Thoughts on Debt

Being in debt is hard. Sometimes, it feels like we can never get out. Though we work hard and make regular payments, there are days it feels most hopeless.

Though we do not like to admit it, this concept of debt applies to our spiritual life as well. Take a look at Colossians 2:13-14:

"And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross."

This debt, the sin debt, is one that we cannot pay off. But God erased it with the cross. We are freed from those legal demands, and are called into a new arrangement.

Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at what that means. It is a process that will take a lifetime, but God, who has called us to life, will give us what we need as we follow Him.

Bibliography

The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.

The Gospel

Sometimes we over-complicate the Gospel. Here are the essentials:

• We are all messed up. That includes you too.
• God loves you so much that He chose to take on flesh and reach out to you, to us.
• Jesus Christ, God incarnate, was obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:5-11).
• He was nailed to a cross and died (John 19:16-37).
• His body was buried in a new tomb and guarded by Roman soldiers (Matthew 27:57-66).
• On the third day, He rose again (Luke 24:1-7).

Jesus came to save us: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

He came that we "may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).

He loves you, and wants to have a relationship with you. Have you met Him?

If you are walking with Christ, I celebrate with you. I pray that God would continue to grow you towards spiritual maturity. If you have not ever heard this story or you are still wrestling with it, ask questions. Start by asking God and exploring His written Word. Then find a pastor or believer and visit. You could even contact me. My prayer for you is that God would change your heart and life as I have seen Him change mine and many others.

Bibliography

The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.

Cleaning House

I have been in the process of doing some cleaning and work around my home. One of the projects I tackled was cleaning the bathroom. We all know how much fun this is. I started working on the shower with one cleaning product, but had to change to change to another when it ran out. The second was a bleach based cleaner.

A few hours later, I was reminded of this passage from Matthew 23:27-28.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

We like things to look clean. But looking clean and being clean are two different things. Our hearts and minds are easily deceived, and we find ourselves thinking and even doing things that we know we should not. In his letter to the Romans, Paul asked the church if we should keep sinning so that grace may abound. His answer was a resounding "No!"- if through Christ we have died to sin, why would we want to continue in it (Romans 6:1-12)?

Friends, it's time that we do some cleaning. Each one of us who has been freed from the bondage of sin by the blood of Jesus Christ still finds ourselves wrestling with those sins which so easily entangle us. We all fall prey to hypocrisy. Christ wants more for us, and He offers it by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Perhaps you have not ever heard how much God loves you. We are coming up on that time when, each year, we remember and celebrate the great lengths that He went to in order to show His love while we were still sinners. Feel free to contact me or find a local pastor: we want to share this incredible love story with you.

May the God who has given His all to redeem us be honored today in our thoughts and actions.

Bibliography

The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.

Leaving 99

"Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices."

Luke 15:4-5

I have heard this passage taught many times. I have read it many more. Yet I did not fully understand it until I became a teacher.

Teachers are entrusted with so many responsibilities and hopes for their students. Both inside and outside the classroom, we see them trying to learn and find their way. I have the privilege of serving at a Christian school, which gives me the freedom to express not just my hopes for them academically and socially, but also spiritually.

I will be honest: I am not perfect. I have wasted opportunities. As God has been working in my life lately, I am trying to do better; in doing so, I am getting a deeper understanding of this passage and what it requires.

First, it requires love. My friends who are parents understand this on a real, urgent level when they cannot find their child. The shepherd has to love the sheep, otherwise he would not care to pursue it. But more than love is needed. 

A shepherd must also be strong and courageous. Without these qualities, he would not brave the unknowns of the wild in order to find the sheep. He would be unable to lift the sheep from any snares and the carry it back to the flock.

That all sounds good, but why are we talking about it? Our culture needs shepherds. It needs parents, teachers, pastors, coworkers, neighbors, and friends who will be loving enough to watch over it, courageous enough to pursue it, and strong enough both to carry it towards safety and to lead it in the way it should go. It needs shepherds who will protect it from the thieves that come to harm it. It needs men and women who get what Jesus was talking about and who are striving daily to follow in the example of the Good Shepherd (John 10:11).

Can we be those shepherds? May God enable us by His Spirit for this purpose.

Bibliography

The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.

Continuing to Grow

As we mark our first anniversary of The Landing, I have just finished rereading a book that I read almost a decade ago as I was entering my first semester at university. I have been wanting to do this for about a year now, and decided that this was the perfect time to again read The Heart of the Artist.

In my copy of this book there were many highlights and notes from my first read and our class discussions. Now there are many more. It is amazing how much more we get out of things the second time around, as we have grown with age and experience. Today I would like to share a quote that I found particularly challenging:

"Growing in Christ doesn't mean that we acquire a bunch of head knowledge. It means that we grow in areas such as moral excellence, intimacy with Christ, self-control and discipline, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love" (39).

From the beginning of our work here at The Landing, our goal has been to participate in a global, digital society, working to fulfill the Great Commission: "make disciples of all nations... teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20). The last year has wrought its fair share of changes in each of our lives, but that goal remains constant.

As you read this post or others that are available through our archives, we hope that you do not leave only with information. Thanks to the rapid growth of the internet, information can be found anywhere. Rather, it is our prayer that you are challenged in your faith. In the aforementioned quote from Rory Noland, he points out that discipleship is not just learning new data; instead, discipleship is taking what we learn from Jesus and letting it make a noticeable, tangible difference in our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I look forward to continuing to write here at The Landing. With so many distractions online, I pray that this will continue to be a quiet place where we can be challenged towards spiritual maturity in Christ.

Though I may never have met you, dear reader and friend, know that I am praying for you. As Spring approaches and 2015 continues, I pray that you would come to know God in a deeper way. I pray that He would empower you to make a difference in your family, workplace, and community for His Name's sake.

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you" (1 Thessalonians 5:28)

Bibliography

The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.

Noland, Rory. The Heart of the Artist: A Character-building Guide for You and Your Ministry Team. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999. Print.

A Reflection on Psalm 37

The other day I was reading Psalm 37, which is subtitled in the NRSV as Exhortation to Patience and Trust.

There are many things in life that cause us stress: situations, people, and any combination of the two. We often cannot control these things; instead, we can only control our reactions to them. Here are some of the things that David advises throughout this text:

• "Commit your way to the Lord" (5)
• "Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for Him" (7)
• "Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath" (8)
• "Depart from evil, and do good" (27)
• "Wait for the Lord, and keep to His way" (34)
• "Mark the blameless, and behold the upright" (37)

Yes, life is chaotic. However, David's counsel is very different from the frenzied responses which we so often take to moments of stress or uncertainty. He tells us to wait on God, committing ourselves anew to Him and His purpose. He also challenges us to refrain from anger, wrath, and evil; instead, we should do good and pursue good things.

I will not pretend to know the struggles you face. I can only speak for myself. As I face challenges, it is my prayer that God would help me to follow David's advice. So often I do not. I want control, or I want it to be resolved at my tempo; however, I am not God.

Verse 39 begins the concluding thought: "The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord..." We should not become arrogant in this. The righteousness in question is that which David has been describing throughout the whole text. It is found by waiting upon the Lord, not in our acting and reacting according to our own imperfect and biased standards.

Bibliography

The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.

The Responsibilities of the Disciple in Regards to Sin

"My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. All men must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor's work, will become a cause for pride. For all must carry their own loads."
Galatians 6:1-5

I love being challenged by Scripture. The author of Hebrews tells us that it "is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword" and "it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (4:12). It does this by the power of the Holy Spirit, continuing to teach us as we follow Jesus. How amazing is this continual act of God's love?

Then we come to a passage like the one given above. This passage can be considered challenging, because of how it begins and ends. The issue: "Bear one another's burdens" vs. "All must carry their own loads."

At first glance, these two statements stand in direct contradiction. Biblical exegesis, however, shows that his is not the case. Let us begin by looking at the differences between the two nouns, translated into English as "burdens" and "loads." The first, burdens, is transliterated in Greek as baros, which can refer to weight, burden, or difficulty. The second comes from the Greek phortion, which is a burden, load, or cargo. J. M. Boice says that the difference between the two is that the first are burdens "more than a man should carry," while the second is "a common term for a man's 'pack'" (502).

Taking this subtle nuance into consideration, as disciples of Christ being filled with the Holy Spirit we are obliged to help our brothers trapped beneath the burden of sin. In his commentary on these verses, John Calvin offers an insightful reflection on this: "When we perceive a brother to have transgressed, let us consider that he has fallen into the snares of Satan; let us be moved with compassion, and prepare our minds to exercise forgiveness. But offences and falls of this description must undoubtedly be distinguished from deep-seated crimes, accompanied by deliberate and obstinate disregard of the authority of God" (171). No sin is to be ignored or swept under the rug, but this passage refers explicitly to those brothers or sisters who are habitually and willfully choosing sin over the new life which Christ has offered.

Let the disciple beware, however. Paul warns caution against temptation as we strive for our brother's restoration. He even encourages warning against two conceits: (1) the believer thinking he is more important than he actually is, and (2) the believer comparing himself with others (Boice, 502). It is in the context of this latter conceit that we come to the final thought in the Scripture: "For all must carry their own loads." The English, in my opinion, presents the timing of this with much less clarity than the Greek or even the Latin, which uses the verb portabit, a future tense verb. In the end, each disciple will carry his own pack of works when he/she stands in the presence of God. J.V. Fesko notes that

"We can either look to Christ by faith and receive his righteousness and perfect obedience, or we can try to stand on our own. However, if we lean on our own devices, there will be no one else to blame when we fall. We will have to give an account for every one of our actions. There will not be any justification by guilt, by poor parents, by weakness, or by any other excuse we may try to conjure up" (188-9).

At the end of the journey, we will be responsible for our own actions. There will be no excuse that can be given. At the same time, we are responsible for coming to the aid of our brothers and sisters in Christ as they too wrestle with sin. We must do so in humility and kindness.

I myself am still working through the implications of these things, both as a disciple of Jesus Christ and as an educator. It is my prayer for each of us that as we allow God to teach us through His word, He would show us practical opportunities to apply this passage in each of our varied situations.

Bibliography

Boice, James M. "Galatians." Romans through Galatians. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Vol. 10. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976. Print. The Expositor's Bible Commentary with the New International Version.

Calvin, Jean. "Galatians." Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians. Trans. William Pringle. Vol. XXI. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2009. 170-76. Print. Calvin's Commentaries.

Fesko, J. V., and Jon D. Payne. Galatians. Powder Springs, GA: Tolle Lege, 2012. 183-89. Print.

Goodrick, Edward W., John R. Kohlenberger, and James A. Swanson. Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1999. Print.

The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.