What Was Jesus’ Purpose

Don’t we all just want to know why? Have you ever met some one who never asks why? They are the ones whose parents always answered the question, “Why is the sky blue?” with a loud “BECAUSE!”

Poor folks.

Okay, I am being silly. Everyone wants to know why Jesus. Right? Still silly? Well here is why Jesus did not come to earth…

• To make people rich
• To heal everyone
• To get rid of all evil in the world
• To create political movements
• To develop a world religion that would spawn the crusades
• To teach love and kindness
• To be a great teacher
• To free the Jewish nation from Roman rule
• To be a great prophet
• To associate with the “right” crowd

Nope, none of that stuff. Jesus did not come to earth for any of the reasons men have made up.He came for His Father’s personal agenda not for any man’s agenda. Because He did not come to this earth to fulfill preconceived notions of his purpose, He made a lot of people mad.

He made some people very happy though. Not everyone hated Jesus. They loved him because of his purpose. He gave people something they did not have. He met needs. He came with a mission.

The mission from the mouth of Jesus himself as recorded by John an eye witness.

“Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.”Father, glorify Your name ” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” John 12:27-28

“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” But He was saying this (AW)to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. John 12:32-33

“I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.” John 12:46

Jesus said many other things about why he came. These sum up his mission well. He came for the hour of his death on the cross to draw all men to himself that they might believe in Him and ultimately the one who sent him. He came first and foremost to save humankind.

John would later write in 1 John,

By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:9-11

Propitiation is just a big word that means Jesus’ death satisfied the need for our punishment for our sins.

Jesus attracted huge crouds and followers because he took care of their needs. Not just their physical needs but the most important ones. He took care of their sin.

You know what? He still takes care of our sins. Even today.

God bless

What Does God Hate?

It is fair game to say that God loves me. He does. He loves his own. We want to believe God will accept us. And it is true that he does on one level; however, the problem is we want God to accept us on our terms not His. We want to make the rules of our relationship. We want to say, “God loves everyone so much he would not let anyone go to hell.” Or, “I just can’t give up ______________, God will just have to accept it.”

Well, there are some things God hates. We cannot lie to ourselves and say, “God loves everything.” Not true.

16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,

19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. Proverbs 6:16-19

Unfortunately none of us are without flaw and imperfection. I can pick a few things of the list to claim my own. Can you? Think about it.

God bless.

God Must Love You

Would it be safe to say that all the world wants is to be loved? People remember fondly the love their mothers have or had for them. Does anyone love you? I know someone does.

Could God love you?

YES!

I know God loves you, He must love you. There is just no two ways about it. How do I know? Um, the bible tells me so.

Here is the deal. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Most of the time love is conditional. I will love you if ____________. That is the way love works. We do not love people who do not treat us nice or do as we wish them to. Except, I do love my children when they disobey. There are times when they are ugly, angry, and selfish but at no point do I think, “Oh, my, I just don’t love you anymore.”

Not so with God. Paul wrote to the Romans explaining that while we were still ugly, Christ died for us. Not after we had gotten our selves all cleaned up instead while we were still dirty.

Consider this, do you stop loving your kids when they are bad? NO!

You cannot stop loving your kids. Even when they are bad. We have all read articles in the news where a son is captured robing a store and later the mom is interviewed. She never says, “Yep that’s my boy.” She says, “Not my son, why was he there?”

Moms and Dads are imperfect. They love imperfectly. The worlds love is not like God’s. I think that is what makes God seem so unreal. Why love someone at their worst? Why love an enemy? Why?

God made us to love. Love one another and Love Him. He loved us first, just as we love out children before they can return love. He loved us so we can learn to love. He showed us what love IS so we could understand His kind of love.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

God does love you. God bless.

Does God Love Me?

Okay, I could have asked, “Does God love you?” But I thought I would just pick on myself here. You can pretend I am talking about you if you want.

Consider this…

“If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”- John 15:10

Do I obey Jesus’ commands? A lot of times we tell ourselves how full of grace and acceptance God has. He does have a lot. After all, look at the types of people Jesus reached out to in the New Testament.  However, Jesus said, “Obey my commands.” Actually he said, “if”, which indicates there might be a catch to God’s love?

Let me put it this way. Could Jesus be saying, If you do not obey my commands you will not remain in my love? This might be the negative view. But I think you get the picture. Jesus gave an example of his own too. He obeyed his Father and because of the obedience, remains in God’s love. Can we fall out of God’s love?

You think about it. I am not going to say any more right now.

God bless.

A Heart of Flesh for a Heart of Stone

“They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.” Ezekiel 11:18-21

Heart conditions are so important. The heart is the most important thing.  God tried so hard to teach the Israelites that what was most important is the heart.

Do you have a heart of stone? It was a heart like the idols the Israelites were following. Stone for stone. A heart far from God and unyielding, cold, callous, and hard. They did not follow God’s decrees. Their hearts were devoted to things, worldly things.

God longed to bring the Israelites home. To give them a heart of flesh. Soft, yielding, alive, and warm. A heart after God. One that would keep God’s laws and remove the things in their lives that distracted them from God.

Today?

God has paid the highest price for our heart. His own Son. Jesus came to teach us how to obey God. To show us what love means. To be the first born of many. He came to touch our hearts and turn them from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh.

God bless.

Sin Happens!

Despite all the commands against sinning, you still do. It just happens. Paul wrote in Romans 3:20, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”

All the laws teach us how good at sinning we are.

The Israelites left Egypt in glory. God rescued them with many miracles and they still forgot. They did not get very far before they started to grumble and complain.

When they got to the promised land they were afraid to enter the land. God became angry and told Moses he would make a new nation through him. But Moses prayed.

“Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Numbers 14:17-20

Don’t let anyone lie to you and tell you God does not forgive. Or that the God of the Old Testament gave no grace. He knew, more than that, He knows we are imperfect and we sin. That is why he sent Jesus the Christ to come and save us from this world of hurt we are in.

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Romans 3:21-26

God did this. He loves us so much. He made the way to take care of our continuous sin problem. This does not mean we should just go do what we want. Do not be so ignorant of God’s Word. He did forgive the offense in Numbers, but he also punished the Children of Israel too.

We cannot make a practice of sinning. We must keep fighting. Don’t give up.

What the Lord Has Done

“Remember these things, O Jacob,
for you are my servant, O Israel.
I have made you, you are my servant;
O Israel, I will not forget you. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you.”

Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this;
shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in Israel. Isaiah 44 :21-23

God saves. He has always done all to protect and love his people. Isaiah prophesied hundred of years before the birth of Christ. When Jesus was eight days old his parents took him to the temple. There they ran into Simeon.

 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.”  Luke 2:25-32

God’s plan was to send his son into this world to save it. Jesus knew his target was the cross. On it he redeemed Jacob and he bought for himself Gentiles who come to him too. God has done this wonderful thing because He loves us.

God bless.

No Warning Shots Fired

I heard of a prison sign that reads, “No Warning Shots Fired!” The message  is clear, if you try to escape you will be instantly shot.

Sometimes it seems Christians fear that the Bible teaches God has such a sign too. Do you see God standing over the earth withing to catch you in sin to wipe you out? I hope not.

God loves us as a father. Consider Paul’s writing in Ephesians.

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. Ephesians 1:5-8

Think about all the good things God has done for us in this short passage.

1. We have been adopted into God’s own family
2. He poured out His glorious grace on us
3. He purchased our freedom and for gave our sins
4. He showered us with kindness

The words used to describe what God has done in this verse makes me believe that he actually loves us.  Imagine that! I believe he loves us even more than we love our own children. He is a better father than I am.

Even I as an earthly father love my children. They are mine. I give them all they need and often even more. I give them things they want (especially around Christmas). Do my children make mistakes? Absolutely. Do I love them any less because of their faults? NO! Do I cast them out of the house when they hit each other? No. There might be some timely consequence to their mistakes; however, they are no less my children.

So it is with us who are in Christ. Who through faith and obedience have been adopted into God’s own family.

God bless. Be thankful.

The Difference Between Life and Death

I just got through watching Nova: Deadly Ascent on PBS tonight. It was about climbers on Denali the highest mountain peak in North America. It was very interesting. On this very unforgiving mountain 45% of deaths were caused by falls. The rest caused by exposure and complications trying to survive in this harsh world. When bad weather swept upon the climbers they had to get into shelter quick. During these times survival depended on three things, eating, drinking plenty of water, and maintaining body heat.

Three things between life and death.

I am convinced that we are in a life and death struggle today. The outcome of our spiritual survival hangs in the balance every day. There are things we can do to help us survive.

Like the climbers on Denali, some people die their spiritual death from falls. While Jesus took care of our sin problems on the cross, practicing sin, leads us down a path that ends in a crevice we cannot climb back out of. That is why it is so important to train ourselves to resist sin. What I mean is, if you keep on sinning after the sacrifice, you will come to a point where you give into it and then there is no way to come back.  NOTE! If you just read that last statement and said, “I am there.” or “God will not take me back.” Then stop what you are doing right now. Get on your knees and pray, because there is still hope, and God will take you back. Tomorrow morning, find someone to talk to about God.

When a climber falls into a crevice they may have fallen to an instant death. However, some few, because of friends, safety gear, or fortune, are able to get back out of the hole. I believe we think we can handle sin. We only fool ourselves. There comes a time, sometimes after the first sin, when our hearts grow cold and we by our own choices become unreachable. Beyond God or any influence that will allow us to reach up and take hold of Gods precious grace once again.

But for those who do not fall. There awaits the exposure to the harsh environment we are in that taxes our spiritual health. The day in and day out need to keep putting one foot in front of the other on our walk with God gets to be hard. We get down, discouraged, and can loose hope. That is why fellowship with other survivors is so important. We spur one anther on, encouraging, sharing, and loving together.

Just as there are three components to survival on Denali, I like what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, ” And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

God bless. Keep the faith, hold to hope, and share the love.

More on Love, It just cannot be any clearer.

I do not have an comments on this scripture. It is just so clear.

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. 1 John 4:7-21

To be a follower of Christ you must live a life of love. I do not completely understand this or maybe I should say live this way. I am very grateful for God’s grace. I will say this, I suspect God will condemn the modern Christian community for its lack of love and it over emphasis on law.

God bless.