Mr. Calvin's Thoughts on the Lost Sheep

Matthew 18:12-14 (ESV)
What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

I had always thought that this passage was talking about people who had not come to Christ. So, I finally convinced myself to look up Calvin's commentary online. Here is what he had to say about it because he speaks much more intelligently than myself.

"Christ therefore intended to show that a good teacher ought not to labor less to recover those that are lost, than to preserve those which are in his possession; though according to Matthew the comparison proceeds farther, and teaches us not only that we ought to treat with kindness the disciples of Christ, but that we ought to bear with their imperfections, and endeavor, when they wander, to bring them back to the road. For, though they happen sometimes to wander, yet as they are sheep over which God has appointed his Son to be shepherd, so far are we from having a right to chase or drive them away roughly, that we ought to gather them from their wanderings; for the object of the discourse is to lead us to beware of losing what God wishes to be saved The narrative of Luke presents to us a somewhat different object. It is, that the whole human race belongs to God, and that therefore we ought to gather those that have gone astray, and that we ought to rejoice as much, when they that are lost return to the path of duty, as a man would do who, beyond his expectation, recovered something the loss of which had grieved him." (Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2)

So, where is the fine line between outreach and discipleship. We are called to reach out to those who have not heard or have not accepted the Gospel as truth. But here we are also called to be ready to bring those who have accepted the Gospel as truth but have walked away from the truth for a time. Churches today focus really well on training and teaching those who are already in the church. Outreach usually takes a backseat to inreach. So, how can a church remain on guard to balancing outreach and discipleship? Because there has to be a balance. Both are needed.

Me of Little (or No) Faith

Matthew 17:19-20 (NIV)
Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

I have never really understood the meaning of and power through this verse. Usually, I would say that we all need faith in God and through that faith we can do great things. But somehow I feel that that response is more focused on me than on God.

In this passage Jesus is flatly telling the disciples that they had no faith. They were relying on their own power rather than tapping into the power of God. Jesus doesn't say that only those with great faith can accomplish anything. He says that anyone with any type of faith (as small as a grain of mustard seed and as large as a mountain) can do great things when that faith is focused on the power of God.

"Faith is not a measurable commodity but a relationship, and what achieves results through prayer is not a superior 'quantity' of faith but he unlimited power of God on which faith, any faith, can draw" (R.T. France). I'm not a huge R.T. France fan, but he has explained this in a way I can better understand. And it puts the focus not on the faith or the person with faith, but completely on the unlimited power of God.

So, does this mean I have no faith at times in my life? I would have to say a resounding YES.

Quiet Time

Ah, self-discipline. There are so many things that I do or don't do because I am not self-disciplined enough. I'm sure you know what I mean. We all have those things in our life that we need to be more disciplined about. Maybe it's our eating habits (you don't have to be overweight to have bad eating habits) or holding our tongue in check. But I think a major discipline is a regular quiet time.

Why is it that I can keep my normal appointment with someone in the church, but my regular appointment with Christ seems to be pretty fluid. If I miss one I don't think it's that big of a deal, but if I miss an appointment with a human being I'm worried about causing an issue between us. It's almost as if I use the forgiveness of Christ as a crutch. I know he will forgive me for missing our time together and so I continue to miss it with him because I know he will forgive me. It's a vicious cycle.

A number of blogs ago I was talking about sin and why I do what I don't want to do. The whole Paul thing. I think I've found my answer. No, it's not because I've missed my quiet time. It's because I've missed spending time with my Savior and have relied on my own strength instead of His strength. I can't expect my sins to be conquered by myself. I need Christ to intervene in my life, give me strength, and conquer those sins through me. Yes, Jesus has already conquered death and sin has no hold on me, but unless I trust completely in Christ with all of me I cannot expect to be able to tap into that power. "Christ is the source of power, and meeting with him is essential to our receiving it" (Discipline Essentials, Greg Ogden, 35).

What does Jesus want from me? All of me. What should I want to give to Him? All of me. But I should never expect to give all of me if I'm not willing to keep my relationship building times with Him. I wouldn't even think about missing my time with my wife. I should be even more emphatic with my time with my Savior.

Pruning and Fire = Hell?

"I am the true vine,and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. . . If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned." (John 15:1-2,6; ESV)

I am currently working through a book by Greg Ogden titled Discipleship Essentials. This is a type of workbook that asks seemingly simple questions about discipleship in specific passages of the Bible. I say seemingly simple because the questions asked are actually very difficult to answer.

The passage I read this morning is John 15:1-11 where Christ describes himself as the vine and his disciples are the branches. One of the questions asked by the book this morning is "Jesus issues a warning that those branches that do not remain are cut off, thrown into the fire and burned (vs. 2, 6). What does Jesus mean by this? Is Jesus talking about those individuals who deny Christ completely and are thrown into Hell?

The word used for fire in the Greek is πυρ. This word is simply a noun for fire. As far as I can tell there is no specific reference to Hell in this passage. But if Jesus isn't talking about Hell then what is he talking about? Help me out here. How can someone be pruned and burned in a fire without it referencing Hell?

Why am I not like Paul?

"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you." (James 4:7-8; NIV)

Last Wednesday night I had someone from the congregation come in and ask me about the spiritual gifts that are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12-13. Here is just a few found in that passage: apostles, prophets, teachers, workers of miracles, healing, helps, administration, and speaking in different kinds of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:28; NIV). The question that was asked is whether these gifts still exist. Ahhhh, that question. Well, I gave her the normal answer, "Who am I to say that they don't. I don't see anywhere in scripture that they end." But then I came back with this question: What is the difference between Paul and us? Besides the fact that Paul was commissioned by Christ in person and he was an apostle, what is the difference between him and me?

The verse above brought up that same question when I read it this morning. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." That seems simple enough. So, why can't I live the life of Paul and resist the devil to the point and strength of Paul? He obviously had either more faith than me or more Spirit because I am not even close to living the life of Paul. But Paul had the same Spirit that I have. God does not change. So, why was Paul able to preach, have a guy fall out of a window, Paul go outside, bring him back to life, go back upstairs, and continue preaching?

Okay, so there are a lot of questions in this one. But seriously, what are your thoughts?

Paul, James, or Both

"You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. . . You see that a person is justified b what he does and not b faith alone." (James 2:20-22,24; NIV)

I have always loved the book of James. I have heard others say that it is contrary to the writings of Paul, but we should all know and believe that the Bible does not contradict itself. So, how do we reconcile James with Paul's statement in Romans 3:28. "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law"(ESV). Paul is not dismissing the work of the law in us, but it seems that Paul is dismissing the work of the law in justifying us.

So, maybe we need to be understand what justification really is. The Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms by Grenz, Guretzki, and Nordling (please don't hold it against me that I own a Stan Grenz book) states that justification is a legal term related to the idea of acquittal. It "refers to the divine act whereby God makes humans, who are sinful and therefore worthy of condemnation, acceptable before a God who is holy and righteous." A sinner is justified and brought into relationship with God by faith in God's grace alone.

James does say that faith without deeds (or works) is pretty much a dead faith. "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show my faith by what I do" (James 2:18b; NIV). So why does he then make the statement that justification is not by faith alone but also by what he does.

My desire is not to just accept his words without understanding them more. James wrote those words for a reason and I want to know that reason. But his statement in James 2:24 seems to contradict our and Paul's understanding of justification. Please, tell me what you think. Are we only fully justified by our works?