While on the bus

I've tried writing a few notes while riding the bus to language school in the morning. I have been using my Kindle Keyboard. When I got home I synced it to the web and copied the notes here.

1 John 3

19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.

Note: true that

20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

Note: God is greater than our feelings of guilt. we can know confidence before God. we are not held hostage by our feelings. And what is the sign of this relationship of acceptance? Isn't the fact that we can freely ask whatever we want. When we are free from guilt when we feel acceptance then we can freely ask God for whatever we want. We know because we love him that we will ask for things that will please him. 

1 John 4

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

Note: Loving others and loving God is the full expression of God's love. We don't need some deeper experience. The love of God and his love for others is the pinnacle, the ultimate. There is no deeper experience. We are not lacking in any releam of spiritual understanding, wisdom or knowledge if we have love. Love for God and love for others is the ultimate in spiritual, human, and church life, nothing can top it. When your heart swells with unconditional love for your enemies you are experiencing all that God has to offer. 

Kerk en School

1 John 5

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ* has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.

And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 

Note: It is belief in the Son that makes a member of the family of God. And thus it is family status that causes us to love our Christian brother and sisters. Since we are loved by the Father and since we love the Son (we do not really believe if have no love for the son.) it is natural that we also will love the our brothers and sisters. And since we were loved by God when were enemies we also will love our enemies. 

3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 

Note: We have the author of life indwelling us. How could we think his way was burdensome? He gives us all we need and more. He fills us with hope and joy. We who walk in his ways are able to break free of sin and death we have hope and he possibility to do right. This is not a weight or restriction this is life itself. His way is the way of righteousness. To walk on his ways is to walk the path of light. No more stumbling in the dark. No more bearing the burden of guilt we who keep his commands are free. So lets not think of his rule as a restriction, rather we see his way as the way of lightness; We see his commands as the path of abundance, provision and light. We who follow his commands become complete and live as we were intended. It is like discovering that proper way to use a chain saw is to turn the motor on after spending a life time trying to cut with it with out turning it on. It's like finding the motor car has motor so you don't have to push it everywhere.

10 All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son. 11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

18 We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.

Note: What does it mean that evil can not touch them?

21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.*

Note: This warning is profound. We have the greatest treasure possible in knowing Jesus so why would we allow our hearts to be filled with something inferior? Why would we allow ourselves to be deceived?

Fatalism Revised

1JN 2:1 NLT

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

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Jesus advocacy warms our hearts!

The person who knows Jesus can make real choices. Before we are received into God's family by grace through faith we are slaves to sin, Paul says. We have no choice. Everyone who isn't a believer in Jesus can't help but sin. Sin is their master and they are not free agents. If sin says jump, they must jump. And the deception of sin is powerful. We know nothing else. What is sin? Sin is disobedience to God. Sin is disbelief in his promises. Sin is an inextricable headlong run toward death. Sin is self destruction. Sin is selfishness. Sin is loveless. Sin takes and destroys. Sin murders when it cannot have what it wants. Sin leads to death.

So sin requires judgement. God is just. He will not allow sin to ruin everything. God will save some from sin. He has set some free. He has released some from the slavery of sin and the fear of death.

But we who are free to choose life, the ones able to obey, may still fall prey to sin. Although we are free from the hideous, cruel master that wants our  destruction and uses us to lash out in rebellion against God, we sometimes still sin. We should hate sin. We should find sin repulsive. We should see past the moment of selfish pleasure and we should loathe the harmful, hateful former master of our torture and destruction. We should feel the sting of being a pawn in the full on assault against life. We should feel the shame of being a treacherous traitor who has deceived the vulnerable and harmed the neediest of this world.

We don't have to sin, but we do. We sin against God. Even more, we sin against Jesus who died for our sin. We add to his suffering.

And what does he do?

He defends us. The Father and the Son must execute justice against our sin. This sin we cling to in many ways is a greater offence, for it is the sin we chose. We were washed, we were saved. We had a choice. We knew better.

And the one we keep hurting the most is the one who defends us.

Jesus stands up for us. He says, I died for them. Jesus is the only one who is right. We are wrong. And yet he makes us right even when we are a traitor.

Choose not to sin! You can. You are not a slave. You are free.

But if you do sin, Jesus defends you, Jesus protects you, Jesus is your advocate. Jesus loves you. He has chosen you to be his. Jesus knows you are a sinner. Jesus knows your heart, your motives, your fears and he knows your selfish heart. Jesus knows your disbelief and your stubborn selfish pride.
And still he defends you, still he protects you from his coming wrath. Jesus sees you sin and try to hide it and, even so, he will treat you as righteous because of his own righteousness.

So stop sinning. You don't have to; you are free.
But if you do sin, repent without fear. Return with no reservation. You are safe. 

Oh sinner, you are safe.

Serious business

Hebrews 10:26-39 NLT

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge. I will pay them back.” He also said, “The Lord will judge his own people.” It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever. So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.

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Sometimes people think of Jesus as a placebo for the conscience. Many view the church as having some social benefits for society now but they don't really believe that God will judge the world. Everyone wants a heaven in the future for their dead loved ones and themselves eventually but nobody seems to want to believe in hell.

But Jesus is real.
God's judgement is sure.
And nothing is worth facing the wrath of God for.

I can honestly say that no other passage in the Bible is more disturbing to me than this one.

When I was young I used to hear a lot about the debate surrounding assurance of salvation. It's one of the oldest concerns in the church.
It really is no more complicated than, 'what must I do to be saved.' And actually Jesus didn't make it easy.

I should rephrase that. Salvation is through grace alone! There are no works that buy your way into the Kingdom. You can't purchase it, or walk on your bloody knees praying to prove your devotion. For by grace are you saved through faith and faith is a gift from God, there are no works of man involved so that man can't boast that he saved himself. Jesus is the only way. 

Acts 4:12 NLT

There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

I've always said that when you are born again and are a child of God then nothing can change that fact. I was born a Bode. No matter what happens in my life the fact that Don and Bunny are my parents will not change. So as  salvation is a gift from God based on God's grace, secured by the work done by Jesus on the cross, nothing I can do will change what God has done freely for me. 

I'm not a universalist. 

But I've also known that to enjoy any real benefits of knowing I'm a Bode, I need to be on speaking terms with mum and dad. To really bask in the joy of their love and acceptance, I need to seek them out, invite them around and ask for all their wisdom and knowledge on so many of the areas of life they know so much more than me.

To feel the assurance of the salvation given freely by God I need to be in relationship with him. Hugs are best in close proximity. Laughs are best shared spontaneously in normal living.

God isn't about you just gold digging without the love relationship. Heaven isn't heaven at all without God. Jesus isn't the genie of the lamp. And you aren't going to pull a fast one over on God.

He isn't going to allow the very very serious death of Jesus on the cross be mocked by those saying they are family when in fact they are not.

You either love the Father and therefore his Son and all they stand for or you are not actually part of the family.

Don't  think you can say you know and love your Father because of what Jesus did for you and then completely ignore what Jesus did for you.