A Galatians Revelation

I have been meditating a great deal recently about the importance of 'faith' in Christianity. There are some people I know who say they love the Lord with all their heart. They go to the Cross daily and pray for Christ to cleanse their heart. On the outside, they do all the right things, but there is something lacking on the inside. What is lacking, it turns out, is having great faith in the Lord.

Why is having great faith a big deal in Christianity? This is a question I have been asking the Lord to help me understand. Not long ago, I had a little revelation, what I call 'A Galatians Revelation.' I just love the way the Holy Spirit moves. He never ceases to amaze me.

The first part of my revelation began when I opened my Strong's Concordance to look up the word 'faith.' I found the word in bold letters on page 340: 'FAITH.' My eye immediately scanned the page and moved over to the next page where there are many more references to the word. I thought to myself: ' Hmmm. There are many occurrences of the word faith in the Bible. '

Then I notice something interesting. As I begin to examine the references closely, I saw that out of the nearly 250 times the word 'faith' appears in the Bible, it only appears twice in the Old Testament. Only two times! It appears in Deuteronomy (32:20) and also in Habbakuk (2:4). Now my brain is racing. I think, playfully, to myself, 'if this were a sporting contest between the NT and OT (which, of course, it is not), the 'faith score' would be:'

New Testament (NT) - 245
Old Testament (OT) - 2

245 to 2!

That would be quite a trouncing by the NT team. In fact, it would be a complete blowout! No contest at all. Faith wins hands down in the New Testament.

I let the lop-sided statistics sink into my head and continue to pray for revelation on the importance of faith in Christianity. My heart tells me it is very important but my mind does not yet comprehend. A few days pass and then, suddenly. BOOM! The revelation I had been praying to receive appeared, like a bolt of lightening out of the night sky. Here it is:

Something extremely profound happened when Jesus was crucified on the Cross. We went from a world where Mosaic Law was paramount to a world where Faith and Love are everything.

Law versus Faith and Love. I see it clearly! My sporting analogy comes back to me again. Things are starting to make sense. I feel overwhelming peace in my heart (a sure sign the Holy Spirit is present).

I begin thinking more deeply about this fictitious contest I have created in my head between OT and NT, which can be viewed as Law versus Faith and Love. As it turns out, I recently began reading a book by T. Austin Sparks titled, 'The Gospel According to Paul.' I love the writings of T. Austin Sparks. If I were a bee, T. Austin Sparks would be pollen to me.

The book starts with Romans and then goes on to Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. Sparks has deep insights into these Epistles. I come to the chapter that discusses Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Sparks is discussing the context surrounding Paul ’s letter. I can sense this is going to be a chapter full of great insight into Christianity.

The World Turned Inside Out

Paul was a Pharisee. He was one of the most religious people on the planet before he received the Holy Spirit. Paul knew Mosaic Law inside and out. He used to persecute Christians!

Sparks tells us Paul had great difficulty with the Galatians. The Galatians, it turns out, were a people who were reluctant to give up the Law and surrender their hearts to Jesus. In his religious days, Paul would have loved the Galatians. But the religious Paul had died when he received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s heart was full of Christ now.

With a comprehensive knowledge of the Law in his mind and a heart full of Christ, Paul was intent on setting the Galatians straight. The Law must go. Christ is all in all. His love must reign supreme in our hearts through faith.

There are some powerful Scriptures in Paul's letter to the Galatians. Two of the most powerful are 2:20 and 5:4-6. Both contain the word faith:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:4-6)

Paul is telling the Galatians that with Christ, we live by faith, not by Law. Faith expressing itself through love IS THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS! WOW! What a powerful statement that is to people insisting on following the Law! Talk about a couple of knockout punches! The Galatians must have been sent violently to the floor with those words.

Prior to receiving the Holy Spirit, Paul had little faith. As we saw earlier, faith was not an important part of Mosaic Law. Equipped with the Holy Spirit, the former religious Pharisee and one-time keeper of the Law reversed the order of the Spiritual world. The question Paul asked the Galatians essentially was:

Who needs the Law when you have faith in Christ and His love inside your heart?

The Law regulated the outside behavior of people, but it did not change their hearts. Paul knew that everything spiritually revolved around changing a heart. That is why Jesus came to Earth - to show the way from darkness to light and fulfill the Law. That is, to transform our hearts from the inside out.

This remarkable transformation reduced people to love. It reduced people to what God is -- LOVE (1 John 4:8). Love is the fulfillment of the Law (Romans 13:10).

As Sparks tells us in his book, the Galatians did not have a chance against Paul. He had Christ and His love in his heart.

Game over.

The summing up of Christ’s love in our hearts as all in all is in Paul’s letter to Romans:

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not covet,' and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

Three Things Remain

Can you see the importance of faith now? It is almost everything in Christianity. I say 'almost everything' because faith alone is not sufficient. There is a critical piece missing and that piece is love.

Paul knew love was the missing ingredient. He told the Corinthians:

If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2)

We can have great faith - enough faith to move mountains! - but without love, we are nothing. NOTHING!

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

When you combine faith and love, you have the necessary ingredients to become a disciple of Christ. Without both of these ingredients, it is impossible to follow Jesus and live a live of love. Christ requires faith and love.

May you find the strength to have faith that can move mountains, and may you express that faith always through love. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Agape,

Steve

Back To The Cross

Yesterday I sent out a personal note about what Christianity has become since Christ was crucified - it has become a religion about Jesus instead of a relationship with Him. It has become Christ without the Cross. Jesus is Savior, but not Lord. As I noted in "Christianity Today," a closer relationship with Jesus cannot be accomplished without the Cross. It is simply not possible. If we desire Jesus to be Lord of our hearts and possess His Spiritual Fruit, we must take up our crosses daily and allow Him transform the darkness in our hearts to light. It is in this manner that Christ lives in our hearts and we shine.

The link below is to an essay by Chip Brogden at The School of Christ. Chip provides a nice overview of what the Cross means and why it is important. If you desire a closer relationship with Jesus, I highly recommend spending a few minutes reading the article. It's one of the best essays I've seen on the subject.

Back To The Cross
by Chip Brogden
http://www.watchman.net/articles/back.html

Agape,

steve

Christianity Today

What has Christianity become since Christ was crucified on the Cross?

I have been asking myself that question for a while now. I have been asking God to reveal the answer to me. Today, after years of prayer, I got a glimpse of the truth. Here it is:

Christianity today is a religion about Jesus instead of a relationship with Him. It is Jesus without the Cross. Jesus is Savior, but He is not Lord.

I know God speaks the truth, so where is the proof that Christianity has become a religion about Jesus instead of a relationship with Him?

Take a look at your own life and those of people who you know. What do you see when you look at them?

My guess is you see a lot of troubled and dark hearts. My guess is that you don't see much love, joy, peace, self-control, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness.

Why is this?

It is simply because Jesus is not Lord. Most people refuse to take up their cross and have what is not of Christ in their hearts crucified.

So you might ask, what would we see in people who not only called themselves Christians but truly had the heart of Christ? Here's what we would see:

They would have love. They would have joy. They would have peace. They would have patience. They would have self-control. They would have faithfulness. They would have goodness. They would have kindness. They would have gentleness.

This is what St. Paul called "Fruit of the Spirit." It is the fruit we bear in our hearts from His vine when Jesus becomes Lord.

Now let's recognize one thing. This is "SPIRITUAL FRUIT." It's not "religious fruit." There is no such thing as religious fruit in Christianity. God is Spirit! He is most certainly not religion!

Now, take a look around. How much Jesus do you see in the world today? How much peace, love, joy, patience, self control, faithfulness, goodness, kindness and gentleness do you see today? Not much, right?

If the people who call themselves Christians really were followers of Christ, we would see far more Spiritual Fruit in the world than we do today. There are over 2 billion people today that classify themselves as Christian. Over 2 billion! And that number is growing every day.

How many of those more than 2 billion go to the Cross daily? I would venture to say very few. People that have received the Holy Spirit - which is the greatest blessing one could ever receive - know one very important thing: Jesus without the Cross equals religion. Religion cannot bear Fruit on the Lord's vine. It is impossible. It cannot be done. If you don't believe me, open up your Bible to Matthew, Mark, Luke or John and read it carefully. It's all there in black and white.

So we live in a world where Spiritual Fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, self control, faithfulness, goodness, kindness and gentleness - is in short supply. This means one thing and one thing only: Jesus is not Lord.

If Jesus were Lord, we would see a lot more Spiritual Fruit. It would be everywhere! But it's not everywhere. In fact, it's hardly anywhere at all. I have heard people refer to their living conditions on Earth as "a hell hole." That's a pretty good description. It is a "hell hole" for one reason - because Jesus is not Lord!

I've heard Joyce Meyer (a woman who was sexually abused by her own father when she was a child) say that people think going to church every week makes them a Christian. Joyce says we can sit in our garage all day and that doesn't make us a car. How true that is! Joyce's point is this: Going to church and being a Christian can be, and often are, two totally different things. Unless you go to the cross, you can sit in church from here until eternity and never become a disciple of Christ.

The Cross is the place where Jesus becomes Lord of our heart!

Proclaiming Jesus as your Savior may get you into heaven. But we know that until Jesus becomes Lord, you will bear little if any Spiritual Fruit. In fact, until Jesus becomes your Lord, your life will in all likelihood be or become "a living hell."

So let me ask one more important question:

If God promised you could have more love, more joy, more peace, more self control, more patience, more goodness, more kindness, more gentleness in your life, would you want it? Well, God has made this possible. But it comes with a cost. What is the cost, you ask? The cost is your heart - your life.

The Cross is the place where we exchange the darkness in our heart for the light of Christ. The Cross is where darkness is transformed to love, light and life - what my friend Chip Brogden call the three most important words in all the Scriptures.

So how do we transform the darkness in our hearts to light?

The first thing you have to do is this: Pray to God to be blessed with the Holy Spirit. Ask God to give you the Holy Spirit. You will know when you receive the Holy Spirit. The Bible will make very little sense to you until you receive the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that allows you to become One with God.

Once you receive the Holy Spirit, the hard work on the Cross begins.

Will the Cross be painful? You bet it will be. Will you cry? You bet you will. Will Satan try to disrupt you? You bet he will. But it's all necessary and part of the process of having your heart transformed from darkness to light.

How long will this process take? Well, that depends on how hard you work on the cross. The harder you work - that is, the more you allow the Lord to crucify Self and transform you into His image - the less time it takes. It all depends on your desire to transform your heart from darkness into light.

There is much pain, but God promises you that by going to the Cross, He can transform your heart into all those wondrous things that are of Jesus. The darkness in your heart will be transformed to light! You will shine! And your heart will transform other hearts and the world will begin to bear more Spiritual Fruit. As John the Baptist said, He must increase, but I must decrease.

You see, Jesus MUST increase. He must. God tells us that He must. And the only way He can increase is by you decreasing. That's what the cross is all about! The cross is the place where we decrease and He increases! That, in sum, is what Christianity is all about. It's about Christ increasing!

Now, you might say, I can't go to the Cross. I don't know how? Well, ask God to help you. He will. He will tell you that through Jesus, you can do all things. Jesus will strengthen you. The Holy Spirit will guide you. Nothing is impossible with Jesus as Lord. Nothing! But you must have faith and trust. This is absolutely essential.

Many people stumble or have great difficulty following Jesus because they have very little faith and do not trust God.

If you take up your cross and have faith in and trust Jesus, you will bear Spiritual Fruit on His vine. That is a promise God makes to you by accepting Jesus as your Lord. All the darkness in your heart - the stuff that makes your life "a living hell" will be transformed into light.

Your heart will be filled with love, joy, peace, self control, patience, goodness, kindness, and gentleness - the Fruit of the Spirit.

You see, Christianity is not a religion. It's an affair of the heart. Man has turned Jesus into a religion, but that's not what God intended when he sent his Son here and made Him go to the cross and sacrifice His life so that we may have an amazing, glorious life through Him.

Many people think Jesus went to the Cross for them so they don't have to. But that is not true. It is simply not true! Jesus clearly tells us that we must take up our own crosses if we are to follow Him and have victory. The life of a true disciple of Christ is a victorious life. Jesus battled Satan and Satan lost. The only way to claim victory over darkness is to go to the Cross and have whatever is not of Christ in your heart crucified.

Christianity is all about having our hearts transformed into the heart of Christ. As children of God, we are called to love, and love resides in the heart. We are to first love God with all of our heart and second, love our neighbors as ourselves.

Here's what St. Paul told the Romans:

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

All the commandments are summed into one rule: LOVE!

Our hearts will never be as pure as Christ. However, over time, as we go to the Cross and the darkness in our hearts is transformed to light, our hearts will become pure enough to see God. As Jesus said:

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)

When you see God as love, which is Who He Is (1 John 4:8), you will know your heart has been purified.

So, in the final analysis, we all have two choices. We can:

1. Profess Jesus as Lord, go to the Cross daily and have the darkness that is still in our hearts crucified. Through this process, we will bear much Spiritual Fruit.

Or, we can:

2. Profess Jesus as Savior and deal with Satan and his darkness every single day and bear little if no Spiritual Fruit. Choosing this option may lead to life as "a living hell."

God gives us the freedom to make the choice.

The choice is yours.

Christianity is not a religion - it is a love affair of the heart.

As St. Paul said to the Galatians:

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6)

In one sentence, St. Paul captures the essence of Christianity: Faith expressing itself through love.

It is, he says, the only thing that counts.

May your heart be filled with His Spiritual Fruit.

Agape,

Steve

ps: please feel free to send this article to others if you believe it can be a blessing to them.

Why Love?

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
- St. Paul

Why love?

It's a simple question with a profound answer. The answer to this simple question is contained in one of Paul's prayers to the Ephesians:

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. - Ephesians 3:17-19

Paul's prayer is that we are rooted and established in love so we can comprehend the love of Christ. Once a proud and powerful Pharisee - a keeper of Mosaic law - Paul could only truly see Christ once the eyes of his heart were opened and his heart was transformed by the Holy Spirit. As a former religious leader - one who knew Judaic law inside and out - Paul fully understood that without a transformed heart full of love, it was impossible to comprehend the love of Christ.

Paul's experience shows, and his prayer to the Ephesians testify, that the only way to comprehend the love of Christ is if we are rooted and grounded in love - not in religion. Paul was religious, but couldn't see Christ until he lost his religion. By being rooted and grounded in love, Paul says we have an understanding that surpasses knowledge. Understanding that surpasses knowledge is wisdom. Love is the gateway to wisdom. Love is the gateway to Christ. To be wise is to see Christ as love - true and pure love.

Paul's first letter to the Corinthians has one of the most profound statements in the Bible. He states, simply but powerfully:

If I have not love, I am nothing. -1 Corinthians 13:2

Paul told the Corinthians that we can have all knowledge - knowledge that reveals incredible mysteries, but if we have not love, we are big zeroes. We can have a faith that moves mountains - moves mountains! - but if we have not love, we are nothing. We can call ourselves Christians, go to church every Sunday, identify ourselves with some man-made church denomination, do good works in Jesus' name and all kinds of activities and things for Him, sing His praises night and day, but if we have not love, it all goes down as a big zero. Nothing!

As Disciples of Christ, our goal is quite simple although extremely difficult in practice: To go to the cross daily and be reduced to love. All that is not love must be crucified. Why must this be so? Because God is love.

As John so eloquently stated:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. - 1 John 4:7-8

Without love, we cannot travel the narrow path with the Lord. If we have not love, it is impossible to find, let alone walk, the narrow path.

Love is the fulfillment of the law - it transcends Mosaic law. As Paul told the Romans:

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. - Romans 13:8-10

All the commandments, said Paul, are summed up in one rule: Love. Everyone who loves has been born of God, said John. Love one another, as I have loved you, said Jesus.

Seeing God requires a pure heart. A pue heart is a heart filled with love and nothing else. That is why we must all be reduced to love.

As the Lord stated:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.- Matthew 5:8

Let us pray that we are all rooted in grounded in love so that we may truly comprehend the love of Christ and that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

amen.

agape,
steve