June 6, 2010

A Lesson from the Gulf Oil Spill

On April 20th, an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico causing oil to begin spewing into the water from the floor of the Gulf, about a mile underwater. After more than six weeks, the oil is still flowing. BP is working to try to stop the leak while other efforts are underway to try to deal with this disaster both in the water and along the coast.

No matter what work is done at the surface to deal with the oil that has already spilled into the Gulf, all of the efforts will be in vain unless/until the leak is stopped. The cleanup is important, but the cleanup will never be successful if the oil keeps spewing from the leak.
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May 4, 2010

Did Christ Literally Bear Our Sins on the Cross?

Crosses

Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Yet there are two conflicting views as to how these sins were dealt with on the cross. On one hand, you have those who believe that our sins were placed upon Jesus and they were done away with as they were nailed to the cross. On the other hand, there are those who believe that Jesus shed His blood on the cross in order to make forgiveness possible for all those who will meet His conditions of salvation.

The first view, that Jesus literally bore our sins, is rank Calvinism. It is rooted in the idea that man cannot be saved by responding to God’s grace through faithful obedience, but rather that our sins were imputed to Christ and His righteousness has been imputed to us. Sadly, many in the Lord’s church have been influenced by Calvin’s doctrines as they relate to the death of Christ.

I came across an article today by Wayne Jackson of the Christian Courier that addresses this question: Did Christ Literally Bear Our Sins on the Cross? In the article, he shows the Calvinistic roots of the doctrine that our sins were imputed to Christ, and explains what the Scriptures actually teach on the subject. Below is an excerpt from his article:
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February 25, 2010

The Curse of Adam

Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden

Calvinism teaches that man is born totally depraved, separated from God, and unable to come to Him apart from a divine operation of the Holy Spirit upon his heart. Why is man allegedly in such a state? It is because of Adam’s sin.

The basic idea is this: God created Adam and Eve in the beginning. Later, these two sinned (Genesis 3). Because of Adam’s sin, all of his descendants are cursed, having inherited the guilt of Adam’s sin. One key verse for this doctrine is Romans 5:12 – “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

What we need to remember is that the Bible speaks of two different types of death – physical death (the separation of the spirit from the body) and spiritual death (the separation of man from God). Adam suffered both of these. One was a punishment for his sin. The other was a consequence of his sin.
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January 21, 2010

Evil Ahab

King Ahab

“Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.” “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:30, 33).

These statements are rather incredible. When we look back at the number of evil kings over Israel up to this time, Ahab was the worst. Why was he so evil and what can we learn from his bad example? The passage where these verses are found gives us a few reasons for the statements.

“Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.

“It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:29-33).

There were four factors that contributed to Ahab being classified as the most wicked king. Each one is something we must guard against in our own life.
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January 12, 2010

Restoring the Fallen

Drowning

James concluded his epistle by emphasizing the importance of turning a fallen brother away from sin and back to Christ.

“My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).

There are a few reminders for us in these verses.
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December 28, 2009

Taking Stock

Meditation

As another year is quickly drawing to a close, we often use this time to take stock of our lives. We look back at where we have been and evaluate where we are now. We also tend to look forward to the new year and what might lie ahead, thinking about what we ought to do in order to get to where we want to be.

It is certainly a good exercise for us to consider where we are in contrast to where we have been and where we are going. While we are doing this, let us not forget our spiritual lives. It would be good for us to be taking stock of where we have been, where we are, and where we are headed.
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December 23, 2009

Submit to God, Resist the Devil

“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

The two words James used to admonish Christians in their walk – submit and resist – both involve action. This should not be surprising. Earlier in the letter he commended an active faith while condemning a passive faith.

Regarding the active faith, James wrote, “Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Further on he said, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).
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