Justification by Faith, but What is Faith?

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

I feel an incredible burden to write on this issue, so that's what I'm going to do. It's important we understand as Christians just where our salvation comes from. For many of you, you already know this. I didn't know when I was growing up. I thought if I just obeyed the 10 commandments good enough, I might be good enough to go to heaven. I thought that if I was a decent person, I'd go to heaven. Too bad the Bible doesn't say that.

I was raised in the northern woods of Wisconsin, on straight Catholicism and Midwest Lutheranism. That is the majority around these parts, with the third category being generally Baptist or non-denominational.

Now don't get me wrong, many Catholics are Spirit filled and love Jesus. But, some Catholics seem to be big on works-faith, which is the idea that Jesus + my good deeds get me right with God.

So let me set the record straight for the seekers out there. This isn't about desperately trying to perform morally, and always failing to live up to it, and finally giving up in the end because we can't measure up.

Our salvation is 100% about what Jesus Christ did on the cross. Jesus paid the sin debt that we owed. 

John 5:24 (ESV) "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."

We have got to know this as Christians. We have nothing to stand on in front of God. Not a single work. Not a single good deed. We all fall far short.

We have Jesus Christ. And for those of us who are trusting in him, having faith in him, our sins are gone. They are all gone.

Romans 5:1 (ESV) "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

It's just that simple. And I've heard people sit back and say "I really admire your faith, I wish I had it." You can have it. It's not magic.

What is faith?

I mean really, we never stop going on and on about the words "faith" and "believe" but what do they mean?

The dictionary says faith is "confidence or trust in something or a person."

The definition for believe is "to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so: Only if one believes in something can one act purposefully."

Great. When I trust someone is it an involuntary thing? Does it just happen? Maybe in certain situations. But what happens when I've been hurt a lot? What happens when I've trusted and been kicked in the face and beaten into my shell, over and over again?

Am I no longer capable of faith? Am I doomed now? No. Faith is not an involuntary knee-jerk response that just sort of happens. The purpose of the apologetics I post, the intellectual defenses of Christianity is to help bring seekers to the point where it's now reasonable to make a leap of faith. Yet it's not entirely intellectual either, to pretend that God doesn't play a major part in bringing us to faith is simply silly. Of course God is active in the process. We call it "prevenient grace" grace that "goes before" salvation. Yet faith is still called for from us. 

But what is a leap of faith?

It's just like offering trust to someone, when we don't really know if they're deserving of it. But we can't have a good relationship with the person if we don't offer them trust. We just can't. We'll constantly be suspicious, checking up on them, wondering about them, driving ourselves nuts, and it'll self destruct.

So if I'm a mature person, and say I've met a girl and we're getting to know each other. I take stock of various things. Her family and friends speak well of her. Ok, great. Next? She regularly attends a good church. Excellent, great, next? She dresses modestly. Awesome. I spend time with her. I get to know her. I let my instincts perceive the situation. But as we get closer, I reach the point where I have to say:

Alright, I've seen enough evidence. I've put the pieces together. There is no way I can know that she is 100% trust-worthy. I just can't. She could be really good at hiding how unstable she is. Who knows, right? But I'm at that point, where I really like her, I want to be close to her, I want to know her and spend time with her and have a relationship with her.

So I make a leap of faith. I offer my trust up, which makes me nervous. I'm kind of afraid. But I know it's the right thing to do. So I do it.

It's kind of like that between you and Jesus Christ. Christianity is not religion, going to church every Sunday, playing church and acting holier than the joneses. Christianity is a relationship with God Almighty, made possible by believing on Jesus Christ, and confession of sins in prayer. Or "repentance" which simply means, having a change of mind and actions.

Are you at that point? You've read the evidence, the intellectual arguments, you've checked up on all of it, and it's starting to seem quite coherent and logical... it's feeling like God is starting to reveal himself to you, and you're ready to make that leap, much like the trust we offer in our human relationships.

Galatians 2:16 (ESV) "Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified."

So let me encourage you to make the leap. Jesus Christ is a wonderful savior. Father God is a wonderful Father. The Holy Spirit is a joy to have within us, guiding us through life. It's a risk, sure it is, but I think it's worth it. Living forever, helping people, knowing the truth. There are lots of benefits. There are risks and sacrifices too though. I've got to give my life over to God. I've got to work with the Holy Spirit as my selfishness is replaced with selflessness. I've got to endure ridicule for my testimony of the truth. But all in all, its the truth. And at the core, I've always wanted the truth. I hope you have too. Because Christianity isn't about God giving you everything you want, it's about you getting on board with God's plan for your life. And it is the best plan. Better than yours.

So what's the practical process of this relationship with the Creator of the universe?

I put my faith in Christ, I offer trust that a man named Jesus Christ did live, that he was God incarnate, and he did pay for my punishment on the cross. I offer up my belief that these things are real, and that the Bible is true. I start reading my Bible. I find a good church. I find a good Bible study or small group. I get on my knees and pray in the morning and at night. I tell my sins to Father God, and I ask him to help me turn away from them, to practice a new way of life. The Holy Spirit works in my life, works on my sins and changes me into a better person. And slowly over time God removes my sins and helps me walk in wonderful ways.

It's not about the 10 commandments. It's about the two commands of Jesus: Love God, love people. We are no longer under the Old Testament law.

Mark Driscoll said it very well, when he said, "I hate religion. At Mars Hill we hate religion. Because religion assumes that you don't wanna do certain things, and so we have to make you do them. Right? I need to yell at you, threaten you, talk a lot about hell, get real spooky, I need to put legalistic control mechanisms on you, somebody to walk around with a clip board and call balls and strikes in your life. Religion assumes that you wanna do evil and we're gonna make you do good. That's not what we believe as Christians. We believe that God gives us a new heart, so that we want to obey him. Our job as church leaders is not to make you do something you don't want to do, but to help you do something that you do want to do."

So we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and what he did on the cross is what justifies us. We are imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We live forever. We have quite a wonderful God. A God who became a savior, to humble himself, to sacrifice himself for my failing. Because I was rebellious, when I couldn't obey him. And I still struggle. But Jesus Christ paid it all! Praise God!

Let me leave you with this famous scripture that tells us how to live in light of the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus Christ:

Philippians 2:1-11 (ESV) "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Merry Christmas: Celebrating the Birth of Jesus with Family

Hello there.  I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday so far.  Can you believe it's only 10 days until Christmas?  I was scarcely aware that it was December until about a week ago.  Though I spent the beginning of the month with a rather intense strain of the flu.  I'm pretty much recovered now though.  I'd like to do some teaching on the book of Revelation soon hopefully, but not today.  It's an extremely complicated book and often misinterpreted.  I'd hate to add more misinterpretation to the mix by approaching it casually, so perhaps I'll have to wait until I have time to really dig into for months and months before teaching it. 

Everyone seems to be in a better mood as Christmas approaches.  It's been extremely cold here in Wisconsin, right now it's about -5 F.  Being outside hurts, so it's best to remain indoors.  It's hard being cooped up inside, but the temperature rose to around 20 F so I was able to take my dog Bella to the dog park and walk a few miles.  The fall semester at Liberty University ended on the 13th of December.  The Spring semester doesn't start until January 13th so I finally have some time for personal reading.  I enjoy the text books for the classes immensely, but I have a growing stack of books that I really have been looking forward to read.  Recently I was shopping with my sister at a consignment store and found a literal treasure trove of religious books, mostly Lutheran, and I could've stood there all day going through them.  I settled on buying about twenty books, and I got some awesome ones.  The first two I've been reading are "A Grief Observed" by C.S. Lewis, on his struggle after losing his wife and "The Passion of Jesus Christ" by John Piper, which is fifty reasons for the crucifixion of Christ put together by Piper. I also listened to an audiobook by Susan Cain called "Quiet - The Power of Introverts in a World that can't stop Talking."  That was a revolutionary read for me, it really gave me permission in a lot of key areas to be at peace with preferring to spend a lot of time alone, writing.

So, Christmas, wow.  What a controversy!  Thanksgiving is becoming "Turkey Day" because "thanksgiving" must sound too bible-ish.  And now people can't say "Merry Christmas" anymore, it's "Happy Holidays."  The atheist world strikes back.  It's a push and pull thing over the history of mankind.  And sometimes it's important to put out a call to the Christians across the nation to "take to mind" certain troubling trends, and kind of "call to arms" on certain issues.  But I'm not going to tell you that this is such a huge surprise that Christmas is under attack, or that it's such a disgrace that Christmas has become a consumer buying frenzy.  Because we know that, and we can expect more of the same in the future.  So this is not a "call to arms" or a "call to despair" as a sermon I once heard stated.  And it's not a call to defeat either.  "Oh it's hopeless, here it comes, its rolling over us."  No it's not that either.  I'm calling us to acceptance of those things we cannot change at this moment.

Nothing happens in God's world by mistake.  We must understand this fully.  Absolutely nothing happens by mistake on this planet.  All is under God's control.

1 Peter 4:12 (NIV) Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

I worry when Christians spend too much time dwelling on the problems.  Unfortunately we can become defeated as a result.  Put all that energy spent complaining toward being the solution to the problem.  Be the solution.  Be a shining light, telling people about Jesus Christ.  And ironically this is where we find the message for today.

On or around Christmas, December 25th this year most of us will be with family and extended family.  What a perfect time to tell them about Jesus Christ.  What a perfect time to share some good news!

Uh oh, that sounds tough though!  It could be rather unpleasant!

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”  - C.S. Lewis

Being a Christian is living outside the comfort zone generally.  It's pretty tough.  But as Francis Chan says, it's those moments when we take chances and get outside our comfort zone in evangelism that we see the power of the Holy Spirit working.  

Well that's all well and good, the desire to do it and wanting to do it and even trying to bring it up with the family, but what about the family and what about common objections?

Let's have a look at some of those issues.  So you start talking about the wonderful life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Instant controversy right?

  

That pothead cousin of yours, Andy the atheist hipster smirks and replies, "Man Christmas is just stupid.  Silly Christians, it's a pagan holiday.  Paganism got mixed into Christianity when it first started and now it's all corrupted.  The council of Nicea rewrote the Bible dude, Jesus is a fraud."

Here's how we can respond: "You know Andy that's a great point, some of the traditions of the Christmas holiday do have their roots in pagan holidays.  In 313 AD Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity for the first time in the empire, after some of the most brutal persecutions of Christians.  But most of the culture was pagan including the holidays.  Christians knew this, and also knew they had to engage the culture, become all things to all people.  So to help convert pagans, Christian activities were held on the same days as pagan ones.  Slowly but surely many were converted.  Thankfully, these rituals and holidays are entirely superficial.  Christians don't worship the holiday tree or praise the sun on Sundays.  We take what was originally used for evil, paganism, and turn it to serve and honor Jesus Christ.  As far as the council of Nicea, which took place in 325 AD, the council was not called to rewrite the Bible or throw out certain books, it was mainly called to deal with a controversy in the religious body of the time called Arianism.  The canon of Bible books had been generally agreed upon by then, and was simply officially recognized at the council of Nicea.  It's also important to note that the church leaders at the council had survived the persecutions as "professors" of the faith before courts and councils of the Roman empire.  Many of them wore the marks of their devotion to the true faith."

So now Andy has his answer.  But maybe that's not the end of it.  Next jaded Uncle Jerry the former Catholic has something to say.  "You know I think organized religion has lead to more death and destruction than anything else in the world today."

"You know uncle Jerry, I just don't know exactly what people are referring to when they talk about the horrors of organized religion, at least when applied to Christianity.  Islam is scary, absolutely.  But Christianity?  Maybe the crusades carried out in response to the call of Pope Urban II.  But it's important to note that the eastern Roman empire had been invaded and conquered by the Arab Muslims.  Urban II was responding as a leader to an invasion.  Obviously though it was a mistake as Christians are to love their enemies and turn the other cheek.  But I can think of things that have lead to much more death and destruction than organized religion.  How about World War II and the Nazis?  Here you have an army of atheists operating on the philosophies of the atheist writer Nietzsche.  Six million people were killed in the holocaust not by organized religion, but by organized atheism.  In the end, it's a fallacy of logic to condemn Christianity based on the actions of a few of it's followers.  Man is flawed, God is perfect."

 He'll love that.  Still there are other objections.  Aunt Edna the enthusiastic spiritualist can't get on board with the Bible.  She doesn't like the Bible because there is so much "judgment" and "condemnation" in it.  She thinks everyone should love one another and if humanity could just discover love and light and compassion and spiritual interconnectedness, everything would fall right into place.

"Auntie Edna, first thing to remember is that when we believe on Jesus Christ and are saved by his gift we no longer receive any condemnation or judgment.  Love and light is great!  But there are also hard truths to face in the world.  And the facts on the ground are clear on an empirical level: humanity when put together on a planet is not able to live in peace with love and light and compassion.  Those are wonderful principles and great morals.  Sadly, simply ignoring the problem of evil does not make it go away.  Humanity is wicked, and that's a very hard truth.  But when we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we start to learn how to love and have compassion.  I know it's a hard truth that there is judgment and condemnation, but hun.. if right and wrong are important, and to me they are, there has to be consequences for causing trouble and hurting others.  It's easy to hide our own mistakes, addictions and failings and talk about love and light and vague spirituality.  But in the end what is the truth?  Jesus Christ is the truth of this.  And I want to live by the truth."

Then give her a Bible and offer to sit down with her and study it.  Immediately after you say this however, opinionated Uncle Ollie has something to say: "The truth?  Come on man, are you serious with all this?  It's just some old book.  The opiate for the masses.  Who knows if Jesus even really ever existed?  What does it have to do with paying my bills and taking care of my family and working my job?  Seriously, you've gotta be kidding with this religious crap."

"Religion has been used in the past to quell people and keep them under control, but not Christianity.  Maybe it has been applied in that way in some cases, but the Bible tells a very different story.  And if it were just a fantasy to explain away death, invented by the early Christians, why wouldn't they invent something better?  Like everyone goes to heaven no matter what?  But instead we're all sinners, we need a savior, this world is controlled by the enemy of God, etc.  The fact is a man named Jesus Christ existed and there is more than sufficient historical evidence for that fact.  If you want to toss that out, you'll have to toss out the rest of human history too.  I understand you're a proof and seeing is believing kind of guy Ollie.  So I'd like to recommend you take a look at some books.  One is called "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel and the other is called "The Language of God" by Francis Collins.  There is a great documentary called Evolution vs. God I'd like you to see as well.  And Ollie I'd have to say the Bible and Jesus Christ are extremely relevant to your everyday life.  Paying bills? The Bible has plenty of financial advice.  Taking care of your family?  Raise them up in the church, and hopefully you'll see them make responsible decisions.  Working your job?  Well, as a Christian I work for what is ahead of me.  I work for eternity.  Ollie, we only have 80 or 90 years on this planet.  What about the rest of eternity?"

The rest of eternity is a long time.  I think so anyway.  I don't want to see my family members living defeated and confused about God.  I don't want to see them die unsaved and be forever separated from God.  That thought horrifies me.  I want them with me.  This connection with God through Jesus Christ is so wonderful I just have to give it away.  I want so desperately for everyone to have it.  That's why I dropped everything I was doing with my life (which wasn't much) and got into ministry when Jesus Christ saved me from my disaster and my sins.
 

16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
    but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me. -Psalm 18:16-19 (NIV)

 Christmas is a wonderful time of year.  The Lord God Almighty loves us, so he sent his son into the world to save us.  When we have faith in his son, God delights in us.  And we delight in him.  Immanuel, God with us, he came and lived with us.  God came.  He saw us in the midst of our disaster.  He was not willing for us to be lost, so he came.  We're celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  The birth of our savior, the birth by the Holy Spirit, Immanuel "God with us."  The primary purpose of the holiday is honoring our Savior, celebrating his birth.  I'm going to make my December 25th about Jesus Christ, and my happiness and gratitude at his life and ministry.  

I hope you will too.  And I hope you'll talk to your family about Jesus Christ.  You don't have to make a speech in front of the whole family, but gift a few Bibles.  Or a copy of the movie the Gospel of John.  Be creative.  Lead a prayer with the family before the meal.  Pray for them if you're just too nervous to say a word to anyone.  Anything.  Just fight for the salvation of your family.  Let it not be said we did nothing.  This is the front line of the spiritual conflict, and we can get outside ourselves, either by diving in the water or by slowly getting in.  Either way, let's get into this fight.  Let's share the gospel and see people saved as a result.

I'm sure we'll get to sit down and talk again before Christmas, but all the same, Merry Christmas and thank you so much for taking the time to stop by.  I'm honored, and humbled, may Jesus Christ be the center of your life today, forever, and always!

Paradox of Willingness

Twelve step recovery is one place, one very rare place where I'm not allowed to play the victim. I'm not victim of this, or victim of that, instead, here is the solution, and either you're willing to do it or you die. And you know what the sad thing is? Most people and by most, 97 out of 100 when it comes right down to it, would rather stay in the problem than face the unknown nature of the solution. And you know what happens? They die.

I imagine much the same could be related to religion, relationships, depression. We spend all day complaining about the problem, but when faced with the solution, we run the other direction, back to the problem.

That isn't going to be my story. I hope you'll decide it isn't going to be yours either. Change is very uncomfortable.

For the past 1 year, 1 month, and four days I've been granted a miraculous reprieve from pain and disaster. Has it been easy to walk back from the cliff of death by putrefaction? No it hasn't. Horror still lingers in my mind to this very moment. It comes out day by day, week by week, month by month, the images, the memories and I process the things that happened and the things I did, in a puddle on the floor usually before awaking and going about the next day feeling another step further relieved.

All of this had to happen in a very, very specific way for me to survive this far in the recovery process. Left to the random functions of space and time, I would be dead. Of course, such serendipitous and synchronistic evidence is never admissible to the developers of the theory of evolution. The mathematical improbability is never admissible. The fact that by the theory, if any one part of the process had been just slightly off from how it happened, there would have been no possibility for life.. well, that's not admissible either apparently.

But I know there's a God. Why? Because I'm alive at this moment. There were too many falls and possible ends to this new beginning. I haven't survived it alone. If any one thing had happened just a bit earlier or a bit later, I might have given up and returned to death.

Very many do. I've always said, if they dragged the body bags through the recovery meeting rooms many more might stick around for the miracle to happen.

I am in the process of surviving one of the most deadly illnesses to ever afflict man. Alcoholism and drug addiction. It takes countless lives.

I needed a perfect storm to survive the depraved situation I was in.

I bounced from mental hospital to mental hospital, rehab to rehab, and jail to jail asking one question, "How does someone want to want to get better?" In other words.. "How does someone become willing to change?" I would watch with great despair, as one blunder after another occurred and ask myself the question, "My God Justin, after all of that, all you can do is desire another trip? Another drunk?"

What the hell was wrong with me? How could one disturbed crusade after another that destroyed relationships, friendships, cars, property, and eventually my internal organs themselves still, after 9 years still not be enough for my ego to be fully crushed?

That was the problem. Willingness, a problem St. Augustine has written on quite extensively. He asks at what point is one willing to seek and receive Jesus Christ? I was asking, at what point would I be willing to seek and receive recovery?

I needed a perfect storm, somewhere after the utter decimation of my ego, but before the massive collapse of my body, and at the same time where I would be presented with the message of recovery, receive it, and begin to recover. And that was just the beginning.

Could I reach out for that alone? No. But I when I fell to my knees and cried out to Jesus, please, save me Lord Jesus... then suddenly, a way was made.

I have a deadly illness, with no cure. 97 out of 100 alcoholics will die not knowing they have an illness. Those 3 will stumble into the doors of 12 step recovery. Out of those 3, 1 out of 100 will stay and survive.

Now I have two options when I discover the truth of all this: Do I feel sorry for myself, oh boo hoo why me, everyone else can drink and drug why can't I? Or do I see the most realistic perception of this reality in my life? Of all the thousands of alcoholics who die without knowing they have a treatable illness, of all the alcoholics who come into recovery and fall away and die, how lucky am I, how blessed am I, how grateful I am that I was one of those very small few who showed up, accepted the message, received the message, and am alive and well.

Just for today. I have a deadly illness. (disclaimer: I don't claim to be part of any particular fellowship or organization, I'm just a guy)

But it's not the most deadly. The most deadly illness is pride. The most deadly illness is the sin nature. And even less survive that one. Maybe 1 out of 300 in the world today will realize.. they're a sinner, they need a savior, their life can be made anew, and so knowing, receive that one true savior, Jesus Christ and as a result stay with him, and never fall away, and die finishing the race.

Man, how lucky are we? How blessed are we?

Not only have I been spared from physical death at the hands of this illness, but I've been spared from the greater death, the death of soul reserved for all mankind who refuse the free gift. God made me with a soul willing to receive eternal life. For that I'm eternally grateful.

It gives me chills just thinking about it. Imagine if I was someone else.. someone who would hear the message, and just go on, not care, or worse mock the message, attempt to turn others away from it? We see that everyday as Christians. I see it everyday, on the internet, in person, in the media, all the time. So many dead, still walking.

We will live forever. Do you really get that? Because it's real. It's not a game. We're not playing church.

I'm not here to put on a dog and pony show, I believe, through and through, that I will live forever by the blood of Jesus Christ. I know it. And it's nothing new my friends, to be mocked for being a Christian. In the very 1st century of Christianity, during the persecution in the Roman empire Christians were mocked.

Because it was foolishness. It only appealed to poor simple minded people. Anyone with any sense shouldn't believe that. Sound familiar!? It's the same arguments today as it was 2,000 years ago! What's the difference? Back then there were a few thousand Christians. Now there are over 2 billion. A lie doesn't grow like that. A delusion doesn't live that long.

So today I choose to be grateful. I choose to fight for my prayer life, and fight hard. I choose to get on my knees and offer gratitude to my Maker. I start to see my character changed, the process of sanctification taking hold of me. I look at my friends and I realize I'm starting to truly cherish them. I make heartfelt amends. I truly begin to enjoy praying and worshipping. The word of God starts to feel like sweet honey as I page through it. These are the fruits of the spirit. I can't see that far ahead. But I step out in faith, believing for the things I pray for, believing that God is changing and adjusting me internally. I believe for a wife and a spiritual family, even when I can't see it. Slowly but surely those things come.

That's the kind of God we have. That's how blessed we are.