Let's follow through Valjean's truth from "Les Miserables" one step further.
Remember what he said to Cosette?
"You will learn.
Truth is given by God
To us all in our time,
In our turn."
And remember what God says to us .....
Consequently,
just as one offence resulted in condemnation for all people,
so also
one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.
[Romans 5 : 18]
Firstly. let me highlight the fact that what we do has no effect on whether we are justified or eventually have life.
What Jesus achieved on the cross (his righteous act) did it all. Jesus didn't just start a process for us to complete. He didn't lay a foundation that we must build on. What he did resulted in justification and life. It certainly doesn't need any action from us (including belief) to validate it. (1)
Just as we had no say in the result or consequence of Adam's "one offence," so we have no say in the result or consequence of Jesus' "one righteous act."
God has decreed them both, without any input or approval from us.
Now. let's consider the truth from Valjean.
Just as we cannot experience the curse placed on us by Adam until we are physically born, so we cannot experience the victory placed on us by Christ until God chooses to reveal it to us, until we are spiritually born.
For the firstfruits, that will happen in this life; for the rest of creation it will happen in the next..... each in our turn.
Isn't God magnificent?
Blessings, Barry
(1) Unfortunately, this is not what mainstream christianity teaches. It teaches that we had no say in the result of Adam's offence, but we do have a say in the result of Christ's righteous act - we can thwart the work of Jesus by our so-called "free will" but we can't stand up against Adam's. Does this sound like we have been taught that Adam is stronger and his work is more powerful than Jesus and his ?????
I don't get to talk much with my regular church friends about God's plan to reconcile all of creation to himself by the end of the ages.
Although they have heard me quote the universal verses from the Bible, especially from Paul's writings, and don't deny them, their major stumbling point is the tradition of the church.
"How can you possibly be right when the whole church has taught the opposite for so many centuries?" they ask.
(I guess Martin Luther got the same question in his day.)
Majority opinion becomes the orthodox view, whether it's correct or not.
A view that then opposes orthodoxy, or even just questions it, is considered heresy, and the questioner a heretic.
However, on the same day I saw the Les Miserables movie, a conversation with my friends over a coffee touched on the subject of God's grace. One of my friends reminded us of the common evangelical use of GRACE as an acronym for God's Riches At Christ's Expense.
As the conversation continued I quietly mentioned that I use GRACE as an acronym for a quite different expression. Eventually someone realised there was a question floating around somewhere in the room just begging to be voiced, and asked for what expression was GRACE an acronym for me.
I was happy to tell them, that for me, GRACE stands for God Reconciles All Creation Eventually - the ultimate manifestation of God's Grace.
Everyone stopped talking, seemingly stunned. One person even admitted he had recently read that idea somewhere in one of Paul's epistles. (1)
Wow! The gently dripping tap may be finally making an impression on the hard ground of tradition that surrounds it.
God's time for one of his saints in this group to see the tremendous truth of universal reconciliation may be approaching.
God's timing is his alone to determine.
I (we) just need to be faithful ministers of his reconciliation message. (2)
Blessings Barry.
(1) For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Christ, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in the heavens, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. [Col 1 : 19 - 20]
(2) God was in Jesus Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's sins against them. And the message of this reconciliation has been entrusted to us. [2 Cor 5 : 19]
This afternoon I went to see the latest release of the movie "Les Miserables" with four of my grandchildren.
I'm not a grant fan of musicals, but I so love the story line of this novel that I couldn't resist the invitation to join the expedition to the cinema.
One of my favourite lines is spoken by Valjean while speaking to Cosette, his "adopted daughter."
He says to her,
"You will learn.
Truth is given by God
To us all in our time,
In our turn."
As I read the Bible it seems clear to me that the truth
that God exists,
that he is love and sovereign,
that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of the world and to reconcile all of us to himself,
is indeed given to all people, and in their turn.
In fact, the only difference between us (believers) and others (unbelievers) is God's timing in revealing truth.
The only thing that makes us different from others is timing.
We, the believers, the “called," the "firstfruits," are simply further along God's ordained track than the rest of His creation.
God is doing an early work in us. It is only the timing of His grace that makes the difference.
But not only are we further along the track. We are chosen early for a reason - to be ministers or messengers of reconciliation to all others.
Valjean in Les Mis declares a profound truth that is only seen by a few at this time.
Blessings, Barry
To answer this question it is imperative to remember that "gospel" means "good news."
So when we hear evangelists preaching the gospel we expect to be hearing them announcing or explaining good news.
That is a given, surely.
I guess that's why we see the gospel described in the Scriptures as "the gospel of the grace of God" and "the gospel of Jesus Christ" and "the gospel of the kingdom of God" and "the gospel of peace" and "the gospel of the glory of Christ."
I can't find anywhere anything like "the gospel of the wrath of God" or "the gospel of everlasting torment."
How absurd to suggest that either of these could be associated with the word "gospel."
Yet how many times do we hear wrath and everlasting torment masquerading as gospel preaching in our churches and on our television screens?
How different is this from Paul's statement in Romans 10:15 ?
As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!” [NKJV]
The gospel is glad tidings of good things.
It is the good news that through Jesus God has reconciled us to himself - he is at peace with us.
God loves us and is on our side.
God holds nothing against us - any of us - whether we know it or not, whether we believe it or not, whether we appreciate it or not.
What God has done through Jesus does not depend on us in any way.
It is totally his decision, his work.
Now that's good news; that's the gospel; that's what God calls us to preach.
And the Christmas season is a great time to preach it - to explain to people the mission of the babe in the manger.
Blessings, Barry
Several conversations I have had in the last few days have centred around judgement, hell, the lake of fire, punishment, etc.
My conversation partners were so focussed on these topics that they completely missed God's ultimate purpose to reconcile all people to himself.
God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
[Eph 1 : 9 - 10]
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
[Col 1 : 19 - 20]
When we focus on the judgement, punishment topics, isolated from God's purpose, and isolated from God's love and sovereignty, we quickly get back to the position that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross completely failed for the majority of God's creation, and man's will has usurped God's.
But when we focus first on God's love, will and sovereignty, we can easily see God's judgements and punishments as the correction of a loving Father, in control of his family, moulding his children to become the people he has designed them to be, in the likeness of his begotten Son, Jesus.
We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
[1 John 3 : 2b]
If we saw a parent smacking a child and knew nothing of that parent's love for the child or desire to improve the behaviour of the child for its own well-being we might have a distorted view of that parent and his/her character.
Equally, of course, if we saw a parent belting and belting and belting a child, for whatever reason, we would be horrified and would question that parent's love for the child and the motivation for the punishment.
Unfortunately, many people view God like this, as an angry, incessant "belter" of his wayward children, because they don't know his heart and purpose.
Let's focus on God's character and purpose first and then we will see how easily the punishment verses, correctly translated, complete the picture.
Blessings, Barry
It's a month since I last posted about this, so I should keep you up to date.
(Actually it's a month since I posted about anything. But I warned you that the rest of this year would be pretty thin pickings ..... )
We have been attending the church I mentioned for six or seven weeks now and getting to know a growing number of the congregation.
The church is warm and friendly and we have been made very welcome.
One box ticked.
Within the church there is a wide range of views and opinions - moral, social and theological - but nobody seems to be side-lined because of the differences.
I feel that we could say whatever we think about almost anything without being ostracised or asked to shut up.
This is so refreshing, and suits me really well. Mature, unemotional discussion of different views on Biblical topics is not encouraged in many churches, especially in those that were "established" to promote or defend a particular doctrinal position or practice.
Indeed if all churches were like this one in this regard we wouldn't need a new church or a new denomination for every different thought or opinion that exists or emerges.
As you know "churchianity" is not my game, so I am pretty fussy when it comes to finding a group of Christians (a church) with whom I can worship and serve God comfortably and freely, and who will accept people who hold different points of view (that can be substantiated from Scripture).
Another box ticked.
I caught up with the minister for a chat at the church manse yesterday.
He is a very different person to me. Indeed, I have not served with another quite like him nor been pastored by one like him.
He announced to the church last Sunday that he was a universalist (and no-one seemed to blink) and that the "coming of Jesus" is more a series of comings of Jesus, some past, some present, some future.
So as different as we are, we are clearly on the same page in many things.
He is a wonderful man of God who will stretch me in new areas and wrestle with me in old ones.
Another box ticked.
The church is also very different to any we have been associated with previously.
It's a liturgical church, bases its corporate life on a common lectionary which celebrates the "standard" church seasons, and has a strong 'social justice' emphasis and a multitude of active connections with the local community.
Those who know our Christian and church history will be wondering how we ever came to be even considering a church like this, led by a minister such as this, but we are sensing that God is moving us into a church family that will love us and teach and challenge us in fresh ways that will round out our preparation for service in the kingdom.
Another box ticked.
Will post again in a week or so when we take the final step and "apply" to belong.
Blessings, Barry
Back in February I posted "Can You Recommend a Good Church?" in this blog.
I described a good church, or a church that would be attractive to me, as one that believes and proclaims that God is the Creator and Saviour of the world, and that is preparing believers to be co-rulers with Christ in the Kingdom of God.
That shouldn't have been too big an ask, but it was beginning to look an impossible task until very recently.
I'm not saying too much just yet, but ..... we may be on the verge of finding a church home within mainstream christianity.
No names, no commitment, no final decisions just yet.
But in the last two weeks we have uncovered a distinct possibility.
Here is a one-liner from the service last Sunday.
"See how God loves us!
God loves us enough to swallow up death forever."
Here is another from the Communion service.
"We have come to share in Jesus' kingdom meal.
We eat and drink in anticipation of that great day when we with all people will eat and drink in the Kingdom of God."
And one of the main Bible readings for the day was Isaiah 25 : 6 - 9, one of my favourites.
On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine - the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.
In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."
I haven't talked to anyone at the church about this yet, but it certainly shows some promise, doesn't it?
I have also attended one of its weekly Bible studies, which was not deep, but very enjoyable.
Here's the Golden Rule for the group.
"Agree if possible, disagree in an atmosphere of respect for the other person, and always listen carefully and thoughtfully to your fellow Bible student."
Wow, what a difference in tone from my other church experiences since retirement, where I've been told not to express any views that differed from the church's published views as that would cause confusion and division, and would undermine the leadership.
(Undermining the Bible didn't seem to cause the same sort of problem.)
Anyway, there's a ray of hope in this town that we'll continue to explore. I am beginning to look forward to "going to church" again.
Keep you posted.
Blessings, Barry
