Getting Deep – Objective and Subjective Reality - Purity 710
Purity 710 04/20/2022
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a cumulus cloud filled blue sky over the Meteor
Crater Natural Landmark in Winslow Arizona comes to us from my sister-in-law Katt
as her and my big brother “Mega” spent their Spring Break travelling to a
variety of sightseeing attractions throughout the Southwest.
Well, it’s Wednesday and I share this photo of this massive
crater, which is sort of the opposite of a “hump”, because although it is the
midpoint in the typical work week, it isn’t “hump day” for me.
When is “hump day” not hump day?
Before you come up with some crude joke as a response, let me
help you. “Hump day” isn’t “Hump day”
when you don’t work. “Hump day” isn’t “Hump day” when you don’t have a “hump”
to get over.
Now I know, there are undoubtedly some “Hump day” purists out
there that will demand that Wednesday be recognized as “Hump day” regardless of
one’s personal schedule and will argue that “Hump Day” isn’t subject to
individual circumstances or preferences. For some, Wednesday is Hump Day and
nothing and no one is going to change that!
But honestly, while I don’t mean to cause a fight, I really think
that the thing that makes “hump day” “hump day” is not just the passage of time
past that odd numbered day in the middle of our week but is the fact that we reached
the middle of and surmounted the odd numbered middle day of a series of work filled
days. The “hump” is meaningful because we
are past the middle of our work obligations, right?
Maybe. Heck I know some retired friends who are on “permanent vacation”
and who live a “life of Saturdays”.
Anyway, back to me.
Because I have to work this Saturday, I have today, Wednesday, off. So for me yesterday, Tuesday, was a “Friday” of
sorts, and today is the “Saturday” on what will be the first of my two one-day
weekends, this week, as my second one-day weekend will be Sunday, as Saturday,
because I have to work, will be warped into my “second Friday”. Do you know what I am saying?
Now while this discourse on the way I am viewing this weird work
week may be highly annoying to some of you, this morning, as I write this I
have discovered that there is a point to it all.
The balance between objective reality, “the facts of how things
actually are” and subjective reality, “the
way we choose to view things” can make a significant difference in our lives.
In our Post Christian society,
some non-believing people would argue that there is no God or any spiritual
entities, angels and demons, at all. To these atheistic materialists, God and His
created spiritual beings don’t exist. To them they are not a part of what they
would consider “objective reality”.
But guess what, they are wrong.
While we can all argue over what is real and what is not and all
come up with our “own truths” based on our individual circumstances and perspectives,
if our world view does not include the “facts” of objective reality we will
still be subject to those facts and will suffer from our failure to live in the
“real world”.
Now I could go on a lengthy discourse about how the names of the
days of the week themselves, and the institutions and systems our society
itself, like “the government” and “law and order”, are subjective “concepts” that man has created
and are thus illusory but as much as I realize that most of our lives are “smoke
and mirrors”, I prefer to point to the ultimate reality that will determine our
eternal destiny and the One who created the stage on which we play out our
lives, God.
My jailhouse ministry – or maybe “death row”, it sound cooler - apologetics
presents creation itself – the universe- and our inherent moral consciences,
God’s law written on our hearts, as the evidence for God. “Somebody up there” created all this and made
us to understand right and wrong.
That’s pretty basic and could lead us to have all types of
different views of this Creator God and have different views about what is
right or wrong, so let’s get specific.
The person of Jesus Christ takes all of the above and makes life
a “pass-fail” test.
Now while, we can all subjectively choose what we like in terms
of what we think about Christ, we will all be subject to the objective reality
about who He actually is.
Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, how He fulfilled the Old
Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah, how His Life has changed the course
of human history, and the lives of countless individuals who have put their
faith in Him, adequately demonstrate the fact that Jesus is the Son of God and
God the Son.
Whether you believe in God or not, you are subject to the
natural laws, like gravity, that He instituted with the creation of the
universe. You deal with those every day.
Likewise, you are subject to the “spiritual laws” of sin and
death that God instituted. All men sin, and all men die.
But the Lord, out of His mercy and grace, made a way for us to
be set free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2 (NKJV)
2 For the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Faith in Jesus Christ is the means by which we can be forgiven
of our sins and be given eternal life. The “law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus” frees us from death, we will live forever
when we put our faith in Jesus, and it frees us from sin, when we place our
faith in Christ the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit gives us a power we
never had before. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to say no to our besetting
sin and live a life of freedom and victory over them.
But God gives us freedom to choose our own way. So we can choose
to deny the truth of who Christ is and decide no to take Him up on His gracious
offer to save us and either make up our own, or choose someone else’s, view of spiritual
reality, which would include worldly philosophies, other religions, or a
complete denial of any spiritual aspect to our lives.
But just like me deciding it “isn’t really Wednesday today” only
to be called a liar or a fool by my Google Calendar and the rest of the working
or non-working world that abides by the “days of the week” worldview, just because we decide to disbelieve in God’s
plan of redemption, believe in something else or choose to only focus on the
things of this world, one day we will have to face the fact that we denied the
Truth that the Creator wanted us to know and tried to warn us about.
Christ’s earthly ministry was focused on encouraging people to
consider the things of God and to change their lives to follow the Lord in
everything they did. In
John 17:17 (NKJV) Christ, referring of His disciples, prayed
to the Father to:
17 Sanctify
them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Christ in this prayer, lets us all know that the word of God is
the truth, thus indicating that it can be trusted and that we should live by it.
God’s word, the Holy Bible, tells us the truth of life and death and can guide
us in our lives to be grounded in the objective reality that the universe was
based on and will be subject to.
A scientific view of the universe predicts the eventual death of
all things as the universe’s processes will eventual run out of energy, go
cold, and fade to black.
But the word of God tells us of a spiritual kingdom that created
the physical universe and that will determine its future. Scientists can
predict the “death of the universe” but the Lord who made literally everything “out
of nothing” has revealed to us that His plan calls for the reclaiming of the world
by Christ’s rule and reign and of the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.
God has revealed to us the future of His creation and His way to
peace with Him and eternal life. So
instead of being clever in our own sight and developing our own world view and
making up our own “truth for me”, we would be wise to agree with the objective
truth of ultimate reality that is revealed in God’s word and decide to live
according to it.
When we stop ignoring the ultimate “facts of life” and choose to
come in line God’s truth, we can finally stop hurting ourselves by living according
to a system that just isn’t true and will one day be exposed for the rebellious
deception that it is. When we are
reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ and decide to shape our lives according to His
truth, we can have peace.
So keep walking and talking with God. Read His word to be
grounded in the truth. God wants us to
know His truth and to be at peace by accepting it and living by it.
When we live in “the context of God” by reminding ourselves of
His continual presence, we live in the truth of ultimate reality and are set
free from the pains that come from investing ourselves in things that will fail
to satisfy and that will eventually be exposed as false.
When we live in a fantasy world based on our own subjective ideas and preferences, we will suffer when the truth of reality comes storming in. But when we live according to the Truth, the Way and the Life, we are not hiding in the shadows or stumbling in the darkness of the ways we wished life could be. Instead we benefit from living in the light of how things actually are: where our path is clear and where we can confidently take one step at a time, and be at peace, all the way from here to eternity.
_____________________________________________________________
Today’s Bible verses comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise
Book for Men”.
This
morning’s meditation verses are:
Acts 2:38-39 (NKJV)
38 Then Peter said to them,
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you
and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God
will call."
Today’s Bible verses clearly present the truth of the need for our
repentance and the fact that we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when are
baptized in the name of Jesus.
If the Lord of God calls us by revealing the truth of who Jesus Christ
is, we have to answer the call! How do we do that?
Well, we repent and become baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1 (NKJV) tells us
1 Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ,
Here we see we are justified by faith and have peace with God through Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul’s explanation of our faith, what it means and doesn’t mean, continues into Romans 6 where it says:
Romans 6:3
(NKJV)
3 Or do you not know that as
many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
And guess
what, there was no mention of water immersion between Romans 5:1 and Romans 6:3,
To be “baptized into Christ Jesus” is to put our faith in Him. So all who put their faith in Jesus are spiritually
“baptized in the name of Jesus”.
Although the thief on the cross didn’t have the luxury of
getting dunked into water by an ordained minister or even just splashed by an
ordinary Christian brother or sister, when He asked Jesus to remember him when
Christ went into His kingdom, and Christ said “"Assuredly, I say to you,
today you will be with Me in Paradise.", the thief was “baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins”.
While every Christian, who can, should perform the sacrament of
water baptism, which is an outward expression of an inner spiritual change, if
possible, all those who place their faith in Christ as Lord and Savior are “baptized
in the name of Jesus.”
As for that word “repent”.
As Christians we are disciples of Jesus Christ, and a disciple is a
student and an adherent of their teacher. That means we know what our Teacher
teaches and endeavor to apply His teaching our lives. Christ told us to pick up
our cross and to follow Him.
The cross was a means of execution back then, so Christ was
in effect telling us to “die” to our ways and to follow His ways for
living.
So when we do these two things, repent and become “baptized
in the name of Jesus”, we are given the seal of our salvation: the indwelling
presence of the Holy Spirit.
To enjoy the “promise” of God, and to live out the abundant life that Christ calls us to, we must repent and believe. We must change the ways we act and the ways we think by agreeing with the truth of God’s word and by leaning on and following the Spirit of God that we receive as our constant companion the moment that our proclamation of faith “baptizes us in the name of Jesus”.
As always, I
invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent
Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in
Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Youir fe” .
As
always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to
purchase John Pipers’ books for your own private study and to
support his work. This resource is available on many websites for
less than $5.00.
All Things Were Made
for Him
This Jesus was and is a
real historical man in whom “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”
(Colossians 2:9). Since he is “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very
God,” as the old Nicene Creed says, and since his death and resurrection are
the central act of God in history, it is not surprising to hear the Bible say,
“All things were created through him and for
him” (Colossians 1:16). For him!
That means for his glory. Which also means that everything we have said so far
about God creating us for his glory also means that he created us for the glory
of his Son.
In
his prayer in John 17 the first thing Jesus asks is, “Father, the hour has
come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (John 17:1). Ever since
the incarnate, redeeming work of Jesus, God is gladly glorified by sinners only
through the glorification of the risen God-Man, Jesus Christ. His bloody death
is the blazing center of the glory of God. There is no way to the glory of the
Father but through the Son. All the promises of joy in God’s presence, and
pleasures at his right hand, come to us only through faith in Jesus Christ.
If We Reject Him, We Reject God
Jesus is the litmus test
of reality for all persons and all religions. He said it clearly: “The one who
rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16). People and religions who
reject Christ reject God. Do other religions know the true God? Here is the
test: Do they reject Jesus as the only Savior for sinners who was crucified and
raised by God from the dead? If they do, they do not know God in a saving way.
That
is what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Or when he said,
“Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (John
5:23). Or when he said to the Pharisees, “If God were your Father, you would
love me” (John 8:42).
It’s
what the apostle John meant when he said, “No one who denies the Son has the
Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23). Or when
he said, “Everyone who … does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not
have God” (2 John 9).
There
is no point in romanticizing other religions that reject the deity and saving
work of Christ. They do not know God. And those who follow them tragically
waste their lives.
If
we would see and savor the glory of God, we must see and savor Christ. For
Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). To put it another
way, if we would embrace the glory of God, we must embrace the Gospel of
Christ. The reason for this is not only because we are sinners and need a
Savior to die for us, but also because this Savior is himself the fullest and
most beautiful manifestation of the glory of God. He purchases our undeserved
and everlasting pleasure, and he becomes for us our all-deserving, everlasting
Treasure.
The Gospel Is the Good News of the Glory of
Christ
This is how the Gospel is
defined. When we are converted through faith in Christ, what we see with the
eyes of our hearts is “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). The Gospel is the good news of
all-conquering beauty. Or to say it the way Paul does, it is the good news of
“the glory of Christ.” When we embrace Christ, we embrace God. We see and savor
God’s glory. There is no savoring of God’s glory if we do not see it in Christ.
This is the only window through which a sinner may see the face of God and not
be incinerated.
The
Bible says that when God illuminates our heart at conversion, he gives “the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2
Corinthians 4:6). Either we see the glory of God “in the face of Jesus Christ,”
or we don’t see it at all. And the “face of Jesus Christ” is the beauty of
Christ reaching its climax in the cross. The bloody face of Christ crucified
(and triumphant!) is the countenance of the glory of God. What was once
foolishness to us becomes our wisdom and our power and our boast (1 Corinthians
1:18, 24).
Life
is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the
treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure
and the deepest comfort in every pain. That is what the next chapter is about.
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
