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In our pursuit to understand the strong warning at the end of Hebrews 10, we are examining the assumption that the whole Story is about forgiveness and redemption. If these are the only issue, then the warning threatens our eternal security. Are we in danger of “loosing our salvation”? Could we really go to hell if we screw up?
So, we returned to the beginning of the Story, to see if we missed anything.
We started …
When I set out to explore the idea of the “pleasure of God’s soul” last week, I did not anticipate where that would lead. But as I have considered how to explain all that is going on at the end of Hebrews 10, it has become clear that we need to take our time, and let the Larger Story unfold, so that we can understand what brings pleasure to God’s soul . . . and …
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The “pleasure of God’s soul” – There is something unsettling, yet compelling about that phrase. Unsettling because I don’t think of God as having a “soul”. Clearly, He is Spirit (John 4:24). But the idea of Him “having a soul” is somehow foreign. Unsettling also, because it seems that I might have something to do with this pleasure . . . and compelling for the same reason. Also compelling because it seems like a …
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As we continue the journey of learning what it means to “love and hate like God”, I am drawn back to a passage we touched on in last week’s look at the Kingdom – Hebrews 10 & 11 – particularly 10:26-39.
Yet, when I go back and read the passage, it doesn’t quite fit our pursuit as we’ve described it. We set out to find the things we should love because God loves them, and …
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The question that drove our four-week study of the Sheep and Goats was whether our pursuit of social justice determines our eternal destiny. We concentrated on identifying the various characters in the story, the actions on which the judgment is based, and how the story meshes with everything else we know about salvation by faith.
In all honesty, our greatest concern was probably whether or not we are a “goat”. Do we need to fear …
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In our examination of the question of whether our pursuit of social justice will determine our eternal destiny, we have been looking at the Judgment of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25:31-46. So far, we have:
Set the discussion of this judgment in the context of the Olivet Discourse, which was given in response to the disciples’ question of the timing of Jesus’ coming and the end of the age (Part 1).
Seen that there …
In Part 2 of our look at the Olivet Discourse, and the question of whether our pursuit of social justice will determine our eternal destiny, we began to examine the judgment spoken of in the Judgment of the Sheep and Goats, that will mark the end of the age.
As we compared the judgment in Matthew 25 with other judgment passages in the New Testament, we discovered that there are three distinct judgments spoken of, and …
In Part 1 of our look at the Olivet Discourse and the question of whether our eternal destiny will be determined by our pursuit of social justice, we overviewed the Discourse, and made the following observations:
The Olivet Discourse answers the disciples’ question about the sign of Christ’s coming and the end of the age.
During the interval between Christ’s First and Second Comings, His disciples should expect disaster, war, false prophets and apostasy.
Immediately preceding His return …
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About 5 years ago, I was sitting in a meeting with many other Christian leaders when a person with a certain celebrity status was given the opportunity to address the gathering. His role was to call the church out for its lack of involvement in global social issues, such as AIDS in Africa, poverty, and social justice. The primary Biblical basis for his challenge was Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:31-46. He argued that Jesus …
In this week’s article, I want to return to some questions raised earlier. In the article, “But Won’t The Know We are Christians By Our Love?”, we ended with three questions for further exploration. The first related to the story of the Good Samaritan. Having examined that, we are now ready for the second question – “Doesn’t Scripture say that true religion is about caring for widows and orphans? “
Indeed, James 1:27 says, “Pure and …
