Faith

Faith is one of the most important things in Christianity. Without faith, the Bible is almost useless and the sacrifice of Christ is pointless. But with faith, the Bible is a source of God's wisdom and love and Christ's sacrifice is humbling. In this post I'm going to explain the importance of faith and what exactly faith is.

What is faith? The dictionary definition for faith is: allegiance to duty or a person. Another, more fitting definition for my purpose here is: belief and trust in and loyalty to God. That's a good definition and it works fine, however, Hebrews 11:1-2 also defines faith, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for." 

Faith is all that God requires of us and that's all it takes to be saved by Christ. Romans 10:9-10 says, "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." That's faith, believing in your heart that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead. This message is simple and the most important part of Christianity. God's grace is nonexistent without faith. Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast."

In this, the five-hundredth year after the Reformation, the message of justification through faith is being celebrated. This what Luther and other reformers believed and they wanted the Church to return to this message. Works won't earn anyone salvation; it can't be earned, rather, it can only be given to someone by God. There's no way anyone could even hope to repay Jesus for his sacrifice and suffering on the cross. As Ephesians says, "it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast."

When Martin Luther was a monk he did everything the Church taught would earn him salvation, everything from prayer and fasting to going without sleep to self-flagellation. Through all of these acts he was trying to love God, but it resulted in the opposite. Luther began to see his wretchedness and began to see God as a tyrant who expected perfection from imperfect people. He even started hating God. One day he read Romans 1:17: "For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”" He knew he couldn't live by faith because he wasn't righteous.

According to Christianity Today:

Meanwhile, he [Luther] was ordered to take his doctorate in the Bible and become a professor at Wittenberg University. During lectures on the Psalms (in 1513 and 1514) and a study of the Book of Romans, he began to see a way through his dilemma. "At last meditating day and night, by the mercy of God, I ... began to understand that the righteousness of God is that through which the righteous live by a gift of God, namely by faith… Here I felt as if I were entirely born again and had entered paradise itself through the gates that had been flung open."

This moment for Luther is what propelled him to write his 95 Theses and started the Reformation.

Now, faith without works isn't faith at all. James 2:14-17 explains, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

This almost sounds contradictory to what Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, however, James is saying that works need to compliment faith. Grace through faith saves you, but works done for God bring Him glory. Matthew 5:16, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Ephesians 2:10 also elaborates, "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." A Christian doesn't do good works to earn anything, a Christian does good works because they want to do what God created them to do.

The take home message here is live by faith as the ancients did, trust God and believe Him. Faith is all that is required of us to be saved. However, don't let your faith be a dead faith, do the good works of God to glorify Him and to be obedient to Him. Do good works because you want to, not because you want to earn anything.

A quote to end:

“The subject then of these chapters may be stated thus, — man’s only righteousness is through the mercy of God in Christ, which being offered by the Gospel is apprehended by faith.”

-John Calvin

Who do you say Jesus is?

I recently read a blog post, Who do you say that Jesus is?, and it inspired me to write this post. I wanted to give that blog some recognition, I don't know the author personally.

First a passage from the book of Matthew:

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. (Matthew 16:13-20, emphasis added)

We see in Matthew that Peter replies to Jesus' question, "Who do you say I am?", with the answer of: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Peter didn't say, "You are a great teacher." or "You are a good man," no, he called Jesus the Messiah.

Why is this important, you may be asking? It's important because Peter, due to the Heavenly Father, understood exactly that Christ is God, as he claimed. Peter understood that Jesus was/is way more than a great teacher. He believed this even after all of the doubters that they had experiences with, Peter didn't fall prey to the Pharisees' false teachings.

Peter saw Jesus make the lame able to walk, the blind to see, the mute to speak. He heard the many teachings of Christ: parables, sermons, and conversations with people. He saw Jesus feed five thousand people, walk on water, calm an ocean, cast out demons, and even raise a dead girl. Peter also saw Nazareth reject Jesus and the Pharisees challenge Jesus on his teachings. None of this was for naught because Peter came to believe that Jesus Christ was God. That's why this passage is important.

The question still applies today. Who do you say that Jesus is?

If you say Jesus a great moral teacher, then the power of the Bible is taken away and it becomes just a book of wise sayings.

If you say Jesus is the Messiah, is Lord, and is God, then you have accepted his free gift of grace. With that answer, however, comes the commitment of laying down our lives and putting everything in. By that I mean that we have to surrender to Christ and die to ourselves.

As explained in Matthew 16: 24-25, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."" 

Galatians 2:20 is another good verse for this, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Finally, a quote from C.S. Lewis about saying who Jesus is.

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. We are faced, then, with a frightening alternative. This man we are talking about either was (and is) just what He said or else a lunatic, or something worse. Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God."                          

(Mere Christianity, 52-53)

So, who do you say Jesus is?

Suffering

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have produced a lot suffering in many Southern states. This inspired me to write about the broad topic of suffering and what the Bible has to say about suffering. In light of this level of destruction it can be easy to question where God is, but God is present in times of suffering and He will use even suffering for good.

There are many forms of suffering, such as, disease, disability, natural disasters, war and conflict, or persecution.

Probably the most well known passage about suffering is Philippians 1:12-14:

"12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear."

In this passage we see that Paul explains that his suffering, prison at this point, actually serves to advance the gospel (v. 12). In fact, it was well known that Paul was in prison because of his faith in Christ (v. 13), everybody from the palace guard to the commoners knew.

Due to the fact that everyone knew this, other believers who heard about Paul's imprisonment, or suffering, "have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear" (v. 14). If Paul would have believed that prison was the end, then he would have missed a golden opportunity to share the gospel.

That's not the only time Paul writes about suffering:

"3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." (Romans 5:3-5)

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:17)

I know that I haven't explained why suffering goes on, it's a mystery that mankind will never solve. God doesn't want to hurt his children, but He does use suffering for his purposes. Whatever Satan dishes out for evil, God turns it around and uses it for good. Even when Satan had the plan to kill Jesus Christ, God showed that Jesus' body could be tortured and destroyed, but He will never die. Jesus, instead of dying, conquered death to become our salvation, our Savior.

Suffering is not a good thing, let me state the clearly. Suffering is terrible, however, God can still use it for good, as we see with the apostle Paul. In times of suffering God will give strength, patience, perseverance, peace, or whatever is needed to those who are suffering who will ask Him and He will use that evil for good.

I'll end by sharing one of my personal favorite Bible verses, Romans 8:28:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

This blog is back

Hello readers, I am returning to this blog after much prayer and much thought. When I stopped writing this blog I started another blog because I wanted to try my hand at political writing, in order to help inform people about current events. I enjoyed this for about a year, but I came to dislike it due to the fact that I lost passion for political writing.

My passion is writing about Christ and what the Bible says about things, not what I say about things. In addition to lack of passion, I reached more people with this blog than my political blog. I still have political opinions, that I'm not ashamed of, however, the choice as to what to write about is now clear to me.

My intention of informing people will not change, though. I am simply returning to informing people about something more important than politics: the Bible.

With all of that being said, Keep Calm and Roll On is back in business. I hope and pray that my readers will return. If you're reading this, please stick around because I'm changing topics again.

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

The following is a list of the nine Christians (and their ages) who were killed for their faith in the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon on Thursday, October 1.

• Rebecka Ann Carnes, 18
• Quinn Glen Cooper, 18
• Lucas Eibel, 18
• Lucero Alcaraz, 19
• Treven Taylor Anspach, 20
• Jason Dale Johnson, 34
• Sarena Dawn Moore, 44
• Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59
• Lawrence Levine, 67 (teacher)

It truly is tragic how these nine people were killed, however, there is one positive result of this shooting: these people died for Christ, which means these brave people are now with Christ. These folks must have known that Earth wasn't their eternal home. God has prepared a home for all of us. Here are some verses that talk about our eternal home:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:1-3

"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked." 2 Corinthians 5:1-3  

"Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." 2 Corinthians 5:6-8

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."  Philippians 3:20-21

The nine people on this list showed great bravery in dying for Christ; these Christians set an example for the rest of us. We should all be willing to die for Christ.

Most people don't believe they would be able to die for their faith and they're partly right. No Christian has all of the strength necessary be a martyr, the Holy Spirit gives people the strength  to be a martyr. I'll use Stephen as an example. 

"When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep." Acts 7:54-60

As you can see in the text there, Stephen was "full of the Holy Spirit" and before he died he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Stephen trusted that Jesus would give him strength and receive his spirit. God knew Stephen's true intentions, which must have been to die. Stephen also lived a faithful life to Jesus: he lived like Christ as well as he could. His life of faith was very important because it prepared him to be a martyr. Obviously, being killed for your faith is a hard thing to do, so don't let me minimize the gravity of the situation by my short post. 

Please pray for the friends and family of the nine victims and the shooter. 

The Tragedy in Charleston

The shooting at Emmanuel AME in Charleston, SC has been on my mind a lot over the past few days. So I am going to give my point of view on this tragic shooting.

I have heard a few people say that Dylann Roof doesn't deserve a trial because he committed such a heinous crime. I will have to disagree with this opinion. In the United States if someone commits a crime, then they are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law; there are no stipulations on which crimes warrant a trial and which crimes do not. This is the law of the land and it has to be obeyed; if it isn't obeyed, that would be just as bad as Roof's actions.

I would like to commend Emmanuel AME for forgiving Dylann Roof for the murders, these people are doing the right thing by forgiving him. There is a big difference between revenge and justice, this church is clearly seeking justice. Seeking revenge would as much of a sin as the murders in God's eyes. We as Christians are instructed to forgive others even when it is difficult. Jesus forgave us for our sins so, we need to forgive others as Jesus did. We can all learn from this church.

I'm going to call it like I see it: there is never an excuse for the murder of anyone. No one deserves to die because they have a different skin color. This country has come too far for people to be murdering others because they are of a different race. I know that prejudice will always exist on this world until the end, buy that doesn't justify it. This shooting is not a gun problem, this is a heart problem. And Jesus Christ is the only answer to a heart problem.

I am asking everyone who reads this post to pray for the families of the victims and for Dylann Roof. There is still an opportunity for Dylann Roof to turn to Christ and He is the only one who can truly save him now.

Murder is a crime that warrants the death penalty. If Roof is found guilty, then I do think the death penalty is the only punishment that fits. I believe the death penalty is the only way to make sure future generations understand that every crime has a penalty and that murder is never a solution to any problem.

Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day is more than a day to grill out and drink beer, it's about honoring the men and women who serve in the United States Armed Forces and make our freedom possible. I have always had a large amount of respect for soldiers. I know a few veterans and a few current soldiers, I appreciate their past and current sacrifices. The military is always hard at work protecting our country, our citizens, and our freedoms from those who hate us as the country we are.

I know there's a lot of people nowadays who disagree with what our military has or hasn't done in the past, but regardless of political stances we should all be thankful to the people who defend us. Soldiers sacrifice life or limb for America, which is more than most Americans do. These men and women are true heroes; athletes, actors, politicians, and singers aren't heroes compared to soldiers. The word "hero" is used too liberally these days.

Thank you to all U.S. military personnel, current and past, for protecting this great nation. God bless each one of you.

(As a side note: I had a professor once who hated patriotism, he thought it was a dangerous feeling to have. I guess that means I'm dangerous today, because I'm more patriotic than normal on days like today.)

                                ___________________________________________

As usual, here's some quotes:

"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost." -- Arthur Ashe

“Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened.” -- Billy Graham

"We owe this freedom of choice and action to those men and women in uniform who have served this nation and its interests in time of need. In particular, we are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free." -- Ronald Reagan

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." -- Mark Twain

"The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree." -- Thomas Campbell