God Archives - SteveHerl Faith and Sports

April 15, 2017April 15, 2017

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.

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!

March 14, 2017March 15, 2017

The Beginning of Wisdom and Knowledge; of Insight and Love

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.” Psalm 111:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Proverbs 9:10

In his book, “The Holiness of God”, R.C. Sproul recounts a story of a well-known professional golfer was playing in a tournament with President Gerald Ford, fellow pro Jack Nicklaus, and Billy Graham. After the round was over, one of the other pros on the tour asked, “Hey, what was it like playing with the President and Billy Graham?” The pro said with disgust, “I don’t need Billy Graham stuffing religion down my throat!” With that he headed for the practice tee. His friend followed, and after the golfer had pounded out his fury on a bucket of golf balls, he asked, “Was Billy a little rough on you out there?” The pro sighed and said with embarrassment, “No, he didn’t even mention religion.” Astonishingly, Billy Graham had said nothing about God, Jesus, or religion, yet the pro stomped away after the game accusing Billy of trying to ram religion down his throat.

Fear is an interesting word. It can mean anticipation of impending danger, harm, punishment, dread, or pain. Fear can also be reverence or the mystery of the unknown. The Hebrew word translated fear in all of the above passages is “yirah” which means reverence in a moral sense or even better, the fear of the holy.

Holiness is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the English language. When we hear that God is holy we think we hear God is perfect (which He is), or absolutely righteous (which He is), or all powerful (which He is). But holiness is so much more than all of those. To be holy actually means to be set apart, or otherness. When we set apart certain vessels to be used for communion they become “holy” because they have been set apart; not because they are perfect. They are other (different) from the common vessels. They are holy. On the golf course Billy Graham had been set apart as holy (other) and the presence of the Holy made a famous PGA golfer uncomfortable without a word spoken.

Another great illustration of holiness (otherness) and the proper response to it comes from Mark 4:35-41, “On that day, when evening had come, he (Jesus) said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?””

Man is never more afraid than when he is facing death. Public speaking is called man’s greatest phobia but it is overwhelmed when we are faced tangibly with the possibility of sudden death. In the passage above, the apostles are afraid of dying from the storm (as afraid as they can be), so afraid that they awaken Jesus, and when He calms the storm (answers their prayer) verse 41 says literally, “now they were more afraid”. They went from facing their greatest fear (sudden death) to being more afraid. And they show us exactly what makes them more afraid – “who then is this,that even the wind and the sea obey him?” They were asking, “how do we classify this man?” “What kind of man is this?” They were face to face with otherness – Holiness.

The Psalms and the Proverbs teach is that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord and that knowledge and insight are promised as well. They tell us that fools despise wisdom and instruction. We have seen that the fear of the Lord means extreme reverence for His Holiness. Let’s see what some of these other terms mean in more detail.

Wisdom is deeper than great knowledge. It means “aptly applied knowledge.” Wisdom is the ability to handle what we know appropriately and in humility. You can see how important fear or reverence of God’s otherness (Holiness) is as the foundation of aptly applying knowledge to any given situation.

Knowledge means to be acquainted with, that is to know in the sense of relationship not knowing facts. Having deep reverence for the otherness of God is the foundation of knowing Him. He is not our grandfather sitting on the front porch with a pipe, He is other than us. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:8-11)

Insight means to know well enough to understand and teach. The fear of the Lord (Reverence for His Holiness) illuminates everything else and allows us to know and understand everything in a new way. It is God’s Holiness that puts everything else in proper perspective and the security and humility of reverence informs and establishes our heart.

Now let’s look at the most important thing about God’s Holiness. Without understanding God’s Holiness (His otherness) we will never really understand the chasm that existed between Creator and Creature, between Holy God and unbelieving man and we therefore fail to grasp the height and depth and length and width of the love of Christ. Until we have the fear that existed in that boat in the midst of the storm and have it replaced with the terrifying reverence of Holiness when the storm was calmed we can never know how much we are truly loved. When we think of the bridge that God built across the gap we think of the creek that runs through our backyard. We miss the fact that the Grand Canyon in all its magnificence is a trickle when compared to separation that Jesus restored. The Love of God is more powerful than anything else in all creation.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen”. (Eph 3:14-21)

March 3, 2017

Glorify Him as God and Give Him Thanks

Paul wrote to the Romans, “…they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Ro. 1:21) These words were written about the Gentiles but they might well have been written about two people who lived in a garden.

Adam and Eve lived in a very special place which was filled with every tree that was beautiful to the eye and good for fruit. They were allowed to eat from every tree in the garden, including the tree of life, with only one exception. God told Adam, “You may not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on the day you do you will surely die.” God did not prohibit Adam from touching the tree in the midst.

When Eve was created, Adam neither glorified him as God nor gave him thanks and it began a downward spiral that culminated in the prohibited fruit being eaten. How so you say? Well, read ahead in Genesis Chapter 3.

When the serpent engages Eve in the garden, he asks, “Did God really say you may not eat of any tree in the garden?” And the woman said, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘you must not eat from the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Do you see where the the downward spiral began? Eve told the serpent that God said they could not touch the tree in the midst of the garden. Where do she hear that? God did not tell Adam that he could not touch the tree. So who told Eve that she could not to touch the tree. The Bible does not tell us but I think the only answer is Adam. He was the only other human on earth and he did what he thought he had to do in order to protect Eve. I believe Adam decided that to assure that Eve would not eat from the tree he would tell her that God had said they could not touch the tree just to keep her away from the tree. With this added element of safety he could feel confident that Eve would not accidentally knock a piece of fruit loose from the tree and then be tempted to taste it.

Do you see the problem? Adam added to God’s word. He took the place of God and decided that he knew better than God when it came to what Eve needed to hear. He did not glorify him as God nor give thanks to him and his thinking became futile.

I believe that what may have occurred sometime after Adam misinformed Eve is that on a walk in the garden Eve leaned against or bumped into the forbidden tree. And guess what – she did not die! Why not? Because God did not say she would die if she touched the tree. But what did she think? Who did she doubt? God! She was not going to admit to Adam that she had touched the tree thereby giving Adam a chance to admit his indiscretion and protect God’s character so from that day forth she doubted God’s faithfulness because she had been told that God had proclaimed death for touching the tree.

The serpent (Satan) was more crafty than any other beast of the field that God had made and he knew that Eve had touched the tree and now had doubt. So he asks, “Did God really say……..?” When Eve expresses the false prohibition about touching, Satan knows he has her. She already doubts God’s faithfulness and she is easy pickings for a crafty serpent. In effect he says to her, not only did God lie to you about touching leading to death, he is lying to you about the effect of eating the fruit. He is just insecure because he knows that when you eat of the fruit you will be his equal and he does not want that. Now Eve is totally self focused because she has lost her trust in God’s faithfulness and when she notices that the fruit is (1) good for food – it was physically enticing, (2) a delight to the eyes – emotionally pleasing and (3) desired to make one wise – intellectually appealing, she eats and gives it to Adam and he eats.

When we think we know better than God we are not glorifying him as God and we are not filled with thankfulness for what he has given us. When we add to God’s word we are setting others up for disappointment and loss of trust in God. When we judge others we are taking God’s place. We are driving people away from God by adding prohibitions and commands that God never spoke. Jesus said that all of the law and the prophets hang down from two commands, “Love God” and “Love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself.” Just like he is the vine and we are the branches, love is the vine and good works which God prepared for us in advance are the branches. God does not need any help. Glorify him as God and give him thanks.