Truth

Business, America, and the Courage to Do What Is Right

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One major lesson learned from the economic meltdown is that far too many people in American business today are morally bankrupt. And it seems the higher up you go in the corporate org chart, the more malfeasance one finds. The post-Enron push made by companies to hire more ethical workers has been shown for the farce it is. We continue to hire and promote foxes for hen-house guard duty.

With allegations of fraud dogging Goldman Sachs, and with further indictments and allegations (thankfully) coming to others behind this debacle, the question is: Are we going to learn anything about the bankruptcy of the American soul from this?

I want to pass along a story on CNN written by Bob Greene. It details a transaction that goes on many thousands of times in this country each day, though this transaction has a slight, but important, twist. Greene tells of his encounter with Mark Dalton, the owner of a mom-and-pop bookstore, after purchasing a used book online:

In 2008, I found a book I was looking for on that Amazon marketplace, and submitted an order. The price was more than reasonable: $6.95 for the used hardcover. Used books are not shipped by Amazon itself, but by the local booksellers.

A week or so after I placed the order, the package arrived, from High View Books in Smithfield, Rhode Island. The book seemed to be in good shape. I was pleased.

But with it was a personal letter to me. It said:

“Thank your for your recent book order. I have enclosed a check to you for $2.95. The reason for this is that this book is only in ‘Very Good’ condition, while I mistakenly described it as being in ‘Near Fine’ condition in my listing. Please accept my apologies for the error. (Also, please note, the soiling that you see on the dust jacket is actually on the Mylar and not the dust jacket itself.)”

[Dalton] wrote that he hoped his apology and the refund were satisfactory. Sure enough, tucked into the book was a check made out to me, for $2.95.

Greene goes on to mention that the condition issue was beyond his ability to discern. Instead, he was surprised that anyone would go to the lengths Dalton did to ensure that the sale was completely up and up, especially for an item with such a small price tag.

As they say, read the whole thing (“A $2.95 Lesson for Wall Street“).

One of these days the business world is going to wake up to the reality of genuine customer service. But beyond that, I hope they finally discover whatever moral compass the owner of High View Books possesses.

The allure of money in our society, that “get rich quick by any means necessary” mentality that permeates our culture, may be only one of our many vices, but it certainly is the root of great evil. My brother had a CAT scan done recently and got a $4,000 bill for the procedure. That’s insanity for what amounts to a glorified x-ray, but I’m sure it reflects a “gotta get my cut” reality from a dozen different sources who stand to profit from that scan.

I don’t know about you, but I find that kind of pile-on mentality wicked. Yet it’s the norm anymore in America. It’s why an airplane ticket is more fees and taxes than payment for time spent in the plane traveling. It’s why gas prices are so high, why it costs so much to educate our kids in public schools, and why the answer to everything governmental seems to be a tax hike. It’s the Great Gouge. We’ve reached an era when sick people avoid the doctor not because of the fear of a cancer diagnosis but of bankruptcy!

But in a bookstore in Rhode Island, a man realized a $6.95 used book may not have been in the condition he described, so he refunded the purchaser $2.95.

In contrast, on Wall Street we have morally bereft con men who knowingly sold worthless securities because they could get rich, even if their jackpot ruined other people.

I say all this because The Wall Street Journal once featured an article that exposed the religious backgrounds of all the major players in the Enron,  WorldCom, and other business scandals of the early 2000s. They found that almost all the people with the dirtiest hands were pillars of their churches.

I don’t know anything about the religious beliefs of the owner of the bookstore in Greene’s story. But I know that he had far more Christian character than church elder Ken Lay of Enron infamy.

The little things matter folks. There’s courage in sending back $2.95. God not only looks at our weights and measures, but He knows what we do in secret.

As Christians, do we conduct our daily business with God in mind? When there’s money to be made, do we join the pile-on, even if it ends up hurting people? Would we have sent back $2.95 because the book we sold was a fraction less perfect than we had described?

Honestly, if America wants to get back to greatness, a good first step would be for American businesses to fire the morally bankrupt (no matter how high up the org chart) and hire godly men and women who realize that the God they serve is always watching.

In ending, I want to help reward the courage to send a $2.95 refund. While I could not find an online link to them directly, I did find contact info and a means to order books directly from High View Books through Biblio. So the next time you want to buy a book, consider supporting High View Books. And let’s send a message that character still counts.

How to Become a Christian

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These are exciting times, but also frightening to many people. It’s hard to ignore the craziness around us. Frustration and a general feeling that all is not right in the world plague many people.

If you sense that something is not right in your life and in the lives of people you know, I want you to know that you can find a peace that triumphs over the greatest storms, a love that never lets go, and a cleansing that wipes away even the foulest past.

All of this is found in one source, Jesus Christ. Because He is the source of all things, all the answers to life’s questions are found in Him alone.

As more and more people search for what is real and what truly matters in life, the question of how to become a Christian looms large. You can search and find many explanations of how to become a Christian, but many of those explanations only lead people into following a set of rules, something that failed long ago and will fail today. Life is not a set of rules but a relationship with Jesus.

A quick glance around is all it takes for most people to realize that something is very wrong with our world. Disease, poverty, anger, jealousy, murder, sexual perversion, war, and death hold this world in their lethal embrace. Corruption defines the human condition.

It wasn’t always this way, though.

The Most Unnatural Thing in the World

God created a beautiful, unmarred world. As the source of life itself, He made Man, both male and female, in His own image and breathed His own life into them. He blessed Adam and Eve with perfect bodies, souls, and spirits. God placed that couple in His paradise, charging them to mold it as they saw fit, all under His guidance and love. God and Mankind lived in perfect communion, a deep, intimate relationship filled with life.

But Man was not satisfied with what God had given, and when Evil presented itself, Man chose Evil. Mankind wanted to be like God and rebelled against Him, partaking of the very fruits of Evil that God had warned against.

In the moment that Man sinned, the most unnatural thing entered Creation: Death.

Death took two terrible forms, physical and spiritual. In the physical, Man’s bodies began to decay. In the spiritual, the flame that was the spirit of Man, the very connection of Man to the life-giving Spirit of God, was snuffed out. The intimacy that Man had with God was utterly destroyed, and Man went deaf to the voice of God.

The Bible puts it bluntly:

For the wages of sin is death…
—Romans 6:23a

Sin is a death penalty.

There is no death in God, though, only life. God cannot abide death nor the sin that causes it because they are antithetical to His nature. To God, death is a terrible, foreign thing.

Just as it is a law within Creation that an apple dislodged from a tree will fall to the ground, so it is a law that only life can pay for death. God Himself had earlier clothed Adam and Eve with an animal skin, that creature giving up its life to pay for the death wrought by sin. Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, born after the advent of death, understood this and sacrificed part of his flock of sheep to God.

God says:

For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life.
—Leviticus 17:14a

The counter to sin and death is blood, which is life.

Striving But Not Attaining

Though Man’s spirit had died and Man no longer had a connection to God, the unnaturalness of death drove men to search for God and call out to Him. God chose to reveal Himself to Man and selected an unworthy tribe of people called the Hebrews. They wanted to know God, so He gave them a set of rules to show what He was like. God said that the rules, called the Law, could show people the way to Him. By keeping the Law, Man could hear a whisper of God and see the shadow of His presence. God instituted ways for the Hebrews to atone for their sins so they could continue to hear that whisper and see the shadow of His presence.

But no one could keep God’s rules. The rule of death in Man was stronger than anyone’s ability to keep every one of God’s laws perfectly. The Law was a plumb line that only showed how crooked Mankind truly was. It succeeded only in proving what was obvious:

None is righteous, no, not one….
—Romans 3:10b

Though the Hebrews sacrificed the lives of animals to try to reconcile themselves to the living God for the death that reigned in their bodies, God revealed the genuine truth behind their efforts:

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
—Hebrews 10:1-4

The life of an animal cannot fully atone for the death brought by sin that dwells in a man. It’s an imperfect system that can never fully appease.

God’s Perfect Answer: Jesus

But God is perfect. He is life. And He had an answer to all this death. A man would have to die—a man who could fully keep all the rules of God, who fulfilled all the Law that sinful, death-filled men could never keep. That perfect man would have to spill his blood to fully satisfy the universal law of life for death.

God could not ask anyone but Himself to be that man, though. Only God Himself could keep His own Law perfectly, could shed life-giving blood as the source of life itself, and could restore the perfect communion Man once had with Him. God Himself would have to become a man.

God exists as three persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—joined together in perfect unity. God the Father sent God the Son to earth to live as one of us.

The Bible tells us about that God-Man:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
—John 1:1-4

In that man was genuine God-life. There was no death in him at all because he was without sin. Because of this, he alone can bring salvation from death. This man is Jesus, whose name  means: “The Lord is my salvation.

This is what Jesus, the God-Man, says about Himself:

“I and the Father are one.”
—John 10:30

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
—John 5:24

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
—John 11:25b-26a

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me….”
—John 14:6b

Jesus made exclusive claims about Himself as the answer to the problem of sin and death. He said that He was God and contained all the fullness of God’s life.

But before we could taste that life, the universal law that a life must be given to atone for  death and sin had to be fulfilled. Because many hated Jesus for what He said and for who He claimed to be, they had Him put to death on a cross, the worst form of capital punishment known in that day. In the actions of those people who hated Jesus and wanted Him to die, we can see ourselves.

So in His crucifixion, Jesus, who was life, voluntarily gave up His life. And in doing so, a most wonderful thing happened:

For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
—2 Corinthians 5:21

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die– but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
—Romans 5:6-11

Sinless Jesus paid our penalty of sin and death, reconciling once-dead Man to God. By His blood sacrifice, He gives His life to those who believe Him. And that payment for sin and death is for all time:

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
—Hebrews 10:12-18

Because Jesus kept the Law perfectly, took our place on the cross, and shed His own blood as the perfect sacrifice, the penalty of death has been fully paid for and all sins forgiven for those who believe. And because Death cannot hold Life, Jesus triumphed over Death by His resurrection, which is our promise of resurrection of our souls to new life one day.

Death & Life

But don’t our bodies still die?

In truth, you and I were born dying. From our first breath, our physical bodies began the long process of wearing out and dying. This world still suffers the marks of sin until that day when Jesus returns in triumph to make all things new. At that time, those who have tasted physical death will be given new bodies that never wear out and never suffer the effects of sin and death.

On the spiritual side, though, putting our faith in Jesus immediately lights that quenched wick that was our dead spirit:

But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
—1 Corinthians 6:17

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God….
—Romans 8:16

We regain our spiritual hearing and can once again enjoy communion with God.

What About Other Religions?

Many of the world’s religions claim a path to God. Jesus speaks to that claim:

“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'”
—Matthew 15:8-9

When you look at the world’s religions, it becomes perfectly clear that they are nothing more than rules made by men. They have some appearance of right living, but as we have seen, following a set of rules—even rules sent by God Himself—could not save Man from spiritual death. The problem of sin and death in Man means that no one can follow the rules, no matter who makes them. And if the rules cannot be followed perfectly, how can anyone ever get to the perfect God?

For the letter [of the Law] kills, but the Spirit gives life.
—2 Corinthians 3:6b

Jesus alone fulfilled all the rules. It is why He said that He is the only way to God. His gift of the kept Law and His sacrificed life means freedom from spiritual death. When we place our faith in Him, He puts His Spirit in us, which is our seal of salvation and the promise of our name being added to His Book of Life.

But what about those who do not put their faith in Jesus?

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
—John 3:36

In short, those who believe in Jesus take on His life. Rather than following a set of rules, they gain a relationship with God Himself, the very source of life. However, those who do not believe in Jesus remain in spiritual death. Such a condition, sadly, has been the natural state of Man since our rebellion so long ago. Without belief in Jesus, we persist in a state of spiritual death. Nothing apart from taking on Jesus’ Spirit of Life will change that condition. Jesus said:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
—John 3:5b

Many have heard the term “born again” before. This is what Jesus means. He gives those who believe in Him a new life.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
—2 Corinthians 5:17

New creations in Jesus have nothing to fear of spiritual death. Their old, dead, spiritual  life has passed away, and they have been born again into new life.

Many people are familiar with the first part of this passage of the Bible:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
—John 3:16-17

Not as many know the rest:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
—John 3:18

To those who reject Jesus, the very source of life, the natural end of their physical life brings a chilling spiritual reality, the due consequence of their continuing to abide in death:

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
—Revelation 20:12-15

This second death doesn’t have to be your end. Jesus offers you life:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
—John 10:10

How to Become a Christian

How to become a Christian? It’s not an elaborate set of rules, because as we know, rules cannot bring real life. It’s very simple.

Here is what I would recommend:

1. Get a copy of an NIV or ESV Bible and read through the New Testament or at least the Gospel of John, which is the fourth book of the New Testament. You can find John’s 21 chapters (and the rest of the Bible) online here.

2. God speaks to us through the words He gave in the Bible. Ask Him to convict you of the truth of what you read in the Bible. This may be something that happens as you read or it may take some time as you ponder the words. No matter which, God promises that His words will change you.

3. At the right time in your reading and thinking about God’s words, acknowledge the truth to God about your state of decay in sin and death. As Jesus so succinctly said:

“…unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
—Luke 13:3b

You will know when the right time will be because God will be with you by His Holy Spirit. Again, that’s His promise.

4. I included a verse earlier spoken by Jesus, but left off the last part:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
—John 11:25b-26

Every one of us must answer Jesus’ question. Let the Holy Spirit guide you as you talk with God about Jesus and your need for Him and His life. Don’t worry about saying the right words. If you stumble, just ask Him for help. He is faithful!

5. When you put your faith in Jesus, please write me and let me know. (My email address is at the top of the blog’s sidebar). I will try to help you with your next steps of finding a church and developing a devotional life that will grow you deep in Jesus.

A Divine Secret

Lastly, I want to tell you a secret that many Christians fail to understand.

Some well-meaning people will try to turn your new belief in Jesus into a set of rules. You will hear plenty of talk about all the things you must now do or not do. I suspect that much of that advice will be wise on the face of it, but just as we are powerless to save ourselves by keeping a set of rules, growing to be more like Jesus is something He must do in you by His means, not yours.

I know of only one way to do this. Jesus said it:

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
—John 17:3

If you want more of the eternal life of God in your own life, draw close to Jesus. Grow to know Him. The more time you spend with Jesus, the more you will begin to live as He did.

One of life’s most genuine truths: Whatever we are most devoted to is what we will become most like. If we devote most of our time to ourselves, we grow more into self-serving forms of our worst habits and mistakes. But if we devote our time to Jesus, we become more like Him.

When we become more like Jesus, it’s funny how all those bad habits, sins, and problems that plague us take care of themselves. If we look more like Jesus, we look less like our old selves. That’s Jesus Himself changing us. And it’s the only real way to change.

Additional Resources

If you would like to know more on how to become a Christian, I would recommend checking out this site: Two Ways to Live.

If you have put your faith in Jesus, I would recommend the following two resources:

The NIV Study Bible

This is a fine Bible for most people and includes a host of helps for those who have never read through the Bible before. I would also recommend this Bible-reading plan.

The Fight

The Fight by John White is one of the best primers on how to begin the journey with Jesus. It’s a simple book that covers many of the important practices of the Faith.

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In closing, let me pray for you:

Father God, I pray in Jesus’ name for all who read this. May you reveal yourself to them in your perfect fullness and write their names in your Book of Life. Grant them the grace to grow in knowledge of you so that you will find them faithful when you come again in glory. Thank you. Amen.

A Dozen Sayings of Jesus That Will Change the World—If Christians Ever Believe Them

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When I began to write this post, I looked for a dozen passages in the Scriptures that Christians in the West largely ignored in practice, despite mentally assenting to the truths contained therein. But what scared me as I delved into this was that far too many passages of the Scriptures are simply ignored.

So I started focusing. Eventually, I narrowed down a dozen sayings of Jesus from the book of Matthew alone. A sad state of affairs, indeed, that I can cull a dozen passages from just one book that are largely ignored by enlightened Evangelicals. But there you have it. Perhaps if we were more serious about the Scriptures, we’d spend more time putting these words into practice and less time obsessing over the petty little kingdoms we build in our own names.

1. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you….”
—Matthew 5:43-44

We love to hate our enemies, don’t we? In like manner, we don’t seem to much believe in the power of prayer to either change our enemies or change our own antipathy toward them. It’s a double-edged sword that continues to cut the Western Church to shreds. Do we love people in Al-Qaeda? Do we love Iran’s leadership or North Korea’s? Do we pray for those enemies?

I didn’t think so…

2. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. ”
—Matthew 6:24-34

I think it would be telling if God raised up a prophet within His Church who was able by word of knowledge to point out those in the Church who loved money more than God. The awful truth may be that God doesn’t need such a prophet; I suspect that most of us in the West would fail that test, no supernatural revelation needed.

When we look at how we spend our time, most of it is devoted not to doing the Lord’s work but accumulating the trappings of an opulent society that has forgotten God and believes too much in its own ability to provide. We devote outlandish amounts of time to making money and next-to-nothing for the eternal Kingdom of God. I believe that any one of us can run the numbers on our own lives. This is no sacred/secular division test, but one of the heart. We will devote our time to what we love. And most of us are devoted to what will burn and not to the Lord who made us and who calls us to be a holy people separated unto Him.

3. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. ”
—Matthew 7:1-5

Love first. Again, love first. It’s funny how loving first seems to temper any judging that may follow.

I find it difficult to criticize anyone. My own failings are ever before me. If I have energy left at the end of the day, it is best spent cleaning up my own house rather than telling my neighbor how to clean up his.

The world has largely closed its ears to the message of the Gospel because Christians can’t seem to get their own house in order before telling everyone else how to clean up theirs. That’s pride. And God hates pride more than just about any other sin.

4. Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
—Matthew 16:24-25

Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it cannot bear fruit. We have too many living people in the Church and not enough who are dead to the world. Dead people have nothing to lose in battle. They fight with abandon. They fight despite overwhelming odds. They fight with weapons that are not theirs simply because they own nothing of their own anymore. Therefore, God equips them with His weapons and His gifts. And those dead people change the world.

The cross is death to the self. And until we’re dead, we’re useless to the Kingdom.

5. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. ”
—Matthew 17:24-26

I’ve never heard a sermon on this passage. This to me is a crime.

Christian, do you understand this passage? The world does not own you. Nor do you owe it. You are free.

Yet how many Christians out there are in bondage to the world? Many are weighed down by the cares of accumulation and keeping up appearances. Others cannot move beyond the past. Some are in bondage to the future. Many are trapped in the hell of legalism and performance.

These are people to be pitied.

Christian, you are free! It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of you or asks of you. You are a son or daughter who only answers to the Father.

Now start acting like free men and women.

6. And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
—Matthew 18:2-4

No adults make it into the Kingdom of Heaven, only children. Only children have the faith necessary to believe in a world bigger than the one they see with their eyes. This is how heaven is, the place where God dwells. And only the children can see it.

We place too much emphasis on “mature faith,” yet my experience has been that those who self-label as mature are often the most faithless people. They claim to know God, yet they sell Him short whenever anything miraculous is needed. Their favorite word is but.

Where I come from, that kind of “faith” is no faith at all.

7. And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
—Matthew 21:21-22

I once wrote a post claiming that the more in-depth parallel passage in Mark is the least-believed passage in the Bible.

Christians in the West believe in what their eyes tell them. They believe in science. They believe in the rational. But they do not believe that mountains can be cast into the sea by faith. And this is why so many lost people have given up on the Church. When even the believers no longer believe, what then is the point?

8. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
—Matthew 22:34-40

I hear too many complaints from people concerning memorizing Scripture. Anyone can memorize Scripture if he loves the words of God found in the Bible.

I firmly believe that if all Christians everywhere were to memorize this one passage and live it, the world would be transformed in one generation.

Instead, we seem to love ourselves, love the stuff we accumulate for ourselves, give God a passing mention, and think about our neighbors only when they are threatening our selves or our stuff.

And we wonder why no one in the West cares to hear what the Christian Church has to say. When even the rankest pagan knows this passage and is astounded that most Christians don’t get it, why should we then be surprised that they have no time to hear anything else from us about the Lord we claim to serve?

9. “But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
—Matthew 23:8-12

We love our hierarchies, don’t we? We all want to be the bigshot. We love titles, and degree designations, and certifications, and anything that smacks of privilege—but Jesus said it is all bunk. The real bigshots are the least likely people, the ones who serve.

What would happen in the average church if the measure by which people gained status was by humble service? The irony is that the genuine servants would serve despite the status, even if they got punished for the service rather than accruing spiritual brownie points. They realize the Lord they ultimately serve is a gentle, humble servant Himself. And one who grades on an entirely different scale than the Western Church or the world does.

Do we believe we are all equal before the Lord? Or do we ascribe to an Orwellian Animal Farm philosophy where some are more equal than others?

10. “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
—Matthew 24:42-44

People are known for what they serve. And they are known for that service by their preparation for it. A firefighter trains for the fire. A pilot trains for the flight.

What is our service and how do we prepare for it?

It’s very simple: We do not live as if the Lord may return tomorrow. We don’t, and we have no excuse. The Lord holds out His hands pleading for the Church to be the Church, but we instead want to be the World. So little work for the Kingdom goes forth because we park ourselves in front of our favorite form of entertainment, shop for more crap that will burn on Judgment Day, or complain about how bored we are.

Meanwhile, the thief has robbed our house and left us with nothing that will survive God’s holy fire come the Last Day.

11. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
—Matthew 25:31-46

Both the sheep and the goats called Jesus Lord. The only difference between the sheep and the goats, according to what Jesus says here, is was what they did and did not do.

God help the goats. Too many of them are sitting in the pews. Worse, too many of them are leading our churches.

If we believed this passage, the orphanages would be empty.

12. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
—Matthew 28:18-20

I haven’t had a stranger attempt to share the Gospel one-on-one with me in decades. Rank chance would tell us that with several million Evangelicals in this country, the odds of not having heard the Gospel one-on-one from a stranger goes to zero.

The only explanation that it is not zero, in fact far from it, is that virtually no one is interested in making disciples. The population of born-again Christians is stable or declining in the United States. The reason is a failure to take this closing passage in Matthew seriously.

Someone else will do the work, we subconsciously think. Isn’t that what we pay pastors for?

It doesn’t matter whether your gift is evangelism and teaching or not. Each Christian is commanded to make and raise up disciples.

Twelve sayings of Jesus with the power to change the world. That it is not being changed on our side of the planet can only be explained by our inability to believe what Jesus said.

And if we cannot believe what Jesus said, how then can we truly call ourselves His disciples?