Unless Jesus is your King …
He’s not your Savior.
Category: Simple Faith
Is Jesus really the measure of all things?
Not when we create Jesus in our own image …
Shaped by hurts from wrongs and disappointments we’ve suffered.
Such a false Jesus is really all about us, and becomes our bondage …
Rather than the authentic, liberating Lord of all.
So it’s always our choice:
Do we surrender our hurts to Christ – as He authoritatively defines us, Himself and so much more in His written Word …
Or let our hurts define us, Him, our reality and even His Word?
Law reveals,
Grace enables,
Faith secures.
When our view of God reflects our own sensibilities …
He’s not really God, but an idol of our own creation.
Be wary of those who peddle the latest theological fads.
Often they prey on spiritually wounded or naive people with the temptation of “deeper” life, new “revelation,” or some other trans-Biblical agenda …
Rather than the health and assurance of simple faith as taught in Scripture.
Here are two tests that typically weed out these merchants of deception:
1. Are they part of an actual, functional local fellowship in their own home town, where they are transparent and accountable to a community of fellow believers – among whom their ideas have been demonstrably working and showing good fruit over time?
2. Do they openly affirm and submit to God’s plenary authority of Scripture as His authentic written Word in all matters of faith, life and doctrine?
If they fail either criteria, you likely are dealing with a wolf …
Rather than one who legitimately comes in the name of the Lord.
We have no autonomous “free will” against God:
Only by His sovereign saving grace alone can we choose Him;
Only by His sovereign delegated authority alone can we reject Him; and
Only by His sovereign ultimate will alone do those doctrines find resolution.
Forgiveness isn’t about excusing or setting the offender free …
But fully acknowledging and giving the offense to God so we can be free.
Is it any surprise that those who deny God’s plenary authority of Scripture as His written Word …
Never seem able to demonstrate the power of His authority to a waiting World?
“Christian” narcissists reject the justice of God’s wrath …
While claiming the mercy of His grace.
Which also makes them delusional …
As they’re left with an imaginary pick-and-choose Jesus of their own creation.
The authentic God of Scripture, however, condemns the idolatry of those who seek to remake Him in their own image.
Is it any wonder, then, that they are persistently plagued – often despite a public persona to the contrary – with private insecurities, angst and doubt …
While concurrently unable to form, sustain or be part of a viable, functional local church?
But that never seems to stop them from spreading their false gospel, rooted in existential idolatry, with an outer confidence …
Which belies their true inner turmoil and history of church failures.
When it comes to their fraud, be discerning …
Not deceived.
“Forgiving” by minimizing the underlying sin …
Trivializes its consequences and is seldom effective.
To fully forgive, first we must fully acknowledge the wrong and the harm …
Just like Jesus did with us.
There is no freedom in anything less.
Those peddling “radical” Christianity, “deeper life,” “eternal purpose,” a “red letter” pick-and-choose Jesus or other such stuff …
Seem more driven by their own insecurities and failings than by the simple, authentic faith of Scripture.
That’s hardly surprising, because they typically dismiss God’s plenary authority of Scripture as His written Word …
Thus leaving them stuck with themselves and a false Christ of their own creation.
I have the privilege of ministering to the unpretentious …
Which is why my life and words routinely offend the pretentious.
Plus, I have no patience for those who claim to love Christ, while elevating their own ideologies, narratives and sensibilities …
Over God’s authoritative revelation of Himself – and so much more – in Scripture.
The thing is, I think God also has about reached His limits with them.
(Oops, I think I just might have offended them again. 😎)
Eating junk food …
Makes no more sense than consuming junk culture.
One corrupts our bodies …
The other our eternal souls.
Yet the answer to junk culture is not retreat and isolation.
Let’s learn to be immanent in a world God still loves …
While transcending its perils by openly embracing what is eternally true, good and beautiful.
Jesus said all Scripture points to Him.
But that doesn’t mean our perception of Him supersedes, or takes us “beyond” (as some now imply), the authority of Scripture.
Rather, it means that only when we submit our perception of Him to His self revelation of Scripture …
Will we understand Him and His written Word.
I don’t want just a “relationship” with Christ.
Instead, I want all of Christ …
Including all that He’s authoritatively revealed in Scripture so we can:
Know who He truly is;
Function together as His church;
Do as He commands;
Be full citizens of His Kingdom;
Redeem a world He still loves; and
So much more.
The naïve theological relativism and narcissism we see among too many “Christians” lately …
Is rooted in past postmodern, “existential” philosophies of either individualistic or “group-think” autonomy.
Is it any wonder, then, that we see an emphasis on new “doctrines” which try to:
- Define Christ, and our relationship to Him, by our own subjective perceptions of Him?
- Redefine grace in ways that destroy all concepts of objective standards?
- And dismiss – if not in fact then at least in effect – God’s plenary authority of Scripture as His written Word?
Nonetheless, God is calling forth His own:
Those who truly want to know Him on His terms …
As they worship Him once again in spirit and IN TRUTH with lives of reverent obedience.
Anything less is fraudulent “faith.”
For believers:
Confession, forgiveness and repentance are NOT about keeping our justification …
But finding wholeness.
God’s grace is the means, not the end, of salvation.
When offered, our proper response is repentance through faith …
Leading to obedience and good works.
Just because God is transcendent …
Doesn’t mean our perceptions of Him transcend Scripture.
After all, God is also immanent …
As is His written Word.
Only when we get to the end of ourselves, can we find ourselves …
As God intended.
Under the New Covenant, worship is not about “entering into God’s presence” …
With weekly church “services” – whether traditional or contemporary – designed to lead us there through manipulated feelings of intensity.
In fact, there are no such concepts regarding church or worship anywhere in the New Testament.
Nope, not, nada …
Just ain’t there.
Rather, the New Testament defines true worship as living holy lives of sacrificial obedience and obeisance to God, 24/7.
Moreover, under the New Covenant we are to be His temple, with His presence now in us …
Each and every one.
This is why the New Testament simply says that when we gather together, we should sing God’s praises to encourage one another.
That’s it – nothing more and nothing less – and the New Testament gives no other reason to sing when we gather as His church.
It also says nothing about gathering to “enter into,” “invoke,” “seek” or be “ushered into” God’s presence.
Until we fully grapple with this distinction, we will never understand why being the church as the New Testament actually shows it …
Looks so much different than church as we’ve otherwise come to know it.
Sola fide?
Yes, of course …
We are saved and live by faith alone.
The problem, however, is we no longer seem to affirm full faith …
As actually taught and understood in Scripture.
Continue readingThe old legalism said we must always “act good” …
While the new legalism says everyone else must now make us “feel good.”
Seriously, these things run in cycles …
As adherents of each diss anyone and anything that doesn’t feed their own insecurities.
Unfortunately, those who buy into each extreme – while still in it – seldom see how artificial and shallow it tends to be.
Which is why Jesus and His Word are about plumblines …
Not pendulums.
Christ’s finished work on the Cross …
Doesn’t mean that His work on the Cross is finished in us.
Wisdom requires perspective and balance …
Which is why we must not fall prey to swings of the pendulum.
Plumbline Faith 