Prayer Answers #2

Posted on 12/21/2008 by Paul Pavao

My story today is old, but it’s one of my favorites, so I want to tell it. Tomorrow I’m going to ask the wife to remind me of some more recent ones. There’s so many that they don’t stand out as awe-inspiring any more. It’s funny, I’ve been in arguments with atheists (and even one Christian!) on the internet about answers to prayer, and as my stories multiplied they started suggesting I was lying. At the start, they told me that the prayers of Christians just evaporate and are pretty much never answered in any meaningful way. I don’t think they were used to a Christian giving them the kind of stories I was giving them, and so many.

This story happened in 1986. Sorry it’s so old, but it did happen to me, and it was pretty amazing. I was in Germany, in the military, and I got a letter from my sister asking for prayer for my nephew, her son, Joseph. He had gotten an infection in his eye, and the doctors couldn’t stop it and didn’t know what it was. It had spread slowly over a year and a half, and the Air Force (she was military, too) had moved her to Andrews AFB so she could be near Bethesda hospital for treatment. By the time she wrote me, my nephew was blind in one eye and had 50% sight in the other.

When I got the letter, I rushed over to a couple’s house (Dan & Melcy Kanitz–Dan, if you find this post, I’d love to find you!) to pray. We prayed, and it was one of those times we could feel the Lord’s presence powerfully. I knew our prayers were being answered. I just had the nagging feeling that we weren’t quite done. We prayed on for quite a while, but I couldn’t get that feeling to go away.

Two weeks later–which means my sister sent the letter a week after we prayed, since mail took a week to Germany at that time–my sister sent me a letter saying that the infection had receded tremendously and that my nephew had all his sight in both eyes. The doctors said he just had a small infection left in one eye, and they believed they’d be able to treat it.

My sister’s letter had held out no hope of finding a cure for my nephew’s infection. A week after we prayed, he was almost entirely cured. I have always believed God left that nagging “not quite done” feeling so that when the infection receded “not quite” all the way, we’d be all the more certain it was prayer and not coincidental timing that had resulted in my nephew’s healing.

The atheists and agnostics on that internet message board I mentioned had no problem writing this event off to coincidence. Of course, once I started adding the myriad other answers to prayer over the twenty years since, coincidence started sounding more and more ridiculous as an explanation. It didn’t matter how much they said “you can only know anything for certain if you conduct a double-blind study.” Yeah, right.

I don’t believe God wants to prove anything to the world by answers to prayer. He wants to prove his power to the world by filling us with an other-worldly love and righteousness, and binding us together in the unity that only a heavenly family can have (Jn. 17:20-23 & 13:34-35). However, it is good for us to be encouraged and our faith built, especially in the midst of a country as unbelieving in the supernatural as America is. That unbelief limits and offends God, who created everything. Let us remind one another of his deeds and proclaim his glory!

Remember, you can add your prayer stories to this series by emailing me.

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Answers to Prayer

Posted on 12/20/2008 by Paul Pavao

I want to do a series of posts on answers to prayer. I heard a neat one on the radio yesterday that I’ll start with.

I have disabled comments, but you can email me with the link to the left. I am looking for more prayer stories to post, but please limit it to stories you are confident really happened. No stories from someone you were told about through someone in your church. Either you need to be an eyewitness or someone you personally know and trust.

The first story here violates the standard I just gave. However, I will tell you that this was called into the Dave Ramsey show on Friday afternoon, Dec. 19. As a caveat, let me point out that I think Dave Ramsey’s financial advice is good. It is horrifying to me, however, that a show can start every day with the statement that its purpose includes “the pursuit of piles of cash,” yet still end with “the only way to financial peace is to know the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.” The last statement, as wonderful as it is, isn’t even true. Lots of people have financial peace by following great financial advice like the advice Dave Ramsey gives, whether or not they know Jesus. If you know Jesus, then you’ll know that he doesn’t approve of “the pursuit of piles of cash.” He considers it “foolish” (Luk. 12:20-21). He prefers the pursuit of holiness (Heb. 12:14).

Okay, so this lady calls and says she was frightened because she was “unexpectedly expecting.” She was concerned about their financial ability to take care of this child. Then one day she ran across one of those adopt-a-child-overseas charities, and one child available had the same birthdate as her child. (The birthdate matched her first son; the one she was expecting was her second son.) She said she felt very impressed by God to support this child despite their limited finances.

She obeyed God, and soon after she was told that she won $50,000 in an essay contest she had entered. She at first was thrilled by God’s blessing, but then she was scared. She said she knows that God often provides even before we know our own need, and she wondered what calamity would lead to her needing $50,000. As it turned out, she spent the last few months of her pregnancy on bed rest, without a job, and her and her husband did need the $50,000. On the other hand, it was enough.

She was terribly excited about this story and gave great praise to God for taking care of her family. She emphasized the importance of obeying when God speaks. It was really neat.

At the same time, we at Rose Creek Village are also going through an answer to prayer. One of our young men, now 18, was born with heart defects. Repairing the major problem had to wait until he was through puberty. So a couple years ago he had heart valve replacement surgery at Le Bonheur in Memphis. Recently, though, there were a lot of problems, so he had to go back in for further, possibly even more comprehensive, open heart surgery.

We didn’t only pray for the surgery to go well. We prayed for the surgeon and staff to see God in Austin and the others visiting him at the hospital.

Thursday, two days ago, Austin went through 9 hours of surgery. The surgeon came out exhausted, saying that  he’d left the closing up to younger helpers; he was too tired. He said it went well, that they fixed several problems, and that Austin would be at 100% for the first time. Then he added, “You sure could see God in that young man. He just glowed.”

Probably just a coincidence, huh? If you have any such “coincidences” you want to tell me about or for me to put up in this series of posts, email me.

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A Growth that Comes from God: What Every Joint Supplies

Posted on 12/18/2008 by Paul Pavao

In both Ephesians 4:16 and Colossians 2:19 Paul says that the church grows from “what every joint supplies.” Have you ever thought about what that’s saying?

Paul likes to use the human body as an illustration of the body of Christ. He spends a whole chapter on it in the first letter to the Corinthians, but the illustration sure seems to break down here in Ephesians 4:16. Is a human body really nourished by what its joints supply???

The human body may not be nourished by its joints, but the spiritual body of Christ most certainly is. We tend to think that its individual members of the body that cause our growth in Christ. We depend on evangelists, pastors, and teachers (and if we’re charismatic, then on apostles and prophets, too) to build the body of Christ, but that’s not what Paul said in Ephesians 4. Paul says that the job of these church leaders is to equip the saints to build the body of Christ. The leaders don’t do it, the members do.

And how do they do this? That’s where the supply of the joints comes in. Colossians 2:19 says that what the joints and ligaments supply produces a growth that comes from God. We are a spiritual people, not a physical people. We grow together with a growth that comes from God. We do not grow by mental means, by careful teaching, or by outlines and systematic theologies. We grow with a growth that comes from God.

What supplies that growth? The joints. The joining of the members to one another produces the supply needed for growth. It’s not what the members supply, it’s what the joining of the members supply.

If we understand the importance of loving one another and of unity, then it’s easy for us to understand how the joining of the members supplies the growth of the body. Love is at the center of all we do as Christians. The greatest commandments are to love God and love one another.

American Christians tend to think that they grow by themselves. We think that our supply will come from Bible study or prayer. These are good things, of course, and we need to do those things if we are to grow, but those things will not supply our growth. If we are not also joined to others, we are likely to simply become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. The Bible says that! In Hebrews 3:13 it says that if we are not exhorting or encouraging one another every day, then we are in danger of hardening by sin’s deceitfulness. Look it up! It’s really there!

Colossians 2:19 says that it’s the joints and ligaments–the things that connect us to one another–that supplies the growth of the “whole body.” Ephesians 4:16 says that the “whole body” increases. Ephesians 4:13 speaks of “we all” coming to the unity of the faith and to the full measure of the stature of Christ. We are to be growing together, supplied by the joining of ourselves to one another. That joining is seen in our “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15) and exhorting and encouraging each other every day (Heb. 3:13).

Don’t underestimate the importance of this. Jesus prayed that we would be “perfect in unity,” joined just as he and the Father are, so that the world would know that the Father sent him (Jn. 17:20-23). It’s our love for one another, he said, that lets the world know that we are his disciples (Jn. 13:34,35).

I point this out repeatedly, but it’s worth doing. Jesus did not speak of us shining our own little lights to the world, no matter how often we sing about it. The “you’s” in Matthew 5:13-16 are all plural. He wants us to shine the great light of a city, not the little light of an individual to the world. This is why Paul can say that our good works should be done first and foremost to one another, not to the world. We should love outsiders, and we should do good works to them. However, Galatians 6:10 says “especially to those who are of the household of faith,” not “especially to those of the world.” Paul knew that our love for one another is the testimony Jesus offered to the world. He also knew how effective it was, for he told the Thessalonians that their love for one another was such a powerful testimony that he didn’t need to say anything at all in their area (1 Thess. 1:3-10).

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Basics of the Faith

Posted on 12/15/2008 by Paul Pavao

There are two central things that Rose Creek Village believes. One, a disciple is to follow Jesus Christ with all his heart, mind, soul, and strengh, and two, he is to follow Christ in perfect unity with all others who follow Christ.

The Scriptures say, “Follow righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22).  That verse sums up what we are trying to do. Everything else we teach is to advance those two main causes for which we live.

On the first subject, following Christ with everything in you, I want to focus on one word. That word is “cannot.” In Luke 14:26-33, the passage from which we get the phrase “count the cost,” Jesus says the word “cannot” three times. Each time he says that there is something a person must do, or they “cannot” be his disciple.

Many excuse have been concocted by modern believers to avoid Jesus’ “cannot.” Some teach that Jesus taught the law because it wasn’t abolished until his death. This is nonsense, of course, as it leads to “believers” ignoring the teachings of the very Master they say they follow. (See also any of the articles on this page if you, too, believe Jesus taught under the Law.) Others have said it’s not necessary to be a disciple; being a believer is sufficient. This, too, is not true. The followers of Christ are called disciples 29 times in the book of Acts, but believers just once.

No, it’s a clear teaching of Jesus that unless you hate your family, your possessions, and your own life so that you take up your cross and give up your possessions, you “cannot”  be Jesus’ disciple. That’s what Jesus taught. You can try to be his disciple without following him his way, but you won’t be able to do it. He says you “cannot” do it.

Admittedly, there are various ways of interpreting those things. Obviously, Jesus doesn’t want you to strip yourself naked set out penniless through the world. However, he did want you to do something. I find it hard to believe that “save up for retirement, go to an expensive college, and ignore your out-of-work brother in Christ” is an acceptable interpretation of “forsake all your possessions.” Don’t you?

On the second subject, that of serving Christ together (“in perfect unity” is how our Master says it in Jn. 17:23), I want to point out two things. One, the testimony with which Jesus is going to change the world is that his disciples love one another and are a family. Two, the only way that the Bible says we grow is together.

First, Jesus’ prayer in Jn. 17:20-23 states in no uncertain terms that our unity is tied to the world believing in Christ. Jesus cannot possibly mean the kind of “meeting unity” that most Christians have. Boy Scouts have that kind of unity. What kind of unity would make the world believe that Jesus is sent by God? Jesus calls it a perfect unity. He says it’s the sort of unity that the Father has with the Son. It’s the kind of unity that could be described as “you in me, and I in you.” That’s not a Sunday morning and Bible study unity. It’s the “one heart, one mind” kind of unity that Paul mentions repeatedly.

The Spirit of God is supposed to make us a spiritual family. He’s supposed to make us into a people that can’t live without one another, like members of one body, each part needing the other. In 1 Tim. 3:15, the church is called “the household of God.” If Jesus is going to tell us that we are to “hate” our fathers, mothers, siblings, spouse, and children, then clearly he believes that our new spiritual family, the church, is supposed to be a much stronger, much more united family than our biological families.

Stunning? Yeah, I know. It would take a miracle. Something like a new birth. Something like that might make someone believe in God.

Matthew 5:13-16 is one of my favorite passages in this respect. The “you” used throughout those verses is plural in the Greek. That means he’s not talking to us as individuals. He means that we together are the light of the world. He means that our good works are to shine a light to the world, not my good works. That’s why he says it’s a “city” set on a hill that cannot be hidden. An individual on a hill can hide with no problem. Only together can we light up the whole area so that it can be seen from a distance.

Isaiah 60 tells us, “Arise, shine, for your light has come! The glory of the Lord has risen upon you!” It goes on to say that “Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

Together our light will shine to the world. When this happens, people will come to us! I’m not saying we shouldn’t go to them, but according to the Scriptures it’s normal for people to come to us. That will happen when we are loving one another with that miraculous love from heaven. When was the last time someone asked you “a reason for the hope that is in you”? (1 Pet. 3:15) They will when they get a chance to glimpse the love of the Spirit that causes those born again in Christ to separate from the world and attach themselves to one another.

But it’s not just the world that needs us to be together. We need to be together. The Scriptures say that we are like body parts, so that the eye can’t say to the hand, “I have no need of you” (1 Cor. 12:21). We are inextricably linked by the Spirit of God. When a person really forsakes everything–even his own life–for the sake of Christ, he will find that he is filled with love for all those who love his Lord like he does.

That need has everything to do with our growth in Christ. Hebrews tells us that we are to exhort one another “every day,” lest we be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (3:13). Ephesians 4 says it even more clearly. There we learn that we grow only as every part does its share, and that it’s our speaking the truth in love to one another that causes growth of the body and protection from deception (vv. 11-16).

We tend to think it is Bible study that makes us grow and protects us from deception. That’s not enough. If we are not exhorted daily, then we are in danger of hardening–says that Bible we are studying–even if we’re reading the Bible. Millions of people study the Bible and disagree every day. Division is a work of the flesh, so studying the Bible is not delivering those people from being fleshly. Millions of people also study the Bible every day and are deceived, at least according to the millions of people who disagree with them on the Bible. Studying the Bible is not enough. We must be those who are together, speaking the truth to one another in love.

In another one of those Bible passages where the Greek “you” is plural, the apostle John tells us that it is “the anointing” that will protect us from those who are trying to seduce us. There is an anointing that God gives to the saints when they are together that will lead them into truth. At least, that’s what 1 John 2:27 says. So if we are going to be Bible believers, then we need to believe that we need more than the Bible to grow and to avoid deception. We need each other.

The main points we focus on at Rose Creek Village are very clear Bible teachings, but they have been lost for a long time. For some reason, Christians have lost the knowledge of how important it is to love one another, to be of one heart and one mind, to take care of one another, to forsake the world and its riches, and to be a new family together in Christ. These teachings are not esoteric, mysterious teachings available only to those who do deep exegesis in the original languages. These teachings are on every page of the New Testament, but somehow we westerners find them extreme. If not extreme, then in some way unbelievable because we don’t believe them.

Are you distressed with the state of modern Christianity? with the worldliness in your church? with the worldliness in your own life? This is the place to start. Give up everything, your whole life, and enter the life of Christ along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Like the Psalmist declare, “The saints that are in the earth . . . they are all my delight” (Ps. 16:3).

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Fullness of Joy

Posted on 12/07/2008 by Paul Pavao

In your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures foreveremore. ~Ps. 16:11

I don’t know how much there is to say here, but I do wonder how many of us believe this. Do we really believe that the fullness of joy is in his presence? Do we really believe there are pleasures forevermore at his right hand? Shoot, there are Christians who believe that God’s against pleasure, and that pleasurable feelings are automatically taboo.

God is the Creator of man, and when he walked on earth in human form, he spoke regularly of joy. In fact, he gave it as the purpose that he came. “I have come that [the sheep] might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10).

You will find the word joy 60 times in the New Testament and 95 times in the Old Testament (KJV).  In fact, listen to this passage:

Sing, O daughter of Zion
Shout, O Israel
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, o daughter of Jerusalem

Yahweh has taken away your judgments
He has cast out your enemy
The King of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst
You shall not see evil anymore . . .

Yahweh . . . will rejoice over you with joy
He will quiet you in his love
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy!

Have you ever pictured the God of heaven rejoicing with shouts of joy?

But understand, the issue here is not how wonderfully happy you should be. The issue here is how focused on God you should be. It is not the seeking of the world, the obtaining of treasures, nor the fulfillment of your desires that will produce fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore; it is the presence of God.

The number of Christians that sing “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” greatly outweighs the number of Christians that actually seek first the kingdom of God. College, savings accounts, retirement, and careers are all important to us. Those things are part of the American mantra, and most American Christians are more American than Christian (and here in the South, many are “doggone proud of it!”).

Dare we be among those who seek first the kingdom of God? Dare we believe that if we do so, then all our needs, as determined by God, will be added to us? Or must we first secure our own future?

I’m telling you that the happiest people on earth are not those who have made themselves the most secure, but those who trust God the most. Please don’t confuse those who trust God the most with those who are most religious. I mean those who trust God the most, not those who offer the loudest and most profuse prayers, nor those who attend church the most or hold positions in their church. I mean those who trust God, and sometimes those people don’t look very religious at all. They do, however, always look kind, and they almost never look rich.

Let’s close with something simple. The route to fullness of joy? Get in God’s presence. Seek God’s will, and don’t get it confused with your own. Take delight in the Lord God, and he will take great delight in you.

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Book Review: A High View of Scripture?

Posted on 11/27/2008 by Paul Pavao

I often quote from and comment on books that I am reading. Rarely, however, do I purposely do a book review. I want to make an exception for A High View of Scripture? The Authority of the Bible and the Formation of the New Testament Canon (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church’s Future).

I’ve been reading this book for months, I have not been reading it front to back, and I’m still reading and re-reading parts. Therefore, I can’t–and don’t want to–give you a front to back standard book review. I just want to tell you why I believe the book is extremely important.

If you are one of my fellow villagers (i.e., member of Rose Creek Village), then the book’s not extremely important for you. Our life, our experience of God, and the way that we enter into that life and experience prove the book’s tenets every day. I wouldn’t say it’s worth wading through this scholarly, interesting, but not terribly well-written book to get to the history that proves what you already know. If you just love history, that’s one thing. The history is accurate and comprehensive. The author repeats himself too much, though, and sometimes you have to work at understanding his point.

However, for the rest of you, assuming you are a born-again, Evangelical, this book is a must read. It is very likely that you will not like what’s in it because it tells you the truth about your heritage. And the sad fact is, Evangelical pastors and leaders don’t tell you about your heritage–about what we know about the churches the apostles started–because they don’t want you to know. It would undermine an awful lot of what they’re teaching. One Catholic scholar, a convert from Protestantism, is quoted in the book as saying (roughly, from memory), “No matter what we don’t know about the early churches, what we do know is that they were not like the Protestants.” Allert admits this is true. Anyone who reads them extensively knows it’s true already. Don’t be afraid, though, because it’s even more obvious that they were nothing like the Roman Catholics, either.

The book is a history of how we got our Bible. It is accurate; amazingly so. I hate to sound like a judge of what’s accurate. The author, Craig D. Allerts, knows more than I do about the history of the Scriptures. However, I do know some things, and there are plenty of books–as Mr. Allerts points out repeatedly–saying things that simply are not true. In the areas that I do have knowledge, I can testify that Mr. Allerts is right on, unlike anyone I’ve ever read before. And for an Evangelical writing a book to Evangelicals, he is so honest it’s difficult to imagine how he did it.

I mentioned above that the book is not that well-written. That surprised me, too. I’m not talking about vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation, which were perfect, of course. It is a scholarly book. However, a couple of times I really couldn’t understand his point until I had read several pages into the chapter. He also repeats himself too much. On the other hand, I’m very familiar with at least the 2nd century portion of that history. You may be glad that he repeats his points so much.

You can listen to me harp on the proper role of the Scriptures in the church, but this book will force you to think about it. It is a scholarly book, written by an Evangelical author and published by a respected Evangelical publisher. This is not some fringe book. This is an accurate look at a historical issue that is one of the main reasons that Protestant Christianity fails so badly. Only those who want to blindly continue in a horribly ineffective status quo will ignore A High View of Scripture?.

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Change in Comment Structure

Posted on 11/16/2008 by Paul Pavao

The spam in my comment section has become unbearable. I’m not interested in deleting that trash anymore, so I cancelled the comment section. In its place, you can follow the link to the right that will take you to a form where you can email me. If it’s something other than personal encouragement, I’d be pretty likely to post it. On the other hand, I refused to approve a long defense of the JW version of the Trinity that someone posted in the comment section, so I do refuse some comments.

This WordPress template is probably great, I guess. it does make putting posts up a little easier. However, I was pretty irritated with its method for dealing with spam. If I wanted, I could have typed in all those awful words that were being posted in my comment section, and any comment containing those words would have been automatically deleted as spam. Oh, joy. I’d rather not. Maybe they could pay someone to type in those words like they paid a programmer to make the program. What’s worse is that there was no option for whole or partial words. So, if I tell it not to allow comments with the word sex in it, then anyone who mentioned they were from Middlesex, England or mentioned the use of a sextant or who knows what else would have their comment deleted automatically.

So the comment section is just gone. Use the link at the right!

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Surprised by Jesus

Posted on 11/15/2008 by Paul Pavao

I’m borrowing a title from David Servant’s “eteaching.” I figure it’s okay because he’s a Christian and I’m fixing to plug his web site and ministry. You can find their site at http://www.heavensfamily.org. Their ministry is awesome, directed at helping widows, orphans, and the poor overseas, as well as discipling pastors in foreign countries. We’ve met David, and we can tell you it’s place to give money that you will not regret–eternally. You’ll also love his story. He refers to himself as a “recovering pastor.”

Warning, it’s not for the faint of heart nor those who think the American dream has anything to do with Jesus.

Then again, you wouldn’t be at my blog if either of those things applied to you, would you.

David’s eteaching starts with:

An astounding fact: Although the scribes and Pharisees rigorously studied God’s revelation of Himself in the Old Testament, when God appeared in human flesh and simply acted like Himself, they didn’t recognize Him. In fact, they hated Him. Think of that for a moment! Here were men who could quote large portions of the Old Testament, who considered themselves extremely devoted to God, who were Israel’s spiritual leaders, and who were anticipating a Messiah, but when God appeared on the earth, they wanted to kill Him. They were surprised by Jesus, to say the least.

I purposely haven’t written further yet, so that I don’t borrow anything else from his eteaching. I have lots of thoughts just about this paragraph. Maybe you should wait to read mine, though, till you’ve meditated on your own a bit. Why don’t you take 15 minutes, read that paragraph, and think about it a bit. Then read mine.

Okay, if you’re back, this is rabbit trail #1. In meetings I have to avoid going down rabbit trails. Being a bit long-winded, I’m prone to going down them. Writing, however, is a different story. The rabbit trails are often better than the main point, and sometimes they’re the only thing that make the main point interesting.

The apostolic churches–the ones the apostles started, which stuck around in a near-pristine form for a couple centuries–believed that the Law had not been abolished. That’s not real surprising,  since Jesus said in Matt. 5:17 that he didn’t come to abolish it. On the other hand, it is surprising to us, because the writer of Hebrews said that the old covenant is ready to disappear (Heb. 8:13).

The apostolic churches, though, had an advantage. Taught by the apostles, they weren’t confused by things that seem like a contradiction to us. They understood that when the writer of Hebrews said that there is “of necessity a change of law,” that it didn’t mean from one law to another completely unrelated to it. The two covenants, and the two laws, one of Moses and one of grace from Christ, are intimately related. The second covenant and the second law are the fullness of the old covenant and the old law.

It is absolutely essential, if you have any desire to understand the Scriptures or the new covenant that you sign up for when you become Christ’s disciple, that you understand that the new covenant and new law are the fulfillment–nay, better, the fullness–of the old. The old covenant was adapted in thought and words to an earthly kingdom and a fleshly people, a people without the Spirit of God. The new covenant, however, is made with a people who all have the Spirit. In fact, that’s the one key feature of the new covenant. All of God’s people would have the Spirit, not just special people like David and Samuel (Acts 2:16-17).

So, knowing that he would now have a spiritual people and establish a heavenly kingdom, Jesus came to fulfill–to expand or fill up–the Law of Moses. He was ready to make new wine–because he knew he would have new wineskins to put it in.

One way that new wine was manifested was in his statement to Pontius Pilate that his disciples don’t fight with earthly weapons (Jn. 18:36). Israel under Moses fought with earthly weapons because they were an earthly kingdom. Jesus came to establish a new covenant, however, and a heavenly kingdom. His people have beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. They fight with spiritual weapons, and they war against spiritual beings and against the thoughts of men (Eph. 6:10ff; 2 Cor. 10:4-6).

One other way that the new wine was manifested, and the old law brought to fullness, concerns an issue that will bring us off this little rabbit trail. God doesn’t care about food. Food for the belly, and the belly for food, but God will destroy both it and them, says Paul. But the food laws were to prepare an earthly people to become a heavenly kingdom. They avoided that which did not chew the cud nor part the hoof. This law is not gone, but it is changed, as Heb. 7:12 puts it. We are to “eat of,” or to fellowship with, those who ruminate on the word of God and who separate from the world. How do we know with whom we can have unity? How do we know from whom we can separate? If a person does not meditate on the Word of God nor separate from the world, do not partake of them. You can love them, pray for them, and hope for them, but you cannot take them into the body. If they do, then they are clean, and you can “eat” from them. It is not your brother’s doctrine on eternal security that determines whether you should fellowship with them, but their ruminating and parting.

So, I said all that to encourage you to always be ready to stop and meditate on the words you hear, just as I asked you to meditate on that paragraph above. It marks you as a partaker of Christ’s new wine, the changed law of the new covenant.

God desires truth in the inward parts (Ps. 51:6). God asks Job, “Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Who has given understanding to the heart?” (Job 38:36). You can not trust your brain. You must learn to have wisdom in the inward parts. If you trust your brain, God will see to it that you are turned to foolishness. He has no regard for the wisdom of this world.

Quick caveat: this does not mean that you should not reason or think. You should. In the end, however, you must know truth in the inward parts, where God has put it. The heavens do not necessarily testify to the mind that there is a God. Nature around us testifies to the heart, and those who ignore what the creation testifies to the heart will end up fools who do not believe in God, no matter how brilliantly they study nature. A large percentage, perhaps even over half, of natural  scientists are atheists.

Ok, the caveat’s not so quick. Let me do another rabbit trail.

We help those scientists be atheists by testifying with our ignorance and dishonesty that Christians don’t care what’s true. Every day, on the internet and air waves, Christians testify by their refusal to be honest with scientific evidence that we still want to live in the dark ages. Anti-evolutionists have got to be the most dishonest brand of Christians there are. I am regularly stunned by the willingness of anti-evolution Christians to distort evidence, misquote honest scientists, and even pass on stories they know to be false in order to defend a narrow-minded, one-dimensional interpretation of Genesis one that they only apply to part of Genesis one, anyway. In the scientific area, a lot of Christians had better start thinking and reasoning, because they are missing some wonderful truths that God would place in their hearts if they were not so stubborn. Even in today’s advanced scientific world the creation testifies that there is a Creator and teaches us about his power and divine nature.

Okay, off rabbit trail #2.

You must be able to recognize truth in the inward parts. The Pharisees were great students of Scripture. They were wise, but with a worldly wisdom, and God made fools out of them. In fact, it is obvious in Christ that he was highly irritated with them. He was so fed up with them that he complained even about their Bible study: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have life; however, these are they which testify of me, but you refuse to come to me so that you may have life” (Jn. 5:39-40).

Jesus was known not to the Pharisees but to common people, whose did not have a confidence in their personal wisdom and personal interpretations of the Bible to blind them to the truth that bursting up from inside them. Down inside them, where God has placed wisdom and understanding, that wisdom and understanding came bursting forth, and they recognized God in our Master. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, their hearts burned within them.

Have you ever paid attention to the fact that those two disciples upbraided themselves at the end of their journey with Christ. “Were we so blind? Why didn’t we recognize him? Didn’t our hearts burn within us while he spoke?” (Luke 24:31-32). Obviously, that’s not a quote, but that’s what they were saying. We should have recognized him by what was within us!

That does not stop today. We are under obligation to recognize Christ when we see him, in whomever he might be. Listen to the words of John the apostle and meditate a bit on what this means:

He that believes the Son of God has the witness in himself. He that does not believe God has made him a liar, because he does not believe the testimony that God have given us of his Son. . . .

Okay, stop right there! What testimony has God given us of his Son? Do you know how this verse finishes? This is an important verse. If you don’t believe the testimony that God has given us of his Son, you make him a liar. That’s scary, because God’s God. You don’t want to call him a liar, I promise you. So what is his testimony?

And this is the testimony: God has given us Eternal Life, and this Life is in his Son. He that has the Son has the Life; He that does not have the Son of God does not have the Life.

That’s the testimony? He that has the Son of God has the Life, and he that doesn’t does not have the Life?

Yes. Have you learned to recognize the Life of God when it comes, or are you separating from brothers and sisters over your Bible interpretations. In other words, are you a follower of Christ or a Pharisee? Before you answer that, consider this. When you see Christ in a brother or sister, do you recognize and attach yourself to him? Or do you ignore him and jealousy against him like the Pharisees?

Pharisaism is the norm among Christians today. We have been taught to be just like them. We bristle, like they did, when we hear that we search the Scriptures, expecting life from them, and all the while ignoring Christ in a human body on earth. Just because he’s in bodies now, and not one body, doesn’t mean that it matters less to recognize him. According to John, the children of God are “obvious” (1 Jn. 3:10). Do you believe that? There may be exceptions to this rule (and there are), but if they’re not obvious to you most of the time, it’s because you’re judging from the wrong place and seeing with the wrong eyes.

Am I making too much of this? Since Paul said that schisms, divisions, and factions will keep you out of the kingdom of heaven (Gal. 5:19-21), I don’t think I’m making too much of this. It’s time to discern the body. We wonder sometimes what it means when Paul says that those who eat the Lord’s Supper unworthily eat and drink damnation to themselves because they don’t discern the Lord’s body. Is he talking about the bread there? Of course not! Look at where that verse is. That’s written in 1 Cor. 11:29. 1 Cor. 12 starts six verses later. Do you think that’s an accident? 1 Cor. 12 is the longest dissertation on the local church (not the universal church, which is called the Bride) as the Lord’s body in all of early Christian literature. It’s division that’s the problem. Paul started on division way back in 1 Cor. 1, and he didn’t forget it. He’s teaching the local body that it must be one.

You don’t get to go to 1st Lutheran on 5th street while your next door neighbor goes to American Baptist on 8th street. Every time you take “communion” you are eating and drinking damnation to yourself because there’s no way you’ve discerned the Lord’s body while you’re doing something like that. Do you understand that divisions, schisms, and a party spirit will send you to hell? That’s right, while you’re condemning your neighbor’s drunkenness, you’re practicing openly a sin that is listed in the same list with drunkenness. Only you’re worse off because you claim to be reading the Bible and understanding the will of God. To whom much is given, much will be required.

Now perhaps God will have mercy on us. I believe that. Many Christians don’t know any better. Others who do know better don’t know what to do about it. God called some kings in the Old Testament good even though they sacrificed on high places. Shoot, God told the first Israelite king that he would be king at a sacrifice at a high place (1 Sam. 9:12ff). However, God also greatly commended those kings who tore down the high places. Our division–our denominations–are a high place, and they’re a high place even in our minds. We must recognize Christ, and we must attach ourselves to him. We must partake of those who ruminate on the Word and part from the world.  It is time to let the wisdom within us rise up and override our exalted Bible interpretations, so that we might be the ones to prove to the world that Jesus is who he said he is by our unity and love (Jn. 13:34-35; 17:20-23).

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One Little Sin

Posted on 11/06/2008 by Paul Pavao

This is part 2 of a blog I just finished (sort of ).

Many Christians believe that all it takes is one little sin–a white lie or stealing a piece of chewing gum as a child–to send you to hell. Doesn’t the Scripture say, “For whoever keeps the whole Law and yet offends in one point, he is guilty of all” (Jas. 2:10)? It does, but it also says that a wicked man turns from his wickedness he’ll save his soul (Ezek. 18:27). James goes on to say, “He that turns a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death” (James 5:20).

The point is, don’t deceive yourself. If you sin, you’re a sinner. Jesus said, “Whoever sins is the slave of sin” (Jn. 8:34). You need to acknowledge your sin and repent. James is talking about a very specific sin in chapter two, that of preferring rich men over poor men in your congregation. Our congregations today, many who quote James 2:10 to say that people are going to hell for lying when they were 7 years old, are commonly guilty of giving special seats to rich men; exactly the sin that James is condemning in James 2:10. Let’s get the right message from what we read.

Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Did they fall short of the glory of God for backtalking their mother at 9 years old? No, read the chapter. We all fall short of the glory of God because the poison of asps is on our lips and our feet are swift to shed blood. God is a just Judge. He doesn’t burn people in hell for an endless period of time for one act of disobedience to a parent as a child.

But he doesn’t have to worry about that. We provide ample reasons for him to punish us. In us, that is in our flesh, nothing good dwells. God will show us that nothing good if we really come to him. We need to see it in order to learn all future lessons. We have to get okay with being evil, so that we can trust Jesus to make us righteous by the Spirit of God.

The idea that one sin in a lifetime will send us to hell is part of a whole doctrine of the atonement that is based in the Roman legal system. It is not Hebrew, and it is not apostolic. It was developed by St. Anselm during the Middle Ages. The apostles and the apostolic churches give all sorts of descriptions of the atonement, but none of them are like ours.

We Evangelicals commonly believe that we can only be forgiven because Jesus died for our sins. This is ludicrous. I mentioned Ezekiel 18:27 above, but the whole of Scripture describes God as a God of mercy. He forgives sin. He doesn’t need to be appeased by a death in order to forgive sin. That’s contrary to the whole of Scripture. David says it as plainly as it can be said, “You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it. . . . The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you will not despise” (Ps. 51:16-17).

We have always been able to repent and be forgiven. The problem is, we were powerless to continue in righteousness. In us, that is, in our flesh, nothing good dwells. We may keep some moral and religious rules, but in the end we deceive ourselves and fail to live as servants and lovers of those around us. We need Christ, and those who choose to follow him will find him helping them. As it is written, “He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Heb. 5:9).

Jesus died for our sins because we couldn’t find the power to repent of them. He reconciled us to God while we were yet sinners. His death did as much–no, more–for us than it did for God. God was already merciful, even before Christ died. We, however, were powerless to repent and continue before Christ died. Through his death, Christ brought the grace and Spirit of God to us that we might continue.

The problem with the whole idea that everyone is guilty because they might have committed one small sin, which God can’t forgive because he’s “just”–as though “just” could possibly mean sending a person to hot, tormenting flames for all eternity for one small sin–is that if that theory were true, then our sins would all be paid for, and we could go to heaven as sinners. It’s not true, however. There are people who claim it is true, but let’s face it; it’s impossible that they’re correct. They only believe such a strange idea because they concluded it from the “Jesus paid for our sins in a legal sense” idea, which is nowhere found in Scripture. (Look for “paid for sins” or something like it in the NT; you won’t find it.) Once that idea is gone, it’s obvious the Scriptures speak out strongly against the idea that those who continue in sin can go to heaven.

1 Cor. 6:9-11, Gal. 5:19-21, and Eph. 5:5 all say that immoral people who practice the works of the flesh won’t inherit the kingdom. Jesus echoes this in Matthew 7, saying that those who call him Lord, Lord will not inherit the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of his Father in heaven. 2 Pet. 1:5-11 says that we have to keep adding to our faith in order to “make our calling and election sure,” and on and on and on and on.

Through faith, apart from works, we have access to the grace that can make us stand as righteous men before God (Rom. 5:2). With the power of the grace, mediated by the Spirit of God, we can “not grow weary in doing good,” so that we can reap eternal life (Gal. 6:8-9). Entering heaven is not apart from works. Entering heaven is by works, as all the verses above say and every verse on the judgment says (Matt. 25:31-46; Jn. 5:27ff; Rom. 2:5-8; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Pet. 1:17; and others).

There’s an interesting verse in Jeremiah 7. The apostolic churches quoted it all the time, because they were aware God isn’t interested in sacrifices. He’s interested in a broken and contrite spirit. They knew that the offerer’s heart purifies the sacrifice, not the sacrifice the offerer’s heart. Thus, they had no problems with this fascinating passage that stumps us every time:

For I did not speak to your fathers, nor command them, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. Instead, I commanded them this, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.” (Jer. 7:22-23)

God didn’t say anything in the wilderness about burnt offerings or sacrifices??? How can he say that? The early church explained that those sacrifices were added to help keep the eyes of the Israelites set on God. The sacrifices were for their sake, not God’s sake. They found numerous verses like Jer.  7:22-23, and they quoted them often to explain why they didn’t sacrifice animals like the Jews did.

Another wonderfully interesting passage is the story of Cain and Abel. We Evangelicals generally think that Cain’s sacrifice was refused because it was grain, and Abel’s was refused because it was an animal. The early church, however, knew that God doesn’t care about sacrifices, so they knew that couldn’t be the issue. So it was obvious to them that when John said that Cain killed his brother because his works were evil, then Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because he was evil, not because it was grain. Grain was a perfectly acceptable offering under the Old Covenant, especially if that’s all you had. How much more so in that time before the Old Covenant.

Genesis 4:7 also has God telling that he’ll be accepted if he did good. God didn’t tell him to change his sacrifice. He told him to change his behavior.

This is what God is telling us, too. God has granted to us the repentance that leads to life. Let us not try to offer the sacrifice that leads to life unless we have a pure heart to purify the sacrifice. Otherwise, we may find that God considers our trust in the blood of Jesus to be an insult to the Spirit of grace and accuse us of counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. This is what he says of those who sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth.

It’s very important that we change the way we understand the Scriptures. I’m not talking about something new, but about returning to the powerful and eminently Scriptural ways of the primitive, apostolic churches.

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There Is None Righteous; No, Not One

Posted on 11/05/2008 by Paul Pavao

The  Bible says in Romans 3:10 that there is none righteous, no, not one.  Why is that?

It is not because all of us have committed at least some small sin somewhere in our lives so that we’re therefore guilty of the whole law. Contary to popular Evangelical belief, a person who commits only one small sin in their lives is a righteous man who will go to heaven based on his works (Rom. 2:5-7; Ezek. 18:27).

Read the verses that follow Romans 3:10. The people Paul are talking about have a throat like an open grave, the poison of snakes on their lips, deceit on their tongue, their feet are swift to shed blood, and destruction and misery are in their ways. Nice, huh? Those are the unrighteous that Paul is talking about.

So, is everyone like that?

We all know everyone is not like that. So why did Paul say they were? I have two things to look at:

1.) Paul is quoting the Scriptures when he writes this passage. All of it, from Romans 3:10 to Romans 3:18, is quoted from various parts of the Old Testament. He’s not just making a statement of his own, and that matters. He’s bringing up some passages to prove a point, not saying on his own that no one is righteous. One of the places he quotes is Psalm 14, where the Psalmist tells us, “They are all gone aside; they became filthy together. None does good, no, not one” (vs. 3). Yet that very same Psalm also tells us, “God is in the generation of the righteous.” I thought there were no righteous!

There are righteous. The Bible speaks in all sorts of general terms about things that are not universal. Not all the Pharisees robbed widows’ houses, but Jesus was not careful to specify that. Many Pharisees believed in him; he left them to figure out on their own that he wasn’t talking about them. (If you want a place to complain about me: yes, I’m saying that “no, not one” does not mean “not one.”)

2.) Even though we may behave correctly outwardly, that does not mean that we are righteous inwardly. Paul said that in regards to the Law he was blameless prior to his conversion (Php. 3:6). Yet in 1 Tim. 1:15 he says he is chief of sinners. In 1 Cor. 15:9 he says he’s not fit to be called an apostle because he persecuted the church of God.

I do not believe that Christians are supposed to live in Romans 7 (where we do what we hate and don’t do what we want to do). Romans 8 is the answer to Romans 7. Romans 7 describes “the law of sin and death.” Romans 8 describes “the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus” that delivers us from the law of sin and death.

However, I believe that lesson #1 for every Christian is “that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells” (Rom. 7:18). You will never go anywhere if you do not figure out that you are evil. Yes, you. Jesus addressed his disciples with, “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him?” (Luk. 11:13). His apostles didn’t flinch at this; I’m sure they were used to it. We need not to flinch at it, either. You had better understand it because you need the salvation of God. “God is with the generation of the righteous.” Didn’t I quote that earlier and say there’s righteous people? Yes, I did, but you’re not one of them, and neither am I. We really are sinners, just like Paul. Maybe he’s chief; but maybe you or I are.

Get used to that idea because the only righteousness God will accept is Christ’s. He has been made righteousness for us. And Jesus doesn’t produce a fake righteousness wherein he closes his eyes and pretends we’re good. No, as John puts it, “He who practices righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous” (1 Jn. 3:7). Jesus has been made righteousness for us, and that righteousness is visible. Paul said he wasn’t ashamed of the Gospel of God because the righteousness of God is revealed in it (Rom. 1:17). Two chapters later he says the righteousness apart from the Law was “manifested.” Jesus’ righteousness can be seen. Let us be a people, “zealous for good works,” who know how to receive empowering grace by faith (Tit. 2:11-14).

Paul’s arguments in Romans 3 are directed at Jews, but they are a perfect argument to us Christians. At the end of Romans 2, he told the Jews that if they don’t actually keep the righteousness of the Law, their circumcision won’t do them any good; it will become uncircumcision. Then he goes after them in Romans 3. “Look at all this stuff the Scriptures say,” he cries out to them. Then he lists verse after verse stating that people–all people or at least someone–are terribly unrighteous. Then he lets them have it. Here comes the haymaker in v. 19: “We know that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law.” “Hey, my fellow Jew,” he is saying, “these verses are about you!!!”

Once he’s made it clear that they are the unrighteous, neglecting to keep the righteousness of the Law even though they’ve done the religious act of being circumcised, he tells them to receive the righteousness of God that comes by faith. Now don’t get confused here. I know Evangelicals often bring on pretend righteousness here. Pretend righteousness doesn’t work here. Those who don’t practice righteousness aren’t righteous, John says, as we saw above. Paul says the very point of Jesus dying was so that the righteous requirement of the Law could be fulfilled in those who walk by the Spirit. So the point is not that righteousness–real, lived-out righteousness–doesn’t matter. The point is that the only way to achieve it is by the Spirit of God. “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, then you will live” (Rom. 8:13).

 I’m going to add another blog immediately, because I really want to address the “one little sin” thing. It’s part of a doctrinal system that is, in my opinion, insulting to God.

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