Self-help or God-help (Followed by a Note on Why Look to the Bible)

What is the power of humanity?

What is the result of our greatest thoughts? Atom bombs - destruction

What are the highest aspirations of our people? World power - Riches and Fame - Comfort - Pleasure

Is this the pinnacle of human thought? Is this the best we can do?

Yes, it is.

Man's ideas lead to Concentration Camps, Empty pursuits, and Selfish behavior at the expense of others.

And yet we want to look to man to save our souls. Be a better you! Think Positive!
What you need is a self-help seminar....more human wisdom and human ideas.

You need to puff yourself up in pride and in your abilities.

Yet you can't control tomorrow, you are gone with the wind, everything we so cherish is gone with the wind. What kind of trust do you place on sinking sand that washes away? Who would build on sinking sand? Who would base a life on dust in the wind?

As we step into eternity, money rots, fame is worthless, and human power is confronted with true power in our maker.

But yet, they say all you need to do is dig down deep and be a better person. This is the height of human wisdom. On what do we base this confidence in human wisdom? Because it has worked so well and because we seem to do such good things based on our human understandings?

The greatest empire on the planet today - what is so great - its guns, its bombs? Its wide-spread sexual perversion? Its do whatever it takes to get rich upon the shoulders of the poor and expendable? Idolizing of celebrities who offer us no character, no righteousness, no role models for young peole to look up to? And yet we reward them more than any other in our society?

How promising a prospect is it to look to the same wisdom of humanity on how to save himself? How hopeless a thought, that man can save himself? How ridiculous!

Even the church is chiming in on self-help. The faith becomes so watered down that God has no place in it. The faith is presented as all about us, all about what we get, all about what we do - empty of God. It becomes selfish. It becomes nothing more than self-fulfillment, how to have the best marriage, how to have joy, how to have peace in life, how to be a good person, how to live the life you've always wanted.

Thats not Biblical. Biblical faith is not focused on man - it is focused on God and what He is doing with man!

Biblical faith points to man's need for help outside himself. Man's inability to do anything that will stand. Man's wickedness cries out in the Bible and as we look around today. Even though the world will call sin good, sin is always evil and we reap what we sow.

Man needs help. A help found in God. We need God-help, not self-help. A help from God stepping down from heaven to take on flesh in Jesus Christ. To do for us on our behalf what none of us could do on our own.

We are totally dependent upon Christ. Upon the Cross. The Cross is the place our wickedness receives its due. And we receive forgiveness by Christ, not because we deserved it - by no means. It is the gift and goodness of God toward us.

And as Christ was risen by the power of God from the dead, He reigns today - forever. And He has begun to raise us to new life, as we accept the Cross of Christ, realizing what He has offered to us - salvation from our wickedness and our inability to free ourselves from our own follies - we accept His help and receive the Holy Spirit. In God's power, we walk in newness of life. We walk in a life of obedience to God, obedience to His Biblical revelation given to us, dependent on Him and no longer in rebellion against Him. It is His doing, His power, His intervention, His guiding, His new creation. A journey onward with God perfected as we enter glory prepared for life ever-lasting.

I am afraid for a people that tries to depend so much on man - and refuses to look to God. The answers to our questions, failures, brokenness is not found in ourselves, our help is only found in God.

And if you come to God for help, don't come to be a better you, don't come because you want a better life, if you come to Him, come to Him because He is worthy, come because you're desperate for the Living God, come because you know you need Him. Come because this world is empty without Him and He is everything. Come to him to die to yourself. Allow Him to rebuild you in His ways, in His plan, not looking to get His help in what your plans are - NO - looking to burn your plans and receive His in their place. A total rejection of trust in yourself, a total rejection of your wisdom, a total rejection of what you thought was good, or what you thought life was about - a death to self. Trust God as the answer, for the plan, for whats good, for what your life should be about. Because you desperately see that nothing in you can be trusted - only God is to be trusted. Its about Him and His willingness to show us!

Who are you counting on for eternity?
Yourself, what you've done.
Don't count on yourself and your goodness built on your own efforts, count on God.
What reason do you have to trust yourself? What have you done to prove yourself capable of creating your own tailored-plan of salvation?
We are hopeless in ourselves. This is the clear declaration of history. A history of human wickedness and rebellion against God and the result of sinful choices flowing from generation to generation.
Find your sole salvation in God and God alone - in His finished work on the Cross - in His promises to you found in the Bible.

Why the Bible:

Because over 40 men were inspired by God to write His story for us. Because over a 1,500 year time period these men were all coordinated to produce one consistent theme throughout the Bible. The need for Jesus Christ, Man's inability to do right without God, and God's passion to reach out to a rebellious mankind.

Because there is no other book that has such a large testimony of God's inspiration. Because you don't have to take my word for it, or the word of just one man who says he had an experience with God and expects us to believe it. Because over 40 men who didn't know each other over 1500 years were led to testify to the very same God and this God's plan for His creation.

Because a dozen men witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ first hand, because over 500 saw Him risen from death. Because in any court of law, this many first-hand witnesses would be enough to make a decision. Because Christianity is founded on historical realities, concrete realities. Jesus is a historical fact and the power of the Cross stands forever. Pointing to us the only way of man's salvation found in God stepping down from heaven to take the suffering sin deserved and His promise to forgive us in accepting what He has done in our place.

Not self-help, God-help.

misundertood word: gospel

When you hear the word gospel, what do you think of?

It is the most important part of the Christian faith. Do we know it?

Gospel literally means, good news.

Why don't we just say good news...? Maybe then it won't sound like such a foreign concept to people who have never heard the word gospel.

Good news.

We all like good news.

Good news, even though we have all messed up and done bad things in our lives, God wanted to provide a way to cover all our bad choices and remove them from his sight. He did this by coming in the flesh as Jesus Christ, and took on the penalty, Himself, for all of our bad decisions. God chose to do this for us. God chose to sacrifice Himself on our behalf. None of us deserved it. None of us earned any favor with God. It was a free gift given by God, the same God who gave us life in our mother's womb.

Good news of a forgiven past.

It is belief in the good news that can purify a heart, after all Jesus loved you enough to die for you. It is belief in the good news that can cleanse a conscience, after all it was all of your wrong choices that required Jesus to be crucified. It is belief in the good news that can break through idle talk, after all there is a world that needs to feel the good news. The good news brings our dead souls to life. Fully alive, in God.

Good news! You have been forgiven, so forgive others. Good news! You have been helped, so stop and help others. Good news! You have been loved by the greatest lover of everything that exists, so love others.

The Cross in All

What's the secret to a happy marriage? The Cross
What's the secret to a deep, life-changing conversation? The Cross
What's the secret to serving others? The Cross
What's the secret to holiness? The Cross
What's the secret to deep friendships? The Cross
What's the secret to positive working relationships? The Cross
What's the secret to listening? The Cross

You might say, "You simply apply the Cross as your answer to everything, how can this be?" "You assert the Cross as some mindless blanket statement for everything."

I would answer, "It simply is."

Think about it.

For a successful marriage relationship, one must die to self and look out for the interest of the other in God.

For a successful conversation where someone is listened to, one must remove self-interest from the conversation and allow the other person to express what needs to come off their heart. Meanwhile, the listener searches for guidance by the Holy Spirit.

For deep friendships, its about them, not us.

For progress in the spiritual life, its about God, not us.

The Cross can be seen as the ever-present reality of successful living.

The Cross, everywhere I look, I see the Cross.

When it all comes apart.....He is there.....

The economy is changing.....

What I see happening involves the disappearance of a large section of the middle class best represented by the term "blue collar." These are the men and women who out of high school were able to find a job, not even just a job, but a middle to high-end job pulling down $50,000-70,000k. And oh yeah, and that is with pension, health care, social security, and overtime availability. This segment of middle America is dwindling.

Meanwhile, college costs have risen 50% over the last 10 years.

Social Security they say is broken. The 401k replaces company-funded pensions and involves employee contributions.

In today's world, you need a college degree to at least have a chance at the traditional blue-collar wages.

Things are changing.......

It looks like the course we are on can lead nowhere but a mix-up in our historical classes which built America. It looks like the poor/working poor, college educated, and ultra rich. With the barrier growing more and more difficult for the poor to break their family out of the cycle, the gap between the lower class and the college educated is widening.

Strange.

Our lifestyles are also changing and in some ways strange........

Everyone is so busy. No one has any time. We move from medium to medium taking in media. Internet, television, radio, ipod, mobile devices, and email. Constant noise. Can we still think and reflect or are we addicted to constant noise?

Another strange phenomena: Work is no longer back-breaking for the college educated or ultra rich, so they pay to have personal trainers give them work-outs that often times resemble work. I saw a man the other day in the gym swinging a sledge hammer onto a large tire looking thing. How odd, we have to pay to do what we used to receive naturally during our work day, when we would sweat by our brow to perform work.

Also, have you noticed that no one knows how to maintain relationships anymore?

Something is coming unglued. The future of today's students does not look as bright as it once did. The old blue collar high paying and generous companies that rewarded a person with a fully funded retirement package which was guaranteed, not hinging upon the return of the stock market, looks obsolete.

Is that gloomy? Or is it just reality? Am I a pessimist or unloyal to the state if I hold these views? Or is it just the truth?

What would happen if it all came apart? What would happen if we woke up from the dream? What would we do if it all fell apart? Where do we place our trust? Is it still like the dollar says, "In God We Trust?" Or is our faith in steel, bullets, finances, and flesh?

What are we left with if the stock market tanks?

If the currency inflates to astronomical levels and the prices of gold increase ten-fold, how do we move on with our lives? What would matter to us then? What if I loose my job? How do I live on so much less? How do I buy my Starbucks on that?

If everything crashes around me, who is with me in the storm?
What is left when the house comes crashing?
Nothing but the Foundation.

When all the deceit of riches are exposed,
He will be there.
When all the deception of luxurious retirement and winter homes are destroyed,
He will be there.
When lower class citizens cry out in despair,
He will be there.
When the nation humbles itself and cries out to God,
He Will Be There.
When the husband is fed up with neglecting his family and children,
He will be there.
When the regular church member is fed up with empty repetition that means nothing to her throughout the rest of her week,
He will be there,
When government programs won't pick up the medical bill,
He will be there,
When we are tired of trying to put a mask on and pretend we are things we are not,
He will be there.

Justice cries out to HIM.
He must answer.
He is Holy.
But that is not the end.
His love reaches out to them.
His love covers them.
In their flaws, He loves them
They are his children.
His creation.
But that is not the end.
He comes clothed in meekness and willing to take it all,
willing to die for them.
Death came to attempt to crush our hope,
Steel and power attempted to rule the earth,
The wealthiest forces of the day crucified Him.
But that was not the end.
He died and He rose!
When it all crashed down, He was there.
He was there!
Shed a tear and shout for joy, he was there.
When it all settled He stood in Victory.
I said when the smoke cleared,
He was still standing.
When the world came at him,
He was not shaken.
When He fell under the weight,
He got back up.
When the road was hard,
He kept on stepping.
When friends turned their backs,
He was not phased.
When hatred and evil gave their all,
My Savior was unstoppable.
Through it all He could not be defeated.
When the fate of the world hung in the balance,
He was there!
Hallelujah, He was there!

And He stands Today to encourage us in his Victory.
We can conquer all the powers and principalities,
they have no hold,
I mean, they have no authority,
over my Savior and his Reality.

Cheap Grace Vs. Costly Grace

Following are a couple quotes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer on what he saw as one of the biggest problems facing Christianity during his time in the 1940's. He stood up for Christian love and returned to a Nazi occupied Germany, his homeland, to minister to his fellow neighbors. He did this knowing it could mean his death in a country where opposing Hitler was certain death. He did in fact become martyred for Christ's sake. He was executed at the hands of the Nazi's, all the while loving those imprisoned unjustly. It seems that much of what he points out is still relevant today. Read it and see what you think....

Christian life comes to mean nothing more than living in the world and as the world, in being no different from the world for the sake of grace. The upshot of it all is that my only duty as a Christian is to leave the world for an hour or so on a Sunday morning and go to church to be assured that my sins are forgiven. I need no longer try to follow Christ, for cheap grace, the bitterest foe of discipleship, which true discipleship must loathe and detest, has freed me from that. Dietrich Bonhoeffer The Cost of Discipleship

By cheap grace, Bonhoeffer illustrates: Preaching forgiveness without repentence, grace without embracing the cross, communion without confession, baptism without discipline, and so on . . .

I believe Bonhoeffer calls us back to the true meaning of Christianity. Learning from a Risen Savior and following Him to the Cross! Not on our own power, but in fellowship with Him, He leads us to our cross and helps us find it and enables us to embrace it with Him. Who is preaching like this today (See post on the Janitor for February 16th)? Is grace still cheap or are there preachers of costly grace? Grace that costs the life of a disciple and asks him to leave behind his old life. Christ doesn't allow Peter to remain a fisherman, or the young rich man to remain a rich man, the circumstance of who they used to be must change. The one quickly obeys and follows leaving behind his fishing trade, but the second example refuses to obey and refuses to follow. Both must embrace following Christ no matter the cost to their life, because Jesus says, that "whoever looses his life for Christ's sake will find it" (Matt. 10:39).

He did it all

Jesus did it all for us. He was whipped, beaten, shamed, betrayed, denied, mocked, pierced, and crucified for you and me. He was rejected, cursed, and there was no room for Him when He was born. He took it all for us, He suffered all there was to be suffered. He was committed to embrace his own sacrifice. And on the 3rd day He was risen from the dead having conquered death.

So while we wait to see Him lifted high on the Judgement Seat before heaven, let us remember, "He did it all," so how much will He be willing to forgive here and now, since He did love us enough to embrace death, yes even death on a cross?

There is nothing we do to earn it, he loves us and extends us pardon freely.

If we could only hold onto a vision of Jesus and His love for us. That no matter what we have done, Jesus' willingness to forgive us is sufficient. His love and grace is so large, that He bore the cross and was tortured beyond comprehension for us. How much more willing does that make Him to extend grace, if He would embrace such torture for us? A love that motiveated Him to lay down His own life, will surely be tender enough to accept a heart felt cry to Him that loves so much. My brothers and sisters in Christ let us always approach the throne room of grace with confidence knowing what He has already done and is longing to do right now. Give your burden to Jesus. He has paid the price to take away your burden and guilt.

I find myself dependent upon Jesus grace, mercy, and love. My sinful nature will flare up and come out of nowhere and blind side me. So I call out to the name that Saves, "Jesus." I am on my knees again in this dark room asking your pardon. I hear Him say, "My grace is sufficient for you little one." "If I suffered so much on the cross, will I not hear you now and be very willing to forgive you?" Yes, Yes, tis true, tis true.

The Cross

The following excerpt from Tozer, God has used in my life to tear down probably my biggest strong hold of sin in my life. I hope God can use it for you as He did for me:

The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good bye to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more. A.W. Tozer "The Radical Cross"

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

May God open our hearts and minds to fully embrace what Jesus Christ has asked us to do. May we understand the grace of Jesus who willingly laid down His life for us, so that we may have new life in Him. So glorious what Jesus has done. God inside us. BUT, will we deny ourselves and have our own life ended on the cross?

Everyone wants to go to heaven. That sounds so great. But who wants to have their life dismantled and torn apart by the cross? How many come to hear the good news and never give up the old way of life? How much does the church today cater to only entertaining this individual? When do we tell them what is involved? How many run right back to sin again and again? Who has been made a new creation by Jesus? Who is striving to be put to death like their Savior? I do not have the answers nor claim to. I do know that the truth of Chrisitanity is, carrying a cross and A.W. Tozer paints us a vivid image of what that looks like.

Jesus who Himself was meek, humble, and riding into town on a donkey comes to us as friends to show us the only way. He lived it and displayed how it is to be done. He has not forced this on us, he has not tricked us. He was plain and shared with us, if we would come, he never commanded we come. We have the option. We must stand at the foot of the cross and decide, is what Jesus did for me, worthy enough for me to decide to follow Him, knowing where that takes me, to my own cross? Is a right standing before God Almighty the Perfect and Holy One important to me, to have my sins remembered no more? Or do I chose to simply make my life a means to self-pleasure?

When a man left Rome with a cross, he did not go back. God bring us to our knees with a new revelation of your Face, that we will not go back to our old ways. Reveal yourself to us, that we may have enough to do what You have commanded. The life we leave behind reckon it dead. The old man we used to be was full of pride, let us walk away with cross in hand. As you walked. Let's leave it all behind and press on to the cross.

Oh Lord, that you would make us humble and meek, and set us on our way to death to self. I give you all permission and offer myself of my own free will to be put to death, because the love you have shown me offers me no other way but to trust you through this thing.

That we may enjoy You forever and ever, that we may see beyond calvary!