Don’t try.

Okay, that would be my first post shorter than its title, but I’m tempted to leave it at that.

Here’s what I mean, though:

Don’t make church growth your goal.

Make your goal preaching Christ, making disciples, putting people to God’s work with the help of His Holy Spirit.

The church that results from that will grow, if the seed finds receptive soil and God gives the growth. Keep watering. Plant more seed; the Word — you know.

Don’t worry about uplifting worship times, awesome praise teams or incredibly gifted worship bands or dynamic speakers or cool videos or  special programs or targeted ministries or awesome marketing or a big, sprawling building or sufficient parking or offering seeker services or traditional services or progressive services. Some of that may come, but fend it off as long as you can.

Tell them about Jesus. Show them Jesus. Win them to Jesus. Demonstrate to them how they are visiting Him in jail; how they are clothing His nakedness and feeding His hunger. When they have worked side by side with each other and with the Spirit, they will want to gather in praise, as often and as devotedly as possible.

People who can see the work of God – the work He is doing through them; in partnership with them – when they see that work in the lives of others … they’ll see it in their own lives too and you won’t be able to shut them up when it comes time for worship. Or any other time. It will well up from within them like a spring of living water. Just stand back and thank God when it happens and you get caught in the spray.

You may not be able to limit them to just meeting on Sundays to worship together. They might just open their hearts and their homes and their dinner tables and their earnings to each other. They might sell their possessions and give to those who have need until no one among them has need anymore.

I know all this sounds too good to be true. I know it sounds like a pipe dream. I know it sounds all but impossible.

But it also sounds a lot like the last few verses of Acts 2, and well into Acts 3 and 4.

And it also sounds like what Jesus said about nothing being impossible with God (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27).

Sorry. I have no idea why I feel compelled to re-post this from not-quite-a-year-ago. But here it is.

Take a look around on the Internet at the orders of worship and sermon topics of churches which post them, and you might get the impression that many ministers of the gospel have the idea that “You can only preach so much Jesus.”

Really?

Because you can preach “the plan” all you want to, and if you don’t preach “the man,” you’ll have converts to a system, not the Savior.

You can preach “the church” all you wish, and if you don’t talk about the Bridegroom who purchased her with His blood, you’ll be preaching narcissism.

You can preach against sin all year every year, and if you don’t proclaim the One who died to save us from it and lived again so that we could live, you’ll only be spreading guilt and despair and hoplessness – not the gospel.

You can preach about your experiences in life till the cows come home, but if you don’t share His, will your church end up knowing more about your life on the farm than the Son you live for?

You can preach about biblical history, eschatology, pneumatology, soteriology, theology, or any other -ology … but if you don’t tell people about Jesus of Nazareth and what He taught and how He lived and how He reigns, just exactly what are you doing in the pulpit of a church in the Christian faith?

Have you actually shared all there is to know about Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, Son of Man, Savior, Redeemer, Rabbi, Teacher, Lord, Master, Friend, High Priest, Sacrifice, Good Shepherd, the Holy and Righteous One, Firstborn of the Dead, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace? The One to whom virtually all scripture points and praises – like John, His cousin – “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”

Has your church plumbed the depths of its relationship with God through Christ?

Have you told them all there is to know about His love; how far He would go and what He gave up?

Or have you given up?

Paul didn’t give up, and Christ was all he resolved to preach (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Peter knew there was no other name that could save (Acts 4:12).

John knew that it is through Him that we have fellowship (1 John 1:5-7).

Not just a plan. Not just a church. Not just a history. Not just a theory of His return, His Spirit, His divinity, His salvation, or His relationship with His Father.

But HIM.

Have you actually worn out the Ancient of Days?

Have you truly out-taught the Teacher?

Have you really mastered the Master?

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ~ John 12:20-21

Joseph son of Jacob was one. So was Samson. Most of the children of Israel, in Egypt and Babylon. Jesus Himself. Peter and John. Eventually, almost all of the apostles … and uncountable disciples and martyrs thereafter.

But it was Paul who put the reality into words: “Prisoner for the Lord.”

He was one. And so am I. And so are you.

Not locked into manacles and chains of a physical jail cell, but constrained by self-restraint and the Spirit of the Lord to live a life of service to others and therefore to Him.

Or locked into a life that serves self and sin and therefore, Satan (2 Timothy 2:26).

Slavery. Indentured servitude, if you prefer, since it is by our choice. And it is our choice.

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ~ Romans 6:16

It’s one or the other; no middle ground. Romans 6-7 leaves no doubt about it. One choice leads to eternal life in Christ; the other to death.

Inevitably, the sentence is death. Either to self and our own desires (Galatians 5:24; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:5) or of self and our own desires.

My favorite television show as a kid was the brilliant and enigmatic (but short-lived) British series The Prisoner. Its nameless, titular main character began each episode with a defiant declaration to his captors: “I am not a number; I am a free man!”

Scripture says choose self and you are just a number … one of the numberless multitudes who are prisoners to their own desires yet whose hairs are numbered and known by the Father who loves them; choose the Father and you are free from law and death and sin and self.

You become the warden, taking captive “every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

You also capture His heart, as you are captivated by His love.

And forever after, you are free to be a prisoner for the Lord.

There is an old saying in Christianity – stated one of several ways – that God is too holy to tolerate sin; to abide sin; to dwell in the presence of sin, or the sinner. It is used to support the Spirit-in-the-written-word-only-today doctrine by saying that the Holy Spirit somehow becomes an accomplice to sin if the person in whom He dwells falls even for a moment.

To establish this proverb, Isaiah 59:1-2 is sometimes quoted:

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.

But, generally the rest of the chapter is not cited … because a thinking person would realize that it ends with God’s covenant to inspire descendants forever with His words through His Holy Spirit:

“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 59:21)

That – and the rest of the chapter which describes how God overcomes the sin He sees through a Redeemer – is inconvenient to the argument that men are too sinful for God to dwell with them or within them.

And sometimes Habakkuk 1:13a is cited:

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.

But the rest of the verse, usually not … because a thinking person would realize that the prophet is having a conversation with God and actually accusing Him of tolerating evil:

Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Plus … how could He be aware of evil if He does not see it or look upon it? if He is indeed blind to it?

The Lord’s answer in chapter two make it obvious that He sees and judges the sin spread out before Him and pronounces His woes and will dispense His justice:

The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you,
and disgrace will cover your glory. ~ Habakkuk 2:16

The LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him. ~ Habakkuk 2:20

It is always a foolish and dangerous thing to base an argument upon what God cannot do. With God, nothing is impossible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27) – and His eyes remain holy even if He sees sin. His Presence is not hobbled nor destroyed by the presence of it in His world.

You see, if God is too holy to even look upon sin, too holy to dwell among sinners, too holy to live within them …

• Then Job 1 is a lie.
• So is 1 Kings 22:19-23 and its twin, 2 Chronicles 18:18-22.
• Same with Psalm 51.
• Isaiah 59:21 is full of empty words.
• Joel 2:28-29 and Acts 2:16-18 are meaningless.
• The promise of His Spirit could not have even fallen on the apostles, who were far from perfect (Galatians 2:11; Romans 7:15-24).
• Worst of all, Philippians 2:5-11 and Mark 2:15-17and Luke 5:20 and Luke 7:48 and John 1 and  2 Corinthians 5:21 are cruel fabrications and the Christ who knew no sin could not have become sin in order to forgive it and we are all hopelessly, irrevocably, eternally damned.

Too holy to dwell in sinful men?

Yes, but not the ones He has forgiven.

Our sins may hide God’s face from us, but He still sees. He sees those sins repented. He sees them nailed down, lifted up, and crucified dead. He sees His Son, dying on that cross.

And for reasons unfathomable to us save in the term “love,” that is all that matters to Him.

Shame on any of us for ever trying to pretend God or His Son or His Holy Spirit are too weak to do what Christ’s blood has done.

This is the aspect of the Holy-Spirit-in-the-word-only-today position that I find most troubling:

For those holding to such a doctrine, 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 is interpreted as saying that not only the miraculous and other gifts of the Holy Spirit have ended today, but that the Holy Spirit has done all of the work He was ever going to do; we have the perfect written, completed-canon word of God in the Bible and that is all we will ever need. That doctrine is extrapolated from these few words:

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 NKJV

And I quote the King James Version because I think most of this doctrine’s proponents would, without much variation.

What troubles me is that this interpretation – which keystones the doctrine that the days of an indwelling Holy Spirit are over and done, because the perfect word of God has come in the form of the Bible – this interpretation casts His previous work through men (at the least) and possibly even the Holy Spirit Himself (at the worst) in the role of being less than perfect.

Is that really what Paul is trying to say in these verses (which do not even mention the written word as perfect, nor does scripture ever describe itself as anything more than “useful” or “profitable” – 2 Timothy 3:16)?

Was that his purpose in writing these lines at all – and, if we believe in inspiration by the Holy Spirit – was that the Spirit’s purpose? Prophetically warning the self-minded and misbehaving believers of Corinth to shape up and stop misusing their gifts because in about three hundred years a final canon would be decided upon by ecclesiastic council and scribes would copy the manuscripts for about 1,200 more years so that a handful of people would have access to them until they would be printed giving a few more people access to them in a language that most didn’t speak until different versions in many native languages would be mass-produced and nearly everyone would have access to the perfect written word which has been the only way the Spirit would deign to bless anyone over all those centuries?

Because – put that way – the doctrine sounds a little short-sighted historically and modern-day arrogant to me. It sounds as if God is going through another four-hundred-year phase of not talking to His people again; another Egypt; another Babylon.

Exactly what impact would that prophecy have had upon the folks in Corinth of century one?

Is that really the way God operates in the Christian age … promising something to all and forever through His prophets and His Son, and then withdrawing it?

Is the work of the Holy Spirit or the Spirit Himself “imperfect,” “immature,” “incomplete,” or however you wish to translate ek merous?

I can understand that God could repent of creating mankind and then all but obliterate every trace of him from the earth. But I also believe I understand that He could not have completely done so because there was a promise involved, a promise just hinted at to Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3:15) But that hint was as good as a promise in God’s mind, and God is not a slacker concerning His promises (Psalm 145:13; 2 Corinthians 1:20) … and to believers in Christ He has made better promises than to the patriarchs (Hebrews 8:6).

Better.

Not lesser.

With the Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer, there is great power – reminding the believer of what Jesus has said; guiding him/her into all truth (truth that believer might not have previously seen in the written word, but would with the Spirit’s reminder); and instructing him/her about when, where, how and to whom that truth might be most effectively shared.

With the Holy Spirit dwelling in the community of believers, there is a bond of peace and a unity that fosters the growth of the truth and the perception of nonbelievers that good is being spoken and done by those who profess and live Christ.

Without the Holy Spirit, the word may be read … but will its meaning be unanimously understood?

Without the Holy Spirit, the word may be recited … but can it be proclaimed?

Without the Holy Spirit, a life may be changed for the good … but can it be changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ?

Without the Holy Spirit, life can be lived … but can it be lived to the fullest and forever?

My Bible says no. The power isn’t in the word alone, or the logic and cleverness and skill and will of the one who shares it, but in Christ.

Shut Him out; retire and reject and limit His Spirit to the printed words on the pages of a book … and the power is gone. Because to the unbeliever, there are lots of books out there; lots of religious books; lots of enlightenment to be had by reading. If there is no power behind it, the Bible is just another book among many.

Satan is the one who gains when the power is removed; when he can persuade us that one of God’s hands is tied behind His back; only what He said and did matters, not what you might think He is saying or doing now. He isn’t speaking or active now; that was only then. He’s retired now; it’s all up to you to do His work, and do it perfectly all on your own because He’s given you this perfect book and that’s all you ever need: just what He said and did for all those dead people back then.

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. … He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”~ Matthew 22:29; 32

If the Holy Spirit – or His work done while living in the believer – is imperfect, doesn’t it stand to reason that God would not have given those gifts even temporarily in century one; that they were not good enough for believers in his perfect Son?

Isn’t it, at the very least. on the thin edge of blasphemy to designate anything connected with God – His work; His choices; His Holy Spirit – as imperfect, immature, incomplete? That’s a serious charge to face!

“And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” ~ Matthew 12:31

Jesus pulls no punches about the sin that cannot be forgiven. I’m not going to go into the ring and challenge Him on the point. If I’m going to err about the Holy Spirit, I’m going to err on the side of generosity. I’m going to say that He is just as powerful today as He was then, if not moreso. I’m going to say that He still reflects God’s desire to live with man, transform man, and give him gifts – including eternal life. I’m going to say that He still politely waits to be asked into the hearts of those who desire His presence; that He remains the Spirit of Jesus as well as the Spirit of God, knocking at our door.

Because all of that I can find in scripture, and I cannot find a prophecy which traps Him between the covers of our Bible.

I will venture to say that the gifts over which we quibble and divide now will seem inconsequential one day.

In view of how 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 continues, I’ll even propose that the perfect which is yet to come is most likely to be Jesus Christ, and that while we await His return, prophecy and preaching in different languages and knowledge still are useful, even if in part. We should act as maturely as we can in the meantime, especially in using those gifts in love – with no misconception that we will attain His perfection/maturity/completeness on our own – because now we can only see dimly, as in a mirror with imperfect silvering – but when He comes, we will see His perfect glory face to face; our partial knowledge will be eclipsed by being fully known; our faith and our hope will be overshadowed by the brilliance of His eternal love.

Sorry. I broke my left index fingertip (and nearly sheared off the nail) when I tripped while carrying a big old CRT computer monitor yesterday. While it is still possible to hunt and peck on my cell phone or keyboard, I’d rather keep the opportunities for igniting the pain in that finger as low as possible for a while.

I hope you have a wonderful (and safe) holiday season – a merry Christmas and a happy New Year all year!

Thanks for visiting.

Well, from my point of view, anyway! These are a few pointers that I find to be all too consistent with teaching that doesn’t square up with the totality of what God has revealed in scripture. If they help you identify such things, great. If not, don’t take it personally. It’s not meant to be a comprehensive or inarguable list; just my perception of what to look for when an interpretation doesn’t fire on all cylinders:

• Scripture is not quoted. The interpretation relies solely on logic.
• Scripture is quoted out of context. Surrounding or related verses are studiously avoided, because they would invalidate the interpretation.
• Scripture is quoted and freely interpreted. In other words, at some point in the text of the interpretation, the teacher says something like, “The scripture says (this), which means (that).” The free interpretation may or may not be supported with logic or other scripture. Usually not; you’re just supposed to accept this as the truth and not question it.
• Scripture is quoted and controverted. The teacher says, “The scripture says (this), but it doesn’t mean (this). This may be accompanied by options like (this … anymore) or (this … to all Christians), etc.
• Scripture is ignored. When other relevant scriptures might call into question the interpretation, they are simply not dealt with.
• Sources other than scripture are quoted instead of scripture. And, as above, other sources which might call into question the interpretation are ignored.
• Logic is torturous. The reasoning by which the interpretation is constructed is difficult/impossible to follow, or can be shown to be flawed. It may feature one or more logical fallacies, which can be challenging to discover.
• Questions are avoided. If there is an opportunity to respond to the interpretation, the question may be changed or another question answered.
• Language is strongly slanted. When an interpretation stands on shaky ground, prejudicial language is frequently called into play.
• Unrelated scripture is quoted which implies that those who disagree are, for instance, “wresting scripture to their own destruction” or “will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” or somesuch. (This is a pre-emptive strike version of the ad hominem attack; among the logical fallacies. It is meant to persuade by intimidation.)
• There are no crows around. The straw man arguments have scared them all away.

Well, that’s my list for now. I think I’m pretty familiar with them because I have not only encountered them, but have used some of them before. I’m not proud of that, but I am trying to repent and do better. Hold me accountable.

Can you add any more?

“… a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.” ~ Galatians 2:16

Yes, I am fully aware of Paul’s words to the believers in Galatia – and am in full agreement. Believers in Christ are not under the law – the law given to Moses – but we are still under law.

What law is that?

Paul, writing to Rome, within a very few verses describes the law to which he is still bound as both “God’s law” and “the law of the Spirit”:

“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” ~ Romans 7:25

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” ~ Romans 8:1-2“

When he writes to Corinth, he calls it both “God’s law” and “Christ’s law”:

“To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.” ~ 1 Corinthians 9:21

Obviously, Christ’s law is different from the law given to Moses; the “law of sin and death.”

So what is the law of Christ?

It is a law written on our hearts, for that is the way Jeremiah reveals it to be under the reign of the Messiah:

” ‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ ” ~ Jeremiah 31:33

And the writer to the Hebrews twice declares that this time has come to pass (Hebrews 8:10; 10:16).

What kind of law is written on the heart?

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” ~ Jesus, Matthew 7:12

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” ~ Matthew 22:37 (See also Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:26-28)

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” ~ Paul, Romans 13:8-10

“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” ~ Galatians 5:14

“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” ~ Galatians 6:2

The law which is written on the heart – the law of Christ, under which all of His followers are slaves – is a law of love. This love is three-fold: It loves God. It loves others. It is active.

Does the law of love mean that we are not to obey any of the commandments in the law given to Moses? Of course not. All of the ten commandments, save the one regarding the Sabbath, are affirmed in the New Testament. For the believer, every day should be regarded as a Sabbath to the Lord, in which we rest in reflection on His grace toward us (Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Acts 2:42-47 – but in which we also work to care for His creatures (Luke 13:15) and rescue His lost children from the pit (Luke 14:5). And many other commandments given through Moses are specifically repealed in the new covenant: kosher laws, sacrifice, required feasts.

Some have concluded that any commandment given through Moses but not specifically affirmed in New Testament scripture should not – indeed, must not – be obeyed by the believer. They have concluded that, in view of God’s cancellation of the whole law, His silence on a given matter in the New Testament must be interpreted as prohibition – especially with regard to gathered worship.

I strongly disagree with this “law of silence” or “regulative principle”, and I do so on several grounds:

• It is nowhere explicitly expressed in scripture as a commandment to be obeyed as a guiding principle of interpretation. (And the scriptures cited to support it as examples rely on leaps of imagination and bounds of assumption that go far beyond the logical limitations of a necessary inference.)
• Other exceptional rules must be appended to it in order for it to justify practices which are already in place that are not specifically “authorized” in scripture, usually under a “law of expediency” which is also not explicitly expressed in scripture and whose citations are torturously manufactured.
• A “law of silence” speaks where God has not spoken. Instead of letting His silence express that He does not desire to express a preference – or does not have one – it assumes that He forbids.
• A “law of silence” is absurd on its face. If that which is commanded under the old covenant – instrumental accompaniment for worship in song, for example – is forbidden under the new covenant unless specifically affirmed, then:
  • It is forbidden to make an offer of peace nor to accept surrender from enemies in war. (Deuteronomy 20:10-15)
  • Women would have to wear men’s clothing, and vice-versa.  (Deuteronomy 22:5)
  • Latrines would be forbidden.  (Deuteronomy 23:12-13)

  That’s why those who are adamant about their “law of silence” are so careful to limit it to gathered worship; they can sense the absurdity of it if applied to life generally – even if they are blind to the absurdity of it with regard to worship as well. For scripture makes no distinction between behavior/obedience in gathered worship and in living one’s daily life. Trying to ferret out such a distinction in scripture is impossible; un-Christlike behavior in gathered worship is unacceptable; un-Christlike behavior in life is unacceptable. You do not have to read 1 Corinthians more than once to discern that.

Paul shares with the believers at Corinth – and us – a snapshot of love so that we will know how to obey the law of Christ and behave with one another before God in Jesus, our Savior:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Just in case we’ve forgotten – like they had.

Love is the mindset that led Christ to empty Himself, take the form of a servant, and be obedient even unto death on a cross (Philippians 2).

You won’t find just five acts of worship in the law of Christ; instead, you will find this teaching:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” ~ Romans 12:1-2

Love transforms us to lead a life of worship. And did you see? It leads us to discernment of God’s will.

Love for God goes hand-in-hand with obedience:

But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. ~ 1 John 2:5a

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. ~ John 14:23-24

Love is not one-sided; it is wholly reciprocal. And that shouldn’t surprise us; it was God who loved us first.

We love because he first loved us. ~ 1 John 4:19

If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. ~ Deuteronomy 7:12

The law of love is the law God obeys, too; it is His very nature, character, and being:

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ~ 1 John 4:8

Oh, there’s lots more to be shared on the subject, but that’s the short version of why I believe Christians are still under law. Not Moses’ law. The law … of love.

“When Jesus died on the cross, he abolished the observance of holy days. They are no longer valid. They cannot be observed today with God’s authority.” ~ “Christmas: From Heaven or From Men?”, Seek The Old Paths, November 2010

This is the level of absurdity to which one can sink when:

• One assumes that every conceivable action is either morally right or morally wrong
• One assumes that the moral rightness of every conceivable action must be established by God’s authority; if unauthorized, that activity is condemned
• One has the infallible skill to accurately apply his own judgment and logic to determine that moral rightness for one’s self and everyone else.

When you read articles like this, it’s good to keep in mind how much is being assumed … and presumed upon … by the author.

And remember, too, that it is so very disrespectful to God, His word and one’s readers

• to isolate scripture from its context,
• to interpret it to reach the desired conclusion instead of letting scripture lead one to a conclusion, and
• to ignore other scripture which clearly refutes the conclusion one desires to reach (such as, in this case, Romans 14).

Observing or not observing Christmas as a holiday – or a “holy day” – is a matter for one’s own conscience, not someone else’s.

Even Scrooge did not presume to rob others of the joy of the season.

“Nephew!” returned the uncle, sternly, “keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.” ~ A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

Hey, if they can make a TV series from a blog with a word in its name that can’t pass the censors, I can compile some of the mindless and worthless aphorisms I’ve shared via Twitter.

But I won’t. I’ll just share a few of the ones that are less mindless and worthless.

• Most of us Christians don’t mind cruising aboard the Fellowship. But we’re not even sure where the Discipleship is docked.
• The depth of my theology rarely goes beyond, “Jesus loves me; this I know.” But then again, it rarely needs to.
• If a sermon isn’t about Jesus or doesn’t point to Jesus, it isn’t ‘gospel.’ It’s just ‘spell.’ Gospel is good news. Don’t misspell it.
• Have you prayed that God will speak powerfully through His servant – your minister – this (Sunday) morning?
• Have you prayed this (Monday) morning that God will speak powerfully today through His servant – you?
• keith_brenton is sure that even when he praises froggy-voiced and off-key, God can hear his heart sing like Caruso or Bocelli. “All things are possible.”
• “It’s dry here, Lord. You send Your rain on the just and unjust. Surely we are one or the other. Amen.” – prayer during 1998 Abilene drought
• I hate politics. More than that, I hate the hating which has become intrinsic to it. We need fewer politicians and more statesmen.
• If the doctrine that “Biblical silence forbids” is proven solely w/Old Testament scripture, how can one also say the Old Law is passed away?
• You have to understand God’s sovereignty or the reason for suffering or how literally to take scripture before you believe? Job didn’t.
• If all week isn’t worship, then Sunday’s a sham. (Romans 12:1-2)
• I will say I respect Stephen Hawking, who thought deeply on the matter and reached a conclusion – unlike millions who could care less.
• Man’s arrogance leads to the conclusion that God has fully revealed Himself – and that we can fully comprehend Him. Why not “sufficiently”?
• I scanned the land of brave and free/to restore its faith and history./The truth I found was hard to see:/what needed changing most was me.
• If your ambition is to restore America, it’s too small (Matt. 28:16-20) & not personal enough (Matt. 5:14-16). Restore relationships to God.
• Jesus didn’t require people to have their lives all straightened out before He fed or healed or loved them. (Or died for them.) Do we?
• Like him or not, when was the last time you prayed for your President? 1 Timothy 2:1-2
• I don’t want to be saved in the end. I want to be saved now.
• Meditation on God’s word may not be transcendental, but it is transforming. It helps us realize that He wants us to change; become like Him.
• keith_brenton wants for my reaction upon encountering a person for the first time to be: “There’s someone for whom Christ died!”
• If you only teach the plan but not the Man, you’ll have converts to a system – not the Savior.
• Shouldn’t churches be more concerned about finding the lost than losing the fault-finders?
• King David was a seriously messed-up guy … but he always had a heart for God. I should be so messed up.
• It’s no surprise that those who dispense criticism without grace usually have trouble receiving criticism with grace.
• Too many churches teach behavior modification rather than Savior glorification.
• If you go to a Church of Christ tomorrow, shouldn’t you reasonably expect to hear Him mentioned more often than just at the end of prayers?
• C’mon, admit it. We all award ourselves platinum medals. Sometimes in events we don’t even compete in. Right?
• Today, I am the gospel. I am part of Christ’s ongoing Story. It’s not enough to tell it; I must live it; BE it. It’s true for you, too.

That’s enough for now. Probably that’s enough for a long, long time.