Above the Sun: Jesus Changed Everything

by Barrett Vanlandingham
December 20, 2020 

            I think one of the most interesting things about Jesus is that he did not first come into existence when he was born.

            In John 1, the writer makes it clear that starting 2000 years ago with his birth, Jesus (the Word) experienced human life just like we do. But John also describes Jesus as Creator, which speaks to his eternal nature, a quality shared among God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

            “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome (or understood) it…. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

            Although the Holy Spirit is almost immediately referenced in the Bible (Genesis 1:2), God uses the word “us” in the making of mankind (Genesis 1:27) which may be the first reference to include Jesus as part of the Godhead, since we were created in God’s image and not in the image of angels. Paul also refers to Jesus as Creator (Colossians 1:15-20).

            Jesus coming here made it possible for us to go to heaven. There are several kinds of sacrifices in the Old Testament that were required for those who wanted their sins forgiven. Some of those offerings involved the blood of bulls and goats, some did not. Take flour for instance. Yes, flour. It was allowed as a sin offering, to be burned on the altar, on top of the food offerings when someone could not afford a proper animal sacrifice (Leviticus 5:11-13).

            The writer of Hebrews 9:22 says forgiveness of sin is not possible without the shedding of blood. But the important thing to remember is that it was never the animal blood, grain, washing with water (Lev 17:15), money (Exodus 30:11-16), oil (Lev 14:29), turning a goat loose into the wild (Lev 16:10), or any other offering that ultimately made the difference. It was the blood of the only perfect sacrifice that ever lived. Jesus was that sacrifice. He changed everything for our broken world. Without him, our sins could never be forgiven, back then or today.

            Scripture uses the term “forgiven” in reference to those Old Testament offerings because those were acts of faith and obedience that would eventually be completed by God’s grace in the form of Jesus on the cross hundreds of years later. So, faithful obedient people who lived before Jesus’ crucifixion and after can all be saved.

            John 1:29 says, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”   1 John 3:5 says, “But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.”  Revelation 2:10 says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”          

            So, if you think of baby Jesus when you see Christmas lights, or sing Christmas carols, or see a nativity scene, please also remember he did a lot of work to save us long before that. He is not only the “Reason” for this season. He is the Reason for all seasons, past, present, and future.  Have a great week!

Above the Sun: Decision-Making Principles: Do I have any doubts about this?

by Barrett Vanlandingham
December 13, 2020 

            So what does it matter if my decisions are based on whether I have doubts that it is the right thing to do? In short, if I am willing to risk my relationship with God, I am telling God that His will doesn’t matter as much as my wants matter.  This means I was willing to follow my own will even though I had an inkling that God may not be okay with it.

            Let’s say you want to watch a movie. You have heard it has a little bit of nudity and profanity in it.  You feel a little guilty for choosing to go ahead with it, but you do anyway. Afterwards, you realize you were evidently thinking of the wrong movie because the one you just watched was clean.  Did you sin in this example?

            Or how about this scenario: Many of the people you hang around use curse words. You know that’s wrong, so you choose to say a word that rhymes with a curse word. You feel a little guilty about saying it, but you really just want to fit in. After all, it’s not technically a curse word.  Did you sin in this example?

            To me, issue like these are hard to deal with because as a Christian, all I really want to do is make sure my actions and words are righteous, and a benefit to God’s kingdom and never a problem for it. But since too often I am just a selfish human, I am tempted to lean in favor of what I want, especially if I can convince myself the Bible doesn’t make a strong argument against whatever I am considering.

            The apostle Paul is a big help on this topic. If you have not read Romans 14, be prepared to have your mind blown. At least, that’s kind of how I felt the first several times I read it. The context here is the interaction of weak and strong Christians, and how being on God’s team is more about promoting righteousness, peace, and joy than judging each other’s attempts to honor God by things we do, eat, drink, or even the days we consider sacred.

            “19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:19-23).

            1 Corinthians 8 also explores this topic in regard to eating meat sacrificed to idols. Paul says even though there is only one God, and idols really amount to nothing, we would be in the wrong to cause a weaker brother to go against his conscience because a stronger brother’s example encouraged him to do so.

            Christians must always be vigilant that our words or actions never send a message that cause others to stumble spiritually or cause a divide or decay of anyone’s relationship with our Lord. Have a great week!

Above the Sun: Decision-Making Principles: Is it a righteous use of my time?

(Re-edited from newspaper version to make the three points clearer; new version used in the church announcement sheet on December 6)
December 6, 2020
by Barrett Vanlandingham  

            What does it matter if my decisions are a righteous use of my time?

The short answer: Time is running out, and in the end, we do not want to get caught opposing Jesus and the example he set for us to follow.

            . This was the message of the apostle Paul to Christians in Ephesus:

“15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit“ (Ephesians 5:15-18).

            Paul talks about three ways we should use our time: 1) be careful and make wise use of it, 2) don’t be foolish in what you think God expects of you, 3) and don’t waste your time with debauchery which is the opposite of righteousness. 

First, anyone who would try to argue that a person’s unwise and careless choice to sin instead of living righteously is no one else’s business needs to read the Bible. It is full of examples of innocent people suffering consequences because of their relationship to someone who did not think about anyone but themselves. That is exactly why the children of Israel had to wander around in the wilderness for 40 years. They could have gone directly from Egyptian slavery to the “Promised Land” of Canaan in a matter of days But most of the Israelite spies did not have faith that the Lord would help them conquer the land (Numbers 14). They convinced the people of this and even encouraged them to grumble against Moses and the Lord. The Israelites all suffered because they chose to be influenced be the careless unwise actions of a few.

Second, in the parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25, only five of them made wise use of their time and chose to bring enough lamp oil to keep their flames burning while waiting to greet the bridegroom. As a result, they were ready and prepared to enter the wedding banquet. However, the five foolish virgins were shut outside because they assumed they could show up late for the wedding banquet after they went to purchase more lamp oil. They foolishly did not understand the will of the bridegroom. The same could happen to us if we choose to not take the time to understand God’s will.

            Third, a few thousand years before Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Noah engaged in debauchery after the flood when he got drunk on wine from his vineyard (Genesis 9:20-27). Debauchery is any Godless act involving out of control behavior.  In time, and evidently with some life changes on Noah’s part, Bible history describes him as faithful, heir of righteousness, and as a preacher of righteousness (Hebrews 11:7, 2 Peter 2:5).  Still, Noah would have saved his family and entire nations a lot of turmoil if he would have exercised some self-control. His son Ham was the father of the nation of Canaan. But because of Noah’s anger over Ham seeing him passed out drunk and naked and telling his brothers about it, Noah cursed the entire nation of Canaan to be slaves of the territories belonging to brothers Japheth and Shem.

A wise Christian is holy. This means serving God with the limited time we have. And just like in the days of Noah, choosing sin over righteousness, even if only temporarily, not only affects the one making the bad choices, but other people, too. There is no middle ground. Choosing righteousness is the wise choice.

            Jesus said, “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4).  Have a great week!