"C" who Jesus is.

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.--Isaiah 9:6

Who is this Jesus whom we serve? Who is the focus of our worship?  He is God in the flesh, the very power of God who dwelt among us.  The scripture says that no man has ever seen God.  Yet those who beheld His Christ looked into the very eyes of God; those who heard Jesus speak drew near to the very heart of God. Those who were drawn to Him in spirit were in fact wooed by the Holy Spirit of God.

We speak of the triune nature of God as a Trinity, "God in Three Persons".  Yet when we look at one, we see them all; when we see them all, we see the one.  So how do you describe a God you cannot see, now that Christ has ascended into the heavens?

Isaiah did it in four ways.  The prophet spoke of Mighty God, made up of the Everlasting Father, the Peaceful Prince, and the Wonderful Counselor.  Note how each facet of God has a distinct descriptor, a word that underscores the nature of God in all His glory.  You could say that Isaiah made a perfect description of the Trinity: Mighty God, who can be seen as the Everlasting Father, the Peaceful Prince (Son), and the Wonderful Counselor (a term used in the New Testament to describe the Holy Spirit; see John 14:26: "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I (Jesus) have said to you.")

But wait, you say.  That is not the order in which Isaiah introduced them.  The Counselor, who is wonderful, is introduced first.  Perhaps this is because the Holy Spirit is the one who makes the way clear for people to know God.  "But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.  The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God...The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him." (1 Corinthians 2:10, 14).  Again, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." (Romans 8:16).  So we see the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to reveal God to us.

The God, who is mighty, is the next revelation to us.  After the Spirit opens our eyes, we see the Big Picture. We see God, who created us in His image, who made all things to be useful to us.  We see God, the First Cause, powerful enough to make all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28).  We see God, who knows the name of every person on this earth--all seven billion of us--and all of our ancestors.  We see God, who is holy and pure and perfect, who cannot abide sin, make a way for us, an avenue to escape our sin and live forever in His holy presence.

The Father, who is everlasting, shows us that he wants relationship with us above all else.  We are not his playthings, or his minions, or his enemies--we are his children.  He loves us and wants to adopt us into his kingdom, if only we can believe in him.  To this end, he sent his Son.

The Prince, who is peaceful, walked as we walk.  He lived in sunshine and in rain, just like we do.  He knew the love of his friends and hatred from his enemies, and even betrayal of one of his closest circle of friends--just like we do.  Who better to show us the way to the Father?  And to complete the circle, if we accept Jesus as Savior through his sacrifice, we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, who is our Counselor.  How wonderful!

Counselor, Creator, Co-Parent, Co-Regent.
Comforter, Commander, Caregiver, Companion.
Conscience, Correcter, Covenant-giver, Carpenter.
Compassionate, Complete, Concerned, Christ.

Who is He...Who's the mightiest of all
Who is He...Creation trembles at His call
Who is He...The lowly sacrifice, who paid a victims price
His name is Jesus

Who is He...With the power none can tame

Who is He...That every foe would fear His name

Who is He...Who was humbly led away, to suffer that dark day

His name is Jesus 

Who is He...With the eyes that burn like fire
Who is He...Oh the wonder He inspires
Who is He...Who bore the guilt and shame
For those who've gone astray
His name is Jesus

Jesus...Son of God and son of man
Jesus...Who died and rose again
Jesus...He's the Lion and the Lamb

Fear and Loathing in America

I have discovered something about myself.  When I think about myself more often than I think about God, I get depressed.  The more I try to please myself, the more depressed I become.  I have just emerged from a period of self-loathing.  And looking back, guess what?  The whole time it was all about me, me, me.  You'd think I would have learned.  I know that when I am happiest, that is the time that I am serving God the most. That is the time that I am more concerned with His will than my own.

When I am consumed with love for Him, I am more likely to love others; I am more likely to be at peace with myself.  This is in contrast to the times when I am obsessed with self-love, which turns into self-pity when I lose all joy, which turns into self-abuse when I lose all perspective.  It is a downward spiral that makes me a defeated Christian.

Don't get me wrong.  We are all wounded warriors in Christ's army.  "There is none perfect, no not one." We are all subject to peaks and valleys in our Christian walk.  How we respond to the valleys makes all the difference.  In the fourth chapter of Genesis, Adam's sons brought offerings to God.  Cain brought the fruits and vegetables that he had grown from the ground, and laid them at the altar.  Abel brought the firstborn of the flock, a lamb without blemish.  God approved of Abel's offering, but not Cain's.  This made Cain very angry.  Instead of going to God and learning what true sacrifice means (he could have traded or sold his fruit for a lamb, and had a more acceptable sacrifice.  "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."), Cain became more and more depressed.  He ultimately wanted revenge against his brother rather than the favor of God.

God's advice to Cain is good advice to all of us when we start to get depressed, thinking we will never measure up to God's standards, or the world's, or even our own:

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."  --Genesis 4:6-7

Fantasy writer Terry Brooks has said, "Hurt leads to bitterness; bitterness to anger.  Travel too far down that road and the way is lost."  Before we get consumed by our anger, we need to stop and take inventory. Before we do something we regret, and fall into the pit of despair and depression, we need to pause and review.  Is there a failure to communicate? Is that the root cause of my bitterness and anger?  Again, if Cain had only allowed God to show him what was required, he could have made amends with his brother.  Like Cain, we have direct access to God through prayer.  Unlike Cain, we have a record of God's words which we call the Bible.  "He has shown you, O Man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: but to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God."

If you can go to this link http://skitguys.com/videos/item/psalm-139 I encourage you to do so.  If not, perhaps you can use a search engine to find the Skit Guys, and look up the video for Psalm 139.  Here is what Psalm 139:23-24 says: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."  Allow God to wash away the bitterness; let Him ease your anxiety.  If there is something standing between you and God, let it go; let God lead you back into His grace and peace.

I know from experience that it is impossible to love others when you hate yourself.  The Bible encourages us to "love your neighbor as yourself."  No wonder there is so much hatred in our land.  We are failures in our own eyes, and have succumbed to self-loathing.  How, then, can we love our neighbors?  We have condemned ourselves to a hell of our own making.  How, then, can we share in the love of Jesus, who said, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (John 3:17-18)

There comes a time in all of our lives when we are driven to our knees; when we approach Jesus as did the woman caught in adultery, shamed and exposed and ready to be stoned to death for our sins.  But Jesus, in His mercy, says, "Where are those who condemned you? Neither do I condemn you.  Go now and leave your life of sin." (John 8:10-11)

A little sin goes a long way in destroying our testimony.  That is why sin is compared to leaven or yeast in the Bible.  A little bit kneaded into the dough causes it to rise.  A little bit of sin causes us to be puffed up with pride.  I heard someone say once that the comparison that Jesus made about the splinter in your brother's eye and the log in your own eye really was only a matter of perspective.  When you focus solely on the little bit of sin in your own life, when it is viewed so closely, it appears much bigger than it is.  What others might see as a splinter, you have magnified into a log or a branch.  Jesus invites us to remove the log from our own eye, so that we can see clearly to help others get the splinter out of their eyes.  How sad that we become content to gaze at our own log so long and so hard that we lose our way.

                                                    "Doubting Thomas"

What will be left when I've drawn my last breath
Besides the folks I've met and the folks who've known me
Will I discover a soul-saving love
Or just the dirt above and below me

I'm a doubting Thomas
I took a promise
But I do not feel safe
Oh me of little faith

Sometimes I pray for a slap in the face
Then I beg to be spared cause I'm a coward
If there's a master of death
I bet he's holding his breath
As I show the blind and tell the deaf about his power

I'm a doubting Thomas
I can't keep my promises
Cause I don't know what's safe
Oh me of little faith

Can I be used to help others find truth
When I'm scared I'll find proof that it's a lie
Can I be led down a trail dropping bread crumbs
That prove I'm not ready to die

Please give me time to decipher the signs
Please forgive me for time that I've wasted

I'm a doubting Thomas
I'll take your promise
Though I know nothin's safe
Oh me of little faith

"The Devil Made Me Do It"

He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. --1John 3:8

One of the earliest and most popular African American comics was Flip Wilson.  In the 1970s he would do skits on variety shows (programs that featured a variety of entertainment, unlike today's reality shows and singing contests).  One of the characters he played was a woman named Geraldine Jones; in one of her earlier skits, she said, "The Devil made me buy this dress."  That line became so popular that she used it in several other situations--whatever dumb thing she did or said was followed by, "The Devil made me do it." This phrase was ingrained into the American pop culture for almost a decade.

The phrase became popular because there was a germ of truth in it.  The Devil does try to make us do dumb things.  But as pop culture evolved, the phrase ended up trivializing spiritual matters.  On Sundays the nation heard, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but...against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:12).  On Saturday nights, the world turned this concept into a parody.  Why did I tell that little white lie? The Devil made me do it!  Why did you have that affair with your best friend's wife? The Devil made me do it!

So what makes Satan such a provocateur?  What makes him so effective in his mission?  Let's take him at his word, literally.

The Deceiver
"He said to the woman, 'Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden?"...You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil'." (Genesis 3:1, 4-5)

Satan's first words in Scripture give us a clue to his character as a deceiver.  His approach was very clever, designed to make her question her memory, her belief, and God's motives.  See, he wanted Man to be separated from God, like he was.  But his approach was not, "Come on, break the rule.  It'll be fun!"  That would have made the humans dig in their heels, and take a stand.  So he started with a half-truth.  See, Satan already knew what God had said.  "And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die'." (Genesis 2:16-17)

Satan blurred the lines that God had made specific.  He didn't ask why they couldn't eat anything they wanted; he asked whether God would allow them to eat any fruit growing from any tree.  Eve answered with the words of God, plus a little bit of her own: "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "  With that bit of legalism tucked in there, Satan had a handle.  He could say, "You can touch it--it won't kill you."  And it would be true.  They could touch it; they could throw it like a baseball, juggle it, paint pictures of it--they just couldn't eat it.  From there he could say, "God wouldn't kill you--he loves you."  How many times do we fall for this line even today?  "I don't think a loving God would _______ (you fill in the blank: cause so much suffering, send people to hell, or demand that I live up to His standard)."

I heard a very good description of parenting on the radio program "Focus On The Family" today.  The guest said, "Every child is born with two burning questions on their hearts and minds: Do you love me? and Can I get my way?"  As a parent, our job is to answer the first question Yes, Always; and the answer to the second question is Not Always.  Similarly, in our relationship with our Heavenly Father, the same questions arise.  "God, do you really love me?"  His answer is unequivocally YES!  But then we try to reason with God: "If you love me, why can't I have my own way?"  If we become secure in our love of God, Satan will come and put that second question in your mind, in order to lead you astray.

The Accuser
"Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything that he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.  But stretch out  your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." (Job 1:9-11)

Satan knows human nature very well.  He had doubtless seen many people turn their backs on God after tragedies.  So he approached God and tried to drive a wedge between Him and His own.  God allowed Satan to test Job's faith.  Job's response wasn't perfect--if you have read the book of Job, you know that in the end, God gives Job a stern lecture.  But Job did not lose faith in God.  Neither should we, when all manner of tragedy befalls us.

Jesus is our example.  If He could endure leaving heaven and becoming a man; if He could endure the hatred and spite of men who lived with him, who saw his miracles and yet accused him of being a devil; if He could endure the shame and pain of death on a cross--if He could endure all that, then we can not lose heart. Hebrews 12:3 says, "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Jesus is our advocate.  When Satan comes to accuse us before the Father, Jesus covers us with His shed blood, so that our sin is hidden and we are seen as righteous before God.  "Even now, my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.  My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God." (Job 16:19-20). With this in mind, Paul wrote in Romans 8:34, "Who is he that condemns?  Christ Jesus who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."

The Tempter
"The tempter came to him and said, 'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread...If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down (from the highest point of the temple).  For it is written, "He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."....All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.' " (Matthew 4: 3, 6, 9)

Satan appealed to Jesus at the human level: He was hungry, so Satan urged Him to feed himself with whatever was handy.  Jesus could have turned the stones to bread--he later turned water into wine.  But Jesus didn't answer to Satan, and his fast was for a spiritual purpose.  So next, Satan appealed to Jesus on a spiritual level: Let's go to the Temple, where God lives; let's show all these humans your authority over the spiritual realm, and let's see if God your Father will save you from an untimely death.  But Jesus didn't ask that of God, and His response was not to put the Father to the test.  We know God had answered the judges and prophets of old--Gideon had asked for a sign, as had King David, and the prophet Elijah.  Malachi 3:10 urges us to test God in our giving: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.  Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."  God asks us to test him, to strengthen our faith; but Jesus was not asked to test God for that purpose, so He declined.  Finally, Satan put all pretense aside, and showed his whole hand.  Satan controlled all the earth, and he said he would let Jesus rule over it all if He would acknowledge the devil as a god.

The closer we get to God, the more tempted we will be.  Jesus endured much more temptation than what is recorded in Scripture.  He fasted for forty days, and not a day went by when Satan did not sorely tempt him. We have but a few examples of Satan's words, but they are representative of his mission in our lives--to keep us from knowing God, or if we know Him, to make us ineffective as Believers.

Do not be deceived.  Do not be bowed down by accusations.  When you are tempted, do not succumb. We are over-comers, through the blood of Jesus Christ.