Love and Justice

Hey Love and Justice Church,

I hope that all is well and I pray that the Lord is teaching your hearts as we continue seeking His grace daily. This Sunday, we will be opening up our bibles to Ephesians (Lord willing) and take a deep look into this incredible book. We will take it verse by verse until we have explored our way through this theological and beautifully Christ-centered forest of a book. I am extremely excited about what the Lord will show us in our studies. There are a couple of things you guys can do to prepare your hearts and minds for this study:

1.) Pray that the Lord would give you a teachable spirit. Ask that the soil of your heart would be good soil to receive the word with meekness, humility, and thankfulness. This will cultivate an attitude of doxology in our hearts as we joyfully hear God’s word.

2.) Read Ephesians 1:1-2. This passage is commonly overlooked for it’s size, but it pacts a lot of rich truth in these few lines. Read and re-read it. This will make our time together more fruitful.

We will be focusing on the very first word in the book – Paul. I am excited, so until then, may the Lord richly bless you with more of His glory shining in and through us. I love you all.

-In Christ

-Andrew-

Abide

“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples. As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” – John 15:8-11

Sometimes when Christians try and cognitively grasp big theological truths they erect one truth at the laying down of another. In other words, it can be difficult to fight for one truth without neglecting other important truths. Possibly the two truths that American Evangelicals seem to have the greatest difficulty reconciling together are the love of God and the justice of God. Either God is a fairy in the sky that flutters about passing out buckets of candy so everyone will like Him, or He is this angry Cosmic Policeman who shoots lightening at everyone who smiles or has a good time. Over time, if someone focuses on one while neglecting the other, people start to get a very weird view of who God is. The truth is that God is infinitely more loving, gracious, and compassionate than we will ever know! Yet He maintains His love without slacking His total and complete justice, holiness, and righteousness. Other truths that people seem to struggle with is God being completely and totally sovereign and yet not letting that be an excuse for man’s responsibility to all that God has commanded from us. On and on we could go here…

Christ, the story of the Old Testament!

- In Genesis Christ is the better Abraham that brought the true blessing of Salvation to every tongue, tribe, people, and nation
- Christ is the better Isaac who is God’s one and only Son who willingly laid down His life for His friends
- Like Abraham prophesied in Genesis 22, God truly did provide Himself the Lamb; only it was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
- Christ is the better ram that was sacrificed in place of Isaac; for Christ was sacrificed as a substitute in the place of us and we are free to live as Isaac lived also
- Christ is the better Joseph who was hated and rejected by His own people yet by His death, many are spared! God used the evil sin of Christ being crucified to bring about the ultimate good for His people…the salvation of our souls!
- In Exodus we see that Christ is the better Moses who comes to rescue us from our bondage to sin and Satan
- We see that Christ is our Passover Lamb. B/c of His blood that was shed on the cross, the wrath of God is passed over us and we are spared
- The Israelites feasted on manna from heaven and Jesus says in John 6 that He is the true Bread from Heaven, whoever comes to Him will never hunger again
- The Israelites drank water from the rock, but Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that Christ is the Spiritual Rock that we must drink from, for from Christ flow springs of Living Water
- After Israel had sinned by worshipping the golden calf Moses interceded for them, Christ is the better Intercessor who stands in the Father’s presence and intercedes for His children
- Christ is the better more perfect Tabernacle who according to John 1, came and “tabernacled among us”
- Christ is the better more perfect High Priest who enters the Holy of Holies on our behalf
- Christ is the better Sacrifice who enters the Holy Of Holies with His own blood instead of the blood of bulls and goats
- According to Hebrews 10, the body of Christ is the veil that was torn in two on the cross for our sins so that we might have access to enter in the very presence of God with boldness
- And finally, according to 2 Corinthians 4:6, the true glory of God is no longer revealed in a Tabernacle like Exodus 40, but in the face of Jesus Christ!
- CHRIST IS THE STORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT!

The Struggle of a Young Pastor

Writing has never been one of my strong points. But I have days where I feel as though if I do not write, my heart will burst out of my chest. Today is one of those days…

I often sit in a childish daydream pondering my life in five, ten, or twenty years from now. Will things be different? No doubt, yes, but will things be easier? That question is what haunts me, pursues me, and some days overtakes me in despair. Will loving, leading, and caring for my wife be easier in twenty years? Will leading a church be easier? What about preaching? Will preparing for a new sermon week after week become easier? What about the weightiness of souls? Will the heavy burden of church members’ souls become lighter as years go by? As silly as these questions can be, I find myself wrestling often with them.

Knowledge is Useless

This statement should have caught your eye. And before explained, it should be given again, this time with more detail and truth.

“Knowledge is useless-if love for Jesus Christ is lacking.”

It burdens and sickens me to see Christians pursue knowledge over Jesus. For the most part, I do not think Christians knowingly choose between the two, but rather have forgotten why knowledge should even be pursued in the first place. I think it would be agreed among biblical scholars that the Apostle Paul was one of the most wise, knowledgeable brothers in the faith to ever live. We study the theology that Paul wrote to multiple churches, yet we neglect parts of his very teaching and lack living like Paul. Remember his very words were “Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).”

We see also Peter warn us to not become useless or unfruitful IN the knowledge of the LORD. Instead we are to supplement our faith with goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love (2 Peter 1:5-8). I am not at all saying knowledge is bad, quite the opposite. Notice how knowledge is in the list that Peter lays before us. But in our knowledge, we must bear good fruit in our lives to keep from being useless. We are commanded to “love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your MIND” (Matthew 22:37). In fact, we are told that this is the “greatest and most important commandment.” But, some have neglected the first part of that verse-”Love the LORD your God…”

By this time, I am sure someone reading this says in the depths of their heart, “I do love Jesus.” The questions begs to be answered, “do you?!” But what is the test of our love? What is the standard to see if we truly do love Jesus? He tells us in John 14:15 where He said: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

Why are the Christian Seminaries all across America not experiencing the most revival and seeing the Holy Spirit move the most if the whole purpose is to train up and disciple people for the ministry? If their sole purpose is to learn more about the bible and to understand scripture and to study and receive knowledge, why are we not hearing stories of moves of the LORD that could not be contained? Why are they not producing the most Spirit-filled believers and truth preachers of this day? Why are Seminary graduates not falling on their face asking the LORD to regenerate the hearts of everyone in their city and then going out and actively preaching like John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, Peter, Stephen, and others who truly sought out a knowledge and love for the LORD? Could it be that we have chosen knowledge of Jesus rather than knowledge and love IN Jesus? Here is how you know…

Do you keep His commands?

Do you strife for holiness?

Do you preach the truth about Jesus, sin, hell, wrath, justice, love and grace without shame, fear, hesitation, and uneasiness to a lost and dying world?

Does the knowledge you obtain cause you to weep all the more when you realize the grace that the LORD has shown on you or does it cause you to become proud and self-righteous?

Are you more proned to preach in the boldness of the LORD rather than cower back in fear by your weakness, forgetting that in our weakness He is made strong? (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Do you find yourself overwhelmed with love for fellow brothers and sisters, and do you actively show and speak about your love for them?

The truth is this…Satan has arguably more knowledge about Jesus, the bible, and truth than any person on earth. The only problem is that Satan hates Jesus. He does not love Him, therefore his knowledge is useless. Do not find yourself in the same category…Instead, seek to love Jesus while hungering for every detail of knowledge you can get your hands on.

Fear the LORD,

-Andrew Burkhart-