Tough Love

I yanked back his little hand and slapped it, made him look into my eyes, and with a raised voice told him, “Don’t you ever, ever, never stick anything in any outlet, ever again! Do you understand?” Of course, he didn’t understand, heck, I still don’t understand electricity myself, but I do know it is dangerous.

Susie and I also had the “Don’t ever lie to me again!” talks, dished out the “You’re grounded!” verdicts, and had to figure out various consequences and punishments for bad, unwise, destructive, stupid, mean, selfish, and “I know you know better” kind of behaviors. Not because we wanted to or couldn’t wait to do so, but because these were our kids and because we loved them like no one else.

Hebrews 12:4-11 quotes and elaborates on Proverbs 3:11-12, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.  And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.’ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” Hebrews 12:4-11 (NIV).

We don’t usually think of discipline, punishment, and allowing hardships when we think of love, nor does the word “encouragement” immediately spring to our minds reading, “My child, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the child he delights in,” Proverbs 3:11-12 (NIV, italics mine). That’s because we are culturally conditioned to think that love is always unconditional, permissive, tolerant, accommodating, and equal, none of which neither Scripture (the Bible) nor real-life experience supports.

Those Hebrew Christians, children of God, needed to grow up. They needed more holiness, more righteous behavior, and more stability/peace. The previous eleven chapters indicted them of theological immaturity, not learning from history, slowness of learning, inability to discern good and evil, incomplete understanding of Jesus, and a weak and fickle faith. None of these helped with navigating life and coping with hardships and persecution. What they needed was a growing faith, deeper understanding, and maturity – as do you and I.

Do you want God to treat and love you like His child? If your answer is, “Yes,” then first you need to ask yourself whether you have been born again by repenting of your sin and believing in Christ as your Savior. It is the only way to become a legitimate son or daughter of God. Then you need to ask yourself if you are growing, maturing in this faith you have placed in Christ, or do you continue to be a spiritual baby, living in continual defeat and discouragement, and are unable to recognize God’s loving discipline when you are trying to push yet another paper clip in an electrical outlet?

Someone said, “God loves you as you are, but He loves you too much to leave you as you are.” When God is your Father, you should expect that His love will be relentless in shaping you towards holiness, tenacity, righteous character, strong faith, and Christlikeness. In this process, His discipline is often very tough, even painful, but always, always for our own good. Thank you, Lord.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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With Liberty and Justice for All – 4th of July Thoughts

With Liberty and Justice for All

No one knows more about liberty and justice than God, than Jesus Christ, our Creator. Therefore, He and His written revelation (the Bible) are both the proper and best starting point for any contemplation of both liberty and justice.

God, unlike us, has the power, resources, immortality, and authority to do anything He wants. We, and the writers of the US Constitution, are leery of that kind of absolute and unchecked power in human hands, and rightly so. Only God is able to yield power and freedom with complete fidelity to holiness, goodness, righteousness, justice, and love. Thankfully, God has forever restricted Himself to His impeccable character, thus, for instance, it is impossible for God to lie or tempt anyone to evil (Hebrews 6:18, James 1:13-14). Two things we can learn from this is that handling freedom requires both righteous character and discipline.

God eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They have never violated one another but have lived in perfect harmony, respect, submission, and love toward each other. Love, liberty, and justice become important when there is more than one, where there is community, relationship. The second most important commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18, Romans 13:9), flows from this, as does Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” Philippians 2:3-4 (NASB). Two things we can learn from this is that freedom is more than mere self-expression and self-fulfillment but requires considering and pursuing others’ interests and welfare as much as our own.

There is no freedom where God does not exist, nor do we have any freedoms that are not God-given. We are free to choose any religion or outrightly reject any notion of God,“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” Joshua 24:15 (NASB).  However, our God-given freedom to choose or reject God cannot cancel God. The first sin and foolishness of exercising freedom is to reject the very God who gave us life and liberty. The self-deceptions that accompany this choice are the notions that, somehow, we can free ourselves from being accountable to God’s laws and order, and that we can do better on our own. But there is no such thing as freedom from being accountable to God for all our choices and actions, “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God” Romans 14:12 (NIV); “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him” Hebrews 9:27-28 (NLT2). And, history clearly proves that we are incapable of doing better on our own.

A free society, people, requires laws. Everything is arbitrary in a lawless society, everyone’s standards are as good as anyone else’s, and human depravity is unleashed. So, who gets to decide what is right and what is wrong, good and evil? Who gets to say what is moral and immoral? Who knows what is infinitely wise and what is eternally foolish? Who has the right to define sin? Who has the liberty, the authority, the wisdom, and the power to both know what is righteous and hold everyone accountable to it? We love to usurp this authority because we think it will give us greater freedom and will allow us to absolve ourselves from and justify our sins, but in an ironic twist, it renders us less free, pushes us deeper into the slavery of our sin, “They (those teaching their own thing) promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you” 2 Peter 2:19 (NLT2, parenthesis mine).

My hope and prayer are that you and I will worship and give thanks to God this 4^th of July for all the freedoms He has granted us, freedoms people around the world yearn for. I am also hoping and praying you and I will take time to reflect and meditate deeply, theologically, and biblically so we will not bow our knees at the altar of Christian nationalism or join the drums of godless activism. Rather, that we will be committed to and radically flesh out:

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34 NIV).

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13 NLT2).

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10 NIV).

            To God be all glory this 4^th of July. Love you, Pastor Hans

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Staying Focused on the Important – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

In life, it is important to regularly remind yourself of the important. On my left hand, the third finger past my thumb, I wear a ring. It reminds me that I am married, that I belong to one woman, that I have no business living like a bachelor, and that I am commanded by God to love her, treat her with honor, bring out the best in her, and bless her.

When thinking about the important, the only proper and wise starting point is God because of all the important in life, He is the most important. Beginning anywhere and with anything or anyone else puts everything out of kilter, it is not wise, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” Proverbs 9:10 (NASB).Consider the following important truths regarding God:

God is.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1 (NASB).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” John 1:1 (NASB).

God is one.

“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” Deuteronomy 6:4 (NASB)
“There is … one Spirit, … one Lord, … one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” Ephesians 4:4-6 (NASB).

God is spirit.

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” John 4:24 (NASB).
“He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen” 1 Timothy 6:15-16 (NASB).

God is Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” Matthew 28:19 (NASB).

God is self-existent, eternal, singular, sovereign, omnipresent, invisible, transcendent, knowable, personal, loving, and relational. That’s quite a mouthful, though not exhaustive, of important truth about God.

Many stumble on God being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, because scripture (the Bible) is unequivocally clear that God is one. But scripture (keep in mind that the Bible is God’s revelation, His written word to us) is just as clear that God has eternally existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In practical terms, the reality of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit helps us to enter and live in a personal and loving relationship with God. Every time a sinner is saved it is because the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have worked together to make it possible. The Father gave His Son, the Son gave Himself, and it is the Holy Spirit’s power that brings a spiritually dead sinner back to life (John 3).

Besides the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working in unison to save us, they are also working together to grow and mature us after we are saved (Salvation begins at the point of conversion, but it does not end there). Part of maturing in Christ is understanding that God wants to work His will and purposes in and through us, to have us take part in His redemptive plan, and to join Him in His love for the whole world. In this, our relationship with God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is absolutely essential, “Jesus came up and spoke to His disciples, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” Matthew 28:18-20 (NASB).

Daily, pursue an ever-growing, worshipping, and serving relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

            To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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