April 2017 - SteveHerl Faith and Sports

People sometimes ask the question, “Why did God create?” Some will answer, “Because He was lonely.” Others will say “in order to show forth His Glory or to share His Mercy.” I believe God created because that’s what life does. Life begets life.

Let me explain. Before creation God was by His very nature in a relationship within the trinity. The Father was loving the Son and the Son was loving the Father and the Holy Spirit was the essence of and the power of the Love between the Father and the Son.

From creation we know that when a relationship is consummated by two becoming one, the very purpose of the relationship is created – new life. Life begets life. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” In the very act of the Trinity just being, creation came forth.

Now if relationship within the Trinity was the catalyst for creation, relationship must also be a natural consequence of being created in the image of God. Life begets life. Jesus prayed, “that they may be one even as we are one.” Relationship is the heart of Christianity.

In his letters to the Ephesians and to the Romans, Paul lays out the Gospel in all of its wisdom and wonder. He explains the position we were in before we heard the truth and then assures us of our relationship with God (His children) and all that we have in Him. But that is just the foundation of our purpose.

In Ephesians 3:10 Paul says that the mystery of the Gospel has been revealed in order to show God’s manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. He also explains that the mystery of God is to unite all things in Him; things in Heaven and on Earth – again, two will become one. And eternal life will spring forth. Life begets life.

We were created for relationship; First with God; While we were dead in our unbelief, God made us alive and included us in His family; He bridged the gap between Holy God and unbelieving man; He brought us into relationship with Him.

But He also called us into relationship with one another. The purpose of His revelation of love to us and in us is to equip us for relationship. God has shown us what it takes to be in relationship; Love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, truth, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. He showed us what true forgiveness is – feeling the pain and absorbing it in love, never insisting that anyone else share in the pain. Jesus hung on the cross and said, “Father forgive them they know not what they do.” He wasn’t talking about ignorant, unaware people. He was talking about the teachers of the law, the best of the best. Jesus took the pain and didn’t demand that anyone share in it. He didn’t transfer the pain and he didn’t make us pay.

God is transforming us for relationship. Jesus endured the cross by focusing on the love from and for the Father. Paul’s letters are full of the phrases, “In Him”, “In Christ”, and “In love”, because the essence of any relationship is who you are “in” another. In Ephesians Chapter 3 Paul expresses the foundational truth of Christianity – God is the Father of the family of His children (believers) and His Love is overwhelming and knowable only in your heart (beyond knowledge); God’s Love takes God’s power to comprehend because only God’s power can break through our selfish focus; But when it does, we are changed by the security of His Love, rooted and grounded in it, filled to all the Fullness of God.

Eph 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
Eph 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
Eph 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Eph 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
Eph 3:19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Eph 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
Eph 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

We are called the Body of Christ because just as the parts of your body are related to one another, so it is with the members of the Church (all believers). We are called the Children of God because just like the children in a natural family are related to one another, believers share in the DNA of their Father in heaven. We were created because “life begets life” and we are by nature creatures of and for being in relationship.

The first ten and one half chapters of Romans and the first three and one half chapters of Ephesians lay out in detail the message of the Gospel. We are taught who we are “in Christ.” But then we are taught why we are in Christ – for relationships. The life in us is supposed to beget life in others. As we let the truth of who we are in Christ transform us into butterflies instead of caterpillars we are filled to overflowing with new life – Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The abundance of new life is given so it will overflow into the people around us, into our relationships. Life begets life!

Now that I have the three greatest grandchildren in all the world I think I understand how God is Glorified in us. When my grandchildren glow with the joy of who they are “in me” I am glorified. They are my glory and my delight just like the love Karen has for me in her heart is glorifying to me. We glorify God whenever we delight in His presence and whenever we truly believe who we are in Him. As we bask in His glory we are changed and life begets life which brings new life which begets life. Relationships are the heart of Christianity, not an option. The church does not exist for judgment and rule keeping. The church exists for relationships and it is through deep, intimate fellowship that we are changed and matured. Life begets life!

In the Old Testament, once a year, the High Priest would present an offering to God for his unbelief and then an offering for the unbelief of the people. When the High Priest came out from the Holy of Holies the people were assured that the sacrifice had been accepted by God.

In court, when the prosecutor and the defense attorney agree to a plea deal the defendant may think his ordeal of judgement is over. However, one step remains for the settlement to be finalized. The judge has to accept the deal. Until his signature is on the order, nothing is complete.

Each of us is guilty of unbelief. Every time we fail to acknowledge God as God and either forget to or refuse to give Him thanks we prove the case against ourselves. God is the prosecutor, the defense attorney and the Judge. As Paul says in Romans 3:26, “He is the one who is just and the justifier.” As the one who is just, God pronounced death as the penalty for unbelief. Because He is just, one of two things had to happen. Either everyone who unbelieved had to die (everyone) or someone had to live a perfect life in perfect belief and then die as a substitutionary sacrifice

Before God gave the Law to Moses He made a covenant with Abraham. God promised Abraham, through his advocate, (defense attorney) that He was going to cut a plea deal with everyone who believes. Unbelief was in the world before the Law because it was passed down through Adam to everyone who came after. But Abraham believed God and it was credited him as righteousness because of God’s covenant promise. However, even for Abraham, God as judge had to accept the plea deal and agree that the penalty for unbelief was paid.

On Friday we reflected on the pain and suffering that Jesus went through to prove His Love for us. Rarely will someone lay down their life for a good man, but Jesus showed the depth of His Love for us in that He died while we were still unbelievers. We can be assured of God’s love by Jesus death on the cross. But can we be assured that our sin is removed and our guilt is taken away?

Not until Easter morning! On Sunday morning, the first day of the week, God as judge showed that He had accepted the sacrifice (the plea deal) because He raised Jesus from the dead. Just like the children of Israel knew that God had accepted the sacrifice when the High Priest came out of the Holy of Holies, we know that God accepted Jesus death as our payment when Jesus (our High Priest) came out of the grave.

On Easter morning we exclaim, “He is Risen!” And we respond, “He is Risen Indeed!” Because God has accepted the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus we are now justified (just-as-if-I’d-never-unbelieved). By God’s grace we have received access into the very chambers of the judge, unashamed and unafraid. And in His presence we are being changed by His Glory and His Love (sanctified).

HAPPY EASTER! HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

Month: April 2017

Relationships are the Heart of Christianity

People sometimes ask the question, “Why did God create?” Some will answer, “Because He was lonely.” Others will say “in order to show forth His Glory or to share His Mercy.” I believe God created because that’s what life does. Life begets life.

The Meaning of Easter – God Accepted the Sacrifice

In the Old Testament, once a year, the High Priest would present an offering to God for his unbelief and then an offering for the unbelief of the people. When the High Priest came out from the Holy of Holies the people were assured that the sacrifice had been accepted by God.