Cody Lane Foundation

Inner Healing: Matthew 9

2010-01-19T21:27:00.000-08:00

In Matthew 9, the author places stories of Jesus healing the sick and demon-possessed alongside the questioning and challenges of the religious leaders in order to make two important and related points: 1) Jesus Christ brings a new way of relationship with God, and 2) changing the inner man is more important than external appearances. Read Matthew 9 from the perspective of the broader themes of this series of stories:
“Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
3At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
4Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7And the man got up and went home. 8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
The Calling of Matthew
9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
12On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
14Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"
15Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
16"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman
18While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."
22Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.
23When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26News of this spread through all that region.
Jesus Heals the Blind and Mute
27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
28When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they replied.
29Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; 30and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." 31But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
32While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."
34But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."
The Workers Are Few
35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Two key verses are pivotal to the meaning presented here. The first is Jesus’ quote of Hosea 6:6. The second is Jesus’ presentation of the parable of the old wineskins and new wine. Let’s look first at the meaning of Hosea 6:6, which Jesus indicated was important to comprehend, as He instructed the Pharisees to “go and learn what this means.” The complete verse (Hosea 6:6) is:
“6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”
In order to best understand these words, let’s look at other times the same verse is quoted or the same meaning is captured in other Scripture. Jesus quoted the same Hosea verse in Matthew 12:
“ 1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that one[a] greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'[b] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Similar teaching is found in Psalm 40:
“4 Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods. [a](falsehoods)
5 Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced [b] , [c](opened) ;
burnt offerings and sin offerings
you did not require.
7 Then I said, "Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll. [d] (with a scroll written for me)
8 I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart."
And again in Psalm 51:
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are [c] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
In each of these examples, Scripture is pointing to the primacy of inner transformation over actions or external elements. If this is the case, why does Jesus then heal the physical bodies of those in the Matthew 9 stories?
I do not believe these verses are about physical healing as it stands alone. As indicated in Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in Matt. 9:4-8, Jesus claimed the authority to forgive sins, but so they would know He had that authority, He demonstrated that authority by healing the body. In other words, someone Who has authority over sin to proclaim forgiveness also has authority over the consequences of sin. Since it was through sin that sickness and death came into the world (not an individual’s sin causing sickness, but instead understanding that the presence of sin in the world brought death and decay to all things), Jesus demonstrates He can remove the consequences of sin. However, the most important thing, and Jesus’ initial focus prior to the Pharisees’ challenge, was on forgiving the man’s sin – on healing his inner self, transforming his heart and soul rather than his body. It is a truth that this man eventually died. His physical body was destined to decay, because of the presence of sin in the world. But Jesus, not focused on the temporal and external, offered the visible evidence of His authority to give the Pharisees (who were focused on the external) the opportunity to be transformed as well. Sadly, their hardened hearts did not receive what He offered. They remained blind, even though Jesus offered the return of their sight.
As Christians, we must be careful to not leave any false impressions about the character of God by what we say. If we were to read these verses, and focusing on the physical healings, say that an individual with enough faith will be healed, we could leave the impression with someone struggling with an illness that God is arbitrary, or even untrustworthy. We could also leave that individual in fear and doubt, feeling their faith is not strong enough or they are not worthy enough to warrant healing. However, it is the inner man that Jesus seeks to heal. It is our cleansing from sin and our freedom that He died to provide, all because of His deep love for us.
It is the internal (vs. the external) that is Jesus’ focus, while the Pharisees were consumed with appearances and externals. Along the same lines, Jesus brings a new way from the way of the Pharisees, which they would describe as the way of the Law. As Hebrews 10:1 states, “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves.” So what is the reality? According to the parable Jesus told in Matthew 9:16-17, there is a new reality, and this new reality cannot be “poured” into the old perception of things, or all the new “wine” will be lost.
Jesus is the “new wine” that cannot be poured into “old wineskins” lest the skins burst and all the wine (the change) pour out. Often, we try to “assimilate” God into our frame of reference or understanding of things. This is the error of the Pharisees in Matthew 9. They kept bringing up their “old way” of seeing things, of what they thought was important, and of how they related to God. Jesus’ response? God will not be assimilated. We, instead, must be “transformed” in order to accommodate for God in our hearts. We must also take care not to stay with what we know. Our “old wineskin” will not hold God within us either. It is God’s presence in us that changes us – forever – into a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (II Corinthians 5:17).

Difficult Questions: First Installment

2009-11-16T19:38:00.000-08:00

We are beginning a new feature on our blog, entitled "Difficult Questions." Our goal is to prayerfully respond to whatever theological questions you pose, no matter how challenging or complex the question. We will use Scripture as our basis for response, and we commit we will not respond by saying, "It is a mystery, and we cannot understand it," for the mystery of God is revealed in Jesus Christ.

The first question posed is: What happens to the souls of those who have never had the opportunity to hear about Christ?

Here is Hayden Lane's response: The main premise behind this question is really another question: Does God hold people accountable for things they have not heard about or do not know? My answer to this question would be no; that God does not hold people accountable for what they don’t know. My main piece of support for this conclusion is Romans 10:14:

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”

This verse clearly states that people cannot believe in something they have not heard or been told about.

In other words, if someone lived in China prior to Christ's death and resurrection, they cannot be expected to believe in Jesus' death and resurrection for the forgiveness of their sins. They cannot believe in something they have never heard about.

I suppose I could stop there. But, since I don’t think that one quotation will fully satisfy you as an answer, and leaves you with another question -- “If God doesn’t hold people accountable for what they don’t know, by what standard does he judge those who have never heard about Christ?” -- then I will attempt to explain as best as I can what I believe. The rest of my explanation hinges on my very strong belief that God bases his judgment of people solely on what they believe in their hearts; and I believe this statement is supported by a few verses:

1 Samuel 16:7 - The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Deuteronomy 6:6- These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts

Deuteronomy 10:12 - And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

Deuteronomy 10:16 - Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer

Deuteronomy 11:13 - faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul-

Deuteronomy 11:18 - Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Deuteronomy 26:16 - The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul

Deuteronomy 30:6 - The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

Deuteronomy 30:10- obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul

Deuteronomy 32:46 - he said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.

Psalm 51:17 - The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise

Psalm 66:18 - If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened

Psalm 119:11 - I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you

Proverbs 3:1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart...3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 21:2 - All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.

Jeremiah 4:4 - Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem

Jeremiah 17:10 - I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

Jeremiah 29:13 - You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Ezekiel 36:26 - I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Isaiah 29:13 - "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”

(These verses, by the way, are not the total number of verses that address this topic. If you are interested in what else the Bible says about your heart motivation, go to biblegateway.com and search the bible for “heart”)

So, why all of the time and effort spent supporting the belief that God examines the heart? To answer the second question raised by the original quotation of Romans 10:14.

I propose that God will only hold people accountable for what they know, and He examines hearts for people who are seeking Him through what they know. In other words, God doesn’t expect people who have never heard about Christ to respond to something they've never heard, yet he will judge them as righteous or not based on what they would believe in their heart, given the opportunity.

As evidence for this position, let us return to Romans, chapter 2:

12All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts...)

In other words, God does not hold people accountable for obeying the Law when they have never heard it, but he does examine their hearts to see if the “Law” is written there.

Here are some more verses to support this argument:

Romans 3:19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law.

Romans 4:15where there is no law there is no transgression.

Romans 5:13before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.

Again, the Law applies to those under it, not to people who don’t know it.
That is to say, without the Law, people are not judged by the standards of the Law, to the point that sin is not even taken into account. Paul even states, “through the law we become conscious of sin (Romans 3:20),”

He also says: “Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law... For apart from law, sin is dead (Romans 7:7-8).”

Paul uses Abraham as evidence when he makes this point about righteousness apart from the Law. In both Romans chapter 4 and Galatians chapter 3, Paul describes how Abraham was considered righteous because he believed God, before circumcision (the sign of the covenant with God), before the giving of the Law (to Moses – centuries later), and before Jesus. Abraham was not held accountable for something that he did not know; God searched his heart, Abraham had a heart that sought God, and Abraham’s faith made him righteous in God’s sight. If this standard was applied to Abraham, and God’s nature does not change (cf. Psalm 102:27 , James 1:17 , Malachi 3:6 , Hebrews 6:17-18) then it makes sense that the way God judges people’s hearts today would not vary from how he judged their hearts then; namely, by holding them accountable to the standard which has been in place from the beginning, righteousness by their faith, according to the standard that they have heard and been given the opportunity to believe.

This conclusion has some very interesting implications, especially in regards to the story of the fall of man in Genesis. If you recall, Adam and Eve were instructed not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If God only holds people accountable for what they know, and Adam and Eve did not know evil until after eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge, does this mean that Adam and Eve only hid from God out of shame and fear and subsequently were held accountable for what they did AFTER they learned it was wrong? Does this mean that no matter what they did before they learned what evil was, it was not sin, because sin doesn’t exist apart from the knowledge that it is sin? Does that then mean that Adam and Eve may not have been “sinless” in Eden, beyond the fact that they didn’t know that anything they were doing was sinful and so were not judged for it until they ate the fruit? Indeed, they were naked and felt no shame, until after gaining knowledge of evil, and then they hid because they realized they were naked and were ashamed. The same action/state of being (nakedness) was not sin before the knowledge, and then became sin after the knowledge created the new standard for judgment. (These implications might have to cause us to completely reevaluate our understanding of the Fall – pretty cool!)

All other departures from the main topic aside, God’s evaluation of your heart basically boils down to what you believe based on what you know – Adam and Eve learned what evil was, and so were judged by that knowledge. Abraham was judged as righteous by believing God in his heart, before the Law existed, and finally “...the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith (Romans 9:30)” through the law on their hearts and through Christ.

Even for those who have heard and believe that Christ died for their sins, what they personally know and believe about their relationship with God is still what God uses to judge them. Paul is clear that the gospel message that saves you is that Christ died and was resurrected (cf. I Corinthians 15:1-8). Beyond this core belief, then the practice of worship basically becomes however you choose to express your faith to God, and God uses your faith to judge your heart and your actions. Paul states:

4As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.... 22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin (Romans 14).”

In other words, even with belief in Christ, God still judges what you do as “clean” and “unclean” based on your own personal conviction in your heart. God examines your heart, and what is clean in your heart becomes clean, and what is “unclean” to you becomes unclean, provided your actions are motivated from faith. -- There are echoes in this statement of Jesus saying that whatever you bind or loose on earth will be bound or loosed in Heaven (cf. Matthew 6:19; 8:18).

Another important question arises from this conclusion: If God judges you based on your personal convictions, then how is this different from postmodern thought? Postmodernism is an intellectual movement that, in very simple terms, states that whatever you believe is truth for you, and that truth is subjective because it is all a matter of personal perspective. What you believe becomes your truth, and your truth is different from everyone else’s. On the surface, this philosophy sounds similar to the conclusion presented in the above argument, namely that what a person believes is what God uses to judge them as righteous or not. However, there are some very key differences between the Biblical perspective presented above and the postmodern perspective. The biggest difference, and the only one I will address here, is the ultimate conclusion of postmodernism: namely, that there is no absolute truth/right or wrong/or morality. If everyone’s “truth” is different, and all beliefs are “true,” then whatever you feel is right becomes right. For example, if you believe someone needs to be murdered, postmodern thought would state that there is nothing wrong with the completion of the action, because for you it is not wrong since you believe it to be right. However, Paul clearly states that the core gospel message (I Corinthians 15) is required for salvation for those who have heard it, and the Bible makes it clear that there are absolutes; there are standards to which all people are held accountable, and it is by these standards that even those “unknowing” of Christ are judged.

First, all people are accountable to know and believe that God exists. "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (Romans 1:20). The complexity of the world around us tells us that there is a God (even though people can suppress that knowledge in their heart), and that this God is eternally powerful, divine, and righteous. Even those who haven't heard of Jesus are accountable for believing that God exists. However, the rest of Romans 1 tells us that many people clearly reject this knowledge, even though “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ (Psalm 14:1)”
Second, all people are accountable for knowing that they are not God. This sounds like common sense. However, this statement goes deeper than it seems. It means that people acknowledge that they don’t have eternal power and divine nature (i.e. they are imperfect) and that they “sin” (i.e. they fail to live up to all of the moral standards/laws all of the time, even failing to abide by those of their culture). The Old Testament Law also proves that we are “sinful.” If, as Jesus stated, all of the Law and the Prophets can be summed up with the statements, “Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself,” then who has perfectly loved God or their neighbor, all the time, in all circumstances, with all of their heart? Therefore, as Paul mentions in Romans chapter 3, the Law makes us aware of our sin.
In regards to people who do not know the Old Testament Law, we have already discussed what the Bible says about God judging the heart. The Bible also tells us that even people who don't have the “Law” nonetheless have their own "law" -- their own moral standard within their hearts (Romans 2:14-15). For example, if in his heart a person believes it is wrong for others to talk behind his back, then that is a law within his heart. Therefore, if that same person talks behind someone else's back, he has disobeyed the moral standard within his heart, and thus has “sinned,” since “everything that does not come from faith is sin (Romans 14:23).” So, the two basic revelations from God that all people are held accountable for are:
(1) That God exists, and
(2) That we are not God (i.e. we “sin).
How does one respond to these two absolutes? Well, if there is a God and we fail to meet even the moral standards of our society, then we cannot possibly live up to God’s standard, based on his divine power and righteousness, which has been revealed to us. Therefore we need to recognize that He is God and we are not. This recognition that we are not God is what is frequently called “humbling oneself” before God or “worshiping.” In fact, the Bible speaks of a time when God will declare the following "eternal gospel" to every nation, tribe, language and people on Earth:
"Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water." (Revelation 14:7)
And also:
" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.' (Romans 14:11; Isaiah 45:23)”
“...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11)
We have already discussed how in times prior to Jesus' death and resurrection, people such as Abraham were judged as righteous by believing God and humbling themselves before Him. God alone knows people's hearts, and he will show mercy on those who have hearts for him. Even for those under the Law, even the “Old” Testament, states: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6)”; and also, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart (Hosea 6:6).”

It is interesting, going back to the story of the fall in Genesis, that before any aspect of the Law came, the only thing that Adam and Eve knew, and thus their original standard (their “faith”) would have been simply to recognize that God is God (i.e. believe in God and humble themselves before Him). It then makes perfect sense that the original temptation, and the resultant original sin (sin being something contrary to faith), would be “...you will be like God...(Genesis 3:5).”

For those who have never heard about Jesus, they still are responsible to humble themselves acknowledge that they are not God. That acknowledgment means that they cannot trust in themselves for their own righteousness (cf. Proverbs 3:5-6). One cannot recognize their failure to live up to the standard, while at the same time relying on what they do to escape the consequences of that standard. The statement "I'm not a sinner -- just look at all the good things I've done!" therefore, is a rejection of the second of God’s absolute revelations to us.
Therefore, no matter who is saved, and by what standard they are saved, they will receive salvation on the basis of God's grace, not by their works. This conclusion can actually lead to a new interpretation of Romans 9:15-16:
"...I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.”
Where a more traditional interpretation states, in nicer terms, that God arbitrarily chooses to whom he will be merciful out of some capricious or whimsical decision, simply because he is God and can do whatever he wants, and there is nothing you can do about it. Instead, we can interpret this verse to mean that God does not use the same standard to judge all people, but rather that He judges people by where there hearts are and by what they know, based on the grace was given through Jesus' death and resurrection, whether they know about Jesus or not; as Scripture tells us, with Christ’s blood He purchased people "from every tribe and tongue and people and nation" (Revelation 5:9). I ask you, which God sounds more like the God of love, justice, and righteousness portrayed throughout Scripture?
Therefore, God’s atoning work is the way into the kingdom of heaven, even for those who have never heard of Christ but who nonetheless are shown mercy from God because of what is in their hearts. Jesus did in fact say, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me (John 14:6).” This verse can have at once two meanings:

Jesus' atoning sacrifice makes possible a way to reconciliation with God (i.e. the removal of "sin" as defined in Eden as our desire to and then shame at being our own god) for all His children.

1) Some know of His sacrifice and through accepting that payment being made for them, their sin is removed and they can enter into relationship with God once again, at that moment.

2) Some never know Jesus but have accepted that God is God and they are not, and so they receive the positive result of Jesus' atoning sacrifice upon their death. They miss the relationship with Jesus during their lives, but once they "know" Jesus in heaven they have the complete restoration of that relationship and the final removal of their sin.

Therefore, Jesus' sacrifice solves the problem of sin, for those who know Him and for those who don't. Those who know Christ receive the positive consequences of knowing Him (reconnection with God, the Holy Spirit, peace during difficult circumstances, etc.) plus salvation, and those who do not know Him yet still have a heart for God are covered by God’s mercy and at the time they come to know Jesus, receive the remainder of what His death and resurrection purchased for us.

In conclusion, what are “unknowing” people accountable for having? A heart that seeks God. However, once the gospel message has been revealed to a person, then that person becomes accountable to the standard of the gospel, since they now have heard it, and as such, can believe it. People are held accountable for what they have heard, know, and believe.

The New Reformation 2nd Installment

2009-10-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

With all the rain and flooding in Georgia over recent weeks, this image came to mind, and I thought it was an appropriate analogy. If I was in the middle of a flooding river, barely keeping my head above water, and an expert swimmer in full gear arrived on the scene and offered to pull me out, how would I feel? What would I say? I imagine most people would say they want to be saved. People who have lived through these kinds of events form a strong bond with their rescuers, a bond of grateful appreciation and deep love, and a respect for the rescuer's willingness to risk their lives for the sake of the one in danger.

Is this the way Jesus is presented to those drowning and lost in darkness?

Or have we replaced His offer of love with a threat?

Consider for a moment the difference between the loving and confident offer of the rescuer described above, and the fear-provoking threat of "if you don't get saved you are going to die!" First of all, the fear-based threat focuses on what I do instead of on what the rescuer does. Will I take him up on it or not? It is up to me! Now I might take the rescuer up on coming to get me, but I am not going to feel very close to someone who threatens me in a time of great peril. So a second difference is how I feel about the rescuer when it is all over. Finally, the threat shifts my thoughts from the act of salvation to the consequence of drowning - in other words, it keeps the focus on my interests instead of the love behind the offer. Perhaps you can think of other differences, but I am left with a sense of sadness that the church for many years has resorted to threatening people to "scare" them into salvation, keeping them distant from their Savior and focused on themselves. Some people even turn down the rescue because they are angered by the threat, and feel controlled and manipulated instead of loved.

But who would turn down a loving offer of help in a time of need? Let's return to the original offer of Jesus, called "Good News" for a reason! We are all drowning. He offers to come and get us out of the flood waters, and to put our feet back on solid ground. Thank you, Jesus.

The New Reformation

2009-10-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

I just sat through a movie called "The Invention of Lying." The premise of the movie was not bad; in fact, C. S. Lewis had written a book with a similar premise. In the Lewis book, a world exists where the first man and woman made a different choice and sin did not enter the world. Someone from our world of sin came to this world and brought sin into it, and the story unfolds showing the horrible consequences of sin coming to a world. In the movie, no one knows how to lie - apparently, the ability to lie was left out of the genetic code. The main character, while watching his mother die in agony and fear, feels so bad he makes up a story about a wonderful place you go when you die, where everyone gets a mansion and no one is ever sad or suffers. (As an aside, he is supposedly a writer, and the worst writer in the world as we are told - so of course his "story" he tells his mother is supposed to be a stupid one). But since no one lies, the doctors and nurses believe him and the story spreads as if it is truth. Then thousands of people come to him to tell the "rest of the story" and he makes up a whole tale about the man in the sky who controls everything. Suddenly "churches" pop up as places to think quietly about the man in the sky, etc., and you can imagine the rest of the movie.

I am not here to recommend this movie - in fact, for a supposed comedy it wasn't very funny, nor was the premise cohesive or believable. It was fairly poorly written and acted. However, the main content of the character's "lie" was a direct reflection of some of the current church-held beliefs about God, namely that He controls everything, causes all good things (and all bad things) to happen to people, and therefore is kind of a jerk who tests us to make us do good because we are afraid of going to the "bad place." After watching this movie, and seeing the responses of the people in the movie to this story about the man in the sky who is in control, I was left with a single thought: we need a new Reformation.

The movie does make the point that there are a bunch of holes in our present-day theology. It also makes the very valid point that no one would really want to know or love a God who is a controlling jerk; instead, the people followed out of fear. Is that who our God is? Have we, as Christians, really evaluated our beliefs lately, to see what it is we are saying to people about God's nature?

Perhaps every few hundred years, the church needs to go back and reclaim our roots. As happened in the Reformation, when the Catholic Church had strayed so far from Jesus's original teachings, we may need to go back to the foundations of our faith and start again.

Here are my beginning proposals for the New Reformation:

1) Drop all conceptualization of God being "in control" - instead, remember that God is sovereign, which means He rules as King and Lord, but not as dictator or controller. In other words, reclaim the idea of free will choice.

2) Remember that God is love - and love does not bring harm. In other words, recall that there is nothing in common between God and Satan.

3) Stop attributing suffering to God - and remember we share an enemy with God who is about destroying us, thereby hurting God. In other words, stop seeing suffering as a test from God or "allowed" by God, but as something brought upon us by our sin, the sin of others, sin in the world, and/or our common enemy, and return to seeing God as the Redeemer.

4) Remove all ideas of God as a police officer or Santa Claus - and remember He is our partner and friend, not our punitive, abusive parent or our "Disney" divorced dad lavishing whatever we ask for upon us. In other words, see the supposed OT God of "judgment" and the supposed NT God of "grace" as One, by going back to the idea that God's justice is: "you sin and I pay for your sin on the cross," making justice and love the same.

5) Discard all ideas that it is not about us - and go back to the foundational idea that He died for us, so that we would not have to die but would be with Him in loving relationship for eternity. In other words, stop this "purpose-driven" mentality of God having an agenda and replace it with the relationship-focused premise of Jesus, that we ARE His "agenda."

Here are my starting premises for the New Reformation: God is sovereign (not controlling); God is love (not bringing harm); God is our Redeemer (not causing or allowing suffering); God is One (not justice and judgment in one form and grace and mercy in another); we are His (not puppets acting out His agenda). What do you think? Want to be a part of it? More to come!

***If you like this post, please email the link to all of your friends and ask them to email it, if they like it, to their friends. Take a stand! Restore our faith! Start the New Reformation! Spread the Good News!

Relationships centered on God

2009-09-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

Ephesians 4:1-5:2 tells us a lot about relationships that are centered on God. According to Paul, these relationships include humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, and unity through the bond of peace. Our common bond, then, is our oneness with Christ and in Christ. In other words, these characteristics are not possible without Jesus. If Jesus is involved, we can see one another through His eyes, revealing (if we look) the truth of each other's hearts. When we look through our own eyes, we are most likely to see the results of the lies believed by the other, and/or the distortion of the lies we believe.

Reflected in God-centered relationships is the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. The Ephesians verses describe this reflection as the body of Christ being built up by the service and contribution of each member. Let me explain. When we are one with Jesus, we create something new and completely unique. Our partnership with Jesus is literally one-of-a-kind. The "whole" produced by that oneness is greater than what we alone produce. The same is true of the body of Christ and our relationships with each other. We are all added to by the relationships of the body of Christ, and we are greater for those relationships than we would be alone. Our relationships also reflect growth in maturity, unity in faith, and more intimacy in knowing God, as we edify each other through our joining together with Christ. As a result, we are not easily swayed by this wind or that, false teaching and deceiving words of others. Our relationships reflect the truth, thus "growing us up" into Christ.

What do relationships centered on God produce? According to Paul, we are no longer darkened in our understanding and our hearts are no longer hardened. This means we are no longer insensitive and self-indulgent. In addition, we are no longer self-protective. We are willing to risk being open and honest - fully ourselves and fully vulnerable to each other, even when we think it is difficult to do so. Our new self (our transformed creation) puts away all falsehood and speaks truthfully from our hearts. Some may say that at times the truth is hard, but does that mean we stay silent and do not respond in truth to each other? Not according to Paul, who calls us to speak the truth in love to one another. We also forgive each other, not because we deserve forgiveness, but because Christ has forgiven each of us. (And there is a lot for Him to forgive). Finally, when we center on God, we live a life of love. A life of love follows the example set for us by Jesus in His relationships. As Jesus said, He only did what He saw His Father doing. With Jesus in our hearts, allowing Him to direct our relationships means we only do as we see Him doing. This brings us full circle: we cannot accomplish a life of love without the presence of Christ. Without Jesus, these things are impossible; but all things are possible with God.

Postmodernism

2009-08-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

Our culture has bought into postmodern thought, which states (simply put) that there is no absolute truth. In postmodernism, our perceptions are reality. Such beliefs as situational ethics and relative truth come out of postmodern thought. We have so agreed with postmodernism, we feel ashamed to suggest there is absolute truth, and we are roundly condemned with some pejorative descriptor if we dare to state a truth as an absolute.

What are the consequences of accepting postmodernism? First, postmodern thought precludes faith. Some might suggest I can have faith in what I perceive, or in what I choose to believe, but I would respond that if it is relative, it is by definition not stable. Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as being sure and certain - in other words, absolute. My perception can change tomorrow. My perception can be altered by circumstances. As Scrooge so eloquently states in response to the question of why he doesn't trust his own senses, "because so many things effect them. You might be a blot of mustard, or a bit of underdone potato." If I rely on my perceptions to tell me where to center my faith, and my perceptions are unstable, my faith becomes groundless and, therefore, not faith at all.

Second, if we accept postmodernism, we are ultimately selfish. ("I me my mine" is our focus - after all, my perception is all there is.) The obvious consequence of selfishness is we can not have relationships. Of course, selfishness has become accepted in our culture as well (no wonder since we have blindly agreed to postmodern thought) and we sometimes forget the horrible consequences of being selfish, but without going into story after story or example after example, no faith means no trust, and no trust means no relationships, all of which are built on trust. Suffice it to say virtually all the pain in the world is due to our fundamental selfishness. Would you agree? Selfishness, again by definition, means there is no love. Without love, we are nothing.

Finally, postmodernism leads to chaos and irresponsibility. Do you see evidence of these responses in our culture? Chaos comes when there are no grounding principles, no absolutes, on which we agree and live by. When the line is a moving one, we can come to a place where anything can be justified, if it meets "my needs" or it is what "I want." We feel no remorse, just defensiveness and a sense of entitlement. Why shouldn't I have what I want? After all, I perceive it that way. Do you see our irresponsibility emerging here? But if everyone is operating on this same nebulous premise, my justified choices are going to naturally run afoul of your justified choices, because what YOU want doesn't always agree with what I want - and chaos ensues. It isn't MY responsibility, it is YOUR fault. From that chaos springs anger, rage and bitterness. We stand against each other instead of for each other, adversaries instead of allies. Relationships become meaningless and crumble. And in our culture, we are there, now.

No love, no relationships, no meaning, no certainty, no faith - that is what we are left with, if we live without truth...without Jesus - for He IS the truth. Even though this culture condemns the certainty of absolute truth, you need not apologize for your belief in Jesus and your assurance in that belief. Instead, feel sorrow for the lost sheep who have no ground on which to stand and no Shepherd to love and lead them.

What is Love?

2009-08-26T19:47:00.001-07:00

What is love?

Love is often defined in terms of what we “do” but I believe we need to be careful not to confuse the evidence of love with love itself. I Corinthians 13 tells us: “¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (NIV).

Verses 1-3 are clear that what we do, if not undergirded with love, is nothing. Thus, love is not the action, love is the motivation; the heart of the matter. Paul goes on to describe love based on the evidence of its presence, but again, he does not assume to define love here, just to describe love.

One thing we can know for sure is that love is vitally important. Verses 8-13 explain that love is everything, the greatest thing, the only thing.

I am going to suggest that love is the presence of Jesus. Further, I am suggesting that without Jesus, there is no love. I am saying that love is not an action, it is His presence. In addition, I am saying that love behaves as that presence behaves.

What does Scripture say about these contentions? I John 4 states: “⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (NIV).

Alright, so we love each other because God’s love lives within us. What does this love look like? There may be a temptation, in a spirit of religiosity, to believe that means we accept everything from everyone and never confront anything or be negative about anything; however, I would ask if that is how Jesus acted in love? In other words, we may know Jesus loved the woman caught in adultery when He showed her the meaning of grace. But we sometimes forget He ended his conversation with her by saying go and leave your life of sin. Was that also loving? And now I ask, did Jesus show love to the Pharisees? He called them hypocrites along with assorted other descriptions (Matthew 23). Perhaps that is a little tougher for us to see, but it is indeed love. To allow them to continue in their hypocrisy without bringing it to their attention is not love. In fact, I would call that choice the easy road, even a selfish road – it protects me and my reputation, but does not help them!

Galatians 6:1 states it clearly: “¹Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted” (NIV). Similarly, II Timothy 2:24-26 says: “²⁴And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. ²⁵Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (NIV). II Timothy continues, in chapter 4, “¹In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: ²Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ³For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (NIV).

Which is the more loving action: to correct, rebuke, encourage, restore and instruct, or to accept, avoid, ignore, allow and excuse? Is it loving to leave someone in the trap of the devil?

We are living in a time when people do not like correction, and don’t appreciate a rebuke. This time is predicted in Scripture, again in II Timothy, in chapter 3: “¹But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. ⁶They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, ⁷always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (NIV, italics added for emphasis). That kind of talk is often called “being judgmental.” I contend, however, that it is not judgmental to recognize the presence of evil or the enemy’s deception. What is judgmental is to equate someone’s nature to the presence of the enemy’s lies in them. In other words, if I decide a person is a “bad” person, I am judging, and acting in the place of Jesus, Who is the judge of the living and the dead. However, if I recognize that a person’s behavior is “bad” or “sin” and I confront and correct the behavior, and rebuke the enemy, I am using the discernment the Holy Spirit has provided, and I am loving that person enough to partner with God in the hope God will help them get out of the deception. A diamond covered in coal is still a diamond; you just can’t see it for the blackness around it, and as a result the beauty of the diamond is lost, unless the coal can be chipped away. It is love to stand with God against the enemy’s schemes, on behalf of the one you love, to help point out the coal.

A question I must ask myself is: do I love that person enough to risk their rejection, or is their acceptance of me more important to me than their best interest, maybe even their soul? For in correcting a brother, there is always the possibility of rejection, and the rejection of the correction may take the form of a rejection of me, particularly if that person is in the middle of an enemy deception. Jesus demonstrated selfless love in every area – with the prostitutes and tax collectors, and with the Pharisees and teachers of the law; with Peter and with Paul. His confrontation and correction was just as much His love as was the cross.

Proverbs 10:17 He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.

Discipleship

2009-08-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

CLF offers discipleship for anyone who seeks a deeper relationship with Jesus. Primarily, we provide someone to pray with you individually, to guide you into a conversational relationship with Jesus. We also offer small groups, classes, retreats and educational experiences to help lay the groundwork for experiencing an intimate relationship with Jesus. These services are offered free of charge. You can contact us at 770-845-8130 to request discipleship or someone to speak to your group. Be sure you indicate in your message what kind of services you desire. Topics for presentation are available upon request.

We accept donations to support these ministries. If you would like to help, please send your donation to 1003 Oak Road Suite B, Lilburn, GA 30047.

Welcome!

2009-08-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Cody Lane Foundation blog. To introduce you to our purpose, I want to share Cody's story with you.

Cody went home with Jesus on August 23, 2007, at the age of 17. He had a degenerative neurological disorder, which affected his breathing, coordination, all fine and gross motor skills, balance and stamina. Because of his strong relationship with God, Cody always believed that he could do whatever he set his heart and mind to do...in spite of what the doctors, the world, circumstances and appearances might have said to the contrary. What he did is "impossible," according to everyone else but Jesus and Cody; and he did more in 17 years than many people accomplish in a lifetime.

He had his second dan black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and he went for two consecutive years to the Junior Olympics in Tae Kwon Do (in order to go you must finish in the top three in your state competition) where he received national recognition in the form of multiple medals for his indomitable spirit and perseverance. He played youth soccer, baseball, and football. He was the starting center on his football team, until he could no longer balance well enough to snap the ball, at which point he moved to tackle (!). From the area football program, he received a trophy called the Kyle Maynard award, given for overcoming severe obstacles to make a significant contribution to his team.

The pediatric neuro-opthamologist stated it was impossible with his uncontrolled jerky eye movements for him to read, yet he read extensively, including such works as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and even the Silmarillion (a Tolkien history of middle earth...sort of like reading Chronicles in the Bible)...not like he was reading simple stuff here. In fact, he loved to read more than anything. The doctor said, flat out, it was a miracle. His academic testing showed him scoring a Masters degree level of comprehension in reading, in spite of being told he would struggle with doing any schoolwork at all. Because he had difficulty with the fine motor skill of writing, he did all of his math in his head. He was also quite a Bible scholar: even our adult Sunday school teacher used to email Cody for his insights into Scripture. At Cody's celebration service, this teacher read some of Cody's email responses to his difficult questions, and I believe even in that forum Cody was reaching people with the truth of Jesus. (If you are interested, you can go to www.restoredchristianity.com and click on “Cody’s Impact” to read some of the comments made at his service and “Lesson from the Bear” to read some of his wisdom. You can also check out the Cody Lane Foundation Facebook page, and watch the video that tells how Cody inspired a song, “Breathe for Me”).

Perhaps his two greatest, most profound accomplishments were the impact he had on others, and his continuing positive spirit and beliefs in the face of the deterioration caused by his disease. Over the last three years of his life, he was in the hospital ICU four times. On his first hospital visit, the doctors said he would not survive; when he survived, they said he would never leave the hospital without being attached to a respirator through a trach tube; when he walked out of the hospital with neither a respirator nor a trach tube, the staff said, "you have made believers out of us." On subsequent visits, the doctors and nurses basically asked Cody what he thought he could do and what he thought he needed from them; they could not continue to be harbingers of gloom and doom in the face of his strong beliefs. (I remember during that first ICU visit, a resident came in and talked about all the negative things Cody had to look forward to, and Cody told us to never let that doctor back into his room. "Get the negative out!" he yelled...and we did.) In spite of the circumstances, Cody continued to have an unyielding positive spirit, smiling and joking (the nurses told us he was the very first child they had ever had in the hospital PICU who smiled around an intubation tube), still saying he could do anything, never giving up or giving in. He even climbed the stairs himself up to his room on his last night with us here and joked with me as he climbed that I was a golden mushroom - because I was a "fun-gi." Get it?

Once Cody asked me, several years ago quite matter-of-factly, if he was going to die. I told him; sure, we are all going to die. He said, no I mean now or really soon. I suggested he pray and ask Jesus what He had to say about it. So he did. When I asked him what Jesus had said, he responded, "Jesus told me to touch as many lives as I can, and then come on home." This belief governed his attitudes, his actions, and his focus. His last request of us was to establish the Cody Lane Foundation, to provide 1:1 and small group discipling for individuals who want to develop a deep, intimate relationship with Jesus like the one Cody had/has, which we were able to do. The first disciple started her journey just a couple of weeks before Cody went home. Now, many individuals are being discipled, a small group is underway, and three large metro-Atlanta area churches are now working with us toward developing meaningful discipleship in those churches. I know his life may have been short, but it most certainly had an impact.

Cody realized that Jesus' words to him are applicable to every believer. He did not fear or even think about dying, because he was too busy living in the kingdom already. One fun story that reveals his attitude toward physical death started as a quite frightening one: we were attending a football game, watching his older brother play against Ole Miss, and his dad took Cody to the bathroom. While in the bathroom, unbeknownst to his dad, Cody started choking and began to pass out. His dad, as we frequently did, called to him after a brief time, and hearing no answer, opened the door to find Cody almost passed out and turning blue. Once his dad cleared his breathing passage and gave him a little oxygen to recover, he asked Cody if he had been scared. Cody laughed (yes, laughed) and said, “No, I thought it was funny that I might die on the toilet like Elvis here in Mississippi.” He had a unique sense of humor!

We hear Bible verses like "all things are possible with God" and "My strength is made perfect in your weakness," and we think, 'what a nice concept; I agree with that.' Cody lived it. Of all the people I have ever known in my life, Cody was the best, most profound, and most genuine example I have ever seen of someone living Christ's teaching, "the Kingdom of God is within you." Cody did EVERYTHING through Christ who strengthened him. I pray you receive inspiration from his story, and as Jesus spoke to Cody, he will have touched some more lives.