| Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net Do you ever catch yourself sounding like your dad? I do. And I’m about to do it again. I don’t feel that old, but I can remember 33 cent gas, and five for a dollar bread. When I was very young, the country was predominantly made up of “Traditionalists”. I didn’t know what that was, but that’s what we were. Traditionalism believes that God determines truth. If that requires explanation, just repeat it a couple of times. This was followed in the sixties by “Modernism” which said that science becomes truth, and that local communities determined moral values such as what are drugs, what is porn, and who should have access to it. In the late 80s we entered into the age of “Post Modernism” when we recognized that science couldn’t answer the real questions like who, what and why am I? A George Barney poll recently concluded that 2/3 of adults, and 4/5 of teens believe there are no absolute truths. Tell that to a pilot or a banker. You see, this only applies to moral values and religion. Fifty years ago, toleration meant recognizing others right to their opinion. Now it means you can’t disagree or tell someone they are wrong. And if you do, you are labeled as a bigot, arrogant and evil. US News and World Report says that only 19% of professing Christians believe that Christianity is the one true religion. The most hated verse by Post Moderns is John 14:6 which says “I am the (singular) way”. Well let’s turn the spiritual switch. To most people, things of God; (His Word) has no absolute meaning. the dominant theme of Christmas or any religious holiday was “to give to those less fortunate”. That’s fine and well, but if you will permit me, I am going to give you three Absolutes of Scripture. 1) Incarnation: John 1 tells us that Jesus was/is God, and became man. Emmanuel means God with us. John 18:37 and 16:28 tell us He eternally existed. Daniel 7 calls Him “the ancient of days”. Remember the carols?-“veiled in flesh the God-head see”. There are points we can disagree on and still get to heaven, but not the incarnation. If so, we worship what 2nd Corr. 11:4 calls “another Jesus”. 2) Revelation: “He who has seen me, has seen the Father”. All the nature and attributes of God are clearly visible in the person fo Christ. Colo. 1:19. 3) Salvation: You can Not separate any part of Christ from Calvary. Jesus said he came into the world for this very purpose–“to seek and to save that which was lost”. When He was in the manger, the very shadow of the cross was already upon Him. At Calvary, God displayed His wrath, judgment, mercy, grace and love all at the same time, and I for one am so grateful. It is impossible to separate these three points from any book of the Bible absent some elaborate doctrinal calisthenics. God bless you. |
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