Saturday, March 17, 2012

What I want

Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.

We live in a society built on desire. What is the next greatest thing that I think I need? A newer car? A big TV? A nice looking yard? The best clothes? The coolest gadget? What does wanting those things bring us? Jealousy because I dont have what the next person has? A desire for more stuff?

All of those things are not inherently bad by themselves, its the priority we place on them. God has blessed us with many many things, but they need to be in their order of importance.

Righteousness cannot be something down on the list of things I want. Jesus lets us know where the priority should be. Things we hunger and thirst for are not things with a low priority. If I am hungering and thirsting for righteousness that is pretty high on my priority list.

As a Christian I cannot expect to live a holier life, treat people better, show Christ to others just because I go to church or say I am a Christian. I have to have a DEEP desire for righteousness. And if that is my aim, if that is my goal, Jesus says we will be filled. I have to be intentional in not only how I live and treat people but what drives me inside. Hunger and thirst is not really something that is on the outside but more something inside ourselves.

What will happen if we hunger and thirst for more than the superficial? What if we put a desire for righteousness first?

We will be blessed and we will be filled.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Marriage

Nope, the title is not about me getting married.
In my small group we are doing a study of Biblical manhood and womanhood. This week focused on marriage. A point was made about marriage and it made me think about homosexual marriage. That topic seems to come up probably every year during elections about some state passing or not passing some sort of marriage bill either for or against homosexual marriage. I dont really want to get into the legal side of the issue but my perspective as a Christian.

I believe the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin (I Corinthians 6:9-11, I Timothy 1:8-10). No greater and no less than any other sin. Sin is sin. Me lying to my parents or being jealous over something a friend has is on the same level as homosexuality. Sin is sin. We all are treated the same for the sin we commit (Romans 3:23).

I believe that homosexual marriage has multiple detrimental consequences but the one that I want to focus on is what the Bible says about marriage. Genesis 2:24 says, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh." I didnt check every single instance but my guess is unless it is condemning the practice the Bible only talks about marriage as between a man and a woman. Why?

Men and women are created in God's image. It takes both a man and a woman to accurately portray God's image. God doesnt have a sex so the qualities that make a man a man and the qualities that make a woman a woman taken together represent God's image. What role does marriage have then?

Ephesians 5:31-33 says, 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[b] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

The passage prior to this (21-30) is talking about the roles men and women have with respect to each other. Paul ends this passage using the verse from Genesis comparing marriage to Jesus and the church. He says it is a profound mystery. What was the mystery?

John Piper puts it this way,

"The mystery of Genesis 2:24 is that the marriage it describes is a parable or symbol of Christ's relation to his people. God doesn't do things willy-nilly. Everything has purpose and meaning. When God engaged to create man and woman and to ordain the union of marriage, he didn't roll dice or draw straws or flip a coin. He patterned marriage very purposefully after the relationship between his Son and the church, which he planned from eternity. And therefore marriage is a mystery—it contains and conceals a meaning far greater than what we see on the outside. What God has joined together in marriage is to be a reflection of the union between the Son of God and his bride the church."

This link is the full sermon which can be read or listened to, worth the time:
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/marriage-a-matrix-of-christian-hedonism

Am I going to protest outside the capital building in Lansing if this comes up here? Probably not. So where does that leave homosexual marriage? God's plan is for a man and a woman to enter into marriage as a picture of Christ and the church. Homosexual marriage is a distortion of God's plan.

Are homosexuals evil people to be vilified? No, they are no more evil than I am, we are all sinners. But I do think we need to stand up against something that is contrary to the Bible. It seems popular today to believe in moral relativism. Everybody is right, dont tell someone that cant believe in something, everything is truth. But the truth is there are moral absolutes. We need to stand by those absolutes (the Bible) even when its not popular.

Love every sinner the same, with the self-sacrificing compassionate love of Christ. But stand by the Bible and the life giving truth it proclaims.

Monday, March 05, 2012

Fruitful Life

I recently read this:
Matthew 3:8
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

and also this:
Acts 26:20
20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.

The last part of Acts 26:20 is what I think is important.

Why does it matter as a Christian if I am doing good things? Doing things is not how I am saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our actions are not a result of the 'rules' of church but a reflection of our hearts attitude toward God. As sinners we are all selfish, prone to do what is contrary to God's ways. As a Christian I have indicated that I am putting that selfishness to the side and putting God's ways ahead of my own self interest.

What does it say if I acknowledge that I am a Christian but my actions are contrary to that declaration? The above passages of Matthew and Acts are pretty clear, the reality of my profession of being a Christian must be demonstrated by what I do. The fruit and deeds of my life are not only for me, as I live a life of repentance for my sinful ways, but also for others.

Matthew 5:16
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.


I should be living my life so others can see the change, see the difference. So they can see that it is only because of my Father in heaven that I am the way I am.