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Everyone’s a Winner?

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In the Gospel of John, Pontius Pilate responds to Jesus stance on Truth by asking, “What is Truth?” (Jn. 18:38) Unbeknownst to him he was having a conversation with – the TRUTH. We are all familiar with Jesus’ statement in John 14:6 in which He declares that He is the TRUTH and from that we can rest assured that He is not a truth but the sum total of what that word implies and defines.

Ironically, it appears that Pilate has risen from the dead enlisting his own disciples of what we term relativism. Amy Davison, in her article for Women in Apologetics defines relativism as: the thought that truth is a socially or culturally agreed upon set of beliefs. Adding No one set of beliefs is any more right or wrong than the other, and attempting to argue as such is considered oppressive or bigoted. By denying the existence of objective truth, Post-moderns offered the equivalent of, “Everyone is a winner!” in the form of a tentative, “Everyone is right!” Which is partly why it is so attractive. If truth is subjective then each person is their own lawgiver, judge, and jury. Every culture, every practice, every belief is on the same subjective playing field. There is no longer an objective standard because we no longer have an objective lawgiver, and with no objective standard, morals become, as philosopher A.J. Ayer states, “Mere public opinion…an emotional preference.”

Carla Alvarez, in her blog, An Unexpected Journal argues successfully against the moral relativism that has emerged in our culture as a plague far worse than any pandemic. She notes that C.S. Lewis was once approached by a publisher seeking his endorsement: Looking for an endorsement, a publisher sent an elementary grammar textbook to C. S. Lewis for review. (Lewis would later refer to this book as The Green Book) What he read within, based as it was on a relativistic worldview, so disturbed him that it prompted the essay, The Abolition of Man….(Later) Lewis warned his fellow British academics that the acceptance of the ideology in The Green Book would certainly lead to “the destruction of the society which accepts it.”

3 John 3-4 states: In fact, I greatly rejoiced when [some of] the brethren from time to time arrived and spoke [so highly] of the sincerity and fidelity of your life, as indeed you do live in the Truth [the whole Gospel presents].4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my [spiritual] children are living their lives in the Truth. AMPC

What’s really powerful about Jesus being the TRUTH is that He doesn’t take sides. There is no “your truth” and “my truth.” Davison adds: It cannot be ‘absolutely’ true that my truth and the exact opposite of my truth are both equally true, because this violates the law of non-contradiction. Jesus, the Truth, has no contradiction in His nature. He simply IS – the GREAT I AM! For Gaius, the recipient of Johns letter, to be in the TRUTH means that he had joined himself to Jesus; subjective opinions and feelings became irrelevant in the LIGHT of JESUS, the TRUTH. Davison continues: Nor can all truth be subjective because that statement in and of itself isn’t subjective! Something that is subjective is based on personal opinions and feelings rather than on facts.

Relativists, and those who parrot this ideology, believe Everyone is a winner and Everyone is right. The good news? If everyone is a winner then no one is a winner and the concept of winning becomes meaningless – as there is no distinction between those who excelled and those who did not. If everyone is right then no one is right then there is no true standard of right and wrong, effectively making the concept of “right” meaningless because it becomes subjective and relative to each individual. The Champion of ALL – is Lord of ALL – and only through taking the time and effort to daily align yourself with Who He is are you made right, and win for yourself the depths and meanings of ALL that it means to be a winner. Thus if you want to be a winner you must lose the right to being your own champion. How can you achieve that status today? What circumstance are you in that Jesus, the Truth would invite you to die?

What’s Your Worldview?

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Sunday morning I was meditating in Psalm 37 and found an interesting parallel to one of the Beatitudes. In fact Psalm 37 mentioned this Beatitude 6 different times. Think about that. Why would the Psalmist mention this Beatitude 6 different times? It must be important. Right? Here’s what they say: 3 Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed.; 9 For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait and hope and look for the Lord [in the end] shall inherit the earth. 11 But the meek [in the end] shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. 22 For such as are blessed of God shall [in the end] inherit the earth, but they that are cursed of Him shall be cut off.29 [Then] the [consistently] righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. 34 Wait for and expect the Lord and keep and heed His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land; [in the end] when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

The Beatitudes of Jesus say a similar thing: Mt. 5:5 Blessed (happy, blithesome, joyous, spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth!

Now I have to be honest and admit that this promise has not been a bestseller for Christian bumper stickers, or refrigerator magnets. I don’t even think it made the list. Why the neglect, or apathy regarding this promise? It’s all about your worldview. Everyone has a worldview. It applies to you whether you are smart or average, rich or poor, religious or irreligious, Canadian or Australian – we all have a worldview. World views address 4 issues: origins, meaning, morality and destiny. In other words four crucial questions are answered: Origin – Where did I come from? Meaning – Why am I here? Morality – How should I live? and Destiny – Where am I headed? A worldview destitute of meaning and destiny will lead a person to draw the conclusion that they have no purpose for their existence. They aren’t going anywhere except to the grave and thus their lives have no meaning. Now over the years I’ve been in the ministry I have had some interesting interactions with varying world views among those who call themselves believers, or followers of Jesus. And I must say that until I received some revelation from the Lord regarding this matter that my world view was similar. What was the world view I encountered? That my destiny was wrapped up in dying and going to Heaven. Now I believed in the 1000 Year Reign of Jesus and all but the impact of the Scripture mentioned above hadn’t really settled in. That is until now. When I stumbled upon this promise it caused me to ask, “What’s the big deal?” I’ll just be happy to have a resurrected body, and worship Jesus. But when I prayed about it the Lord showed me an amazing truth. It’s found in several passages but I’ll only use a few. Rom. 8:17 And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.; Heb. 1:2 [But] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time [He made, produced, built, operated, and arranged them in order].; Heb. 6:17 Accordingly God also, in His desire to show more convincingly and beyond doubt to those who were to inherit the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose and plan, intervened (mediated) with an oath.

Heirs receive inheritances. Jesus is the Heir apparent of all things. Meaning He gets to inherit all things: the worlds, outer space with its galaxies, stars, planets and moons, and the Heavens. But the mind-blower and kick in the pants is what Romans 8:17 states: And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him];…

Let that sink in. All that belongs to Jesus will also belong to us?! The eye opener? Didn’t it all belong to us in the first place, or at least to our Great Grandad and Mom: Adam and Eve? Our broken, weak, diluted, and thin world views need a Biblical upgrade. We were born-again with a purpose. In fact Heb. 6:17 states as much. This means our world view of waiting to die and go to Heaven to see loved ones, dip my toes in the crystal sea, and play a few rounds of golf, is way, way, way off. What’s really crazy is that you and I were made for more than just looking at the back of somebody in church and calling that worship. Paul gives us a hint in 1 Cor.6:1-3 Does any of you dare, when he has a matter of complaint against another [brother], to go to law before unrighteous men [men neither upright nor right with God, laying it before them] instead of before the saints (the people of God)? 2Do you not know that the saints (the believers) will [one day] judge and govern the world? And if the world [itself] is to be judged and ruled by you, are you unworthy and incompetent to try [such petty matters] of the smallest courts of justice? 3 Do you not know also that we [Christians] are to judge the [very] angels and pronounce opinion between right and wrong [for them]? How much more then [as to] matters pertaining to this world and of this life only!

Did you catch that? We will judge angels and judge and govern the world. Thus my recommendation for the Body of Christ is to get an upgrade from God’s Word and adjust our world views to match Jesus’ and His Word. Our center needs to be adjusted for it has been off for quite some time. Jesus have mercy on His Bride the Church.