Our identity in Christ is not just our being living stones in the spiritual house He is building.  In Scripture it says, there’s a purpose:

1 Peter 2: 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

We are to be a holy priesthood.
It leaves no room for us to claim to be followers of Christ but not do what He says.
There is a holiness to the holy priesthood.

Frankly, I’m appalled at what I see among modern churches and their social media posts about how welcoming they are to everyone.  The problem is not in welcoming all people to a place of personal reformation in Christ. That’s a totally different process than welcoming a reformation of the church by bringing in people to change it …which is clearly what the comments are celebrating: ditch Jesus’ standards and celebrate “woke.”

Far from Jesus’ kind of church as they laud the diversity, Jesus’ kind of church ought to narrow the way from diverse/destructive to incredibly narrow holiness that God commands us to pursue as His followers. 1 Peter 1:15 “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.'”

Beyond that, I’m angry (I’ll admit it) that many of the so-called pastors and preachers doing this are women.  Not all women have such bad theology (inviting what God hates to become the doctrine of the day).

Years ago, I wrote a post called Grave Trampling in which I described Holy Saturday (the day before Easter) and what our culture—and even Christians!–are doing to Christ Jesus.  We see what He says and go our own way!  It’s so far from the holy priesthood God wants us to be!

It’s not enough to say “Jesus Loves You” but it’s a wake-up call to deny self, pick up our cross daily, and follow Him.
The Easy Sell of You,
personalizing Jesus to fit your life and accept you as you are, as you find yourself in that “welcoming church” which never asks you to abandon sin
THIS WILL NEVER HONOR
the radical obedience that is the hallmark of true Christians.

During this so-called Pride Month when people are proud of their sin lives, as defined by God’s standards, flaunting a rainbow as an in-your-face to God, blaspheming His promise never to flood the earth again over such sin, please take a moment to remember that we’re not called to listen and go our own way, but to be built as living stones into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to our HOLY God by obeying Him and pursuing holiness.

How far does God’s love extend?  It is as wide as the Church universal (the entire community of redeemed Image-bearers, rescued from every corner and former faith tradition into Christ’s spiritual house) and as personal as you and me (living stones and individual Image-bearers whom God knows personally).  But…

When Scripture says in John 3:16 “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,” it had a preface or if you’d prefer, an Opening Statement.  It also has a Closing Statement. 

Opening Statement: 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

This is defining the world –specifically the world of the saved. 
Not everyone (period), but “everyone who believes”.

Closing Statement:  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 they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Two groups: Those already NOT condemned and those condemned ALREADY.

For this reason, after the Closing Statement, there is also a verdict, issued by the Judge of all.  In the Last Day, we will all stand before Him to give an account of our lives based in His truth which stands alone.  It’s an account of what we did during the persecutions and trials that come our way.  It’s an account of all the evils being done in our culture, and what we did in that time, whether capitulate in fear, remain silent, or stand courageous proclaiming His Truth. Some will stand before Him to receive Judgment.  Followers of Jesus will stand before Him to receive a vision of the extent of God’s love and forgiveness.

John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.   21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Standing before the Judge of the universe, will equality claims of “your truth” or “their truth” vs. His Truth have any merit?  Better, while there’s still time, would be for us to align ourselves with His Truth, repent, and adjust our lives accordingly.

We aren’t built into a spiritual house to be nothing and do nothing.  This spiritual house, Scripture says, is to be a holy priesthood.

“As you come to him, the living Stone– rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him– you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4-5)

Think of all the things people sacrifice to…spend their time doing…dwell upon…and offer their service in support.  That’s not to say that it’s unimportant, undesirable, or unnecessary, but how much of it will fade away? 

Now think of the spiritual house, the holy priesthood…it’s eternal.  Given the fact that it will last forever,

Psalm 119:12 Praise be to you, LORD; teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. 17 Be good to your servant while I live, that I may obey your word.  18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Amen.

To Jesus who is the living Stone, God’s Chosen and Precious Cornerstone, His view is that the Church and its faithful are not just a jar of identical marbles.  Each man, woman, and child is individual–and is as individual as each person’s decision to follow Christ. This fact is proven by unique gifting from the Holy Spirit.  No two of us are identical.

Scripture tells us that Jesus is the living Stone in the example par excellence.  We, as His fellow brothers and sisters in the fully human sense—children in the family of God, are chips off the old block.  We are like Him and “like” living stones—not bricks, not blocks, not Legos.

1 Peter 2:4 As you come to him, the living Stone– rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him– 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.

Imagine a house so alive that its walls breathe and wriggle in the joy of the Lord.  Tremors of excitement shake it like Jell-O, yet unmovable it its Christ-alignment as each new believer is fitted into this organic structure which ripples from the immovable Cornerstone.  The Church is miraculous in its spiritual sense.  No wonder the angels sing. 

The Church is truly organic—growing more substantial, developing to maturity, and bearing fruit to the glory of God.  Each person is uniquely gifted to do his part in this fruitful enterprise.  

Have you decided to follow Christ, repenting of past sin, and are you ready to be built into this living Church?

Now that I’ve risked making YOU feel like YOU are unimportant, let me correct back to who YOU are that God would send Jesus as payment for your sins. 

He loves you and in Christ, you are family.  This love is powerful and salvific.

What kind of love is that? Scripture says in 1 John 3:1 “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”

Any of us who have children know they are not carbon-copies of each other.  They are not clones.  They aren’t even similar in looks or temperament in many cases.  Not even twins are fully identical in every way. But each child is fully family. By the grace of God, we are all adopted children, loved as family!

Setting aside the bad case examples for a moment…parents, imperfect though we are, still love our children because they are our children.  Sometimes, parents can acknowledge that they don’t like a particular tantrum or action, yet good parents (and God is the best!) love our kids.

For this reason, each person–in Christ–can have a sense of belonging to something greater than self…we are family.

In Galatians 6: 9-10, it says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

You are important as a member of this family, of Christ’s Church.

Thank You, Father, that You love us, called us into Your family, Your Church!  What a privilege that just as we do not choose our birth families, we did not choose ourselves to be in Your Church.  Your grace alone accomplishes this act of love.  May we respond with hearts of gratitude always.  In Jesus’ Name and for His glory.  Amen.

Here’s a good litmus test for our understanding of how “God loves YOU, God cares for YOU, Jesus died for YOU” and how YOU view this love…made personal to YOU by well-meaning evangelical pastors looking for a new convert.

Another favorite idea with Bible-believing Christians in the evangelical world is predestination, meaning that God chose YOU before He ever created YOU, which admittedly is a lovely thought.

Take the predestination litmus test:
Suppose YOU are wrong.  YOU were not among the chosen.  Jesus died for others, but He did not die for YOU personally. 
Now, think of the person YOU hate the most.  
The individual who has wronged YOU in unthinkable ways.  Maybe someone YOU are waiting for God’s vengeance against, the peer who always escapes accountability or justice or seems to get ahead while YOU don’t.  Think of the ex-husband, ex-wife, or rebellious children who have hated YOU with every ounce of their being and proclaimed that to YOUR face.  Think of the person who abused YOU, took YOUR promotion by taking credit for YOUR ideas, did unthinkable things to YOU, stole from YOU, or committed other crimes or insults against YOU.  Just being real here, but if YOU are such a perfect Christian that YOU don’t harbor any negative emotions or thoughts regarding anyone…think of someone who hurt someone YOU love.

Now tell yourself that instead of YOU (not chosen),
God loves “that person.”  God cares about “that person.”  Jesus died for “that person.” 
And chose “that person” YOU hate, not YOU.
To fulfill Scripture, it happened before that person had done anything good or bad
so that election might stand apart from works.
This is the danger of the personal YOU focus.

“What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!  For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” (Romans 9:14-16)

You see, if God loves His Image-bearers (as a group and as individuals) and cares for them and died for them, it makes more sense.  If God loves the group and the individual, Jesus died so that “in Him” they could be saved just as the Way was predestined.   Yes, it means that some of those people are like the thief on the cross next to Jesus—even someone YOU secretly hate in your silent moments can come to a saving faith.  The grace of Christ means none of us is beyond redemption because none of us earns His favor.

Prayerfully ask yourself whether YOU have unwittingly made yourself more in the scenario than a sinner in need of forgiveness. 

Lord Jesus, thank You for level ground at the foot of the Cross and how any of Your Image-bearers can find refuge and forgiveness there. Your grace is beyond our understanding, the power of Your blood is sufficient to cover any of our sins. Help us to see that it is not a contradiction for You to love Your Church, Your people, Your world, and in the miniature, each man, woman, or child whom You have called…personally. Turn our focus, O Holy Spirit, toward magnifying Christ and minimizing ourselves. With right mind, clear and sober assessment, focus our hearts on considering that we bring nothing to the equation except a repentant heart wanting nearness to Jesus. Give us right minds in these terrible days in which society screams for us to seek self. May we seek You and live. Amen.

What is mankind that God is mindful of us? 
And beyond that, exactly how personal does God get
with knowing us individually?

Evangelicals are fond of the personal relationship aspect of Christianity. Especially at Easter, pastors will often emphasize that “God loves YOU!”  Which God does, it’s just His love is on a totally different level than we can experience from fellow human beings. 

God loving YOU is an easy sell. 
It’s so inviting, costing us nothing,
that it’s almost a platitude in its commonly portrayed lack of depth.

Pastors continue “God cares about YOU!”  He cares about what you’re going through as an individual.  Which He does, but in a different way than we can fathom.  For that reason, it may not always look like He cares about YOU because He’s doing things His way, not the way any of us might want.  But like “God loves YOU”, the idea that “God cares about YOU” is an easy sell because it’s sold through the lens of our lives and the world revolving around us, not His Word and His Will.

“Jesus died for YOU,” is the Easter proclamation of many pastors.  Which is true but God cares about His Image and He cares about YOU—both/and—not either/or.  “Jesus died for YOU”, however, is the easy sell, and why? Because the focus is on YOU. 

So much emphasis on YOU,
it was all done for YOU, and how all YOU have to do is receive it,
risks turning the sacrifice of Christ backwards in a sense,
and makes YOU into the deity…instead of God. 

We can be so focused on YOU that we can totally forget that it cost Jesus everything.  It cost the Father everything.  Worship or exaltation of YOU had nothing to do with it. 

I know it’s hard for those of us with a more evangelical mindset, but today, I’d ask that YOU reflect upon how YOU are simply a side-beneficiary of a transaction that didn’t involve YOU…personally…at all.  It was personal between Jesus Christ—the Son of God—and God the Father.

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your sacrifice of love. Thank You for Your faithfulness to finish the work the Father sent You to do. Help us to balance our true understanding of the true love You have for us with the full knowledge that grace means–by definition–unmerited favor. There’s nothing we did to earn it. It was all You. Through the power of Your Holy Spirit, guide us to look beyond ourselves and give us discernment for the ways in which our Christian culture of tame Christianity leads us down a path of comfortable focus upon ourselves. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive the well-meaning pastors who fail to speak the cost of salvation, who for the sake of comfortable converts, fail to teach true Biblical Christianity, which is far from feel-good, easy sells. A call to crucify ourselves, our old ways, our old lives, and our old devotions, to pick up our cross and to follow You. Even if it’s into the way of suffering, this is the call of discipleship and what we owe You. We owe You our lives. We humbly ask Your help, for us to be bold for You, even more because the days are short before Your return in Judgment. Open our eyes to see the fields are ripe for harvest, give us hearts to love others, and send us as harvest workers for Your glory. Amen.

Throughout Lent, I emphasized the point that we are Image-bearers. Each person belonging to the human race is endowed with this Image-bearing. Now because of sin, it’s in broken form–a relic of what once was…in original created perfection. 

It was my hope to offer a helpful corrective to the human-centric
“Jesus thinks you’re so special that He died so you can be happy” nonsense
that is peddled by many so-called pastors. 

If Jesus died for that, then He’s playing favorites.  He’s picking His basketball team and either you’re on it or you’re not, and it depends on you and your abilities or special qualities that Jesus finds endearing or desirable.  That makes God self-serving and capricious at best.

But if God so loved the world, that Jesus died for His Image-sake,
then any Image-bearer finds level ground at the foot of the Cross. 

It doesn’t matter the family you were born into, any innate abilities, any endearing qualities, good looks, strength, smarts, or anything else.  We all start at level ground, standing together in need of forgiveness. And it’s ours if we’ll only repent of our sins to restore relationship with our God and receive this free gift of His grace.

Take a moment today to consider where you are. In the flow of time and in the story of the Bible and God’s redemptive work in the world, we’re nearing the end of the story. Time remaining is short.

Who is man that God is mindful of us?

We will explore this question over the next few weeks, but for now, in light of Jesus’ imminent return in judgment, please get right with the Lord. There are no do-overs on this one.

He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  It’s traditional celebratory verbiage for Christians at Easter.  The tomb was empty and that’s worth celebrating, but why was the tomb empty?  Because He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed! While a circular answer, that’s not what I’m asking.

Why was it necessary that the tomb be empty…that Christ rose bodily from the dead?

If His body was still there, we could say He was alive in spirit and had a new body, but there would be no evidence to back up our claim.  The empty tomb is one piece of evidence that He is Risen.

But there’s more to it than that. Ours will rise, just not yet. Our bodies—when we die and are buried—can yet be exhumed.  Our eternal life is already with soul and spirit but not with our bodies until the Return of Christ.  His Resurrection makes ours possible.

But there’s more still.  He appeared to people with His Risen body…which still bore the marks (the stigmata) of crucifixion.  He was Jesus, not a ghost, but flesh and bones as the significant piece of fish showed us on Lent 27.

Because He has a Risen body, we will get one too when He returns, the dead in Christ rising first (1 Thessalonians 4:16).  We will resemble ourselves but also perfected as God’s Image-bearers.

The empty tomb and the encounters of the early disciples with the Risen Lord to be witnesses (in real time and in Scripture recorded for us) are meant to encourage us and embolden us.  Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

The body and soul (Image-bearing identity) are coupled in this life but separated at death.  Jesus’ Resurrection shows us that death no longer has a hold on our bodies and eternal life replaces mortality.  Death has lost its sting.

The demons in Hell’s prison know it and writhe now in eternal anguish, awaiting Judgment Day, and no longer laughing, mocking God’s people as under the same curse.  The curse has been broken and the empty tomb is Exhibit A.  Exhibit B is His Resurrection appearance to disciples, but adding to the compelling truth is this: At His Ascension, Jesus’ sacrifice was totally accepted by His Father. It was proven in the coming of the promised Holy Spirit to dwell in believers who are now fully clean and forgiven, born again to eternal life, and which will include resurrection bodies at Christ’s Return.

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow is ours
because He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!