Terra Nova, The New World To Come

We Christians are inveterate optimists. We believe a better world is coming. I write these words in a week when once again a demented, tortured man entered the DC Navy Yard to murder 12 people. I say once again, because such murders have become too much a part of the news here in the United States, murders of school children, movie theater goers, college students, office workers, train travelers and on and on. And in far away places like the Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan the ravages of war leave thousands dead and other thousands of refugees homeless.

I hear the cry both in my own heart and from the mouths of others. "Get me out of here! I want a new world, a better place, a place of peace and prosperity, of hope and happiness, of life without death and fear. Get me out of here!"

Is there such a place? Will there ever be a world where we can start anew?

I sense that longing in the interest viewers have in movies and TV series promising a new world. For a time the sci-fi series Terra Nova — a new land, entertained us. The FOX network series centered on the Shannons, an ordinary family from 2149, who are transported back 85 million years to prehistoric Earth where they join Terra Nova, a colony of humans with a second chance to build a new civilization. The premise is that the world of 2149 was being destroyed by human neglect, greed and selfishness. Using newly discovered time-travel technology selected groups are sent back to the world of millions of years ago to make a new beginning and thus save the human race. But it didn't work, because humans, being human, brought their greed and selfishness with them. The series ended after one season.

Hebrews reflects this longing and offers a much more certain hope of a new beginning, centered firmly on Jesus, God's Son, the One sent to fulfill all of God's promises of a coming new world.

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, 

"What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet." (Psalm 8:4-6)

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,  

"I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise." (Psalm 22:22,25)

And again, "I will put my trust in him." (Psalms 18:2; 36:7-8; 91:2)

And again, "Behold, I and the children God has given me."(Gen. 48:9; Psalm 127:3) 

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. - Hebrews 2:5-15 ESV

Jesus has become one with us. He who is truly a Man and also truly very God of very God, is forever one with us. For a little while He subjected Himself to the hatred of men and the power of the devil. He even endured the suffering of death, "so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."

Yet He is the One for whom and by whom all things exist. And now in Him we find mercy, forgiveness and hope. Because He is truly and ever shall be The Son of Man, He is not ashamed to call us who trust in Him His brothers, "the children God has given" Him.

The devil can no longer accuse us. He can no longer threaten us with death. Sure, our bodies will die. They must. They belong to this age, to this current state of affairs. We must be clothed with new bodies, filled with the Spirit and life of God and cleansed from all sin. We look forward to this new world, a real terra nova! It will not be a world brought on or brought back by human ingenuity, politics, technology or some yet-to-be discovered magical power. It will be a world given to us by God's grace, pure, undeserved and yet certain, because it is ours in Christ Jesus, our Brother.

We who have this certain hope are still tempted to doubt it. More on this next time.

God Gives Daily Bread To All Regardless

When Jesus guides us to pray for our daily bread, He's not only talking about bread itself. The word is often used as an analogy for food and all those other things that belong to daily living. Jesus even speaks about Himself as the living Bread. So we read,

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." - Gen 3:19 ESV 

Then he washed his face and came out. And controlling himself he said, "Serve the food." - Gen 43:31 ESV 

My appetite refuses to touch them; they are as food that is loathsome to me. - Job 6:7 ESV 

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, "Where is your God?" - Psa 42:3 ESV 

How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. - Mat 16:11-12 ESV

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." - Jhn 6:51 ESV

 Whether you do or do not pray for daily bread, the Father in heaven will most likely provide what you need today. Whether you do or do not care about what happens to your enemies, the sun will still rise today and the rain will fall on you and them. You have no control over it, as Jesus says in His sermon,

For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. - Mat 5:43-45 ESV

So why pray at all for food and other earthly blessings? The answer lies in your heart. Do you truly believe that you are a child of God? Do you believe that everything happening today is the Father's gracious gift to you, as Jesus taught?

But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" - Mat 4:4 (Deut. 8:3) ESV 

And do you truly desire to listen to Him and His guiding?

If all this is so, then tell Him and let Him know how thankful you are for all that He continues to provide both by your words and by your actions. Let your life be a ceaseless prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. - 1Th 5:16-18 ESV

Further, learn from the teaching and examples of Jesus and the early disciples to love your enemies and pray for them even as they persecute you. Share with others what the LORD gives you each day and do so with joy in your heart. And make sure that you provide for your relatives, especially those who live with you or are close to you. In all these and related ways show the Father in heaven that you are truly His child, born anew by the washing of Baptism and the indwelling power of His Spirit.

You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons (i.e. children) of your Father who is in heaven. - Matt 5:44 ESV 

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they (i.e. Jerusalem disciples) received their food with glad and generous hearts, - Acts 2:46 ESV  

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. - 1Ti 5:8 ESV

Each day our heavenly Father provides us with good weather, food, shelter, friends, family, home, country, good government, work, protection, healing, help and countless other blessings. And He gives all these to us even though we do not deserve the least of them.

What then if He withdraws these blessings from our lives? Can we still pray? More about that tomorrow.

Why Do We Pray, "Lead Us Not Into Temptation"?

Again and again we Christians pray to our Father in heaven to "lead us not into temptation." Since we know he does not tempt us to sin, why pray such a prayer at all? This is a puzzle I'd like to help us solve as we move into this Lenten season of penitence. Let's start by looking at the petition itself.

. . . And lead us not into temptation." - Luke 11:4 and Matt. 6:14 ESV

The word translated as lead is eispherō in Greek. In the N.T. we find the word in a variety of contexts. 

• some men brought in their paralyzed friend to Jesus - Luke 5:18-19
• Jesus advises his disciples not to be anxious about what to say when rulers and authorities bring you before them - Luke 12:11
• The Athenians were quite fascinated by the strange teaching Paul brought them - Acts 17:19
• Timothy is to remind his flock that "we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of it - 1 Tim. 6:7
• Just as the bodies of sacrificial animals brought into the holy places by the high priest were burned outside the camp, so Jesus suffered outside the gate - Hebr. 13:11-12

It seems Jesus teaches us to petition our Father not to bring us into temptation. Is he thereby reminding us that the Father does in fact bring us to places or situations where we might be tempted to disobey or reject Him? It is interesting to note that this is precisely what the Father did with Jesus. We hear about it at the very beginning of his public ministry. Jesus must have reported it to his disciples, because it was a very solitary encounter between himself and his arch-enemy, Satan himself. The account is found in Matt. 4:1-11. Its about what he experienced after his 40-day fast. More about that in later posts. 

It appears that the devil and his minions are always roaming about like hungry lions on the prowl and we who follow Jesus are the juicy meat they desire (1 Peter 5:8). Add to that the fact that our sinful human nature loves to join the demons in giving in to the temptations and we live in a world filled with equally sinful men. Given all that, why would our Father in heaven bring us into temptation or allow us to be tempted as was His Son? What's the point?

Let's go back to the petition and read the whole sentence this time. 

. . . And lead us not into temptation, BUT deliver us from evil - Matt. 6:14

A couple things to note: 

• Luke's version of the prayer does not have "but deliver us from evil" (Luke 11:4)
• Matthew's version actually has τοῦ ponēros - the evil one

What Jesus teaches is that we will be tempted by the evil one, the devil or those personal demons assigned to us. This wrestling and fighting is bound to happen in this world controlled and led by the devil, the real god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). The Father does not take us out of the world, but rather permits us to be tempted in order that we may grow in faith and trust. He wants us to grow up in Christ. This is part of the discipling process, the training for life here and now AND for the life we will live in the age to come. It is proof that we are His children. Here's what we're told: 

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the encouragement that addresses you as sons? 

"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." 

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. - Hbr 12:4-11 ESV

So lift up your dangling, droopy hands and brace your weakened, wobbly knees. Get back on the straight path so your lame legs won't be put out of joint, but will heal. And focus on Jesus who endured such testing, personal attacks, hostility and eventually the cross for us. And always remember that he will not allow us to be tested beyond our strength, but will with the trial also provide a way out.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. - 1Cor 10:13 ESV

More about temptation in my next post. 

We Are God's Fruit Bearing Trees

In my last post I referred to a couple Bible verses that compare fruit bearing trees to God's reborn people in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. So we read in the very first Psalm that the man who meditates upon God's Holy Word continues to yield fruit in its season. I'd like to explore what it means for a Christian to yield fruit and to yield it "in its season." The stream, of course, is the Holy Spirit who continues to nourish and refresh through God's Word (Torah or instruction).

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. - Psa 1:3 ESV 

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul picks up the analogy as he speaks often about fruit and fruit bearing. 

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. . . . But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. - Rom 7:4, 6 ESV 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. - Gal 5:23-25 ESV 

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness  that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. - Phil 1:9-11 ESV

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. - Col 1:9-10 ESV 

Paul teaches us several important lessons in these passages about fruit. 

1. When Jesus died upon the cross of Calvary, we died with him. In turn, when he rose from the dead on the eighth day, we rose with him. So that we may now correctly say, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). 
2. Further, the Holy Spirit teaches us in that Word He has given to us that we are free. We have been freed from the law that previously condemned and enslaved us. That freedom became ours when we died and rose again with Christ. Because of Christ we are now, in God's eyes, completely without sin. So Paul writes, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). 
3. Released from the slavery of sin, the passions and drives of our sinful flesh, we are free to be fruit-bearing trees for God. This is a radically new way of living, sharply contrasted with the way of the flesh or the ways of this world of sinful men. Raised from the dead with Christ we have the life of Christ, the water of God, the Holy Spirit, ever bubbling up and flowing in our lives. 
4. In this new life, we delight to serve God. It is a joy and a pleasure. We are motivated, not by fear and anxiety, but rather by the love of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. No longer do we run from God to hide in hope that we will not be found out. Rather we run to God to ask, "How may I serve you, my Father?" So we are prepared to bear fruit, or to use Paul's other analogy, to walk by the Spirit. 
5. The power to bear fruit comes, of course, from the Spirit. As a tree withers and dies without water, so we die without the water of the Spirit. And that life-giving water flows in and from God's Word. The more we meditate upon God's Spirit-filled Word, the more we learn about God's love for us and His wondrous plan for our lives. Paul calls this knowledge of God's will spiritual wisdom, discernment and understanding. 
6. Such knowledge is never mere information and facts to be recited in order to pass some kind of examination or to impress people. It is so much more than that. Above all it is personal knowledge. Because of such knowledge I can now say, "Christ died for ME! I died and I rose with him! Christ lives within ME! I am a CHILD of the Heavenly Father. I know Him and He knows me. Now I can crawl right up on my Papa's lap to be held in His loving arms and ask whatever I want. He listens and always gives me what is best for me" (Luke 11:8-13; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). 
7. As this personal Spirit-given knowledge of my Papa's love for me grows within, so does my love for Him grow. And along with my growing love for Papa comes joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. As I learn to love Papa, I learn also to love those around me, all of whom He loves so very much. I become a fruit-bearing tree, bearing the fruit of a godly or God-like life. 

In blogs in July of this year I wrote about the special gifts given by the life-giving Spirit, the so-called charismatic or spiritual gifts. For now, let us simply rejoice in the life of the Holy Spirit, God's refreshing stream, so that we may all bear fruit in every good work and increase in our personal knowledge of God's love.