Isaiah 53:2 He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. ESV
This chapter of Isaiah talks about the Messiah. I would encourage you to read the whole thing and then tell me who you think the Messiah is. There is no mistaking the life and death of Jesus Christ in this chapter - no mistaking it at all.
But I want to just focus on this one verse. Contrary to movies and paintings, Jesus was just a garden variety Jewish man of the 1st century. He did not float above the ground (except when he walked on water), he did not glow in the dark (except on the Mount of Transfiguration) and he was just not that impressive.
Jesus isn't impressive, he is right. You should believe in him because of what he said and did, not because he is a charismatic leader.
Pastor Tom
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
You Don't Have to be Good
Alot of people think that God wants us to be good, to do better. If we do that then He'll be happy and will let us into heaven. The Golden Rule, the Sermon on the Mount, the Ten Commandments - all that stuff is a guidebook for us to follow.
Wrong!
God doesn't want us to do better because He knows we can't do better. The most incredible sacrifice ever given by man, the most wonderful act, the highest thought, the most beautiful creation - all are infinitely below the most common thought that God has ever had.
Sorry for the bad news - but it's actually good news. Read Isaiah 46:12
"Listen to me, you stubborn or heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness, it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay."
If we'd just let go of the silly notion that man is basically good and admit that when left along we sink further and further into evil then we'd see that real goodness (righteousness) comes from God's character, not ours. The good news is that he offers that goodness to us in the form of salvation that he himself brings. And yes, that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ.
But let's just give up trying to be good and instead let God be good through us by his presence in our lives. Ask him to come live in you. Ask him to make you good. Guess what? He will.
Pastor Tom
Wrong!
God doesn't want us to do better because He knows we can't do better. The most incredible sacrifice ever given by man, the most wonderful act, the highest thought, the most beautiful creation - all are infinitely below the most common thought that God has ever had.
Sorry for the bad news - but it's actually good news. Read Isaiah 46:12
"Listen to me, you stubborn or heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness, it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay."
If we'd just let go of the silly notion that man is basically good and admit that when left along we sink further and further into evil then we'd see that real goodness (righteousness) comes from God's character, not ours. The good news is that he offers that goodness to us in the form of salvation that he himself brings. And yes, that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ.
But let's just give up trying to be good and instead let God be good through us by his presence in our lives. Ask him to come live in you. Ask him to make you good. Guess what? He will.
Pastor Tom
Monday, October 29, 2007
Seek God in Vain?
"I asked God to help me and I got nothing!"
Perhaps that a statement you could make. Maybe things have gone really badly of late and you are frankly mad at God. Maybe you've been crying out to God but haven't heard an answer and are wondering if He is really there at all.
Isaiah made a statement that I'd like you to consider:
45:19 "I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain.' I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right."
In fact, the problem may not be with God at all, but with us. First, God says he did not speak in secret. So where did God speak? In the Bible. You may not like what the Bible has to say but if you want to hear God speak then that is the place to hear Him.
Secondly, you may have sought your own version of God and not gotten anywhere. I can make up all kinds of things about God (and many have) but that doesn't make it the truth. Again I come back to the Bible. Check it out, dig around, study - you will find it is the most accurate of all books and truly speaks with God's voice.
Jeremiah said "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (29:13). Maybe the problem is that you are not ready to yield your will to the Lord, your life to God. Maybe God is speaking, we just aren't listening.
Pastor Tom
Perhaps that a statement you could make. Maybe things have gone really badly of late and you are frankly mad at God. Maybe you've been crying out to God but haven't heard an answer and are wondering if He is really there at all.
Isaiah made a statement that I'd like you to consider:
45:19 "I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain.' I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right."
In fact, the problem may not be with God at all, but with us. First, God says he did not speak in secret. So where did God speak? In the Bible. You may not like what the Bible has to say but if you want to hear God speak then that is the place to hear Him.
Secondly, you may have sought your own version of God and not gotten anywhere. I can make up all kinds of things about God (and many have) but that doesn't make it the truth. Again I come back to the Bible. Check it out, dig around, study - you will find it is the most accurate of all books and truly speaks with God's voice.
Jeremiah said "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (29:13). Maybe the problem is that you are not ready to yield your will to the Lord, your life to God. Maybe God is speaking, we just aren't listening.
Pastor Tom
Friday, October 19, 2007
What Happens When Jesus Comes?
No, I'm not talking about the end times here. But to listen to many people today, this is what happens when Jesus Christ is mentioned:
Exclusion, hate, discrimination, narrow-minded thinking, dissension, arguing, and party-pooping.
People react to verses like this one from Isaiah 11:
4 "and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked."
I'd like to simply offer some context. If you read around that verse in Isaiah you get a better idea of what Jesus does when He comes into a life:
"3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;"
And look at the effect on others around Him:
"6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
This doesn't sound at all like the person people make Jesus out to be. The problem is evil. We as humans don't want to admit that there is such a thing and that it infects the human soul. Evil was not originally part of our nature and God, through Jesus, will purge it. He knows the difference between good and evil and knows that we will love the good if we can only be freed from evil.
Why not trust that when Jesus comes into your life that he brings peace and love. Give Him a chance!
Pastor Tom
Exclusion, hate, discrimination, narrow-minded thinking, dissension, arguing, and party-pooping.
People react to verses like this one from Isaiah 11:
4 "and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked."
I'd like to simply offer some context. If you read around that verse in Isaiah you get a better idea of what Jesus does when He comes into a life:
"3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;"
And look at the effect on others around Him:
"6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
This doesn't sound at all like the person people make Jesus out to be. The problem is evil. We as humans don't want to admit that there is such a thing and that it infects the human soul. Evil was not originally part of our nature and God, through Jesus, will purge it. He knows the difference between good and evil and knows that we will love the good if we can only be freed from evil.
Why not trust that when Jesus comes into your life that he brings peace and love. Give Him a chance!
Pastor Tom
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Ruling over a Heap of Ruins
John Milton said it this way: "Better to reign in hell than serve in heav'n."
I ran into an interesting verse in Isaiah that reminded me of that quote from Paradise Lost.
Isaiah 3:6 "You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule"
I won't go into the situation that surrounds this prophecy, except to say that Israel has disobeyed God, walked away from Him, and is suffering the consequences.
My point is that sometimes we want to be in control so badly that even ruling over a heap of ruins is superior to falling on our faces in repentance for our sins. Medical research has shown that our brains have a built in self-defending mechanism. That's why people like Hitler could justify genocide.
We don't like admitting we're wrong and we don't like admitting we need anyone or anything else. In the natural human nature we like to be king - of something - even if it's a pile of garbage.
Think about that a little. How important is control and power in your life? What are you willing to give up if asked? I'm not saying that God would ask you to sell everything, give to the poor and go to Africa - but what if He did?
Don't rule over a pile of ruins when you can serve in a house full of love and forgiveness, where God is King!
Pastor Tom
I ran into an interesting verse in Isaiah that reminded me of that quote from Paradise Lost.
Isaiah 3:6 "You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule"
I won't go into the situation that surrounds this prophecy, except to say that Israel has disobeyed God, walked away from Him, and is suffering the consequences.
My point is that sometimes we want to be in control so badly that even ruling over a heap of ruins is superior to falling on our faces in repentance for our sins. Medical research has shown that our brains have a built in self-defending mechanism. That's why people like Hitler could justify genocide.
We don't like admitting we're wrong and we don't like admitting we need anyone or anything else. In the natural human nature we like to be king - of something - even if it's a pile of garbage.
Think about that a little. How important is control and power in your life? What are you willing to give up if asked? I'm not saying that God would ask you to sell everything, give to the poor and go to Africa - but what if He did?
Don't rule over a pile of ruins when you can serve in a house full of love and forgiveness, where God is King!
Pastor Tom
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
How Do We Know?
Science, for the most part, declares that there is no God and that all we know we know from observation, theory and experimentation. While I have a high degree of respect for science, there are limits that many scientists are unaware of.
Without going into a huge dissertation on the subject, I just want to introduce a verse that illustrates the point:
Ecclesiastes 11:5 "As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything."
We humans living on earth are like swimmers in a pool. From underwater you can look up at the sky and make certain conclusions, but due to the way light is refracted and reflected your perceptions may be distorted. We can observe certain things and make conclusions about them, such as the fact that gravity exists and its effects. But just as science does not really know what gravity is, so too we cannot make blanket conclusions that there is no God behind it all.
We simply don't have enough information or the ability to collect enough information to prove He does not exist.
So let's give Him the benefit of the doubt and believe that what He said is true. God and science can co-exist, as long as science knows its limitations.
Pastor Tom
Without going into a huge dissertation on the subject, I just want to introduce a verse that illustrates the point:
Ecclesiastes 11:5 "As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything."
We humans living on earth are like swimmers in a pool. From underwater you can look up at the sky and make certain conclusions, but due to the way light is refracted and reflected your perceptions may be distorted. We can observe certain things and make conclusions about them, such as the fact that gravity exists and its effects. But just as science does not really know what gravity is, so too we cannot make blanket conclusions that there is no God behind it all.
We simply don't have enough information or the ability to collect enough information to prove He does not exist.
So let's give Him the benefit of the doubt and believe that what He said is true. God and science can co-exist, as long as science knows its limitations.
Pastor Tom
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