Archive for the ‘Salvation’ Category

Promise #4 – Take a Day Off!

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

Promise #4

Take a Day Off!

 

How cool is God? There’s 10 commandments. You’ve got just a few commandments or promises to show them the new life you want to give them. With only 10 of these; it’s awesome to me that right in the middle, God has this awesome promise! “You will take a day off!”

The fourth promise says in Exodus 20: 8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.”

In other words, TAKE A DAY OFF!

This is so like God! It’s His method of operation from the beginning of our little world! God, who can speak and things pop into existence takes 6 days to create the world; and then, takes a day off and says, this is the day to quit working!

Genesis 2:2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

God believes in taking a day off?

Could this be because He knew we’d obsess and work hard?

Could it be that He knew we’d pack our lives with more and more stuff?

Could it be that He knew we wouldn’t stop to enjoy life sometimes?

Could it be that He knew He could pack 7 days of productivity into 6?

Could it be that He knew He could help us realize we were trying to do too much anyway?

The beauty of the Sabbath – the day off – is that it’s a great metaphor of salvation. Where do we mess up too easily on the issue of salvation?

1. We won’t let go and let God take care of our salvation. This is legalism – if I work I’ll get or keep my salvation.

2. We easily forget that God can actually change anything… We start to believe we receive salvation and then stay stuck in our life and sin.

The Sabbath faces both of these lies head on.

Hebrews 4:9 says, “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.”

The writer of Hebrews is saying, look, salvation is is your rest! You stop worrying about your salvation and transformation and leave it in the hands of God!

And to take a day off of work of all the normal stuff of life – the things that make your life work – means that God has to help make it all work – and we trust Him to actually change things.

The Israelites got a great example of this right before God have them the 10 Commandments. They needed food, so He provided food for them. They called it manna. You can read this story in Exodus 16. Every day God gave them enough food for the day. If they collected too much it went bad overnight.

However, when it came to the day before the Sabbath, they were to collect twice as much so they could rest on the Sabbath. He provided for them… He made them more productive! It’s a promise about the Sabbath encased in a story!

It’s God saying, TAKE A DAY OFF!!! Do you need a day off?

And look at the wording! “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work.” This is talking about the stuff that makes life work; the stuff you are called to do; this is the stuff that makes life continue. You get to stop for a day and relax!

So, God both saves us -and gives us rest – and provides for us in the process!

This is salvation! You have rest – and I’m going to change your life! Complete salvation!

Now, here’s where people get stuck… It’s the first part of the promise:

You will remember the Sabbath day…. but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.

What day is the seventh? Saturday. This day has been kept faithfully by Jews for thousands of years. The calendar has been revised, but the days of the week have not changed. Saturday is the Sabbath.

And Jesus kept it – read through the gospels. And He expected people after He was resurrected to keep it as well. How do I know? In Matthew 24 Jesus is talking about persecution to happen after His resurrection and he says, “18 A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat. 19 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. 20 And pray that your flight will not be in winter or on the Sabbath. “

So, He is anticipating that His followers would be keeping the Sabbath after His ascension!

You might ask where did people worshiping on Sunday come from then? Well, that’s a whole study in and of itself, however, to give you a quick view- after Jesus ascension Christians started to celebrate His resurrection on Sunday. They kept the Sabbath (you can read this throughout Acts). However, when persecution of the Jews became more and more intense, Christians started to compromise and wouldn’t worship on Saturday to keep a distinction between themselves and the Jews. As political power united with religious power, worshiping on Sunday became the enforced norm.

But, the bottom line is, Jesus never stopped the keeping of the Sabbath on Saturday.

The next easy question is simple… Why does it matter? Shouldn’t I just keep one day as a day off? I would say yes – except that God Himself said, “Remember… to keep the Sabbath day…. but the Seventh is the Sabbath.”

If your job has you working on Saturday or you have other activities on Saturday, then obviously, this is going to be a big faith risk for you… Will God take care of you if you fulfill the promise He has for you?

It all goes back to salvation? Can you trust God with your life? Can you trust Him your time and your money? Yes. Yes you can!

And more than that, you get a DAY OFF!

 For more on this, listen to my sermon on this promise at http://livetheexperience.org/media/listen-online-september-13-2008/

Posted in 10 Commandments, Chaplain Rambling, Salvation, Spirituality, Theology | No Comments »

The Shack

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

So, the morning show team has been blogging about the book, The Shack. They’ve received some negative responses from those who have some great problems with The Shack.

I don’t care whether you read The Shack or not – I’m not here trying to catch on a campaign. Nor am I going to get embroiled in an argument about each individual issue on The Shack.

1. Presuppositions: I believe deeply that the Word is the ultimate authority – above all others. No one person, or author stands in the place of the Bible.

2. What you believe is important. Wha tyo ubelieve determins how you interact with God. If you believe He is a harsh judge, you will relate to Him that way. If you believe He is unknowable, You’ll interact with Him in a different way. What you believe is important.

3. There is ultimate truth. There is truth above all else. And that truth is God – as Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

With all that said, I read The Shack – and I enjoyed The Shack. It was a blessing to me.

Did I agree with everything in The Shack? No.

Do I agree with everything I read in most books – even Christian books? No. Max Lucado? Find things where I believe the Word does not agree with Max. Pick an author – I can challenge him with the Word.

Does that mean I should not read them? No! It means I should read them and test it in light with the Word and take what is true.

What I find most unique about The Shack is that IT IS A PARABLE. IT IS NEVER PRESENTED AS TRUTH. It is a PARABLE!!!!! And a parable is there to get a message across. The Shack was written to wrestle with the problem of bad things happening.

Even Jesus, in parables, uses story telling and does not give perfect theology. Look at the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16. Are Heaven and Hell really just separated by a big gulf – and those in hell can see heaven and vice versa? Is heaven really being in Abraham’s bosom? No! This isn’t the picture of heaven and hell anywhere else in the Bible. This is simply a story to make a POINT!

Now, there are a couple things that bother me about The Shack.

  1. Open theology: There is an illusion to the concept of Open Theology when God says that they don’t look into the future so they can be in relationship. I don’t have a huge problem with that – maybe there are times God focuses on us -and how that happens, I don’t know. However, the concept of God not knowing the future is a belief – called Open Theology – that I deeply disagree with – and The Shack could seem as a step in that direction. On the surface I don’t have a problem with The Shack – but where it COULD lead – if someone is not studying the Bible is a problem.
  2. Lack of Authority: The Shack also talks about how there is not authority in God’s world as there is in ours. I think the author is pushing our conceptions of God. However, there is authority in heaven and among the trinity – I’m sure we wouldn’t really understand it or recognize it… It’s much different than we understand.

These are things that simply put, are things people need to be reading the Word first – and they will understand truth. And then, let’s relax, read, and test things against the Word and be pushed back to the Word.

Are there things I don’t agree with in The Shack? Sure. But, if I get rid of everything that has things I don’t agree with in the Word I’d have to get rid of a lot of my books – and my friends!

Posted in Chaplain Rambling, Issues, Salvation, Theology | 3 Comments »

Three Things To Remember About the Great Ten

Monday, October 6th, 2008


I grew up in a tradition that valued the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments were important – they were the basis of sin, God’s expectations on us, and all kinds of fun stuff.

 

A few years ago, the 10 Commandments got a lot of press time here in the Treasure Valley. The 10 Commandment Monument; 10 Commandment signs on people’s lawns; the list goes on.

 

There are three things that most 10 Commandment conversations miss completely.

 

1)      I talked about this in my last blog post – the Ten Commandments are based in God saying, “I am the Lord YOUR God!” We can’t forget the relationship that God puts Himself into with us!

2)      He then says in Exodus 20:2, “who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.” Notice when the Ten Commandments are given – AFTER the Israelites have been rescued from Egypt.

 

You see, the Ten Commandments are given for saved people! They don’t make much sense until you realize the God has taken you out of the Egypt of your depression, pain, bondage, addictions, mediocre life, and passionless existence. Remember, God has given you freedom already!

 

Beyond that, the Ten Commandments are not given as conditions of acceptance. They are given because you are accepted! You are already accepted! You are already chosen and loved. You are the beautiful bride that God saw and chose and said, “YES! You are MINE!” You have been picked, loved, and freed!

 

Then, it’s time for the third truth we often miss about the 10 Commandments:

3)      The Ten Commandments are written as promises! I’ve always believed they were things I HAD to do and NOT DO! Don’t swear, don’t kill, don’t kill, etc, etc. But, they are actually PROMISES! Check this out:

To my surprise I found that the Ten Commandments in Hebrew grammar (lo’ plus the imperfect tense of the verb) can either be translated as negative commands—prohibitions, or the same Hebrew grammar—those same words—can be translated as emphatic promises.  Even the fourth and fifth commandments, that are not in negatives when it says, “Remember the Sabbath,” it doesn’t use the imperative, which is the normal way of giving a command.  Those of you that are Hebrew buffs, the fourth (as well as the fifth) commandment uses the infinitive absolute which is often used for a promise in the Hebrew Bible.  “You will remember, I promise you, you will remember the Sabbath.”  And so it could be translated either way …

 

As a child I was taught the Ten Commandments starting with verse 3, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  That’s not where the Ten Commandments start.  That’s not where God starts speaking.  It starts in verse 2 where He says, “I am the Lord your God who has brought you out of the house of bondage.  I’ve redeemed you by the blood of the Lamb.  You’re already saved and now I’m going to promise you power to keep My law.”  And if you start in verse 2, the rest of the commandments are promises.  I promise you, you won’t want to have any other gods before you.  You won’t want to take My name in vain.  You’ll want to remember the Sabbath.  You’ll want to honor your father and mother.  There is not a negative in that law! – From Love Song for the Sabbath, pages 36-37, by Richard Davidson

 

These are PROMISES! This is the same thing that is meant throughout the Bible:

·        Jeremiah 31:33
“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

·        Ezekiel 11:19
And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, 20 so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.

·        Romans 3:31
Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.

 

As we look at God’s heart through the Ten Commandments, we’ll be looking at them with new eyes – we’ll be looking at them as Ten Promises of a New Life!

 

 

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KTSY Family Questions – Reading the Bible

Monday, June 30th, 2008


 

“Could you recommend a Bible study plan for me?”

 

I’m attaching a couple Bible Study plans for you to look over. One is for reading the New Testament and the other is for the whole Bible. Pick one and try it.

New Testament Bible Reading

Plan1 Year Bible Reading Plan

 

Here are a few things that have been helpful to me in reading the Bible:

  1. I write things down when I’m reading. Sometimes this is prayers; sometimes this is response and conversation with God about what I’m reading. This helps me slow down and interact with God and the Word.
  2. Don’t read the Bible like a novel. Read it slowly, read your passage more than once. Ask God what He’s saying to you about your life.
  3. Don’t try to read too much. It’s about encountering God, not finishing a set amount of chapters.

Posted in Bible, Chaplain Rambling, Faith, Relationships, Salvation, Spirituality | No Comments »

More questions – Is it possible to be saved and worry?

Monday, June 23rd, 2008


Another question from the KTSY family:

“Is it possible to believe Jesus is my Savior and yet still struggle with God and his plan for my life? I want to be genuine in my faith and worry about if it really shows. Deep down I have peace that God is control of my life, but sometimes in my day-to-day life I still worry about things of this world, etc.”

 

This is such a fun question – and one I know I face and probably most of us do. Sometimes it seems easier to trust God for eternity – but to trust God with my finances for this month, or what to do about my job or who to deal with my kids seems much more difficult.

 

So, what does this mean? Do I really have faith?

 

Well, on one hand, Jesus said don’t worry… That’s a simple command – don’t worry! On the other hand, we are faced with disciples who constantly worried and did not live in a place of faith. Faith is a growth process. It’s a journey into trusting God. Don’t get discouraged by your worry – rather just let your worry turn you to God and growing your faith.

Posted in Chaplain Rambling, Faith, Questions, Salvation | No Comments »