Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Jesus the Intercessor


And Another Thing . . . Jesus the Intercessor

I have a confession to make. I sometimes drive too fast, which is an occupational hazard for a sales rep. For more than 20 years I put nearly 50,000 miles a year on my company car. That is a lot of windshield time. Since the average driver goes about 12,000 miles annually, that’s the equivalent of four years worth of driving in just one year’s time.. When you are behind the wheel as much as I was, chances of going too fast and getting caught in the act are greatly increased.  Do I sound defensive? Well it is a sensitive subject.

On one occasion, I asked an attorney friend to represent me concerning one of my tickets. He went before the judge and told him what a nice guy I was and how I deserved to be shown mercy for my traffic transgressions. That “nice guy” argument never would have worked if I’d said those words to the court. But his description somehow made a difference and resulted in a reduction in the amount of my penalty. Even though I was sternly warned to not “transgress” again, I felt I had received mercy.  Sometimes we need someone to speak on our behalf. We need someone to plead our case.

The book of Hebrews in the New Testament describes Jesus’ role as our high priest and intercessor. Hebrews 5:1-2 says, “Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.  He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.”

“Ignorant” and “going astray” are part of the human condition. No matter how much success we achieve, there are still areas where we find ourselves in the ignorant/astray category. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual matters. There is not a great deal of information available to us about the nature of nonphysical things. We all are mostly stumbling in the dark when it comes to God. This is why John says, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.” This light appeared and was resurrected, and, Hebrews 7:25 tells us that Jesus, our high priest, now “lives to intercede.”

God recognized that all of us ignorant-stumbling-astray people need help. He knows that even our best attempts are still a far cry from what his justice requires. This is why Jesus steps in and intercedes on our behalf. He does not argue that Sam is a nice guy. He doesn’t mention my mission trips or evangelistic exploits. He skips right over my extensive resume as a Bible teacher. Instead he tells the Father, “I’ve got him covered. He is with me.” Hebrews 9:28 says, “. . . Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Jesus is the help I need. He represents me to God in a way that I could never represent myself.

Being nice is nowhere near enough to recommend us to God. Jesus’ sacrifice is more than enough, and through the mystery of our relationship to him, as described in Hebrews, we are not only granted access to God’s kingdom, but we are inspired toward “love and good deeds.” He gives us more than we can ask for . . . and then some.

And that’s all I have to say about that . . . for now.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Christ is the Invisible Image of the Visible God


We have a guest blogger this week.  Paul Cowan is the author of this week’s And Another Thing.  Enjoy

On Sunday, Sam talked to us about the oftentimes controversial subject of who Jesus is. We learned that "Christ is the visible image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). Jesus himself said to Philip, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). We learned that Jesus was there before the Creation, and it was through Him that creation came to be (Colossians 1:15-17). Therefore Jesus is not simply one god among many, but He is the one and only God. We also learned that He sacrificed Himself to make us acceptable and reconcile us to Himself (Col. 1:19-20).

But so what?  I mean, that's important, yes, but we already know that, right? Jesus died for our sins and we are forgiven and there you go. As I began to think about this more, though, it occurred to me that those of us who have been Christians for years often don't realize just how revolutionary that last part was. The God of the Universe sent His only son, Jesus, to bridge the gap that had come between us. Upon Christ's death, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple was torn in half. That meant we are no longer required to go through a priest to speak to God. We also no longer have to sacrifice an animal to atone for our own transgressions. Blood is still required, but Jesus' blood was--and continues to be--perfect and sufficient for us all through the end of time. We can now commune with God ourselves, with Jesus as our intermediary. It's all most of us have known for longer than not, but it hasn't always been this way; for humanity and for others who are new in the Faith.

Revolution is defined as "a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.” This is exactly what happened. Jesus, with His sacrifice on the cross, began a revolution that continues to this day. He overthrew sin and death and created a new social order between us and God. We are no longer simply subjects of God, but His children and coheirs with Christ (Romans 8:14-17). Truly a game-changer. Colossians 1:13-14 says, "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

For His disciples and close followers, change happened soon after the day He arose from the dead. They believed on Him and were set free. For most of us, this happened many years ago; at a church of our youth, perhaps. But for many others around the world, it happens every day. Each day people who live under the Law and the consequences pursuant to it, choose to follow Jesus and trade the Law for Grace. Each day lives change and are redeemed by a perfect Man who was faithful unto death. Each day, the death and resurrection of Jesus pays our tab now and forever.

For anyone who doesn't understand what I am talking about, I invite you to allow another to pay your debt. Jesus already took care of it; you simply need to acknowledge it and follow Him. For those who never forget or become inured to Christ's sacrifice, please share your joy and perseverance with the rest of us. Help us all to follow your example and stay fresh in Christ's gift. For those, like myself, who oftentimes become complacent and comfortable in grace, join me in awakening to a revolution that calls us to leave the sidelines and avidly play a new game. A game of life and death. A game already played and won by a perfect man who shed His blood to change the rules and give us a chance.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

John 1: The Word Became Flesh

And Another Thing . . . Jesus’ Incarnation

When I was in junior high I heard, for the first time, what I later learned was a fairly well-known faith-challenging question. “Can God make a rock so large that He himself cannot lift it?”  George Carlin worked that question into a comedy routine about growing up Irish Catholic. When I first heard this attempt at a theological parlor trick, it completely disoriented me. I spent days trying to come up with what I thought would be a reasonable solution. It is, of course, a trick of logic. God is all powerful. “All” is all encompassing, so as soon as you imagine a “more,” the “more” is encompassed by the “all.” We get stuck in a logical conundrum. If there is something more than “all” then “all” is no longer “all.”

The question is an attempt to find a limit to God’s power. What it in fact reveals, however, is the limitation of our logic and language (rationalism). There is no end to God, but we can very quickly reach the end of our human ability to comprehend. All of us are two or three (or if you are really gifted perhaps five or six) questions away from, “I don’t know.” This leads us to the uncomfortable and yet inherently necessary need for mystery. Any god that we could completely understand would not be much of a god. Even with all of the incredible strides in knowledge and science of the past few centuries, much of our finite world remains unknown. When we begin to consider the nature of an infinite god, we reach the limit of our ability to understand before we have even scratched the surface. This is why the story of Jesus’ incarnation is such a surprise. God chooses to reveal His unknowable nature through His Son.

John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

John1:4 says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”

The unknowable God reveals Himself to men by becoming a man. If this makes sense to you the first time you hear it, then you are not paying attention. The mystery of how God can become man and then go back to being God is not something that is easily understood by beings who are limited by five senses and three dimensions. We have no way to measure such mysterious spiritual interactions.

The intention of Scripture is not to make the infinite understandable by finite beings. The intention of Scripture is to reveal the motive of the infinite God towards His creation.

“For God so loved the world that gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17.

The important thing about the nature of the universe is that it was created by a God who loves. And the love of God motivates Him to action. And the action He takes is to sacrifice himself through the person of Jesus so that we, His creation, can have life, walk in light and be rescued from perishing.

Jesus is the rock created by God to justly reconcile people to Himself by His love. Jesus is the rock of our salvation, and He is greater than anything we could ask or imagine. God lifts up this rock and us and all of creation. Jesus is no parlor trick. Jesus is the infinite invading the finite and elevating all of it-- and us --to what the Bible calls glory.

And that is all I have to say about that . . . for now!