John 3:36  Freedom and Responsibility

        I want to speak briefly about two things today, freedom and responsibility.  Despite your circumstances or the status of your particular Supreme Court (yes I know my friends in Canada and elsewhere have it really bad right now) you do have God-given freedom of conscience and belief.

        And the second thing, responsibility, starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation.  From the beginning to the end, God is asking us, politely mind you as His dominion is over Canadians as well, to take up the mantle of responsibility that He gives us.  I hope and pray that we man up as churchmen and women up as churchwomen.  Let’s take the rights given by God and respond humbly yet confidently serving our King.

        Okay, that’s where we’re headed, but a quick pause for info.  I’ve been writing this blog before work for about two years now.  Those who have tuned in here and there know that we’ve walked through Acts to Revelation and are now hovering over the Book of John.  According to Google Analytics, the blog gets between 30-80 reads a day from 23 or so countries.  Over the last week, the top ten countries were the United States, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, China, the Philippines, South Korea, the Netherlands, and Russia.

        I thank God for this opportunity to teach what I'm learning.  As I said from the outset I’m preaching to myself, but I hope I can help others become more obedient disciples of Christ as the Holy Spirit guides and sanctifies us.  Please let me know how I can pray for you.  If you pray for me please pray like Epaphras prayed for the Colossians (4:12) that they are strong and perfect, fully confident that they are following the full will of God.  I want good health and I want good jobs (and wives) for our adult sons, but more than anything I want us all to follow the full will of God.

        I say all that just to encourage you to keep going.  I know that a lot of you are in bad jobs with terrible leaders and that a lot of our countries have bad governments.  Keep going!  Live wisely and make the most of every opportunity today.  Focus on Jesus.  Preach the Scriptures.  Always go back to the Scriptures.  Use Scripture - God uses His Word, and so shall we.  Preach Jesus.  Preach Forgiveness.  Preach Mercy.  And preach the need to obey Christ.

        Okay, back to John, but I wanted to let you know that I am praying for you and that I thank God that the Spirit of Christ lives in all of us and I pray that we will indeed set our sights on the realities of heaven (Colossians 3) and that we will see the challenges here on earth as opportunities to show the power of Jesus.

        Nicodemus saw the miraculous signs that Jesus did in Jerusalem.  Many others had begun to trust in Jesus (2:23).  Nicodemus too believed that Jesus’ miracles were evidence that God was with Jesus.  Like any good teacher (and the mark of a godly man) Nicodemus wanted to know more (3:1).  We see in Scripture that there is a distinct difference in what we see when we are born again (we see with clarity and open eyes) and when people do not have the Spirit of Christ (an inability to fully grasp the things of God).  Jesus chastised Nicodemus for a reason.  A man of God should be a man of faith and have a relationship with God to hear from God.  The parable of the evil farmers is in the Bible for a reason - it’s because the people ought to have known better.  They indeed had the ability to know who God was and to respond to the prophets and the Son of Man.  But they chose to reject them both.

        Scripture tells us that separation from God spiritually and not yet being born again spiritually does not mean that the person has lost all God-given faculties and abilities inherent as a human made in the image of God.  God made people so that they can hear, see, taste, touch, and think.  We have intuition, dreams, emotions, and discernment (yes, some more than others).  Human beings can be persuaded, taught, and discipled.  When we die - when our spirit leaves our bodies then and only then will we lose all of our human abilities.  There are all sorts of things we can do that harden our hearts and make it more and more difficult to have a relationship with God - the primary thing being intentional sin.  But my point is that we are to look at people as those that God loves.  We are to take the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:14-21) seriously and not shirk that responsibility because of unscriptural thinking that humans cannot respond to God, His word, and His teaching.  They can and God-willing they will!

        We can’t explain exactly how people are born of the Spirit but we can see in Scripture how Jesus explained it to Nicodemus.  Jesus said the Son came down from heaven.  And just as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness so too Jesus had to be lifted up.  Jesus was lifted up.  He was nailed to the Cross and lifted up to die for my sins.  And for yours.  The sacrifice of the Son of Man was planned from the beginning by God so that everyone who believes in Jesus will have eternal life (Numbers 21:8-9 and John 3:10-15).  

        People have to hear the truth about Jesus being lifted up (Romans 10:14 and 1 Corinthians 15).  Yes, it takes different evidence and convincing for different people.  Thank God for His creativity!  Just think how He got ahold of us!  Some, like Thomas, need to see more.  My wife, Kari believed with a mustard seed of faith through the miracle of seeing her newborn children.  For Nicodemus, my guess is that he had a sense straight away - starting well before the Cross.  When he heard the authority and authenticity when Jesus spoke and when he saw the miracles all Nicodemus’ faculties were stirred.  Make the most of every opportunity.  Use your God-given creativity to meet people where they are and answer their questions about Jesus with Scripture.

        Think also of Cornelius in Acts 10.  He was not a Jew.  He was not a Christian (yet).  But he was a God-fearing man.  He was devout and committed to God.  Cornelius likely saw the realities of battle and the realities of Roman politics and through prayer, his faith, albeit limited, grew (like the Prophets of the Old Testament - think Abraham).

        We find out in Acts 11 that while God was working on Cornelius He was also working on Paul.  We don’t have to have the whole picture, but we need to be obedient to the faith God gives us and be committed to growing in obedience to Christ.  Unlike Nicodemus, Cornelius was not a respected Jewish teacher steeped in the Law of Moses and well aware of the Prophecy of Daniel and the coming Messiah.  Yet like Nicodemus Cornelius had the God-given abilities and he had the ability to pray.  Like the widow offering a simple prayer and a generous gift, God sees our hearts and hears our prayers.

        I remember as a boy on the farm in Saskatchewan that I would pray to God.  I was not yet a born-again believer in Jesus Christ.  But I was able to think and pray and to talk to God.  Even as a boy God was showing me His wonder, His creation - everything from the massive amount of tent caterpillars we had one spring to the gift of animals (not only did I talk to God as a boy, but I also talked to my dog, Polar - a Siberian Husky we brought back to the farm from the Yukon).

        Don’t fall for those who try and limit Scripture in an attempt to put God in their control.  God draws people to Himself through many means - more than we can imagine.  But certainly through Creation, revelation, miraculous signs, grace, tragedy in the events of our lives, dreams, hardships, prayer, and the answer to prayer.  If your theological system contradicts Scripture, trust Scripture.

        Likewise, let’s be careful not to worship credentials or men.  We have Jesus Christ as our High Priest.  We have the Holy Spirit as our Counselor.  We have the testimony of the Apostles of Jesus Christ written in the Bible.  The Apostle Paul commands that his letters be shared and read.  As a lifetime member of the Gideons, I fully support spreading Scripture.  It is the power of God.  Scripture must be shared and read by ordinary people because that is who God loves - all of us!  God’s word is powerful and speaks to people - yes regular Joes like us.  If you are like me you want to be part of an understandable paradigm.  We all love being part of a tribe, camp, or denomination.  But let’s be careful to have loyalty to God foremost.  Jesus commands it of the Church (Revelation 1-3).

        Okay, to wrap up.  On one hand, we see in Scripture the nature of God that He does what He wants, how He wants it, and when He wants it.  Think, for instance, when Jesus says this, “Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money?  Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?” (Matthew 20:15).  And think also of when we are bragging about all our plans.  God says that we should always be mindful of God’s will and His Providence (James 4:15).

        God created us and He sets the standard for justice and rewards.  God decides at the end of the day who will enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5 - those who are born again by trusting in the Son of God) and those judged to hell (John 3:19 - those who love darkness more than light).

        God says repeatedly in Scripture that we must put faith into action (John 3:21).  But like those hired at 9 am, we sometimes bristle at the Saviors’s standards and commands.  God says when He returns to earth He will bring His rewards with Him to repay all people according to their deeds (Revelation 22:12).  I do not have a problem with that verse.  I know I’m a sinner and I know God is perfectly just.  Our trust is in Him alone, but we show our love by what we do.

        God says that He searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person.  And that He gives to each person whatever they deserve (Revelation 2:23).  Wait, what?  Our thoughts and intentions?  Yikes.  We are so impressed with AI, but it’s hard for me to grasp Jesus’ omniscience.  He knows everything we say and do and think.  God’s word is inerrant.  Let’s take it seriously.

        Jesus says to pray to the Father, “...and forgive us our trespasses, as we have forgiven those who trespass against us” (Matthew 6:12).  God knows how we forgive and what we forgive and He knows our grudges and our sneaky moves.  Before you accuse me of saying we have to earn our salvation let me confirm I’m not saying that.  Salvation is through believing in Jesus alone.  I am saying that Jesus commands His followers who believe in Him for eternal life to be holy and to take seriously His reproach in Scripture.  Don't justify not forgiving or being merciful for there will be a consequence.  Jesus’ little brother James puts it like this, “There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others.  But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you” (James 2:13).

        We’ve become a rights-based church.  We create monsters of ourselves when it is all about us.  My needs, my weekend, my rights.  I’m the first guy to say that we need to fight hard for our First Amendment rights.  But when we have those rights, as we do now, let’s be sure to use our free exercise of religion to fulfill the responsibilities Jesus commands of us in Scripture.

        God gives us the freedom and the responsibility to learn and grow.  Teaching and learning are God’s way.  Jesus, we thank You, that by Your grace, You allow us to learn, make mistakes, and grow.  Amen.

Kari Making Poppies for Remembrance Day