Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
What is your Worth?
Matt 13
45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
46Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
In this parable, Jesus talks about the “pearl of great price”. Who is this pearl of great price and what is the worth or value of this pearl?
The worth of something is established by what someone is willing to pay for it. If we put up a pearl for sale, its worth is determined by how much someone is willing to pay for it. So if someone pays X amount of dollars, then we say that, the pearl is worth X amount of dollars. In other words the value of that pearl is equal to the value of the money paid to acquire it.
We are familiar with this parable being taught as Jesus being the pearl of great price and that we need to pay a price to obtain Jesus and to make it to heaven. We have heard it said that we need to do this and do that and the whole rigmarole of religion, to be worthy of Jesus and His kingdom. There is nothing further from the truth. Our best efforts will always fall short of His glory and His standards. There is no price we can pay, no sacrifices we can make, no amount of religious works we can do to gain His acceptance. All such attempts are futile and will never amount to anything close to His value. He is priceless. If we could pay our way to heaven with our works and by following all the rules and regulations of religion, there wouldn’t be any need for Jesus to die on our behalf. Paul says in Gal 2:21 that if you could become righteous by keeping all the rules and laws, then Christ died needlessly.
Let’s look at this parable from a grace perspective. Sin separated man from God. The righteousness of God demands that sin be punished; and the penalty of sin is death. This means that you and I would have to face God, the righteous judge, and be condemned to eternal destruction. God also knew that you and I would never be able to save ourselves by any of our self efforts. So, what did God do to save us, and at the same time punish our sins? John 3:16 says that God loved SO loved the world (you and me), SO much that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus became the perfect sacrifice, the lamb slain before the foundation of the world for our sins. Our sins were placed on Him and He bore the wrath of God and OUR sins were punished in His flesh (Rom 8:3).
What was the price God paid to redeem or purchase you and me? He gave His very best, His only Son, His very life, which cannot be compared to millions of dollars or all the wealth in this world. So you are EQUAL in value to Jesus, because that is what God paid to redeem you. In God’s eyes, you are as precious as Jesus. YOU ARE THAT PEARL OF GREAT PRICE! He paid with His life and blood. Jesus gave up His glory, riches and domain, and suffered humiliation, even to the death on the cross, to pay the ransom for us (Mark10:45). You are His purchased possession. You are apple of His eye. You are graven in the palm of His hands. You are most precious in His sight. Quit looking at yourself as worthless and start looking at yourself through God’s eyes.
There is a false sense of humility when one says, “Oh! I am a poor old sinner saved by grace” or “I’m not worthy to receive God’s blessings”. Quit looking at yourself and how you don’t measure up. Look at what God did for you through Jesus, knowing very well, that you would never measure up.
Religion will say that you are not good enough, you need to do more and become better to become worthy of His kingdom. Religion focuses on what we need to do but God says,” Look at what I have already done in you through the finished work of Christ on the cross.” He says, “You are a saint, you are righteous, you are holy, you are loved and accepted in Christ, you are royalty, you are that pearl of great price, you are precious.”
45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
46Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
In this parable, Jesus talks about the “pearl of great price”. Who is this pearl of great price and what is the worth or value of this pearl?
The worth of something is established by what someone is willing to pay for it. If we put up a pearl for sale, its worth is determined by how much someone is willing to pay for it. So if someone pays X amount of dollars, then we say that, the pearl is worth X amount of dollars. In other words the value of that pearl is equal to the value of the money paid to acquire it.
We are familiar with this parable being taught as Jesus being the pearl of great price and that we need to pay a price to obtain Jesus and to make it to heaven. We have heard it said that we need to do this and do that and the whole rigmarole of religion, to be worthy of Jesus and His kingdom. There is nothing further from the truth. Our best efforts will always fall short of His glory and His standards. There is no price we can pay, no sacrifices we can make, no amount of religious works we can do to gain His acceptance. All such attempts are futile and will never amount to anything close to His value. He is priceless. If we could pay our way to heaven with our works and by following all the rules and regulations of religion, there wouldn’t be any need for Jesus to die on our behalf. Paul says in Gal 2:21 that if you could become righteous by keeping all the rules and laws, then Christ died needlessly.
Let’s look at this parable from a grace perspective. Sin separated man from God. The righteousness of God demands that sin be punished; and the penalty of sin is death. This means that you and I would have to face God, the righteous judge, and be condemned to eternal destruction. God also knew that you and I would never be able to save ourselves by any of our self efforts. So, what did God do to save us, and at the same time punish our sins? John 3:16 says that God loved SO loved the world (you and me), SO much that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus became the perfect sacrifice, the lamb slain before the foundation of the world for our sins. Our sins were placed on Him and He bore the wrath of God and OUR sins were punished in His flesh (Rom 8:3).
What was the price God paid to redeem or purchase you and me? He gave His very best, His only Son, His very life, which cannot be compared to millions of dollars or all the wealth in this world. So you are EQUAL in value to Jesus, because that is what God paid to redeem you. In God’s eyes, you are as precious as Jesus. YOU ARE THAT PEARL OF GREAT PRICE! He paid with His life and blood. Jesus gave up His glory, riches and domain, and suffered humiliation, even to the death on the cross, to pay the ransom for us (Mark10:45). You are His purchased possession. You are apple of His eye. You are graven in the palm of His hands. You are most precious in His sight. Quit looking at yourself as worthless and start looking at yourself through God’s eyes.
There is a false sense of humility when one says, “Oh! I am a poor old sinner saved by grace” or “I’m not worthy to receive God’s blessings”. Quit looking at yourself and how you don’t measure up. Look at what God did for you through Jesus, knowing very well, that you would never measure up.
Religion will say that you are not good enough, you need to do more and become better to become worthy of His kingdom. Religion focuses on what we need to do but God says,” Look at what I have already done in you through the finished work of Christ on the cross.” He says, “You are a saint, you are righteous, you are holy, you are loved and accepted in Christ, you are royalty, you are that pearl of great price, you are precious.”
Monday, August 10, 2009
Beware of the leaven (yeast) of the Pharisees and the Sadducees
Matt 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Matt 16:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Here Jesus warns His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Verse 12 shows that the leaven speaks of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were the religious people of Jesus’s time. We see that Jesus was not against the sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors, but He was against these religious people. Doesn’t that seem strange that He would do so? If Jesus was here physically on this earth today, what would He say about the modern church?
The doctrine of these religious people was that they could attain righteousness by doing the works of the law. In John 5, Jesus tells them that they were seeking eternal life in the scriptures, but they failed to understand that the scriptures were pointing to Him as the only way to salvation or eternal life. They were looking for “do’s and don’ts” in the scriptures to be able to fulfill them and thereby attain righteousness by their performance. Jesus called them “hypocrites, snakes etc.” They observed the laws outwardly but their inside was full of darkness. Jesus shed light on the righteous standards of the law and showed every single time that the religious people fell short of those standards. So rather than falling on God’s mercy and grace they wanted to trust in their own performance to attain righteousness. Doesn’t this sound like the modern church? They try to grow in righteousness and holiness by their own works rather than depending on the grace of God who is the indwelling Christ in every believer. They try to comb the scriptures to find every single law from Genesis to Revelation and make additional laws and put this heavy burden on the people.
The Apostle Paul in his epistles lashed out against such religious people who wanted to mix their legalism with the pure gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He calls them “wolves.”Writing to believers in the Galatian church, he asks them, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”In chapter 5 He tells them that, “if you are justified by the law(performance), then you are cut off or severed from Christ! You are fallen from grace!” That’s a very serious statement! He further tells them that “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump”. A little leaven or doctrine of legalism (even a little bit) will leaven the whole lump. Grace and legalism cannot be mixed.
We are saved by grace, made righteous by grace, live by grace, kept by grace, sanctified by grace, perfected by grace. This is the pure unadulterated message of the gospel of grace. Rom 11:6 says, that grace is no longer grace if your works are involved.
In conclusion, let us not nullify (invalidate) the grace of God (by mixing it with legalism), for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly. (Gal 2:21)
Matt 16:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Here Jesus warns His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Verse 12 shows that the leaven speaks of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were the religious people of Jesus’s time. We see that Jesus was not against the sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors, but He was against these religious people. Doesn’t that seem strange that He would do so? If Jesus was here physically on this earth today, what would He say about the modern church?
The doctrine of these religious people was that they could attain righteousness by doing the works of the law. In John 5, Jesus tells them that they were seeking eternal life in the scriptures, but they failed to understand that the scriptures were pointing to Him as the only way to salvation or eternal life. They were looking for “do’s and don’ts” in the scriptures to be able to fulfill them and thereby attain righteousness by their performance. Jesus called them “hypocrites, snakes etc.” They observed the laws outwardly but their inside was full of darkness. Jesus shed light on the righteous standards of the law and showed every single time that the religious people fell short of those standards. So rather than falling on God’s mercy and grace they wanted to trust in their own performance to attain righteousness. Doesn’t this sound like the modern church? They try to grow in righteousness and holiness by their own works rather than depending on the grace of God who is the indwelling Christ in every believer. They try to comb the scriptures to find every single law from Genesis to Revelation and make additional laws and put this heavy burden on the people.
The Apostle Paul in his epistles lashed out against such religious people who wanted to mix their legalism with the pure gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He calls them “wolves.”Writing to believers in the Galatian church, he asks them, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”In chapter 5 He tells them that, “if you are justified by the law(performance), then you are cut off or severed from Christ! You are fallen from grace!” That’s a very serious statement! He further tells them that “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump”. A little leaven or doctrine of legalism (even a little bit) will leaven the whole lump. Grace and legalism cannot be mixed.
We are saved by grace, made righteous by grace, live by grace, kept by grace, sanctified by grace, perfected by grace. This is the pure unadulterated message of the gospel of grace. Rom 11:6 says, that grace is no longer grace if your works are involved.
In conclusion, let us not nullify (invalidate) the grace of God (by mixing it with legalism), for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly. (Gal 2:21)
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