For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say No to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed Hope the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Titus 2:11-14 (NIV)
There is so much confusion in our present time. People are confused about all kinds of things, and one major thing the Church can help make clear is what is grace, and what is salvation.
Stop saying that you are saved by grace if you are living under the control of the same sins as before you claimed you were saved. You should instead say you are saved by mercy, which is not a real salvation.
If you were truly saved by grace, which causes you to be born again, you would be living free of the control of sin. Grace by definition is the power through God to do the will of God. Truth is, if you are not born again, there’s a very good chance you are not “saved.” You are only living a life that is frustrating and testing the mercy of God.
Jesus’ work on the Cross deserves more than a weak and powerless grace teaching from the Church. Jesus died to redeemed and purify us. Redemption and purification must be taught as connected and happening together.
Even though the lost and rebellious against God only like the redemption and not the purification part, both must be preached and taught, otherwise the Church is preaching only a half truth, which is a false Gospel of grace.
If you claim to be “saved by grace” the by Paul’s definition, you should be “eager to do what is good.” Not perfect, but at least eager. If there is no eager desire for good, there is no redemption, and that means no salvation.
How very sad for someone to believe they are saved, to live and die under the control of sin, only to find out on Judgment Day they were never redeemed.
Preach the truth, proclaim the Gospel and interceded with prayer for the lost.
Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
It has been said the definition of character is
Doing what is right when nobody is looking.
The problem with the statement is that everybody wants to define what “doing right” is by their own standards and almost everybody’s idea of what is “right” is wrong.
I would like to add to the definition for the purpose of clarity
Character is following the leading of the Holy Spirit by submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ even when no one is looking.
There is a verse in Proverbs that has always stuck out to me when friends played jokes and pranked each other. Every year on April 1st it is almost always a guarantee that somebody’s feelings are going to get hurt somehow at sometime during that day. As I watched the mayhem that followed as friends tried to smooth over hurt feelings, Proverbs 26:18-19 would come to mind.
Proverbs 26:18-19 (NIV) Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”
I have heard it being taught from pulpits that Jesus was a fun guy. They even go so far as to say that Jesus was just one of they guys and must have played pranks on his disciples.
That is a fun picture of Jesus and it even helps sell Jesus like the “My Homeboy” t-shirts. It also helps make the idea of Jesus as Judge a little more tolerable. We can always say to Him in the court of Heaven, “Oh that sin, it wasn’t really sin. I was just joking around, I didn’t mean anything serious!”
But the image of Jesus a jokester, as a man who ‘deceives his neighbor and says ‘I was only joking,’ is not true of his nature, and it was not how Jesus acted towards his disciples in Scripture. To say that Jesus acted in such a way is to malign his character and goes against what is written in the Bible.
Hebrews 6:18 (NIV) God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD TO LIE, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.
Titus 1:2 (NIV) a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which GOD, WHO DOES NOT LIE, promised before the beginning of time,
The truth is that teaching that Jesus is a prankster is a false teaching about who God is. It causes one to ask the question, “Can I trust a God that may be pulling a prank on me?” It lowers a perfect Creator to the level of a sinful and imperfect false god from Olympus.
Matthew 24:24 (NIV) For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect- if that were possible.
It is not the nature of the Father, Jesus or the Holy Spirit to deceive or pull pranks for his amusement. Hebrews says it is ‘impossible for God to lie.’ To lie is the nature of the “False Christ,” or to say more clearly, the Anti-Christ. To say Jesus did lie, even just as a fun prank, is to attribute the character traits of Satan to Jesus.
John 8:44 (NIV) You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Was Jesus fun to be around? I would say yes. It was a joy to be in His presence, but He never lied or deceived anyone, even just as a joke.
Did his disciples prank each other? The Bible is silent on that account, but the Bible is very clear that Jesus never deceived anyone as a joke.
So what can we take from the real “prankless” Jesus? How about love your neighbor just as you want to be loved. So I would say, bless you neighbor, friends, and family and don’t prank them. Blessing them may just freak them out even more than the best April Fools prank, and then you may be a little more like Jesus.
I would suggest that the American citizens should remember that the President is the servant of the People, and he is an elected “citizen”. The problem is that many American politicians think that they are the “authorities that are appointed by God” and the American citizen is their servant. When the second _____ becomes reality, American will cease to exist.
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. NIV (1 Pe 2:13–14)
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. NIV (Ro 13:1–2)
Both of these verses are often quoted by well-meaning Christians as a Biblical mandate to blindly submit to church leaders or US government officials. I would suggest that the historical context of these passages is to be looked and which is form of government was present, the “Emperor”. Nobody voted for the emperor during this time, he was born divine or he killed the last emperor and claimed the power for himself. All of the emperor’s governors were to establish and exercise the will of the supreme authority, that of the Emperor. None of these forms of government that the Apostolic authors are writing about is the form of “government by will of the people”. No form was the American Constitutional form of government. If American Government is the will of the people, then the officials are the servants of the people, there to administer the people’s will. I would venture to say that if someone is still trying to say that we as Christians are to blindly submit to American elected officials because they were elected (even in times when the government is not governing accord to the will of the people), then they may want to consider renouncing their American citizenship and swear allegiance to the English crown. If that is Biblical thinking and of application of scripture they are promoting as current for our Republic form of Government then America should have never of rebelled against the Crown and the “authority that which God has established”. That would mean that America rebelled and was born as a country under judgment of God.
“Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”
I would suggest that American civics needs to be taught again in schools and also to the current government officials, because we the people are the ones responsible for what our government does and we the people are accountable to God for how are government servants behave. Just like a business owner who has an employee that is doing illegal business, if the owner does nothing to fire or discipline the employee, then the owner is also guilty under the law.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. NIV 1 Co 3:11–15
We will have to give an account for all of our words and deeds, and deeds include how we voted. The blood of Jesus covers our sins but that is not the same and “wood hay and stubble that have to go thru the fire of Judgment. I’m not saying we are not to respect and give honor where honor is due, but as American citizens we are the government and when our business employees or our government employees are acting like fools, we have to speak up and correct them or fire them. I would also disagree with the idea that Jesus was never political in his ministry. He blasted the government of that day, that is why they wanted to kill him. Israel’s main form of government at the time was a theocracy and the government of King Herod was only a puppet oversight government for the Roman Empire that was overseen by Pontius Pilot. Jesus publicly blasted the theocracy and their leaders on many occasions, and just one of many examples is Matt 23:13-36. He even calls them a “bunch of snakes” (that didn’t go over to well with the Jewish leaders). Even John the Baptist publicly blasted King Herod for marrying his brother’s wife, and that got John beheaded.
For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Mk 6:18.
The meaning of Romans 13:1-2 and Peter 2:13-14 is not to remain silent and do what ever the government tells you, but not to be a criminal and break God’s law. It always has been a Christian duty to speak out against injustice and breaking of God’s law. As an example, if and when the US government makes and enforces the law that makes it illegal to say that homosexuality is a sin and that the church is required to perform same-sex marriage, then the church will have to break the “ungodly law” and continue to preach the truth. My main point is that well-meaning Christians that are American citizens misuse these and a few more verses to say that all Christians should not criticize or speak out against any officials of the US government, including the President. My argument to their misapplication of Scripture is that they are using Scripture as justification to neglect the responsibility of their American citizenship, which is to keep our government honest, God-fearing, and submitted to Gods will. It is Jesus that charged his disciples to “therefore go and make disciples of all nations,” (and that includes the USA) “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Mt 28:19-20 (NIV) Pray for the American citizens in government, and teach them to obey Jesus. That is our Christian and American duty. Grace and peace to you.
Tony Nobles Ministry 