TUESDAY 08 June 2021 “Birthday”

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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

Today happens to be the birthday of a good friend who has been so helpful in making “Walking with Jesus” possible, over these many months, that as I express our ‘happy birthday’ to him, it causes me to consider this: as we celebrate our human ‘birthday’ we are celebrating something that launched our lives on this earth BUT you, and my friend and all of us have no recollection of our birth! We know it happened because we are alive, and we have a document called a ‘birth certificate’, which has a date, time and probably our finger or footprint… but the event itself is known first hand, experientially, only by our human mother who birthed us. We experienced it but of course we have no memory of that experience.

But what about the second most important experience for a human being in their life. . . our ‘regeneration’, our being ‘born again’ by God, when a person trusts in Jesus Christ to be their Savior? For some people this experience is traumatic, and they remember exactly the time, place and circumstances. They can easily identify the dramatic effects, sometimes physical, emotional and spiritual, which they experienced. They can see a clear contrast between who they were BEFORE and AFTER their salvation experience. But for many people, it’s not that traumatic or dramatic an experience. Should it be?

For the past few days we’ve been eavesdropping in on a historic meeting in Jerusalem, about 2000 years ago, where those men who had been the personally selected disciples of Jesus, the apostles, and Paul & Barnabas, the first Holy Spirit selected, cross-cultural missionaries of the Gospel, and several other Jesus followers, were in hot debate. Emotions were riding high, tempers had flared more than once. This debate was not about politics or sports, this debate was about the potential relationship with God of every living person on planet earth! This debate was about the legitimacy of spiritual regeneration, ‘new birth’ (John 3:3-7) and the eligibility of every human being to experience being ‘born again’ by God. Do you remember the discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus recorded for us in John 3 about this?

Paul & Barnabas were claiming that Gentiles, to whom they had gone and proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus, in several cities far away from Jerusalem, had trusted in this Gospel for their salvation. These Gentiles were not Jews. They had not been to the Jerusalem Temple, had not seen Jesus nor knew anything about Him until Paul & Barnabas told them Jesus’ story. Paul & Barnabas were insisting these Gentiles had been genuinely ‘born again’ by the power of God, just as authentically as both Jews and Gentiles in Jerusalem and the surrounding area! But some people were afraid of what might happen if this Jesus movement was opened to ‘pagans’ from other cultures, even far away nations.

Peter boldly and authoritatively proclaimed in this meeting: “…God, who knows the heart [of everyone] showed that He accepted these Gentiles by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. God made no distinction between us and them, for God purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of these disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:8-11) Look around the crowd, do you see the contrasting response? Some are smiling and nodding their heads in grateful agreement. Others have furrowed brows, are rubbing their chins, and their heads are tilted in deep thought. A few are rubbing their foreheads with scowls on their faces as though in great pain of heart and disbelief!

Oh Peter was right… the hundreds of moral and ethical laws the Jews tried to keep felt like a heavy, restrictive, burdensome, yoke upon their necks. Do you see that in many religions around the world today? The annual Jewish festivals while wonderful in celebration and significance, still were inflexible disruptions to their normal life and always brought great logistical challenges of leaving their jobs and homes, traveling to Jerusalem, finding lodging and provision, offering the required sacrifices and participating in required ceremonies, all the while wondering if their homes and property were safe back home, while they were away, etc. To these folks it simply didn’t seem at all fair that Gentiles would be acceptable to God, and have authentic salvation from their sin, without doing all the things they felt were required of Jews for God’s acceptance! God is a holy and fair God, right? So for some in this Jerusalem debate, why would God open the door so widely to allow non-Jews in without imposing the Jewish expectations upon them?

My friends, do you see two very important and powerful words in what Peter said? If you like to mark in your Bible, I urge you to circle these words: FAITH and GRACE. Peter had said “He [God] purified their hearts by FAITH… it is through the GRACE of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:9,11)

There they are… the two great pillars of Christianity. FAITH and GRACE! We understand GRACE to be God’s kindness extended to us humans without our earning His favor, or paying for it. Grace is totally undeserved kindness from God! Paul wrote: “For by GRACE we are saved, through FAITH, and that not of ourselves, so we might boast, it is a gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8,9)

I don’t like using the word ‘religion’ for we, followers of Jesus Christ, celebrate a RELATIONSHIP with God through Jesus Christ, not a man-made system of religious expression or experience. However, as I compare ‘Christianity’ with Islam, or Buddhism or Taoism, or Hinduism or any other ‘system’ of belief and practice, which offers explanation for the relationship between God and humanity… EVERY other religious system stipulates many requirements a person must do in order to achieve some type of relationship with their god. No ‘religious system’ other than Christianity claims God came to earth (Jesus), lived among us, died a sinless and sacrificial death to make our salvation from sin possible…and then rose from the dead.

He (Jesus) was visibly seen by many people over a period of many days, after His resurrection, then visibly ascended from earth, returning to heaven and now reigns sovereign & supreme over all things today, and Jesus is saving people daily from their sin (Hebrews 7:25) and receiving into heaven those who have trusted in Him during their earthly life. Only Jesus’ Christianity offers all these things to ALL humanity! Do I hear a great shout of AMEN all around the world? Do you understand it and more importantly are you authentically ‘born again’ and living in a vibrant, authentic, relationship with Jesus? Do you have a ‘spiritual birthday’ when this great NEW LIFE began for you?

History was being made here at this meeting in Jerusalem FAITH was being affirmed as THE human act required for salvation... not a financial payment, not the sacrifice of animals, not the keeping of laws, not even some act of penance as payment for their sin. FAITH ALONE. But faith in what? That’s important isn’t it my friends, in fact it’s critical, for in the realm of the spiritual, fully trusting your life, in FAITH, to God, is the supreme human act…but FAITH in what, exactly?

1. FAITH in the truth of WHO Jesus Christ is! Faith that Jesus is the sinless, Son of God. (Matt. 16:16; Luke 1:31-35)

If Jesus is not sinless, then He cannot pay with His life for your sins or mine, He must die for His own sin. Because Jesus is God the Son, Jesus is sinless, for there is nothing but perfection in God!

2. FAITH in the truth that Jesus really did die on the cross! That His death was full, complete, the sacrificial atonement, offering Himself to God the Father, in payment for the sins of our world! (1 John 2:2)

3. FAITH in the truth that Jesus’s death is accepted by God the Father as payment sufficient for the sins of every person in the world. No further payment of any type is necessary.

We humans can add NOTHING to the death payment of Jesus! (Romans 4:25,5:1)

4. FAITH that God will be true to His promise.. . “if we confess our sin HE [God the Father] is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

5. FAITH that Jesus is true to His promise... “whoever hears My word and believes HIM who sent Me, has eternal life and has crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24)

“God did not send His Son [Jesus} into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe, stands condemned already, because He has not believed in God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:17,18)

6. Faith that Jesus’ victorious resurrection defeated the power of sin, Satan and death! Thus followers of Jesus no longer live in fear of death or their sin bondage (Romans 6:5,6; Galatians 5:1; Hebrews 2:14,15)

7. Faith that resurrected Jesus’ ascended to heaven and His glory which He had before He came to earth. Also, that upon Jesus’ return to heaven, He became the advocate before God, for any person repenting of their sin and trusting in Jesus for their salvation!!

Paul later stated this truth when he wrote to Timothy: “…there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men.” (1 Tim. 1:5,6)

In response to this faith in God, from a repentant sinner, God then does ALL the saving work in that person and they are fully, completely ‘born again’ to live a NEW LIFE through the power of Jesus Christ unleashed in them! That is the ultimate expression of God’s GRACE poured out upon a sinful person…do you agree, have you experienced this my friend? May I urge you to go back through those faith statements and affirm them in your journal, and even declare them out loud to Jesus again? If by chance, you have NOT declared these faiths in God, and experienced your new birthing from God, then I urge you to do so right now, as you worship Him!

You may know the world famous, widely diverse, Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir in New York city is more than 300 people who each have a profound, personal story of the powerful, liberating work of Jesus in their ‘born again’ experience. Let’s join them in singing this great new song of celebrating the spiritual truths I’ve given you today, my friends…

Today’s Scripture is Acts 15:8-11.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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