separates us from God. But through Jesus’ life and sacrificial death, the bondage of sin in our lives has been broken, and through God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit, we can be transformed in our inner being.

When the apostle Paul speaks of our inner being,² he isn’t trying to draw a distinct line of separation between our physical body and our spirit/soul, for as persons we are a unity of both body and soul. The soul has a body and the body has a soul, and people are both.³ Paul writes specifically about the mind, heart, spirit, soul, and body; often in ways in which a part, like the heart, represents the whole inner being. For example, when we read present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,⁴ we understand that the mind and will are also active in the offering of the body; and we are presenting our whole self as a living sacrifice.

In similar fashion, we reason and understand with our mind, but our heart may also be “enlightened.”⁵ Obeying from the heart is the same as obeying from the soul. We can see this unity expressed when Paul wrote:

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.⁶

Two key words in this verse are completely (sanctify you completely) and whole (whole spirit and soul and body). The Greek word holoteles, translated as completely, means complete in all respects; so, sanctify you completely means through and through, all of you. The Greek word holokleros means complete in all of its parts. Paul is saying, “May the whole you—spirit, soul, and body—be kept blameless.” He joins spirit, soul, and body in a way that emphasizes the oneness of our spirit, mind, heart, will, soul, and body.⁷

While all these elements form a unity, there are differences between what goes on inside us (our thoughts, desires, decisions, feelings, etc.), which are incorporeal activities, and our physical actions, which are corporeal activities. We internally (in heart, mind, spirit, soul) make a decision, and then put that decision into action in our physical world through our body. Throughout the rest of this article when referring to incorporeal activities I will use the word spirit to represent the heart, mind, soul, and spirit—our inner self or inner being.

Our body is our presence in the physical and social world. We interact with the world through our bodies, and our internal choices and desires play out externally through our bodies. For example, when we learn to speak a language, ride a bicycle, or drive a car, we train our bodies to do these actions; and once the body is trained, it’s no longer necessary to think about how to do them, as that information is stored in the mind, and the body is able to perform them without much conscious thought.

Our character, our actions, the decisions we make and enact, all mirror our inner being. Over time, by consistently making the same types of decisions, desiring the same things, developing thought patterns, which are then enacted in the physical world, we train ourselves to be a certain way. Our outward actions within the social world are the external manifestation of our inner self.

Because of sin, our spirits have been damaged and we are inclined toward sin, which affects us at both the conscious and subconscious level. We are inclined to think, feel, and act in a manner which is in contradiction to the nature of God.

I don’t particularly like to talk about sin, its grip on us, how it damages relationships, and especially the separation it brings about in our primary relationship with God. However, when our goal is to be more like Jesus, it’s necessary to understand sin and confront it, however it may manifest in our lives.

Sin is spoken of in Scripture as both an action and a power. The apostle Paul often describes it as a power that entered the world and established its rule through Adam’s sin⁸ and resultantly held all of humanity in bondage as slaves to sin,⁹ living under sin.¹⁰ Within Paul’s writings, he often uses the word flesh (sarx in Greek) to express man’s being and attitude as opposed to and in contradiction to God and God’s Spirit. The flesh has sworn allegiance to another power: with my flesh I serve the law of sin.¹¹ By the means of the flesh, the power of sin subjugates the whole person, body and spirit.

This can be seen when Paul writes about the “works of the flesh,” in which he includes sins of the flesh as well as sins of the mind and spirit. In one list he includes what would be called sins of the flesh, such as sexual immorality and drunkenness, but the list is dominated by sins of the mind and spirit: hatred, discord, jealousy, anger or fits of rage, quarrels/rivalries, dissension/division, factions, and envy.¹² Clearly, sins aren’t only transgressions in the body, but there are sins of the spirit as well. And sin not only separates us from God, but can separate us from others as well.

Salvation breaks the power of sin over us, and God’s grace helps us in our fight to overcome sin in our lives. Paul wrote:

Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life…¹³ We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin…¹⁴ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires…¹⁵ Sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace…¹⁶ Thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.¹⁷

We are not free from all sin; that is impossible, as we will never be perfect in this life. But we are free from having sin as our master. By receiving Jesus we have become new creations: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.¹⁸ From that point on, we begin the process of growth in godliness and Christlikeness.

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.¹⁹ Now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.²⁰ We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.²¹

If we are to become more like Jesus, to be transformed into His and His Father’s image, then we need to strive to be in His likeness at both the conscious and subconscious levels of our personality. This progressive transformation, technically known as sanctification, is a work of God’s grace through the Holy Spirit, designed to change our basic inner nature so that our thoughts, words, actions and attitude of heart reflect Christ.²² This work of God’s grace through the Holy Spirit is a lifelong process, because we will not achieve full sanctification until we are in heaven.

In the verse quoted above (2 Corinthians 3:18), the Greek word metamorphoō, rendered as transform, refers to an internal change rather than a mere external change. The same word was used when Paul wrote:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.²³

This is not superficial change but a deep, basic, inner change which causes outward life to be a manifestation of the inner reality.

The book Classical Arminianism (which I’ve based this article on) includes the following:

The meaning is that the Christian confession demands that the entire bent of one’s mind be changed. The entire clause may be rendered as “permit God to change your inside by giving you a completely new mind” or “by making your mind and heart completely different.”²⁴

Here the mind includes not just what we think with but also our heart, will, spirit, and soul—our whole being. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our complete inner selves, so that our actions spring from the inner realities of our spirit.

This doesn’t happen automatically. Salvation frees us from the bondage of sin, but it doesn’t immediately transform us into being Christlike. We have the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but it’s not as if salvation brings an immediate change to our patterns of thinking, feeling, or acting. Our spirit doesn’t suddenly revert to the “original righteousness” which Adam and Eve had before the fall. We are still sinful, still broken, and always will be throughout our earthly lives. However, as we yield to the Holy Spirit and align ourselves with God’s Word, we become the kind of people who manifest the fruit of the Spirit: people who have joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.²⁵

We cannot be passive in this transformation process. We can’t expect the Holy Spirit to automatically renew our mind, heart, will, spirit, and soul without cooperation or effort. We are to be active participants, partnering with the Holy Spirit, and play a role in our transformation. We are responsible to recognize our sinful nature and strive purposefully to live as God instructs us through His Word.

When speaking of sin in our lives, the apostle Paul used the phrase Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.²⁶ Elsewhere he listed some sins and said they must not even be named among you.²⁷ Every day we are tempted to sin, but in our desire to become Christlike, we must put effort into the process of transformation by recognizing this temptation and taking a stand against it. We do this by the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit. Our motivation, based on our love and gratitude toward God, is to draw close to Him, to please Him by applying what He has revealed in Scripture to our lives. As we do, it brings change to our spirit, and gradually rewires our inner being.

Jesus spoke about the state of our hearts when He said,

From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.²⁸ The apostle Paul added to the list with impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness;²⁹ and impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness.³⁰

Clearly, as Christians who want to be more like Jesus, we face challenges.

We are human, and are faced daily with temptations to sin, both in thought and action. But through God’s grace and in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, we can continually grow spiritually so that our heart, will, emotions, mind (conscious and subconscious), soul, spirit—and therefore our actions—can gradually be transformed and become more Christlike. It takes prayer, spiritual discipline, and the commitment to be more like Jesus, but the good news is that if we choose this path, by God’s grace, we will day by day spiritually grow into more of the likeness of God.

(Upcoming articles will address how to enhance the process of sanctification in our lives.)

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Nashville: Randall House Publications, 2011.

² Ephesians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Romans 7:22.

³ Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, Daniel G. Reid, eds., Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 770.

⁴ Romans 12:1.

⁵ Ephesians 1:18.

⁶ 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

⁷ Hawthorne, Martin, and Reid, Dictionary of Paul, 770.

⁸ Romans 5:12–21.

⁹ Romans 6:20.

¹⁰ Romans 3:9.

¹¹ Romans 7:25.

¹² Galatians 5:19–21.

¹³ Romans 6:4 NIV.

¹⁴ Romans 6:6–7 NIV.

¹⁵ Romans 6:11–12 NIV.

¹⁶ Romans 6:14 NIV.

¹⁷ Romans 6:17–18 NIV.

¹⁸ 2 Corinthians 5:17.

¹⁹ 2 Peter 3:18.

²⁰ Colossians 3:8–10.

²¹ 2 Corinthians 3:18.

²² F. Leroy Forlines, Classical Arminianism (Nashville: Randall House Publications, 2011), 283.

²³ Romans 12:2.

²⁴ Barclay M. Newman and Eugene A. Nida, A Translator’s Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans (New York: United Bible Societies, 1973), 235.

²⁵ Galatians 5:22–23.

²⁶ Colossians 3:5.

²⁷ Ephesians 5:3.

²⁸ Mark 7:21–23.

²⁹ Colossians 3:5.

³⁰ Galatians 5:19–21.

Fulfilling the Law Through Love

02/07/24Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ¹²The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
(Romans 13:8-14) ESV

08 – More Like Jesus: In God’s Likeness (Part 1)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-07-19

(This article is based on key points from the book Classical Arminianism, by F. Leroy Forlines.¹)

As brought up in earlier articles in this series, being more like Jesus requires effort in two directions—we are to “put off” sin and “put on” Christ. We’re to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light,² put on the Lord Jesus Christ,³ put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life,⁴ and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.⁵ To pursue godliness, we must put focus on both positive and negative aspects—the positive being putting on Christ, and the negative being overcoming sin in our lives.

I don’t like to talk about sin, but sin is a part of the life of every human, and in the course of putting on Christ, we must face sin and strive to overcome it. Of course, we will never fully eradicate sin from our earthly lives, but we can have a measure of victory, by God’s grace and with His help. Salvation releases us from the strong grip sin has on our lives, making it possible for the Spirit of God to transform us.

In order to understand the change salvation brings to our lives in regard to overcoming sin, we need to look back to before sin entered into humanity, as well as the result of sin’s entrance, and lastly the change that took place in sin’s grip on humanity through Jesus’ death for our sins. To do this, we begin with humankind being created in the image of God.

Scripture tells us:

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.⁶

This tells us that human beings are patterned after God. God is personal, and, like God, we are rational, self-aware, intelligent, and have a will, emotions, and knowledge. We can think, reason, and learn.

We also have a moral likeness to God. Scripture teaches that every human being has God’s law “written on their heart.”⁷ Everyone intrinsically knows the difference between right and wrong, because they have a conscience which accuses them when they do wrong. It’s not given to us to decide whether or not we ought to live according to God’s moral standard, as God already set that parameter when He created us. We may decide that we don’t want to live by His standards, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that we need to, and that there are consequences to acting contrary to God’s moral law. When individuals are held accountable before God at the end of their lives, no one will be able to say that they didn’t know it was wrong to murder, to lie, to steal, etc., for God has implanted basic morality in every human being.

Scripture speaks of the role our mind plays in our faith life and moral decision-making:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.⁸ Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.⁹ I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.¹⁰

The Bible uses the word think 54 times, reason 50 times, understand and understanding 145 times. We use our minds to think, reason, make judgments, draw conclusions, size up situations, etc.

Scripture also speaks of our hearts. The heart represents the seat of our emotions, the place within us from which we feel. We read of joy in the heart,¹¹ as well as anguish,¹² hatred,¹³ love,¹⁴ courage,¹⁵ and sorrow.¹⁶

Scripture also refers to our power of choice, our will, the fact that we can act according to our desires. Jesus spoke of individuals having choices:

If anyone desires to come after Me…¹⁷ How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!¹⁸If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine…¹⁹

We are beings with free will, and the ability to choose is part of our personhood.

One aspect of being made in the image of God is that we have minds which think, reason, and understand. We also have feelings and emotions, and self-determination. In our totality, we are thinking, feeling, and acting beings. We think with our mind, feel with our heart, and act with our will. While these are listed as functioning independently, jointly our mind, heart, and will are integral to who we are.

The concept that humans are rational, moral persons is often referred to as the constitutional likeness of God. The image of God within humans as they were first created (Adam and Eve) also included functional likeness. Functional likeness means that humankind, as originally created, thought and felt and acted in a way that was pleasing to God. Constitutional likeness has to do with personhood. Functional likeness refers to the way a person thinks, feels, and acts, and is also referred to as personality. (Personality in this sense does not refer to character traits, as in “she has a good personality.”) Humans as they were first created, before the fall, were made in the likeness of God with respect to both personhood and personality.

Personality functions on two levels: the conscious level and the subconscious level. The first humans, as they were created and as they developed until the fall, functioned both on the conscious and subconscious level in the likeness of God.

The subconscious mind (used here in the broad sense to include mind, heart, and will) contains ideas, attitudes, and responses which have become part of who we are and which influence our thoughts, actions and reactions—often without us realizing it. Mind in this sense involves our total personality—our mind, heart, and will. We unconsciously or automatically store knowledge or ideas in our subconscious mind, which is available for recall when needed. Very little of all the knowledge we have garnered resides in our conscious mind at any given moment.

While Scripture doesn’t use the words “subconscious mind,” it does allude to parts of our memory, experience, and heart which are not directly accessible to our conscious minds. David asked God to cleanse him from secret faults.²⁰ Such faults wouldn’t be secret to God, so David could have been referring to faults that were secret to himself. Things which were hidden away deep within himself which he was unaware of and wasn’t able to access. We see something similar when he prayed:

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!²¹ Elsewhere he states: Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.²²

Other versions translate “secret heart” as “hidden part” or “inmost place.” David refers to our internal hidden part. While the wording is different, the ancient writers knew that there was a part of our mind/heart/inner being which is deeper, or hidden from, our conscious mind.

Before the fall, the subconscious minds of Adam and Eve only knew ideas and attitudes that were in the likeness of God. They didn’t know evil. Both consciously and subconsciously they only knew goodness; so they thought, felt, and acted in a godly manner. This state is known as “original righteousness.” The original condition of the first humans was one of positive holiness, not a state of innocence or moral neutrality. Adam and Eve possessed innate righteousness. Righteous thoughts, feelings, and actions were inherently part of them as part of their being made in the likeness of God.

As explained in The Heart of It All series:

Prior to the fall Adam and Eve were pure and were “posse non peccare,” a theological term meaning “able not to sin.” While they could choose to sin, they could also choose not to sin, and thus to remain sinless. After the fall they were different. Their moral purity was gone, and the desire and ability to stay aligned with God’s will was distorted. Their ability to not sin and thus remain sinless was no longer there, as from that point on they, and all of subsequent humanity, were “non posse non peccare,” meaning “not able not to sin.” From that point on, humans were sinners by nature, and while they can refrain from sinning sometimes, by nature they sin and don’t have the ability to not sin. Though we are still in the image of God, that image has become altered due to sin. Thankfully, as Christians, we can counter some of the effects of our fallen nature through believing, abiding in, absorbing, and applying God’s Word; and at the time of the resurrection of the dead, when Christians are raised in glory and reunited with their bodies, we will be freed from the effects of our fallen human nature.²³

Before Adam and Eve sinned, the framework of possibilities within which they operated included either remaining in the practice of complete righteousness or committing sin. After they sinned, operating within that framework was no longer possible—it became impossible for them to practice uninterrupted righteousness as they were no longer able not to sin. They lost their “original righteousness” as a result of disobeying God. Ever since the fall, humans have been born with an innately sinful nature, meaning that we are inherently prone to sin. This condition we are born with is called “original sin.”

After the fall of humanity, God’s constitutional likeness remained within us, though it has been somewhat damaged. We are still rational beings who think, feel, and act. However, we have lost the functional likeness of God in that we no longer naturally think, feel, and act in the likeness of God. Our subconscious mind is no longer oriented toward God with righteous thoughts, feelings, and actions; thus we are prone to sin.

Salvation through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection breaks the power of sin in our lives. It doesn’t bring a cessation of sin, but it alters the power that sin has had over us. Salvation changes our relationship with God. Through Christ’s living a sinless life, and His sacrificing Himself through His death on the cross, we are no longer under the bondage of sin. God no longer looks upon us as guilty; we are no longer alienated from Him.²⁴ Before this, we were under sin’s power; however, through salvation, that power is broken. We have been delivered from the sphere where sin reigned and moved to the sphere of God’s grace.

Salvation sets Christians apart from the rest of humanity in that we no longer stand before God as guilty; we have been declared righteous. We are changed through a new birth and through the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.²⁵

Having a new birth and being renewed by the Holy Spirit means that there has been change in our lives. This change includes being conformed to the image of his Son.²⁶ Conforming to the image of the Son can be seen as adjusting our lives in a manner which produces changes in how we think, feel, and act, so that we take on the likeness of Christ. In a sense it requires a change in our subconscious mind, a rewiring of how we are programmed; as while our thoughts, words, and actions take place on a conscious level, they are expressions of our inner basic nature, which exists on a subconscious level. The theological term for this change or transformation in our lives is sanctification, which refers to the gradual and progressive growth toward godliness brought about by the Holy Spirit.

Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.²⁷

The apostle Paul speaks about the process of being transformed into the image of the glory of the Lord:

We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.²⁸

The root of the Greek word which is translated as transformed refers to an internal change rather than an external one. In using this word, Paul is speaking about a deep, fundamental change in the inner nature of Christians. It is a change in our personality (as defined above—meaning the way we think, feel, and act), a rewiring of our inner selves. A change at this fundamental level brings our thoughts, feelings, and actions into alignment with the nature of God. Such a change in our inner life (our mind, heart, and will) should be manifested in our outer life. Our outward actions emanate from the inward realities of our personality.

Being transformed into and conformed to the image of Christ is possible because of salvation, which frees us from the grip of sin on our lives and allows us to consciously and subconsciously think and act in a more godly manner. It doesn’t mean we don’t sin, but it enables us to grow in Christlikeness, so that we can move away from our former position of being in bondage to sin. While there is still sinful behavior within us, sin no longer has the same power over us. We sometimes fall, because we are human, but in our deepest being, we desire to do what is right. Sin no longer has dominion over us, but rather we desire to draw closer to God, which we do by moving away from sin.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.²⁹

To move toward God is to move away from sin.

(To be continued)

Note

¹ Nashville: Randall House Publications, 2011.

² Romans 13:12.

³ Romans 13:14.

⁴ Ephesians 4:22.

⁵ Ephesians 4:24.

⁶ Genesis 1:26–27. See also Genesis 9:6.

⁷ When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus (Romans 2:14–16).

⁸ Matthew 22:37.

⁹ Romans 14:5.

¹⁰ Hebrews 8:10.

¹¹ Psalm 4:7.

¹² Romans 9:2.

¹³ 2 Samuel 6:16.

¹⁴ Matthew 22:37.

¹⁵ Psalm 27:14.

¹⁶ Psalm 13:2.

¹⁷ Matthew 16:24 NKJ.

¹⁸ Matthew 23:37 NKJ.

¹⁹ John 7:17 NKJ.

²⁰ Psalm 19:12–13 NKJ.

²¹ Psalm 139:23–24.

²² Psalm 51:6.

²³ Heart of It All: Humanity, Made in the Image and Likeness of God (Part One)

²⁴ In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him (Colossians 1:19–22).

²⁵ Titus 3:3–7 NIV.

²⁶ Romans 8:29.

²⁷ Romans 6:22.

²⁸ 2 Corinthians 3:18.

²⁹ James 4:8.

Christ’s Example of Humility

02/06/24So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ²complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,^[a] ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,^[b] ⁷but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,^[c] being born in the likeness of men. ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-10) ESV

07 – More Like Jesus: Christ’s Example

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-04-26

When we are in the process of finding ways to transform our lives so that we can become more like Jesus, it follows that we should look to the example of how Jesus Himself—the only human who had full godliness—lived His life. We should find direction from the way He lived, including how He interacted with His Father and with others. Along with this, we would want to explore the rest of the New Testament in order to see how those who originally followed Him lived their lives and instructed others to follow His example. We will explore both within this series.

To start, let’s take a general look at some aspects of Jesus’ life that serve as guideposts in our quest to be more like Him.¹

Jesus’ deep sense of intimacy with God

In the Old Testament, we see that humans responded to God with awe—an emotion with shades of submission and fear.²

For example, Scripture tells us that when God spoke, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.³When in God’s presence, Isaiah the prophet said: Woe is me! For I am lost … for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!⁴

By comparison, we see that Jesus’ relationship with God was different. He had a deep intimacy with God, which He expressed by addressing God as “Father.” Jesus knew that He had both the love and approval of His Father.

Jesus taught His disciples that they should address God as their Father as well.⁵ In doing so, Jesus conveyed that His Sonship to some extent also encompassed them. Even though they were not God’s children in exactly the same unique way as Jesus was, they were nevertheless God’s children; and as such they were loved by Him, had a relationship with Him, were part of His family, and had His approval. All throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus emphasized to His disciples that God was their Father.⁶

Understanding that God is our Father and that we are loved by Him sets the foundation for our relationship with Him. As children of God, we can be secure in knowing that His love for us is unconditional. We can approach Him with an attitude of confidence and an expectation that He knows what we need and will provide and care for us.

Jesus expressed God’s fatherly love and care for us when He said:

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.⁷ Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!⁸ Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried … your Father knows that you need them.⁹

Looking at God as Father doesn’t mean that we maintain a relationship that is similar to that of a small child with their parent. While we will always depend on Him for our being, He has also given us free will and autonomy. Besides showing us that we can be secure in our relationship with the Father, Jesus also shows us that we can approach our Father in an adult-to-adult manner. We see this reflected in Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, when Jesus asked that, if it were possible, the Father would “remove this cup” of suffering from Him. Jesus posed a question, reflected on the situation, and then made the decision to align Himself with His Father’s will.

As God’s children, we are expected to use our minds and intellect, labor in prayer, seek guidance from Scripture, discuss our issues with God, and listen to His response; these things are all part of our decision-making process and relationship with Him.

Humble power

Though He was God incarnate and had the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, and feed the multitudes, Jesus used His power humbly. He could have demanded privileges, which He would have been entitled to, considering His status in relationship to God. However, He set those privileges aside and served others.

Though he was in the form of God, [Jesus] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.¹⁰

Instead of using His power to gain fame or exercise authority over others, as Satan tempted Him to, He used it for the sake of others. When He perceived that people were going to try to make Him king, He withdrew to the mountains by Himself.¹¹ He said,

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.¹²

He repeatedly taught His followers that they were to have an attitude of humility and service.

Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave.”¹³

Jesus, God the Son, took on the form of a servant in humility; and as believers, we should follow His example.

Balancing competing demands

Jesus faced numerous competing demands from His family,¹⁴ His disciples and friends,¹⁵ and His enemies and opposition.¹⁶ Above all, there were the demands of the crowd, as they desperately wanted His help. The crowds surrounded Him and pressed upon Him.¹⁷ In one instance He commented that He felt power had gone out of Him.¹⁸ At one point, He was in danger of being crushed by the crowds.¹⁹

Besides describing the demands placed on Jesus, the Gospels also show His response to these demands. His pattern was to be with the public—teaching, healing, debating—and then to balance that by withdrawing with His disciples, and sometimes alone, to be with His Father and to pray. Periods of time when He faced conflict or danger were also balanced by strategic withdrawals. These withdrawals provided rest and recreation, spiritual refilling which would sustain Him.

Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee^..²⁰ At a different time, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.²¹

We also read that Jesus seemed to enjoy eating meals with others, which included drinking wine. The Pharisees, as a result, accused Him of being a glutton and a drunkard.

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”²²

Showing hospitality

One of the main forms of showing someone hospitality is to host a meal for them in your home. In the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day it was somewhat different, as when someone of prominence such as a rabbi or teacher was invited to a home, it was understood that the guest was the one showing hospitality. Accepting an invitation and being a guest in another’s home brought honor, respect, and acceptance to the one offering the invitation and to their home and family. An example of this type of hospitality on Jesus’ part can be seen when He told the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus, who was hated by his fellow countrymen, that He wanted to come stay at his house. The people grumbled that He had been the guest of a sinner.²³ Zacchaeus was a social outcast because of his collaboration with the Roman oppressors, and he would have been considered an enemy of the Jews.

This wasn’t the only time that Jesus extended hospitality beyond socially-accepted boundaries. Other examples include the Samaritan woman,²⁴ the woman who washed His feet in the house of the Pharisee,²⁵ tax collectors,²⁶ the Roman centurion,²⁷ as well as touching and healing lepers and others who were considered ritually “unclean.” They were all outsiders, but He welcomed them. He was declaring them worthy and acceptable, showing an example of His Father’s love for and acceptance of sinners as well as His desire to save them. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus spent time with the social outcasts, those who were looked down upon, the outsiders, the “others.”

If we wish to be like Jesus, we will open our hearts and lives to accept and welcome those who are “other” than we are. This could mean those with different religious or political beliefs, nationality or ethnicity, economic status, likes and dislikes—those who are different from us in any way. Showing hospitality and a welcoming attitude toward those who are not part of our normal circle breaks down barriers and reflects the spirit of Christ.

Compassion

Compassion is an emotion that moves one to action; it’s a consciousness of others’ distress along with the desire to alleviate it. Within the Gospels, we see that compassion is the emotion most consistently attributed to Jesus. He was moved when He saw those in need, and He took action to alleviate their situation. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.²⁸ Just before feeding the multitudes, He said: I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.²⁹ When two blind men cried out to Him, Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.³⁰ When He went to Mary and Martha after their brother Lazarus died, Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.³¹ He wept and then raised Lazarus from the dead. In each case, Jesus was emotionally moved by compassion and acted for the benefit of others.

The Greek word used in the Synoptic Gospels for compassion is splagchnizomai, which means to be moved in one’s bowels, for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity. In John’s Gospel, the Greek word embrimaomai is used to express Jesus being deeply moved and greatly troubled at Lazarus’ graveside. Both of these words are deeply physical in tone, and carry with them a sense of indignation at the sight of human suffering and need. Each time Jesus is described as having such emotions, we are told that He took decisive action to remedy the situation.

Compassion is taking action in order to make someone else’s bad situation better. If there is no action, it isn’t compassion—it’s sympathy, the awareness of someone’s need, or empathy, feeling for someone in need. Jesus moved beyond sympathy and empathy, and took action—something for us, His followers, to emulate. While we may not be able to respond exactly as Jesus did, we can follow His example of taking some action which is helpful to those in need.

Non-retaliation

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught the principle of non-retaliation:

If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.³²

Besides preaching non-retaliation, we see that He practiced it as well. During His passion, when the soldiers came to take Him, He rejected the option of defending Himself by force.

Jesus said to [Peter], “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?”³³

Peter, His disciple and friend, later wrote of Him:

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.³⁴

Jesus taught that His disciples weren’t to seek tit-for-tat retaliation for harm done to them. He told His followers to refrain from rendering evil for evil, that two wrongs don’t make a right. This principle is built on trust that God is in control and will judge or avenge those who deserve it. Instead of retaliating, we are meant to forgive those who have wronged us. This doesn’t mean that there are no consequences for those who have caused harm, but that we aren’t to take it upon ourselves to return harm for harm.

Conclusion

Walking in Jesus’ footsteps by having a deep sense of intimacy with God, serving others in humility, maintaining godly balance in our lives, showing hospitality to those who are different from us, being moved by compassion to help others, and not retaliating when others have hurt us in some way doesn’t just happen automatically because we are Christians.

To walk the walk of Jesus, to grow in godly character, to manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit, takes personal transformation. Such transformation comes through the grace of God, which is given to those who make the decision and put in the effort to grow in Him, to apply what He taught, and to become more like Him.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ The following points are summarized from The Psychology of Christian Character Formation, by Joanna Collicutt (London: SCM Press, 2015).

² Collicutt, Psychology of Christian Character Formation, 31.

³ Exodus 3:6.

⁴ Isaiah 6:5.

⁵ Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9).

He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come’” (Luke 11:2).

⁶ Matthew 5:16, 45, 48; 6:1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 15, 18, 26, 32; 7:11, 21.

⁷ Matthew 6:8.

⁸ Matthew 7:9–11.

⁹ Luke 12:29–30. See also Matthew 6:25–32; 7:7–11; Luke 11:11–13; 12:22–30.

¹⁰ Philippians 2:6–8.

¹¹ John 6:15.

¹² Matthew 20:28. Also: Mark 10:45; Luke 22:27.

¹³ Matthew 20:25–27. Also: Matthew 23:11, Mark 9:35, 10:43–44, Luke 22:26, John 13:15–16.

¹⁴ Matthew 12:46–47; John 2:2–4; 7:1–7.

¹⁵ Matthew 16:22, 20:20–21; Mark 10:35–37; John 11:21,32.

¹⁶ Matthew 16:1, 19:3, 21:23, 22:16–32; John 8:1–11, 10:24.

¹⁷ Luke 8:45.

¹⁸ Luke 8:46.

¹⁹ Mark 3:9.

²⁰ Matthew 4:12.

²¹ John 11:54. Also: Matthew 14:13, 15:21; Mark 7:24; Luke 9:10; John 4:1–3, 7:1.

²² Luke 7:34, Matthew 11:19.

²³ Luke 19:5–7. Also: Matthew 8:8, Luke 7:6.

²⁴ John 4:1–42.

²⁵ Luke 7:36–50.

²⁶ Matthew 9:10–13.

²⁷ Luke 7:2–9.

²⁸ Matthew 14:14.

²⁹ Mark 8:2.

³⁰ Matthew 20:34 NIV.

³¹ John 11:33.

³² Matthew 5:39–41.

³³ Matthew 26:52–53.

³⁴ 1 Peter 2:23.

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

02/05/24As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
²My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?^[b]
³My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:1-3) ESV

06 – More Like Jesus: Fellowship with God (Part 2)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-04-05

As we saw in the previous article (Fellowship with God, Part 1), having fellowship with God is key to becoming more like Jesus. It’s within this fellowship that we develop our relationship with Him, nurture our love and intimacy, and truly get to know Him. The more we get to know Him, the more we will desire to be with Him. Within the book of Psalms we find verbal expression of the desire for fellowship with the Lord.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.¹ O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you.² Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.³

One way Scripture expresses the bond we are to have with the Lord is a love relationship, a marriage. Rick Warren expressed it this way:

To get to know someone intimately and enjoy him personally, you must: Spend quality time with him; communicate meaningfully with him; observe him in a variety of situations. These same criteria apply in getting to know and enjoy God, too. Remember that it is hard to have a love affair in a crowd; you need to get alone with the one person. That is the way the Bible speaks of our relationship with God through Christ, as a love relationship. In fact, it is called a marriage; Christ is the Bridegroom and we in the church are his bride.⁴

Spending time alone with the Lord is the primary means of getting to know Him and building our relationship with Him. Ask yourself how strong your relationships with your spouse, family, friends, or coworkers would be if your communication with them was the same as your communication with the Lord. Would your loved ones feel you are spending enough time with them? Would they feel that the fellowship you have with them causes your relationship to flourish? Our relationship with God is our primary relationship, and to keep it alive and flourishing we need to spend time with Him, just as we need to spend time with others we are in relationship with.

Due to the God-given responsibilities that each of us has, it’s not usually possible to spend copious amounts of time with those we love. Because of this, we generally try to focus our attention and energy on them during the time we are with them. We want the time we have with those we love to be quality time. One of our goals in trying to become more like Jesus is to make the time we spend with Him quality time as well. With our busy days, this can be a challenge. It requires a commitment to carving out a specific time to spend with Him daily, and then using that time for connecting with Him heart to heart.

One key element of fellowship is mutual communication. It’s in listening to and talking with another that we get to know them better. Our fellowship with the Lord is no different; we must both listen to Him and speak with Him. The primary means of listening to God is through reading His Word, the Bible. He speaks to us through Scripture as we read it, think about what it says, meditate on it, and ask ourselves what it means to us and how we can apply that meaning to our daily living. He also speaks to our hearts when we quiet ourselves and listen to His still small voice.

Time

The first element of quality time with the Lord is committing to meet with Him, preferably daily, and then disciplining ourselves to keep that commitment. Without the commitment and long-term discipline, the focus on fellowship will be a fleeting here today, gone tomorrow activity. The question to ask is: How important is God in my life? As the one who knows our heart and spirit even better than we do, our Creator is supremely important. Since He loves us, has made the way for us to be in communion with Him, and desires our fellowship, making a commitment to spend quality time with Him clearly should be a priority.

Most people who write about setting aside time for God say that the morning, before the busy day begins, is the best time to make this appointment. I have personally found that to be true, though I have read of others who set aside time in the evening for their fellowship with the Lord, while others spend their lunch hour with Him. I choose the morning, because by the evening, I am tired and not at my best. In my case, getting up early enough to take time with the Lord means disciplining myself to go to bed early, so that I have sufficient sleep and still plenty of time with the Lord. No matter what time you set aside for this fellowship, it takes commitment and self-discipline to keep to it.

There’s no set amount of time one needs to spend with the Lord, but you want to have sufficient time to read His Word, pray, and give Him time to speak to you. You’ll also want to allow time to write down what He shows you as you read, or what He speaks to your heart about. The amount of time you spend isn’t as important as the quality and what you do with the time.

It’s appropriate to begin time with our Creator by taking a few moments to be still, to acknowledge that we are entering into His presence, and to praise Him. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!⁵ It’s good to pray a short prayer committing the time to Him, asking Him to guide your time together, to take away any distractions or blockage you may have, and to open your eyes so you can take in the wonders of His teaching.⁶

Listen through reading

Next, you will want to let Him speak to you through His Word. Since His Word is His voice speaking to you, it’s worth taking time to engage with it, reading slowly, even out loud, thinking about what you are reading, asking yourself questions about it to make sure you understand what it’s saying and what it means in your life. It can even be helpful to read the verse or passage or chapter twice or more, in order to fully focus on and absorb the point it’s making, what it’s telling you about God or about yourself, and how it relates to or affects you.

While not always necessary, it can help to better understand what God is saying if you read through a complete book of the Bible rather than a chapter here and a verse there. Reading through a complete book over a number of sessions gives the overall picture of what that book teaches. Sometimes it’s helpful to read through a whole book quickly to get the overall view and then read it again slowly, spending more time on each passage.

Reading Scripture and thinking about how what you have read can be applied to your life is different from studying the Bible. Bible study is considered a Spiritual Discipline, and is distinct from the daily reading of Scripture. The focus of such study is learning about God’s Word, rather than focusing on what His Word is saying to you personally; so it would generally be done at a different time, apart from your daily fellowship time. Your time of reading His Word is a time to connect with Him, to contemplate, to prayerfully meditate on what you’ve read, allowing the Holy Spirit to show you ways to apply it in your life. Of course, applying Scripture often calls for us to make changes in our lives, as the Holy Spirit challenges the way we think or act. And that’s what being more like Jesus is about.

As you reflect on what God’s Word has said, it helps to ask yourself questions: What does this passage teach me? How can I apply it? Is it showing me an area in which I’m sinning? If so, what am I going to do about it? Is there a promise given? If so, am I meeting the conditions for receiving that promise? If not, what do I need to change in order to be able to claim the promise? Is this passage giving either a positive example which I should follow, or a negative one which I should avoid? Does what I’m reading bring to mind things or people I should be praying for? The idea is to put thought into what you’ve read and seek ways to apply it and to bring about change in your life through it.

When asking such questions, be open to the Lord giving you answers and showing you ways to apply what His Word has shown you. And when He does, write it down. Keeping a record of what the Lord shows you through His Word is a very helpful but often neglected aspect of our fellowship with Him. When you keep a record of what the Lord speaks to your heart about, either through His Word, His still small voice, or the gift of prophecy, you can go back later and review it and see if you have followed through on what He’s shown you and used what He’s said to you personally to grow in your relationship with Him. If we don’t write it down, it’s so easy to forget it.

Prayer

The next step, after listening to the Lord through His written Word, is to take time in prayer. This is your part of the conversation with God. Similar to starting the reading of Scripture with praise, it’s also appropriate to start our conversations with God in praise and adoration, giving Him the recognition which is rightly His as our Creator and Savior. Psalms 146–150, 1 Chronicles 29:10–13, and 16:25–36 offer great examples of praise to God.

We should also take time to thank and praise Him for what He’s done for us—for saving us, providing and caring for us, and answering our prayers. Think of specific things you can thank Him for.

Confessing our sins, asking His forgiveness, as well as seeking His help to turn away from them, also form part of our fellowship with Him. Becoming more Christlike means putting off sinful behavior, and part of that is confessing and turning away from and putting off our sins. Of course, He already knows our sins, but it’s our willingness to admit that we’ve committed them and to repent that brings forgiveness. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.⁷

We can and should petition the Lord for our personal requests, as Scripture teaches. Such requests may be for our physical or spiritual needs, or for coping with or overcoming life’s problems. It helps to keep a log of the requests you make and note when a prayer has been answered. Keeping track of answered prayer can be a powerful reminder that God loves you and He is involved in your life and is faithful to respond to your requests. And in cases where you see that He hasn’t answered your petition, it can be spiritually healthy to go back to Him in prayer to see if He wants to speak to you about why He didn’t.

Take time to intercede for others as well—family, friends, coworkers, people you are witnessing or ministering to, missionaries, your employer or employees, as well as for world situations and world leaders. You should also pray for those whom you don’t like or who don’t like you. You can consider praying for different people or categories of people on different days of the week.

Closing

Allotting time for your personal fellowship with the Lord—time dedicated to nurturing your relationship, to listening to Him through His Word, His Spirit, His voice—is vital if you want to be like Jesus. As we study His teachings, allow His Word to speak to us, convict us, challenge us, and change us, we are transformed more and more into His image and likeness. It’s in speaking to Him; sharing our hearts, burdens, worries, and fears; as well as our hopes, joys, and dreams that our relationship with Him grows. Interacting with the Lord, loving Him, spending time listening to Him, learning from Him, applying His Word, being in regular fellowship with Him, are all part of becoming like Him.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Psalm 42:1–2.

² Psalm 63:1.

³ Psalm 73:25.

⁴ Rick Warren, Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods, 237.

⁵ Psalm 100:4.

⁶ Psalm 119:18 NLT.

⁷ 1 John 1:9.

The Word of Life

02/04/24That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— ²the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— ³that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴And we are writing these things so that our^[a] joy may be complete.(1John1:1-4) ESV

05 – More Like Jesus: Fellowship with God (Part 1)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-03-15

When we desire to become more like Jesus, it’s helpful to find foundational principles we can build on. While Christlikeness is manifested in the decisions we make and our outward actions, it stems from who we are internally. Christlikeness develops within us as we are continually transformed into His image.

We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.¹

The key to such transformation is the gift of salvation, which we have received through Jesus’ death on the cross. It is through His sacrifice that we have the power to become new people, new creations in Him.² The reason salvation is the key is that due to the fall of humanity through Adam and Eve’s sin, there was a rupture in the original fellowship that God had with humankind. The original intent was for people to be in fellowship with God, but sin made a break in the fellowship they had at first. God, however, made a way for that fellowship to be renewed. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, fellowship has been restored, and those who have entered into that fellowship will remain in it for eternity.

God, through the sacrifice of His Son, made it possible for human beings to be reconciled with Him. Reconciling is defined as the ending of conflict, or the renewing of a friendly relationship between those who have been disputing. In Paul’s epistles, he speaks of reconciliation, of our being brought back into the family of God.

For 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. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.³

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.⁴

You, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death.⁵

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”⁶

The sin of Adam and Eve (and our individual sins) brought about a separation between God and humanity, but He made a way for us to once again enter into fellowship with Him. The cost of reestablishing that fellowship was huge: the suffering and death of His own Son, who took the punishment for all the sins of humanity upon Himself. When we think of the price God was willing to pay to bring us back into fellowship with Him, we should respond with awe at how important this must be to Him.

Understanding the importance of our fellowship with the Lord is one of the foundational principles for becoming more like Jesus. The Creator of everything wants to fellowship with us and was willing to go to great lengths to make it possible.

The apostle John wrote: Indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.⁷

The apostle Paul wrote: God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.⁸

The Greek word koinōnia is translated in Scripture as “fellowship,” as well as “communion” (in KJV), “communication,” and “to communicate.” Some synonyms for fellowship are companionship, friendship, partnership, cooperativeness, solidarity, and community. As Christians, we are called to be in fellowship with God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Being companions, friends, and partners with God means relationship. We have the blessing, honor, and privilege of having a personal relationship with God, and we are called to cultivate it.

Jesus set the example of taking time for His relationship with His Father.

Rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.⁹ Now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.¹⁰ He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.¹¹

The time Jesus spent with His Father was His source of spiritual strength. Even amidst the busyness of ministering to crowds, He made time to fellowship with God, listen to God, and receive instruction. I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.¹²We too are called to spend personal time with the Lord, and it should be a priority for us, as it was for Jesus.

True fellowship with God begins with being God-centered, recognizing that our most important relationship is with Him. (We have other relationships, but He is our primary one.) Considering all that God has done for us, bringing us into His family and making it possible for us to be in relationship with Him, we should delight in making our relationship and fellowship with Him a priority in our daily life.

This fellowship (companionship, friendship, partnership, and solidarity) entails spending time in His presence, communicating with Him, worshipping Him; having two-way communication with Him by speaking to Him in prayer, reading His Word and listening to what He has to say to us through it, and listening to His voice as He speaks to us personally.

If our aim is to be more like Jesus, it is vital to give priority to our fellowship with Him. If not, we can’t be healthy Christians who are growing and maturing spiritually. Just as we can’t be physically healthy without eating each day, or can’t stay clean without regular bathing, neither can we stay spiritually healthy or clean without being in regular fellowship with our Creator. It’s just not possible.

Of course, fellowshipping with the Lord means devoting time to it, and finding time in our busy lives is never easy. There are myriad duties, events, responsibilities in caring for others, daily life chores, commitments, and recreation and sleep, which all need to be fit into our schedules. These things need to be done, but if we are to live a God-centered life, then setting aside time for fellowship with God should be our top priority.

To give our relationship with the Lord the priority it deserves requires commitment and personal discipline. He laid down His life for us, making it possible to live with Him forever, so giving some part of each day back to Him in love and gratitude is the least we can do. It can feel like a sacrifice for me to set aside time to fellowship with the Lord, but when I compare the benefits between spending time with Him and staying up an extra hour at night watching TV or reading or browsing online, there’s simply no comparison. I might be entertained for an hour, but that comes and goes; whereas if I go to bed an hour earlier so that I can wake up an hour earlier for fellowship with the Lord, it has a noticeable positive effect on my life. Carving out time in our day to spend with God, no matter how difficult that may be, should be a permanent commitment for anyone who wants to live in communion and fellowship with the Lord.

Rather than looking at our time with the Lord as a chore or something we have to do, we should see it for what it really is—a wonderful privilege. We are granted access to God, our Father in heaven; to Jesus, who laid down His life for us; and to the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us. It’s a time with the one who is supposed to be our primary relationship. It’s a time to praise and thank Him for who He is and what He’s done for us. It’s time to connect with our Creator and Savior who sustains our life, who loves us, and has established a personal relationship with us.

When speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus told her: The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.¹³ We see that same concept in a verse that is often used in witnessing (and rightly so), although in its original context, it was said by Jesus to lukewarm Christians: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.¹⁴ Jesus desires fellowship with us.¹⁵

We take time daily with God because we love Him, because He deserves our praise, thankfulness, and devotion. Of course, there are benefits for us. When we take time in fellowship with the Lord, He responds. When we stop other activity and enter into His presence, we put ourselves in a position to listen to Him and receive His direction. He is able to guide us with His counsel,¹⁶ to teach us to do His will.¹⁷

As we spend regular time with God, we grow spiritually and we become more like Him. This is especially true when we spend time reading, meditating on, and applying His Word.

Jesus prayed:

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.¹⁸ Through living the truth of the Bible, we are sanctified, or made holy. If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.¹⁹ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”²⁰

As we spend time with the Lord in His Word, we are challenged to grow and change. His Word teaches us, points out our faults and sins, corrects us, changes us, and causes us to grow in right living.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.²¹

As we grow in our faith, we stop doing things that are in conflict with what His Word teaches; as we put off our old self and our sins, we become more godly, more like Jesus.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.²² Now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.²³

Fellowshipping with God is a priority in the lives of those who wish to be more like Jesus. Prayer, reading and absorbing God’s Word, praising and worshipping Him, talking with Him about our life—our hopes and dreams, triumphs and failures, confessing our sins, asking for His help, telling Him we love Him, listening to what He tells us—are all part of that fellowship, friendship, companionship, and partnership we are meant to have with Him.

(Part 2 of Fellowship with God will touch on ways to have meaningful time with God.)

Note

¹ 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV.

² 2 Corinthians 5:17.

³ Romans 5:10–11.

⁴ 2 Corinthians 5:18–19.

⁵ Colossians 1:21–22.

⁶ Galatians 4:4–6.

⁷ 1 John 1:3.

⁸ 1 Corinthians 1:9.

⁹ Mark 1:35.

¹⁰ Luke 5:15–16.

¹¹ Luke 22:39.

¹² John 5:30.

¹³ John 4:23.

¹⁴ Revelation 3:20.

¹⁵ Rick Warren, Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 235.

¹⁶ Psalm 73:24.

¹⁷ Psalm 143:10.

¹⁸ John 17:17.

¹⁹ 2 Timothy 2:21.

²⁰ 1 Peter 1:14–16 NIV.

²¹ 2 Timothy 3:16–17.

²² Ephesians 4:22–24 NIV.

²³ Colossians 3:8–10.

The Great Commandment

02/03/24And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31) ESV

04 – More Like Jesus: Loyalty to God

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-03-01

Loyalty to God

If we desire to become more like Jesus, the logical starting point is to believe as He did—to hold those beliefs close in our hearts, to embed them in our being. It’s clear that Jesus believed and lived according to what His Father revealed in Scripture—the revelation of God through the Old Testament.

One of the most significant things Jesus taught through what He said and how He lived was the vital importance of God in our lives. To Jesus, His Father was everything. He was totally dedicated to and dependent on His Father, and He taught His followers to live in the same way. Godliness and Christlikeness begin with embracing God as a living and personal all-powerful Being who created all that is, and who loves and cares for every human being. He is not some faraway entity that created the universe, wound it up like a watch, and then walked away, letting it run on its own.

The whole Old Testament story is one of God’s interaction with humanity, and in particular with the descendants of Abraham—the people through whom He chose to reveal Himself. Through the story of God’s interaction with humanity as told in the Old Testament, we understand that God is living, personal, spirit, holy, righteous, just, patient, merciful, loving, self-existent, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, and present everywhere. Because God is our creator and the sustainer of our being, He is the most important thing in our lives, our most important relationship. He deserves our love, worship, devotion, obedience, and allegiance.

We see Jesus’ love for, worship of, and devotion, obedience, and allegiance to His Father throughout the Gospels. This shows us that being Christlike fundamentally begins with a personal commitment to God. The succinct yet overarching overview of that commitment is seen in the first of the ten commandments which God gave to Israel after He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.¹

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He made the same point with other words:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.²

Having “no other gods before me” means that we are to put nothing in our lives above God. This doesn’t mean we don’t love and care about other things—we do, and deeply. But the ultimate priority is loving God above all else. He is, after all, the creator of all things, and has created all that we love—our parents, spouse, children, brothers and sisters, friends, pets, etc. In Jesus’ words and throughout the Old Testament, there is the expectation that our desire for God, our willingness to love and serve Him, to follow after Him, is pursued with all our heart and soul.

What does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.³

This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.⁴

Obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul.⁵

Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.⁶

Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.⁷

We are to be loyal to God and His Word. This expectation of loyalty is seen in the Old Testament, based on the covenant God made with Israel—that He would be their God, and they would be His people. As such, they were to keep God’s commands; and God, in turn, would give them a land to dwell in and call their own, and care and provide for them.

The same expectation of loyalty to a covenant is expressed within the New Testament. Jesus shedding His blood for us has brought about a new, better, and eternal covenant between God and His people. This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.⁸ This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.⁹ He is the mediator of a new covenant.¹⁰ Our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant.¹¹

We also hear the expectation of love and fidelity to Jesus when He says that loyalty to Him surpasses loyalty to family. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.¹² The principle that Jesus lived and which Scripture teaches is that our first priority is to love God (who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) with all of our hearts. We love Him first and foremost; and then we love our parents, spouse, children, family, etc. Loving God most does not take away from the deep love we have for others, but it puts it in proper perspective.

Loving God first and foremost is part of being like Jesus, as this was what Jesus did—so much so that He yielded to His Father’s will and went to the cross so that we could become God’s children, members of His family.

Worship

The natural outcome of loving the one who created, loves, and cares for us, the one we are loyal to, is worship. We worship Him for who He is and what He’s done.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.¹³

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.¹⁴

In the Old Testament, worship included prayer, but it mainly focused on the sacrifices offered in the temple—sacrifices of animals as well as of flour, oil, and wine. When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, He spoke of a difference that was coming, a time when the place where people worshipped would be unimportant. Instead of a sacred place, like the temple for the Jews or Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans, the believer would become the place where the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit make their home.¹⁵

If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.¹⁶

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”¹⁷

Who or what we worship has to do with who or what has first place in our lives, who we are loyal to. When Satan tempted Jesus, he tried to persuade Jesus to switch His loyalties, to seduce Him through the riches and glory of this world:

The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”¹⁸

Part of being more like Jesus is to model our loyalty to God after His loyalty to His Father; we are to worship God only, and not put anything else before Him.

The Father

Jesus made reference to His Father over 100 times in the Gospels, and in doing so He conveyed the importance of having a right belief about, understanding of, and relationship with God. God revealed His nature and character to His people within the Old Testament,¹⁹ and more was revealed through the words Jesus spoke and the actions He took during the years He lived on earth.

Jesus deepened the understanding of the relationship individuals could have with God. He brought to the fore the concept of God as our Father and us as His children, and our relating to Him as such. Through this, He helped make the relationship we have with God more personal. We’re His children, and He loves us and takes care of us. We can fully and completely trust Him with every aspect of our lives. We can cease from worry because He knows and loves us, and knows what we need.

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him … Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” … Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.²⁰

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!²¹

If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.²² The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.²³ I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.²⁴

While God was described as a father on several occasions in the Old Testament,²⁵ He is never directly addressed as such. Jesus introduced the term Father as an intimate form of address to God. He used the Aramaic word Abba, which was a term of endearment used for one’s father. By introducing this term, Jesus conveyed the concept of intimacy and affection. He made the point that the Father loves us and treats us as His children, and we can relate to Him with familial intimacy, as one would relate to a loving father.

The apostle Paul points out,

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.²⁶

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.²⁷

While Jesus is uniquely God the Son, we are also God’s sons and daughters, and the Father loves us as such, cares about us, and values each of us. The relationship we are meant to have with God is not meant to be distant, cold, and fearful, but full of love and trust.

Knowing the relationship we are meant to have with our heavenly Father should help us understand and believe in our value as individuals. We have value to God as His children, and because we do, we should recognize our own self-worth.

Jesus revealed to us His relationship with His Father—a relationship of love and trust—and in doing so, set the example of the kind of relationship we are to have with God. Being more like Jesus means being serious about growing in our relationship with God, loving Him, being loyal to Him, putting and keeping Him first in our life and in our love. Understanding that God is our creator, that He is infinitely greater than we are and yet loves us, should cause us to praise and worship Him, love Him, obey Him, and desire to do the things that glorify Him.

Jesus was focused on God and lived His life in complete surrender to His Father’s will. He reflected His Father in all that He did. As followers of Jesus, who wish to imitate Him, we too should strive to focus on God, doing our best to love and worship Him from the depths of our being, obey His Word, and live in a way that reflects His attributes and brings Him glory.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ Exodus 20:2–3.

² Mark 12:30.

³ Deuteronomy 10:12.

⁴ Deuteronomy 26:16.

⁵ Deuteronomy 30:2.

⁶ Joshua 22:5.

⁷ 1 Samuel 12:24.

⁸ Luke 22:20.

⁹ Hebrews 7:22.

¹⁰ Hebrews 9:15.

¹¹ Hebrews 13:20.

¹² Matthew 10:37.

¹³ Psalm 29:2.

¹⁴ Psalm 95:6–7.

¹⁵ Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John, A Commentary, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003), 617.

¹⁶ John 14:23.

¹⁷ John 4:21–24.

¹⁸ Matthew 4:8–10.

¹⁹ For a more in-depth understanding of the nature of God, see the articles on The Nature and Character of God in The Heart of It All series.

²⁰ Matthew 6:8, 31–33.

²¹ Matthew 7:11.

²² John 12:26.

²³ John 16:27.

²⁴ John 20:17.

²⁵ Deuteronomy 32:6; 2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:13, 22:10, 28:6; Psalm 68:5, 89:26; Isaiah 63:16; Jeremiah 3:4, 19; Malachi 1:6, 2:10.

²⁶ Romans 8:15–16 NIV.

²⁷ Galatians 4:6–7 NIV.

The New Life

02/02/24 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. ¹⁹They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. ²⁰But that is not the way you learned Christ!— ²¹assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²²to put off your old self,^[^f^] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. ²⁶Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and give no opportunity to the devil. ²⁸Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. ²⁹Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³²Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:17-32) ESV

03 – More Like Jesus: Raising Our Sails

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-02-09

Raising Our Sails¹

Anything that we want to do well at in life requires effort. Those who are tops in their field, whatever it may be, in large part achieve what they do because they work hard at it. The same holds true for Christians growing in Christlikeness and becoming the people God intended for us to be. It takes work as we consciously and deliberately develop godly beliefs, habits, attitudes, thinking, and behavior. It also calls for intentionally letting go of wrong beliefs, harmful habits, ungodly attitudes, erroneous thinking, and bad behavior.

Throughout the New Testament, we read about the concept of “putting off” or removing aspects of our lives—both inner thoughts and feelings, and the resultant outward actions—which fight against Christlikeness. Meanwhile, we are to be “putting on” or adding to our lives those things which develop godliness. The idea of putting something off clearly calls for a decision to be made and action to be taken. The same holds true for putting something on. Let’s look at some New Testament passages about putting off, followed by some which speak of putting on:

Putting Off

When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry … you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.²

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor.³ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.⁴ Put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.⁵ So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.⁶Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.⁷

Putting On

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light … put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.⁹ Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and … be renewed in the spirit of your minds … put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.¹⁰

Clearly, doing as these passages advise takes effort. “Put to death,” “put away,” and “put on” are all actions. None of these things—whether putting on kindness, humility, patience, compassion, or putting away anger, malice, covetousness, evil desire—happens naturally. They are the fruit of a life transformed and empowered by the Holy Spirit as we follow what Scripture teaches, as we apply our faith to our life. They have to do with intentional spiritual growth, with the development of Christian character, which, like any kind of training, involves disciplining oneself to do certain things in a certain way. Once one has put in the time and effort to train, to break old habits, and to build new ones, then “putting off” the negatives and “putting on” the positives becomes more natural, as we are gradually changed by the Holy Spirit.

When speaking of putting effort toward disciplining oneself, I don’t mean to infer that this is something we can do on our own, without God’s help or grace—we most certainly can’t. But neither can we expect the Holy Spirit to change us without any effort or action on our part. We struggle with sin throughout our lives, and while God forgives us for our sins, we are expected to endeavor to avoid sinning. We are to “put to death” and “put away” those things which draw us away from Christlikeness, and to “put on” a new self, to live as best we can as the new creature that we have become in Christ.

I think most of us try to do this, and we are moderately successful at it. However, the more I’ve studied and learned about our faith, the more deeply I’ve understood the significant difference that living what Scripture teaches makes in one’s life. Putting in the effort and self-discipline to intentionally work toward growth in Christlikeness brings greater happiness, relationship with God, sense of fulfillment, and joyful living.

I recently read the analysis of a survey by Michael A. Zigarelli, a Christian author, showing comparisons between what the author called low-virtue, average-virtue, and high-virtue Christians.¹¹ He was trying to find out what made high-virtue Christians different. His results showed that of the 5,000 Christians surveyed, most were average-virtue Christians. He then went on to identify the differences between the average and the high-virtue Christians. Those he categorized as high-virtue were those who put effort into doing specific things which resulted in Christian character growth. He also made the point that average-virtue Christians could, with some extra effort, become high-virtue ones.

Zigarelli pointed out that each Christian has a vital, active role to play in his or her own spiritual growth. Some believers might object to the concept of the individual playing a role in their spiritual growth, saying that it is the Holy Spirit who does the work to change us, to transform us into the likeness of Christ. That it is the fruit of the Spirit, not our own efforts, that we see manifested as Christlike character attributes. And there is truth to that.

But as Zigarelli wrote:

The more complete conceptualization of the growth process is that God has a role and we have a role. The interplay of those roles has been likened to the task of sailing a boat from one place to another. To get a sailboat from point A to point B, two crucial elements are required: we need some wind blowing toward our destination, and we need to put the sail into position to catch that wind. You can probably guess the analogy here. God’s Holy Spirit is the wind, seeking to gradually move us toward Christlikeness. We are the sailors, needing to raise the sail; that is, to do something that puts us in the position to catch God’s Spirit, so that the Spirit will move us along toward the desired destination.¹²

If we seek more Christlikeness in our lives, we need to “raise our sails.” How do we do that? We achieve this in part by doing the things that help to develop Christlike character, and by giving focus to specific attitudes and actions that put our sails into position to catch the wind of the Spirit, which will move us to our destination. Practically speaking, becoming Christlike means altering some aspects of our present character, and such change is difficult. It takes intentionality and discipline. However, being moved by the wind of God is well worth whatever the cost.

Some time back, I wrote a series of articles on the Spiritual Disciplines. These covered Bible intake, prayer, stewardship, simplicity, giving and tithing, wise use of time, fasting, solitude and silence, worship, evangelism, fellowship, confession, learning and studying, journaling, service, and celebration. Practicing the Spiritual Disciplines is one of the major ways of developing Christlikeness. Since I have previously covered this aspect of spiritual growth at some length, I won’t spend time in this series reviewing each of these disciplines, though I will touch on a few of them. But I highly recommend that you read or reread these articles to complement this series, since these two concepts are inseparably intertwined.¹³

In this series, I’m focusing on developing Christlikeness within us, which entails the serious character-building work it takes to live the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament. This has to do with intentionally living in the kingdom of God. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus taught about the kingdom of God, sometimes referred to as the kingdom of heaven. He taught that the kingdom is both future and present. Living within the kingdom in the present means that we allow God to rule and reign in our lives, acknowledging and honoring Him as the one who created us. It means seeking to live in a way that honors and gives glory to Him, by doing our best to live according to His words in Scripture.

In order to become more Christlike, to live more kingdom-centered lives, we need to put in effort to align our lives, decisions, actions, and spirit with God and His Word. Doing so means “putting off” some aspects of ourselves and our character, and “putting on” aspects of Christlikeness. It means cultivating the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.¹⁴ As we do our part to raise the sails, we grow in Christlikeness.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note:

¹ Many points in this article are summarized from Cultivating Christian Character, by Michael A. Zigarelli (Colorado Springs: Purposeful Design Publications, 2005).

² Colossians 3:4–5, 8–10.

³ Ephesians 4:25.

⁴ Ephesians 4:31.

⁵ James 1:21.

⁶ 1 Peter 2:1.

⁷ Hebrews 12:1.

⁸ Colossians 3:12–15.

⁹ Romans 13:12,14.

¹⁰ Ephesians 4:22–24.

¹¹ Zigarelli, Cultivating Christian Character.

¹² Ibid., 39.

¹³ To find more details on these disciplines, I recommend the following books, which I drew from in preparing the “Spiritual Disciplines” series: Celebration of Discipline, by Richard J. Foster; Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, by Donald S. Whitney; The Spirit of the Disciplines, by Dallas Willard.

¹⁴ Galatians 5:22–23.

Walk in Love

02/01/24Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ²And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God

⁴Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. ⁵For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5:1-6) ESV

Walk in Love

02/01/24 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ²And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

³But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. ⁴Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. ⁵For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5:1-6) ESV

02 – More Like Jesus: Introduction and Background (Part 2)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-01-12

The first part of this introduction to the More Like Jesus series touched on the concept of being godly and Christlike, as expressed in the Old Testament and the Gospels. In this part, the focus will be on Christlikeness as expressed in the Epistles.¹

The early church came to understand that the covenant-making God of Israel had acted on behalf of humanity through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. God’s plan, spoken of within the Old Testament, was now unfolding. The purpose was to call a people from among all nations who would belong to God, be new-covenant partners, and live in the light of God’s glorious act of salvation.

Through salvation, those who are “in Christ” are transformed:

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.² As new creations in Christ, one of our goals is to live accordingly, to be Christlike. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.³

The apostle Paul exhorted the churches he planted to imitate him.

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.⁴ I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ.⁵

Paul taught that we are to have the same attitudes as Christ:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.⁶

Christlikeness entails exhibiting the character of Christ, which is made possible through the fruit of the Holy Spirit within us. We see this fruit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ⁷—modeled in the life of Jesus.

Exhibiting the character of Christ doesn’t happen without inner conflict. Salvation doesn’t bring an end to the tendency to sin; it doesn’t automatically curb our sinfulness. Therefore we are told to “put off” some aspects of our lives and to “put on” Christlikeness.

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. … Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.⁸

Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and … be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and … put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.⁹

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.¹⁰

Stanley Grenz wrote:

Believers must “put off” one reality and “put on” another: Put off the flesh, and put on the spirit. Put off the old life, and put on the new. Put off the works of the flesh, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put off the deeds of darkness, and put on the deeds of light. In this vivid manner Paul characterized the Christian ethic as forsaking the old life so as to live in the new manner.¹²

Of course, putting off and putting on, living in a new manner, doesn’t come naturally; it takes diligence and self-discipline. Paul spoke of it as training:

Train yourself for godliness.¹³ Being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine.¹⁴ Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.¹⁵

Christlikeness takes effort and self-discipline. It takes intentional “putting off” and “putting on,” by doing what is necessary to align our inner attitudes with God’s Spirit, Word, and will. It takes commitment to spiritual growth, which results in inward transformation, which makes it possible for us to be more God-centered and Christlike. The willingness to put forth the effort and self-discipline is motivated by our love for Jesus and gratitude for the sacrifice He made for us. We fight the good fight of faith, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, and love because we have dedicated ourselves to God, who has reconciled us in Christ.

Because we are eternally grateful for God’s love and compassion, we desire to live “worthy” lives—worthy of the calling we are given,¹⁶ worthy of the God who has called us,¹⁷ worthy of the Lord,¹⁸ and worthy of the gospel of Christ.¹⁹

Of course, we are not capable of living worthy and Christ-centered lives in our own strength; the power to do so comes from the Holy Spirit. Grenz wrote,

The same indwelling Spirit who mediates salvation through the believers’ union with Christ also provides the divine power necessary for Christian living. The indwelling Spirit enables us to live on a new plane of existence.²⁰

The Holy Spirit is the way to being Christ-minded, as those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.²¹ Through the Holy Spirit we experience moral transformation by being changed into the image of Christ.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.²²

The presence of the Holy Spirit within empowers us to live transformed lives. That empowerment, coupled with our gratitude toward and love for God, our desire to emulate Jesus, and the personal commitment to invest in the necessary effort and self-discipline, makes it possible to be more like Jesus.

We’ve seen that the Old Testament, Gospels, and Epistles all speak of living in a manner which reflects God into our world. It’s clear that we are called to be holy, loving, kind, merciful, compassionate, and humble—all of which mirror aspects of God’s nature and character. As evidenced in Scripture, there is an expectation that as the people of God, those who were brought into relationship with Him through the sacrifice of His Son, we will wish to live in alignment with what He has revealed through His Word about Himself and His wishes.

Reading and studying about living a more godly life has been enlightening for me and has helped me in my effort to live my faith. In this series of articles, I’ll be sharing the things that have helped me, and each article will touch on some element of Christlikeness and Christian character. Some will be in a practical vein, while others will focus more on spiritual concepts. The topics of some articles will flow from one into the next, while other articles will stand on their own. My prayer is that in reading these articles you will gain fresh insight as to how to better reflect Jesus in your lives.

(To read the next article in this series, click here.)

Note

¹ This article is a summary of chapter three of Stanley J. Grenz’s book The Moral Quest (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1997).

² 2 Corinthians 5:17.

³ Ephesians 5:1–2.

⁴ 1 Corinthians 11:1.

⁵ 1 Corinthians 4:16–17.

⁶ Philippians 2:3–7 NIV.

⁷ Galatians 5:22–23.

⁸ Romans 13:12,14.

⁹ Ephesians 4:22–24.

¹⁰ Colossians 3:9–10.

¹¹ Colossians 3:12–14.

¹² Grenz, The Moral Quest, 122.

¹³ 1 Timothy 4:7.

¹⁴ 1 Timothy 4:6.

¹⁵ 1 Timothy 6:11–12.

¹⁶ I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called (Ephesians 4:1).

¹⁷ We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory (I Thessalonians 2:12).

¹⁸ So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).

¹⁹ Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27).

²⁰ Grenz, The Moral Quest, 126.

²¹ Romans 8:5.

²² 2 Corinthians 3:18.

The Ministry of Reconciliation.

01/31/24 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.^[b] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling^[c] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹For 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 5:16-21) ESV

01 – More Like Jesus: Introduction and Background (Part 1)

More Like Jesus

Peter Amsterdam

2016-01-05

One of my all-time favorite songs is “I Want to Be More Like Jesus.” Whenever I hear or sing it, I’m reminded of a key aspect of living my faith. It serves as a short prayer that encompasses an important part of our faith journey as Christians—the development of Christlikeness in our lives.

Take these things that hinder me
Take my pride and vanity
Help me understand You
Teach me how to love You
Take my self and hypocrisy
Let me live in simplicity
Help me burn my bridges
Put Your Word within me
Take my heartache and emptiness
Deliver me from all worldliness
Take the chains that bind me
Put Your arms around me

Chorus:

I wanna be more, I wanna be more like Jesus
I wanna be more, I need to be more like You

(Lyrics by Mylon Lefevre, adapted by Sam Halbert)

Aren’t those beautiful words? I think we all want to be more like Jesus—to have more of His goodness and godliness in our lives, and less of the weights and sins that hinder us. While Christians are forgiven for our sins because we have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice, this doesn’t cause us to automatically stop sinning, experiencing the effects of sin in our lives, and affecting others through our sins. Our salvation, the reconciliation with God we receive through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, is not only meant to affect our life in the hereafter; it’s also meant to transform the life we live today, every day.

It is within this daily transformation, this becoming more Christlike, that we begin to experience to an extent the life God originally meant for humanity to live before sin entered the world. Through this transformation, we develop the relationship with our Creator we were meant to have, and we experience more joy, peace, happiness, and fulfillment because we live with a deeper understanding of God and a fuller relationship with Him.

Our overall focus as Christians is on living life as the people of God, the new creations that Scripture says we are. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.¹ In this series we will look at the ways and means of living and growing in Christlikeness by reviewing the example of Jesus’ life and what He and His early followers taught about living as new creatures in Christ.

This series, More Like Jesus, will consist of several articles that each touch on an element of Christlikeness and Christian character.

In order to better understand the concept of being more like Jesus, it helps to look at some aspects of the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Epistles. Connecting reference points throughout Scripture can help bring deeper understanding of the importance of imitating Christ.

The Old Testament²

One of the main storylines conveyed throughout the Old Testament is the understanding that God’s relationship with humanity is one of covenant.³

Scripture tells us that the Creator of all things entered into a covenant with humanity whom He created. Scripture expresses it this way:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.⁴

Later, God renewed His universal covenant with humanity when He said to Noah:

God then entered a specific covenant with Abraham, telling him that through him He would bring forth a great nation, and that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”⁶

“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.”⁷

Centuries later, God delivered Abraham’s descendants from slavery and oppression in Egypt, and because of this they became His covenant people.⁸ As partakers of their covenant with God, there were things that the Hebrew people had to do to keep their side of the covenant agreement. The general narrative of the rest of the Old Testament is that God was continually faithful to the covenant in spite of Israel’s consistent failure to keep it.

Because Israel was in covenant with a holy God, they were meant to be holy as well. They were called to be a “holy assembly.”⁹ Holiness involved obedience to God—obedience given out of love and gratitude.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.¹⁰ “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes.’” ¹¹

Righteousness for the Jewish people involved obedience, and that obedience meant separating themselves from what was deemed defiled, not worshiping other gods, and being consecrated for God’s own use. Besides centering their lives on living according to God’s mandates, it also meant living as a community of faith.

Author Stanley Grenz wrote:

Being God’s holy people did not end with the God-ward direction of life, however. Being in covenant with God demanded that Israel be a holy community, a people who knew that covenant status must translate into proper conduct toward others. Holy living extended to all dimensions of human interaction, including aspects as diverse as family life and commerce. And holiness demanded concern for the less fortunate; it placed limits on vengeance;¹² it even required proper care for animals.¹³…Holiness did not focus primarily on blind obedience to an externally imposed set of laws as ends in themselves. Instead it involved taking seriously the responsibility implicated in receiving the gift of divine grace.¹⁴

Being God’s covenant partner meant living in a way that was patterned after God and His dealings with Israel. Through His words to them, God revealed His character to Israel. They learned that He was faithful, holy, just, and merciful. He described Himself as “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”¹⁵ The prophet Micah said: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?¹⁶

Because God revealed His character to the covenant people, they were meant to imitate Him. They were to be holy, just, merciful, loving, and forgiving.

The Gospels

The Hebrew people looked forward to the time when God would act on their behalf as was spoken of in Scripture. God met this expectation by sending Jesus, and through His life, death, and resurrection, brought about a new covenant.

[Jesus] took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”¹⁷

This new covenant was foretold in the book of Jeremiah:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people…. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”¹⁸

In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees held that to be righteous and holy required strict adherence to the Law given by God, and that the people of God were those who rigidly followed the Law. They focused on adhering to the letter of the Law, without giving proper attention to the principles of love, mercy, forgiveness, etc. which stood behind the Law. They believed God was pleased because they obeyed the rules of Jewish piety and followed the Law to the letter. Jesus disagreed with them. He proclaimed that the people of God were not those who appeared to be righteous due to their strict law-keeping, but rather those who were penitent, who knew they were sinners, regretted their transgressions, and humbly asked God for mercy and forgiveness. God accepts such people, and rejects the proud who claim they have no need of forgiveness. He made the point that we can’t merit God’s favor by what we do; we can’t make ourselves righteous in God’s sight. Instead, our righteousness comes from God, freely bestowed through unconditional grace.

While the Pharisees of His day felt that outward acts of obedience to the Law were the key to righteousness, Jesus focused inwardly, on the condition of the heart. He was concerned about character, motivation, and the heart. He knew that the “interior” problem needed to be remedied, that inward piety and proper motivation—not simply outward conformity to the Law—was the mark of true obedience and love for God. The key to remedying the “interior” problem, to becoming righteous, was salvation through Jesus’ sacrificial death. Righteousness is God’s gracious gift, given to us through the sacrifice of His Son. But this gracious gift isn’t the end of the story; it’s only the beginning. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, believers become the people of God, partakers of the new covenant. In gratitude for what God has done for us through Jesus, there is the expectation that we will reflect God into our world, that we will live in a manner that brings Him glory. It is here where living Jesus’ teachings comes into play.

Like the Hebrew people of the Old Testament, we know the revealed character of God. However, added to that, we have the life of Jesus—God Incarnate—as a further example of God’s love, mercy, and goodness. Jesus revealed further truth about God through His teachings and example. He preached the kingdom of God, He taught us to understand God as our Father, and He lived His life as a pure reflection of His Father.

Within the Gospels, we find that Jesus pointed to His own example as the pattern for godly living. For example, He challenged His disciples to love each other according to the pattern of His love for them. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.¹⁹ This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.²⁰ He exemplified submission to His Father’s will, which eventually took Him to the cross. My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.²¹

Jesus dramatized the life He desired for His disciples through symbolic acts, as seen on the occasion when He washed their feet. Jesus took water and a towel, and washed the feet of each disciple, a task that a servant would normally do when guests entered a dwelling.²² When He was done, He announced the symbolic nature of His act:

Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.²³

When His disciples were disputing which one was to be regarded as the greatest, Jesus said to them:

The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.²⁴

Jesus wasn’t merely conveying a message about doing the specific things He had done; it was deeper than that. He wasn’t advocating mere imitation of His actions, but rather stating that His disciples are to have the kind of devotion which connects them to Him at the deepest level of their person. Being devoted to Jesus leads to increasing conformity to Him. After washing the feet of His disciples, He didn’t admonish them to simply love as they had seen Him love. Instead, He said: Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.²⁵ They were to love as He had loved them. Each of them had personally experienced His love directly, and with that love, they were to love others.

The motivation to be more like Jesus doesn’t come from admiration for a historical character whom we want to emulate. It is the outflow of gratitude and love to the one whose love we have personally experienced.

Stanley Grenz explains:

We do not look to him only as the main character in a story from a bygone era on whose life we can reflect and thereby draw instruction. Rather he has loved us and has sacrificed his life for us. To this personal experience of Jesus’ great love, we find ourselves compelled to respond with gratitude and love. Hence, rather than merely patterning our lives after his, we enter into relationship with him. In this relationship we desire to live as Christ would have us live, that is, to have Christ formed in us.²⁶

Jesus’ death on the cross radically changed our lives, saved our souls, and made it possible for us to be in relationship with God, with whom we will spend eternity. Gratitude and love for Jesus laying down His life so that we could become members of God’s family is the underlying motive for wanting to be like Jesus.

In part two of this “Introduction and Background,” we will cover this concept as expressed in the Epistles.

God Is Love

01/30/24 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God (abides in him. ¹⁷By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot^[a] love God whom he has not seen. ²¹And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:7-21) ESV