New videos just keep rolling in. This is a new one looking at the way we live with God as our center.
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Shalom
Bruce
Perfect
Not long ago I had an exchange on Facebook with a man who posted this little tidbit.
“WWJD. We can’t be perfect like Jesus so in addition to ‘What Would Jesus Do,’ we need to be like ‘what would Jesus have me do given my current situation and given what He did for on the cross'”.
It’s a fairly typical comment coming from a fairly typical church educated person. Not unusual at all, really. But I have a little different view of the subject so I asked him, “So what then do you do with the words of Jesus?”
“Your therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48, ESV).
His response was “We strive to be perfect like Him but never can because of sin. At least not here and now.”
It went on from there with him getting typically more and more upset as I presented more and more biblical evidence to support Jesus’ statement, and equally typically ended with him removing me as a friend. This happens a lot when church Christians are confronted with the Bible they claim to follow. Give ’em some truth and they fold up their tents and run away. Instead of practicing the love they claim, they practice anger and pride and cut themselves off from the truth.
The standard church teaching is that we cannot be perfect. The Bible teaching is that we can. How do we resolve this conflict? Either Jesus was telling us to do something well within our grasp, or He is a harsh taskmaster asking us to do something beyond our ability. He clearly tells us to be perfect like God. There is no ambiguity. Seemingly it’s a tall order. But perhaps not so hard when we realize exactly what biblical perfection really means.
The word perfect literally means lacking in nothing. It also means “complete.” (Compare 2 Timothy 3:17 in both the AV and the ESV for instance.) Sometimes it can mean mature (compare Ephesians 4:13 in the AV and ESV). So when Jesus says be perfect as God is perfect, He means exactly what He says. We have the Word, the Spirit, and a new heart of flesh. What else do we lack? We are complete, lacking in nothing.
“And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:4, ESV)
So here’s the difference. The church says we cannot be perfect, which is a hopeless state of affairs. According to this teaching, we are locked into permanently displeasing God. They are saying that we cannot do better. We will never be able to please God. It is a subtle difference, and depressing, but it is also counter to what the Bible teaches. Jesus says that we certainly can do better. He is optimistic and encouraging. We have power in the Spirit. We have a love of God, and His Word to guide us. We can confess and repent and be forgiven. We can indeed be perfect.
We may not be “mature” all the time, but it is not because we CANNOT be mature. It is because we WILL NOT. We have it within our ability to perfectly follow everything God says, but we do not always choose to follow. This is the big difference. If we do not do something perfect, it is because we choose not to. We don’t like this, because our pride gets in the way.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:7–10, ESV)
But it really isn’t a big deal, because we can rectify it as soon as we realize what we did. We can humble ourselves, confess and repent. We also keep working on taking in God’s Words and moving toward greater maturity. The standard church teaching of “cannot” robs us of motivation. It is a hopeless teaching. Jesus on the other hand is hopeful. His teaching encourages us; His Word provides all that we need. Thank Him that we have what we need to be “perfect,” and can get out of the rat race of imperfection easily. We just have to want it with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Philippians 3:12, ESV)
This is a sobering thought. It doesn’t make the average human very happy, because instead of sitting in our comfortable mud pen of complacency we have to move out of the pen and wash ourselves clean with His Word. We “cannot” use the excuse of “cannot” to stay comfortable and complacent. Well we CAN, it’s just not really an excuse that God will buy. We have a goal. We can do better. We can bear more fruit, and practice the fruit of the Spirit better than we do. It is not comfortable, but it is doable. Of course it is doable. Jesus said we could do it.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:20–23, ESV)
Shalom
Bruce
A Whole Heart: Commandment Math Made Easy
A new video went up on our youtube channel recently. It is about the number of commandments. Different people number them differently, but there really is only one.
Let us know what you think.
Shalom
Bruce
Passover 2014
We are getting ready for our lamb barbecue tomorrow night, looking forward to spending time showing love for God by doing as He commands His people to do. We touch God and touch each other in an intimate fellowship that goes way past the physical markers and deep into a spiritual connection. His love flows to us, and our love flows back and between. We remember what God has done for His people, is doing, and will do. Remember means to speak or act on behalf of someone, which is why we can “remember” the future promises of God.
Some are speaking of the “blood moons” that will appear on this Passover and the Tabernacles celebration this year, as well as the same two holidays next year. I’m not big into that stuff, but it probably has some significance. Coupled with the increase in earthquakes, volcanic activity, and cultural degradation, we can definitely see that labor pains for the world are increasing. Maintaining our love for God through His commands is coming under attack at a greater intensity, but He said a “falling away” would happen before the end. Therefore be encouraged and keep your faith strong, standing on the Rock of His Word and our Savior Jesus the Christ.
I feel sorry for those who do not participate in God’s holidays, either because they just don’t follow God or because they classify His living oracles as “old” or “outdated” or for another group besides believers. Paradise awaits a change from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, sensitive and trembling at His Word. All it takes is humble obedience to find out the nature of real love and spiritual renewal and refreshment. I feel sorry for those who choose their own way, like Cain, substituting their own understanding for God’s Word and offering slovenly disobedience through physical symbols such as ham and bunnies. The symbols show the disobedience in the balance of their lives, corrupt and unclean and spurning the love that is waiting. Compromise shows its fruit in sexual immorality and unfruitfulness through acceptance of behavior God said would cause death. No wonder they are known for hypocrisy. One cannot practice hate for God in trashing His commands and expect God to accept the resulting uncleanness using the cosmic eraser of Jesus. If we harbor iniquity in our hearts, our offerings mean nothing. “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7)
Rejoice, children of God. Look up for our redemption draweth nigh. Stand strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Pursue righteousness through humble submission to every word of His glorious instructions. Hold fast to the hope He has given, practicing as best we can every tiny utterance from our loving God and Savior Jesus our Messiah. Eat His body and drink His blood, taking in every breath from God through His Word and breathing it back to Him. Rejoice as our meager offerings of obedience gain His regard and we find acceptance in Him because of our love and practice of His Word.
Shalom
Bruce
Can God Make a Rock Bigger (Heavier) Than He Can Lift?
The question, “Can God make a rock bigger (or heavier) than He can lift?” is asked by skeptics and the willfully ignorant of Christians on a regular basis. It is intended to mock the existence of God, and the supposed lack of knowledge and understanding of believers. On the surface, the question appears unanswerable. However, with a little thought and a smidgen of reasoning, the answer(s) are apparent. We just have to remember there is more to God than creating and lifting.
First answer: Of course He can. Jesus only had the strength of His human body. There were lots of rocks around that He made yet couldn’t lift. This answer focuses on Jesus and His incarnation, and the fact that He gave up some of His abilities in order to be as we are. He even submitted to death, a death that was necessary to atone for sin.
Second answer: Let me clarify. What is the reason for lifting? Is it just to show off muscles? Or is it to show off creating ability? He is not in the habit of doing things just to show off. He has a lot more intelligence and wisdom than that. It would not make any sense to make a rock bigger than He could lift, anymore than it would make sense for me to try and lift a rock when I could go around. His creation obviously was put together with much more practicality and purpose than that.
Third answer: God could make a rock that would fill everything. Then what? Who would care if He could lift it? There wouldn’t be anyone left to care!
Fourth answer: God could make a big rock, but why lift it? Wouldn’t it make more sense to simply reduce the rock to gravel with a word? And if that was the case, wouldn’t it make more sense to make the gravel in the first place, if indeed gravel were needed? This puts the spotlight on His forethought and planning. His omniscience includes what we might call “common sense.” Indeed, He is the author of common sense.
Fifth answer: God made everything, including physical laws such as gravity. I have no doubt that He has many other laws we know nothing about. So would He make the rock without mass? Could it be physical yet not weigh anything? (As we think of weight with our current knowledge of physical laws.) So if the rock was large, yet had no mass, then He obviously could lift it. If it was heavy, how big would it have to be before He couldn’t lift it? Doesn’t He hold planets in the palm of His hand, or are held up by the word of His power? The rock would have to be really, really huge, and I don’t think we can even conceive of just how huge. This puts the spotlight on the ignorance of the questioner, especially since the average atheist (and it is mostly atheists who ask this question) worships science yet has very little understanding.
I’m sure there are other answers to this question too. In fact, it is a fun exercise for believers to use our wider and deeper understanding of God to see just how many ways this foolishness can easily be answered. I would also add this warning to the answers: “God is not mocked. Whatever one sows, that he shall also reap. Was I you I would be extremely careful about my questions. Because God might decide to answer you Himself.”
Shalom
Bruce
New video: A Whole Heart: The New Covenant
Just up today – our newest video based on chapter five of our book Whole Bible Christianity exploring the New Covenant in depth. If you think the New Covenant is the New Testament, you might want to think again. The New Covenant was announced 600 years before the Incarnation.
I cover what it is, what it was, and what it shall be. The new part is not the Word, but the heart. We get new hearts of flesh on which are written His Law. All of it. Not parts and pieces – all of it belongs to all believers. Just like God.
Enjoy and subscribe.
Shalom
Bruce
New Video: A Whole Faith: Six Assumptions about Bible Interpretation
Hello All,
Thank you for your continued support of whole Bible Christianity. New on our youtube channel is the next video based on our book Whole Bible Christianity. This one covers six assumptions that undergird whole Bible Christian Bible interpretation. They are 1) His Word is the highest authority. 2) It reveals, it doesn’t conceal God. 3) It is clear, plain and easy to understand if we do what we read. 4) It means what He intends which is our definition of a literal interpretation. 5) It is self-explaining, or, the Bible interprets the Bible assuming we use the entire book. 6) His Word requires a response. Whether you embrace it or run and hide, it doesn’t just allow you to sit there like a bump on a log.
We also answer the question, “Can the Bible be trusted?” (Of course it can.)
Enjoy, subscribe, and shalom.
Bruce
Why Do We Follow The Law?
Easy answer. We follow the Law because we love God. Love and Law go together like mountains and valleys. Jesus says it this way.
And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. (Matthew 24:12, ESV)
Interesting how Jesus equates Law and love, isn’t it? As people move away from the Law, they move away from love. So if we want to get closer to God, we get closer to His Laws. Every tiny little command we follow is loving Him that much more. He loved us first, and we love Him in a small way by doing everything He says.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12, ESV)
We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19, ESV)
Some people insist on questioning the Law. They liken it to “slavery,” or “legalism,” or stuff we cannot do. They view God as a sadist because He gives us “laws” that we cannot follow. They don’t see the Law as love, because they do not understand love. Their hard hearts prompt them to resent the Law as burdensome requirements imposed from the outside on the unwilling. They see God as a harsh taskmaster who doesn’t deserve the smallest return on His investment (Matthew 25:24).
But our hearts are flesh, and have the Law written on them by the Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31-34). We delight in every word God speaks, and work at whatever He suggests. We love others in the Body with a similar love, because He first loved us. After all, Jesus gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness. He paid the penalty for disobedience to God’s Laws, so we don’t have to worry that if we make a mistake we will be separated from Him again. He is not waiting to hammer us for the smallest misstep. He longs for us to respond to His Words of Life and have life more abundantly. His Word trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives, zealous for good works.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11–14, ESV)
Shalom
Bruce
Where Are The Women Like Abigail?
1 Samuel 25 gives us the story of Nabal and David. David had guarded Nabal’s livestock and sent some men to Nabal to ask for food. Nabal refused to give it to them. Nabal means “fool,” which is apt for this man because he lived up to it. His wife, Abigail (her name means “my father is joy”) had a much different response. The Bible account says that she was “discerning and beautiful.” She loaded up a whole bunch of good food and took it to David, who was on his way to wipe out Nabal’s household. She apologized and asked forgiveness for her husband’s actions. David granted it because of Abigail.
She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, because the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. (1 Samuel 25:24–26, ESV)
Abigail tells her husband what she did the morning after Nabal had a feast. The Bible account says he “became as stone” and died ten days later. Then David asked Abigail to be his wife. The interesting thing is her response.
And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” (1 Samuel 25:41, ESV)
Abigail was not only discerning and beautiful, she was humble. Seven times in this passage she refers to herself as a servant (David also refers to himself as a servant of God). Humility is her strength. She knew what David had done to protect Nabal’s livestock and what a debt they owed to David and his men. But aside from that, according to the Word or Law, people were supposed to help those less fortunate. Israel was supposed to leave grain in the corners of the fields, grapes on the vines, and olives on the branches so that the needy could glean. At the very least Nabal should’ve given that much to David. Abigail not only recognizes that God is with David, she seems to also recognize both the debt and the obligation to provide for the hungry.
Today we have something a little different. We’ve got sluts like Sandra Fluke who not only bang anyone she wants, but also wants the taxpayer to subsidize her birth control so she can do it without concern. We’ve got actresses getting naked onscreen depicting the sex act and going through men like they go through designer gowns. Divorce is rampant, sex is devalued, and abortion no different than going to the bathroom. Instead of going against the “fools” we’ve got such equal opportunity that women have become the fools. Can you imagine a “modern woman” who would respond to a marriage proposal with “your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord?” Even the thought deserves a ROFL.
There are still a few gems here and there. Not all women have bought into the kingdoms of the world. A precious few have remained unsoiled and in humility serve God. Distressingly few. The world has gone Canaanite, but God still has a few that have not bowed the knee to Ba’al. For you there is a crown of life, and blessings pressed down and overflowing. Stand strong, girls. Stay humble. Serve the Lord and your husbands (or future husbands) and the Lord will reward you. Remember Abigail.
Shalom
Draw Near
If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. (Exodus 12:48, ESV)
If any one term is the closest to the reason I follow the whole Bible, this is it. The term I’m speaking of is “come near.” In my view this is what Torah is all about. The term can be used for simply getting together (if we are talking about a pair or group of people), but when one of the parties is God it takes on a whole different character. We can “come near” God for judgment as in Malachi 3:5, or we can come near in love and intimacy. A similar term is “draw near.”
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8, ESV)
We “draw near” to God as we do what He says. The more we do, the closer we get. In humility we use His living oracles to wash the parts of us that get dirty. Though He has cleansed us wholly, we still need to wash occasionally.
Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” (John 13:10, ESV)
We are clean, but we still need to wash some in order to continue “drawing near.” Notice that Jesus did the foot washing during the Passover meal. Jesus continues to wash our feet by the washing of the Word as we “draw near” to Him through His commands. There is a continual cleansing by His Law because we are in a dirty world and sometimes we step in something odoriferous that needs to be removed. If we judge (cleanse) ourselves and wash our hands (or feet) then Jesus doesn’t have to judge us. His eye is on us for good and not for evil.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. (Psalm 32:8–9, ESV)
Shalom