Ethiopia Pastors Training, Round 2

Folllow the updates here.

Good News

The bad news is that all have sinned (Romans 3.23) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6.23). That is actually horrible news. Sin deserves death. All of us are sinners. Therefore all of us have a death sentence hanging over our heads. And since we can never go back and erase our sins, we can never go back and alter the judgment. We are deserving of death. But is there any good news? Yes! Namely that, though God is rightfully angry with our sin, He loves sinners! He loves to set sinners back on their feet again! He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Psalm 103.8)!

But, wait. God cannot just simply let us go free, can He? Wouldn’t that be a corruption of justice…to let a convicted criminal go free? How would you feel if the judges in your city began a new policy of letting thieves and rapists go free simply because they felt sorry for them? You’d be calling for a new judge! Letting criminals walk with no penalty is the worst kind of injustice. And if God were to somehow ‘work the system’ and bend the rules for us, He’d be sinning too!

So, we have a dilemma. God loves sinners and wants to set them free. But His perfection demands that He must punish the crime! What is He to do? How will He maintain His impeachable justice and at the same time reach out a hand of mercy to sinners whom He loves?

There is only one solution. Someone else has to pay. If God wants to both punish your sin and rescue you from punishment, someone else has to pay the penalty. It’s the only option. But where could God find a man who did not have sins of His own to pay for? There aren’t any! So the only option is for God to become a man Himself (in the person of His Son) and to be, Himself, the one who would pay the penalty for everyone else’s sins! This is the story of Jesus! He was pierced for our transgression, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him (Isaiah 53.5). Christ’s death purchases for us forgiveness, a right relationship with God, a fresh start, God’s supernatural help to overcome our struggles with sin, and a permanent home in heaven that will never be taken away!

Jesus Christ died to save sinners…even sinners like you. His job is done. That is the best news a person could ever hear! But you must respond. You must lay hold of this free gift by faith. What that means is this: You must rest in Jesus. You must stop running from God…and run to the care and provision of Jesus. And, if you are the religious type, you must stop trying to save yourself with good deeds, or religious activity…and rest in Jesus’ good deeds on your behalf! He is fully capable of rescuing you and restoring you to God. He does not need your help. But He will only perform the rescue when you stop running from Him…and stop striving to save yourself and rest in Him! Salvation does not depend on the man who wills, or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy (Romans 9.16). So, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16.31)!

A Comedy about Hurricane Katrina?

I noticed that Christianity Today had a full-cover advertisement pushing the new flick Evan Almighty. It seems even the secular world has noticed that the Christian demographic is a movie-making jackpot waiting to happen - just like everybody else (whoda thunkit 50 years ago?).

So I assume that some of you (or maybe some in your church) are planning on seeing Evan Almighty. Shame on you (or them).

Among the many reasons why Christians should abhor this movie (blasphemy, the playing-God motif, Morgan Freeman's god-character and the violation of the second commandment, etc.)...imagine this: Someone makes a comedy about the Tsunami, or Hurricane Katrina. Wouldn't seem very appropriate would it? Even the pagans would protest such a film. Yet, next month, 'Christians' will line up by the thousands next month to see a comedy making light of the greatest catastrophe in human history.

Kind of makes you think we don't really believe all that 'Flood stuff' doesn't it? I guarantee you that is the message the world is getting.

Bad News

‘Bad news?’ you ask. ‘I thought Christianity was supposed to offer good news!’ Of course it does…and don’t worry, we’ll get there. But before a life boat appears very useful to us, we have to realize that we have fallen overboard. And before the good news will have the poignancy that it ought, we have to hear the bad news. And there is bad news…

The Bible says that all human beings are, by nature, sinners (Romans 3.10-11). And our experience bears this out. Each of us has observed the fact that even small children (who seem hardly know right from wrong) figure out quite quickly how to defy mommy and daddy! No one has to teach them how to throw a fit, or hit their brother, or lie about it when they get caught. So, to say that human beings are naturally good not only denies the Bible, but our common human experience. We are born selfish. We are born knowing how to sin…and wanting to sin. And, as adults, these innate qualities continue to cling to us like filthy axle-grease. We still pitch fits (perhaps more sophisticatedly, but fits nonetheless!) when we do not get what we want. In our actions, and in the secret places of our minds, every one of us lives a life in defiance, sometimes of the laws of the land, and other times of the laws of our own conscience. All of us find ourselves, at times, deliberately doing that which we know is plain wrong. Why? Because we’re born sinners!

But the major problem comes when we realize that we are not simply sinning against the laws of the land or the laws of our own consciences…but against the laws of God! St. Paul described the human condition like this: Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks (Romans 1.21). That’s pretty accurate isn’t it? All of us know that there is a God out there (Romans 1.20). We see Him evidenced in the created order. And our moral consciences also inform us that there is a God who has set certain moral principles in place for all his creatures (everyone knows, innately, that certain things are right, and others wrong…and that knowledge is from God). Yet each of us ignores, dishonors, and outright disobeys what we know of this God. Examine your own heart and you will find this is true.

God’s response to such defiance? The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth (Romans 1.18). We suppress the truth, Paul says. We deliberately ignore God, His commands, and His authority. We have thumbed our nose at our Creator! And God has, therefore, shut the door on relationship with us, and is preparing eternal punishment for His rebellious creatures!

That is the bad news. It is awful news! We are sinners and there is, literally, hell to pay. But once we have come to terms with our rebellion, we are candidates to hear and love the good news…namely that “Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God” (1 Peter 3.18). Have you come to believe the good news? Have you let Christ bring you to God?

Freedom of Speech

OK. After several months 'I-cannot-post-comments-on-your-blog' type emails to the complaint department...I have finally gotten around to changing the settings so that anyone (even those of you are are not citizens of the Google Empire) can leave a comment...no login name needed.

If you want to respond to a post, just click on the "comments" link at the bottom and type away!

It really is now a free country!