What's in a name?

As most of you know, I am a reader. I'm always up for reading suggestions--so give 'em to me! I was visiting the website for Voice of the Martyrs and saw a promotion for a free copy of the founder's autobiography, so naturally, I filled out the information to receive the book: Tortured for Christ. The founder and author's name is Richard Wurmbrand. I plan on the next few postings to be in regards to this book, and today I would like to share with a very precious story about a woman he met on the streets of Communist Russia.

First, let me paint a bit of a picture. This was a very dark time for Christians in Russia. Every citizen of Russia had been conditioned and taught to believe in no God and to think that the only thing that was good or was the standard of good was Communism. Can you imagine an entire country with no God? Can you imagine the bleakness...the despair of the peoples' souls? Though an entire system was in place to wash every hint of God out of the hearts and minds of the people, God abounded. Isn't that just like our God? He does not forsake his own. He will bring his people to himself. He is greater and more sovereign than any kingdom or government. He rules and reigns. Richard Wurmbrand was working with the Underground Church in Russia at the time and was secretly distributing Bibles and sharing the gospel with people as God would open doors. The story he tells of a woman he randomly encountered on the street brought tears to my eyes and inclined my memory to think on something in my own life that happened just a few years ago.

Wurmbrand was walking down the street one day when he felt the Holy Spirit urging him to ask a lady he saw if she knew Christ. Not knowing what this woman would say, he trusted the Holy Spirit and did this very thing. Immediately after he asked the woman about Christ she said "I love Christ!" and she began to hug and kiss him out of joy. Wurmbrand said that under so much oppression that people were starving for the gospel. They didn't know that's what they were starving for until they were filled with it. After the scene was over she returned with him to his home where he and his wife, Sabina, talked with her more about Jesus. Richard and his wife came to realize that she had no idea who Christ was, but she loved the name. She loved the name of Jesus Christ. She told the story of her grandmother and that she had had a picture of Christ that she remembered as a child, and that her grandmother prayed to this Christ and told her that He was the only good and the only picture of beauty. This made an impression on the woman from an early age, and despite the lifelong mantra of the Communist regime, she recalled this Christ being the only true Good. It never left her.

That name.

Christ.

She loved him before she knew him.

As Richard and his wife revealed the gospel to her and just who Christ was, she received it with joy. Now she had evidence and reason to love this Christ, whom she only knew by name for many years, but loved the name nonetheless.

What came to the front of my memory was the first time I heard about Jesus Christ. I mean, really heard about Christ. I knew the name, but I did not love it before then. After God revealed himself to me through some very special people, I began to love the name of Christ. It meant so much to me. He was the only one who could have redeemed me from the wretched state of being in which I existed. As I grew in the Lord, I began to treasure him more and more. And now, I, like the woman on the street in Russia, love the name of Christ. Something else that also happens when you begin to love the name of the Lord is you become overjoyed when you hear someone else speaking it. It thrills me to hear people in a restaurant or in a grocery store talking about my Jesus. The love of Christ is unifying. I may not have anything in common carnally with the 75 year old man in the check out line, but when I overhear him talking about our Lord with love and adoration and in praise, I can't help but be washed with joy. He and I both know and love Christ...we love to speak his name.

Just as Richard Wurmbrand encountered this woman who became joyful at the name of Christ, so too should we.

"Peace if possible, truth at all costs"

The quote in the title is from Martin Luther, most commonly known as the Father of the Protestant Reformation. I am no scholar on Luther, but I do know he has been controversial at times and he was generally an angry guy; however he adored his wife and wrote her love letters when he was away AND he loved Jesus and Truth. As Mark Driscoll would say "let's give him a hall pass". If Luther says "peace if POSSIBLE, TRUTH at all costs", we should incline our ears and minds to hear and think on those words.

The verse that comes to mind in relation to this quote is Romans 12:18 where Paul says "as much as it is possible, be at peace with everyone."

"As much as it is POSSIBLE".

This verse is packed with a big truth. It implies that we very well may not be at peace with everyone. Wow. That is freeing. I have spent countless hours trying to be at peace with someone for the sake of a relationship when it is possible that I many not be able to be at peace with that person. What we learn from Luther and from examples throughout Scripture is that Truth is more important than peace. Jesus' death was not peaceful. It was controversial among the people of that time. It is controversial now. Jesus' words he spoke during his ministry did not always settle well in the hearts and minds of the people who received them. Truth cost him his life.

Paul, a spiritual giant and one of the most beloved and cherished characters in the history of the church knew Truth was the most important thing. He preached and taught Truth and he was imprisoned and beaten for it. Truth also cost Paul his life.

In the present world, truth to many, seems obscure and unattainable. The "great thinkers" of our age ask that we seek and search for truth, yet when someone claims to have found it, the high minds say "that's impossible". Why then, would you continue to seek something that you know you will never find? I have good news! Truth can be found! It is found in the man Jesus, who said "I am the way, the TRUTH and the life". Jesus not only spoke truth, he WAS Truth. Truth in the flesh. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you believe in Jesus and you believe that he is who he says he is, then your worldview must be based on what Jesus taught. He is Truth.

Now...where am I going with this? you may ask..well, I do have a point amidst the rabbit trails. We should be willing to sacrifice peace for the Truth of the gospel. We have the ability to know Truth. We are equipped to speak Truth and most certainly we should be living in Truth. Sometimes the truth is offensive. The Word of God isn't called a Sword for nothin'. And I'll quote Driscoll again: "what good is a Sword if it doesn't cut?"

I am deeply relational. I love spending time with women and getting to know them. I love to hear about their lives, their joys, their struggles. I know for a fact I have sacrificed the truth for peace at times...instead of sacrificing peace for truth. My point in this entire post is that Truth can be known through Jesus. Peace can be known through Jesus. But, at the end of the day "peace if possible, truth at all costs".

God is...

Just a week or so ago, I was having a conversation with one of my best friends. The subject of God and punishment came up, and we talked of how to reconcile a loving, compassionate God with one that sent people to Hell. Is God really a God that punishes? That is not an uncommon question. Believers and nonbelievers alike struggle with wrapping their minds around the vastness of God's character. Some people do not acknowledge that God can indeed hate and does justly punish. Written below is an excerpt from an emailed response I sent her in regards to the nature of God and what Scripture says about his ability to love and hate. I think this explanation is very important in order to fully understand God's character, not just as a merciful, loving, compassionate and sovereign God, but also as One that is offended by our sinful, fallen state.

It is extremely common among many evangelicals and also nominal Christians to be rather choosy in the god they choose to love and serve. I frequently encounter men and women who prefer "God is good, He is loving, His mercy endures forever" as opposed to "God burned with anger toward his people". There is nothing unnatural about not wanting to experience God as angry or wrathful--it is difficult to wrap our minds or our conscience around because in our heart of hearts we all know we have sinned against a Holy God and that we deserve divine punishment. The fact of the matter is, is that God is indeed both loving and wrathful. He is not one or the other. His love is expressed in his hatred of sin and his desire to punish and eradicate it. Certainly God is able to express his love in any way he sees fit, but punishment of sin is a characteristic of his holiness and an expression of his love from Genesis to Revelation. I heard a theologian say once "God cannot love unless he hates"--meaning he cannot love what is good and holy and not hate sin and evil--it would be contradictory to his character.

Anyone who is struggling with the thought of God punishing sinful people (and by sinful people I mean anyone who has ever broken even one part of God's Law--which is everyone who has ever lived), they should consider the numerous (I believe over 600) references to God's anger/wrath/punishment/hatred mentioned throughout scripture. And, while you could start in Genesis and see how God begins to deal with sin, I would suggest you begin and end with the cross. Before one makes a conclusion of God's character not being judgmental or wrathful, they should examine the cross and just what Jesus' death meant. If you believe in the cross and its purpose then you must believe that God punishes sin. Jesus came into the world during a time when death by crucifixion was common. Crucifixion throughout history has been ranked among the most horrific, gruesome, humiliating means of punishment. God sent his Son to earth to die during a time when he knew Jesus would receive the full punishment for what we all deserved. Nothing less than what Jesus endured on the cross is what we deserved. I love the word "propitiation". It means "satisfied" or "appeased". Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:2 and 1 John 4:2 all speak of Jesus' death being the satisfaction of God toward the sin of mankind. God's wrath toward his people was eternally satisfied on the cross. God had to punish sin--he did this through Jesus Christ.

Our minds are influenced by who post-modernists say God is. Most say he is only loving, never wrathful or that a loving God could not be wrathful. I would say that they do not love the God of the Bible and they have trusted the wrong Jesus for their salvation. Some other things to keep in mind about God is that his anger is not like our anger. His anger is holy and right, and our human mind cannot comprehend it. Also, God is not an angry father sitting on his throne waiting for us to mess up so he can punish us. Scripture is clear that he is "slow to anger, abounding in love"..."patient with us"...."he remembers that we are dust". Certainly, God could bring things into our lives that are means of godly discipline to correct us--"God disciplines the one he loves" Hebrews 12:6, but God generally just allows natural consequences of our sin to occur. Many "bad" things that happen to us are usually just a result of our sin. And though God will allow those consequences to occur, He is always faithful to use them for His eternal glory. Lastly, it is "the kindness of God" that leads us to repentance. True repentance and belief comes from the kind and loving conviction that God places on one's heart and mind that they have indeed sinned against a Holy God and the only way that He will be satisfied with their sinful state is for them to put their trust in Jesus' death and resurrection and then to accept that they are no longer spiritually dead, but alive in Christ and they now take on the righteousness of Christ. Jesus died in our place. I read recently in a book by Jerry Bridges called: TRANSFORMING GRACE, that not only did God pay our sin debt on the cross but he also purchased every means of common grace we experience on this earth. All of the blessings that we take for granted were purchased by Christ.

In the end, God is both loving and wrathful. His love is expressed in many, many ways. Just as I discipline my own children out of love--God does the same. He gives us grace for everything. I yell at my kids..there's grace. I over-eat..there's grace. I have bitterness toward my husband..there's grace. I do not say there's grace so that "grace can abound all the more" (see Romans 6:1-2) but to boast in what the cross and God's punishment there does for us.

I feel, more than ever, that it is critical that professing Christians have a true and biblical understanding of who God is and what his character is like. It is imperative that we study who He is--if we don't we may just find out we've been worshiping and serving a different god--not the God of the Bible.