https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0294/is-the-sabbath-for-today

The following is an excerpt from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Colossians 2.

Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (2:16–17)

Legalism is the religion of human achievement. It argues that spirituality is based on Christ plus human works. It makes conformity to manmade rules the measure of spirituality. Believers, however, are complete in Christ, who has provided complete salvation, forgiveness, and victory. Therefore, Paul tells the Colossians, let no one act as your judge. Do not sacrifice your freedom in Christ for a set of manmade rules. Inasmuch as “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness  to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4), to become entangled again in a legalistic system is pointless and harmful. Paul reminded the Galatians, who were also beguiled by legalism, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1).

Legalism is useless because it cannot restrain the flesh. It is also dangerously deceptive, because inwardly rebellious and disobedient Christians, or even nonChristians, can conform to a set of external performance standards or rituals. The nineteenth-century American pastor Gardiner Spring warned,

A merely moral man may be very scrupulous of duties he owes to his fellowmen, while the infinitely important duties he owes to God are kept entirely out of sight. Of loving and serving God, he knows nothing. Whatever he does or whatever he leaves undone, he does nothing for God. He is honest in his dealings with all except God, he robs none but God, he is thankless and faithless to none but God, he feels contemptuously, and speaks reproachfully of none but God. A just perception of the relations he sustains to God constitutes no part of his principles, and the duties which result from those relations constitute no part of his piety. He may not only disbelieve the Scriptures, but may never read them; may not only disregard the divine authority, but every form of divine worship, and live and die as though he had no concern with God and God had not concern with him. The character of the young man in the Gospel presents a painful and affecting view of the deficiencies of external morality (See Mt. 19:16–22). He was not dishonest, nor untrue; he was not impure nor malignant; and not a few of the divine commands he had externally observed. Nay, he says, “All these have I kept.” Nor was his a mere sporadic goodness, but steady and uniform. He had performed these services “from his youth up.” Nor was this all. He professed a willingness to become acquainted with his whole duty. “What lack I yet?” And yet when brought to the test, this poor youth saw that, with all his boasted morality, he could not deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Christ. (The Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character [Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presby. & Ref., n.d.], pp. 7–8)

That Christians not be intimidated by such legalism was Paul’s constant concern. He commanded Titus not to pay attention to “Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth,” because “to the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled” (Titus 1:14–15). Romans 14–15 and 1 Corinthians 8–10 also discuss Christian liberty and the only legitimate reason for restraining it: to protect a weaker Christian brother or sister.

The false teachers were telling the Colossians that it was not enough to have Christ; they also needed to keep the Jewish ceremonial law. The false teachers’ prohibitions about food and drink were probably based on the Old Testament dietary laws (cf. Lev. 11). Those laws were given to mark Israel as God’s distinct people and to discourage them from intermingling with the surrounding nations.

Because the Colossians were under the New Covenant, the dietary laws of the Old Covenant were no longer in force. Jesus made that clear in Mark 7:

After He called the multitude to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.” And when leaving the multitude, He had entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him; because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) (vv. 14–19)

Paul reminded the Romans that “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). That the dietary laws are no longer in force was illustrated by Peter’s vision (Acts 10:9–16) and formally ratified by the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:28–29).

A festival was one of the annual Jewish celebrations, such as Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Lights (cf. Lev. 23). Sacrifices were also offered on the new moon, or first day of the month (Num. 28:11–14).

Contrary to the claims of some today, Christians are not required to worship on the Sabbath day. It, like the other Old Covenant holy days Paul mentions, is not binding under the New Covenant. There is convincing evidence for that in Scripture.

First, the Sabbath was the sign to Israel of the Old Covenant (Ex. 31:16–17; Neh. 9:14; Ezek. 20:12). Because we are now under the New Covenant (Heb. 8), we are no longer required to keep the sign of the Old Covenant.

Second, the New Testament nowhere commands Christians to observe the Sabbath.

Third, in our only glimpse of an early church worship service in the New Testament, we find the church meeting on Sunday, the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).

Fourth, we find no hint in the Old Testament that God expected the Gentile nations to observe the Sabbath, nor are they ever condemned for failing to do so. That is certainly strange if He expected all peoples to observe the Sabbath.

Fifth, there is no evidence of anyone’s keeping the Sabbath before the time of Moses, nor are there any commands to keep the Sabbath before the giving of the law at Mount Sinai.

Sixth, the Jerusalem Council did not impose Sabbath keeping on the Gentile believers (Acts 15).

Seventh, Paul warned the Gentiles about many different sins in his epistles, but never about breaking the Sabbath.

Eighth, Paul rebuked the Galatians for thinking God expected them to observe special days (Including the Sabbath) (Gal. 4:10–11).

Ninth, Paul taught that keeping the Sabbath was a matter of Christian liberty (Rom. 14:5).

Tenth, the early church Fathers, from Ignitions to Augustine, taught that the Old Testament Sabbath had been abolished and that the first day of the week (Sunday) was the day when Christians should meet for worship. That disproves the claim of some that Sunday worship was not instituted until the fourth century.

The dietary laws, festivals, sacrifices, and Sabbath day worship were all things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. A shadow has no reality; the reality is what makes the shadow. Jesus Christ is the reality to which the shadows pointed. For example, regarding food regulations, He is “the bread that came down out of heaven” (John 6:41). There is no need for Christians to observe the Passover either, because “Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7). What justification could there be for demanding that Gentiles observe the Sabbath when God has granted them eternal rest (Heb. 4:1–11)? Any continuing preoccupation with the shadows once the reality has come is pointless.

Paul’s point is simple: true spirituality does not consist merely of keeping external rules, but of having an inner relationship with Jesus Christ.

https://www.redeemer.com/redeemer-report/article/old_testament_law_and_the_charge_of_inconsistency

Old Testament Law and The Charge of Inconsistency

Tim Keller,  2012

I find it frustrating when I read or hear columnists, pundits, or journalists dismiss Christians as inconsistent because “they pick and choose which of the rules in the Bible to obey.” What I hear most often is “Christians ignore lots of Old Testament texts—about not eating raw meat or pork or shellfish, not executing people for breaking the Sabbath, not wearing garments woven with two kinds of material and so on. Then they condemn homosexuality. Aren’t you just picking and choosing what they want to believe from the Bible?”

It is not that I expect everyone to have the capability of understanding that the whole Bible is about Jesus and God’s plan to redeem his people, but I vainly hope that one day someone will access their common sense (or at least talk to an informed theological advisor) before leveling the charge of inconsistency.

First of all, let’s be clear that it’s not only the Old Testament that has proscriptions about homosexuality. The New Testament has plenty to say about it, as well. Even Jesus says, in his discussion of divorce in Matthew 19:3-12 that the original design of God was for one man and one woman to be united as one flesh, and failing that, (v. 12) persons should abstain from marriage and from sex.

However, let’s get back to considering the larger issue of inconsistency regarding things mentioned in the OT that are no longer practiced by the New Testament people of God. Most Christians don’t know what to say when confronted about this. Here’s a short course on the relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament:

The Old Testament devotes a good amount of space to describing the various sacrifices that were to be offered in the tabernacle (and later temple) to atone for sin so that worshippers could approach a holy God. As part of that sacrificial system there was also a complex set of rules for ceremonial purity and cleanness. You could only approach God in worship if you ate certain foods and not others, wore certain forms of dress, refrained from touching a variety of objects, and so on. This vividly conveyed, over and over, that human beings are spiritually unclean and can’t go into God’s presence without purification.

But even in the Old Testament, many writers hinted that the sacrifices and the temple worship regulations pointed forward to something beyond them. (cf. 1 Samuel 15:21-22; Psalm 50:12-15; 51:17; Hosea 6:6). When Christ appeared he declared all foods ‘clean’ (Mark 7:19) and he ignored the Old Testament clean laws in other ways, touching lepers and dead bodies.

But the reason is made clear. When he died on the cross the veil in the temple was ripped through, showing that the need for the entire sacrificial system with all its clean laws had been done away with. Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice for sin, and now Jesus makes us “clean.”

The entire book of Hebrews explains that the Old Testament ceremonial laws were not so much abolished as fulfilled by Christ. Whenever we pray ‘in Jesus name’, we ‘have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus’ (Hebrews 10:19). It would, therefore, be deeply inconsistent with the teaching of the Bible as a whole if we were to continue to follow the ceremonial laws.

The New Testament gives us further guidance about how to read the Old Testament. Paul makes it clear in places like Romans 13:8ff that the apostles understood the Old Testament moral law to still be binding on us. In short, the coming of Christ changed how we worship but not how we live. The moral law is an outline of God’s own character—his integrity, love, and faithfulness. And so all the Old Testament says about loving our neighbor, caring for the poor, generosity with our possessions, social relationships, and commitment to our family is still in force. The New Testament continues to forbid killing or committing adultery, and all the sex ethic of the Old Testament is re-stated throughout the New Testament (Matthew 5:27-30; 1 Corinthians 6:9-20; 1 Timothy 1:8-11.) If the New Testament has reaffirmed a commandment, then it is still in force for us today.

Further, the New Testament explains another change between the Testaments. Sins continue to be sins—but the penalties change. In the Old Testament things like adultery or incest were punishable with civil sanctions like execution. This is because at that time God’s people existed in the form of a nation-state and so all sins had civil penalties.

But in the New Testament the people of God are an assembly of churches all over the world, living under many different governments. The church is not a civil government, and so sins are dealt with by exhortation and, at worst, exclusion from membership. This is how a case of incest in the Corinthian church is dealt with by Paul (1 Corinthians 5:1ff. and 2 Corinthians 2:7-11.) Why this change? Under Christ, the gospel is not confined to a single nation—it has been released to go into all cultures and peoples.

Once you grant the main premise of the Bible—about the surpassing significance of Christ and his salvation—then all the various parts of the Bible make sense. Because of Christ, the ceremonial law is repealed. Because of Christ the church is no longer a nation-state imposing civil penalties. It all falls into place. However, if you reject the idea of Christ as Son of God and Savior, then, of course, the Bible is at best a mish-mash containing some inspiration and wisdom, but most of it would have to be rejected as foolish or erroneous.

So where does this leave us? There are only two possibilities. If Christ is God, then this way of reading the Bible makes sense and is perfectly consistent with its premise. The other possibility is that you reject Christianity’s basic thesis—you don’t believe Jesus was the resurrected Son of God—and then the Bible is no sure guide for you about much of anything. But the one thing you can’t really say in fairness is that Christians are being inconsistent with their beliefs to accept the moral statements in the Old Testament while not practicing other ones.

One way to respond to the charge of inconsistency may be to ask a counter-question—“Are you asking me to deny the very heart of my Christian beliefs?” If you are asked, “Why do you say that?” you could respond, “If I believe Jesus is the the resurrected Son of God, I can’t follow all the ‘clean laws’ of diet and practice, and I can’t offer animal sacrifices. All that would be to deny the power of Christ’s death on the cross. And so those who really believe in Christ must follow some Old Testament texts and not others.”

I’ve grown up with the belief that the aim of God’s love is to make me feel good.  As I have grown and read/studied/applied the teachings of the Bible, I quickly realized that that is not God’s aim at all.  In the churches I have attended, there has been very little if any teaching on the value and role of suffering in the process of changing me to be more like Jesus.  I came to realize what is explained below but had not found a place where it was laid out so clearly.

I hope it can help bring more understanding, growth, joy and peace in your spiritual journey as you struggle through life here on earth.

(From Packer, J. I.. Knowing God (pp. 283-284). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.)

What is the purpose of grace? Primarily, to restore our relationship with God. When God lays the foundation of this restored relationship, by forgiving our sins as we trust his Son, he does so in order that henceforth we and he may live in fellowship. And what he does in renewing our nature is intended to make us capable of, and actually to lead us into, the exercise of love, trust, delight, hope and obedience Godward—those acts which, from our side, make up the reality of fellowship with God, who is constantly making himself known to us. This is what all the work of grace aims at—an ever deeper knowledge of God, and an ever closer fellowship with him. Grace is God drawing us sinners closer and closer to himself.

How does God in grace prosecute this purpose? Not by shielding us from assault by the world, the flesh and the devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstances, nor yet by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperament and psychology; but rather by exposing us to all these things, so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy, and to drive us to cling to him more closely. This is the ultimate reason, from our standpoint, why God fills our lives with troubles and perplexities of one sort and another: it is to ensure that we shall learn to hold him fast. The reason why the Bible spends so much of its time reiterating that God is a strong rock, a firm defense, and a sure refuge and help for the weak, is that God spends so much of his time bringing home to us that we are weak, both mentally and morally, and dare not trust ourselves to find, or to follow, the right road.

When we walk along a clear road feeling fine, and someone takes our arm to help us, as likely as not we shall impatiently shake him off; but when we are caught in rough country in the dark, with a storm getting up and our strength spent, and someone takes our arm to help us, we shall thankfully lean on him. And God wants us to feel that our way through life is rough and perplexing, so that we may learn thankfully to lean on him. Therefore he takes steps to drive us out of self-confidence to trust in himself—in the classical scriptural phrase for the secret of the godly life, to “wait on the Lord.”

(From Packer, J. I.. Knowing God (p. 286). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition. )

Perhaps there is a word for us in the famous hymn in which John Newton describes his passage into the kind of realism that we have been seeking to induce.

I asked the Lord, that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.

I hoped that in some favoured hour
At once He’d answer my request,
And by His love’s constraining power
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe.
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

“Lord, why is this?” I trembling cried,
“Wilt thou pursue Thy worm to death?”
“ ’Tis in this way,” the Lord replied,
“I answer prayer for grace and faith.

I love the Bible because it tells me about God and how to live. We have the opportunity, through the Bible to know more about the Creator of the Universe. Today we will be talking about how God not only loves but is love.

How do we know God is love? The Bible tells us in 1st John…

1 John 4:7-17 (NIV) 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

So, what does it mean that God is love vs. God loves? Love is an attribute of God. Love is a core aspect of God’s character, His Person. God’s love is in no sense in conflict with His holiness, righteousness, justice, or even His wrath. All of God’s attributes are in perfect harmony. Everything God does is loving, just as everything He does is just and right. God is the perfect example of true love. So no matter what God does, even if we don’t understand it, whether we read about it in the Bible or it relates to something that happens to us or someone we know, God is love.

What is love? The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13…

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV) 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Let’s talk about what love isn’t…

Genesis 1:1 (NIV) 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

God is greater and smarter than we are. In the beginning, He created the heavens and the earth. Where were you in the beginning? What heavens and earths have you created?

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Job 38:1-13 (NIV) 1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: 2 “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone– 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? 8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, 9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, 11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’? 12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, 13 that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?

God is smarter than us – there is no comparison to our wisdom and God’s wisdom. We will not always understand why God does things. I think of it as expecting a two year old to understand what goes on in the world. Even if a two year old thinks they are smart, they just don’t have the capacity to understand. We don’t have the capacity when compared to God although we like to think we do.

I say all of this for the perspective that we have when we say “If God loved me, He would or wouldn’t do this…”

• He wouldn’t let me go to prison
• He would get me a new car
• He would get me lots of money
• He would give me everything I want
• He wouldn’t let bad things happen to me
• And on and on and on…

There are going to be many, many things that we don’t understand. We can know that God is wise and that He is Love and even though we don’t understand, we can and it would be to our advantage to trust Him.

One fact that we need to come to grips with is that God can love us with a love like no other and still allow and even use suffering. If we don’t come to grips with this, we will constantly struggle with unmet expectations and disappointment.

C.S. Lewis said : “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Sadly, we don’t change when things go good. When things are bad, we often give 110% of our effort to try and get comfortable – to remove any pain or inconvenience. We use denial, anger, bad attitudes and drugs to try and remove any pain or trouble instead of trusting in and depending on God’s love.

As C.S. Lewis says, God uses our pain and suffering to teach us. C.S. Lewis says this but also, God says this.

James 1:2-4 (NIV) 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Romans 5:3-4 (NIV) 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Acts 9:15-16 (NIV) 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV) 7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Hebrews 12:5-11 (NIV) 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

God disciplines us, which we may not like at the time, because He loves us and it is best for us. Is there anyone who believes that it is loving to raise a child and not discipline them and to give them everything they want?

Other examples…

• Joseph – sold into slavery, rose to manager, put in jail – prepared to lead all of Egypt
• David – 15 years between when he was anointed king and when he became king – a long time

I have heard some of you say “Going to jail was the best thing that happened to me.”

Another example was when I was recently talking with someone whose brother was an alcoholic and was stuck in a town several states away. He called and said he needed money to get home. The brother here offered to buy him a transportation ticket but the distant brother just wanted money. It was very hard to not give his brother what he was asking for especially when his love for his brother was questioned. God, in His wisdom, may not give us what we ask for because it is not best.

Matthew 5:11-12 (NIV) 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Just because God is love, doesn’t mean things will go the way you want them to go or that life will be fair but you can trust God because He is wise, powerful and loving. You may not understand but you can and should trust.

Do we agree that God is love but maybe not always the love we are expecting? What does the Bible tell us about God that would support that He is love?

Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV) 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 139:13 (NIV) 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

God knew you and loved you before you were born!

Matthew 10:30 (NIV) 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

John 3:16-18 (NIV) 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Romans 5:6-8 (NIV) 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Philippians 2:3-8 (NIV) 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!

God, in love, sent His Son who willingly or obediently came to earth during a horrible time in history when the Jews were under Roman rule to a horrible place where it was hot, dirty, dry and dusty and therefore difficult to live. He came and lived a life without sin which being part man and part God may not have been easy in itself but then to teach a regular group of men with great weaknesses who were responsible to take His message to the world. Then, he freely allowed Himself to be tortured and killed in the most cruel way ever imagined – crucifixion which caused a very slow and painful death. He did this all for you and I because He is love!

What other explanation can we come up with? He had the power to keep it from happening.

Matthew 26:50-54 (NIV) 50 Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. 51 With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

This is interesting but it really won’t mean much to us unless we understand that we are sinners in need of a Savior. God is love and He is also Holy. We are sinners. Those two can’t coexist without some help.

Isaiah 6:1-5 (NIV) 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

Psalm 5:4 (NIV) 4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.

Romans 7:21-25 (NIV) 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV) 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Romans 3:23 (NIV) 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 (NIV) 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are all sinners and deserve the wrath and punishment of God but Jesus came to earth to pay the price we owed but couldn’t pay for our sins.

1 John 4:10 (NIV) 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 Peter 2:24 (NIV) 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 3:18 (NIV) 18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. It is deep within us. Because God loved us, Jesus came to earth, suffered and died so that we might have life. He paid the price we owed but couldn’t pay because He loves us and He is love.

John 10:10 (NIV) 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

The devil wants to destroy you but God, in His love, wants you to have the best life here on earth and more importantly, for eternity.

So what do you do about God’s love? Read/Study/Pray – Get to know God. We have reading plans. Go to church and get involved with others who are seeking God and His love. Seek God.

James 4:8 (NIV) 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Believe and Repent. Jesus, who is God, came and paid the price for your sins. All you need to do is believe this, repent or turn from your way to His which is obeying Him. Lots of good things happen after that which we can talk about at a later time.

John 3:16-18 (NIV) 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Romans 6:23 (NIV) 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In His love, because He is love, Christ died for your sins.

There is nothing you can do to make God love you more! There is nothing you can do to make God love you less! His love is unconditional, impartial, everlasting, infinite, perfect! God is love!

He wants each of us to repent and follow Him. Our way leads to destruction. His way leads to the best life here and for eternity. You have the choice of what you will do with this God who is love.

I recently ran across an article in the Business Insider.  I have linked the article here with the title:  6 habits of the most likable people.

I read Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” when I was young and it changed my life.  It taught me things that weren’t intuitively obvious and that would have taken me many, many years to learn from experience.

This article takes some of the key points of the book and provides them in a simple, easy to understand format

I also look at the book and this article as practical instructions in how to follow Jesus when He said to “Love One Another.”

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6 habits of the most likable people by Richard Feloni – Mar. 13, 2015, 5:07 PM

Talent is only a prerequisite for the upper echelon of any industry.

Those who have the best interpersonal and communication skills will always have an edge over their colleagues who don’t.

Dale Carnegie recognized this about a century ago and began teaching public speaking and personal success courses that became immensely popular. He and a team of researchers developed a curriculum based on lessons they derived from the lives of people like Thomas Edison and Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, along with psychology texts.

His most famous work, “How to Win Friends & Influence People,” which was published in 1936, is a collection of his core teachings and has sold over 15 million copies. It uplifted readers during the depths of the Great Depression, but its insights into human nature are as relevant today as they were then.

According to Carnegie, here are six habits of people who are so likable that others go out of their way to help them.

1. They are genuinely interested in others.
   Carnegie writes that the way Theodore Roosevelt treated even the lowest-level White House employee helped explain his popularity with the American public. He cites the writings of journalist and Army officer Archie Butt, who observed Roosevelt when he came to visit his presidential successor, William Howard Taft. Taft was unavailable, but Roosevelt made sure to speak to every servant and ask them how they were doing.

“It was the only happy day we had in nearly two years,” the White House head usher Ike Hoover told Butt.

2. They smile.
   Steel magnate Charles Schwab, who quickly rose from day laborer to an incredibly high paid executive under the industrialist Andrew Carnegie, claimed his smile was worth a million bucks.

“And he was probably understating the truth,” Carnegie writes. “For Schwab’s personality, his charm, his ability to make people like him, were almost wholly responsible for his extraordinary success; and one of the most delightful factors in his personality was his captivating smile.”

3. They remember the people they meet.
   Carnegie had a chance to interview Jim Farley, chairman of the Democratic National Convention and postmaster general — as well as FDR’s first presidential campaign manager — about how he became successful.

Farley said that his ability to navigate politics was due to a habit he developed as a traveling salesman. He asked each prospective client their name and about their family, so that he had enough to link to a face the next time he encountered them. “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language,” Carnegie writes.

4. They encourage people to talk about themselves.
   Most people loosen up in even tense situations if they start talking about what they know. Namely, themselves.

Carnegie writes that he once met an accomplished botanist at a dinner party and, being an amateur gardener himself, asked the man a stream of questions about his line of work. Hours of conversation later, it was time to leave. As the botanist left, he told Carnegie that he had been a “most interesting conversationalist.”

Carnegie barely said anything the entire time, but he listened with genuine interest. “That kind of listening is one of the highest compliments we can pay anyone,” he writes.

5. They are aware of others’ interests.
   Another reason Teddy Roosevelt left such a favorable impression on those he met, Carnegie writes, is that he seemed to know an encyclopedia’s worth of information.

This impression was deliberate. According to Carnegie, whenever Roosevelt hosted someone at his house, he would stay up late the night before, “reading up on the subject in which he knew his guest was particularly interested.”

6. They make others feel important — in a genuine way.
   Carnegie says that the philosopher William James expressed the “one all-important law of human conduct”: “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”

Show your appreciation of others, but don’t spread praise so thin that it’s meaningless.

I often struggle during the Christmas season when I think about the contrast between the fact that the creator of the universe sent His son to be our Savior by dying for our sins and the cultural focus on decorations, Santa Claus and challenge to buy gifts for people who have more than they need.

This year has been different because I went through iTunes and selected every Christmas song that celebrates the birth of Jesus and have been listening to them over and over. It has truly been a blessed Christmas season for me to regularly be reminded of what God did for us through the different perspectives of these songs.

A song and a video that have especially helped me be so very thankful for what God has done for us this Christmas season are included below.

Here is Glad singing a song called “In the First Light”

I have included the lyrics here for you:

In the First Light – By Bob Kauflin

In the first light of a new day no one knew he had arrived
Things continued as they had been while a newborn softly cried
But the heavens wrapped in wonder knew the meaning of his birth
In the weakness of a baby they knew God had come to earth

As his mother held him closely it was hard to understand
That her baby, not yet speaking, was the word of God to man
He would tell them of his kingdom but their hearts would not believe
They would hate him and in anger they would nail him to a tree

But the sadness would be broken as the song of life arose
And the firstborn of creation would ascend and take his throne
He had left it to redeem us but before his life began
He knew he’d come back, not as a baby, but as the Lord of every man

Hear the angels as they’re singing on the morning of his birth
But how much greater will our song be when he comes again to earth
Hear the angels as they’re singing on the morning of his birth
But how much greater will our song be when he comes to rule the earth!

Another video that was helpful in this process was by the Skit Guys which I have included below:

May you be reminded often during this Christmas season of how much God loves you by what He has done.

How do you decide what to do in different situations? What do you draw upon to make decisions?

Why do you react as you do? After you do something, do you go back and think “why did I do that?”

Which of the following do you use:

• It feels right
• Your instinct
• Look at options and consider the best
• Follow the law
• To avoid punishment or pain
• Whatever your boss tells you
• What your parents did
• What a role model did
• Whatever comes natural
• What you like or prefer
• What you did last time
• “Just do it!”
• Others?

How are you doing? What have been the results or consequences of your decisions and how you have reacted?

Do you stop and think “I should make different decisions and/or react differently because what I have done is not working out so well.” How does one even start that process?

The Creator of the Universe (God) has gone to great lengths to make available the most unique book to teach us about Him and also how to live during our short time on earth.

Psalm 119:105 (NIV) says “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Do you ever feel like you are in the dark and can’t see where you are going (I do!). God’s word can shine a light to guide us.

Psalm 1:1-6 (NIV) says “1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Are you living a blessed life? Do you realize how valuable it is to read the Bible and follow the guide God has given us for life? Is your “delight in the law of the Lord?”

We have the choice to follow our own ways or follow God’s ways – we can’t do both.

Matthew 6:24 (NIV) is talking specifically about money when it says “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” but it clearly makes the point only one can be in charge.

If we want to begin to change (changing is difficult and even wanting to change can be very difficult), how do we do that?

Romans 12:2 (NIV) says “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” By reading the Bible, studying and applying it, we can begin this process. Spending time in prayer to seek God’s help and also spending time with friends who also want to follow God can move us forward in this process of change – we don’t often do well by ourselves.

This process takes discipline. When I think of discipline, I think of Tom Landry (former, very successful coach of the Dallas Cowboys) who said ““Coaching is making men do what they don’t want, so they can become what they want to be.” Change is not easy and it requires us to make decisions and react differently so we can have better results. It takes us back to the title of this blog – “Who (or what) is in charge?”

If we follow the Bible, what will that look like? How will that be different from what we have been doing now?

What the Bible teaches is not intuitively obvious all the time and is most of the time not what comes natural but what the all wise, all powerful, loving Creator and Savior has given us to follow even or especially when it doesn’t make sense.

Here are some examples:

• Not Following Our Own Way: Luke 9:23-25 (NIV) 23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
• Forgiveness: Colossians 3:13 (NIV) 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
• Not Being Proud: Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV) 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
• Worry: Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV) 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
• Loving Your Wife: Ephesians 5:25-28 (NIV) 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
• Wives Submitting to Husbands: Ephesians 5:22-23 (NIV) 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
• Importance of Earth vs Heaven: Colossians 3:2 (NIV) 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
• Value of Material Possessions: Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV) 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
• Obey the government (Unless it conflicts with God’s laws – Acts 5:29): Romans 13:1-5 (NIV) 1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4 For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
• Many more…

Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 (NIV) 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. He also said in John 14:15 (NIV) 15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. Following Jesus and obeying His commands mean we don’t do what we want to do but do what he tells us to do in His Word. We will follow/obey if He is truly our Lord and Savior. We will have the best life if we do this as he told us in John 10:10 (NIV) “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

If you had to say a few words to introduce yourself to someone you didn’t know, how would you describe yourself? Paul set a great example for us. He started off Romans, Philippians, and Titus by introducing himself as a servant of Jesus or God. As we look at Paul’s life, he was truly a servant which means he clearly knew who was in charge. In 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV), he said “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

Life is difficult and always will be. As we react and make decisions, we can decide whether we want to follow our way or God’s way. Which do you think is best – the way of a fallen, emotional, sinful human or the loving, all-wise Creator of the universe? Think about that and how He loves you and wants to help you by His Word, through Prayer, through loving/caring friends and also through difficult times ( sadly, often the only way He gets my attention). I know that His way is best but I don’t always behave according to my knowledge. I am continuing to be transformed and you can als0.

I’ll close this out with a great hymn which I use to remind myself of the best way to live:

I Surrender All

All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

Refrain:
I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
Oh, the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!