Tag Archive - Bible

The Smell of Jesus

August 28, 2010 in Bible, Jesus with 2 Comments

“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.” 2 Corinthians 2:15-16a

Some of you may know that I had a very interesting job in high school. I sold cologne at the mall. Yes, I was that guy that sprayed cards and handed them to you as you walked by. It was an odd job, but I absolutely loved it.

Nautica Competition CologneYou quickly learn how subjective our sense of smell is. I was selling the cologne from Nautica. One person would tell me that they absolutely loved a fragrance, and the very next person would gag at the smell of it. Apart from the sales/persuasion part of it, I learned that there isn’t a “best” smell out there that everyone can agree on.

So what a powerful analogy that Paul compares Christians as the “pleasing aroma of Christ.” To some, we are the smell of life. And that is an intriguing idea when you are bogged down in the stench of the sinful world. But to others, we are an “aroma that brings death.” We are a reminder that there is Truth, and that God is in control no matter how people choose to disregard Him.

But in all of this, I think the most dangerous people are Christians with no aroma at all. Self described “Christians” who either don’t have their own relationship with God, who don’t have His Spirit filling their lives, and as a result they don’t even smell like Christ. Or, it could be Christians who have so accepted other smells from the world that it overrides the smell of Christ in their life. These people tell the world that Christ doesn’t smell any different than anything else, and people thus conclude that He must be irrelevant for their lives.

What does your life smell like?

Divine Foreknowledge – Four Views

June 3, 2010 in Bible, Reading with 4 Comments

Divine Foreknowledge - Four ViewsI just finished Divine Foreknowledge – Four Views, and have been processing through my thoughts on the discussion. The book presents four counter-positions on the topic of how much God knows the future (and how He does it). The book has four essays, one from each of the different perspectives, and then allows for each author to respond to the other authors’ essays. This creates a balanced discussion and helps us to remember that nobody’s salvation is hanging on this one and we can discuss this as believers in a healthy way without any dissension.

For whatever reason, this is probably my favorite of the nonessential issues of Christianity. After reading the book, my official stance on God’s foreknowledge is a Neo-Molinist. I like this title, because it avoids the stereotypes associated with phrases like open-theist or Calvinist, and most people have no idea what it means so they have to listen to the explanation before judging it. (To get a further explanation, you’ll have to either ask me about it or read this book).

Most Christians talk like they believe God knows everything about the future (as it is a comforting thought). However, we often don’t think through what this means. If God knows everything, then why pray? Are there some things God chooses not to know? Can God change His mind? All of these questions and more are what fuel this conversation. Here are a few quotes from Gregory Boyd in the book that I liked:

“The motif that celebrates Gods control and foreknowledge of a partially settled future is complemented by an equally strong motif that celebrates God’s wise and creative responsiveness to a partly open future.”

“Which of the following three chess masters would you admire most? The first chess master is confident of victory in a given match because she is playing a computer that she personally programmed. She foreknows every move her ‘opponent’ will make because she programmed its moves. The second chess master is confident of victory because she too is playing a computer. While she didn’t personally program this computer, she possesses a manual with exhaustive information of exactly how the computer will respond during this match. A third chess master is confident of victory even though she is playing a real person, not a computer. Though she cannot be certain of how her opponent will move, for her opponent is a free agent, she is also certain she can wisely out-maneuver him. This chess master does not foreknow exactly what moves her opponent will make, but she perfectly anticipates all the moves her opponent might make. And on the basis of this superior intelligence, she is confident of victory.”

“But for a God of infinite intelligence, there is virtually no advantage in anticipating settled story lines versus possible story lines.”

What Does God Want?

April 25, 2010 in Bible, Jesus, Preaching with 1 Comment

This weekend I preached on Ephesians 5:21-33 where Paul addresses husbands and wives. Verse 25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” So, in the context of the Church, we are the bride and Christ is the husband.


Now look at verse 33: “each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” I think this verse shows the two biggest needs that husbands and wives have. Wives need to be loved by their husbands, and husbands need to be respected by their wives. When each receive this from their spouse, you get the “profound mystery” that Paul references.


So if we take these two ideas and combine them together, does that mean that Jesus is looking for respect from us? If we as His Church are His bride, do we need love most? That doesn’t seem to be something we’d argue, but I don’t hear about God desiring respect from us often. We often talk about giving God glory, but I wonder why we don’t talk about giving Him respect.


What do you think? Does God desire respect from us? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a worship song that talked about giving God respect, but maybe they exist.

Route 66 Reading – Dt. 28

April 13, 2010 in Bible, Jesus with 0 Comments


Reading through Deuteronomy the last few weeks in Central’s Route 66 Bible reading plan has really caused me to appreciate anew what Jesus has done for us on the cross.


Just before the Israelites enter the promised land, God gives Moses some directives to give to the people about their future. Deuteronomy 28 goes into specifics about the blessings and the curses that will happen if they don’t obey God faithfully. Read through the list and you’ll see how intense they are. Imagine the pressure of this on your shoulders. And if you know the story… the Israelites cracked.


Deuteronomy 30:15-16 sums it up well:

“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”


If you have chosen to live in the grace of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross then enjoy it every moment of every day. He is our faithfulness and life is now a response to what He has already done!

Egypt Reflections Pt.2

March 30, 2010 in Bible, History with 5 Comments

One of the things that was amazing to me about being in Egypt is how much of their history reinforces and further explains things that I’ve read about in the Bible for years. There were two areas where this really stood out to me.


First, Egyptian culture in general. One of the nights we were there we took a boat trip around on the Nile River. We had a local Muslim friend with us and he was telling us about Egyptian culture while we did it. He told us that Egyptians have always been laid back and content because the Nile has always made life easy. He described how food has always been easy to get because of the river and as a result part of their DNA as a people is to be laid back and relaxed. It was relatively easy for them to have the things they needed to survive. As I thought of that, it suddenly helped me to understand why the Israelites are so quick to complain to God and Moses about food shortages once they leave Egypt. I never really understood how they could look back and miss it (since they were ill-treated slaves) especially when God was bringing them on a new journey to something He called the Promised Land. But it began to make more sense. God was teaching them to depend on Him, and not on the stability of the river and all that it produces. And God’s way of doing things was different than the ebb and flow of the river that they’d grown accustomed to. Fascinating.


The second area of insight for me was the history of the Pharaohs. We spent a day touring the pyramids with a guide, and he told us the history of many of the pharaohs. One of them was Akhenaten. This was who they thought was Pharaoh when Joseph came to Egypt. Now I’ve heard about the Joseph side of the story, but I learned a different side from Egyptian history. Akhenaten is famous for turning the spiritual belief of Egypt from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic religion. He was the only pharaoh to do this, and it was a huge ordeal as you might imagine. Did his experiences with Joseph cause him to do this? Unfortunately, it didn’t go well for Akhenaten, as ultimately they suspect that the people killed him over it. Oh, and you’ve probably heard of his son, the legendary King Tut. This would also help to explain why Tutankhamun became pharaoh at only age nine. Interesting.


The other pharaoh that was insightful was Ramses II. This is the guy thought to be pharaoh at the time of Moses when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt. What I never knew is that Egyptians love Ramses II (this actually surprised me at first). According to the great Wikipedia, he is “often regarded as Egypt’s greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh.” It helps one of the more difficult stories in the Bible to make more sense. Often people struggle with the explanations in Exodus that God hardened pharaoh’s heart. But if Ramses II was indeed the pharaoh, this was already a very proud and stubborn person who spent a lot of time creating giant monuments about himself and attempting to conquer other regions. It makes the comparison of what God did despite him even more striking. “…the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:25) I also had the chance to look at Ramses’ mummy, which is very well preserved. It was crazy to look at his face and realize that this was likely the face that Moses was looking at during the great story of the Exodus.


Here is a before (a giant statue of Ramses II) and after (his mummy in the Cairo Museum) picture of Ramses II.


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