Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....MAY 14, 2018
We just finished out Bible Study on the varying beliefs of denominations that proclaim to be Christian. I want to say mahalo nui loa to our class for spending the time to learn the differences as it can mean saving a friend or family member from the pains of a lifetime in Hell.
I want to explain this week, just why I put this Bible Study together and hopefully give you some insight into what Christians responsibility is when it comes to spreading the Good News.
When I was constructing the course content, and really started to focus on taking my part in the fulfilling of the Great Commission seriously, I realized that often times people rejected the wrong Christianity. In the past, the more I talked to them the more I realized that almost without exception, the nonbeliever disbelieved an incomplete or wrong gospel that has nothing to do with real Christianity. When I asked them what they thought the gospel was, they either did not know or had it completely wrong. Sadly there are many people who believe that they are Christian who are just as incapable of explaining the gospel as those who know they disbelieve. These Christians believe in their own gospel and not in the gospel that saves souls.
I have two points to focus on with this teaching this week.
1) If you are a nonbeliever (or incomplete believer) who has stumbled onto this teaching, I hope to show you what you are really rejecting. I want to make sure that you know that your concepts of what being a Christian is and the reality are most likely not the same. I want to also show you that rather than rejecting a god that demands perfection, you are rejecting a God who forgives wretchedness.
2) For those of you who are wanting to get better at witnessing, I want to give you some short responses to the most common misconceptions of what the gospel truly is.
Before I go too far down the rabbit hole, I want to say that I find it astounding how difficult it is to place myself in the shoes of the nonbeliever. There was a time when I believed the things that I am about to mention, but for the life of me, I can’t understand why.
Sinners go to hell and the righteous go to heaven. – This is one of those partially true concepts but one that must be unpacked to be fully understood. In a sense, what this sentence says is correct. Sinners go to hell and only the righteous go to heaven, but the only person who has ever been righteous was Jesus. Everyone else has fallen short and everyone is a sinner deserving of punishment. A wholly righteous and pure God cannot abide by the breaking of even one of His laws. A man who breaks even one of the Ten Commandments is guilty and God either sees him as guilty or innocent. There are no mitigating circumstances and your good works does not make it ok.
Think about it this way. You are in front of a judge facing murder charges. You are guilty. Could you go to the judge and say, “I know I am guilty of this crime but I fed poor people and worked to save the planet. I don’t believe I should go to jail” The fact is that you are guilty of murder and all the other stuff doesn’t change that. God has two judgments He can hand down for your crimes, heaven or hell. If you are guilty of breaking God’s laws (and we all are), where do you think you will go when you face judgment?
The good news is that God understands that we inherently are incapable of fully fulfilling His laws because of our fallen nature. What God did was send Jesus (a literal part of Himself) to earth to serve as a pure and holy sacrifice to pay the penalty that we deserve for the sins we committed. In a sense, just as the judge is about to hand down the sentence that we deserve for committing murder, a man jumps up from the back of the room and says, “We all know that this man is guilty of murder, but I would like to take his punishment!” God’s glory demands justice to be met out for the crime, but He chose to take the punishment himself rather than impose it on those who believe in that sacrifice and who repent.
It isn’t about being righteous, because we are unable to be righteous. It is about allowing Christ’s righteousness to be placed on us and our guilt to be placed upon Him. It is about understanding how broken and rebellious we are and begging for forgiveness. It is accepting a gift that is so priceless as to make us weep in gratitude. It is a belief in the gospel that shows the perfectness of God and everything He did for us.
Here is the gospel as explained by the Apostle Paul:
"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" – 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." – Romans 10:9-10
In other words:
1) God is holy
2) We are sinners deserving of punishment
3) Christ died and rose again to pay the punishment for sin.
4) This salvation is given to those who believe and have faith.
This is not being perfect and being good enough. In truth it is the exact opposite. It is the belief that you are horrible as anyone and realizing that you need help.
You have to be something or not be something to be saved. – I don’t know how many times I have heard nonbelievers say, “Christians believe that you cannot be gay and get into heaven.” If you look at the previous section, you will realize that we are all sinners. When we repent and turn away from our sins (not embrace them or try to justify them) it is reflective of a person who has put their faith in Christ.
It is placing our faith in the revealed truth (scripture) and submitting to God’s goodness. It is the understanding that our sins do not define us and that through Christ we are made new. We are all sinners and one sin does not make you anymore spiritually dead than any other. That is the reason why we need Christ.
Only when we stop trying to justify our rebellion against God can we accept salvation. This is for liars, thieves, people who don’t honor their parents, murders, adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals, or any other person who breaks God’s law.
With all that in mind, please realize that being a Christian is like playing chess. It is easy to learn the rules, but you can take a lifetime to fully unpack what that means. The joy that comes from following and loving Jesus is beyond understanding. Those who have come to a true faith in the true gospel can tell you all about this. This is a faith in the God of the universe and not the god we think we want. It is a faith in the God that loves, but also a faith in a God that hates sin so much as to demand the crucifixion of Jesus to atone for that sin.
Hearing the true gospel will either make complete and total sense or it will be insulting. There is no in between.
As Paul teaches us: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." – 1 Corinthians 1:18
That is the reason why there are so many lost people who wish to know Jesus but are unwilling to accept what it means to truly follow Him. They simply believe in a watered down and more palatable version of Him. This is why our nation is awash in false teachers who make up false or partial gospels. Unfortunately for them, the gospel as explained in scripture is the only one that saves.
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. – Galatians 1:8
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole that he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers on your side of the path but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path. Every day while we walk back, you've watered them. For two years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
iv. The royal hope (9:1–7)
Isaiah now reaches the fourth and final section of his prophecies about Judah. It follows in sequence from what has gone before. Waiting in faith and hope (8:17), the remnant is sustained by the forecast of the great light that shines beyond the darkness. It is a sure hope—so sure that, according to Hebrew idiom, it is even written in past tenses as though it had happened already. Because of this confidence Isaiah can place the light of 9:1ff. in immediate proximity to the darkness of 8:22, not because it will immediately happen, but because it is immediately evident to the eye of faith.
Believers walking in darkness can already see the great light and are sustained by hope. The passage includes a prose introduction (9:1), which acts as a bridge between the darkness of 8:21–22 and the dawning of the great light in the poem of 9:2–7, but this has been done so skillfully that prose and poetry are now thematically one statement in two parts: the hope described (1–3) and the hope explained (4–7). Each part covers the same three internal topics in the same order.
1. What the Lord does: a new situation by act of God. He who humbled will yet honor. The northern lands of Zebulun and Naphtali, covering the area west and south-west of the Sea of Galilee (Josh. 19:10–16, 32–39), were the first part of the promised land to fall to Assyria (733 BC). Gloom (mû‘āp) matches ‘gloom’ (mā‘ûp) in 8:22, and distress (mûṣāq) reflects the word translated ‘fearful’ (ṣûqâ). Isaiah, therefore, saw his prediction of darkness begin to be fulfilled but, as always, we have to decide what reading of our experiences we are going to live by. The darkness and distress are real but they are neither the only reality nor the fundamental reality. In any given situation we can either sink into despair or rise to faith and hope. Isaiah insists that hope is part of the constitution of the here and now. Galilee of the Gentiles or ‘nations’ (cf. Josh. 20:7; 21:32; 1 Kgs 9:11; 2 Kgs 15:29; 1 Chr. 6:76) was the northward extension of Naphtali. No-one else but Isaiah ever called this area ‘Galilee of the Gentiles’. Undoubtedly there was a continuing Gentile component in this area (see Judg. 1:30, 33; 1 Kgs 9:11) and maybe this prompted Isaiah to broaden the vision. It would seem that he could not embark on his first major statement of the hope of the coming King without the worldwide dimension hinted here and developed further in verse 7 and 11:1–16.
2. What the Lord’s people enjoy: darkness become light. Walking: living out their lives. Darkness: the hiding of the Lord’s face, during which they persevered in believing expectancy (8:17). Shadow of death: the noun ṣalmût (‘darkness’) developed the extended poetic form used here, ṣalmāwet (‘death-shadow’). It means such trouble as casts a death-like shadow. The idea of death is in the background in an illustrative way; nevertheless it is a very strong word for life’s calamities. Seen … light … light has dawned: the motif of darkness becoming light points to a creative act of God. Those who have waited through the darkness will come to the objective reality of dawn and the subjective experience of seeing the light.
3. What follows: the Lord increases joy and his people rejoice before him. Like the New Testament, Isaiah holds in tension the forecast of a (mere) remnant and the multitude of the redeemed: 1:9; 3:25–4:1; 7:3 with 10:20–22; 26:15; 49:19–21; 54:1–3; 66:8–9; Matt. 7:13–14; Luke 13:23–30; Heb. 2:10; Rev. 7:9. Before you: ‘in your presence’. There is a spiritual dimension of restoration and reconciliation, acceptance before God. The old feasts were in this regard anticipations of the messianic day (Deut. 12:5–7). Harvest … plunder: both harvest and victory are divine gifts (Deut. 28:2–8). Harvest belongs in the sphere of creation; plunder in the sphere of history. The contrasting spheres express ‘every sort of joy ever known’.
4. What the Lord does: his act of deliverance. This is the first explanation of the hope just described. Isaiah looks back to Egypt and the exodus: yoke (Lev. 26:13), burdens (Exod. 1:11; 2:11; 5:4–5; 6:6–7), shoulders (Ps. 81:6) and oppressor (Exod. 3:7; 5:6, 10–14). This was the foundational act of God in redemption, the fulfilment of the covenant promise to ‘take you as my people and be your God’ (Exod. 6:6–7). He couples this with Gideon and the defeat of Midian (Judg. 6–8), a victory wrought through an insignificant agent (Judg. 6:15) and in such a way that it could only be a work of God (Judg. 7:2–14) but involving and benefiting Naphtali and Zebulun (Judg. 6:35). The yoke is suffering endured; the rod is suffering inflicted. The contrast expresses totality: all suffering is now at an end in this expected work of God.
5. What the Lord’s people enjoy: the fruits of victory. This is the second explanation (the word ‘For’ must be reinstated at the beginning of this verse). The burning of the military hardware recalls 2:2–4. The people enter into the fruits of a victory they did not win: it was the Lord (4) who acted.
6–7. What follows: the King and his rule. Each preceding explanation leads into this third and fundamental explanation. How does the victorious, covenant-fulfilling work of God (4) come about? By what way do the Lord’s people (5) enter a non-contributory salvation? By the mere fact of the King’s birth. The emphasis rests not on to us but on a child is born. Child: his human descent. Son: his maleness and dignity in the royal line. Born of human parentage but also given by the Lord. His people’s shoulders (4) are delivered when his shoulders accept the burden of rule. He will be called: literally ‘one will call his name’. In its highest use, ‘name’ sums up character; it declares the person. The perfection of this King is seen in his qualification for ruling (Wonderful Counselor), his person and power (Mighty God), his relationship to his subjects (Everlasting Father) and the society his rule creates (Prince of Peace). Wonderful: literally ‘a Wonder of a Counselor’.
The vast majority of the eighty times the pālā’, its noun (as here, pele’) and adjective (pilĕ’î) occur, they refer to the Lord, himself and his works. It is the nearest word Hebrew has to the idea of ‘supernatural’, here bringing a wisdom far above the human: the fulfillment of 1:26, contrasting with Ahaz whose decisions ruined his people; like, but transcending, Solomon whose wisdom remained earthly (1 Kgs 4:29–34). Mighty God: the repetition of this title in 10:21, referring to the Lord himself, establishes its meaning here.
Translations like ‘Godlike Hero’ are linguistically improbable, side-stepping the implication that the Old Testament looked forward to a divine Messiah (see on 4:2; 53:1). Everlasting is both general (26:4) and specific (57:15). When people requested a king (1 Sam. 8) they wished to replace the episodic rule of the Judges with the permanency of monarchy. The King to come is the ultimate fulfillment of this longing. Father: used of the Lord, ‘father’ speaks of his concern (Ps. 65:5), care and discipline (Ps. 103:13; Prov. 3:12; Isa. 63:16; 64:8); cf. Ps. 72:4, 12–14; Isa. 11:4. Peace is personal fulfillment (2 Kgs 22:20), well-being (Gen. 29:6), harmony (Exod. 4:18), peace with God (Num. 6:26; 25:12; Isa. 53:5). The verb, šālēm, means ‘to be whole, complete’. Prince corresponds to our idea of ‘administrator’.
This Prince, then, himself a whole personality, at one with God and with his people, administers the benefits of peace/wholeness in his benign rule. This rule, however, will be unchanging in its character (and peace), without end in space and time (for ever), the fulfillment of the Davidic ideal (David’s, Pss 2:8; 72:8–11), reflecting the holiness of God in its devotion to justice in practice and righteousness in principle (cf. 5:16), and guaranteed by the commitment (zeal) and activity (accomplish) of the LORD. Zeal: as passionate commitment (37:32; 42:13; 59:17; 63:15); cf. the love that tolerates no disloyalty and brooks no rival (Num. 25:11; Ps. 79:5). It is the Lord who plans the future (1), shatters the foe (5) and keeps his promises (7).
Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, pp. 99–102). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou