You find yourself having some interesting conversations when you have two young sons who enjoy superheroes and comics. The other day the boys were asking me some rather pointed questions about one of their favorite superheroes, Wolverine. The funny thing is they were asking me questions as if Wolverine and I were old friends. I guess they thought I had a deeper understanding than they did about the mutant abilities of one of Marvel Comics more popular heroes. Here is the Reader's Digest version of his superpowers for those that aren't familiar with Wolverine or his abilities. Wolverine heals ridiculously fast, meaning he's nearly indestructible. He also has a fictitious but indestructible metal coating his skeleton. He also has three razor sharp blades that extend from his hands. Needless to say, he is pretty impressive when it comes to superheroes.
Since I'm always on the lookout for sermon illustrations and ideas for blog posts, I couldn't help but notice the correlation between Wolverine and how the church is supposed to be. Now I know in a perfect world with perfect people we would have a perfect church. Unfortunately we live in a sinful world full of imperfect people which results in a flawed church. But just because we live in a broken world doesn't mean we can't strive towards being a part of a great church that stands out from the world. To do so I think the church (the people not the building) needs to imitate the abilities of Wolverine and here's how...
Heal Quickly.
The church is full of sinful people. None of us are immune to sin and we'll all continue to sin until this life is over. The reality of our sinfulness plays itself out in the church. At times we can all be selfish, prideful, controlling, slanderous, or downright mean. When that happens people are hurt. The best way for Christians in the church to handle this type of situation is to expedite the healing process. That means don't go to everyone and their brother complaining and gossiping about what someone did to hurt you. Take it directly to the person and address the issue with them as quickly as you can. What you'll find is that Satan will use that difficult situation to cause more problems if you give it time hoping it will go away. Deal with it quickly, speak honestly, and work towards a resolution (Ephesians 4:26-27).
Have a Strong Backbone.
One of the more challenging aspects of dealing with people, inside and outside of the church, is speaking up for what is right. Sometimes that means an injustice has been done and we need to speak out against it. Usually we don't have trouble speaking up in that way. But when we hear people gossiping and slandering others, we need to be just as quick to speak up. What I've witnessed over the years, and I've seen myself do it too, is that someone makes a comment and you know you should say something to defend the person or stop the gossip, but instead you go silent. We've all been there, but that doesn't make it right. What we as a church need to do is to be bold in calling a sin a sin and standing up for what we know is right. Even if we have to stand out from the crowd to do so.
Use Your Weapon Wisely.
Some in the church have no problem cutting others down and then finding some obscure and out-of-context bible verse to support their mistreatment of others. Regardless of what they did to hurt you, two wrongs don't make a right. Two wrongs simply leave more people hurting and a bigger problem for all involved. The greatest weapon for dealing with people who have hurt us is not a sharp tongue, foul language, or gossip. The greatest weapon is the Bible. The Bible teaches us how we are to relate to God and to others. We are to treat others like we want to be treated (Luke 6:31). If I've hurt someone I would want to know about it so I could seek their forgiveness and make things right. If they respond with hatred and anger, chances are I'll never see the error of my ways. But if they were to respond to me with forgiveness because God had forgiven them (Ephesians 4:32), then I would be moved to seek restoration of the relationship. If we don't use our greatest weapon, the Bible, to help protect our church and the relationships we've built in it, then we haven't done our job as Christians.
It might be a bit much for some to compare the superpowers of a superhero to how the church can take a stand to standout in this world. But the truth of the matter remains the same, the church needs to learn to heal quickly, stand up for what is right, and put the truths of the Bible into practice. When the church does so, it will definitely become a church with awesome superpowers.
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A few weeks ago I started a series on "Difficult Questions for Christians." Here is where you can view the last four posts: "Why doesn't prayer work, when the Bible promises that it will?", "Why does the Bible record scientifically impossible events as factual?", "Where is the justice in punishing us for Adam's sin?", and "Why aren't Christians doing greater works than Jesus did, since He Himself said they would?" This week I'll attempt to answer one more of the thousands of difficult questions posed by skeptics and Christians alike. Remember a few things though as you read. 1. This is a short answer to a difficult question that has probably plagued the human heart for thousands of years. 2. God's Word is the ultimate authority with answers, not a fallible pastor. 3. The Bible doesn't give us the answers to every question we have. It tells us what we need to know, not necessarily what we want to know. With that being said, let's jump into our next question in the series.
Why is the Bible unclear about how to be saved?
This is a great question. The argument that will arise from this particular question is, if there is nothing more important in the Bible, then why is it ambiguous and contradictory? Why doesn't Jesus clearly explain the process in a step-by-step manner if salvation is so important? If the apostles were tasked with sharing the Gospel and leading people to salvation why didn't they write more clearly about it? I think to start off with you have to consider the role that perspective has on clarity.
Clarity or understanding something is dependent on your perspective. I am very unclear on the science behind how a rocket can leave the earth and make it into space. A rocket scientist doesn't have the same problem. It is the same with spiritual matters. Those who have completely shut God out and want no part of their life influenced by His Holy Spirit, they will not see the clarity of what the biblical texts show about how to be saved. To understand spiritual matters, which is what salvation is, a person must have their spiritual eyes open to what God wants to show them. Otherwise God's plan of salvation will seem unclear, convoluted, ambiguous, and contradictory.
Would things be much simpler if Jesus had given us a step-by-step process, then the Holy Spirit inspired the biblical writers to record the exact words and process? Sure it would. Can I tell you why God didn't work things out in that way? No I can't. Does it really matter? No it doesn't. The reason it doesn't matter is because the overarching theme of the Bible is God's plan for repairing the broken relationship between Him and man by dealing with mankind's sin. When you read the Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 what you find is an interconnected series of events that show how man has broken their relationship with God by disobeying Him (sin) and how God has provided a way to restore that relationship. You can read more about how to repair your relationship with God here.
If a person reads the Bible by skipping from this chapter in this book to another chapter in another book, yes the plan of salvation can be lost in the mix. But when a person studies the Bible, not simply reads it, then they will begin to see what God says about salvation. Yes there are four specific verses in the book of Romans that when pieced together helps to clearly explain how to be saved (Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10,13). The important thing to remember is that everything between those verses helps to explain those specific verses and how they impact our understanding of salvation. In John 3, Jesus explains to a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus the hows and whys of salvation. Even Nicodemus, a man trained in the Jewish faith, didn't easily grasp Jesus' teachings. Remember, picking up the Bible and expecting to fully understand salvation from a randomly picked verse is like reading a few sentences in the Lord of the Rings and expecting to know the difference between a Hobbit and a Dwarf. It doesn't work that way.
One other thing to consider is that a person can be led to salvation by reading and understanding the biblical texts. But the salvation message, or Gospel, is meant to be shared from person to person. The biblical text is to give authority to the message of the Gospel when it is shared by Christians. Don't hear me saying the Bible is not important when it comes to the plan of salvation because it is very important. But God's design for the spreading of the Gospel was primarily person to person, not book to person. This is why Jesus told the apostles in Acts 1 to go into all the world and preach the Gospel (my paraphrase). The Christian is to help bring clarity and understanding to the Gospel message as the unbeliever reads the biblical text and has their heart illuminated by the Holy Spirit.
I'll close with this. There are plenty of verses in the Bible, when carefully studied and considered in regards to others, that help explain God's plan of salvation. The best way to fully understand how to be saved is to talk to someone who has experienced salvation. They can explain to you what it takes to be saved and what it means for you to be saved. The Bible will give you a clear understanding of salvation if you read and study the text. But you must encounter it with a desire to see what God wants to do in your life through His free gift of salvation.
I hope this brief look at "Why is the Bible unclear about how to be saved?" will help you see how God reveals His plan of salvation through the Bible. As always, I'm open to comments and questions, either here on the blog or via Social Media. If this question brings to mind another difficult question about faith, then by all means ask it.
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Three weeks ago I started a series on "Difficult Questions for Christians." Here is where you can view the last three posts: "Why doesn't prayer work, when the Bible promises that it will?", "Why does the Bible record scientifically impossible events as factual?", and "Where is the justice in punishing us for Adam's sin?" Over the next 2 weeks I'll attempt to answer 2 more of the thousands of difficult questions posed by skeptics and Christians alike. Remember a few things though as you read. 1. This is a short answer to a difficult question that has probably plagued the human heart for thousands of years. 2. God's Word is the ultimate authority with answers, not a fallible pastor. 3. The Bible doesn't give us the answers to every question we have. It tells us what we need to know, not necessarily what we want to know. With that being said, let's jump into our next question in the series.
Why aren't Christians doing greater works than Jesus did, since He Himself said they would?
This particular question centers around a statement Jesus made in John 14:12 during His time in the Upper Room and just prior to His crucifixion. This verse says, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (NIV). Now the argument will be made by the one asking the question that the context of Jesus' statement is referring to miracles. Therefore the concept of the question is why aren't Christians doing greater miracles than Jesus did if that is what the text implies. Like the other questions we've tried to answer in this series, you have to take a few things into consideration to come to a more complete answer.
Jesus wasn't referring to miracles. Was He?
Bible scholars have struggled with this statement for nearly 2,00 years. Jesus had just mentioned miracles in verse 11 but was it in the context of doing miracles that He makes this comment? It really doesn't seem to be so. The context of verses 9-12 (read them here) has to do with people putting their faith in Christ as their Lord and Savior. Jesus references His miracles as another sign that He is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. So when we look at the wider context of what Jesus was talking about in these verses (not to mention verses 1-8), we see that Jesus wasn't referring to His miracles in verse 12. What He seems to be referring to here is leading people to faith in God through a relationship with Him.
The apostles did do greater works than Jesus.
Hear me out before you hang me for heresy because of the line above. One regular view that you find from bible scholars and bible commentators is that the best view of verse 12 is to take it at face value with a literal interpretation. That means when Jesus told the disciples that they would do "greater works" (NKJV, KJV) than Him, He meant they would accomplish more than He did during His time on earth. Jesus had a ministry of three and a half years. He covered an area of roughly 4,400 square miles during His ministry. Due to the fact He physically could only be in one place at a time, Jesus was limited as to what He could accomplish during 3.5 years and geographically limited to less than half the nation of Israel. That being said, Jesus trained 12 men to do the same things He had been doing and then sent them out. The 12 (Matthias taking Judas Iscariot's place) went out and performed miracles like Christ did. More importantly the 12 disciples took the Gospel message to the ends of the known world. They started churches in countries as far away as India. They led rich and poor people to faith in Christ. They started the spread of Christianity outside the walls of Jerusalem. From that perspective, the apostles did do greater works than Jesus did.
Christians are still doing greater works than Jesus.
Look around the world today and you will see that Christians are still doing greater works than Jesus did in His short ministry. Christians are able to reach every inch of the globe with the Gospel by sending correspondence electronically or sending missionaries into the most remote jungles. There are companies such as Chick-fil-a, Hobby Lobby, and others who are unashamedly using their corporate platform to advance the Gospel. There are ministries such as Samaritan's Purse, The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and The Gideons International who are spreading the message of Christ around the globe. No, Christians aren't walking on water or turning water into wine these days, but they are still performing miracles with the help of God. See the greatest miracle that can ever occur is the miracle God performs in a person's life to bring them from spiritual death to spiritual life. Through Christians sharing the Gospel, God is still performing miracles and doing greater works through them. (Follow this link if you want to learn more about the miracle God performs to bring a person from spiritual death to spiritual life.) From this perspective, Christians are still fulfilling Jesus' statement and doing greater works than He did.
I hope this brief look at "Why aren't Christians doing greater works that Jesus did, since He Himself said they would?" will help you see what Jesus expects from His followers. As always, I'm open to comments and questions, either here on the blog or via Social Media. If this question brings to mind another difficult question about faith, then by all means ask it.
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