by Logan Ames
How many judgments have you made about other people already today? I’m serious. Just take a moment to stop and think about it. Even if you haven’t left your house yet or truly interacted with anyone else in person, chances are you've already seen something on Facebook, some other social media outlet, or even the news for which you’ve judged the participants. This happens even when we don’t even know the people, and I’d argue it happens especially then. A few months ago, someone close to my family experienced one of the worst tragedies imaginable with the accidental death of their child. It was ruled accidental by the coroner, investigated by the police, and confirmed that no one was negligent or at fault. Yet, as soon as the story hit the news media and was subsequently shared on Facebook, everybody and their brother had an opinion about what the parents should have done differently or how they could have prevented the tragedy. Truth be told, I’ve probably had those similar thoughts about people in those circumstances in the past. I’ve made judgments based on seeing a very little part of the picture. But when I was on the other side and KNEW that the people didn’t deserve what was being said about them, it was easy for me to see how quickly most of us make judgments.
In the Bible, James understood that the Christians who were part of the early Church were susceptible to the same faulty thinking that they could accurately judge others with such a small portion of the big picture that God sees. In James 2:1, he writes, “My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism." So, he’s talking about not only making a judgment but also choosing to treat others based on the judgment that is made. But there are a couple important things to point out here. James uses the phrase “glorious Lord Jesus Christ” to remind these earliest Christians that the one they follow is actually the glory of God himself who came down and revealed himself in the flesh. It was a clear reminder that they are not following or worshiping a mere prophet or great human teacher, but the One who WAS actually God (John 1:1).
It’s also gigantic that James reminds these people that favoritism, or partiality, cannot co-exist with faith in Jesus as God. Jesus often spoke to and welcomed those who were outcasts in the eyes of everyone else, such as “tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 9:9-10). The reason James brings it up is because he wrote to a largely partial audience that had no problem favoring some over others. We know this by following the steps of the early apostles through the Book of Acts. Peter was one of the leaders and he was certainly born again and sold out for Christ. Then, all of a sudden one day, he is praying to God and falls into a trance, during which God challenges his long-held convictions regarding what is “clean” versus “unclean." After that, he meets a man named Cornelius who, though a Gentile and unclean in the eyes of Jews, is a devout, God-fearing man (Acts 10:2). Peter, having had his world of fake religion completely shattered, enters Cornelius’ home and reminds everyone that Jewish law prohibits from him associating with Gentiles, but that he is doing so because God had shown him that he cannot pre-judge anyone to be impure or unclean (Acts 10:28). After he hears Cornelius’ testimony of how God has been speaking to him, Peter declares, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:34-35). This chapter is known as “the conversion of Cornelius," but many people realize that Peter also experienced a conversion here. He was no longer at odds with his faith, showing favoritism toward Jews over Gentiles, yet claiming to follow a God who welcomes all who are truly seeking Him.
At this point, Peter had already been on fire for Jesus. He had performed miracles by the name and power of Jesus. He had urged the Jewish leaders to repent and be baptized, and he preached a sermon that led to some 3,000 people believing in Jesus. He spoke the gospel boldly and even experienced flogging for his efforts. Yet, despite all of this, he still couldn’t see MEAT through God’s eyes, let alone other human beings that were Gentiles. Before the Church could really begin to grow and spread out from Jerusalem, any seeds of favoritism within the apostles and other early Christians had to be dug up and destroyed. James knew this was the crowd he was writing to in his letter.
Then, he gives them a perfect example of how they might show favoritism without even realizing it. In James 2:2-4, he explains that when they all meet together and they offer a wealthy person a much better seat than an obviously poor person, they “become judges with evil thoughts." We see more evidence that James is talking to mainly Jews here when we look at the Greek word for “meeting," which happens to be sunagogen, which happens to be where we get the word “synagogue." Even if they had to meet in houses due to lack of buildings, they still referred to their gathering as the synagogue. Apparently, in those days paying more attention to the wealthy than the poor was quite common. But who are we kidding? It’s common now too, especially in churches. I once had a pastor tell me that we SHOULD treat those who give a lot of money to the church with greater respect than others. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But I’m sure that is a temptation for many pastors as we are all human. I have to work hard to make sure my mind doesn’t start playing those games.
Ultimately, the reason many Jews treated the rich better than the poor is the same reason so many Americans treat the rich better - we might get something from them. Chances are, there’s nothing an extremely poor person can give back to you. John Bunyon once said, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you." This is one of the true marks of following Jesus. He never focused on getting paid back, He never avoided Gentiles, strangers, or unclean people, and He didn’t show favoritism toward the rich.
The reason we all fall into the traps like the earliest church did is because we judge based only on what we can SEE, not the eternal work that God is doing. We have a hard time seeing the big picture like God does, and we focus way too much on what we can evaluate based on the outward appearance. Well, in the Old Testament, the prophet Samuel had to learn that lesson too. He was told, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). The bottom line for any of us who claim to follow Jesus is that we MUST learn to see past what’s right in front of us and trust in God’s big picture and His perfect plan. We MUST ask God to give us clarity and wisdom as people come into our lives. We must seek Him and ask Him to help us see others through His eyes rather than our own warped, incomplete view of things. If you reflect on this and find that you have been unintentionally treating someone poorly according to the ways you have already judged their outward appearance, ask God to destroy seeds of favoritism and prejudice in your heart and plant seeds of love and a welcome spirit to all who seek Him.
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The name Jehovah is frequently used in the place of the most holy name of God, transliterated as “Yahweh.” It means Lord or something along the lines of “the Supreme One.” It was a name so holy that the Jews did not dare properly state the name lest they in their sin commit blasphemy. Jehovah had numerous particular descriptors to give Him “definition” or description that man could understand. Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rohi, Jehovah Tsikednu, Jehovah Macceddeshum, Jehovah Shammah, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah Sabbaoth, and Jehovah Ghmola will be the ones I will address in this series.
Jehovah Jireh is one of the most well-known of these names. While the original Hebrew would best be transliterated as 'yireh,' most commonly we see this word as 'Jireh,' so that's what I'll be using in this post. Jehovah Jireh means God is my provider. The first place this idea or concept is brought up is in Genesis 22. This is the account of when Abraham’s faith was put to the final test: he was to surrender, to sacrifice, the very son whom was promised to him years earlier. Abraham obeyed without question and even in his obedience, he believed Isaac would return with him. God stopped Abraham right at the moment he was about to strike him and instead God provided a ram in Isaac’s place. But God’s provision extends far beyond that.
God is the source of my being, my sustenance, my food, my life, my finances, my hope, and everything I need. I don’t always recognize it, but if any of us were truly honest about it, there is absolutely NOTHING we have that God did not provide. I truly mean that. You can do absolutely nothing apart from God. You cannot even breathe without God giving you that breath.
Some of you may be thinking, “What about my work? Don’t I earn my paycheck?” To which I reply, “Yes, you did work and you did provide for your needs, but who gave you that job? Where did the talent for that job come from? Where did the ability to study and learn to get that job come from?” It all goes back to God. The sooner man realizes this, the better off he is. God literally has given us absolutely everything for what we do. He gave us the physical bodies we have. He gave us the mental capacity to do what we do. He gave us the raw natural talent to do what we do. He gave us the food and supplies we need to survive. He gave us the air we breathe. He gave us the provisions for our clothes. He gave us the raw materials for our scientific and technological developments.
There is the classic joke of the scientists who goes to God and says, “God, we have advanced so high in society that we no longer need you. We can even create life.” So God says, “Ah, interesting. Let’s have a contest, shall we? Let’s take some dirt and make a man. I did it before. Surely you can it too.” The scientist agreed and bent down to scoop up some dirt. God stopped him and said, “Hey! No, no, no. You get your own dirt.”
In man’s defiance of God in proclaiming his knowledge and expertise, he fails to grasp that anything he ever could do was a gift from God to start with. They seek to use all sorts of laws of science to try to explain the origins of the universe without God, and yet in doing so, they invoke procedures and processes that make absolutely no sense for their existence unless God upheld them. Why does gravity work? Why do forces work? How did they come about? We never invented the laws of science. We only discovered them and gave them mathematical formulas. It is God who upholds them. God is the Creator who provides for everything we use to live.
But God does much more than merely provide the raw material for us and life to exist. He also cares about our intimate “small” needs as well. I can testify to God’s provision in more ways than I can count. In 1995, my dad quit his well-paying job to go full-time in ministry. He went from a good job at a government plant (we were not wealthy, but we weren’t poor either) to having zero income. Yet, we never went hungry. For six months we got donated day-old bagels and bought flats of expired yogurt and eggs for a buck a piece. We had bagels in more ways than you can image. Bagel sandwiches, bagel chips, bagel this, bagel that. We understood why Israel complained about the manna, yet we even had an advantage over them. We had different flavors. But God provided.
He got creative with his provision as well. When I lived on the mission base where we housed and facilitated mission teams, we would get some very interesting donations. Some came from people getting rid of their Y2K stock. (For those that don’t remember, Y2K was a panic that swept the country because when the computers turned from 1999 to 2000 on the calendar, everything would shut down. Nothing ever panned out.) We got all kinds of canned goods which not only supplied us as a ministry staff but also supplied a food bank we ran. We got to try out emu and ostrich meat from one of the most famous steakhouse restaurants in Texas that was only 8 miles away. On one occasion, the freezers to the local grocery store (where I worked at the time) went out so they had to get rid of it all. We got two 4x4x7 foot pallets of ice cream, ice cream bars, Haagen Dazs pints, Ben and Jerry’s pints, fruit popsicles, and the like. We not only ate it, we got to give it away with our food bank ministry which at that time served 80-100 families a week… for three months.
A couple years ago, I got into a wreck that totaled my car (we were all fine; it was ultimately just a fender bender, but it messed up the engine of my car). We thought about taking out a loan to get a new car for me, but decided we better wait and let God provide. About 6-9 months later, He did. A friend of mine gave me a car for free other than the cost of switching ownership. That car has been great and exactly what I have needed. God provides. And as I shared five weeks ago, God called me to teaching and after 6 ½ years of preparation, He gave me the job. Not only does he provide, His timing is perfect.
God is Jehovah Jireh. He is my provider. He is my source and my true sustenance. I sadly do not give Him the credit He deserves. I do not thank Him as I should nor as frequently as I should. There is nothing about me or that I do to deserve all God gives me. It is only because God loves me. God’s provision is a display of His Grace. He offers it freely, but it is up to us to take what He has offered and use it as He desires us to. Let us not usurp God’s provision and claim it for our own. That is called stealing because all our talents, all our skills, and all our resources, were never ours to begin with. And we will be held responsible for how we handled His provision. God is our Provider. If we have a need, all we need to do is ask. If He can give my family ostrich meat, ice cream, and a car, would he not also provide for you if you trusted him? Next week, I will look at Jehovah Rohi, my shepherd.
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by Steve Risner
In last week's post, I began answering a question by Michael Roberts, an old earth creationist or possibly a theistic evolutionist on the age of the earth. An old earth creationist may believe that God created all that there is fairly like it is now, but he would believe this took place a much longer time ago than the Bible indicates. There are various versions of it that I won't get into here. Most reject the clear teaching of the Bible as to when God created the universe and us, and they also reject the Genesis narrative on the global Flood. Again, there are various versions of this Flood rejection as well. A theistic evolutionist goes much further than this, rejecting that God created the heavens and the earth at all like He claims to have done in the Bible. He would also not accept that man was created special or that life was created fully formed and functional during creation. They would generally accept evolution (cosmic and then biological) as the means by which God created the universe and life. Mr. Roberts wrote this piece listing 10 questions he'd like to ask “young earth” creationists (what would appropriately be called a Biblical creationist). I am fulfilling his wish in answering his questions.
The question we started to answer last week concerned the importance of the age and shape of the earth. Are they important to us as Christians? Well, not in our day-to-day living, I suspect, and not really even to our Gospel message. However, they do have some weight. I would say the age of the earth is weightier here simply because the Bible doesn't speak a great deal about the shape of the earth. However, it gives us a lot to go on concerning the age of the earth. I covered that in detail last week.
Why does it matter? The short answer is if the Bible tells us something, God thought it was important enough to have written and to preserve for us for thousands of years. If the Bible gives a clear timeline as to when God created the heavens and the earth, rest assured it's accurate and true. Rejecting this for any reason is to reject the very Word of God and to make Him out to be a liar or just incompetent. Neither of those is possible, really. There have been a large number of attempts over the last 150-200 years to reinterpret the Bible to make it fit with the “proven results of science” as Mr. Roberts puts it. Unfortunately, the “science” he's talking about isn't science at all. It's philosophy and it's based on a worldview at odds with the Biblical worldview. It goes against the long-accepted (and I would say obvious) interpretation of the Bible's creation and Flood accounts.
Michael finishes his statements on this by saying something so inaccurate and so genuinely bogus, it makes me cringe to think people actually accept his statements without really thinking them through or investigating them. He says, “For 250 years, geologists have only found evidence for an ancient earth and none for a young earth.” In my opinion, this is a terrible statement to make for several reasons. He will undoubtedly resort to an appeal to authority in defense of such a foul declaration (his own authority and that of others) but this is smoke and mirrors. Let me explain.
Geologists have not “only found evidence for an ancient earth.” Geologists have certainly not been unable to find evidence for a “young earth.” As I've stated many times, 6000 years is actually quite ancient, and this supports the Biblical creationist's contention all along that it's a matter of perspective. Perspective in this case is primarily with the facts geologists discover. Do they “only” support an earth billions of years old? Of course not. Facts simply just are facts. They don't support anything on their own. We use them to support or refute something, but that's what WE are doing—not what the facts are doing. Facts are inanimate and have no ability to say anything. We, as their interpreters, make them say something.
Notice Mr. Roberts offers exactly zero examples of the evidence that he's asserting supports an old earth. Not one example. Let's take a quick peek at geology as a study for a moment to see if his claim holds true. In a writing of mine from early 2014, I note:
Nicolas Steno is credited with 3 defining principles of geology. However, many had described different geologic features and even some processes for centuries before Steno. It was assumed for centuries that the Flood was at least partially responsible for many geologic features. Modern day geologists who are young earth creationists would include Andrew Snelling, Ph.D., Steve Austin, Ph.D., John Morris, Ph.D., Kurt Wise, Ph.D., and Emil Silvestru, Ph.D.
You can read more on Steno here. Tertullian, a Christian writer from the early 3rd century AD, explained that geologic formations, especially noting those with marine fossils trapped in them, were the result of the global Flood of Noah's day.
In another writing on the subject:
For a very long time, many in the Western world believed the geologic column and the fossils found in it were a result of the Flood of Noah’s day. This is demonstrable since at least the early 200’s AD. However, belief in a global catastrophe that changed the planet forever was believed in since the time it occurred. A literal reading of Genesis 1-11 in the Old Testament would give us too many references to list in a blog post. Catastrophism, the belief that the current geologic features of the earth are primarily the result of catastrophes, was a long held view—for centuries, in fact. It was the belief held by many geologists up through the 17th and 18th centuries, including the arguable founder of modern geology, Nicolas Steno. This began to change over a period of time and in 1830, a man by the name of Charles Lyell wrote Principles of Geology which outlined the idea of uniformitarianism. This is the belief that “the present is the key to the past,” which just means geologic features we see today came about through current rates of geologic change.
We know without question that current geological features like sedimentary layers, especially folded layers, canyons, beaches, sand dunes, mesas, pediments, laccoliths and batholiths, dikes and scarps, etc. can easily be accounted for via catastrophism rather than uniformitarianism. That's not to say catastrophism explains ALL geological features, but it certainly can explain a great many of them. In a lot of cases, a catastrophe is a much better explanation. But the interpretation is what we're interested in here. So many, including Mr. Roberts it seems, fail to recognize how important one's worldview is in determining what evidence tells us.
It's fairly obvious that evidence can be interpreted a variety of ways. Look at a court of law. There are almost always at least 2 very different sides to the same story—using the same evidence. Look at Super Bowl LIII. Many thought it was a terrible game—too boring. Others didn't like the outcome. Others loved the outcome and/or thought it was an exciting game. Everyone who watched had the same evidence—the same facts. They all watched the same game. How do they all come up with different interpretations of the game if the “evidence speaks for itself”? This is no different than a scientist who has been indoctrinated into the ideas of deep time and evolution who views evidence differently than someone who holds to a more traditional view of the evidence (since most branches of science were founded by Biblical creationists, including geology as noted above). This is why Mr. Roberts claims there is ONLY evidence for an “ancient earth” and “none for a young earth.” He's indoctrinated and can't see outside the tiny box he's created for God's creation. The evidence is there for a younger earth and many geologists have recognized it as such; it just needs the proper interpretation.
I suppose another response to the statement that geology only affirms an ancient earth is, “So what?” My confidence is placed in the Word of God, which is perfect, and I believe God made no mistakes when He had it penned. If a geologist's interpretation of nature varies greatly from the clear writings found in Scripture, that geologist either needs to change his interpretation or he is not to be trusted with such information. I simply say that because he is only a man, a man consumed by the Fall, and he's viewing a creation that is cursed and was ravaged by a global Flood. And he's viewing that world through the glasses of secularism and the humanist origins myth. This won't do, especially if this person claims to know and love Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior—how much more if he claims to respect the Bible as the Word of God!
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“It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.” -Babe Ruth
When you know you have heard from God correctly about a direction to go in your life, don’t quit! If it’s clear that you will not be sinning in going that way, GO!
When the naysayers come and tell you ridiculous things like, “If it was God’s will, it wouldn’t be this hard,” if you know you’ve heard from God correctly, try harder. Let your actions speak louder than their negative and uninspiring words. Grow, mature, and become complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4). Again, when you know the direction God has called you, obey Him and ignore all of the noise around you. Ignore it! People may think they are being well-meaning by trying to keep you from pain, but that might just be because they’ve never experienced the great joy and incredible gift you are about to receive from God for not quitting on Him and working hard through the pain for this amazing gift that they don’t realize is even attainable.
Imagine if Job would have quit and cursed God. But He didn’t. We see God Blessing Job’s life even through great pain and suffering. We see in Job 42:12, “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part.”
And here’s something to be thankful for: those men and women that come alongside of you and don’t whine, or complain, or make excuses for you or themselves along the way. Be thankful for the positive people in your life! They can be few and far between. They are gifts given to you by Almighty God. Be thankful for them and be thankful to God for bringing them into your life. Remember them and thank them face to face or write them a note. How about doing that right now? I encourage you to do what it says in Hebrews 10:24: “Consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
Imagine where Israel would be today if Abraham would have given up on God and His promise that He made that Abraham would be a great nation. Even through the difficulties he faced, including some that were self-inflicted, he didn’t give up and trusted in Almighty God. Don’t quit!
Trust Almighty God in all you do. If He really is Creator God, then you wouldn’t even exist right now without Him. Be thankful for Him and the gift of life He has given you. Don’t quit!
"The secret of my success? It is simple. It is found in the Bible. 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.'" -George Washington Carver
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Today we’ll be taking a look at Psalm 22, and it’s rather lengthy to include with this post, so please go read it first here.
This psalm is a pretty amazing one, since from a Christian perspective it points to Jesus’ crucifixion pretty clearly as you’ll see as we dig into it. It is considered a lament psalm. Lament psalms generally have 3 parts: the lament itself, a petition to God for help, and then a declaration of praise. In this particular psalm, the lament is verses 1-18, the petition is verses 19-21, and the praise is verses 22-31.
If you’ve read the story of Jesus’s crucifixion, the words starting verse 1 will likely sound familiar to you: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In Matthew 27:46, we see Jesus quoting this phrase while on the cross, and it’s given to us both the Hebrew (“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”) as well as the translation. Here, “El” is the name for God, which is a shortened version of the majestic name Elohim, with the “i” being a suffix that means “my.” But that is just the first question in this verse. The psalmist follows it up with, “Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” The message is clear: the psalmist feels that God is far from him and is not listening to his cries. When Jesus quoted this phrase, He was experiencing the same thing - the abandonment from God that was necessary for Jesus to take on the sins of the entire world.
Verses 2-5 show the tension going on here for the psalmist. He cries out to God day and night but hears no answer. Yet at the same time, he knows that God is holy, He is worthy of trust, and He is the one who can provide salvation. God had proven Himself in delivering His people time and time again, and the psalmist is bringing that back to mind. As Jesus was dying on the cross, He was living this out - experiencing the act that would bring salvation to all who have faith.
Verses 6-8 show the lowliness and ridicule that the psalmist experiences for being forsaken by God. He said he is a worm and not a man, feeling totally alone and unwanted. he is insulted and mocked. This is exactly what happened to Jesus on the cross; He was mocked, insulted, and ridiculed.
But even in spite of the ridicule, the psalmist has hope in God and His promises in verses 9-11. He knows that he was called by God and that God has been with him even since birth, and he asks again for God to not be far from him for trouble is near. He explains that trouble more in verses 12-18 - bulls, roaring lions, broken bones, dogs, etc.
These troubles contain prophecies of what would happen to Jesus at His crucifixion. The crowd surrounding Jesus wanted to crucify Him and watch Him die that terrible death, like the “roaring lions that tear their prey” (verse 13). Jesus would have experienced his “bones out of joint” while hanging on the cross (verse 14). Verse 15 speaks of a dry mouth and thirst, which we know Jesus experienced while on the cross (John 19:28). Verse 16 says, “they pierce my hands and my feet,” which is exactly what happened to Jesus when hung on the cross. People were staring at Jesus as He was crucified, like in verse 17. The wording of verse 18 is even quoted directly in John 19:23-24, where the soldiers divided Jesus’ clothes among themselves.
After all of this lamenting and description of awful things happening, this psalm then moves on to the petition phase. He asks God to come quickly (verse 19), deliver him (verse 20), and rescue and save him (verse 21).
Finally, the psalm moves to praising God. God has responded to His cries for help and has delivered him. Verse 24 says, “For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”
The psalm has been a very individual one to this point, with his individual distress, lament, and cries for help, but in verses 27-29 of this section of praise it turns communal. The psalmist speaks of “all the ends of the earth,” “all the families of the nations,” “all the rich of the earth, and “all who go down to the dust.” This prophesies how through the one individual of Jesus and His crucifixion and resurrection, all people will have the opportunity to praise Him for what He has done!
Verse 31 sums it up well: “[Future generations] will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!” This echoes when Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He completed that piece of the work of salvation, and future generations would declare it to all those who would come after. Jesus was righteous and holy, and He died that awful death so that we wouldn’t have to pay the penalty for our own sin.
While this psalm is a lament, it is also clearly a prophesy of what would happen to Jesus on the cross. No other person in history fulfilled all of the prophecies in this psalm, not to mention all the other ones throughout the Old Testament as well.
What does that mean for our lives today? We should praise God for what Jesus did through His death on the cross for our sins, and His resurrection where He was victorious over death. We should declare His name as the only name that is to be praised. He is reigning today as the King above all kings. We are those “future generations” spoken of in this psalm, so we should be declaring this great work of Christ on the cross to those in our own generation and the ones to come.
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by Logan Ames
I’ll never forget the first time I went to a concert in a large arena (or at least I think it was the first time, which means if there were any others I forgot them). In 1992, I went with a bunch of people from my church to see DC Talk on their “Free at Last” tour which came to Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, PA. If you’re too young to know who DC Talk was but you frequent the Christian music radio stations today, just imagine TobyMac plus the current lead singer of Newsboys plus the lead singer of Audio Adrenaline about five years ago when they recorded “Kings and Queens.” We didn’t have to imagine such a group because they became a reality over 30 years ago at Liberty University and instantly changed the landscape of Christian music with meaningful, Scripture-based lyrics to hip hop songs. At the time of the concert, I was just 11 years old. Because of DC Talk, my brother and I were allowed to listen to rap music for the first time.
I remember the concert because, to this day, I believe it is the only one I’ve been to where my parents were also in attendance. As younger children, my dad had taught us that rap music was wrong. I can’t blame him because the only rap music any of us were aware of at that point had pretty trashy and vulgar lyrics. My parents had no personal desire for DC Talk’s music, but they took us to the concert along with our church group to see what all the fuss was about. After the concert, my father agreed that even rap music can be used to glorify God. There was a time a few months later when he was even trying to convince his older brother (my uncle) of this fact, but it was to no avail as my uncle stuck to his “all-rap-music-is-wrong” judgment.
My parents, like most in their generation, were raised to believe that Christianity was more rules-focused than it really is. When they were taught something was wrong, even if that isn’t clear biblically, they didn’t question it. To their credit, my parents and most adults in the congregation where I grew up learned to accept that God can take anything that is “unclean," make it clean, and use it for his glory, just like Peter had to learn it in Acts 10:9-16. As my Christian journey continued to grow, my parents and many others helped me see that following Jesus is about an ongoing relationship with a living Savior and any rules he gives us are for OUR benefit and not for us to try earn what we cannot earn - assurance of eternal life.
At the end of James 1, the writer clearly sees that there are people in the early Church who are still trying to live by human rules and holding their brothers and sisters to those same standards rather than walking by grace. After talking about doing what the word says instead of only listening to it in the previous section, James then writes, “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:26-27). The word in both verses that is translated as “religion," which is threskeia, is generally seen in a negative light in other places in the New Testament. Paul uses it in Acts 26:5 to describe the strict life he led as a Pharisee and abandoned when he met Jesus. Then, in a letter he wrote to the church in Colossae, the same Paul connects threskeia (translated in the NIV there as “self-imposed worship”) to worldly rules based on human teachings, regulations that have only an “appearance of wisdom," “false humility," and “harsh treatment of the body” (Colossians 2:20-23). He then says that, while these things might make people feel religious, they “lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” (v. 23). This is the idea that James has in mind as he addresses the problem of “religion."
We can infer from James’ words that some of the Jews who were counted among the earliest followers of Jesus had not let go of their previous views regarding religious rules. They held fast to these things likely because of what they were taught and how deeply those teachings had been engraved in them. So, rather than just call it out as fake religion, James connects it to how we can identify true religion that is acceptable in God’s eyes. Just like federal agents who learn to spot counterfeit money not by studying counterfeits but by knowing everything there is to know about the real thing, Christians all over the world can spot fake religion within their own lives or the lives’ of others by knowing that true God-honoring religion is to take care of orphans and widows and to avoid that which tries to pollute us from the world.
One unintended consequence of breaking down the walls of self-imposed religion that tells us the right way to do everything is that many churches have now become defined by their looseness, allowing and even condoning obviously sinful acts just so that they don’t appear too strict. James clearly didn’t support this view either. James says there IS such a thing as “the right way” to be religious, but that it has nothing to do with arbitrary rules based on human standards. The right way of religion has to do with loving, caring, and sacrificing for those of God’s image-bearers who are the most vulnerable. To verbally mistreat people and to ignore the desperate needs of orphans and widows while claiming to be a follower of Christ only deceives oneself. For the second time in this chapter, James reminds us that our own selves are the only ones we can deceive since God knows everything about us and others adhere to the “actions speak louder than words” criteria for judging us. In other words, people aren’t going to care what we say about God unless they can see evidence of His work in our lives.
The command to take care of orphans and widows echoes God’s command to Judah in Isaiah 1:16-17: “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take of the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." God told the people He wouldn’t even listen to their many prayers until they began to live according to the faith they had chosen. In the same way, James is reminding these new Christians who still held onto old traditions that they would not be accepted by God unless they were willing to do whatever it takes to care for those He loves. This is what it means to truly DO what the word says.
If you’ve been holding onto rules that are based solely on human standards rather than God’s word, maybe it’s time for a change. Look around and see that the world doesn’t need more arbitrary rules that don’t even come from God; it needs people who are willing to stand up for orphaned, abandoned, unwanted, and even unborn children and people who will “plead the case of the widow." Notice that James doesn’t say we should just write them checks. No, he says the only religion that God accepts is “to look after” these vulnerable and desperate individuals. Take some time this week to get to know a woman who lives alone and has no one around to help her. Make a call to get information on fostering or adopting children that are still waiting for a forever family. Volunteer at a pregnancy center and offer support to a scared pregnant mother who has no support from the baby’s father and is thinking about abortion. Then, you’ll be following God’s one and only “right way."
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I have spent the last three weeks alerting you to 18 different false Jesuses out there in American culture. Now it is time to start examining the real Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Eric Ludy has two powerful resources on who Jesus is. In this sermon, Ludy details how Jesus is the fulfillment of countless prophecies and even how the history of Israel gave snapshots of what kind of life He would live. Then for something much shorter, Ludy uses his church’s vocal talents to read off an extensive list of the names of God found throughout the Bible. Even then, I found that list to be inexhaustive, but good nonetheless.
Rather than piggy-back on what Ludy did, I want to look at the names of God. Because man is a finite being, unable to comprehend the infinite, we have images and pictures that describe who God is and what He is like. These images and pictures come nowhere close to giving His name justice, but they give us insight to know God as He has revealed Himself. A few years ago, I did a 13-post series on the attributes of God (here). It was not comprehensive, but it gave a good clear image that God is much more than most of us think Him to be. The same will be true in this series on the names of God. While at it, I would like to give a shout-out to reader Janette Eastman who specifically requested that we at Worldview Warriors do a series on this topic. So Janette, this series is for you. Everyone else gets to listen in. The first name I will address is “Adonai.”
Adonai is the Hebrew for “Lord” or “King.” God is not merely a king, but the king. In our culture of a constitutional republic, it is hard for us to understand the authority structure of a monarchy. In a monarchy, the king is the sole decider of all things. He is legislative, executive, and judicial branches all in one. There is no authority over him and what he says goes. While he may turn to advisors and while he may subject himself to a standard of law (think the Magna Carta), the king still has the ultimate authority.
Israel had kings rule over them for about 400 years. When God allowed Samuel to install a king (by demand of the people), He still reigned in the authority of the king’s position. The king was to be submissive to the prophets of God, and nearly every king (if not all of them) in the Bible had at least one prophet to deal with. The king was to make a hand-written copy of the Law for his own possession. That would ensure he knew God’s requirements (though from the accounts, this command was poorly enforced). Nearly all the kings of Israel did not turn out so well. I can only think of one king of all of them who did not have an explicit sin or bad moniker follow their names: Josiah. All the others one who were deemed good still had a major flaw.
But we have a King who is completely perfect, never makes a questionable decision, never leads anyone in the wrong path, always does what is best for His kingdom, and has complete dominion and sovereignty over everything. God is the ruler over this universe and He does what He wants to do as He pleases. However, God’s rule is not arbitrary. He does not decide anything on a whim. He always acts in accordance to His perfect character.
The Psalmist asked why the nations rage when the King is on his throne. It’s a legitimate question. The nations all strive to battle against God and defy His rule, and exactly what do they hope to accomplish? Freedom from God’s hands? That’s actually their thinking. “Let us break their bonds in pieces” (Psalm 2:3). They see God’s rule as oppressive and enslaving because His laws will not allow anyone to sin however he wants without consequence.
Many people do not like the idea that God is King because that means He makes all the calls and the shots. They would rather just have Him as a friend and a buddy who can save them out of trouble but not actually have command over their lives. Yet, God’s protection does not come without His rule. When Isaiah prophesied over Jesus’ arrival, he said there would be no end to the increase of His government and peace. Here, we see peace and government interlinked. There has never been a peaceful situation without a good government bringing it about and enforcing it. The greatest freedoms flow out of an organized structure; just ask any teacher or manager.
God’s rule does two major things: it grants us the freedom and authority to do what needs to be done and it limits, controls, and will eventually bring justice upon the wicked. Because God is sovereign and the King over all, the enemy can only do that which he has permission to do. He is not given free reign over us and even when he is given free reign (like with Peter or Job), he is limited in what he can do and how long he can do it.
If God is the King, what do we have to fear? Satan cannot touch us without permission and if he tries, he will have to deal with God for doing so as well. The kings of this world, all the experts, the mobs, the media, all of them can do nothing except that which God has allowed. As long as we are obedient to Him, we cannot be touched no matter what kind of bluster and boasting and noise they make. It’s all noise anyway. It’s mostly bark and the only bite they have is what God lets them have. And when He allows the enemy to bite, it is only for our benefit or for His kingdom’s benefit.
God is Adonai, the Lord and the King. He is ruler over all. His rule is everlasting. It will never cease and he will never step down. As I conclude this post and start working on the rest of this series on the subtitle of Jehovah, listen to this sermon excerpt from S.M. Lockridge: “That’s My King.”
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
