Jesus Christ the Author

Humans have a tendency to focus on the wrong things.  Sometimes it requires a near-death experience before we realise our priorities in life are skewed.  It takes losing something to appreciate what we had.  In the Bible we see this same shortsightedness demonstrated.  2 Chronicles 16:12 documents the case of king Asa:  "And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians."  God is the one who heals, but Asa looked instead to men God had given wisdom and understanding.  When Peter was called by Christ to step out of the boat and onto the Sea of Galilee, he took his eyes off of Jesus and instead focused on the waves and was filled with fear.  Even the crippled man who lay by the pool in Bethesda didn't recognize the power of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  When Jesus asked him if he wanted to be well, listen to his answer in John 5:7:  "The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  The man focused on the obstacles, while Jesus Himself could only provide the healing and restoration he desperately sought.

We can even focus on the wrong things in studying and interpreting scripture.  God gave me some wonderful insight into a passage sometimes taught by preachers adorned with conjecture and theories.  In John 8, the Pharisees and scribes brought a woman before Jesus who had been caught in the very act of adultery.  They were not concerned about righteous judgment, but desired to use this occasion to trap Jesus.  The passage is found in John 8:5-11:  "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" ⁶ This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. ⁷ So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." ⁸ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. ¹⁰ When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" ¹¹ She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."

In my opinion, there is an aspect of this passage which receives much undo attention.  It is not the fact that Jesus could have stood in judgment but refused to, even though He is perfect.  It is not the over-emphasis upon Christ's remarkable, timeless exhortation:  "Go and sin no more."  The part of the story which has elicited all sorts of theories and discussions is this - wait for it, though I'm sure you already know - "What did Jesus write on the ground with His finger?"  All sorts of ideas have been concocted.  But because they are merely ideas and not based upon scripture, they are all red-herrings and a waste of time.  This is not to say that Jesus writing on the ground was insignificant.  In fact, it is most significant.  Yet if it was critical for our understanding of the passage that we know what was written, the Bible would have explicitly stated it.  The fact Jesus wrote on the ground is more significant than whatever He wrote.  To understand this, we must go to the beginning.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the Word become flesh, Immanuel, God with us.  John 1:3 reads, "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."  When Jesus wrote on the ground, it was not the first time He made calculated designs in the dust.  Genesis 2:7 tells us, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."  Jesus reached down to the dust of earth and formed man with His hands.  He breathed into man a living soul.  It was not long before man corrupted Himself with sin and was thus separated from God.  Yet God, in His great mercy, sought to reconcile man to Himself.  He chose Abraham and his descendents as His special people.  He gave the Israelites His laws so they might know Him and His righteous judgments, words written with the finger of God upon tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18).

Jesus created man from the dust of the ground.  He later wrote His laws upon stone tablets with His finger.  So what is the significance of Jesus writing in the dust?  John 8:9 reads, "Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst."  The men left, not because of anything they read, but through what they had heard.  They had been convicted by their conscience.  Jesus was fulfilling the promise that He made in Jeremiah 31:31-33 by the institution of a New Covenant through His blood.  "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- ³² not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. ³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."  Jesus created man, wrote His laws, and also gave man a conscience which agrees with His righteous judgments.  Though self-righteous, the Pharisees and scribes knew they could not rightly throw stones because they were sinners.  Each man's conscience affirmed this fact.

Galatians 3:24-26 confirms, "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. ²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."  In the John 8 passage, we see a microcosm of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Bibles teaches us that when we are born again by the Holy Spirit through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, we are no longer under condemnation:  the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from all sin.  Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."  It makes perfect sense that Jesus would then say to the woman, "Go and sin no more."

Let us keep the main thing the main thing.  Instead of debating over things which cannot be known because of our limitations or focusing on what really doesn't matter, let us fix our eyes and hearts upon Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  In Christ we find that according to His divine power, Jesus has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).  Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  That is why He wrote on tablets of stone, why He wrote in the dust, and why He has written upon our hearts.  He has engraved His truth upon the conscience of man so all might turn from sin and trust in Him for salvation.

Utopia's Problem

"For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin."

Ecclesiastes 7:20

History is littered with examples of well-intentioned people who believed they could create utopia, a sort of "heaven on earth."  I find the definition of "utopian" in Webster's 1828 edition to be most revealing:  "ideal; chimerical, fanciful; not well founded."  There is no possible way to usher in utopia through force.  Governments and religious groups who have attempted this have only ended in death and disaster.  Utopia cannot be obtained through any human means, for all humans are flawed and fail.  Even when we obtain the thing our heart desires, we become dissatisfied.  King Solomon personally understood this fact:  Ecclesiastes 5:10 reads, "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity."

Education is not the answer for our ills.  If they were honest, most or all of university graduates will admit they cheated at some point in their lives.  Doctors, lawyers, and politicians are convicted of crimes motivated by greed and jealousy, just like the members of a drug cartel.  Poverty is not the problem either.  Give a man money and it does not solve the poverty of his soul.  The old saying rings true for horses and men alike:  lead them to water, but you can't make them drink.  If we can't agree on eating the same thing for lunch, what would compel a man to believe he can create a civilization built entirely upon unity, peace, and love?  Man does not possess these qualities naturally, nor are they cultivated over time through effort.  Grouchy old men grow into grouchier older men.

But man himself is not utopia's chief problem.  The unconquerable opposition of the utopian dream is that God is excluded in man's plans.  Utopia does not take the spiritual realm into account.  Man is deceived to believe he can transform the hearts of men from wicked to righteous by external means.  Even Christians know well that even when our souls are born again through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, we still must contend with the flesh, Satan, and temptations of the world!  God has brought peace to the world through Jesus Christ.  When He was born, angels sang out to shepherds and to all who would hear believing:  "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men."

If anyone could have brought peace on the world, it would have been Jesus.  But He spoke in Luke 12:51, "Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division."  The world is sold under sin, so peace can never be made on this earth in the current state:  there is not a just man on earth who does not sin.  To say peace and sin can cohabit would be like suggesting a wild Bengal tiger could live together peacefully with a young goat in a cage for their whole lives.  At some point, instinct would simply take over and the tiger would kill.  Sin is like that tiger, having ravaged the world and twisted the minds and souls of every man.  It is only a matter of time before that tiger does damage on those who would tame it.  There can be no peace until the world is cleansed of Satan and his demons.  There can be no peace until the world is wholly reconciled to God through repentance and faith.  There can be no peace until there has been divine justice.  There will be no peace until Jesus Himself returns in power, subdues the nations under His feet, and establishes His eternal rule.  Being righteous, holy, and just, Jesus does not act out of the vain, greedy, selfish ambitions that often fuel men.

The longing for utopia is actually a longing for Christ.  In Christ we find all the qualities that make us believe utopia is even possible.  There is no love, life, truth, peace, or unity apart from Him!  Utopia is not well-founded because it makes man's goodness the foundation.  Those who hear the words of Christ and do them He likens to a man who builds his house upon the strong foundation of bedrock.  He is the One we should build our lives upon because storms will come, not upon the fantasies of fools who say in their hearts, "There is no God."

My Oolong Lesson

When our family lived in the USA in 2005, our family hosted a Chinese student who brought us some hand-picked green tea as a gift.  For me, that is what put loose tea on the map.  I would wake up early, put the kettle on, and drop about 10 tiny green balls of dried leaves in the bottom of my mug.  As I poured in the hot water, the dark green leaves floated to the top and slowly unfurled.  It always amazed me how big the leaves would grow, kind of like those tiny plastic dinosaur toys which absorb water and grow large.  It wasn't long before I had finished the tea.  I was never able to find the same brand or type of loose tea again, much to my disappointment.

This week our family went to a meal at a friend's house and I was offered a cylinder of unwanted tea our hosts had received as a door prize at a company gathering.  My eyes lit up as I examined the tea.  "It's supposedly good quality, but we won't drink it," I was told.  The red tin had a picture of women picking tea and all the writing was in Chinese characters.  As I opened the tin, I could see I hit the jackpot!  The vacuum-sealed gold foil wrapper appeared bumpy, stretched taut over the balls of dried leaves.  It was the same kind of hand-picked oolong tea that I had not been able to find for seven years.  Needless to say, every other hot beverage I occasionally drink has been put aside to enjoy cup after cup of the good stuff.

When you find something that is really good, it's hard not to talk about it with others.  On Australia day, our family enjoyed a BBQ at the home of some friends.  We started talking about tea and coffee and I started raving about this new tea I had found.  I quickly offered to give our hosts some tea to try.  Now as much as I want everyone to enjoy the tea, there is part of me that recognizes I have a limited amount.  There is that sinful, selfish part of me that says, "Hello?  What about me?"  As I filled a Ziploc bag with the tea, the LORD said softly to my heart:  "Freely you have received, freely give."  I put some more tea in the bag, nearly filling it.  As I sealed it, the flesh said again, "That's a lot of tea to give away.  Shouldn't you put some back?"  Again I felt the LORD confirm, "Freely you have received, freely give."  So I gave away some of the tea and felt great doing it.  The funny thing is I instinctively offered some more tea last night to a mate so I will be filling another bag.  But I got the message!  Freely I have received, freely give.

How awesome it is that God gives us freely all that we need out of His stores of grace!  There is nothing we have that God has not freely given us out of His generosity.  2 Peter 1:2-4 reads, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³ as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴ by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."  What has God given?  "All things that pertain to life and godliness," as well as "exceedingly great and precious promises."  God does not look at the promises He has given and later decide, "Those promises are a bit too good for these people and certainly too abundant.  I will withdraw some of these promises until people show they are worthy."  No!  God gives us all this and more still!

God has given us the Holy Spirit, His regenerating, empowering, guiding, and teaching personal Presence within us for the express purpose of assuring us of what He has given.  1 Corinthians 2:12 states, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."  We know that God will never leave us, forsake us, or rescind the grace, love, and acceptance granted us through Christ.  John 10:27-28 says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."  Sporting events, concerts, airplane flights, and hotels all have limited capacity.  But there is room in God's house for all who will repent and trust in Christ.  It is not "first come first served:"  it is the "last will be first, and the first will be last," and "...him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).

As excited as I can be about long lost tea which is quickly given away and consumed, I ought to be most excited about God and all He has freely given to me.  The blessings and promises of God are not to be hoarded or treated as privileged information intended for a few worthy folks:  God has provided His love and grace for the most unworthy, weak, blind, lame, imprisoned, selfish, helpless, hopeless, poor, and wretched sinners like me this world has produced.  Freely you have received, freely give.  What joy comes to those who hear the word of the LORD and do it!  God has freely given us all things, so we ought to give ourselves and all we possess back to Him with exceeding joy.

Train up YOUR Children

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

 Proverbs 22:6

Those God has blessed with children have the important responsibility to train our children to serve, honour, and worship God.  We cannot relegate the meaning of training to only include what pertains to this temporal life, like household chores, manners, social behaviour, or instilling a good work ethic.  Deuteronomy 6:6-8 explains that teaching children of God through His Word and modeling worship of God is the primary role of parents, contrary to what many believe today:  "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes."  God delivered His Word so we might know Him in truth.  If would not matter if my children later in life embraced successful careers as doctors, soldiers, salesmen, lawyers, scientists, or travel agents:  if I have neglected the training and nurture of my children in Jesus Christ, then I have failed in the primary purpose of my calling as a parent.

A grave error among many parents in the church today is the reliance upon pastors, youth pastors, and Sunday School teachers to provide the bulk of their children's training.  I talked with someone recently who lamented the lack of a strong youth group at their current church.  "I had my son meet with a youth pastor to talk about some things.  I mean, he's not going to listen to me."  This is sadly not the first time I have run into this persuasion.  Don't get me wrong - pastors and teachers can have a huge impact on a child's life.  But God designed the family to be the place where kids receive godly instruction and a biblical worldview.  The life of a disciple of Christ must be established, modeled, and taught at home.  If it is not done there, one hour with a church "professional" will likely only soothe the conscience of parents who feel inadequate to train their kids.

Churches have been traditionally good at teaching facts and information.  From a young age, children grow in knowledge.  What does the scripture say?  The second part of 1 Corinthians 8:1 says, "...Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies."  Because of this, many of the kids who are brought up in churches tend towards being legalistic Pharisees without a relationship with Jesus Christ.  They become dull to the Gospel through much hearing.  The church is intended to reinforce what is already being taught at home.  If the love, grace, and doctrines of scripture are not being modeled at home, Christianity becomes compartmentalised in a building where people attend services once or twice a week.  This is a prime reason young people "fall away" when they enroll in university or enter the work force.  It's likely they didn't actually "fall away" but were never close to God - they simply stopped going through the motions of coming to a building.  Because the foundation of a relationship with God was not modeled in real life by people closest to them, kids are convinced Christianity must be a show:  it is a pastime for adults who go to church and drag along their kids because they think church is good for them, like eating spinach.  When the kids grow up and buy their own groceries, they don't buy spinach unless they realize the health benefits and have grown to enjoy the taste.  And when they wake up on a Sunday morning, they roll over and choose to sleep in.

I have been convicted lately that when I was a youth pastor, I spent much more time preparing for study, training, and teaching other people's children than my own.  God has gifted me to teach, and therefore it was good for me to pursue and cultivate this gift.  But as much time as I spent praying for, studying with, and teaching other kids, I should have set aside at least that much time for my own.  After all, I am primarily responsible before God for teaching my wife and two sons.  My family should have been my priority to train in the admonition of the LORD.  Many pastors fall prey to overwork and the neglect of family, and that is why some "PK's" (preacher's kids) have the reputation of being wayward.  Their dad can be so busy teaching and counseling others that he has neglected to train his children as he ought.  Praise God that it is not too late!  I have resolved to make the training of my family in the pursuit and worship of God a greater priority than ever before.

How about you?  As a parent, have you embraced the responsibility of training your children in their spiritual walk with Jesus Christ?  Even if your children are grown, it's not too late to model a life set apart for the glory of God.  Ephesians 5:14-17 reads, "Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light." ¹⁵ See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is."  It is God's will that children be trained in the admonition of the LORD by their parents.  The LORD will be your strength!