“What makes a person a Christian is not that he doesn’t get discouraged, and it’s not that he doesn’t sin and feel miserable about it. What makes a person a Christian is the connection that he has with Jesus Christ that shapes how he thinks and feels about his discouragement and his sin and guilt.”-John Piper
Hurt lyrics
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that’s real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar’s chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
Bart Barber wrote an article that was featured on his own blog PraiseGod BareBones and SBCToday where he appeared to imply that Johnny Cash could not be a true born again Christian and sing the lyrics of the song Hurt or that it is opposite of the Gospel.
I can understand why some would think this, and Bart is not the only one who has come to this conclusion. But, if you look at the lyrics as I looked at them, as I believe Johnny Cash was singing them, the picture becomes strikingly different, and you can see that Johnny Cash is not only a born again Christian, but that it was more real and precious to him than to some who have not walked a rough road before coming to Christ.
Before I became a Christian, my goals were different, my thinking was different, I was young and very foolish. My ideas of success and enjoying life were dramatically different than they were after Christ. My life was difficult for reasons I won’t go into, but love was not something I always knew. I thought one had to clean themselves up before coming to Christ, even more so after becoming a Christian, and I knew I just couldn’t do it. I had things that I just couldn’t shake on my own. I had made choices that affected me for many years, and I didn’t have any intention of coming to Christ, being who I wasn’t, and having to fake my way through life. This was a time period when I could no longer cry, no longer feel anything, or so I thought. (I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel…)
Eventually however I understood that I could come to Christ as I was. Dirty, filthy, rotten and Christ would forgive me of those sins. He would begin to clean me up, a cleaning that would take place all throughout my life. I didn’t have to worry that I measured up, because of what He did on the cross, and by the resurrection, in his ministry on earth, I was accepted. This was overwhelming to me. I never forgot what Christ did for me then, or is doing for me now. Never.
When I heard the song Hurt as sung by Johnny Cash, I immediately identified with it. It’s a lot like Ecclesiastics in that the message I got from the song was that all the bad, all the times people were hurt because of something I did, hurt just as bad when I became older as it did when I first came to Christ and realized that I had hurt not only myself, but other people badly. That feeling never goes away. You don’t forget that even though you know you are forgiven. But it is a good deterrent not to do it again. It “hurts”.
You also realize that any material things or successes that you have, in the end, when you are retired, older, and people are dying that you know, mean nothing. It’s true that you take nothing out of this world when you go. It’s just meaningless, dust. All the accomplishments, all the money, all the endless hours of work when maybe you should have been with your family, are meaningless. Dust. What people remember is not how hard you work, what material things you had, but who you were, and especially, who you were with them. How you treated them, your laughter, your fun with them or your absence. I believe all this is intensified when you become a Christian.
As for the line of Johnny Cash believing he could save himself, I do not think this has to do with salvation, the meaning in my mind, because I could again relate, was he wished he could have saved himself all the grief, saved himself from hurting people and himself. I also agree with one commenter who said that death is something we as Christians hate because we know it’s not in God’s original plan, it’s not something that was supposed to be. In our new minds and hearts, we know this. We also know people that we love, either family members, or friends, who die and are in hell. That is something we hate. That was not to happen before the Fall. That’s the pain, that’s the sting. For the Christian, the sting of our own personal death is gone, but for those who are left behind the sting is still very real. We can pretend it isn’t, but it is.
So while I understand Bart’s point of view, if you are a person who made many mistakes before Christ, or a Christian who still made mistakes either earlier on in your Christian life, or at anytime during, this song is honest, real, and one that adequately describes our regrets as humans near the end of our lives and is perfectly in line with the end result of the Gospel, in that what Christ has done makes us see our sin for what it is, all our sin, and it overwhelms us what Christ did with that sin and in us.
Rom 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Rom 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
Rom 10:15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Rom 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Joe Thorn has crafted a powerful post describing the conversion of his father. I read this via Trevin Wax. Joe writes:
I grew up with very loving, supportive parents. I always knew how fortunate I was to have them (except for a couple years in my mid teens when I hated everyone in the world). My dad and I have always been close, and I have fond memories from my childhood of us playing Frisbee, boxing, watching a ton of movies together, and having long talks about love and life. And though I had many great friends when I married Jen, I asked my Dad to be my best man in our wedding. What I didn’t have in my childhood home was the gospel. In fact I didn’t even sit through a worship service until my teens when new friends began to tell me about Jesus.
He then goes on to describe the nineteen years of prayer for his dad that the Lord graciously answered along with the wonderful transformation that has taken place.
God is working among family members and friends of mine, it’s the power of the gospel that leads to faith in Jesus Christ. I’m almost convinced that the number of people in hell will be far less than those in heaven. How great is our God. How great is Christ.
Also, Michael Spencer of Internet Monk has a four minute video by Matt Chandler(one of my favorite speakers) that shows the relevancy of a Christ centered gospel as opposed to topical morality sermons. It’s worth the four minutes to watch I promise. As usual Matt Chandler is dead on target.
I grew up on Radio Bible Class and the Daily Bread devotional book. Day of Discovery was turned to on the radio and my TV for many years.
Mart De Haan has a blog entitled Been Thinking About, based on his television and radio segments, in which he gives a short teaching lesson on things well…he’s been thinking about. It’s a blog worth checking out. Many of his conclusions will surprise you, coming from a Conservative Christian. I like what he writes.
Yesterday, Dr. De Haan wrote a post entitled Been Thinking About Liberal and Conservative. He writes:
With words we bless and curse, agree and disagree, expose truth, or hide it. With words we also label, name-call, and characterize in ways that can make it difficult to separate facts from perceived guilt by association.
(Caught a picture of this fellow on Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda street. Was in costume for the Jewish feast of Purim. Figured he didn’t “look” too conservative
.
Words have impact. Labels can turn a person into a hero or into a villain. In the life of the church, the word Liberal can and does destroy other people’s perception of those on whom the label is placed.
Conservative and Liberal are words that have lost their meaning. They are used as weapons of war, meant to sting, insult, or praise and glorify. They are words that have torn churches apart.
The words I am a ‘Conservative Christian’ have replaced ‘I am a Christian.’ ‘He/she is a liberal’ have replaced He/she is a Christian. Rarely does the word Christian follow the word Liberal. But what does that mean?
Mart De Haan asks some thought provoking questions:
What was Jesus? Conservative, or liberal? Which label would be hung on him by the religious leaders of his day?
In reality, I’m guessing he was the most conservative man who ever lived, and also the most liberal.
So who hated him? Seems to me that the Scripture-memorizing, culture-resisting, God-defending, protectors of Mosaic law who slandered him, and called for his death, didn’t think of Jesus as being too conservative.
He was far too friendly with sinners, far too soft in applying the law the way they thought it ought to be applied, and far too disrespectful of those who were honored for their moral and religious idealism.
I agree. Jesus would have been considered both Liberal and Conservative. Then shouldn’t we?
The book of John covers Christ’s ministry as an adult. John is probably the most extensive book on Christ’s ministry in the Bible. It’s the one we recommend to new Christians in aiding their knowledge of Christ. But I think we as older believers have gotten away from this book other than John 3:16. Older Christians should be digging into the book of John more than new Christians. It should be a reminder of who Christ of the Bible is. Something that has been forgotten. This is evident in church splits and fights within denominations.
All the books of the Bible flow together like a marvelous piece of tapestry. All the books point to Christ and the world’s need for a Savior, yet we seem to skip the parts that tell of Jesus dealing with sinners. The parts that would appear that Christ was a Liberal.
Think about this before labeling someone a Liberal, slinging the word as if it were a weapon to be thrown. You may have just given a compliment.
I would long to be labeled both Conservative and Liberal. In fact I think that’s my official label. Are you Conservative or Liberal? My goal is to be both.
My next post will be based on Mart De Haan’s A House Divided, which I highly recommend for some insightful reading along with some of the posts located in my sidebar under Wisdom of Others.
I have been reading a blog from a group of thinking women entitled Intellectuelle. I find it to be balanced, causes me to think, and these women ask some good, honest, questions, that deserves some thought.Their views closely resemble my own. In fact, there is not one thing that they have posted that I haven’t agreed with. Their views come from scripture, as they look at Jesus’ ministry, using it as an example.
Lately the posts have been centered on leadership. Their latest post, authored by Bonnie, has focused on the supposed feminization of the church. I say supposed because I think what has been called feminization may just possibly be the church returning to the model of Christ, who was more gentle, than He was rough. Christ is the model of servant/leadership. Bonnie writes:
Consider Jesus’ leadership style. Yes, he was pretty stark with the Pharisees, but when working with others, He didn’t minister by dictating, but by empowering them (I’m stealing that word back from those who would misuse it) to “go and sin no more.” Nor did He teach others to dictate, but to be footwashers. He modeled collaboration and community, not alpha leadership.
Do you get that? Christ didn’t dictate, He empowered. Any thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with Bonnie’s statement concerning Christ’s leadership? I wrote a post that focused on imitating God taken from Ephesians 5:1&2. Is the church feminized as some charge, or is it just getting back to Biblical principles of gentleness and servant/leadership?
Jesus Christ can set you free. He says “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man (or woman) can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 *Parenthesis mine.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Rom 8:4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
There are sincere Christians who are promoting a teaching that I would like to lovingly, and Biblically disagree with. When the Bible speaks of discipline, some equate it with the same word as punishment. This teaching has been spreading since the early 1900’s predominately and while I understand the reason, scripture appears to disagree.
Discipline(paideia) in the Greek means to educate or train, instruct in order to correct. This is what God does at times to those who are born again Christians through faith in His Son. It’s the word the Bible uses in speaking of His children, all who are born again.(Hebrews 12:7) The root word of the word discipline is disciple.
Punishment in the original language, is defined as a suffering or pain that is or loss that serves as retribution. It gives a negative consequence. This is what we would have had Christ not died on the Cross, this is what we had before we trusted Christ as our Lord and Savior. This is what those who are lost have and why they need the good news of the gospel, then to receive it. Jesus Christ being the only way.(Romans 3:23-26)
Punishment is given in righteous anger, discipline is out of love, Jesus taking upon himself God’s wrath meant for us. Remember the hymn Jesus Paid It All?
The name of this blog is Ministry of Reconciliation. Reconciliation is what Christ accomplished on the Cross, and what only God can do.
The Bible says while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.(Romans 5:8). The fact is that God is a Holy God, and while love is one of His attributes, it’s not His only attribute. He is also a Holy God, a word that we as human beings have no idea what that means on God’s terms. To us Holy means good, perfect, but it’s even more than that. It’s a word that is beyond our comprehension. God cannot stand to look on even one speck of sin. As a result of God’s holiness, God’s wrath is on all those who do not believe in Christ.(John 3:36). God is angry with the sinner(those without Christ), continually. (Psalm 5:5, 7:11, 10:3).
There is only one reason that Christ can be the only way, and that is He has to be God, and He has to live a perfect life. That is exactly what He did. Hebrews 4:15 says:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Now notice that I use the word sinner and equate that to the lost, those without Christ. The reason? Though we as born again Christians do sin, we are no longer known as sinners in God’s eyes, but we are now righteous. You see it has nothing to do with how good we are, that we follow the ten commandments to a T, that we help the poor, teach a SS class, or any other good deed one can mention. A lost person is capable of doing this too. There are people who are bound for hell, but in the world’s eyes, in our human form, we think will be in heaven. But there is only one way, and that way is through Jesus Christ. (John 14:6).
Romans 5 tells us that we are justified through faith. Not works, but faith in Christ Jesus. That is how we are made righteous. Christ took the penalty of our sins onto Himself, as a result sinners were made righteous.(Isaiah 53:11,2 Corinthians 5:21)
Matthew 1:21 tells us that Jesus is the Christ who came to save the world from their sins.
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Jesus, who is the eternal God, was able to be a substitute for my sins, for your sins, if you are a born again believer. (John 6:37-39). The great divide, the chasm, between God and man was removed through Christ’s shed blood on the Cross. (Romans 5:8-10) In Christ we are brought back to God because Christ’s righteousness was imputed to us. It’s Christ God sees when He looks at us. It’s Christ that is the reason God can look at us, even when we as believers sin. It’s Christ and His work that is the reason we no longer have to fear God’s wrath for our sin, but can now come boldly before the throne of God, even crying out Abba(daddy), because we are made sons and daughters through adoption. (Galatians 4:4, Hebrews 2:10).
This is how we can glorify God and enjoy Him completely, which is what we are to do. It’s how we can give the gospel, and how it is good news.
Now there will be those, even Christians who do not understand what Christ fully accomplished on the cross who will think what I have said here foolishness.
1Co 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
1Co 1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1Co 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
1Co 1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
1Co 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
1Co 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1Co 1:26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
1Co 1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
1Co 1:28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
1Co 1:29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
1Co 1:30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
1Co 1:31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Christ took the punishment that was due us. We no longer fear being punished by God. Not now, not in the future, not ever. Never. Not because of what we have done or will do, but because of what Christ did in His perfect life, and on the Cross.
It’s not that we never sin, it’s that we grieve over our sin. Something that did not happen before Christ was Lord of our lives. We are sensitive to sin because of the new creations we are, not for fear of punishment. Punishment is not a word in the Christian vocabulary. We no longer live under the law, we are now under the New Covenant of grace and mercy because of what Christ did, not us. The emphasis in scripture is always Christ, Christ, Christ.
We suffer illness, death, troubles of any kind to perfect us. For God’s glory. At time it is to discipline us, but Paul suffered in his ministry, Christ suffered, John the Baptist, Peter was crucified upside down. Hebrews 13 is not because the saints were being punished for their sin.
The punishment for our sin was taken by Jesus Christ for us. I emphasize this throughout this post because so many Christians do not know this. For some this is new teaching, yet it is old as the Bible, it is in the Bible.
May God through the Holy Spirit impart this teaching into your thoughts and then into your hearts according to the prayer Paul prayed for the Ephesians in chapters 1 and 3. Don’t take my word for it, search the scriptures and see if this isn’t so. It will change everything. The way you read the Bible, the way you relate to Christ, the way you relate to God. No longer will you not come boldly before the throne because you see God as punishing you. For the Christian we always have access, 1 John 1:9, and Christ. When the Bible speaks of the righteous, it is not meaning a perfect person, but a redeemed person. You and me. My next post will be on the question of sin, does this give license to sin? Paul says no, of course not.
Please give this something to think about.
Do I highlight articles, posts, because I have nothing to write about? No. I have so many studies in my head to write, I have some posts written ahead of time. This is also my third post today as words seem to come spilling out here lately.
I do it because I want some truths to sink in that replace the lies some have been told. And when I find a piece that accomplishes that, I rush to highlight it. I highlight yet another good entry today by Chuck Swindoll whose topic is the Pastoral traps that, not only can ministers fall into, but any of us who are a member of a local church. I appreciate Chuck Swindoll because he tells it like it is, doesn’t mince words, yet does it in a way that you know he is saying it because he cares for those whom he is addressing. Sounds a lot like the Apostle Paul. Chuck writes:
A major trap pastors can fall into is exclusivism. That’s the attitude that says, “I alone am right.” It’s the “us-four-and-no-more-and-I’m-not-sure-about-you-three” kind of attitude. An exclusive spirit occurs when a pastor allows (or even promotes) a clannish, cultic kind of following around him.
Paranoia often accompanies an exclusive spirit: “Other ministries don’t do it as well as I do”—or some similar statement. Watch out for that kind of attitude. Guard yourself from too many first-person pronouns. It is nothing more than pride.
Read the rest of the needed piece here.
Amen. And may we, who claim to follow Christ remember that, repenting from it. It’s not who we are.
And I’m going to let them. I however, am going to switch directions in my blogging, unless something new or important comes up. So far that is not the case. So while there will always be those around to fuss, argue, add to the list, wonder where the bridge is leading to, and a myriad of other things, in the long run, in the picture of the Kingdom, it isn’t going to amount to anything. Again. I read Galatians, Ephesians, which I have had the privilege through our Sunday School curriculum to be studying deeply, and I just don’t see it. Unity in the kingdom. That is what I read.
Let the New Testament interpret the Old Testament. I like what Ed Stetzer has said when he proclaimed, I won’t preach anything in my church that would be if Christ had not died on the cross. Bingo. Amen. I am excited about that statement. That is the key.
What did Christ’s death on the Cross accomplish? The New Covenant. Now what is the New Covenant? Do most know it as well as the Old Covenant?
The New Covenant says this: We are no longer under the penalty of the law because of what Christ did both in his ministry on earth, and on the Cross. We have an unbroken relationship with God.
“For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” Hebrews 9:15.
Now that is good news.
Ministry of Reconciliation
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