Of Blue Lights and Gasoline

A TRUE Short Story about Nothing...

Or Everything

            It was about 9:30PM and the speedometer on my Tundra traveled west as I slowed down approaching the Route 146 off ramp for Central Turnpike.  As I approached the end of the ramp I observed that the vehicle before me maneuvered carefully around an inconvenient obstacle and exited the highway.  That obstacle was a car.  Inside the car was a man.  I wondered about the wisdom and propriety of his chosen place to park.  Then I noticed his flashing emergency lights.  As I pulled up along the unfortunate fellow I rolled down my window.  “Need a hand?” I said.

            Before I go any further with my story you should probably be aware of the amusing absurdity of such an offer of help from me.  I know almost nothing about cars.  If this gentleman had pulled over because of a headache, and had paused to ponder the appropriate dosage of ibuprofen for his pain, then possibly I could be of assistance.  If he was thumbing through his Bible looking for the book of Jonah I could probably offer my aid.  But car trouble?  Well, I suppose I could offer to call AAA.

            Anyway, back to my story.  As I leaned out the window into the starry night, he answered my inquiry with 5 words even a non-mechanic such as I could understand:  “I ran out of gas.”  Ugghh.  Been there, done that.  Poor guy.  And unfortunately this exit had no service station for fuel.  “Can I help?” I asked the stranded stranger.  “It’s okay,” he replied, “I called a friend and he is bringing me some gas.”  I offered to assist him get his vehicle to the side of the road.  “Not necessary,” he said, “I’m a moose.”  And as he exited the vehicle and began pushing his car he did in fact prove to be quite a sizeable fellow.   “Alright” I responded and began to pull away as a number of cars were beginning to stack up behind me. 

            But as this stranger and his car grew smaller in my rear view mirror it suddenly occurred to me that his “friend” might be travelling from quite a distance to offer his aid.  What if his “friend” was coming from Providence, Boston or Harford?  Sure, he would get his gas, but only after a prolonged and possibly uncomfortable interval of time.  I decided I would go home, grab our 5 gallon gas can, and return to help if he were still around.  And so I did.

            In less than 10 minutes me, my truck, and my gas can were returning to the site where I had left him.  And there he was:  still sitting, still waiting.  I pulled over, grabbed the can, and approached my friend.  As he exited the driver’s side of his car and approached me he exclaimed, very naturally and joyfully, “wow, you returned, what a blessing.”  A blessing?  Really?  Not exactly the reaction I expected.  So I responded that the Lord had blessed me very much and that it was a privilege to help him.  “Oh, He’s blessed me too” the man replied.  “That’s great,” I said “are you Christian?”  “Why yes I am” he returned.  And thus we began our conversation.  We talked while his thirsty little vehicle drank down the 2 gallons of gas that my can had to offer.  He told me about himself.  He lost his vision in 1 eye a year ago while in an accident.  He still suffered much discomfort and felt somewhat guilty about the continued need for pain killers.  “I would rather just be healed by the Great Physician” he said.  I reminded him that sometimes God gives healing…but sometimes God gives medicine instead.  Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” came to mind. 

            As the gas can emptied this stranger and friend invited me to a men’s meeting at his church on Saturday.  And while I explained that I had to work my words were suddenly surrounded by flashings of light.  Beams of blues and reds bathed the landscape.  A police officer had arrived.  It suddenly occurred to me that any further roadside fellowship was probably finished.  “Do you need anything else” I asked.  “No” he said “and thanks.”  The encounter was over.  The moonlight and cool silence of the evening escorted me peacefully across the ramp and toward my truck.  But while I was walking back a commanding voice from within the cruiser sliced through the evening air.  “You know” came to authoritative and arid announcement “that’s why they put gas gauges in cars!”  The Law had spoken:  cold, harsh, merciless and true.  With those unsympathetic words still echoing in my mind, I drove home.

            Later I thought about the incident.  I felt bad for my friend, whose name I never even obtained, who struggles with pain and was blind in one eye.  But I think I felt worse for the officer.  Maybe he was just having a bad day.  Maybe his last interaction was still weighing heavily on his mind.  Whatever the reason, it seemed to me this public servant was actually, for that moment, more blind than the other.    He was blinder because he could only see an inconvenience, not an opportunity.  He was blinder because he seemed to only see faults and failure, not faces and their frustrations.   Sure, he was doing his job.  And that is all he was doing.  I wonder how many times I have done the same.  Probably far more often than I care to admit.  I think there is likely to be something of that officer’s comment in all our hearts. 

            What about the Law of God?  There is something, on the surface of it, cold and harsh as well.  God’s standard is holiness, perfection and righteousness.  My life is unholy, imperfect and defiled.  God does not lower His standard for sinners like me.  My best efforts are stained with sin.  “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” the prophet said (Isaiah 64:6).  The preacher in Ecclesiastes summed up human nature quite well:  "For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20).”

            So then what is my only hope?  John puts it this way:  "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."  We are all, spiritually speaking, out of gas.  We are all dead on the side of the road; hopeless and helpless.  And then He came.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  But Christ didn’t come with a can of gas.  He came to bring us a whole new car.  That old car won’t do.  It will run out of gas again and again.  Dear reader, stop trying to fill your old car with the gas of good works and religious tradition.  What you need, what I need, is not more fuel…but merciful forgiveness.  And this is offered to you in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. 

            And so that is my story.  It is true.  Maybe it is a story about nothing.  Maybe it is a story about everything.  I suppose it all depends on what you chose to do with it.  What will you do?

HOW ARE YOU? "BUSY........."

How ARE You?  "Busy…"

Is it just me, or has the standard answer to the question “How are you?” become almost universally this single word reply: “Busy.”  I confess to frequently using this or some similar remark myself.

Maybe it is just the area of the country I live in.  Maybe it is just the particular stage of life I am at, or the circle of friends that I have.  I would be interested to know if this response is merely my imagination or if, indeed, the “busy” answer has become the truly standard and acceptable response.

But as I ruminate over this rejoinder, I am beginning to wonder about it.  What, exactly, does it mean?  What does “busy” really tell me about how my companion is?  Is it positive?  Is it negative?  Are they happy?  Are they sad?  What does it mean to say I am “busy?” 

The answer to these questions is critical if one is to formulate and adequate response to this statement.  I say “how are you?”  You say “busy.”  What now?  What is my next line?  Where, precisely, does this declaration of “busyness” take the conversation?  I wonder….

Is sympathy appropriate?

• “Oh, I’m so sorry, how long have you known about this?”
• “Really?  I had no idea...we’ll have to put this on the prayer chain!”
• “Don’t lose hope, soon we’ll all be in heaven with nothing to do.”

 Or are congratulations in order?

• “Fantastic!  Great! Glad to hear it!  I envy you!”

•  “I just knew you could do it!  All that hard work finally paid off.  You have arrived.  You are busy.”

•  “Rejoicing with you dear brother in your blessed busyness!”

You see, I am really struggling over the proper answer.  What does “busy” really mean? And how is one supposed to respond? 

I don’t think so meanly of my companion as to presume this is some sort of boast.  “Ha…I’m busy…TOP THAT!”  No, I don’t suppose that is the thinking.  When I myself have given the “busy” reply, I don’t believe I was really bragging about it.

Maybe it is a sort pre-emptive defense tactic.  The assumption is that “How are you?” is just a clever way of asking for a favor which inevitably will intrude upon my precious time.  And so, this skillful reply is designed to ward off that possibility by securely enclosing the defender inside the formidable walls of “busyness.”  Whatever you plan on asking me to do, don’t bother…you see…I’m busy. 

Or maybe it is just a sort of unconscious excuse.  A sort of blanket cover we have created to soften any accountability for forgotten events or commitments.  If my life seems in disarray, the grass is overgrown, the laundry in piles and the children unruly...well...you have to understand:  “I’m busy.”  Thus, it appears, the lovely word “busy” is suitable to cover a multitude of sins.

But sometimes, unless my ears deceive me, it truly sounds like a cry for help.  There is something about being so “busy” that doesn’t quite sit well with our souls.  There is the faint echo of regret, the soft sigh of sadness in this “busyness” of ours.  And the reply, “I’m busy,” carries something of a confessional tone.  We don’t, really, want to be so busy.  Our lives are often regrettably filled with mounds of the mundane and only very rare specks of significance.  We are busy.  It is almost like a disease.  We would like to find a cure, but don’t really believe that one exists; at least not for me.

It is, therefore, to the “busy” that I would like to address a few words of comfort and encouragement.  I do not have any quick fix for your situation.  I offer no prescription that will suddenly alleviate all the stress and pressure our “busy” lives have created.  But maybe, just maybe, I can suggest a new way to think about being busy.  Consider with me, therefore, a few simple observations from Scripture, and particularly from the life of Jesus Christ.

1.         Jesus was busy too.  Very busy.  We never read that He had time for hobbies.  He never took a week-long vacation.  He never, so far as we know, read a book purely for pleasure.  There is no record of Him ever playing a game.  Of course, no modern conveniences by way of transportation were available to Him either.  He walked everywhere.  What did an average day for Jesus look like?  The gospel of Mark gives us a glimpse in the opening chapter.  It was the Sabbath:  a day of “rest,” right?  But we are told “immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.”  No sleeping in till noon time and reading the Saturday newspaper.  And clearly this teaching was not some anemic presentation of dusty doctrines.  “He taught them as one having authority (Mark 1:21).”  There was clearly an intensity and vigor to His method.  But then, having taught, surely He could expect some repose.  Right?  No.  A demon possessed man came crying out into the synagogue.  Jesus immediately rebukes the demon and delivers the man.  “Be quiet and come out of him (Mark 1:25)” He said.  Next Jesus had a lunch invitation.  A rest?  Hardly.  He was surrounded by disciples “Simon and Andrew, with James and John” who surely would be looking for more instruction from their Teacher.  Simon’s mother-in-law was sick, and “they told Him about her at once (Mark 1:31).”  He heals her.  And she serves them.  But then, finally, evening comes and perhaps our Lord can take a break from this day of “rest.”  Wrong again.  “At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon possessed.  And the whole city was gathered together at the door (Mark 1:32-33).”  And so our Lord spends a long evening ministering to the sick and needy.  And finally He sleeps.  But even that doesn’t last long.  For Mark tells us that “in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed (Mark 1:35).”  Welcome to a day in the life of Jesus Christ.  And that was a day of rest!  Imagine what the other days were like.  Jesus was busy.

2.         Jesus got tired too.  Maybe we are tempted to think that, although Jesus was busy, He was “God” and therefore had a bit more going for Him than we do.  But such thinking betrays an incomplete view of His nature.  Jesus was fully God.  But Jesus was also fully man.  And Jesus endured every weakness associated with humanity, apart from sin.  Therefore, He got tired.  He needed rest just like you and I.  Getting up early was no easier for Him than for us.  There is an interesting account in the gospels in which Jesus is on a boat with His disciples.  A storm arose.  The boat was being tossed.  Winds were threatening and rocking the ship.  Where was Jesus?  “He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow (Mark 4:38).”  Why was He sleeping?  Was it because He had such a “peace” about Him that the storm didn’t bother Him?  Have you ever tried sleeping in such circumstances?  I suggest from the context of Christ’s ministry that there is a simple explanation for His sleep:  He was exhausted!  Only the sheer exhaustion of constant ministry and labor could explain His sleeping at this time. 

Every temptation, therefore, associated with being busy and tired…Jesus endured.  When we get tired, we are tempted to be discouraged.  When we get tired, we are tempted to be angry, and are often easily provoked.   When we get tired we are tempted to complain even about the smallest inconveniences.  When we get tired, we are tempted to blame others for the stress and pressures we feel.  When we are tired, we are sometimes tempted to simply give up.  Jesus endured, in His humanity, every temptation associated with a busy schedule and the resulting exhaustion.  "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)

 

3.         Busy and tired Christians must turn to Christ and look to Him for help.  In the midst of our busy schedules and exhausting demands there is always the temptation to seek unbiblical or inadequate solutions.  Some will indulge secret sins, justifying them because their uniquely busy and demanding schedule somehow justifies their occasional disobedience.  Others grow cold, hard, withdrawn and unsympathetic toward others under the weight of their own self-pity and bitterness.  But there is a better way.  There is a way to deal with your present busy and stressful life that does not undermine your relationship with the Lord and your fellowship with others.  That way begins by looking at Jesus Christ.

Looking to Christ will help us, as Christians, realize several important things:

            First, realize that those who pour their lives out in serving others will likely, as Christ, be busy people.  Did you expect something different?  Did you think that the new priorities in your life to love God and love your neighbor would somehow make your life less busy?  A full schedule, even an exhausting schedule as our Lord often endured, does not necessarily mean that something is wrong.  It may mean, quite to the contrary, that you are doing exactly what God expects.  Denying yourself sufficient sleep, exercise and nourishment is a recipe for both physical and spiritual disaster.  I do not want to be misunderstood as promoting a style of life or ministry lacks adequate and necessary times of refreshing.  But maintaining a schedule that is full, that offers few if any opportunities for leisure time or luxuries may very well be the plan of God for you right now.  Our culture suggests that if your life isn’t decorated with frequent vacations, spa trips, entertainments and social events that somehow you have missed out on the best things of life.  If so, then virtually every servant of God in Scripture seems to have missed out on life as well.  Listen to these words of Christ.  I know of no other phrase of Christ repeated 6 times in the gospels.  It is found once in every gospel.  Matthew and Luke record it twice, at different times.  Sometimes the form is slightly altered.  But here it is:  "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it (Luke 9:24).”  Meditate upon this.  Consider it when you look at your schedule and literally do not see a spare hour anywhere in your foreseeable future.  As you pour out your own life into the lives of those around you, remember Jesus’ words “whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”

            Second, realize in looking to Christ, that busy and tired Christians can maintain communion with God.   Fellowship with God is not ultimately dictated by our day-timer.  Rather, fellowship with God flows from a heart that longs for Him.  Psalm 82 is a Psalm that speaks of the joys of fellowship with God.  It speaks of how “blessed are those who dwell in Your house (vs. 4)” and “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God (vs. 10).”  But where does this communion with God, of which the Psalmist speaks, come from?  A leisurely schedule?  Hours of free time?  A life of minimal responsibilities?  No.  Communion with God starts with the heart:  "My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God (Psalm 84:2).”  Jesus was busy.  But in the midst of being busy and tired He always maintained perfect fellowship with His Father.  He rose early to pray to His Father (Mark 1:35) and sometimes prayed through the night (Luke 6:12).   He was always doing the will of His Father (John 5:30).  He displayed the Father to His disciples (John 17:6).  In fact, He said, “I am My Father are one (John 10:30).”  Christ maintained fellowship with God.  Busy Christians can maintain fellowship with God.  And this is sure because Christ Himself now dwells in those who trust Him by His Spirit. 

            Third, realize that there is a spiritual rest offered in Christ that is not diminished even though we find ourselves busy and tired.  Jesus speaks of it.  He said "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).” Those who have been united to Christ through faith have true spiritual rest.  We have the rest of freedom from sin.  No longer are we held captive by sin or in slavery to sin.  We have the rest of forgiveness.  All our sin and guilt has been dealt with once and for all at the cross.  And we have the rest of the future.  The author of Hebrews puts it this way "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God (Hebrews 4:9).”

I close with a word to those who are busy, tired, but also unsaved.  I ask you: What is your busy life leading to?  Where is all your busyness getting you?  Are you putting off the greatest priority, your eternal soul, because you are simply too busy to concern yourself with that right now?  Dear friend, look at your schedule closely.  Do you realize that nothing written there is guaranteed?  You or I may not live to see the very next item on our agendas.  I have yet to meet someone who scheduled death into their day timer.  But yet it happens.  It will happen to me, and it will happen to you.  And then what will be next?  What will all your busyness have achieved for you?  God said to the busy man in Jesus’ parable: “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided (Luke 12:20)?”  I, therefore, urge you not to delay dealing with Christ another moment.  

What's So GOOD About Friday?

            Good Friday.  It's the Friday before Easter Sunday, commemorating the day on which Jesus Christ was crucified.  Various religious celebrations associated with this day have arisen over the years within the Christian church.  Good Friday is called “good” either because of the more ancient definition of “good” which meant “holy” or because it was considered a more reverent way to speak of what was really signified, namely “God’s Friday.” 

            The point of this brief article is not to discuss this history of Good Friday within Christianity, nor to debate the usefulness of various traditions associated with this day.  The question I want to consider, and the question I think we all must in some way answer, is this:  what is so GOOD about it?  Why is what happened on the cross a good thing?  Why should something so seemingly horrible be called holy?  Why celebrate an event so overtly unjust, callous and cruel?  What’s so GOOD about Friday?

 First, what happened on that Friday was GOOD because God planned it.  Although those immediately associated with Christ’s death were motivated by their own sinful and selfish desires, nevertheless, Jesus’ death on the Cross was God’s plan.  His death was the reason why Jesus, the eternal Son of God, became a man in the first place.  Jesus' death was God's plan.  Jesus explained it this way to His disciples:

 "Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again (Luke 18:31-33)."

Jesus described His death as a part of what had been previously foretold:  “all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.”  And all the way through the gospels the death of Christ was portrayed as the great purpose of His coming. 

John the baptizer called Jesus “the Lamb of God (John 1:29).”  God's Lamb...God's plan.  A lamb was killed, sacrificed, in the great Jewish celebration of the Passover.  Jesus prepared His disciples for this plan, though they did not really understand it.  We read in Mark 8:31 "And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."  The Old Testament prophets proclaimed this plan.  Isaiah wrote over 700 years before the birth of Christ these words about Him “Because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many (Isaiah 53:12).”  And all this was God’s good plan.  Luke writes in Acts 2:23: "Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.”  This was all done by the “determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.”  The cross was not an unforeseen accident.  The cross is not a cruel tragedy.  The cross was no mistake.  Good Friday is good because God planned it.  Everything that God plans is good.

 A quote to consider:  “From all eternity God had predestined every detail of that event of all events [the cross]. Nothing was left to chance or the caprice of man. God had decreed when and where and how His blessed Son was to die… Not a thing occurred except as God had ordained, and all that He had ordained took place exactly as He purposed.” – AW Pink (1886 – 1952)

Second, what happened on Good Friday was GOOD because we needed it.  The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was and is our only hope for salvation.  We are sinners, all of us.  Each one of us has enough sin to merit eternal punishment.  The only reason we think otherwise is because we measure ourselves by a corrupted standard.  But God measures us by the only righteous standard: His own.  And according to that standard, we fall miserably short.   “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).”  We may not like it when a doctor tells us we have some disease.  Yet it is true, whether we chose to believe it or not.  The same is true for God’s diagnosis of mankind.  "Every one of them has turned aside; they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, No, not one (Psalm 53:3).”  The Lord knows better than we do the condition of our own hearts.  He says in Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?"  Good Friday is Good Medicine for our souls.  We needed it.

According to God’s Word then, we are all “debtors.”  Our sins are like money we have stolen from God and cannot repay.   Every day we live this debt grows larger.  Every falling short of holiness puts us further in the hole.  You, according to Romans 2:5, “…in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Romans 2:5).” 

We therefore needed a substitute to pay our debt.  We needed Someone to stand in our place.  That is what happened on the cross.  That is why it was “good.”  God planned the cross, and Christ submitted to the cross, to pay the price for our sins.  "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).”  The price we owed was offered by Christ.  “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).”  Good Friday was good because the cross was exactly what sinners like us needed.

 A quote to consider: "When men talk of a little hell, it is because they think they have only a little sin, and believe in a little Saviour; it is all little together. But when you get a great sense of sin, you want a great Saviour, and feel that, if you do not have Him, you will fall into a great destruction, and suffer a great punishment at the hands of the great God.." –C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Third, what happened on Good Friday was GOOD because it is offered to you.  Jesus Christ invites you to receive the benefits of His sacrifice through faith in Him.  The good news, the gospel, is about what Jesus Christ has accomplished to deliver us from our sins and the consequences of sin.  And you can have it.  "Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55:6-7).”  Good Friday is Grace Friday.  The day is a grand declaration of grace to sinners.  The cross is God’s love language to man.  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).”

             The cross is the reason for the good news.  And the resurrection confirms it.  Christ rose from the dead to declare, amongst other things, that His sacrifice was accepted, His death was sufficient, and His work was done.  Friday was good.  And Sunday was even greater.  And now Christ reigns as Lord of all.  "For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living." (Romans 14:9)

            Dear reader, everything of any lasting value comes to you because of what happened on Good Friday.  But nothing that happened on Good Friday will help you if you will not believe.  How many Good Fridays have come and gone that have not been “good” for you?  Will you let another Good Friday go by?  Another Easter Sunday?  "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul (Mark 8:36)?” 

A quote to consider: “If Christ had not gone to the cross and suffered in our stead, the just for the unjust, there would not have been a spark of hope for us. There would have been a mighty gulf between ourselves and God, which no man ever could have passed.” –JC Ryle (1816 – 1900)

Rob Bell & Love Wins - A Book Review

Rob Bell &

Love Wins

A Book Review

The Apostate: “Ah, Dick, I shall never forget some of our talks. I expect you’ve changed your views a bit since then. You became rather narrow-minded towards the end of your life: but no doubt you’ve broadened out again.”

Dick: “How do you mean?”

The Apostate: “Well, it’s rather obvious by now, isn’t it, that you weren’t quite right. Why, my dear boy, you were beginning to believe in a literal Heaven and Hell!”

I just finished reading Love Wins by Rob Bell.  He is the pastor of the Mars Hill church in Grandville, MI.

Soon after finishing it I couldn’t help recall the above quoted section from C.S. Lewis’ classic story: The Great Divorce. The Apostate Bishop had just come from Hell (the “grey town”) into Heaven, but still could not be convinced of the reality of the place where he had been. “Ah, I see” said the Bishop “you mean that the grey town with its continual hope of morning (we must all live by hope, must we not?), with its field for indefinite progress, is, in a sense, Heaven, if only we have eyes to see it? That is a beautiful idea.” 

No literal Heaven or Hell? Hell and Heaven really the same place, just different perspectives?

Lewis…are you serious? Would anyone actually suggest this?

Fast forward about 60 years: in walks Rob Bell and Love Wins. As Bell tries to explain heaven and hell from the parable of the Prodigal son he writes “In this story heaven and hell are within each other, intertwined, interwoven, bumping up against each other (p. 170).” A little later on and he will write: “The only thing left to do is trust. Everybody is already at the party. Heaven and hell, here, now, around us, upon us, within us (p. 190).”

Rob Bell, like the Apostate Bishop, rejects the idea of hell as a literal place of eternal punishment. Hell, he says, simply expresses “very real consequences we experience when we reject the good and true and beautiful life that God has for us (p. 93).”  [There is a strange and sad irony in this, because Bell actually recommends The Great Divorce for "further reading" on the subject of Hell.  Lewis, however, did not write The Great Divorce to teach about the nature of Hell (as Bell seems to believe) but rather about the Danger of Apostacy (amongst other things) which Bell apparently missed.]

But although Rob Bell’s view on Hell has gotten a lot of attention, his book primarily revolves around 3 shocking and radical suggestions. Bell, however, wants us to believe he is not teaching or proposing anything new. He says: “I haven’t come up with a radical new teaching that’s any kind of departure from what’s been said an untold number of times. That’s the beauty of the historic, orthodox Christian faith (p. x).” 

Here are, in my opinion, the 3 radical and unbiblical views that Rob Bell is promoting in Love Wins:

1) Those dying in deliberate and conscious unbelief still have the possibility to be saved after death. Rob Bell leaves open the door for all men to turn to God at any time in the future. “At the heart of this perspective is the belief that, given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God’s presence (p. 107).” He even tries to snatch an endorsement from Martin Luther for this position. But of course to do so he has to pull the quote out of context, and hopes…I suppose…no one will call him on it. Well, some did. And for a good explanation feel free to read Carl Trueman’s excellent response.

Bell frequently quotes “restoration” verses, implying they argue against eternal punishment: “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely for my anger has turned away from them (Hosea 14, p. 86).” Therefore, Bell writes, “when we read ‘eternal punishment’ it is important that we don’t read categories and concepts into a phrase that aren’t there. Jesus isn’t talking about forever as we think of forever (p. 92).”

Reading Rob Bell reminds me of a quote from Orwell’s 1984, as the author of the “Newspeak” dictionary said “it is a wonderful thing, the destruction of words.”

Dear reader:  the Bible teaches that mankind does not have a “second chance” after death. "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment," (Hebrews 9:27) Jesus' sobering parable of the 10 Virgin’s depicts the sad and final state of those who wait too long “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’" (Matthew 25:11-12)  Reader, right now is given to you the opportunity, if you haven’t done so, to confess your sins to God and believe in Jesus Christ His Son to save you. Jesus Christ died on the cross as a substitute for sinners.  He is the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  Do not delay: "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)

2) Other non-Christian religions are equally valid as ways of salvation. Christ will save them, even where He is not “named” as such. Bell builds this argument primarily in chapter 6, entitled “There are Rocks Everywhere.” Just as the "rock" in the Old Testament produced "life giving" water was actually "Christ" (though not named as such in the Old Testament itself), so other religions may be "saving" people even where Christ is not seen or spoken of as the source of life.  He knows this will make Christian readers uncomfortable. He admits this. He says “As soon as the door is opened to Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Baptists from Cleveland, many Christians become very uneasy (p. 155).”

But didn’t Jesus say that He alone was the way? “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.” Sure, says Bell, this is true.  He then proceeds to work his double speak again. He goes into vague and obscure language about “exclusivity on the other side of inclusivity (p. 155).” He develops odd definitions of the church so that it can embrace all faiths of all people: “A church is a community of people who enact specific rituals and create specific experiences to keep this word alive in their own hearts, a gathering of believers who help provide language and symbols and experiences for this mystery (p. 156).”

Dear reader, do not think that any can be saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible says "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”" (Acts 4:12)

The world has always hated the "exclusivity" of the Christian faith.  Rob Bell attempts to take the edge off exclusivity.  He provides a Christianity that will not offend.  But the trade off is a Christianity that cannot save.

Philip Ryken in his book “Is Jesus the Only Way” once wrote some words that readers of Bell should weigh heavily “Authentic, biblical Christianity has always been an exclusive religion. This became apparent during the Roman Empire. When the Emperor Alexander Severus heard about Christianity, he placed an image of Christ beside the other gods in his private chapel, just to be safe. The Romans were happy to welcome Jesus into their pantheon. What the Romans couldn’t understand was why Christians refused to reciprocate. If the emperor was willing to worship Christ, why weren’t Christians willing to worship the emperor? Yet the early Christians insisted that in order to worship Christ at all, they had to worship Christ alone. They were even willing to stand up for this conviction by playing “Christians and lions” at the Colosseum (p. 10-11).”

3) Eventually everyone will be saved (he couches this one carefully, but really it is the whole idea behind the title "Love Wins"). He argues that "God gets what He wants." God wants all to be saved. Therefore...well...you figure it out.

Bell frequently tries to make his position sound well within the boundaries of Biblical Christianity throughout the centuries. For example, “And so, beginning with the early church, there is a long tradition of Christians who believe that God will ultimately restore everything and everybody (p. 107).” He fails, however, to provide any real evidence to support this.

Bell creates straw men to build his case for the ultimate reconciliation of all people. He says things like “Could God say to someone truly humbled, broken, and desperate for reconciliation, ‘Sorry, too late?’ (p. 108)” It never seems to occur to Rob to ask if hell actually has any “truly humbled” and “broken” souls.

Dear reader, the most important issue in the world is not whether "everyone" will be saved.  The question is this:  Will you be saved?  Consider these words of Jesus Christ: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." (Matthew 7:13-15)

One Final Thought:

Maybe you are asking: Where did Bell go wrong?  How did someone who probably started well end up so far out in left field?  The answer, I think, is sprinkled throughout this book.  Lurking behind Bell’s radical departures in these 3 key areas is a woefully inadequate and unbiblical view of sin. Our sins, even the worst of them, simply couldn’t (according to Bell) merit eternal punishment. Several times in the book Bell raises questions like this one “Does God punish people for thousands of years with infinite, eternal torment for things they did in their few finite years of life (p. 2)?” Again he writes of the supposed injustice of people “suffering infinitely for the finite sins they committed in the few years they spent on earth (p. 102).”  Throughout the book Bell seems to only see sin with respect to the inconveniences it causes us, and the sad consequences it brings into our lives.  There is nothing of the supreme offensiveness of sin to a holy God. 

This low view of sin ultimately poisons, in my opinion, the rest of his theology. When we dilute the significance of sin we must, consequently, dilute the response of God as well.  The significance of the cross is lost. And in this dilution, a totally different God is created. One more tame, one more safe, one less bothered by sin, one…more like ourselves. That is the real and final consequence of Mr. Bell’s book. He has created a new god. A god that will not punish sin. A god that has no wrath. A god that is not a “consuming fire.” Listen to what Bell says “Let’s be very clear, then: we do not need to be rescued from God (p. 182).”  That is a very different God than the one depicted in the Bible as Judge of all the earth.

Bell thinks he has given us a better God.  In reality, his god is worse.  The true magnificence of God's love can only be understood in contrast with the severity of sin and the rightful punishment it deserves.  Take away the wrath of God and you lose the love of God as well. 

"...among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),"
Ephesians 2:3-5

Love Wins is NOT the good news.

Christ Wins IS the good news for all who believe and trust in Him alone for salvation.

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)

 

FAITH AND FEAR

Faith and Fear

When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and observed the overthrow of the Egyptian army by the Lord, we read of their fear and faith. "Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD…." (Exodus 14:31) 

Nehemiah speaks of Hananiah the leader as “a faithful man and feared God more than many.” (Nehemiah 7:2)

Noah, also, had both faith and fear. The author of Hebrews says "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark..." (Hebrews 11:7)

In thinking about the importance of both Faith and Fear this morning, I noticed that in my own life I am far more likely to ask the Lord for faith than for fear. A trial arrives and up goes my cry “Lord, increase my faith.” Doubts darken my heart and once again I plead with the Lord “increase my faith.” Temptations come like fiery darts and up again the prayer “Faith…I need more faith.”

While not diminishing the great need I have for more faith, I wonder if I have forgotten about the importance of growing in Godly fear. “The fear of the Lord is” we are told “the beginning of wisdom.” It is a “fountain of life” according to Proverbs (14:27). It was central to the growth of the church (Acts 9:31). Those men and women of God in Scripture, who seemed to serve Him best, also seemed to fear Him most. Noah (Hebrews 11:7), Abraham (Gen. 22:12), the midwives in Egypt (Exodus 1:17), Job (Job 1:1), Isaiah (Isaiah 6), and especially Christ Himself (Heb. 5:7).

And so, today, although I will continue to pray for more faith, I will also pray for more fear. A fear of God that will deepen my reverence and awe for His majesty. A fear of God that will weaken the grip of sin in my soul. A fear of God that provokes a holy watchfulness in my Christian walk. A fear that deepens my worship and love for God. A fear of God that puts His commandments before my convenience. A fear that stirs me to be a more loving husband, godly father and helpful friend. A fear that, above all, serves to mold me more and more into the image of my Savior Jesus Christ.

Dear Father, please grant my soul a more fearful faith and a more faithful fear.

"Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD."

Psalm 34:11