In a world where the person who has the most outrageous content on social media is considered the most successful, and where our political leaders have no filters, and where the grossest of all violence equates with the highest video ratings, it is easy to assume that loud means strong, and quiet means weak. The Bible, though, tells us just the opposite.

On the night He was betrayed, Jesus quietly endured six trials. He faced three religious trials: He stood before Annas, the High Priest Emeritus; He faced Caiaphas, the High Priest; and, He was taken before the entire Sanhedrin.

Jesus also endured three civil trials: He was presented to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Once Pilate realized that Jesus was from Galilee, he sent Him to be tried before Herod Antipas, the Governor of Galilee, who happened to be in Jerusalem at the time. Herod could find no guilt in Jesus and returned Him to Pilate. Pilate had Jesus scourged, hoping to satisfy the Jews, but the people demanded His death.

During this entire time, Jesus – the Son of God – remained quiet. He did not raise His voice. He did not threaten. He did not smirk. He did not swear. He did not call 10,000 angels to rescue Him. He submitted to the will of His Father. To all who looked on, Jesus seemed weak.

They confused meekness with weakness. In His meekness rests redemption for the entire world. Because of His submission to the will of His Father, the nails that secured His hands and feet to the cross also secured our salvation. Our sins – all of them – died on the cross with Jesus. Our lives were resurrected with Him the following Sunday.

Jesus said few words at His trials, but it is what He said at His crucifixion that I most cherish. These 10 words:

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

When the world looks at you, do they see Jesus? Do they see meekness, love, and forgiveness?

Father, I pray that when the world looks at me, they instead see the character of your Son.

Zechariah chapter 13:7 (NIV)

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is close to me!”
declares the LORD Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered”

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In part one, we gave an overview of our beliefs. In part two, we proclaimed that we believe in one God in three persons of the Trinity. In part three, we spoke about our belief in the Divine inspiration of Scripture. In part 4, we covered our belief in the fallen nature of man and original sin. Yesterday, we declared that, in spite of popular belief, we still believe in eternal damnation for those who do not trust in Christ. Today, we will proclaim our belief that salvation is available to all who call on the name of the Lord, in an episode titled, Whosoever Will…

We begin with a look at the Sadducees and the Pharisees, two political parties in the 2nd Temple Period of Israel, one conservative and one liberal. The Sadducees were the conservative of the two, and by conservative, I mean that they wanted things the way they were in the days of Moses. They were against change. The Torah was the Law, and it was to be the ultimate authority, even if it no longer made sense. The Pharisees were the liberals. Though they recognized the Law, they also recognized oral tradition, and looked at enforcement of the law from the lens of what made sense in its modern context. At the time of Christ, the Sadducees were the party of the High Priest, and those loyal to Him, while the Pharisees were comprised of scholars, laymen, priests, and scribes (scribes being experts in the law because they had published it by hand for many years.  Finally, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, and the Pharisees did. To cast a broad net, both parties challenged the authority of Jesus. A few, though, a very few men of these parties, became disciples of Jesus.

It was while speaking to one of these Pharisees that we learn the most about who Jesus had come to save. We begin in the Gospel of John, chapter 3.  A Pharisee named Nicodemus comes to Jesus on the down low, not wanting anyone to see him conversing with the controversial rabbi named Jesus. Like most Bible authors, John adds no insight into the motives or thoughts of the characters whose stories he retells. Instead, he just writes what he knows: the bare facts and the words spoken. What I see when I read the story is a typical politician, who begins by trying to flatter Jesus. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Whatever the motive, Christ seems to have ignored the opening words of Nicodemus. Instead, He says gives the Pharisee a riddle of sorts. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus was puzzled. “How can a man be born when he is old?” I imagine there was a slight chuckle in his voice when he said, “Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Maybe he shouldn’t have sneaked in to see Jesus at night, he thought. The other Pharisees would have laughed at that.

Jesus didn’t. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” Now, Nicodemus rubbed his chin and began to pace. Water and Spirit? Spiritual rebirth? What did that mean? Kingdom of God? This man is as radical as they claim. He plans on overthrowing the Roman government! What had he gotten himself into! He cannot be seen with a revolutionary. I must find a way to bow out gracefully.

As he thought all these things, Jesus kept speaking. Some of it sunk in. It was beginning to make sense to the scholar. Nicodemus paused, and raised a hand as if to pause Jesus. He was going to make the rabbi back up and start over. Jesus, though, didn’t stop.

“We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how, then, can you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” Jesus turned his back and began to walk away. Nicodemus followed. The rabbi was right. Now, he wanted to hear more.

Jesus stopped and spun on his heal. Nose to nose, they stood. The rabbi’s eyes penetrated to the very soul of the Pharisee. “No one,” he said in a whisper, “has gone up into heaven except he who first descended from heaven: the Son of Man.”

Nicodemus had been told that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. Now he knows it is true; the rabbi implies that he comes from heaven. Jesus said something that captured his attention. Then Jesus mentioned Moses, and an incident of which the Pharisee had rarely heard spoken, lifting up the image of a serpent made of copper. The rabbi understood, he thought. He is as wise as they claim, this Jesus. He knows it is not the snake that healed, but the fact that when Moses lifted it up into the air, one must look towards God.

What Jesus said next made the Pharisee’s heart melt. So must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

“Eternal life…” Nicodemus repeated under his breath. He was certain that there must be something more to this life, otherwise why would it be worth the struggle?

Jesus continued: For God so love the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life…

A tear welled in Nicodemus’s left eye.

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned…”

Jesus said much more, but Nicodemus’s heart paused on the fact that God did not condemn him. He deserved condemnation, that he knew. If God knew the things he had done… If anyone knew the things I have done… I am so sorry. 

He wiped tears from his eyes and looked up at the rabbi. “For God so loves the world?” the Pharisee asked. “All the world?”

Jesus nodded. “Yes. He knows. My Father knows the things you have done. And he loves you anyway.”

Jesus reached out and touched the Pharisee’s shoulder. Nicodemus collapsed into His arms. “You are the Son of God?”

“Do you believe it?” asked Jesus.

“Yes, I do,” said Nicodemus. “What do you mean that you must be lifted up?”

“Follow me, and you will learn much.”

Pharisee. Thief on the cross. Prostitute. Woman with many husbands. Rough and tough fishermen. Lepers. Outcasts. Rich. Poor. Even Murderers. The offer of salvation is made to one and all. No one is beyond the grip of God’s grace.

__________

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Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

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Blessed are the Meek.

Meek – We are to find the term by its application to character. We find there is no one thing that is so exalted and so insisted upon, or so held up as the crowning glory of Christian life as meekness. Perhaps it is because it is not simply one thing but a blending of many things.

Jesus Christ applies it to Himself as making up much of His character, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.” Paul in writing to the Corinthians said, “Now, I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ,” and in writing to Titus, He makes a very touching appeal to the church. There were many things they should not do, and many things they should do, in the trying condition in which they were placed, the sum of which was that they should show of all meekness and to all men.

One of the elements of meekness is humility. Humility is essentially a Christian virtue. It is not simply an absence of pride and arrogance, but an adjustment of our feelings toward others which comes from having been made a partaker of the Spirit of Him a who regards every human being as of infinite value.

Humility is not an underestimate of self. No one who properly values others can fail to feel and be thankful for his own relation to God, and for God’s thoughts of him. He realizes his own infinite value in the site of God, that he is one of this great family, all of whom he knows are anxious to serve Jesus.

Gentleness is also an element of meekness. That sweetness of spirit, of touch, that reverence for established usages, a readiness for every good work, speaking the evil of no man.

Meekness is the ability to bear and to endure. That great passive quality by which a man pursues his way regardless of difficulties. It receives the opposition of the enemies without becoming their enemy. It receives the blows of this world without resentment. This does not mean that a meek person is never to contend against the wrong, nor that he is never to resist personal violence. It means that back of all is faith in God, and love to all men.

Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth. The earth here means “land” and as reference to the promised land. What the land was to Israel, what it prefigured to the Church of God, is the meaning of this promise. The histories of the Old Testament or full are spiritual lessons for the New. In all of them there is a meaning far deeper into other than what appears on the surface. God has intended that it should be so. He has intended that that these histories should be types of human life and that through them He should be able to pour the light of His love.

Have you ever looked with earnest longing into the Word of God to see if there was a better way? Have you heard the clear statement of God’s Word in reference to the hear being mad holy and even commanded to be holy? Have you heard, “For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Do you wait in the attitude of desire and expectancy? Can you say, with Charles Wesley:

Lord, I believe a rest remains

To all Thy people known,

A rest where pure enjoyment reigns,

And Thou are loved alone.”

Does the hope looking up in you as you wait sing out with these words:

Oh glorious hope of perfect love!

It lifts me up to things above,

It bears on eagles’ wings;

It gives my ravished soul a taste,

And makes me for some moments feast

With Jesus’ priests and kings.

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Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

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Those of you who have children will likely know what I mean when I say that raising boys is completely different than raising girls. It is true in many different ways. For example, when my boys misbehaved, they world rarely confess to doing anything wrong, even when caught red-handed. My girl, though, when corrected would always tearfully repent of her wrongdoing – whatever it was – and promise to change. As Christians, we should be more like my girl, ready to repent when we’ve sinned.

Repentance is perhaps the most important aspect of our relationship with God. Without true repentance, there is no salvation. Matthew tells us in chapter 4 that, from the beginning of His ministry, Jesus began to “preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'” (v. 17 NKJV).

On the Day of Pentecost, at the birth of the Church, Peter – filled with the Holy Spirit – preached a moving sermon. Everyone within earshot was cut to the quick. “What do we do?” They asked.

“Repent and be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus for the remission of sins,” Peter answered, “and you will receive the Holy Spirit.”

If repentance was message of Christ, and if repentance was the message of the Apostles, then what role should it play in our lives – me and you, 21st century believers?

Repentance should be central to our relationship with Christ. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31 that he died daily. As for myself, before I get out of bed in the morning, I lay down my life before the Lord, telling Him that I am a weak and lowly sinner who, without the presence of His Holy Spirit, can never change. And I beg Him to fill me anew and provide the power to make it through another day.

And, if I do sin, I immediately confess it repent of it, and pray for more strength so that I don’t do it again. John, in his first epistle (2:1-2 NKJV) tells us that we should not sin, but indicates that he knows we will.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

And, that’s just it. We are liable to sin; we are only human. But if we fully surrender to God, He will live through us. If He lives through us, then we will find that those same old sins – those ones that always trap us in a snare – we’ll find they no longer tempt us.

Once God deals with the major sins in our life, then He will begin showing us sins that we thought we had kept hidden from Him, or that He didn’t care about. This is how we know that God loves us. He loves us too much to let us continue living in an manner that will rob us of His joy.

God is not a ruthless tyrant who restricts us from all worldly pleasure. On the contrary, He is a loving Father who desires only the best things for His children.

He loves us so much that He carefully watches over us. When we wander, he knows our every step, never letting us out of His sight. He collects all our tears like precious oils (Psalm 56:8).

God is like the dad who takes his child to the playground. He turns loose of the child so she may run and jump and climb and swing (how would she learn to grow, if he didn’t) but he never takes eyes off her, and he’s there to dry her tears if she falls.

I beg of you: confess and repent of your sins, and ask God to fill you with His Spirit, giving you the strength and the love to change, for we are unable to change on our own. He is not an abusive Father; He won’t be angry when you repent. He will try your tears, hold you in His arms, and fill you with the joy of His perfect love. What good father can resist hugging a crying child?

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Leading his platoon through a vineyard in southern France, Audie fended off a German attack and killed two enemy soldiers. Two other German soldiers exited a house to surrender. Audie’s best friend, Lattie Tipton, approached the two to accept their surrender and was promptly shot dead.

Enraged, Murphy charged. He killed killed those who had shot his friend. Using the German’s machine gun and grenades, he killed all inside the house, saving the lives of the other men in his platoon.

Audie Murphy was the perfect picture ofan American hero. By the time the war was over, he had singlehandedly killed an estimated 240 enemy soldiers. He was awarded 33 military medals, including three people hearts, the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and the Bronze Star. He was, in his own way, the picture of a savior.

Our Savior… The Savior… Is son of God, the Father who never abandons us. Our Savior fights our battles. He defeats our enemies. He reeks vengeance on those He deems necessary. To say he is a hero is a tragic understatement. He is The Hero, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus, Our Savior, defeated the ultimate enemy: death. Along the way, He defeated sin. He defeated Satan. You are a part of His platoon. All you have to do is follow Him through the war zone.

Don’t be afraid. Follow Him. Fear Not, for the Lord is Our Savior. He is our salvation…

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Sometimes, we just don’t get it. We simply cannot see God at work. Peter and the disciples couldn’t. The night is dark. A storm moves in. The winds blow. The sea rocks. The boat is pitched. They see a ghost, or so they think. 

I must remind you, many of these disciples are seasoned fishermen, and grew up on the sea. The others, are no strangers to the sea. They have seen everything, but they have never seen anyone walking on the water. No wonder they think it is a ghost. 

What they see, of course, is no ghost, rather it is Jesus walking across the surface of the stormy water, three or four miles from shore. Perceiving their apprehension, he calls to them,

“Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”

The disciples, though, are so caught up in the darkness and stormy night, that they do not recognize their Lord. 

Like the disciples on that night, we live in a dark world. Storms light the sky. Winds blow in. Our world is rocked. Our lives are pitched about. Sometimes we do not recognize that Jesus is walking in our midst. He is right there, in the middle of the storm, reaching out to us and saying,

“Take courage, for it is I. Fear Not!”

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If Jesus agrees that she should be stoned to death, they will go to the Roman governor and accused Jesus of usurping the authority of Caesar. If He shows leniency, they will pronounce Jesus a heretic. Instead, Jesus simply puts the conundrum back on them. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” In the end, of course, no one throws a single stone.

“Go, and sin no more,” He tells her. He then turns to those who remain and proclaims Himself to be the Light of the World. 

The Pharisees are angry at such a pronouncement. How dare He? “Who bares witness to your claims?”

“The Father,” answers Jesus, telling them that they are from below, while He and the Father are of above, and that they can never know the Father because they have never known the Son. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.” 

Here I can imagine Jesus clapping his hands, as if to brush off the dust, and turning His back on the Pharisees to leave. “I am going away, and you will seek Me,” He says, “and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”

The Pharisees laugh. “He’s mad.” “A lunatic.”  “He has a demon.” “He’s going to kill Himself.”

The discussion goes on, with the Pharisees working very hard to entrap Jesus and Jesus challenging them to name just one way in which He had sinned, just one – even the tiniest – sin. 

Jesus, though, is sinless, and – of course – they cannot. 

“I have no demon,” says Jesus. “I simply glorify my Father. It is He who judges.” At this, the Pharisees must be looking back at the woman caught in adultery and wondering if they are any better than she. 

“Only my Father is judge, but if you keep My words, you will never taste death,” He says. And it goes unsaid, but He could continue and say, “and never face the Judge.”

“Are you greater than our Father, Abraham, who is dead?” The Pharisees are dumbfounded at the claim of Jesus, but not as shocked as when they hear Him continue…

“Before Abraham was, I am.”

With those five words, Jesus declares Himself to be the Eternal, Almighty God, Yahweh. 

Note that He does not say, “I was.” He says, “I am.” He uses the same words that the translators of Exodus had used when they quote God telling Moses that His name is I Am.

One cannot believe that Jesus is just a good man. He is either who He says He is (God), or He was a lunatic. 

He is the Eternal, Almighty God, Yahweh. I  am.

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The purpose of the book of Joel is to call the people of Israel to repentance. In chapter 2, he pairs repentance with fasting. If you sit in a typical Protestant church in 21st century America, though, and one will rarely hear a sermon on repentance, and may never hear a message on fasting. 

In our first lesson on fasting, we learned that a fast that pleases God includes charitable actions towards the needy. In the second lesson we learned that a fast was not simply a desperate petition before God, but also a way to grow close to God. In this post we learn that the repentant can and, perhaps, should fast.  

I wrote yesterday that God knows our needs before we ask. He doesn’t need us to fast to call attention to those needs. He also knows the heart of a repentant sinner. If that is the case, then why fast? God knows our hearts and minds better than we do. 

It is the same for prayer. In Luke 18, Christ tells the parable (vv 1-8) of a widow who begged a judge persistently until she received an agreeable answer to her petition. Why would an all-knowing God expect us to be so persistent in prayer? Why is it that God asks sinners to repent? Why would He pair repentance with fasting? Why would He relate fasting with charity?

Am I making it too complicated? Maybe we should just leave it at this: we should simply skip a few meals, lose a pound or two and go away feeling good about ourselves. Sure… do that if you want to continue to live a shallow life. 

If you want to grow to be more like Christ, then follow along. Christ’s example to us is two-fold. His actions can be cast in two extremely broad categories. One, He perfectly obeyed the will of His Father. Two, He was the perfect servant of others. 

If you, like me, wish to be more like Christ, then spend time in prayer and fasting. Fasting when we have sinned, teaches us true heartfelt repentance, which, in turn, teaches us to obey God. Fasting when we have a dire need, brings us closer to God, which in turn leads us to more perfectly obey God. Pairing our fasts with charitable acts leads us to more readily serve our brothers and sisters. Prayer and fasting makes us more Christ-like. 

Do I need to prove my need to God? No. Do I need to prove my repentance to God? No. Do I need to grow ever closer in my love and obedience to God? Yes. And I can start through proper biblical prayer and fasting. 

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