Monday, February 06, 2006
Slide of hand artists get me every time. A swift move of the hands over the cards and it seems to change before your eyes. Magicians make buildings just disappear. One guy became famous because he could make it look as if he were “levitating” off the ground. They now don’t even call themselves magicians anymore but “illusionists”.
The church has its fair share of illusionists, too. Many of which are so good that even some of the most intelligent Christians get fooled. The illusion always has a hint of truth. For example, the idea that if you are in God’s will, everything will be victory for you. That if you aren’t experiencing victory in your life, you must not be praying hard enough, doing enough, etc. A reverse Pharisee-ism.
Even more prevalent today is that all one has to do is pray a prayer to Jesus for salvation then go about my life doing my own thing. It gives the illusion of salvation—but not security.
I don’t normally don’t rely on this kinda stuff. But Barna Research Group has a article worth reading. One-Quarter of Self-Described Born Again Adults Rely on Means Other Than Grace to Get to Heaven.(Nov. 29, 2004; www.barna.org) Yes, it got my attention, too. Here’s some of what they found: 80% of Americans call themselves “Christian”, 44% claim to be “born again” (“born again” defined as having made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and in which they claim they will go to Heaven after they die because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.) 25% of the 44% did not meet the criteria used for “born again.”(www.barna.org)
Illusions.
That is what John is battling. The illusion being that Christ was God, but His flesh was not. John was trying to convey that there was no deception, no illusion, in the person of Jesus.
He saw, heard, and talked about the eternal life. What is eternal life? Ever wondered? John gives us the definition from Jesus in his gospel.
John 17:3 3 "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Eternal life is knowing Him!!! The only way to have eternal life is to know Him and the one—Jesus Christ—whom He sent. Those that John was arguing against didn’t believe that the man, Jesus, was sent by God. John is flat out hitting them between the eyes.
The only way to eternal life is through the God/Man, Jesus Christ. If you remove the Christ from the Jesus, that the man that was crucified wasn’t God in flesh, you have a Greek tragedy in Jewish form. If you remove the physical man, Jesus, and retain the Deity aspect, Christ, you have an idol.
This is why John at the end of the epistle warns them to abstain from idolatry. You see when we deny that the historical Jesus was the Son of God we make for ourselves an idol. Only the God/Man, Jesus Christ, can offer eternal life because He was sent from the Father. That union, which has perplexed theologians for centuries, is eternal life in Himself, the core of His being. From the beginning, eternal and everlasting, that is the one who came for the purpose of showing us Himself—eternal life.
Are we looking to the true eternal life….or just an illusion? How do we tell the difference?
Jesus continued in John 17, praying that we may have the joy that He had, and be sanctified in truth. And what is the truth that sanctifies us? His WORD. (v.17) We cannot know when the illusionist comes unless we know His word. Get in scripture so that when someone who claims to be speaking for God, teaching something that doesn’t seem right. It must be justified and supported by the full counsel of His Word.
The Truth is the Word—spoken by Him who was sent from the Father—who is eternal life. Learn the Word, find truth that leads to Jesus, who leads us into eternal life by faith.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Aaron “Tree” Landis
Psalm 1.3
The church has its fair share of illusionists, too. Many of which are so good that even some of the most intelligent Christians get fooled. The illusion always has a hint of truth. For example, the idea that if you are in God’s will, everything will be victory for you. That if you aren’t experiencing victory in your life, you must not be praying hard enough, doing enough, etc. A reverse Pharisee-ism.
Even more prevalent today is that all one has to do is pray a prayer to Jesus for salvation then go about my life doing my own thing. It gives the illusion of salvation—but not security.
I don’t normally don’t rely on this kinda stuff. But Barna Research Group has a article worth reading. One-Quarter of Self-Described Born Again Adults Rely on Means Other Than Grace to Get to Heaven.(Nov. 29, 2004; www.barna.org) Yes, it got my attention, too. Here’s some of what they found: 80% of Americans call themselves “Christian”, 44% claim to be “born again” (“born again” defined as having made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and in which they claim they will go to Heaven after they die because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.) 25% of the 44% did not meet the criteria used for “born again.”(www.barna.org)
Illusions.
That is what John is battling. The illusion being that Christ was God, but His flesh was not. John was trying to convey that there was no deception, no illusion, in the person of Jesus.
He saw, heard, and talked about the eternal life. What is eternal life? Ever wondered? John gives us the definition from Jesus in his gospel.
John 17:3 3 "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Eternal life is knowing Him!!! The only way to have eternal life is to know Him and the one—Jesus Christ—whom He sent. Those that John was arguing against didn’t believe that the man, Jesus, was sent by God. John is flat out hitting them between the eyes.
The only way to eternal life is through the God/Man, Jesus Christ. If you remove the Christ from the Jesus, that the man that was crucified wasn’t God in flesh, you have a Greek tragedy in Jewish form. If you remove the physical man, Jesus, and retain the Deity aspect, Christ, you have an idol.
This is why John at the end of the epistle warns them to abstain from idolatry. You see when we deny that the historical Jesus was the Son of God we make for ourselves an idol. Only the God/Man, Jesus Christ, can offer eternal life because He was sent from the Father. That union, which has perplexed theologians for centuries, is eternal life in Himself, the core of His being. From the beginning, eternal and everlasting, that is the one who came for the purpose of showing us Himself—eternal life.
Are we looking to the true eternal life….or just an illusion? How do we tell the difference?
Jesus continued in John 17, praying that we may have the joy that He had, and be sanctified in truth. And what is the truth that sanctifies us? His WORD. (v.17) We cannot know when the illusionist comes unless we know His word. Get in scripture so that when someone who claims to be speaking for God, teaching something that doesn’t seem right. It must be justified and supported by the full counsel of His Word.
The Truth is the Word—spoken by Him who was sent from the Father—who is eternal life. Learn the Word, find truth that leads to Jesus, who leads us into eternal life by faith.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Aaron “Tree” Landis
Psalm 1.3
AMEN Bro!!!!! Good Piece.