Saturday, July 23, 2022

 

Saturday, July 23, 2022


Psalm 54; 55:1-12

Amos 9:7-15

Romans 3:21-31


But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.


I am going to mention the names of two men. They are considered as the leading thinkers of our generation, depending on your political leaning. The first, on the left of the political spectrum, is Slavoj Zizek. The other, on the right, is Jordan Peterson. They are both pagan philosophers. What is interesting about them both is that they are so close to the truth of the gospel, yet are held back by one thing. Jordan Peterson claims that the Bible contains some truth, insofar as “truth” is something “out there”; that while Jesus may not have literally been God, He still had some generally good things to teach us. Slavoj Zizek, in misunderstanding Jesus quoting Psalm 22 on the cross, thinks that God is revealed as being nothing more than our shared suffering. Both viewpoints hold in common the idea that we can learn from Jesus without accepting the personal implications.


The one thing they are missing the point of is the one thing covered in today's readings. It is what the great Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer called “true truth”. This truth is that God is a person, with His own opinions and ideas about how things should work, as well has having the ability to act on those opinions and ideas. We call this God's purpose. What is God's purpose? He wants to be with us. That is, a relationship between two persons: you as an individual, and God. Yes, when we enter into this relationship we are also brought into relationship with the body of believers with Christ at the head. But it starts with ourselves, here, this morning, with our Bible open in front of us, with the big, bold words of God: I love you, I satisfied my wrath at all the evil in the world unto myself because I love you so much, now trust me and love me back. Don't try to be a “good person”, that will come naturally later. For now, simply sit in the love of God, by your faith, which is showing God that you trust Him. Because of this, He will be delighted to show you the riches of His love.



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