Josh Benner

Category: Christian living

  • John 3:16 and why it’s the greatest verse in the Bible

    John 3:16 and why it’s the greatest verse in the Bible

    Our era has twisted the meaning of love. The culture acts as though real love is accepting whatever someone wants to do. No matter if it’s sinful. No matter if it’s harmful. We call that love. I call it apathy. Love is a righteous God who would forgive people and give them heaven, and spare them hell, even though they are unrighteous and unholy. 

    John 3:16 is perhaps the greatest verses in the Bible. It’s the most well-known to our culture. But with a Bible verse that’s so well-known, I think we can sometimes become tone deaf to it. 

    It’s a great verse because it tells the gospel as succinctly as any verse in the entire Bible. 

    God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

    It points us to the love of God. But because of passages like this one, I think it’s easy for us as Christians to take the love of God for granted. The idea of a loving God is not universal to world religions. 

    In many religious systems, their gods are not loving, they’re not personal, they’re not perfect, and humanity basically has to do what it can to appease them. In most religions, the pressure is put on man to live up to a certain standard. 

    I’ve heard people argue that “all religions are basically the same.”

    I think that’s something that Americans say who have generally never studied other religions and who are basically making an arrogant assumption that all other religions have a similar worldview to Christianity. Not the case.

    Because here in America, no matter if someone is a Christian or the most ardent atheist, we are influenced by Christian teachings and beliefs. It’s at the core of our nation’s founding. It influences our ethics, laws, literature. It influences our understanding of a seven day week, it influences how we see the world. Because it’s so fundamental to America, it’s easy take certain Biblical teachings as self-evident assumptions. 

    It’s kind of like how when you grow up, there’s often a certain assumption in the normality of how you’re raised. It’s what you know. But you get older, and sometimes you realize that things that were always part of your life and which you always took for granted were actually not what everyone else experienced. 

    And in America, that happens with Christianity. And it happens with the idea of a loving God. We hear a phrase like “God so loved the world” and are tempted to think “well…yeah.” 

    Because we think we’re pretty good. Pretty loveable. Why wouldn’t God love us?

    Why would God love you? 

    A perfect and holy God. He can have whatever he wants. He is totally self-sufficient, self-sustained. He doesn’t need any favors. He isn’t bored or lonely. Why would he love you? 

    Who’s your dream person to meet? That’s a frequent ice breaker question to ask. If you could meet any person and I’ll say it can’t be a relative. And it can’t be someone from the Bible. Who’s your dream person to meet? Maybe it’s a famous pastor, or an athlete, a movie star, a writer, a musician, a president. Whoever it is. Imagine you actually got to meet that person. That would be a pretty big deal. Right? Just to meet them. Because it’s someone famous, someone influential, someone people know, someone the world loves. 

    You wouldn’t expect them to know you. You certainly wouldn’t expect them to love you. And those are just people. We have such a habit of putting our celebrities up on a pedestal. Finite, fallible, fallen people. But then you compare that to the infinite and almighty God. A God who spoke the universe into being by the power of his word. The God who sustains all of creation. And he knows you. 

    Little ole you. 

    He’s righteous. Meanwhile, you don’t even live up to your own standards. You don’t even live as good a life as you know you could. And you certainly don’t live up to God’s standards.

    We sin so much that become numb to it and often don’t realize it. The times where we act selfishly or manipulate someone. We have a justification for it. The times we lie. The bad things we think about others. The times we disregard God. The times where we know what we should do, and actively decide not to.  

    But that God knows you. And he loves you. God created humanity and he knew would sin. He made us anyway. 

    God made a covenant with Abraham and made a promise that he knew we would not deserve. He gave it anyway. God sent his son into the world. Jesus was perfect, without sin, came to spread light in a dark world, and God knew the world would kill him. He sent him anyway. God knew that you would be a sinner. But God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. He forgave you anyway. 

    Through Jesus and what he did on the cross. Nothing about this passage lifts up the goodness of man. This is entirely the goodness and love of God. 

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  • Jesus is the bread of life and why bread is the perfect food

    Jesus is the bread of life and why bread is the perfect food

    Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
    -John 6:35

    Jesus tells a group who’s following him that he is the bread of life. What the perfect food to pick. Something so universal, something that’s such a staple of life. Most foods, you can find someone who doesn’t like them. 

    Cheese is amazing. There are people who don’t like cheese. There are people who don’t like fish, or beef. There are even weirdos who don’t like chocolate. But everyone likes bread. It’s a universal staple. 

    Think about bread for a moment. A lot of restaurants you go to, they just give you a bowl of bread. You go to an Italian restaurant, maybe it’ll be breadsticks, maybe it’ll be bread with some olive oil. You go to a Mexican restaurant, they bring you chips and salsa. The tortilla chip is just bread that they then fried. 

    They don’t even charge you for it. Just “here, have some bread.” 

    Go to a Mediterranean restaurant, the meal will come with a pita. An Indian restaurant, it’ll be naan. 

    And that only works with bread. 

    Can you imagine going to a restaurant and they bring the table a bowl of broccoli? No! You can’t even imagine that. 

    Really, a lot of popular chain restaurants are known more for their bread than their actual entrees. No one is really going to Red Lobster for their week old fish and ocean roaches. It’s all about the cheddar bay biscuits. Olive Garden? The breadsticks are the real star of the show. 

    We love bread. 

    It plays a major role in so many of our favorite foods. Pizza. Cheeseburgers. Fried chicken. 

    Meatballs. Already a brilliant idea unto itself. A ball of meat, but we say “needs bread crumbs.” 

    We add bread to things that have nothing to do with bread. A salad. Mostly vegetables, let’s add bread crumbs. Soup. Mostly liquid, let’s add crackers and put it in a bread bowl. A bowl of ice cream. We look and say “the soup people were onto something. Let’s get rid of the bowl and replace that with a piece of bread.” 

    Most of our favorite desserts are just sweeter versions of bread.  Cake. Donuts. All the best breakfast foods. Bread. Pancakes, waffles, french toast, bagels. We LOVE bread. 

    Rich people love bread, poor people love bread. Old people love bread, young people love bread. We love it so much that many years ago, people said “I wonder if we can find a way to drink this stuff.” And that’s how beer was invented! 

    Bread and language

    Bread even impacts our language and sayings. 

    We judge the greatness of achievements and innovation by how it stacks up with sliced bread. We have indoor plumbing, we have cures to horrible disease, we’ve been to the moon, we have the internet. But no, when something great comes along, we compare that to the invention of sliced bread. When we eat together, we call that breaking bread. In many cultures, bread is a symbol of peace. We call money dough and the person who makes more money in a relationship is called the “bread winner.” If someone wants too much out of a situation, we say “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

    Bread in the Bible

    And then we consider it in the Bible. God feeds the Israelites with manna (which was bread) from heaven. Jesus references that in the Lord’s Prayer when he teaches us to pray “Give us each day our daily bread.” It is bread to which Jesus refers when the devil tempts him. He’s quoting from Deuteronomy but he says “Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).  

    Even the place where Jesus was born. Bethlehem in Hebrew means “house of bread.” 

    And it is bread at the Last Supper when Jesus institutes communion which he takes and breaks and says “this is my body, which is broken for you.” 

    Bread matters in our lives and the Bible. 

    Jesus is the bread of life

    So in John 6, a great crowd has seen miraculous signs done by Jesus. He’s just fed multitudes. But the crowd wanted to be dazzled with greater signs and wonders but Jesus instead explains the significance of the sign when he felt the multitudes. 

    The manna from heaven was the bread which God gave to the Isrealites to sustain them on their desert wanderings. Jesus is the bread of life which God has given to sustain the human soul. 

    The people had followed Jesus because he filled their stomachs, but Jesus came to save our souls. 

    The people wanted to see a physical display of glory and power but Jesus came to fulfill the longings of the human soul. 

    And it’s for that reason that Jesus is the greater bread. The manna had to be collected everyday. Jesus is the bread which gives eternal life at the moment you believe in him. 

    But as the manna was collected daily, there is still a daily element to the bread which Jesus provides as he himself is the bread we need everyday for our spiritual sustenance. Without the bread which Jesus provides, we grow spiritually hungry and malnourished. We need to feed upon him everyday.

    We need to commune with Christ everyday. Anytime you’re struggling spiritually, you feel like you’re just going through the motions, the first thing you should ask yourself is what your daily time with Jesus is looking like. 

    Going to him, praying, meditating on his word, serving his people, loving his people, orienting our lives around him.

    Jesus is the eternal nourishment and the daily bread without which we will Spiritually starve. 

    The world wants to just satisfy your body. 

    If you can just have enough money, you’ll be secure and have what you need. Some people are drawn to intimacy and feel like that will sustain their soul. It’s looking to a physical desire. Some look to prestige and power. Those are still ultimately fleeting accolades that you can’t take with you. Dying people in a dying world honoring one another. Some people look to politics. The right party being in office. Men who are fallen and sinful, flesh and bones are our hope. 

    The world makes idols of what is fleeting and feeds the body. Jesus feeds the soul. 

    Jesus is the bread of life. 

    Where is your hope though? Is it in the material? Is it in today? Is it in what you have or who you are? Is it in what’s in front of you? Or is it in the eternal Lord of creation? 

    The crowd had said to Jesus: What must we do, to be doing the works of God?

    Jesus says: I am the bread of life. whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst

    We’re called to come to him. Coming to him in humility, coming to him realizing our needs, realizing our hunger. 

    And we are to believe in him. To trust in his gospel and his grace. We must recognize that we’re sinners in need of a savior. 

    That is what we do to receive the bread of life. We believe in Jesus. And he invites us to never hunger or thirst because he fulfills the longings of the human soul. 

  • Difficulties as times for joy: the Bible and suffering

    Difficulties as times for joy: the Bible and suffering

    We face trials in life that our beyond our control. But we do have control over how we respond. In the Bible, in the book of James, he says, “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2).

    We face trials, we face difficulties. It’s not that we find joy in the trials themselves. The point isn’t when a person breaks their arm, they should celebrate! But to find joy through what God is doing. What God is doing when things don’t go to plan.

    Count it joy. It’s getting more at our thoughts than our feelings. The call here isn’t to put on a happy face when we’re struggling. It’s not to live a lie if we’re in a tough season. But through trials, through difficulties, that we should still find joy in God.

    There are purposes as to why. James 1:3-4 says, “For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

    To be steadfast is to be resolute and unwavering, to persevere. Testing of your faith produces steadfastness. When we are tested, we have an opportunity to grow in faith. We have an opportunity to trust God, to trust his purposes, to trust his goodness.

    And there we have part of the reason why we should count tests and trials as occasions for joy. Not because of the difficulties in themselves, but because they produce steadfastness. We grow in strength.

    A person might ask, “Well if God is so good, why does he make us go through the trials at all?”

    Several reasons. The most obvious, based on this text is that God uses trials to make us perfect, and complete, lacking nothing.

    But this also gets at the purpose of life on earth. And that purpose is not to have a total life of ease without any difficulties ever. We live in a fallen world. And even as children of God, we are not insulated from the effects of the fall: from health problems, from broken relationships, from lost jobs, and disappointments.

    We live to know God, and facing trials doesn’t hinder knowing God and experiencing him. In fact, trials are meant to enhance that relationship.

    If following God meant that you didn’t face any trials, and everything was totally smooth sailing and the way we thought it should be, then God wouldn’t be God, you would be. If everything went the way we thought it should go.

    We grow through tests and trials. Or at least, we have the opportunity to grow in trials. We can keep our focus on God, we can turn to him for joy. Without knowing the answers, we can place our trust in him when we’re struggling. Or we can sit down and feel sorry for ourselves.

    We can grow in faith through being tested. We never grow if everything is always smooth sailing and status quo. It is in the struggles, when we are forced to rely on God and God alone and to trust him that we grow.

    Some of us won’t. And I don’t say this to mock, but some people who either don’t really have a relationship with God or who don’t really have a strong faith, in the struggle, will be like plants that aren’t strongly rooted in the soil, and in a challenge, totally become uprooted.

    God doesn’t test us so that we can fail. He tests us so we can be perfect and complete lacking nothing. So that through having a greater reliance and trust on him, we can grow in holiness.

    God is trustworthy in our trials.

    Trials are not the time to distance yourself from God and His Church. That’s the last thing you should do! It is in the trials that you should more and more be living for God, trusting God, growing with God.

    In facing trials, it’s important to have Godly people in your life. People to talk to, to pray with, to share your struggles with, to be encouraged by.

    Again, it’s not if but when we face trials. It’s inevitable and just actively being aware of that is valuable. We can rejoice in the good times. But we can also rejoice in the struggles because God is working in us. It is in the trials that we are most enabled to grow. Muscle fibers have to be torn before they can grow back together and form stronger muscles.

    If things are going really great right now, rejoice in that. There are trials in life, trials in families, there are trials in churches. God is trustworthy in our trials.

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  • Christian comedian break silence 8 months after sexual misconduct scandal

    Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

    After an eight month hiatus from the public eye, popular millennial Christian comedian broke his silence through social media on Wednesday. Last November, Charisma News broke a story detailing numerous allegations of sexual misconduct carried out by Crist.

    Before the sexual misconduct scandal, Crist had amassed millions of followers online, had a popular standup tour, was a few weeks ago from the release of a Netflix comedy special. He had become a social media sensation among evangelical millennials for poking fun at the Christian subculture.

    Crist notes the overwhelming support he’s received from fans.

    With a scandal of personal sin, I feel like there are two primaries camps where Christians find themselves. And I think that this is interesting, not just because of Crist, but because it’s a microcosm of how we view sin. 

    On the one hand, you have the cheap grace crowd. When this scandal first came to light, I remember seeing posts online which totally overlooked the severity of what Crist had done and said things like “no one is perfect,” “well all make mistakes,” “Christians aren’t supposed to judge,” “I guess you must be perfect.” 

    For this group, there’s no real need for repentance or transformation. Christians often get painted as being too judgmental and critical. I actually think a larger issue in Christendom is that we’re often too dismissive of sin and quick to excuse it away under the guise of grace. 

    But that overlooks the victims. Crist was a predator who used his fame to exploit women. That’s a truly terrible thing for a person to do. I’m not suggesting that Crist is irredeemable. That’s the good news of the gospel. No matter what a person does, no matter what sin a person commits, there can be grace through Christ and what he has done. But we can’t mitigate sin itself.

    When Crist’s misconduct came to light last November, he said at the time:

    “While I am not guilty of everything I’ve been accused of, I confess to being guilty of this—I have treated relationships with women far too casually, in some cases even recklessly. My behavior has been destructive and sinful. I’ve sinned against God, against women and the people who I love the most. I have violated my own Christian beliefs, convictions and values, and have hurt many people in the process. I am sorry for the hurt and pain I have caused these women and will continue to seek their forgiveness. I have also hurt the name of Jesus and have sought His forgiveness. Over several recent years, I have privately sought and received regular professional treatment for my sexual sin and addiction struggles.”

    Another camp that people can fall into is being cynical. Not believing that he’s truly repented and that he’s working to change. This view is also dangerous. All are sinful and need to repent and to turn to Christ.

    The reason why it’s easy to be cynical is that people so often let us down and fall. It’s easy to be cynical because much of our society is cynical. We paint in broad brush strokes. We judge people from the past based on the values of today. If a person commits a sin in the eyes of the popular culture, the mob comes after them. It seeks to bring punishment instead of forgiveness. The mob seeks to punish, to tear people down, to assume the worst. Christians can be tempted to fall into this too.

    I think that the appropriate response is in the middle. Yes, there is grace and we should rejoice in that. But talk is cheap. True repentance and true faith bear fruit. So I think we should take a person at their word when they apologize and seek help and seek to change. But we should also expect to see the fruit of that in their life.

    To specifically critique today’s statement from Crist, I wish he would have more specifically called his actions “sin,” and talked about repentance and dependence on his faith. In many ways, I think his initial statement was better than what he said in his video. I also would have liked to have seen him specifically apologize for what he did instead of vaguely referring to “a lot of poor choices in my personal life” which “hurt myself, that hurt other people, and embarrassed myself.”

    Crist goes on to say “the most embarrassing part of this whole thing is the biggest hypocrite was me.” I can think of more embarrassing aspects of this scandal.

    I’ve been a fan of Crist for a few years. One of the first dates my wife and I went on after getting married was seeing hi perform stand up. It’s truly my hope that he has changed.

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  • There’s no such thing as a Christian who has not been born again

    Being born again is another word for the doctrine of “regeneration.” It is a supernatural work that God does within a person who comes to faith. All Christians are born again because all Christians have experienced regeneration. There’s no such thing as an unregenerate Christian. That’s not a Christian!

    Being born again is about coming to Christ, turning away from sin, and trusting in Jesus as your Lord and savior. And when we come to him, there is grace. There is forgiveness for our sins.

    But here’s a point that people too often miss. It needs to be a genuine faith in what Jesus has done. And the validation of that sincerity will manifest itself in a life that is transformed by the gospel. And if there is no change in your life, if there is no fruit, if there is no greater love for God, no appreciation for the work of Christ, no recognition of the cost of sins for which Jesus went to the cross, then for the sake of your own soul, you need to do some sincere soul searching into whether or not you actually believe.

    There are so many things that we like to tie to regeneration. For some, they want to look at baptism. Baptism doesn’t confer regeneration to you. Baptism doesn’t make you born again if you don’t have faith. Baptism doesn’t mean anything if you don’t believe in the triune God in whose name you were baptized.

    Some people like to tie it to their family. Mom and dad are Christians, or were Christians. “That’s how I was raised.” That’s a wonderful blessing. But that doesn’t mean you’ve been born again. The faith has to be your own. To

    For others, it might be the Sinner’s Prayer. “I asked Jesus into my heart.”

    But did you believe it? Did you place your trust in him? If there’s never been any evidence in your life that Jesus is in your heart, is he really? Don’t go through life thinking “I said this prayer one time,” or “I got baptized one time,” and that that’s all that matters if you’re living a faithless life.

    This isn’t meant to undermine the justifying work that Christ did on the cross. How we are justified by Christ. And what a glorious promise that is. But that presupposes faith. This isn’t meant to undermine the work that God does in our lives, he does work in our lives through his Spirt but we have to have had faith in him to have the Spirit. We’ll talk about the in June. All of those things are still true.

    But this is to say that a person who never did have faith still isn’t saved. And empty words don’t change that. And water doesn’t change that. The only thing that can change that is recognizing your inability to live up to a God who is absolutely perfect and holy. And that while you could not live up to it, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for you (Romans 5:8).

    Jesus said “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” It’s the regeneration of God in our souls.

    It’s not some inconsequential change. It is a monumental miraculous work of almighty God.

    In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

    Nothing existed and God spoke the universe into being by the power of his words.

    But when it comes to being born again, the regeneration that God works in us, God takes a person who is dead in sin, God takes a person who is opposed to him, who does not trust him, and he makes us alive. He gives us a new life, a new birth.

    Originally published September 5, 2017

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