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PROBLEM OR INCONVENIENCE?

By Doug Post
July 27, 2004

Robert Fulghum, in one of his more recent books wrote:

II One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you having nothing to eat, if your house is on fire - then you'vegot a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmea_ a lump in the throat, and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference.1I
What I hear Mr. Fulghum saying is that we need to learn perspective. I believe he is correct. The Bible says, II For our LIGHT AFFLICTION, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Whi'le we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen' (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
Was that problem you had today really a problem, or was it just an inconvenience (Hebrews 12:2,3)? Think about it.

A New Commandment
By Doug Post

"Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing aw£Vl and the true light is already shining" (1 John 2:7-8 ESV).

God's commandment to love is not surprising. Love is the foundation of the gospel message. II For God so loved the workt that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). To know Jesus Christ is to know the clearest expression of the love of God. "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins' (1 John 4: 10). The commandment to love is not new, but is the essential message of the "old, old story."

The love presented in the gospel is more than a feeling, it is a reality embodied in a sacrifice of eternal significance. The power of the gospel is not merely that God loves us somewhat, but that God loves us profoundly. That God loves us so much that Jesus died for our sins. To anyone believing the gospel message, the commandment to love is not new, but foundational. It is a basic understanding to becoming a Christian. In contrast with Christians, the unregenerated world finds the commandment to love to be a new concept. Apart from an understanding of the Christian message, the commandment to love is peculiar. The world would never have introduced such a message of sacrificial love with the gospel's depth and power. In this sense, the command to love is forever new.

Jesus teaches this new understanding, using His life and love as an example for us to follow: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). Faith Christ is inseparable from the experience of God's love. It is impossible for someone so enlightened to continue to walk in darkness. Knowing the love of Christ, we understand how we are to reach out to others in love. A profession of faith in Christ is not the same as the reality of saving faith. It is possible to know about Christ without ever experiencing his salvation. The experience of salvation, however, changes a person's life and outlook completely. Receiving the love of Christ, we are given power to be God's people, ordered and guided by that love.

HOPE IN THE SEED
By Doug Post

When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, he died spiritually, for his sin separated him from God (Romans 5:12). All of us now suffer the consequences of his sin in that we all must physically die (1 Corinthians 15:20-22). However, God promised that a solution for sin would come (Genesis 3:15). In the Old Testament there are hundreds of prophecies of the coming Messiah, Jesus, who would make atonement for the sins of men. He also came to give us a way to conquer that which all of us fear: physical death (Hebrews 2:14).

God chose Abraham through whom He would bring into the world the One who would be the Savior of mankind. God promised Abraham, "And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed' (Genesis 12:3). From the time of this promise, God continually reminded His people that there was a "blessing" coming who would bear the iniquities of the people (Isaiah 53). The promise was not only to the descendants of Abraham, the Jews, but to all people. It was God's promise to humanity.

So, Who was the blessing? Peter stated, "You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed!'

To you first, God having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away everyone of you from your iniquities' (Acts 3:25,26).

The Seed of Abraham that would bless all mankind was Jesus. Paul wrote, "Now to Abraham and His Seed were the promises made. He does not say, 'And to seeds, ' as to many, but as to one, 'And to your Seect ' who is Christ' (Galatians 3:16). Jesus Christ was the Seed of woman whom God promised after Adam sinned, the One who would crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15).

What was the blessing of Abraham that would come from the Seed? "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel to Abraham beforehanct saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed' (Galatians 3:8). The Gospel in this promise has reference to good news that would be preached to all the world! The Gospel was the good news of the Seed who would take care of our sin problem. He would bring us to justification by faith (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16). He would reconcile us to God by His blood (Romans 5:10,11). This is how Jesus blesses all those who believe in Him and obey the commands of the Gospel. He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).