In The Begining - Chapter 1 "Introduction Of Compromise In The Church"

Introduction Of Compromise In The Church

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience."

Since its inception in Acts chapter 2, the church has had to confront many different compromises to true doctrine. Even before the close of the New Testament, we can see two of these destructive heresies exposed - the Judaizers and the Nicolaitans. Throughout history other compromising doctrines have come and gone. Some have denied Jesus' humanity, others have denied His deity. Some have promoted legalism and tried to bring the church under bondage to the law. Others have promoted lawlessness and try to use the grace of God as an excuse for immorality. Every time, the true church has withstood these heresies and remained strong in the faith.

Recently though, one particularly dangerous compromise has snuck into the church. Within the last 300 years, a subtle attack on the very foundation of God’s Word has been underway. I'm talking about the attack on the first book of the Bible - Genesis. No other book in the Bible is believed to be as open for interpretation as the book of Genesis. No chapter in Revelation has ever been met with as much confusion as Genesis 1. No word from Jesus’ mouth in the Gospels has ever been ridiculed in our culture as much as “In the beginning, God...” Why is that? Secular views and man-made theories have been slowly infiltrating the church and corrupting the minds of simple believers. (I'm speaking of those who don't study to show themselves approved concerning God's Word.)

Lyell, Darwin, and the Church

In 1830, a geologist named Charles Lyell published a book called Principles of Geology. This book promoted His theory of an extremely old earth and the idea of long ages of time before mankind ever existed. He suggested that the different rock layers that we see around the world were formed by natural forces over vast amounts of time. This idea of an ancient world without man was clearly and completely opposed to what the Bible teaches, that the world was around 6,000 years old and that the first man and woman were made during its first week. When faced with this clear contradiction to the Word of God, how did the church respond?

To understand the reaction of the church to Lyell's book, you have to understand the climate that the book was published in. The 19th century was the golden age of science. New disciplines were founded and new discoveries were being published every year. New inventions were becoming commonplace.

In just the previous 50 years, many major scientific advances were made:

• The known solar system was made much larger with the discovery of the planet Uranus.
• Antoine Lavoisier discovered the law of conservation of mass and founded modern chemistry.
• Georges Cuvier astonished the world by announcing his discovery that animals have gone extinct in the past. (This discovery really threw the church for a loop. For centuries, they had been teaching that God created the animals that existed then exactly as they were - no more and no less. So they had no response when it was claimed that the Bible was proven wrong by science.)
• John Dalton formulated the Atomic Theory - that is, all matter was made up of atoms.
• Both electromagnets and batteries began to be produced
• Medicine was advancing in leaps and bounds, resulting in longer life spans

All-in-all, it seemed as if science was giving mankind a greater understanding and mastery of the natural world around him. Labeling any idea as scientific was quickly becoming the highest form of argument. (You can still see this today - just think about how often products are advertised as “scientific”!)

This is the atmosphere in which the church was faced with Lyell's heresy. Not wanting to appear backwards and ignorant, the church backed away from its stand on Genesis. Instead of holding to what God's Word says, the church compromised with the old-earth ideas of Lyell. Leading this compromise was a Scottish minister named Thomas Chalmers. His compromise is still prevalent in the church today - it is known as the Gap Theory (also called the ruin/reconstruction theory). We'll discuss this theory in more detail later, but it's important to understand that this theory began as a compromise with secular, man-made ideas.

After Lyell's book was published, another attack on Genesis began to gain ground. In 1859, a close friend of Lyell's - a man named Charles Darwin - published a book promoting an even further separation from the Biblical doctrine of creation. Darwin used Lyell's ideas as a springboard into another idea: If the earth itself could slowly evolve and exist without a Creator, why couldn't the life on it do the same?

Darwin didn't actually create the idea of evolution, but his book was probably the most responsible for summarizing and promoting it. His book was entitled On The Origin Of Species By Means Of Natural Selection, Or The Preservation Of Favoured Races In The Struggle For Life. Even today, this book is considered to be one of the authorities on biological evolution and the role of natural selection. He theorized that, given enough time, the little changes in plants and animals could amount to much larger changes - even to the point of changing one kind of animal into another.

Like Lyell's Theory, Darwin's book clearly opposed the plain reading of Genesis. Having already compromised on the age of the earth, how would the church respond to this new attack on the Bible? Sadly, the church compromised once again. They were more concerned about appearing ignorant to the world than they were about holding to the authority of God's Word. But this time the 19th century church compromised even further than simply accepting secular ideas. Many preachers began to promote the idea of theistic evolution - the claim that Genesis was an allegory and that God simply used evolution during the process of creation.

This reality that is far removed from society's memory today. The majority of people believe that Darwin was embraced by the scientists while being oppressed and opposed by the church. If only this were true! In actuality, the religious and scientific reception of On The Origin Of Species was completely different from what is commonly believed today.

Far from being embraced by the scientific community, Darwin's work was rejected and criticized by scientists throughout the world.

• Louis Pasteur, called the greatest scientist of the 19th century, was forcefully opposed to the theory of evolution.
• Sir Richard Owen - the founder of modern paleontology and the man who coined the term "dinosaur" - also opposed Darwin and wrote him letter after letter to present scientific objections to Darwin's theory.
• Even Darwin's own geology professor Adam Sedgewick wrote to him; "I have read your book with more pain than pleasure. Parts of it I admired greatly, parts I laughed at till by sides were almost sore; other parts I read with absolute sorrow, because I think them utterly false and grievously mischievous."
• Sir John Herschel, a famous mathematician and astronomer, called Darwin's theory "the law of higgledy-pigglety."

So you see, the scientists of Darwin's day weren't exactly open-minded about this theory that they saw to be utterly un-scientific. If this was the response of the scientific world, how did the church respond?

• An English priest named Charles Kingsley wrote a letter to Darwin to congratulate him on his book.
• The Reverend John Brodie Innes gave this testimony about Darwin before several highly-renowned clergy, “He is a man of the most perfect moral character, and his scrupulous regard for the strictest truth is above that of almost all men I know...I never saw a word in his writings which was an attack on Religion. He follows his own course as a Naturalist and leaves Moses to take care of himself.”
• Josiah Strong, another famous preacher of the 19th century, wrote and distributed a pamphlet that stated that Christianity and evolution must go hand-in-hand.
• During Darwin's funeral, preachers from around the world poured out compliments for him - emphasizing his "patience, calmness, ingenuity," and on and on...
• Believe it or not, this promoter of a godless theory was even compared to the apostle Paul!
• After all of this, his body was then buried in the floor of Westminster Abbey - the church of England.
• Writing about his funeral, a preacher from New York named Charles White Chadwick declared “The nation's grandest temple of religion opened its gates and lifted up its everlasting doors and bade the King of Science come in.”

As much as I hate to say this, Darwin would be long-forgotten by now if it weren't for the compromisers in the church.

Creation Compromises

Since the publishing of Darwin's book, the church has had no fewer than four compromises concerning the first chapter of Genesis. Although each of these compromises differ on content, they all have one thing in common - they view the secular ideas of man as being more important than the clearly revealed Word of God. Each of them demonstrate this fact when they alter the very account of the Creator to agree with the man-made idea of evolution.

Let's examine these four theories more closely. As we do, keep this question in mind: Whose words are more important - fallen man's or the Creator who never lies?

The Gap Theory

As we've already learned, the gap theory was first developed by a man named Thomas Chalmers. Attempting to reconcile the long ages of time with the Genesis account of creation, Chalmers tried to cram the geologic ages between the first two verses of Genesis 1.

Genesis 1:1-2 "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void (empty), and darkness covered the face of the deep..."

Declaring that God would never make something that is formless or empty, Chalmers suggested that verse 1 and verse 2 were separated by a vast amount of time. During this time, he proposed that the earth was filled with a pre-adamite race of beings who were ruled by the angel Lucifer. When Lucifer was lifted up in pride, he led this race of beings in a rebellion against God. The results were a fallen Lucifer and a world that was flooded in judgement.

The thousands who hold to this theory today believe that long ages of time, the millions of years contained in the theory of evolution, can be attributed to this pre-Adam time frame and the flood that brought judgement to the world. They also believe that the disembodied souls of this pre-adamite race of beings are what we call demons today.

Later on, we'll discuss the number of problems with the gap theory, both scientific and Biblical. But for now, we can see the two main issues. First, "gappers" have to invent an entire mythology that has absolutely no scriptural record! Second, let's not forget that the whole purpose of the Gap Theory, once again, is to reconcile a godless theory with God's Word.

The Day-Age Theory

Like the Gap Theory, the day-age theory tries to find room in Genesis chapter 1 for the secular idea of millions of years. The key, they say, is found in 2 Peter 3:8 "But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

The day-age theory states that the long ages of time that are supposedly in the rock layers, were in fact laid down gradually during the creation "week." Using 2 Peter 3:8, they claim that the days of creation weren't actually days, but were vast periods of time. By claiming that the Hebrew word for day doesn't always mean a literal day, proponents of this theory claim that they can reconcile the secular ages of the earth with the biblical account of creation.

Theistic Evolution

The theory of theistic evolution is a much more drastic compromise than any we've seen yet. Instead of trying to harmonize secular theories with the Bible's account of creation, theistic evolution simply discards the record of Genesis 1 as a good story that isn't literally true. The entire first chapter (indeed, the entire first book) of the Bible is simply considered to be an allegory. The point, they say, is that God made the world - exactly how He did that seems to be less clear.

"God created," they say, "but He used evolution to do it." Essentially, the theory of theistic evolution embraces every evolutionary idea - from the age of the earth to the evolution of life - and then tack on the claim that it was guided by God. In this way, they seem to be able to accept the secular theory of evolution while still claiming to believe the Bible. Sadly, every time that the evolutionist and the Bible disagree, the theistic evolutionist is quick to alter God's Word to fit the man-made ideas.

We will further discuss the problems that theistic evolutionists face - but their largest problem is this; is God's Word the authority on creation or not?

Progressive Creation

In many ways, this theory is similar to theistic evolution. They both embrace the idea of long periods of time before man when the earth was inhabited by different plants and animal species. They also believe that each of the rock layers in the earth came from different geologic ages in its history. But rather than saying that God guided the process of evolution, progressive creationists claim that the rock layers show a progressive series of creations and the destruction of those creations.

Progressive creationists believe that at various times God filled the earth with the creatures we see in the fossils, allowed them to live for thousands of years, then wiped them out and replaced them with others. After creating and destroying successively for millions of years, God finally placed the first "real" humans in the Garden of Eden.

Progressive creationists, like Hugh Ross, even believe in races of "soul-less" apemen that were created by God and then wiped out and replaced by true humans!

This theory has many problems - not the least of which is the problem of turning God into a schizophrenic who can't make up His mind! The biggest problem they have though is the fact that they believe in millions of years of death before sin - something that the Bible disagrees with.

The Consequences Of Not Being Biblically Grounded

Psalm 11:3 "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

None of these four compromises are Biblical, none of them are scientific, and none of them are necessary! We'll see later that the scientific evidence simply doesn't support the idea of millions of years. But what we need to realize now is that every believer should start from the Word Of God.

Sadly, Christians that don't know where they stand or the trustworthiness of the Bible are falling into these compromises. Most Christians don't know what God has told us about creation or how important Genesis is to our faith. Too many of us are willing to compromise on the age of the earth and the way it was created - just as long as we can hold on to Jesus. What these compromisers don't understand is that every doctrine we have is rooted in Genesis!

Think about this:

What gives God the right to set the rules?

Why is mankind different from the animals?

Why are we in charge of the earth and it's creatures?

Where did sin and death come from?

Why do we need to be redeemed?

Why is Jesus' blood sacrifice necessary?

What is the definition of marriage - and why?

The origin of every one of these doctrines is found in the first few chapters of Genesis. Any believer that doesn't know where he stands on the authority of the Bible is in danger of falling into compromise and losing their foundation.

Secular evolutionists know what it means when a believer compromises on one point in God’s Word. Have you ever noticed that compromising Christians are almost never attacked by liberals, atheists or evolutionists? Instead, they save their most relentless attacks and vitriol for believers that hold onto the literal interpretation of Genesis. Why is that the case?

Richard Bozarth (a writer for the American Atheist) is very plain about this: “Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus’ earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god. Take away the meaning of his death. If Jesus was not the redeemer that died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing.”

We need to hold onto what the Word of God says and use that as the only starting point for the way we see the world. Every belief we have needs to be rooted in the Bible, not in a fallen man's ideas. Knowing this, let's take a look at what a believer should believe about the beginning of the world...

Dear Abigail...

April 16, 2013

Dear Abigail
     Hi baby girl! I can’t believe your mom is almost eight months pregnant with you already! It seems like just yesterday we were looking at three positive pregnancy tests, laughing and crying all at once. That day changed everything for us! Even though we waited for you for two long years – we still had a hard time believing it at first!

     And now you’re almost here. I’m sure you know by now how much I love your mom – you hear it all the time! And I’m sure that you also know that we argue sometimes – but that’s nothing to worry about. As much as you’re moving around right now, and as strong-willed as you already seem to be, I’m sure we’ll have our own arguments too! But I hope you’re already finding out that no one in this family goes to sleep angry!

     Sadly, I have no idea what kind of world you’re going to grow up in. Horrible things are happening all around us even now. Where this world is going to go from here, I don’t even want to know! You’ll go through some hard times. You’ll experience some things that my generation never experienced. You’ll know other kids whose families are being torn apart – or were never there in the first place. You may even experience some very dangerous situations. But I promise you this; the same God that watched over your grandpa and grandma, the same God that protected and guided your mom and dad will watch over you! We’ll teach you how to hear His voice – and if you’ll pay attention, He’ll always place you at the right place at the right time! God will bring you out of every problem on top!

     God is always faithful – and we are going to show you this from the moment you’re born. I told you before that you’ll probably have friends with destroyed or nonexistent families. But I also promise you this, you will never have to go through that! You can rest assured that you will always have your mom and your dad. I’m going to do everything I can to be an example of God’s faithfulness. I’m going to love your mom the way Jesus loves us. I promise you this – you will never have a stepmom or a stepdad…I love your mom too much for that! Besides, there’s no way I’m ever going to let some other person raise my beautiful little girl!

     You’re not going to be normal, Abigail. Why? Because normal isn’t good enough for you! It isn’t normal anymore for girls your age to live with their mom and dad. The normal right now is to have a mom and a sperm donor. (I’m trusting that it will be decades before you even know what that term means!) It isn’t normal for kids to have parents involved in their life. And it certainly isn’t normal for them to have a mom and dad who are committed to raising them up spiritually. But that’s what we’re going to do!

     Even as a girl, you’ll know the Bible better than most Christians – because we’ll be reading it every night. Before you hit your teenage years, you’ll know how to talk to God…and how to hear Him speak to you! You are going to do amazing things for the Kingdom of God, Abigail. I can’t wait to see His calling on your life start to show up!

     It’s important for you to know that I’ll do everything I can to guard that calling on your life…even if it means chasing away some of people who want to be your “friends”. If you’ll trust us, your mom and I will show you what kind of people are worth having around – and what kind of people aren’t worth the time of day! And…many, many years down the road…I know you’ll meet the righteous young man who will take you by the hand and lead you into the next level of God’s call on your life! From that day on, the two of you will walk with God together. Now, I don’t even want to think about that day! But I hope you’ll trust our input on that decision too. If you’ll pay attention to the way I treat your mom, you’ll see how your own husband (…in the very distant future…) should treat you.

     Above all, know this…I love you Abby! I’m going to do my best to teach you, to guide you, and to protect and provide for you. And when the times come that I don’t know how to help you, please let me take your hand and lead you to the One that has all the answers! After all, He loves you even more than I do!

Looking forward to seeing you for the first time,
Your Loving Dad

How To Understand The Book Of Job

“Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.” - Eliphaz the Temanite

“Behold,God will not cast away the blameless, now will He uphold the evildoers.” Bildad the Shuhite

“Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven - what can you do?” - Zophar the Naamathite

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.”  - Job of Uz

There aren’t a lot of books in the Bible that are as misquoted and misunderstood as the book of Job. There are doctrines in the church that seem to be entirely based on a misunderstanding of what is said in the first thirty-one chapters. For example, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away” (Job 1:21) has become a major teaching in some churches. This single verse has become the basis for preachers to teach their people that God will take things from you just as fast as He will give things to you. The problem is, this isn’t what God said, it’s what Job said!

If you want to “rightly divide” the book of Job, there are a few keys:

Key #1 - Not Everything That Job Said Was Right
A lot of people focus on this verse: Job 1:8 “Then Yahweh said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?’” They believe that this passage means that Job never said or did anything wrong throughout the book. However, there is a lot of what Job said that was absolutely wrong!

After thirty-seven chapters of discourse, God stepped in and said this to Job, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2) When faced with God’s rebuke, Job responded, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know...Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42: 3,6) Basing a doctrine on Job’s words alone can get very tricky - after all, Job himself admitted that what he said was wrong!

Why was Job wrong in what he said? Was everything he said wrong? We’ll find out the answer to these questions as we keep going.

Key #2 - Not Everything That Job’s Three Friends Said Was Wrong
In fact, a lot of what they were saying was well-known to godly people everywhere. Read some of their words in the verses above. Do you see that they were right on a lot of things? Even Job himself acknowledged that they were just restating what everyone knows!
Job 9:2 (in response to Bildad) “Truly I know it is so...”
Job 12:3 (in response to Zophar) “Indeed, who does not know such things as these?”

You see, the problem with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar wasn’t necessarily the principles that they were saying as it was how they were applying those principles to Job’s situation. What do I mean by this? How can we know where these three men went wrong? And why did they have to repent to Job in the end? We’ll find out the answer to these questions as we keep going.

Key #3 - There Was Only One Person That Was Not Rebuked By God
We’ve already read the beginning of God’s rebuke to Job in chapter 38, verse 2. But this rebuke extended from chapter 38 to chapter 41! Then, in chapter 42, God turned His attention to Job’s three friends. He said to Eliphaz, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

What? Didn’t God just get done rebuking Job? Didn’t Job just admit that everything he said was wrong? What did God mean when He said that Job spoke what is right? Well, to put it simply, God’s referring to the last thing that Job said - when he repented.

This is Job’s repentance in its entirety: “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

This is what God was referring to when He said that Job spoke what was right. Can you see this picture? These three guys sat there and watched God rebuke Job for four chapters, and then they watched Job humble himself and sincerely repent....but then they did nothing. They were still convinced that everything they said was right! They were so caught up in their self-righteousness that they waited until God rebuked them before they repented.

So there you have it, all four characters in the book of Job were rebuked by God, and all four repented of what they were saying.

But wait a minute...there are actually five characters in the book of Job! From chapter 31 to chapter 37 we read the statements of a young man named Elihu. Whatever Elihu was saying in those passages, he must’ve been right - since he was the only person in the book who wasn’t rebuked by God or who needed to repent for what he said. So whenever you’re looking to make a doctrine from the book of Job, maybe you should look at what this man said first.

So what was it that Elihu said? Did he agree or disagree with Job? Did he accept what his three friends said or not? Let’s find out the answer to this question now, as we look at the main key of this book - Job 32:2-3

 

The Main Key To Understanding This Book
“Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.”

Elihu (the only one in this book, other than God, who was completely right) was angry at everything that was being said. This young man was angry at Job because Job refused to give honor to God, but was pre-occupied with justifying himself. And he was angry with his friends because, although they had no evidence, they continued to condemn Job as a wicked man.

This is the key to the book, my friends!

Job’s fault was justifying himself instead of God. In other words, when the trouble came, Job spent all of his time asking God, “Why is this happening to me? I’m a good person? God, why are you doing this to me?” Instead of glorifying God for Who He is, Job accused God of unjustly sending trouble into His life. Job’s argument could be summed up like this, “I obeyed God my whole life. I did everything I could to serve Him! And yet, God sent trouble into my life for no reason!” Does this sound like anything you’ve heard Christians say?

The fault of Job’s three friends was this - they saw the trouble that came into his life and believed that he brought it on himself through some sort of sin. Their problem was that their logic was faulty. They thought, “Bad things happen to wicked people” - which is absolutely true! Then they looked and saw that bad things were happening to Job - also true! But when they put those two together, they came to the conclusion that Job’s problems were God’s judgement on his sin - not true at all!

You see, sin isn’t the only reason that problems come! Sometimes, situations arise in life to “try our faith” (James 1:2-3). Sometimes, situations come to teach us how to “do all things through Christ” (Philippians 4:11-13). Still other times, tribulations can come to produce perseverance, character and hope inside of us (Romans 5:3-5). When asked about a man who was born blind, Jesus told us that it wasn’t sin that caused him to be blind, but the sickness was allowed so that God would get the glory from the healing (John 9:1-3)! So, while it’s true that sin can bring judgement in this life, not all problems are a result of this! Job’s friends sinned when they condemned an innocent man because they thought he was being judged for his sin. Have you ever seen this happen in the church?

I hope that you can see now that there is good doctrine in Job, you just have to be aware of where you’re looking for it. Any time that Job is justifying himself instead of glorifying God - you should recognize that as wrong. And whenever Job’s friends aren’t condemning him for his supposed “sin” - you should know that they may be speaking truthful things!

But, above all, the point of this book is that we should glorify God no matter what’s happening in our life! Job missed it because He focused on what was happening to him - and why it was happening - instead of trusting in the grace and protection of God. Elihu was right in what he said because his whole speech was focused on Who God is!

For Everyone Who Thinks They Love Jesus

So you think that you're in love with Jesus? You think, because you go to church and get emotional during the worship songs once a week, that your relationship with Him is ok? Do you believe that His grace covers everything you do? Well, let's see if that's the case! After all, 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified." There are a few tests in the book of 1 John that every believer needs to apply to their life.

The first test can be seen in verses 6 and 7 of chapter 1...
"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.^"

You can claim that you're walking in the light, but walking in the light equals fellowship with other believers. If you're not in consistent fellowship with other believers - if you think you can be an island to yourself - then you're not walking in the light and you're lying if you say you have fellowship with Jesus. 

Remember this equation: unbroken fellowship with Jesus = unbroken fellowship with other believers.

The second test is in chapter 2, verses 3 through 6
"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.^"

You can't claim to know Jesus if you're not doing what He said! In this passage, John is basically repeating what Jesus told him in John 14:15 ("If you love me, keep my commandments."), John 14:21 ("He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me."), and John 15:10 ("If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.").

Jesus gave us the way to measure our love for Him: love = obedience.

Does God's grace forgive us when we don't obey? Of course - but that isn't the extent of His grace! If we are truly in grace, then we won't stay in sin! God's grace also teaches us to leave sin behind (Titus 2:12) and empowers us to do what's right (Hebrews 12:28). If you're using grace as an excuse for sin - you do not love Jesus!

A third test can be seen in chapter 3, verse 14
"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death."

You can't say that you have a new life in Jesus if you're nursing a grudge against one of your brothers or sisters. If you refuse to forgive another believer, if you still feel even a hint of hatred in your heart toward them - you're still in death, not life.

But, lest you get confused about what kind of love you should have, John goes on to clarify the type of love we should have for our brothers and sisters. A lot of people know John 3:16 - but very few people know 1 John 3:16 - "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

As completely as Jesus gave Himself for us, we are commanded to give ourselves to our brothers and sisters. Does Jesus hold you at arm's length when you sin against Him? Would He avoid you in Walmart if He saw you? Do you think He ever has a smirk on His face when He talks about you?

If anyone had a right to be angry and hold a grudge against us, it was Jesus! But He gave up His rights and laid down His life for us. This is the kind of love we're called to have for our brothers and sisters. Whether we feel like it or not, whether they deserve it or not, we must love anyone who is of the household of faith. You don't have a choice, my friend - this is the price of living in the light!

So there are three tests. There are more throughout first John - but how do you measure up to these three?

Do you stay in fellowship with other believers or have you isolated yourself?

Do you obey God's Word or do you try to use His grace to excuse what you know is wrong?

Do you love other believers and give up your rights for theirs, or are you still nursing anger and unforgiveness toward someone?

You can't get around this! This is how you know!

The Real Miracle Of Christmas

Philippians 2:6-8

“Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up his divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

When He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”

The true miracle of Christmas isn't simply that a virgin had a baby boy. It wasn't the star that led the wise men or the angels that announced His birth to the shepherds. The true miracle of Christmas is that God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, left His divine throne and position in Heaven and became a man - entering the body of a baby boy. Jesus isn't just the Son of God - He is God the Son!! He wasn't just another man, not even a very good man.

This Christmas story can also be seen in John 1:1 and 14:

"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God."

"So the Word became human and made his home among us."

Jesus, God the Word, stripped Himself of His divine privileges, and clothed Himself with our humanity. He deliberately chose to forget His infinite knowledge and experience what it is to learn. He let Himself become dependent on a human mother and father. He let Himself be subject to two fallible humans - that were themselves made by Him!

Only when we realize who Jesus is and how incredible the first Christmas was, will we truly be able to understand the next passage in Philippians 2: 9-11

"Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

Jesus is not a religious leader. He can't be compared to Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, or Joseph Smith. He isn't an angel or simply a man. He isn't some sort of demi-god like Hercules or Theseus. He is God! He is matchless, incomparable, infinite, without beginning or end!

Joseph was only His stepfather. Mary was only the mother of Jesus' humanity. Bethlehem wasn't His beginning - He can be found throughout the Old Testament as well!

So my question to you is this: Do you really know why you're celebrating that baby in a manger?