Thoughts From Galatians 4 - Part 2

  Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow, I have wasted my efforts on you.   Gal. 4:8-11

        There was a character in Andy Griffith by the name of Otis that would enter the police station at night, find the jail keys, and lock himself up on the charge of public intoxication. He could have been free, but he chose drunkenness over freedom. What is it that steals your freedom because frankly don't we all have a master? Success, money, career, sports, fame, power, sex, body, - we recently sat next to a couple at church we hadn't seen for a while that had so much work to combat aging that we didn't even recognize them. As we hand out Christmas presents and hear new year's resolutions, you can also get a feel for what people are in danger of being enslaved to.

       What did Paul want us getting enslaved to? The only good Master that will enslave you and leave you better for it - Jesus. He will want all of you but in return give you love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and temperance and hope for living.

      In this passage, and I've had experience with this with a friend going back into Adventism, Paul is saying, "You were free to eat whatever you wanted. Those unclean laws had a purpose but now they're obsolete because Jesus is here. Why do you want to keep avoiding bacon?" And Paul is saying, "You know it's okay to get a caffeinated drink at Starbucks if you want." And he is saying, "Pathways Church meets on Wednesday nights if you are finding yourself on the Sunday work schedule." He's also saying, "I like that tent you got for Christmas, but you don't have to celebrate the feast of booths anymore. Why not take the family to the Lake instead." The Galatians had climbed back into that jail cell of the Law because, like our dog climbing inside her cage, they felt comfort, safety, and oddly - freedom in it. Paul is telling them, "Don't you understand how crazy that is?"

            Go all in on Jesus. You might think, "I'm slave to no one", but that's not true. You are at least slave to yourself, and God cares for you, believe it or not, more than you do. He died for you, after all.

Thoughts From Galatians 4 - Part 1

 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces[a] of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.  Gal.4:1-7

             Have you ever seen one of those old-time sit coms, it was probably "I Love Lucy" because she always got herself in these kinds of messes, where there is some kind of chorus line/ dance routine happening on stage and someone not belonging there gets thrust on stage? Not to stick out or ruin the performance, they try to mimic the dancers by watching out of the corner of their eye. Unavoidably they are always several beats and moves behind, still end up sticking out like a sore thumb, ruining the performance and end up exhausted and embarrassed.

          This is a little picture of the Old Covenant and New Covenant. In the Old Covenant before Christ, the people of God had to mimic the Law. They were always frustrated, missing the mark, behind in their sacrifices because being in perfect step was something no one knew how to do, although the Pharisees knew the dance pretty well. The Law only pointed to how much of a failure they were. Then, when the time was right, CHRISTMAS!! Jesus came and brought the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, the dance, the music, the success was put inside us when God put His Spirit inside us at salvation. Now we go through the dance of life, not scared we will mess up but led by God internally to live a life that pleases him in freedom.

       Lest we think this is just an Old Testament vs. New Testament thing that was resolved once and for all, we Christians do get caught up in performance-based Christianity rather than relational living empowered by our walk with Jesus. We need a daily surrender to His control of our lives . We are human beings not human doings so today, spend more time knowing Jesus than attempting to please Him. I bet you'll end up doing both.

Thoughts From Galatians 3 - Part 3

  So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

        As I watch my 4 kids celebrate Christmas with their own children, spouses, and homes, It's a time like none other to see that they have "flown the coop" and established themselves apart from us. Yet it's still fun to see what they have incorporated from their upbringing and made it part of their family's tradition. Toby hid baby Jesus from the manger scene and had a hunt for Him with the finder getting to open the first present, just like we do. Jonathan sat them down and read the Christmas account from Luke, just like he grew up with. The other 2 are not near but we know that they do a lot of similar things. They also all do things unique to their family and different from their siblings. What I'm saying is they are all our children and carry things that identify them with us, yet they are not clones and all act, think, and celebrate Christmas uniquely.

       Paul is saying that when we are saved, we all become part of a family- the Children of God. Note that in John, Jesus says that there are two categories of people in the world - Children of God and Children of the Devil so don't buy into the world's lie that we are all Children of God on account of creation (which they don't even believe in). That only happens through salvation. As Children of God, we start to look like Him. In fact we even clothe ourselves with Him. Yet each of us maintains our uniqueness. Slaves and free all behave like Christ yet still maintain their outside the Church's status. Blacks and Whites don't change colors, just their sin natures for Christlikeness. Men and women retain femaleness and maleness yet still retain their unique giftings. Jews and Gentiles still retain their upbringing and traditions but now look a lot less different because of the fruit of the Spirit being demonstrated.

      The Church wasn't made to be a bunch of clones but it was designed to be a home where siblings come together and celebrate the coming of Jesus. Although their quirks and unreleased baggage may cause some occasional friction, the common name, bond of family and common Spirit of Christ should mold us together into something that the world would marvel at and say, "This could only happen because of something supernatural. They must be Children of God."

Thoughts From Galatians 3 - Part 2

 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.  Gal.2:14-25

         The Law to me is a little like alcohol. I grew up in a Christian home and my parents wanted me to grow up to follow Christ on my own, yet in the short term (which toward the end felt like the long term) their primary goal was for me to act or behave like a Christian and avoid sin. One of the churchy slogans was "we don't drink, smoke, or chew or go out with girls who do." So where does alcohol come in? My parents taught me that drinking alcohol was a sin. Why would they do that when it clearly isn't?

        Paul says in verse 19, "the Law was added because of transgressions." To me this means that initially there was one rule - Don't eat from the tree. When that was broken this world became a sinful and cursed and dangerous place and a whole litany of laws and rules had to be added to protect us from the ravages of sin and yes, to identify with people who were followers of the one true God by their different behavior and morality. My parents, likewise added rules like don't drink alcohol to protect me from the dangers of it which we all clearly know, until the point where they were no longer guardians of me and I could decide for myself with hopefully a more developed frontal lobe, but mainly being under control of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the promise of the New Covenant obtained by the same faith that Abraham was justified through 430 years before the law was given.

        Paul was saying, "What, after living in freedom in your dorm, then moving into an apartment with friends where you could have beer in your fridge, girls till all hours, streaming whatever you want, no curfew, no limit on electronics, You want to move back in under the roof of your parents with all their rules? Are you nuts? That's not normal." Disclaimer, I know the picture I gave of dorm/ apartment living bordered on sinful, yet all those things can be managed if our eyes are pure and our heart is pure, and I was just demonstrating the freedom we can have in Christ. I think of my kids who went to secular colleges who navigated these situations with purity and spiritual growth and probably preferred that freedom to moving back home.

       We aren't meant to live under the bondage of parental rules. We were meant to be free! Feed the Spirit inside of you and follow the law of the Spirit instead.

Thoughts From Galatians 3 - Part 1

 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? 4 Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them." 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Gal.3:1-14

          Our pastor Sunday talked about the 3 trees in the Bible that explain the whole narrative of the Bible and really the course of human history and Galatians 3 discusses it here. The first tree was in the garden, and it is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God, from the beginning, wanted to give us an opportunity to choose to trust Him, obey Him, believe the best in Him, love Him. He didn't want cupid's arrow, love potion, Stepford wives' love. Adam and Eve chose to believe the serpent when he said that God was holding something back from them. As a side note, the song "Good, Good, Father" that Chris Tomlin sings got a little old to me until I thought of it in this context - isn't that the Devil's initial and continual ploy to get us to believe that God really isn't a good, trustworthy, caring Father but rather selfish, uncaring, and distant? When Adam and Eve ate from the tree, disobeying and not trusting God, sin came into the world and separation from God's presence as they were kicked out of the garden. 

        Let's jump to the third tree which is found in Revelation 22, the tree of life. This is found in Heaven where sin is gone and we are in a restored Garden back in a relationship with God. This is what the whole middle 64 books of the Bible are all about, getting us from a broken relationship with God to a restored relationship with Him.

        The second tree, the tree of Calvary is how we get there. God gave us the Law to obey but the Law only showed us how we couldn't be good enough on our own and we are cursed because we can't obey it, so it stands in judgement against us. (Deut. 27:26) But Jesus took the curse on Him because "cursed is anyone who dies on a tree" (Deut. 21:23) As I explained to the Muslim I got to share with who said that she hoped to get to Heaven by being good, all the religions of the world are seen as climbing up different sides of the mountain to reach God by self-effort. Christianity teaches that the mount is insurmountable and the only way to reach the top is have God come down, put us in His arms like a Gondola, and take us to the top. By the way, I have a fear of heights and getting in those gondolas, or worse ski lifts, takes a whole lot of faith.

       The cross, the second tree, is our only hope and the Galatians, although initially believing that were going back to self-effort and once again not trusting our good, good father who says "just believe". We need to rest in the fact that by faith we have become adopted Children of God. We are in the family. When my family comes home for Christmas in 3 days, the door is open to them whether they have been naughty or nice.

         

Eternal Conscious torment vs. Annihilation

            I learned growing up that certain cults believed in soul annihilation, and we as Christians believe in the lake of fire for eternity so when someone like Kirk Cameron went public saying he doesn't believe in eternal conscious torment (ECT), I would have reacted like so many saying, "Heretic!" Over the last few years, I came across some teachings by Skye Jethani which I wanted to try to summarize on his case for annihilation after a time of punishment. I'm not saying he's right and ECT is wrong, but I do see that there is a good case for it and it isn't heretical. I probably won't footnote or put quotation marks; just assume everything I say is what Skye Jethani said.

1. The apostles didn't teach it in their sermons - In Acts there are 6 presentations of the gospel,

and none had teaching about avoiding Hell. Modern evangelism especially in the Baptist Church where I go generally includes this in the evangelism package. Judgement for sins was mentioned 3 times but nothing specifically." It is not faithful to the Bible to dismiss judgement because of our cultural discomfort with it, but it is equally unfaithful to overemphasize a medieval caricature of Hell, one that was unknown to the first evangelists in the New Testament". I'm putting quotation marks on that because I don't think he has made a case that it was "unknown" to the apostles. I also see that when someone is trying to make their case, they always go back to what did the earliest believers believed. The problem with that is establishing what they believed with certainty is difficult when it was 2000 years ago. He is about to do it again on the next point.

2. The eternal soul - The ancient Hebrews had no concept of an eternal soul. So where did this assumption come from? The Greek philosopher Plato made a strong distinction between material and spiritual and argued that every soul lived on after the body died. The second century Church leader Tertullian. He said, "Some things are known even by nature, the immortality of the soul. I may use the opinion of Plato when he declares, 'every soul is immortal.'" Tertullian simply assumed the immortality of the soul because Plato's views were so widely held. It was Tertullian who first affirmed that the torments of the lost will be co-equal and co-exist with the happiness of the saved. It necessitated interpreting verse like "The wages of sin is death" as "the wages of sin is eternal misery and never-ending torture with perpetual dying but never dead."

        Could it be that those who are saved are granted immortality and those who aren't - death?

3. Gehenna - Once again going back 2000 years, the most common word translated as "hell" was Gehenna, which wasn't a theological concept but rather a literal place familiar to 1st century Judeans. It was a narrow valley South of Jerusalem that served as the city's garbage dump and was associated with evil. This is where children were sacrificed to Molech and where all those believed to be cursed of God - criminals, sinners, and rebels were cast out and destroyed. To consume the waste, a fire burned 24/7. Jesus taught people to turn from evil and live in alignment with God's kingdom which had arrived through Jesus on Earth. His preaching was concerned about how we live right now either as part of God/'s kingdom or rebels against it. Those committed to selfishness, greed, lust, anger, jealousy, division, violence, arrogance, and everything else opposed to God will be of no use in His kingdom and fit only to be thrown out like the trash.

4. Hell - From what we would gather so far, souls aren't created immortal, they are given immortality upon salvation and those who die without Christ, head to Gehenna the garbage dump of souls for obliteration. The problem with this is that Hell is a literal place like Gehenna was. Is hell empty? One Jewish source from the first century spoke about the wicked existing "in darkness and a place of destruction where they will melt away" implying the possibility that some will melt toward death more quickly than others. Since the Bible clearly says, "God will repay according to what they have done" (Ps.62:12,Prov 24:12, Rom.2:6) and Jesus alludes to different degrees of judgement for the wicked (Matt.11:24) , could it be that hell is a place where punishment is doled out until the souls are annihilated once and for all? Does this mean that God temporarily gives unregenerate souls life after death? it would appear so if you follow this line of reasoning.

5. Substitutionary Atonement/ Double Imputation - "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." 2Cor. 5:21 Christians believe our sins were given to or imputed to Christ on the cross who paid their penalty because "the wages of sin is death" Rom.6:23. Then Christ's righteousness is given or imputed to us so that we may stand innocent before God. The punishment we deserve for evil is death (Gen 2:17, Ezek.18:20, Rom.6:23) and this is precisely the punishment Jesus accepted on our behalf through the cross. If we believe in ECT, wouldn't Jesus have had to endure eternal torture on the cross? Instead, He died for our sins once and for all. Jesus had to take on Himself on the cross the exact penalty we deserve for our sins, or the concept of substitutionary atonement or double imputation does not work.

6. Undying worms -

 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where

“‘the worms that eat them do not die,
    and the fire is not quenched.’

 Everyone will be salted with fire. “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” Mark 9:43-48, Isa 66:24

      ECT advocates would say that these passages would assume that God's enemies have been given a body fit for unending punishment but is that really what the Biblical text is saying? Rather it identifies the worms and fire as being eternal rather than the souls or bodies who have already been judged and punished and are dead and being consumed.

7.  unquenchable/eternal fire - "Eternal fire" is mentioned three times in the New Testament but never are the occupants of Hell described as being eternal, just the fire. The example often used for ECT is the account of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 and mentioned in Jude 7 and 2Peter 2:6;

"In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."" He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly."

But when we look closer at this account, we see that fire entirely destroyed the people, it didn't subject them to endless torture. Jude and Peter both use Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction by fire as "examples" of what happen to the wicked.

8. Objections;

   A.   "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.  Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.  But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Rev.20:10,14,15, 21:8

       First of all, it says the devil, beast, and false prophet will be tormented forever and ever; it never specifically says all unrighteous will also be. Second, death and hades will be thrown in the lake of fire. Will death be tormented forever? How does that work? It seems symbolic so if it is, can we say the part right above it isn't? Lastly, the Lake of Fire is twice identified as "the second death." It symbolizes the final elimination of things. With this detail we can make sense of death and hades being thrown into the Lake of Fire. It symbolizes what Paul also said - that Christ would defeat every enemy and the last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1Cor.15:26) In other words the symbolic lake of fire in Revelation is where everything and everyone opposed to God are finally and utterly destroyed.

B. "To sin against an infinitely glorious being is an infinitely heinous offense that is worthy of an infinitely heinous punishment." The main problem with this justification of the justice of ECT is that scripture argues against the logic that the punishment should fit the victim not the punishment should fit the crime. One of the great contributions of the Old Testament law was its impartiality. Repeatedly God commands His law and consequences be applied equally to the rich and poor, citizens and foreigners, powerful and powerless. According to God's law, mistreating an immigrant is not less sinful than mistreating your countrymen and murdering a nobleman is not a greater offense to God than murdering a servant. Neither the identity of the perpetrator nor the victim of the crime should determine the punishment.

C.  This argument for eternal torture requires us to embrace a vision of God that simply does not align with what we see in scripture and certainly not what we see in Jesus. It presents us with a God who takes pleasure in and is glorified through the eternal torture of His own creatures. And if you are reformed and believe in double predestination, you have to believe that He created the majority of His creatures to eternally suffer in Hell without a chance of Salvation. The God of the Bible is the exact opposite of the one who gets joy from the suffering of others. The God of the Bible gets joy from suffering for others.

                                           My thoughts

       A number of prominent Christian theologians, including J.I.Packer don't believe in ECT. I think there is a good case to be made for both and even though there is a knee-jerk response to label annihilationism heresy because of its association with certain cults or para-Christian organizations, I think we have to view this issue as a non-essential. The fact is that God will judge the wicked and both ECT and Annihilationism fulfill that. The amount of abuse that Kirk Cameron got for his post where he said he didn't believe in ECT was shameful to the body of Christ.

     I believe in the immortality of the Soul. When you look at the Rich man and Lazarus or even Isa. 14, you see fallen, unrighteous souls alive after death. Then if you think of a time of punishment for sins committed before annihilation, you also have to have unrighteous souls being granted life after death temporarily. Why not just believe that all souls are immortal. Makes things a lot clearer.

      Lastly, it's nice to have this argument in your back pocket for witnessing. When confronted with the objection like "I can't believe in a God who tortures people forever who don't bow the knee to Him", it's nice to say, "A lot of good Christians don't believe God does that, either."

Thoughts From Galatians 2 - Part 4

  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing  Gal. 2:20,21

         In Hunger Games, two teens were chosen from each district to battle to the death until only one remained who was the victor. These teens in effect died so their citizens wouldn't have to. Why this horrible judgement on the districts? There were a number of reasons but first and foremost was the fact that the districts started an insurrection against the Capitol and it was their yearly punishment and a warning that the Capitol had ultimate power over them.

       With art imitating reality, we have all rebelled against God. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Since the "penalty of sin is Death.", God chose a sinless representative from mankind to represent us and pay for our rebellion with His death - Jesus on the cross. He died so we wouldn't have to and stood as our representative. Because of His death, we get a brand-new start on life to not be in rebellion.

       What a vivid reminder yearly of the cost of rebellion. If we could be reminded of the cost of our sins, maybe we would flee from them. We recently visited our daughter's church and one thing they do that I like is celebrate communion weekly. This is probably the best reminder to us of the penalty of sin and cost of rebellion - to meditate on the bread which stands for His body, and the wine which stands for the shedding of His blood.

       What does communion represent. First of all, that his body was marred and He physically died. He died in our place as our substitution. Secondly, the blood represents two things; the forgiveness of sins, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins", and Lev. 17:17 says,"The life is in the blood". Just like Baptism is the going under symbolizing death and burial and the bread, so coming out of the water symbolizes new life, resurrection, and the wine. The Holy Spirit, because of the resurrection, comes inside and gives us new life. We are born again!

      As all analogies break down, the death of teens did not appease an angry Donald Sutherland, but the wrath of God was appeased once and for all. Hebrews says that the earthly priest had to go in every year, but Jesus, our new High Priest, only had to enter the temple offering His own blood - once. Let's flee from sin and no longer live to satisfy the flesh because that flesh has been nailed to the cross and died. Let's not dig it back up.