About jnelson


Website: http://soundliving.org
jnelson has written 65 articles so far, you can find them below.


Our Righteousness – The Fast Track to Hell

The following was written by Judy Masrud of Cranberrymorning.blogspot.com.  Judy is a wife, mother, homeschooler, business woman and best of all, my sister. The title (“Our Righteousness – the Fast Track to Hell”) caught my attention and the article held it.

“It seems so counter-intuitive, doesn’t it?  I mean, righteousness is what it’s all about when standing before the holy and just God of the Universe, isn’t it?

I wonder how many of us, growing up in the church, had our list of ‘righteous’ accomplishments that we could check off, to ensure our righteous standing before God:

1. I was baptized
2. I was confirmed in the church
3. I walked down the aisle
4. I asked Jesus to come into my heart
5. I went to Bible camp and Sunday School
6. I went to church every Sunday, Wednesday, and sometimes in between!
7. I give to the church
8. I don’t cheat on my taxes
9. I am good to my husband/wife/children

etc.

We’ve ticked off all the boxes on our list and we’re in good.

At least we’re pretty sure we’re in good.

But Jesus said that whoever is guilty of one part of the law is guilty of all.

WHAT??!

The Law of God shows us how sinful we truly are before a holy God.

But what about my righteousness? What about that list? I’ve accomplished them all. I’m a moral person!

What is moral?? Unless we are comparing it to the Law of God, morality is only a subjective thing and can mean anything we want it to, or that a group of people agree upon. But that’s not God’s idea of morality.

God said that ‘all our righteousness is filthy rags’ before Him.  Isaiah 64:6

All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

I don’t get it.  What’s so bad about me? I know lots of other people who are worse.

Right. We all do, for we’re comparing ourselves with one another, not with a holy God.

The Law shows us our sinfulness so that we come to an end of our selves. Working hard to earn our salvation? Ticking off all the boxes?  Give it up already! We are only fooling ourselves.

Only Jesus was perfect. Only Jesus kept the whole Law of God. Only Jesus is righteous before God.

So, given the story thus far, we are in an utterly hopeless state. All of us. We are all of Adam’s fallen race.

BUT THERE’S HOPE!
ENTER Jesus.

Jesus, God in the flesh, came to earth, lived the perfect sinless life, completely fulfilled the Law of God, then went to the cross and paid the price for OUR sin to satisfy the justice of a holy God.

Why would He do this???  No clue, except that we were totally unable to help ourselves and He loved us enough to take the punishment we deserved.

‘But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ – Romans 5:8

Jesus is our only hope before a holy God. And there we find perfect righteousness – not ours, but Jesus’. And we are SAFE. No more boxes to tick off, no more trying to be better than the next guy, no more working so hard to be acceptable.

We trust in Christ alone. We don’t put our trust in a baptism, in a confirmation, in a prayer that was prayed to invite Jesus into our hearts (and where did that come from anyway?).

We look only to Jesus and His righteousness. We throw ourselves on the mercy of God. We follow Him. Daily.

He takes our sin and gives us His righteousness in return, so that we can stand justified before a holy God. That’s the deal. That’s the whole deal. That’s the only deal -

for those who put their trust in Him alone, His righteousness is credited to our account.

It is truly amazing grace.

‘This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’ Romans 3:22-24

Better yet, drag out your Bible and read the entire book of Romans. It will shed more light on God’s wonderful gift to us in Jesus Christ, His Son.

 

The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments

Enduring Elements of Public Worship (part 3)

In the past few weeks I have prefaced articles about the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer with this reminder:  Thomas Aquinas said we must know:

What to believe (The Apostles’ Creed)

What to pray for (The Lord’s Prayer)

How to live (The Ten Commandments)

These are the core issues of life and they are answered in the Creed (What to believe), the Prayer (What to pray for) and the Commandments (How to live). Peter Kreeft in Knowing the Truth of God’s Love 1988 p44-47   We serve people (including our children) well by incorporating these three elements in worship frequently that they know them from memory and can thus recall them in many other life-situations.

Today I wish to address the issue of the 10 Commandments . Following Christ means something and the Bible, including the law, tells us what it means. Obedience to the law is one way of bearing witness to the reality and beauty of God. We don’t only sing songs in our worship services we also obey God in our everyday lives. Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Yes, that includes specific deeds (not lying, not stealing, etc) but it is so much more than mere compliance – it is a lifestyle reflecting our Lord to the world around us. Thoughtless children and legalists think only of complying with the letter of the law. One who loves God thinks of the spirit of the law as well.

The Bible is not a “morality manual with an index we flip through to find answers.” (Peter Enns in Romans p383)  God always meant for his people to love and obey HIM not just his laws. And he aways meant for it to be from our hearts. “Oh that their HEARTS would be inclined…to keep all my commands always…”  “These commands I give you today are to be upon your HEARTS.”  “I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my HEART.”

So what is my relationship to the moral law of God? That law expressed in the 10 Commandments and expressed in the commands of the New Testament gives us insight into the very heart of our Savior. Each command reveals the character of God and my privilege to bear his image in my life. My response is to the one who gives the law not to the law in and of itself. I must never detach my obedience to God’s commands from my relationship with Jesus; I am following HIM. And that means I want to know what he thinks, how he acts and what he loves, that I may think, act and love as he does.

As we look at each moral imperative, each written reflection of the character of God given in the 10 Commandments (and seen perfectly in the person of Jesus) we seek to know Him that we may be more like him. We are not legalists; we are lovers – lovers of God.  Is the moral law of God binding on us? Yes, because we are bound to Jesus. We are saved by his grace and desire to reflect his image.

While it is possible to summarize the commands as Jesus did to “loving God and neighbor,” it is also possible to recite lengthy lists of commands as in Romans 12:9-21 (Yes, the NT has commands).  But in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament the 10 Commandments were known to be brief enough and yet give sufficient specificity to form a memorable summary of the will of God.  For that reason and others the 10 Commandments have been recited by the Christian church for centuries. We would do well to emulate their example and include it often in our public worship so as to teach it and to remember the breadth of the will of God for our lives.

For further reading I recommend “The Law of God in the Life of the Christian” and “The Beauty of God in the Beauty of the Law”  found at www.soundliving.org  “Books” “Ten Commandments”

The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

Enduring Elements of Public Worship (part 2)

 In Luke 11:2 Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Teach us to pray.” Jesus’ response was what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.”  While there are many other prayers in the Bible from which we can learn much about prayer, none other is explicitly a model for our prayer. Both because it came in response to the specific request to “teach” us to pray and also because it is a relatively comprehensive prayer, we do well to model our own prayers on it.

A couple of weeks ago I prefaced an article about the Apostles’ Creed with this reminder:  Thomas Aquinas said we must know:

What to believe (The Apostles’ Creed)

What to pray for (The Lord’s Prayer)

How to live (The Ten Commandments)

These are the core issues of life and they are answered in the Creed (What to believe), the Prayer (What to pray for) and the Commandments (How to live). Peter Kreeft in Knowing the Truth of God’s Love 1988 p44-47   We do people (including our children) a great service by incorporating these three elements in worship frequently that they know them from memory and can recall them in many other life-situations.

Today I wish to address the issue of The Lord’s Prayer.                        The Protestant churches of the Reformation found the Lord’s Prayer to be essential teaching, including it in the Westminster and Heidelberg Catechisms and Luther’s Catechism.  For centuries the church has prayed the Lord’s Prayer when gathered together. Teaching and praying this prayer together in our corporate worship services gives Christians a ready reminder of the God-ordained core subjects of our prayers.   Michael Brown has written a helpful article on the reason for often including the Lord’s Prayer in our public worship. You will find it at: http://www.christurc.org/articles/why_pray_lords_prayer.pdf

In our private prayers also we would do well to take the time to pray often as our Lord taught us. Meditate on each petition and put the prayer in your own words. Come to the Father; he is ready and able to respond. My own example follows:

“Our Father who art in heaven”

You are not just my Father, but “Our” Father, and not just the transcendent, sovereign, creator Deity but our ever-present, intimate “Father” who truly exists and is the sustainer and lover of our souls. To you we pray because on you we are dependent.

“Hallowed be your name”

Make your name holy, give your name the highest place and honor, and make your name known and experienced by everyone. Be God, in all your glory, power and sufficiency, so we may be your children.

“Your kingdom come”

Father, make your kingdom come. We need you to act. Revive your people, save us from outselves. Bring in the full authority, power and presence of your kingdom rule and let it begin with me! Father, break down my “kingdoms”, show me how bankrupt they are, and let me see my desperate need for you to act.

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”

Father, do what you have planned and promised. Work your gracious will in such ways that we will be saved and that history will move to the end that you have in mind — a total transformation of this world. Do it God! Do it! And make me open and responsive to your will in my life today.

“Give us this day our daily bread”

Father, meet our physical needs today. We are dependent on you in every detail of life, and content with and grateful for what you provide.

“And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”

We ask your forgiveness of us even as we ask you to enable us to forgive those who have sinned against us. We know that only our openness to forgive others opens our own hearts to receive your forgiveness. Help us, Father.

“And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil”

Father, keep us today from succumbing to subtle but evil temptations that wage war on our souls and Father, keep the evil one from overpowering us today.

“For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen”

You are the One who is worthy (it’s your kingdom), and able (it’s your power) to do what we have requested, and to you alone (not us) belongs the praise (glory) forever. To you we pray because on you we are dependent.

 

An Open Letter to the Church regarding the Lord’s Supper

I wish for you to consider the following three issues regarding the Lord’s Supper:

  1. The Lord’s Supper is a means of evangelism for the unbeliever.
  2. The Lord’s Supper is a means of grace for the believer.
  3. We must be cautious that we don’t turn the Lord’s Supper into an evangelical “confession and penance” ritual wherein we repudiate the very gospel we claim to proclaim.

One observation of many of the evangelical churches I have visited in the past three years (40+ and counting) is that the Lord’s Supper is observed rather infrequently, with little explanation as to its efficacy and with little connection to the rest of the worship. One argument advanced for the infrequent observance is that the Lord’s Supper is perceived to be less “friendly” to unbelievers.  I suspect the rationale is that if we desire to be more open to newcomers who might be less familiar with the Lord’s Supper, we might consider reducing the times per month that we observe it.  Unfortunately, with that thinking we pit “evangelism” against the Lord’s Supper.

 1.   The Lord’s Supper is a means of evangelism for the unbeliever.

 What is odd about such thinking is that it is the very opposite of what Scripture says of the Lord’s Supper. Cf. 1 Corinthians 11:26 “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” That word “proclaim” is used throughout the NT to refer to the proclamation of the Gospel message.  It therefore seems that one of the benefits of observing the Lord’s Supper is that it is a powerful visual demonstration of the very Gospel that unbelievers need to hear and receive.  The International Critical Commentary refers to the Lord’s Supper as “an acted sermon, an acted proclamation of the death which it commemorates.” (1 Corinthians, p 249)

Contrary to thinking that the Lord’s Supper is counterproductive to evangelism, the Bible indicates that the Lord’s Supper is a means of evangelism.  It is reasonable to still discuss the frequency of the Lord’s Supper but not on the grounds that it inhibits evangelismRegardless of the text of Scripture that is being preached on any given Sunday and regardless of the theme of the worship music we sing, the Lord’s Supper gives us occasion to reiterate visually, tactilely, and certainly verbally the basic message of the cross. That I submit is evangelism at its most potent.

 2. The Lord’s Supper is a means of grace for the believer.

 Now just as importantly, the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace. There is mystery in this but not magic. I must start with what that does not mean. Sacramentalism is a view that, when blessed, the bread and the cup bring God’s saving grace to the recipient even if the recipient doesn’t believe.  In other words the bread and cup become inherently and automatically effective. This we reject as totally unbiblical and damning to souls.

So if we reject such a magical view, what do we accept? When we say it is a “means of grace” we declare that by it God grants His grace to us whereby we are spiritually benefited. When, for example, seeking to hear from God, we humbly read God’s Word, the Holy Spirit supernaturally minister’s God’s grace to us nurturing our faith. The reading of the Word of God with faith becomes a means of grace.

Likewise, but even more particularly, as we participate in the Lord’s Supper, humbly seeking the Lord Jesus in faith, He comes to us in the bread and cup. He is not physically present, but He is really and truly spiritually present.  Pastor and theologian, Robert Letham, wrote, “Thus in the (Lord’s Supper) the Holy Spirit unites the faithful (people) to the person of Christ as they eat and drink the signs, the physical elements of bread and wine. There is an inseparable (joining) of sign and reality. As truly as we eat the bread and drink the wine, so we feed on Christ by faith…The role of those who take the bread and cup is, therefore, to believe and receive. (Robert Letham, The Lord’s Supper, p. 28-29)

When we eat the bread and drink the wine, Jesus says it is like eating His flesh and drinking His blood.  In other words, by faith we are taking Him in, trusting Him, reaffirming our faith, declaring anew our belief and trust in Him.  And in that He ministers His grace to us to believe. There is a mysterious synergy in this that we cannot fully explain.

 He offers us Himself in the bread and cup.

We obey and eat and drink, believing Him.

He ministers His grace to us to trust Him more fully.

 In a well-known passage in John 6, after miraculously feeding bread to thousands of people, Jesus refers to Himself as the bread of life. Then Jesus says plainly, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40 – Emphasis Added) The point is that He, in His very person, is the life they need. But to press the point that it is Jesus, Himself, that they need, He uses metaphors for what He has already said, when He says again, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:54) Certainly we see the parallel between verses 54 and 40. When we trust in Jesus He does not physically come into us but He does truly come into us spiritually.

Likewise, when we come to Jesus’ words, in the Lord’s Supper, about the bread being His body and the drink being His blood, we see that He is not saying that He is physically present in the bread and drink or that He physically enters us in the bread and drink. He is saying that He is spiritually present and He comes to us. The ingesting of the bread and drink corresponds to the spiritual indwelling of Christ in us.  He is part of our very spiritual beings, as food becomes part of our physical beings.  This is a mystery to be sure but no less declared by God’s word.

Until the day we see Him face to face, there could be no sweeter, more intimate, fellowship with Jesus than what He offers us in the bread and cup.  He comes to us – He comes into us to commune with us, reassure us, and strengthen us.  It seems life-giving that we would observe such a means of grace more frequently not less frequently.

 3.   We must be cautious that we don’t turn the Lord’s Supper into an evangelical “confession and penance” ritual wherein we repudiate the very gospel we claim to proclaim.

 I want to deal briefly with what I think is a misunderstanding about Paul’s warning in that same text: 1 Corinthian11:27-29 “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

Here is a section of the teaching that I think has caused no end of unnecessary mental suffering among God-fearing people especially those with sensitive consciences. The typical understanding of this passage is that the believer is to inspect his life to see if there is any unconfessed sin. Then feeling sufficiently sorry for it and confessing it, the believer is somehow made worthy again to take communion. And further, if we take communion without confessing our sins we eat and drink judgment on ourselves. If you think about it, it sounds very much like what we criticize in some Catholics who go to confession and do penance before they take communion. In this popular evangelical misunderstanding of this passage have we created a form of “evangelical” confession and penance before Communion?

Closer inspection of three words might relieve us of that misunderstanding. First is the word, “unworthy.”  Paul is not addressing your character, as if because of sin you are unworthy to take communion. The Gospel message is that no one is worthy on their own and we are made worthy not by our “work” of confession but by Jesus’ righteousness being given to us. Instead Paul is describing certain actions that he has already been pointing out; the entire context is about how they were treating each other, namely how the “haves” were treating the “have nots.”

The second word is “examine.” Again, this is not some sort of morbid introspection attempting to ferret out any vestige of formerly unknown or unconfessed sin. Paul is saying I want you to test yourself to see how genuine your motives and actions are particularly toward each other (see context).

That becomes clearer when we look at the third word, “body” in verse 29. You will recall that the problem Paul was addressing in Corinth was their lack of love for each other. That disregard for each other spilled over even into their participation in the Lord’s Supper. Paul describes their guilt as not “recognizing the body of the Lord.” It is not that they looked at the bread and said, “I don’t know what that is.” It is that they were claiming to belong to Christ and his church, as indicated by their participation in the Lord’s Supper, while at the same time sinning against their brothers and sisters in the Lord of which they have been made part.

Dr. Blomberg writes of this, “The (Lord’s Supper) should be a time of self-examination, not so much for past sins, though (true) repentance from them is always appropriate. Rather, Christians should consider their present attitudes toward those needier than themselves. This would lead to a radically different group of people who ought to refrain from the Lord’s Supper than usually appears. All repentant sinners are welcome, no matter how far away from God they may have recently felt. (But) all professing believers who are unprepared to give generously of their wealth to help the poor in their midst, or who treat people of lower classes as second-class citizens, or who simply remain unreconciled with fellow (believers), should refrain. Jesus’ words concerning a somewhat analogous situation remain remarkably relevant here too: ‘If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24).’” (The NIV Application Commentary)     In 1 Corinthians 11 the Lord’s Supper explicitly calls for us to examine our attitudes and conduct toward other Christians, especially the poor. The usual call for introspection, confession and feeling sorry for our sins can lead too easily to a sense that we somehow make ourselves “worthy” to receive the Lord’s Supper.

If we believe it is necessary to refer to 1 Corinthians 11:27-28 in our Lord’s Supper ritual (“Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.”), I think it is imperative that we do so only in the context of Paul’s argument wherein the exact observance of the Lord’s Supper is not the issue but how they were treating each other is. (See also Gordon Fee in The New International Commentary on the New Testament p561ff)  I suggest that we focus instead on the grace of God given to us in and through Jesus Christ.

For the unbeliever in our midst and for the believer, I urge church leaders to reconsider the importance and frequency of participating in the Lord’s Supper .  

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