Posted by Sherri in Pastor Tom's Thoughts | Leave a comment
22November2011

I read an article on sfgate.com that caused me to think about sin and our response to it. The article was about a man who committed a crime four decades ago, and manged to go into hiding, living an assumed life. What is interesting about the story is that he is now in police custody, not because they tracked him down, but because he turned himself in. I read a few of the comments people submitted in response to the article, and one of them prompted me to respond too.

The commenter noted that ” neither the victim nor the perpetrator can choose the punishment”, which is absolutely correct However, the rest of the tone of his or her comment was quite harsh and judgmental. This person focused on the crime, and did not seem to take into consideration the perpetrator’s change of heart. Fortunately for us, God does. Here is what I wrote in reply:

“You make a good point about the values of our justice system; it is true that neither the victim nor the perpetrator can choose the punishment. However, as a point of clarification, according to the article, no one was killed or hurt, because Bridgeforth shot at the car and not the people. I mention this because it certainly makes the impact of his crime significantly less and colors the aftermath.

Another point about our legal system is that the punishment is supposed to fit the crime. In this case, the crime is less severe, and generally the system looks a bit more favorably on criminals when they turn themselves in. So, I think he should definitely pay his debt to society (because he committed a crime), but the debt should be commiserate with the wrong done. It will be up to the judge to decide what that punishment will actually be, and I imagine he or she will take all these matters into consideration.

On another note, I must say that although this man committed a crime, apparently his conscience, or a Higher Power, or something caused him to decide to turn and face what he has done. Absolutely amazing. It is not remarkable to “sin” or do anything wrong (we have all done things we are ashamed of, and many, many have broken the law), but it is quite another to admit our guilt. We only have to look at the recent Sandusky horror to see that. This man will not admit guilt even after his victims have stepped forward, nor even after people have come forth that saw what happened.

Sadly, Sandusky’s denial of guilt has been been done many, many times before by others in all walks of life. The one thing all of these stories have in common is humans and human behavior. Apparently, no matter how good we think we are, humans have chosen to do wrong ever since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the garden. True or not, that story epitomizes the root of all our bad deeds: bad choices that come from a place within us. The serpent did not make them eat the fruit, but rather, they made a conscious choice to do it, just as Bridgeforth admittedly did. And just like Adam and Eve, Bridgeforth was to blame for his crime. However, unlike Adam and Eve, Bridgeforth finally decided to stop making excuses and returned to face his crime. He won’t (and shouldn’t) get a medal for it, but it appears he has discovered something better: a deeper understanding of right and wrong and a higher level of integrity then he had before. Every step towards right is a step away from wrong.”

Note that I do believe in a literal Adam and Eve, and I believe that the account in the Garden of Eden is true, because it is the Word of God. However, I tried not to pepper my reply with too much “Christianese”, in order to make my point understandable to the typical reader of Sfgate, which is a secular news journal. So, what I will add in this post is that sin is the result of that fall in the Garden, and ever since, mankind has willfully chosen to disobey God. As a result, mankind has also willfully chosen to hide his or her sin instead of confessing it. Our rebellion against God is far more severe than any crimes we commit against one another, and therefore, our punishment has to fit the crime. Fortunately, God also made a way to atone for sin through the sacrifice of His son Jesus, which provides a way to escape the sentence of death (and eternal separation from God) that we deserve. Now, not only can we feel free to confess our sin to God, but we can receive freedom though Christ who lovingly took the blame for us!

It’s What’s Inside that Counts

Posted by Sherri in Spiritual Musings | Leave a comment
26May2011

This recent headline on SFgate, “Giants-Dogers Rivalry Has History of Fan Violence”, caught my attention. After I read the story of senseless violence on unsuspecting victims, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/11/MN2S1IT34I.DTL, I was struck by this quote in the article, “The late sociologist Irving Goldaber, director of the Center for the Study of Crowd and Spectator Behavior in Miami, said that while alcohol weakens fans’ restraint, the real cause of rowdiness is their overly close identification with teams”. While I don’t have a sociology degree (my BA is in organizational management), I still beg to differ with the sociologist. The cause of violence among humans begins inside of humans, not in an identification with something external. We cannot blame something else or anyone else for our actions; we must take responsibility for what we do. But more importantly, the question arises; why do we do bad deeds at all?

Actually, the Bible tells us that the real cause of violence comes from our sinful nature, not from external circumstances. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (NLT). I recognize that in today’s postmodern world, a verse like that is unpopular. How dare the prophet Jeremiah say such a thing, and how dare I quote him? The fact is, I can’t help but quote him because although I think of myself as a “good” person, I have seen glimpses of the depravity in my own heart. I’d like to think that I do my best to live a “good” life, but the reality is, a) I don’t always do my best, and b) my best still isn’t good enough.

The issue starts with how we measure things. In fact, the reason I put the word good in quotes is because I wanted to emphasize that the term is something we as people often use to describe ourselves, but it is not the term the Bible uses. Instead, the Bible uses the term righteous to describe someone who lives morally and spiritually in alignment with God’s holy laws. With that in mind, am I righteous based off of my own standards, or am I righteous based on God’s standards? Is my idea of what is wicked self generated, or is it informed from the word of God? When I look at what the word of God says; I learn the truth about mankind, the human condition, sin, death, etc. Instead of operating from a relativistic world view that puts me at the center (and everything revolves around my finite wisdom), I trust in the One who is greater than I. From that perspective, I am not surprised by the violence that man does to man. And from that perspective, I realize that a close identification with Jesus Christ (i.e. accepting Him as one’s personal Savior) is the only way that sinners can be transformed into children of God.

The Real Meaning of Easter

Posted by admin in Guest Reflections | Leave a comment
8April2011

What Do the Easter Bunny and Egg Hunts Have to do with Easter?
 
Although the Easter bunny, egg hunts and Easter baskets are a lot of fun, these things have nothing to do with the real biblical meaning of Easter.  Even the name “Easter” comes from non-biblical origins, likely taken from the name of the Germanic goddess of spring, Eostre.  So what is the real meaning of the Easter holiday for Christ-followers and why is it a day that should give us great hope for our future?
 
Jesus the Lamb of God
 
In the book of John 1:29, John the Baptist, upon seeing Jesus, declared:
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
 
To understand what John the Baptist meant by this statement about Jesus, we need to first understand the significance of the lamb sacrifice to the Jewish people as presented in the Old Testament and celebrated through the Passover Feast.
 
The History of the Passover Feast

For many centuries, the Jewish people have celebrated a special feast called the Passover which continues on even today.  This is one of seven different feasts that God gave to the Jews to teach them about their place in history as God’s chosen people and about His future plans for them as well as for the whole world.
 
The First Passover

Over 3,500 years ago, the Israelites (the Jewish people) spent 430 years living in Egypt.  For most of those years, the Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians.  Because the Israelites were God’s chosen people, God had a plan to free His people from Pharaoh’s control and to deliver them from the land of Egypt.
 
In order to free His people from Egyptian slavery, God sent a deliverer named Moses, through whom He unleashed ten different plagues upon the Egyptians.  The final plague was the most severe and is the event that gave rise to the first Passover.  God announced to Moses that He would send the Angel of Death to kill every first born son of each Egyptian family, including the first born son of Pharaoh, and the first born male of every animal. 
 
For the Israelites, however, God provided a way to spare their first born sons from death.  On the night of the first Passover feast, God commanded every Jewish household to slaughter and sacrifice a perfect year-old lamb serving as an act of faith and obedience on their part. This lamb would, in effect, die in the place of the first born sons of the Israelites.
 
The lamb’s blood was then sprinkled onto the top and side doorposts of their homes in the form of a cross.  The families would then cook and eat the meat of the lamb.  In the night, the Angel of Death would fly over all of the homes throughout the land of Egypt, slaying all of the first born sons in homes where no blood was found on the front doorposts.  Of all the homes that had this blood sprinkled on its doorposts, the Angel of Death would “pass over” and spare the first born son of those families. 
 
This was how God then forced the Egyptians to finally release the Jewish people from slavery.  From that night forward, God required the Jewish people to celebrate the Passover feast as a way to commemorate how God had delivered their first born sons from death and freed and delivered their people from slavery in Egypt.
 
Jesus is the Passover “Lamb of God”

1,500 years later, in Jesus day, the Jewish people still celebrated the feast of the Passover every spring.
 
Every year, all faithful Jews would travel to the city of Jerusalem.  There they would purchase a spotless lamb and would have it offered up at the Jewish Temple by a priest as a sacrifice to God.  The blood would be poured out at the Temple and offered up as a payment for their sins.  During the Passover feast, the lamb would then be cooked and eaten by the family along with many other elements.
 
On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus and His twelve disciples celebrated the Passover feast in Jerusalem. There, Jesus gave His disciples the following instructions found in the book of Luke 22:14-20 (NIV) that would also serve to initiate the celebration of Communion for all Christians:
 
“When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.  And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.  For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.””
 
The Real Meaning of Easter

When Jesus was crucified on the cross the day after the start of the Passover, His blood was poured out and His body sacrificed, just like the Passover lamb.  His holy blood served as payment for the sins of all of humanity and provided the only true and lasting way to have peace with our Holy Creator God.  Just as the Israelites were freed from their bondage to slavery by the Passover lamb, we too can be set free from the penalty of sin by the blood of Jesus, the pure and spotless Lamb of God. 
               
The Apostle Peter described Jesus’ death as the fulfillment of the Passover feast in the following way in 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV): 
 
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.“
 
The true meaning of Easter is reflected in the amazing love of our Creator God who would sacrifice His own Son on behalf of His human creation.  This verse from John 3:16 captures its meaning well:
 
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 
 
By placing our trust in Jesus as this Lamb of God and surrendering our life fully to Him, God has promised to pour out amazing and abundant spiritual blessings in our life.  Some of those blessings include the following: payment-in-full for all our sins, assurance of eternal life in Heaven, restoration and healing from our life’s hurts and past shame, fulfilling relationships, purpose and meaning in this life, and special work in serving God’s Kingdom.  If you would like to surrender your life to Jesus as your Lamb of God and receive all of God’s amazing promises for your life, you can go directly to our Creator God with a prayer something like this:
 
“Dear God, I know that I have sinned against you and I recognize my need for a Redeemer and Savior to make me right with You.  I believe that You provided me a way to have all of my sins forgiven and to receive assurance of eternal life with You through the death and resurrection of your One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.  Please help me to place my trust in Jesus, through His holy blood that was shed for me on the cross, and to surrender my life to Him as my Lord and Savior.  Amen.”
 
To learn more about the Bible and the Christian faith, visit our Facts on Faith page, listen to our Sermons online, or attend our Sunday Worship service at 10:00 AM.

May your Easter be a blessed one!

Dorothy Cullen

Have Armor? Will Battle.

Posted by Sherri in Spiritual Musings | Leave a comment
5February2011

Today I want to talk about spiritual warfare. This is a heavy topic, so the blog will be somewhat lengthy, but hang in there and ponder these things. . .

I recently had the sad occasion to be involved in what I realized was spiritual warfare. What do I mean by spiritual warfare? What I don’t mean is just typical daily problems or issues that one might have a hard time resolving. What I do mean is a strong sense that something is occurring that is very bad spiritually. In fact, spiritual warfare is usually a term that is meant to imply that there is some form of demonic activity present.

To give you a better idea of what I’m talking about, here is an excerpt from the Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology and Counseling that helps to define spiritual warfare:

Scripture suggests four levels of demonic involvement in human temptation. These levels represent a continuum ranging from no demonic involvement to significant involvement.

No Involvement. Scripture makes it clear that temptations may come from our sinful nature without demonic intervention (Jer. 17:9; Mark 7:21–23; James 1:14–15).

Demonic Temptation. Scripture speaks of a second category of temptation that is demonic in its origin. Christ was tempted directly by Satan (Matt. 4:1–11). Likewise, Satan apparently tempted Ananias to lie (Acts 5:3). He incited David to take a census in Israel in a way that displeased God (1 Chron. 21:1). Paul reminds believers that they battle against evil supernatural forces (Eph. 6:10–18), and thus must be fully equipped with appropriate spiritual weapons.

Demonic Oppression. A more intense level of demonic involvement in human life is called by various authors’ demonic influence, demonic oppression, demonic subjection, or demonic obsession. Demons are believed to exert considerable influence over a person’s life short of actual possession (Unger, 1971, p. 113). Oppression may be a mild form of subjection that goes unnoticed for years until a particular event uncovers it. It may also refer to a state in which the person is continually surrounded and harassed by the powers of darkness (Koch, 1971, p. 32).

White (1990, p. 150) suggests four means by which he believes people become demonically oppressed. These are habitual moral compromise, such as involvement in the occult, nurturing bitterness or hatred, persistent sexual sin, or fleshly indulgence; family involvement in the occult; victimization by others (incest, rape, violence, exposure to satanic rituals); or ministry activity that draws attention away from Satan.

Demon Possession. In several instances where demon possession is described in Scripture, no specific symptoms are mentioned. When specific symptoms are mentioned they include possessed individuals manifesting supernormal strength; going about naked; being unable to speak, hear, or see. . .

One might think that this is pretty heady stuff, and in fact it is. As Christians, we recognize that the devil exists, and that his desire is to destroy all of mankind. The world has made light of the devil and openly states that he is just a myth. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and sadly, if one does not recognize that the devil and/or demonic activity exists, then one will not be ready to deal with it when it manifests in one’s life. By contrast, as one draws close to God through worship, Bible reading, and prayer, one gains a better sense of the spiritual forces at work in this world.

I listed all those forms of spiritual warfare to show the range within which it takes place. The first part of the range is simply what happens to all of us believers when we disobey God. We are not demon possessed or oppressed, but we do need to confess our sin and choose to obey the Lord. We all miss the mark from time to time, (remember 1 John 1:8 “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”), and so we merely need to repent and continue walking with our God.

Demon possession, at the opposite end of the spectrum, is something that I hope I never see; yet I do believe exists, even in 21st-century America. But the two that are in the middle of the spectrum are more common, and are examples of spiritual warfare that I know that I have encountered in my life, and realize that I was encountering last week. Keep in mind that the battlefield of spiritual warfare is everywhere; outside in the world, at home where we live, and even within the church: that’s right, the church. Since the Bible refers to Satan as the “prince of the power of the air”, and also describes him as a “lion seeking whom he may devour”, it is no wonder that the battlefield is all around us. Satan does not rule in God’s house, but he does try his best to gain a foothold and cause divisiveness.

It would be naive to think that only unbelievers act in ways that are antithetical to God’s order, but even believers can be perpetrators of rebellious, divisive, or unrighteous behavior. When Christians get caught up in sins like pride or bitterness, and refuse to heed godly counsel (choosing sin over truth), they open themselves up to demonic temptation or demonic oppression (as defined earlier). This does not mean that such people are not Christians, or are eternally lost, but it does mean that they are not in alignment with the Spirit of God, and are therefore on very dangerous spiritual ground. The bible is full of all kinds of admonitions that remind us that we are at war: “guard your hearts against evil”, or “take heed lest we fall”. These verses are there because the Holy Spirit knew that even redeemed people would err and occasionally choose sin over God’s holy ways. But what happens when it is more than occasional, or our sin starts to define us instead of God’s truth defining us?

A good example of what happens when a person allows sin to define his life instead of holiness, is the account in Genesis chapter four where Cain and Abel present sacrifices to God. God was pleased with Abel’s sacrifice, but God was not pleased with Cain’s (for reasons we will not go into here). Instead of Cain repenting and bringing a proper sacrifice that God required, he became angry and resentful. From that point on he descended even further into sin and chose to kill his brother. What is going on here is quite simple; Cain allowed jealousy, pride, and bitterness to become what defined him, instead of humbling himself before God, and realigning himself with the truth. Cain’s pride caused him to feel slighted by God, and he decided to choose a dark path in response to the situation. Cain refused to submit to God sovereign authority, which meant that ultimately he was refusing God Himself.

What makes this account particularly heinous is that God gave Cain advice and a stern warning as to what happens when one decides to choose sin over the righteous path. I am not a theologian, but if I had to guess, I would say that Cain opened himself up to demonic oppression, (due to his pride, jealousy, etc.) and therefore was driven to kill his brother. But regardless of what type of spiritual warfare occurred in that situation, this much is true: when we step outside of the bounds with which God has stated we are to walk in; we sin. At that point, the only thing left to do is to cry out to God with heartfelt repentance and ask Him to forgive us of our sins.

If we choose to continue to sin after we are confronted by other believers; by the Word of God; or by the Holy Spirit; then we venture into evil territory just like Cain. This territory is marked by our rebellion, defiance, and a choice to align ourselves with darkness rather than light. God told Cain in Genesis 4:7, “If you do not do well sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you but you must rule over it”.

Brothers and sisters, the enemy (Satan) is always looking for an opportunity to bring us down. We must stand alert, armed with our weapons of truth, and fight the good fight, even if it means contending with wayward Christians. We are not exempt from spiritual discipline because we are children of God, but rather it is because we are children of God that we receive spiritual discipline (Heb 12:5-6). God is not only a God of love, but also He is a God of righteousness and lawfulness, and He presides over His Church with holy justice and authority.

Today, if you find yourself in the midst of spiritual warfare, remember the words of the apostle Paul in 2 Cor 10: 3-6 “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.” If instead, today finds you caught up in pride, rebellion, bitterness, malice, or any other type of lawlessness; bend your knee before God Almighty, humble yourself, and repent!

I leave you with these words from 2 Timothy 2:22-26:

“Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”

—by Sherri C.

Reference:

Benner, David G. and Peter C. Hill. Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling. 2nd ed. Baker reference library. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1999.

Happy New Year and Jesus is Lord!

Posted by Sherri in Encouragement and Exhortation | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
26January2011

Hello everyone! I had hoped to write a New Year’s greeting before now, but an early month intensive class at the seminary took up a great deal of time and energy. However, I just got my grade back, and am happy to say that my hard work paid off nicely!

I wanted to take a moment and give you a challenge: make this year the start of a decision to let go of distractions, and draw closer to Jesus. I won’t call this a New Year’s Resolution (because it shouldn’t be for this year alone),  instead, I will call it a New Life Revolution. Take a radical journey of faith and let the Holy Spirit start an uprising in your soul! There is nothing more rewarding than having an intimate relationship with the Savior of the world, and He is waiting for you to get to know Him better. Not only is He standing at the door knocking, but He is waiting to move into the home of your heart with His luggage of love, joy, and truth. So don’t wait another moment; hurry up and get to know the Lord!