Uncommon Love for the Unclean.

^{There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius!" And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, "What is it, lord?" So he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. "Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. "He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do." And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean." And a voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common." This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. ........ Later, on the next day ....... As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself am also a man." And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. Then he said to them, "You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean." Acts 10:1-16 & 25-28 NKJV.}

This story from the Bible is about Peter.  Peter is an Apostle - someone to whom Jesus has granted special permission to speak and act on His behalf.  Peter clearly states that he was given to understand by God that it was improper for him to speak of humans as being "common or unclean."  At the risk of overstating the obvious, Peter, the man appointed by direct authority of Jesus, learns that the people he had always considered to be reprobate, worthless, vile, unclean, impossible to include in salvation and permanent outsiders, were now to be considered as candidates for God's grace through Jesus blood.

1500 years later, Calvin, a man with no direct revelation from Jesus and operating under his own foolish imagination, decides to ignore Peter's quote and constructs a teaching about "reprobates."  According to Calvin, God preprogrammed some humans to be unclean and worthless and never intended to save them.  In direct contrast to the teaching of God to Peter, calvinists believe heartily in the worthlessness of most humans.  Instead of following the clear teaching of the Bible that Jesus loves sinners, the calvinist maneuvers against the Word of God by trusting a 16th century bigot.

One thing to note against those who like to say that the prayers of unbelievers are never heard by God is that Cornelius was honored by God for His prayers.  For those people who like to say that all human works amount to nothing of value, God honored the heathen Cornelius for the good works that he had done...the report of those works having come into the very throne room of the Father Himself.  Perhaps the works were recorded in a book in the heavenly realm before Cornelius name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life (Revelation 20:12).  Notice that Peter was not instructed by the Holy Spirit to explain to Cornelius that he had been preselected before the foundation of the world.  Peter preached Jesus and the cross and, before he could finish preaching, the Holy Spirit endorsed the faith of these "outcasts" (Acts 10:34-44).

Salvation still works in the same way.  The faith that God has built into mankind can reach out to trust in Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, His burial and resurrection and the offer of forgiveness of sins through His blood.  The cross happened in time and, while there is still time, Jesus continues to offer salvation to all who believe.

Sinner.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.

Where is your place?

And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."
And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come."
His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." John 2:3-5 NAS

 

The Son, then, could change His intent and spoil nothing: so, I say, can the Father;
for the Son does nothing but what He sees His Father do. George MacDonald*

When modern day cosmologists describe the beginning, they introduce an idea that is called the Big Bang Theory. The theory is certainly creative but, ultimately, needs to be rejected by Christians in the name of Jesus. The most important problem with the theory is that it does not leave any room in the universe. Those who are true to the theory have to make this claim: EVERYTHING that has happened and is happening since the Bang is being made up as the Bang goes on. If the "universe" is expanding, it is because the BANG is inventing it as it goes. nanosecond after nanosecond after nanosecond -- a discrete state universe is inventing itself::existing and unexisting simultaneously. There is certainly no room for meaning.

When modern day calvinists regurgitate the foolish imagination of their 16th century leader, they find themselves in concert with the philosophies of evolutionists and nihilistic cosmologists. What they describe as "God" establishes a discrete state universe. In this "place," there is no room for any deviation or decision. Every atom is constantly performing exactly according to its pre-programmed function. No human decision happens unless it was already prescribed. Jesus is nothing more than a 2 dimensional video projection on the wall of history. Pre-packaged humans are automatically actualized in salvation while sub-humans are offered heaven by the Holy Spirit and dumped into hell when the rug is pulled out from under them. You calvinists need to "search the Institutes" and find the blasphemies of Calvin so you can run away from them...reject them in the name of Jesus.

When ordinary people, who want to understand God, come to the Bible, they are not given a closed-loop sense of existence that does not include them. Jesus (Jesus is God) made room for His mother's practical wishes, even though He was, for the moment, captivated by the heavenly vision of sharing wine with His bride, the church (John 17 and Matthew 26:29 and Revelation 19:7-9). Jesus made room for outsiders from Israel...centurions and Greeks and Samaritans and a Syro-Phoenician woman...because they asked Him to make room for them. Jesus made room for every human at the cross because He and His Father had discussed the need for making room there before they ever made the world (universe) and the people in it (1 Peter 1:20). Jesus made room for humans, even though they are sinners (Romans 5:8).

Sinner.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.

*Quoted by C.S. Lewis in George MacDonald: an anthology. Macmillan, 1947.

Major in Merciology

There came a time while Jesus was teaching that a Professor of "Mosaic Law and Rabbinic Tradition" stood up in the midst of the listeners. His attitude was not humble, he wanted to prove to the people that Jesus was not reliable as a teacher.
"Teacher," he shouted out, "Let's get to the bottom line here with all your 'teaching.' I need eternal life and you claim to have all the answers. What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus looked up from where He was seated among the people and calmly asked the Professor a question. "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do YOU read it?"
The Professor quickly quoted from the Law of Moses and answered Jesus, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; also, Love your neighbor as yourself." (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18)
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
Jesus turned back to the people to whom he had been speaking. However, the Professor wanted to make Jesus understand that he was a good man and had always done right according to the law. Interrupting again, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
In reply Jesus said: "A man was headed down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. At a certain bend in the road, he was attacked by the robbers traveling along with him that he thought were his friends. They stripped off all of his clothes and beat him severely, knocking him out. The robbers went on their way, leaving him to die. When a priest came along and saw the man, he moved to the other side of the road. A Levite who was on his way to serve at the temple came to the place and saw the naked man. He also avoided the man by walking on the other side of the road. But a Samaritan (and the people gasped when he said the word), who traveled that road often on business, came to the bend in the road where the man was and saw him. The Samaritan took pity on him. The Samaritan pulled him out of the ditch on the side of the road and bandaged his wounds after cleaning them with oil and wine. Then what did the Samaritan do next? The Samaritan draped the man over his own donkey, took him to an inn and found him a room there. Having cared for the man all night, he went to the innkeeper the next morning to pay him. The Samaritan took out two silver coins and gave them to his friend, the innkeeper. "You know that I am good for any expense that this may not cover so take care of him like a family member. When I come back through on business, I will reimburse you for anything he owes you."
"Professor," said Jesus. "Which of these three do you consider to be a neighbor to the man who was ruined at the hands of the robbers?"
The professor replied, "The one who gave him mercy that was worth talking about."
Jesus said to him, "Go. And as you are going, be merciful in the same way." Luke 10:25-37

Statistics are often tricky and can be made to say things that are not accurate. However, 66.6% of the people who encountered the naked, beaten wretch in this story turned away from helping him and satisfied themselves with their theological justification...or political justification...or racial justification...or superiority justification... Whatever it was that filled their hearts with pride and disdain for the man's condition only found room there because of the merciological emptiness that had been at work for years. That they were not 100% empty hearted is evident in that they had enough "self respect" to move to the other side of the road...they still recognized that something was wrong. No human is totally depraved until Hell is his/her home. After the judgment.

One of the cardinal problems with the calvinist perspective is that it is intrinsically prejudiced. The foolish imagination of Calvin made him teach that God chose some people in advance for damnation and then created them so that they would live out their worthlessness. These "reprobates" must have been the unbiblical exception to being created "good" like the rest of creation in Genesis 1. Meanwhile, since the ideas that calvinists have about God are that He is prejudiced, then they have the right to follow suit.

In this story, the priest and the Levite are members of the "elect" order of an "elect" society. The Samaritan would have been considered to be a "reprobate" by the Jewish people - someone who had no prospects for salvation. Yet here is Jesus (Jesus is God) telling the Professor that he has no prospects for eternal life unless he behaves like a reprobate with a heart of mercy instead of spit-shined preachers of "election" who are prejudiced against people that need help.

Jesus saw the condition of mankind; naked, beaten and cast aside. Jesus responded in love. Jesus joined mankind in their condition. Jesus broke down the walls of "election" and made salvation available to anyone who would trust in Him. Jesus invited all to meet Him at the cross.

Sinner.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.

Pursuant to procedure

And when Jesus had gone down the road a bit, a man ran after Him and knelt in front of Him with this question.

     “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” 

Jesus replied to him,

     “Good? Why do you call me good? There is none good but the One. God.

     You know the commandments,

        Do not commit adultery,

        Do not kill,

        Do not steal,  

        Do not bear false witness,

        Do not defraud,

        Honor thy father and mother.”

The young man answered him, saying,

     “Master, I have observed these commandments from my youth until now.” 

Jesus looked at Him carefully and couldn’t help but love him. Then He said to him,

     “There is one thing more that you lack.

        Go back to where you live and sell whatever you have.

        Give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven.

        Come back to me, take up the cross, and follow me.”

And the young man was sad because of the things Jesus said.

     He went away with a terrible heartache:

        He was very rich.                          Mark 10:17-22  

You hear a lot about “pursuing” in Christian circles these days.  A lot of what is being said is nonsense that is made up by people who have a calvinist mentality.  They seem to like the idea of God pursuing them – the logical outworking of their theory that God not only has to take initiative in delivering salvation to the preselected, but He must chase them down and inject it into their unwilling spirits.  Jesus (Jesus is God) doesn’t pursue the young man.  Quite the opposite is true.  The young man chases Jesus down and stops him in the street.  Interestingly, Jesus does not pursue the young man after the young man walks away from Him, rejecting the divine offer of service. 

“Service.” There’s that word again that gives calvinists such headaches (Isaiah 41, 42, 43, 44, 45).

The calvinist/augustinian ideal of divine selection tries to maintain the notion that God loved and hated the chosen versus the reprobates in advance of creation.  Often using verses such as Romans 9:13 (“Jacob I loved but Esau I hated…”), the calvinist puts forth a view of divine love that is not supported with the whole Bible, much less by the character of Jesus.  Here we have an obvious example of the love of God (Jesus is GOD) that does not lead to an injection of “saving faith” into this perfect young man.  Wow! What was Jesus thinking?  Keeping a thieving traitor like Judas and letting this young man get away makes no sense.  Seems that Jesus needed Calvin around back then to set up his administration – more efficient goat sorting to get the sheep where they belong!

Love is an emotion, even for God.  God does not act solely on the basis of His emotions.  The plan of salvation is predicated upon God’s love (John 3:16).  God does love so much that He sent Jesus into the realm of time and the created order.  The gift of Jesus must be accepted (what else can one do with a gift but accept or reject it?) by humans.  God’s love does not mean that He will bypass His procedure – He neither does so in advance nor in time.  The love that Jesus has for the young man compels Him to make an offer that is made to all.  The young man can refuse the gift of the cross and keep his money.  It is the only way for him to discover that he is covetous…and a sinner (Romans 7:7-11).

God loves us and has a perfect plan for our lives; a plan that fits one and all.  Our eternal lives do not begin until we do things according to His plan.  Simply put, the plan is:

Sinner.

Come to Jesus.

Come to the Cross.