Generosity

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from You, and we have given you only what comes from your hand."

I Chroncicles 29:14 NIV

The above are the words of King David before the assembly as he praised God for the ability to contribute to the work of the kingdom. The recognition that everything comes from God is the beginning of wisdom. We enter this life with nothing and we leave with nothing. What we do with what we have while we are here will make a difference in how we spend eternity. The best way to thank God and to praise his name is to do something to advance the cause of the kingdom. There are myriads of ways to do that. Jesus promised that even a cup of cold water given in his name would not lose its reward. God does not need our money. The whole universe was made by his hand. But, what he desires is our relationship. Fruit of that relationship is evidenced by a spirit of generosity of time, money and talents. God loves a hilarious giver. The joke is on those who think that they can keep something by hoarding it. It is a universal law of nature that every time you give something away, it comes back to you. Try it sometime! Do something in secret for someone else who is less fortunate and watch what happens to you. I believe that you will discover that you will be blessed beyond anything that one ever imagined.

Victory in Jesus

As the world readies to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter, we join in the celebration. Everybody loves a winner. We can celebrate that "God wins". The cross marks the victory of God's triumph over evil. But, a true perspective of faith is the realization that God's victory came at a tremendous price. The real tragedy of the cross was not even in the physical suffering that Jesus endured. Nor was the victory the resurrection on the third day.

Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, mankind and God have been alienated by sin. That sin was the frustration of God's love for the mankind whom He created to share His love. The tragedy of the cross was the sin that made it necessary. "For God so loved the world that He gave His.....Son."

The resurrection is the authentication of the message of the cross. It is what proves that it is true. The victory was in the blood that was shed that frees those who accept it by faith. That acceptance is not a passive intellectual acknowledgment. It is a confession of belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior upon which one bets everything in the physical world. That faith is in the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross for our salvation. It is accepted only by hearing the proclamation which takes root in a person's soul. It leads every believer to a confession of faith that is acted upon by a compulsion to do anything that God commands. It will even lead one to stand in water to be joined, in baptism, with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit in His death, burial and resurrection as God's Messiah.

Some believe that Satan is like God having powers to know all things past, present and future. The Bible suggests that this is not the case. If Satan had known what the cross was going to do to his powers, he would have done everything in his power to have prevented it. He certainly would not have sent Judas on a mission of betrayal.

Romans 6 tells us that since the time of the Fall, all mankind was a prisoner of sin. Satan ruled unchained, for all who sinned were his slaves. (Romans 6:6). The cross was what broke the power of sin to grant to us the freedom to walk, once again, with the Father in the Garden. The story of the Bible is that of Paradise lost; and, Paradise regained. The cross removes the sword at the edge of Eden, and nullifies the lie that trapped Adam and Eve and every one of their descendants. The cross opens the door of escape from a life of compulsion and misery, into a house with many rooms where Jesus waits upon us to join Him. That spiritual existence is ratified by love, peace and joy which we begin to experience, even in this life, as we look forward to eternity. The bridegroom waits for all who will enter within.

The resurrection is the proof that the message of the cross is real. But, in spite of the terrible suffering, it is the death of the Messiah, in accordance with the scriptures, that is the real victory. It is the victory over eternal death, the penalty of which was sin.

As we stand in awe before the cross, we can regret the pain; but, we should shed tears of joy for the gift. It is the only hope that the we have in this world.

The Brazen Serpent

This month Christendom will celebrate an early Easter holiday in March. Come to think of it....how did this most solemn "Christian holiday" derive its name from a pagan goddess? It is at this time when the world celebrates the very Gospel itself: "…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; that He was buried; and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Yet, for some reason we have allowed the remembrance of Christ's death and resurrection to be muddled by ancient pagan traditions (rabbits that lay eggs and other such nonsense). Nonetheless, it is perhaps appropriate at this time of year to examine a rather peculiar episode in Israel's history. This strange event was a foreshadowing of things to come:

It happened during the wilderness wanderings, after the children of Israel escaped from slavery in Egypt. On one of the many occasions that the Israelites were murmuring against God's provision, God sent deadly serpents as a judgment. In response to Moses' prayer for the people, God instructed Moses to set up a bronze serpent on a pole, and everyone who looked upon it would live (Numbers 21:4-9).

This seems like a strange remedy. Why a bronze serpent? Why did God choose this peculiar method? It would be Jesus Himself who would explain this strange remedy to Nicodemus in saying: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:14,15)." In fact, this would occasion the most well-known verse in the Bible: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16)."

This emblem - a brass serpent raised on a pole - is distinctive in that the Lord Jesus Christ personally applied it to Himself. The more you examine it, the stranger it appears: brass was the Levitical symbol of judgment; brass was the metal that was associated with fire (as the brazen altar, etc.). The serpent was symbolic of sin, introduced in the Garden of Eden. This is a strange emblem, indeed, for the Savior of mankind. 2 Corinthians 5:21 explains: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

And this is precisely what we celebrate: Christ being raised up in our stead. His sacrifice is unfathomable. We may spend an eternity attempting to embrace the implications of this precious truth, and what it cost Him to purchase our pardon. And, that is what we celebrate every Sunday when we come together to partake of communion. For us, this is not a once a year celebration. For the Christian who lives in the Way, this is a part of taking up one's cross daily.