Josh Benner

Tag: God

  • Strength through the toughest struggles

    pexels-photo-372098
    At the beginning of Romans 5, the Apostle Paul is speaking of the glories of justification by faith.
    Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
    -Romans 5:1-2
    But beginning in verse 3, Paul seems to randomly change topics:
    Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
    -Romans 5:3-4

    (more…)

  • Contrary to popular belief: heaven will not be boring

    DSC_0682 2.jpgIn Randy Alcorn’s wonderful book, “Heaven,” he tells a story of an English minister who was asked by a colleague what he expected after death. The man replied: “Well, if it comes to that, I suppose I shall enter into eternal bliss, but I really wish you wouldn’t bring up such depressing subjects.”

    Our views of heaven are too lowly. In life, things often times leave us disappointed.

    A movie looks hilarious in the previews….and then you see the movie and realize every funny scene was basically shown in the preview. People rave about a restaurant, and you think it’s just ok. We vote for a politician who we think will fix things, and they disappoint. (more…)

  • God’s truth is true. Even if we don’t like it.

    photo-1470076491063-fd42fb1ad4b9-2.jpeg
    I was recently reading a profile on a popular singer. The profile said that she had been raised going to church but she had stopped going because she disagreed with the church’s teachings on LGBT issues. Because the church didn’t agree with her, she left.

    We try to dictate what truth is, based on preferences.

    LGBT issues are a hot button political topic right now. Many don’t like the idea of a God who disapproves of those lifestyles and so, just like the singer, people decide that God affirms it. They overlook clear Biblical teachings and concoct arguments based on feelings.

    God is awesomely holy and perfectly righteous. We are not.

    And because we’re not, there can be times where we read something in the Bible, where our initial gut reaction is to dislike what God has done or to dislike his moral will.

    There are people who don’t like that God is just and a judge. So people simply decide to ignore those texts. They throw out the true notion of God for one that accepts everything they want to do.

    Some people want to believe that a person doesn’t have to have faith in Jesus to be with him, and so they decide that being a good person is the basis on which God judges the human soul. But that’s not a Biblical idea. Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me” (John 14:6).

    There are people who like to speak for God and suggest that God is too distant. That such an infinite God wouldn’t care about the world, therefore it doesn’t matter what we do. That’s an assumption which contradicts the Bible. These people still often assume there’s a heaven. So they believe in a God who made the world, but doesn’t care about it. Yet, he made a paradise for people from the world that he didn’t care about?

    Based on what?

    Based on nothing! Based on what a person wants to believe. Based on the god a person makes up in their own mind.

    We’re created in God’s image, he’s not created in ours. And it’s tempting to believe in a God who only believes in what you believe in.

    Or people pick and choose which teachings of the Bible they want to apply to life and disregard the others. All sorts of ways that humanity tries to speak for God.

    It can be really hard for us to not want to create these caricatures of God.

    Even for people in the church. We might not talk about it. We might not say it in Sunday School or in a small group. But is there something about God, where you see it in the Bible but have a justification for why it’s not true?

    If you believe in a God who never disagrees with what you think, you might be worshipping a god you’ve made in your own image rather than you worshipping the God in who’s image actually you’re created.

    There can be times where we don’t understand a teaching, perhaps we don’t like a teaching. In those times, let us walk by faith, to trust that his ways are good. That his ways are higher than our ways.

    Do you have any areas of your life today where you struggle to not justify a certain sin?

    It’s so tempting to want to believe in a God who only believes in what you believe in. But God’s truth is not up for a vote.

    It’s so tempting to undermine the gospel and to say it’s really about how someone lived, regardless of what they believe.

    It’s about trusting in Jesus.

    That is how the unholy are made holy. Jesus is the great high priest who gives us access to God. And that is true, regardless of what we want to be true. Salvation is entirely the work of Christ.

    People undermine the morality of the Bible. They suggest that it’s just teachings created by men. Or suggesting that God doesn’t really care how we live.

    Again, that’s an assumption people make based on what they want.

    The God of the Bible does care. Because he’s a Holy God. And he made us for Holiness and righteousness. Maybe you have an area where you struggle to accept something about God’s word. I pray that the Holy Spirit would convict you of that. I pray that you might know that God is good. When I say his truth is true, regardless of what we want, that it’s not up for a vote, my point isn’t that it’s just a top down dictator imposing things upon us.

    Thanks for reading my 500th post! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

    Let’s connect!
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Instagram

  • Mary too? Professor argues Mary carried Jesus without consent

    Came across a story this morning about a recent Tweet from a college professor at the University of Minnesota Mankato.

    Eric Sprankle talked about the virgin birth of Jesus and said: “The virgin birth story is about an all-knowing, all-powrful deity impregnating a human teen. There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario. Happy Holidays.”

    “There is no definition of consent that would include that scenario?”

    First of all, he’s entirely missing the point. Second of all, he’s wrong. In the Gospel of Luke, Mary actually does say “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

    People have brought that up. But that doesn’t count, according to Dr. Sprankle who says, “The Biblical god regularly punished disobedience. The power difference (deith vs mortal) and the potential for violence for saying “no” negates her “yes.”

    Seriously?

    Christians believe that before the conception of Jesus, an angel of God appeared to Mary and told her that she had been chosen for this once in human history task of being able to carry the Lord.

    And this professor is essentially arguing that because of a power imbalance, she didn’t really have a choice?

    His Tweets are incoherent. In the first one, he says that God is all-powerful and all-knowing (both of which are true). But then he argues against the divine plan of an all-knowing God in choosing Mary to give birth to Jesus. She wasn’t chosen at random.

    And God is all-powerful. Men are not all-knowing nor are we all-powerful. We are unworthy of God. We are created for God. There is a power imbalance. We are not equal to God. And when I say the Tweets are incoherent, I mean that it’s incoherent to say that God is all-knowing and then to question his wisdom of morality and his plans.

    Sprankle’s definition of consent is so radical and limited that even giving consent doesn’t count. It’s intellectually dishonest. It’s referring to a once-in-human-history event. Also, this has nothing to do with sexual consent anyway!

    But if you continue to read in the gospel account, Mary continues to be perfectly happy with this situation.

    “My soul magnifies the Lord,
     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
    for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

    -Luke 1:46-48

    She didn’t give consent? Mary seems pretty ok with the arrangement. And it was through this act that the savior of the world came into the world to save the world from sin.

    One day we will all be held to account for our lives and actions. And there won’t be equality with God then either. God is awesomely powerful, righteous, and holy. We are not. We are sinful. We are so sinful that the only way we could be redeemed was for God to come into the world. The birth of Christ shows us that from beginning to end, Jesus had a divine ministry. Jesus came into a world that was so sinful that the world killed him. He did that so we could be forgiven. We are sinful and cannot make ourselves right with God. But Jesus came so that we could be with God. Not because we deserved it. Not because we are God’s peers. But out of his goodness and grace.

    Jesus did that to save sinners. Even sinners who mock the gospel and the righteousness of God. But we must repent of our sins and turn to Christ and trust in the life that he promises.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

    Let’s connect!
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Instagram

  • Christians too often settle for less

    landscape.JPG

    In Numbers 32, the Israelites are pursuing the Promised Land when some of the tribes decide that they would prefer to stay outside the land.

    The chapter begins with: “Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock (Numbers 32:1).” The passage goes to their request to stay in the land: “And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan (Numbers 32:5).”

    They didn’t want to go to the Promised Land!

    What they wanted was unwise.  What they wanted was settling for less than God’s best, settling for a land that wasn’t the Promised Land.

    It’s an interesting situation.

    They do offer to support the other tribes in the pursuit of the land. So it’s not that they’re totally abandoning their brothers and sisters. But this is still them making a decision that undermines the wisdom and goodness of God. (more…)