Only if you don’t know what it says.

You see, too many people dismiss the Bible over what other people say about it. Are there things you’ve heard about the Bible that have kept you from hearing what it actually says?

Jesus tells a story about a farmer casting seed all around, letting it land wherever it falls. Some of the seed lands in rocks, some in weeds, some in soil (Matthew 13). For now, just concentrate on the seed that lands on the hard, beaten-down path.  Birds come along and snatch it away before it has any chance to do anything.

In Jesus’ parable, the seed is the Word of God. The “snatching away” part are all the things that prevent you from actually reading what the Bible says.

Have convenient pot-shots that others make about the Bible kept you from seeing His awesome holiness? When others blindly claim, “the Bible is full of discrepancies and contradictions,” do you believe it without investigation? Have you missed out on seeing God’s costly love for you in Christ because someone else said the Bible is just a bunch of myths and fables? When someone says the Bible has been proven false by history and archaeology, does it make you doubt that Jesus is “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?”

These are all just mockingbirds feasting on priceless seed.

You see, other writers – serious historians, archaeologists, and scientists – have dealt with these objections at length and to the satisfaction of anyone who really wants to know. My purpose is only to chase away the birds long enough for the seed to have a chance. If just once you would set aside the propaganda about the Bible, the half-truths and the outright lies that so many gobble up and repeat without any critical thinking, what then?

I only want the voice of God to settle once into your soil like a seed. I want you to hear God speak to your heart: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).

Let it rest a minute there on the surface of your mind. Turn the ground over one more time. What might that tiny bit of life become? Only the faith that saves. The hope that endures. The love that never dies.

It is exciting and gratifying to see history and science repeatedly verify the things in the Bible. I recently researched and found the historical proof of the ancient census of Caesar  Augustus that sent a young pregnant girl on an 80 mile trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem so that she – and her child –could be properly counted as a descendant from Royal David’s line.

It verifies for me that believing the Bible is no great leap of faith. The more you read God’s Word, the more amazed you’ll be. In the Bible, God tells you things about you that will resound within you again and again – if you’ll only listen.

I invite you to read actually read your Bible. Let it settle in and take root. Amazing things will happen.

To further your understanding of God’s Word, please join us at Peace Lutheran Church for a Thursday morning Bible Information Class at 11:00 AM. We study God’s Word in a friendly, casual setting. There’s coffee and conversation, and you can ask any questions you’d like about the Bible or God’s Word. We also have a free gift for you if you come – but there’s no pressure to join our church.

But the root cause of hypocrisy does not lie in Christianity, but in something all people have, something the Bible calls the sinful nature. It goes all the way back to the garden of Eden, where Adam stood naked before the Lord, having disobeyed a direct command of God. Adam said, “I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid” (Genesis 3:10). Adam feared being seen as he really was. His strategy was to hide. And we’ve been hiding ever since.

The ancient Greeks used the word “hypocrite” to describe a stage actor, someone  who hid his true identity behind a mask. The masks we now wear, our “false fronts,” are the words and actions we use to hide our true self, and to win approval or avoid rejection from others. When the mask comes off and hidden sins are exposed, it’s never pretty. Consider some of the disgraced public figures of the past few years – athletes, politicians, and yes, even church workers.

Our shared sinful nature causes us to become incredibly adept at hypocrisy. We are remarkably predictable at the one great talent of our fallen personalities – perpetually putting ourselves in the best possible light. We are so good at it that we even fool ourselves into thinking we are pretty good people.

Some people think the church’s message is: “If you keep these rules and follow these principles, you will be a good person and God will bless you.” If a church actually teaches that, it will become a type of hypocrite factory.

But the true church of Christ is not about following rules to become good people, it’s about forgiveness in Christ.
Yes, the Bible has some harsh words about sin. Those are designed to show us our true selves, to awaken us to see the disease of sin raging  out of control within us. Then, naked and exposed we stand before the Almighty, expecting God’s rejection. Instead, he sends Jesus. His message is incredible: “I forgive you.” It’s not because he simply ignores our sin. No, he paid for it with his own perfect life and innocent death.

This is the love of Christ that changes us. It’s the only thing that does. And then all the masks we wear to hide our real self can  be set aside. We don’t have to hide our sin anymore. We freely confess our sins and lay them all at Jesus’ feet. It’s a uniquely liberating experience to give up the game of hiding behind the masks.

It’s easy to complain, “The church is full of hypocrites.” Unfortunately, there are those who fake it. But most don’t. Most Christians I know are gracious, humble souls who don’t think they are better than you and who certainly don’t claim to be perfect – just forgiven.
People surely can disappoint us. But what I love most about the Christian church is Christ.

“For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20).

But understand this: none of them represent Jesus.

Jesus is all about free and cheerful giving. His Word says: “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Though I will be the church’s harshest critic when it is wrong, I’ve also witnessed moments of Christian charity that can only be described as remarkable. I’ve pressed five hundred dollars into the hand of a needy senior citizen – a gift of Christian love from someone who wanted to remain anonymous. The note that came with it simply read, “In Jesus’ name.”  As a pastor, I was privileged to witness the beautiful joy of Jesus on both ends of that transaction.

Yes, you say, but those stories are few and far between.  Maybe so, but the heart of Christian giving remains the same. Any faithful Christian church has a legitimate concern for spreading the message of Jesus. It is the Church’s mission to tell the world about Jesus at any cost. And one of those costs is money. Any church has expenses it needs to pay to “do ministry.”

But the church is also concerned that the motivation behind the giving of money is untouched by human pressure or joyless obligation. We don’t want you to give a dime until the love of Christ compels you to give. God doesn’t want your money. He wants you!

And that’s the real question. Does he have you? Jesus warned us to examine ourselves with this: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”  (Matthew 6:21). Anyone who claims the church is only after their money is either going to the wrong church or has their heart set on the wrong treasure.

Here’s what God’s Word says: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” And again: Life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions” (Luke 12:15).

Let’s be clear, money is not the problem, nor is having money. It is the “love of money” that is a “root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

We are tight-fisted with our money when we fail to understand that money is a blessing and a tool. It is a blessing for us to enjoy, and a tool to do His work.

Once you understand “it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed … but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18) and that God has given you a faith in him that is “of greater worth than gold” (1 Peter 1:7),  Then we also see that we love (and give) because he first loved us, and gave himself for our salvation.

Then, and only then, will the death-grip we have on our money and possessions miraculously loosen. Then comes an act of giving that is born of a freedom you never knew before. Your hand just opens up in spiritual act of dependence, trust and worship of your God.

Understanding the proper distinction between these two teachings is the key to understanding the Bible.

The law’s primary purpose is to expose our sin to us.  “Through the law we become conscious of sin” (Romans 3:20). Unless we have our sin exposed to us, we will never see the need for dealing with it.

Think of it this way: if you have dirt all over your face but don’t know it, you can walk around all day thinking nothing is wrong – until you look in a mirror. Then the mirror exposes the dirt (that was always there) so you can wash your face and be clean.

The law is a lot like that mirror. It exposes the sin that is lurking inside all of us. And once we recognize we are sinners, the law then hits us even harder: “the one who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:20). The law is also like a bright and awful light that exposes all of the dark parts of our lives, the hidden vengeful thoughts, the words spoken behind someone’s back, the greed and lust that motivate so many of our actions.

One reason God tells us how we are supposed to live (gives us laws to follow) is so that we will fully understand how far we fall short of what He righteously commands of us,  that he is right and just to condemn us, and that we have a problem so big that there is no possible solution within ourselves to solve it.

None of that is good news. But it is a necessary preparation to receive the real Good News (that is what the word “Gospel” means!).

The good news is that God so loved you so much that he sent his Son to die for your sins so that you could believe in him and have eternal life. The Gospel shows us our Savior, Jesus.

When we apply Law and Gospel to some difficult Bible passages, they quickly become understandable. Take the account of the rich young man who approached Jesus. He asked Jesus, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” We might think that Jesus should just say “Believe in me and you will get eternal life.”

Instead here was Jesus’ reply:  “if you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” Jesus was holding up the mirror of the Law for the man. The young man didn’t get it. He thought he had done everything the law commanded. So Jesus turned on the spotlight to make sure he could see himself clearly in the mirror: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Now the mirror worked. We are told the man “went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

Jesus used the law to expose the sin in this man’s heart. This rich young man had broken the first commandment (have no other gods) because he had made his earthly possessions his God. Until he recognized and repented of that sin, any talk of grace (God’s love) would fall on deaf ears.

Law and Gospel. Sin and Grace. These are the keys to understanding the Bible. If you would like to understand the Bible better, please contact us for the many private and public opportunities to learn about God and his Word.

For a more extensive look at this subject, please see: The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel by C.F.W. Walther

There are moral issues, however, such as the value of human life, the family, and human sexuality where our talk of tolerance stops making sense. People like to say “who am I to judge” someone else’s morals. They give themselves away, however, as soon as they are the victim of infidelity or abuse. “How dare he treat me like that!”

You see, it’s usually not until you’ve experienced some type of moral violation that you experience moral outrage. Then all the permissiveness you held so dear gives way to honest disgust.

But wait. Isn’t Jesus all about forgiveness and tolerance? Forgiveness, yes. Tolerance, no. The words are miles apart.

To insist on tolerance for every imaginable behavior is to mistake God’s forgiveness for permissivenss. Yes, Jesus’ tenderness with sinners is legendary. But he never condoned their sin. He forgave it – and then told them to go and sin no more (John 8:11). That’s forgiveness, not tolerance.

Our human nature says that tolerance is the loving thing to do. We say “who am I to judge?” because we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But ignoring sin won’t make it go away. Tolerating immorality doesn’t make it acceptable to God.

Here’s a test. If you really love someone who is engaged in self-destructive behavior like alcoholism or drug abuse, do you intervene or let them go? Love compels most to intervene. But what if it’s someone you don’t know? Now it’s easy to pull out the tolerance card. It’s not my problem. It’s none of my business.

It is Jesus’ business, though. He came to “be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21) God loved the world so much that he couldn’t just stand by and watch us die. He intervened. He paid the price. That’s forgiveness, not tolerance. That’s what love is about.

Why do I make an issue of such things? Because I see the victims of society’s “victimless crimes.” I see the children who keep coming without mommies or daddies because of the tolerance of illicit sex. I see “consenting” adults continue to share their deadly diseases. I see the empty arms of the barren woman go right on aching because too many mothers still choose death for their unborn babies. I see people, full of years, at the door of eternity offered death drugs instead of the living Jesus.

There is a better way. “Follow me,” Jesus said (Matthew 9).

Do you see the problems with that question? The first part – “whatever I want” – assumes that I can somehow sort through all of the possible “beliefs” out there and sift out only those that are the best for me. But all I need to do is look at the track record of bad moral decisions that litter my history to know that such an attitude is spiritually naïve.

The second part of that question – “as long as I’m sincere” – puzzles me. The emphasis on sincerity makes me think you are using faith and belief differently than my Bible uses them. If you think that any kind of faith – as long as it is sincere enough – ought to earn God’s approval, you’re probably thinking of faith as a human virtue.

Biblical faith, however, has no earning power before God.

Think of it this way: faith is like the grasping of a drowning man. Everything depends upon what you are grasping. Sincerity is an issue, sure. But what you are holding on to with your faith clearly comes first. Only after that is settled does the matter of how sincerely you cling to it. A saying among Christians helps tie it all together: “Faith does not save because of itself, but because of Christ, to whom it clings.”

Here’s how it works: The death of God’s Son completely paid for the sins of the entire human race — including yours. Jesus confirmed that fact with his cry of “it is finished” from the cross (John 19:30). Jesus’ resurrection on the third day proves it. God holds out the promise now to you: “your sins are all forgiven in Christ Jesus.” Faith believes this promise.

Faith does not complete the work of salvation nor add any merit. It simply grasps on to what God has already done.

People who decide to believe “whatever they want” have no certainty in what they’ve chosen. They can be as sincere as they want, but without a sure object to cling to – salvation in Christ Jesus – they are clinging to empty promises; promises that have no power to save. Your hope of salvation anchors itself on the sure promise of God, not some empty philosophy of the world that continually shifts and changes with the ebb and flow of pop culture.

When you look for comfort anywhere but Christ crucified, you will only find endless uncertainty.  Always look away from yourself  to Jesus. Always. By a power not your own, find yourself gripping onto Jesus’ promise: “Be of good cheer. I have taken your sin away” (Matthew 9:2).

It’s a good question that deserves a reasonable answer. Here’s one way to look at it:

Imagine for a moment that there were predictions about a specific man written hundreds, even thousands of years before he was born. Imagine these meticulously preserved documents predicted exactly where he would be born, how he would die, which ancestral lineage he would be from, things he would do, exact words he would speak?

What are the odds that someone would “accidentally” fulfill all those predictions? For a handful of the specific predictions to come true, maybe one in billion. But what if there were more than 400 specific predictions? Imagine the odds of all of them coming true in a single person.

Now stop imagining. The man is Jesus. We call the predictions prophecies. There are more than 400 prophecies about Jesus recorded on the sacred pages of the Old Testament, all fulfilled in Jesus.

The law of probability claims the odds of 400+ specific prophesies coming true in one person are so large that it is technically “impossible.” Unless you are God. With God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26), and again: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies”  (John 11:25).

The Old Testament is filled with prophecies about Jesus, the coming Messiah. Read Psalm 22 and listen how King David describes Christ’s crucifixion in shocking detail, even though from his vantage point in history he had never seen a crucifixion (and they wouldn’t even be used for execution for another 700 years). Hear how Christ’s own words from the cross are foretold, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” See how David prophecies the crowd’s reaction (mocking), and the Roman guard’s gambling over Jesus’ last article of clothing. It sends shivers down the spine. It’s all in Psalm 22. Read it.

But there’s more. Scripture says Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), but be from Nazareth (Isaiah 9:1). It says he would come out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1). Remember Joseph and Mary took the young Jesus to Egypt when Herod started killing baby boys – all because the Scriptures had prophesied Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem and the visit of the magi convinced Herod it had happened. Scripture prophesied that Jesus would do miracles (Isaiah 29:18), that he would be rejected by the rulers (Psalm 118:22), that he would be betrayed with 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12). Most importantly, Scripture says he would return from the dead (Isaiah 53:8, 11).

Since Jesus fits all these prophesies (and 400+ other ones), wouldn’t it make sense to trust him?  Remember, even though he could have “self-fulfilled” some of them, there are dozens of prophecies about him that he had no control over as a mere human (place of birth, lineage, what others would do to him, etc.)

You can trust Jesus because all the prophecies point to him.

That’s why even his boldest claims – like “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35)” – continue coming true and changing people’s lives throughout history, even now in the quiet place you sit at home reading this.

Listen to Jesus and trust: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), and in another place,  “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies”  (John 11:25).

You can trust Jesus both in life and in death.

People think they are being kind when they say one viewpoint is as valid as another. They view life as if it were a piece of abstract art. As their thinking goes, each passerby can offer his or her opinion about what all the squiggles and blotches mean. And each one is equally valid. After all, no one can claim perfect objectivity, so they call each interpretation as good as every other. Their desire is to be kind.

But when people start to look at the big things of life as if they were mere abstractions, the results are anything but kind. When people start offering whatever interpretation they want for the human soul, religion and morality, family and sexuality, and little unborn people, then true chaos ensues.

If you don’t believe me, I understand. But consider this: When a man molests a little girl and utters a pathetic “Whatever” – that distinctive modern version of “What is truth?” – then you start to understand the chaos I speak of, especially if the little girl is your daughter. When someone’s own version of truth leads them to cheat on their spouse, chaos erupts in that family life. When a greedy person’s view of truth allows him to rob your home and steal half your money because you have plenty and he doesn’t, then you start to see the type of chaos I’m hinting at.

The loving and kind thing to do is to warn you not to play this kind of game with God. God says to all of us who should know better that we are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20). You see, the real problem is not lack of evidence for the truth, it’s that people don’t want to find it. They think if they ignore the plain truth and pretend to be confused like Pilate, then they won’t have to be accountable to anyone, especially God.

Jesus is the truth. His truth is like a bright shining light that exposes our sin. Here’s how Jesus once put it: “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:20).

If the old absolutes are allowed to stand (right and wrong), people have to be accountable to God. Unwilling to do so, people willingly close their minds to the dazzling design of creation, to the persistent nagging of their conscience, to the integrity of Biblical revelation, and most of all to Jesus.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Such a thought is foreign to every other non-Christian religion out there, no matter how “religious” they are. It all comes down to one word: love.

If you think you have to slavishly do good to impress your god, I can’t stop you. Just don’t call such forced obedience “love.” That word is excluded. Nor can you call things you do for fear of being condemned “love.”

Yes, God talks about judgment and condemnation and hell in his Word, but not to force you into obedience. He does it to help you realize how serious all this “religious talk” is. He wants you to be with him forever. In heaven. He tells you out of love for your eternal salvation. There’s that word again, love.

The apostle John sums it up like this: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10) … “We love because he first loved us” (John 4:19).

You see, even though I “surrender my body to the flames,” or “give all I possess to the poor,” (1 Corinthians 13:3), my love for God hasn’t even begun until I have found out how free, how willing, how costly, how complete is the way he loved me first. Only when I am secure in his grace and forgiveness in Christ does the possibility even exist that I can at long last begin to respond to God freely, willingly, without guilt, without fear.

If you are still trying to earn God’s love, trying your hardest but still wracked with guilt, listen carefully to the words of Jesus the night before his death: “Where I go you cannot follow” (John 13:36). He was telling his disciples – and us – that only he could go to the cross. On that cross he paid for all your sins. He took away your guilt. You can’t do anything to take away your sin or make yourself acceptable to God. Jesus already did that. He freed you to serve him out of love, not guilt … out of gratitude, not compulsion.

That’s why Christians do good. We love God, because he first loved us.