The Bible - Part 1

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

We all know the Bible. If the Bible needs any introduction, then this might be how it can be said - 

The only book that continues to the world best-seller, throughout the ages. Total number of Bibles printed has crossed 6,001,500,000 and it has been translated and is being translated to 2000+ languages. But what intrigues me and saddens me most is that even though the Bible as a book is a best seller, it is most probably the most neglected book.

Many people buy it, but it is then placed in some corner of the house, never to be read and understood. Even in some churches we find that the knowledge of the Bible is abysmal. We are neither saying our prayers, nor reading the Bible except when we are in some terrifying emergency. We neither enter our churches on a weekly basis, except for a baptism, marriage or a funeral or for some feasts. Few parents read the Bible to their children, let alone teach them out of it. Few church members make a practice of daily Bible meditation.

Where have we lost the importance of the Bible? Why is the Bible lost its importance? In the earlier ages, people were ready to die for spreading the Bible. Where has the zeal to know about God lost? Is it because we do not know whether the Bible is an authentic book? Is it because we do not know how to authenticate the Bible? In this current series, I would like to put some light on the theological aspect on how the Bible corroborates with the thoughts of God, Jesus & Holy Spirit. I will share the historical validity of the Bible in another series.

Hope you would love to know more about the Bible and I hope and pray that this neglected book changes your life with the person names Jesus Christ, whom it testifies to.

GOD & THE BIBLE

My thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

For so as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain and snow come down from heaven,

and return not thither but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

-Isaiah 55:8-11

We might question sometimes, why should the God who created the whole universe reveal Himself? How can He do so? I would like to answer this by stating an example. Most people in every age have felt baffled by the mysteries of the human life and human experience. So most people have admitted that they need wisdom from outside themselves if they are ever to fathom the meaning of their own being. Hence, the evident necessity of divine revelation makes the notion eminently reasonable.

Without revelation, without divine instruction and direction, we human beings feel ourselves to be like a boat drifting rudderless on the high seas, like a leaf that is being tossed helplessly by the wind, like a blind person groping in the darkness. How can we find our way? More importantly, how can we find God's way without His direction? Just as Isaiah 55:8-9 says, there is a great gulf between God's mind and human minds. There is a great chasm between the our ways and thoughts and between the ways and thoughts of God. The thoughts of God are as high as the heavens than the earth: that means infinity.

How can we discover God's thoughts or read His mind? We can't even read each other's minds. We try to. We look into each other's faces to see if they are smiling or frowning, we peer into each other's eyes. But in the end it is a risky business. Then how much more impossible is it for us to know and penetrate the thoughts of the Almighty God? His mind is infinite. His thoughts are tower above our thoughts just as the heavens tower over the earth. There is no ladder by which our little minds could climb to His infinite mind. There is no bridge that we can throw across this chasm of infinity. There is no way to reach or fathom God.

It is then only reasonable to say that unless God takes the initiative to disclose what is on His mind we shall never be able to find out. Unless God makes himself known to us, we can never know Him, and all the world's altars - like the one Paul saw in Athens - will bear the tragic expression "To an unknown god" (Acts 17:23).

This is the place to begin our study. It is the place of humility before the infinite God. It is also the place of wisdom, as we perceive the reasonableness of the idea of revelation.

Dear brethren in Christ Jesus, hope you would start knowing the infinite God through the Bible. May the Lord Almighty bless you and keep you in all your views.

Your brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

P.S. You may contact me with your queries on jobin.george2012@gmail.com

Sources:

The Bible, Book for Today - John R W Stott

Bible Statistics: http://www.statisticbrain.com/bibles-printed/

Demands of Jesus - REPENT - Part 3

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

In the previous session, Part 2 we understood that sin is an assault on God and dishonors Him and puts us in debt to Him to make our relationship right with Him. We also understood that repenting is experiencing a change of mind so that we can see God as true and beautiful and worthy of all our praise and all our obedience. This change of mind also embraces Jesus in the same way, because He came from the Father and He and the Father are one.

But do we all need to repent? If so why? Let us learn about it.

THE UNIVERSAL NEED FOR REPENTANCE

No one is excluded from Jesus' demand to repent. He made this clear when a group of people came to him with news of two calamities. Innocent people had been killed by Pilate's massacre and by the fall of the tower of Siloam (Luke 13:1-4). Jesus took the occasion to warn even the bearers of the news: "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5). In other words, don't think calamities mean that some people are sinners in need of repentance and others aren't. All need repentance. Just as all need to be born again (John 3:7), so all must repent because all are sinners.

When Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32), he did not mean that some persons are good enough not to need repentance. he meant some think they are (Luke 18:9), and others have already repented and have been set right with God. For example, the rich young ruler desired "to justify himself" (Luke 10:29), while "the tax collector... beat his breast, saying 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner! [and he] went down to his house justified [by God]" (Luke 18:13-14).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

We now understood why there is a universal need for repentance, because not one of us is righteous enough to stand in the face of Jesus, save one - Jesus. We may think that we are not sinners in our deeds, which are  seen by everyone, but we sin in our thoughts - the only place that is seen by God. Jesus came down from Heaven to set us right with God, and to be set right with Him, we need to repent of our sins and come anew. We must be washed in His blood and become as white as newly fallen snow. Let us try to repent of our sinful thoughts and deeds and come and enjoy the presence of our Savior King.

May the Lord Almighty bless you and keep you in all your ways.

Your brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

Source: What Jesus Demands from the World - John Piper

Demands of Jesus - REPENT - Part 2

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

In the previous session, we understood what is repentance. We also understood that repentance is not the new deeds, but the inward change that bears the fruit of new deeds. And Jesus was demanding such a change in us. Now let us understand WHY?

SIN: AN ASSAULT ON GOD

Why? His answer is that we are sinners. "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32). What was Jesus' view of sin? In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus describes the son's sin like this: "He squandered his property in reckless living... (and) devoured (it) with prostitutes" (Luke 15:13, 30). But when the prodigal repents he says, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son" (Luke 15:21). Therefore, throwing away your life away on reckless living and prostitutes is not just humanly hurtful; it is an offence against heaven- that is, against God. That is the essential nature of sin. It is an assault on God.

We see this again in the way Jesus taught His disciples to pray. He said that they should pray, "Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us" (Luke 11:4). In other words, sins that God forgives are compared to the ones people commit against us, and those are called debts. Therefore, Jesus' view of sin is that it dishonors God and puts us in debt to restore the divine honor we had defamed by our God-belittling behavior or attitudes. Later we will see how that debt gets paid by Jesus himself (Mark 10:45). But for us to enjoy that gift he says we must repent.

Repenting means experiencing a change of mind so that we can see God as true and beautiful and worthy of all our praise and all our obedience. This change of mind also embraces Jesus in the same way. We know this because Jesus said, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God" (John 8:42). Seeing God with a new mind includes seeing Jesus with a new mind.

Dear brethren in Jesus, hope you all enjoyed a fruitful reading and understanding on sin and how it is an assault on God and why we should repent of the same. Hoping that this would change your view of the sins we commit and come back to God and honor Him with all our heart, soul, mind and body.

May the loving God always have compassion on you and may He bless you all the days of your life.

Your Brother in Jesus

Jobin George

Demands of Jesus - REPENT - Part 1

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus
It has been a long time since I last posted here. In the last few sessions, we finished learning about Jesus' demands on not to be anxious and to always pray. Now let us move to one of Jesus' first demands- to repent.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." - Matt. 4:17

I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. - Luke 5:32

Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. - Luke 13:3,5

The first demand of Jesus' ministry was, "Repent". He spoke this command indiscriminately to all who would listen. It was a call for radical inward change toward God and man.

WHAT IS REPENTANCE?

Two things show us that repentance is an internal change of mind and heart rather than mere sorrow for sin or mere improvement of behavior. First, the meaning of the Greek word  behind the English "repent" (metanoia) points in this direction. It has two parts: meta and noia. The second part (noia) reffers to the mind and its thoughts and perceptions and dispositions and purposes. The first part (meta) is a prefix that regularly means movement or change. In view of the way ths prefix regularly functions, we may infer that the basic meaning of repent is to exercise a change of the mind's perceptions and dispositions and purposes.

The other factor that points to this meaning of repent is the way Luke 3:8 describes the relationship between repentance and new behavior. It says, "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance." Then it gives examples of the fruits: "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise" (Luke 3:11). This means that repenting is what happens inside of us. Then this change leads to the fruits of new behavior. Repentance is not the new deeds, but the inward change that bears the fruit of new deeds. Jesus is demanding that we experience this inward change.

In the next session, we will see why Jesus demands that we experience this change in ourselves. May the Lord Almighty bless you all and keep you in all your ways.

Please do uphold me in your prayers.

Your Brother in Jesus Christ

Jobin George

P.S. The above extract has been taken from the book "What Jesus demands from the World" by John Piper.