There is a war going on. This war is far bigger and more important than the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. It is the war between secular humanism and Creationism…….Christianity. This war is a spiritual war. It is not fought on a battlefield. It is fought on terrain that is both physical and spiritual. It is fought in a realm that is both temporal and spiritual. It is fought in the hearts of mankind. More importantly, it is a war for the hearts of mankind. It is a war for my heart…… and for yours.

Let me begin by identifying the combatants. They are not physical armies. Rather, they are ideologies. Both of these ideologies are religions, though secular humanism camoflages itself with science. A religion is a belief system that explains who we are, how we came to be, why we are here, and where we are going. Science tries to do the same thing. The difference is subtle but critical. In its pure form……which is rare, science confines itself to measurable observations…….facts. The problem arises when science encounters a gap in its observations that cannot be bridged with current knowledge acting on measurable data. Some examples: the first 400 million years after the ” big bang”, the universe before and at the instant of the big bang, dark matter, and dark energy, the phenomenon we call “Hubble tension”. These are phenomena that scientists simply cannot explain based on the laws of science. Science fills in these gaps with theories. A theory is a possible explanation that cannot be proven based on current understanding. When you get down to it, a theory isn’t very much different from a myth. Greek mythology is a collection of theories. The big bang itself is a theory. There are multiple theories that try to deal with dark energy and dark matter. Science is completely befuddled by Hubble tension. Christianity, on the other hand, cannot explain the mechanics of creation, the virgin birth, or the resurrection. Both science and Christianity require us to accept, on faith, explanations that cannot be proved by current knowledge.

Both secular humanism and Christianity answer the really big questions with a combination of fact and faith. As such, both are religions. But, that is where the similarity ends. Christianity, creationism, posits a creator…..an active, intelligent force that operates both outside and inside our physical/temporal world. Christianity posits an eternal spiritual world governed by a sovereign creator, a creator who has expectations. The creator has a plan and he is working his way through that plan. Secular humanism accepts no such creator. Secular humanism rejects the idea that an outside being has expectations of us. Secular humanism rejects the existence of an eternal spiritual realm.

The reason that these two great religions are important, the reason why they are at war, is very basic. Secular humanism and Christianity are mutually exclusive. One is right…….and one is wrong. We must choose. But, the table is tilted. Secular humanism is the default. To not actively choose Christianity is to choose secular humanism by default.

So……how do we choose? I would like to tell you that we study the situation and reach an ordered, logical conclusion. For better or worse, that is just not the case. Both Christians and humanists choose based on a simple diagnostic.

Appetites

We choose between these two great religions based on what we want. We choose based on what they promise us. And what is that?
Secular humanism promises us control. Mankind is in charge of everything. The environment, the rules of social behaviour, our recreation, sex, drugs, even our sexual identity. We butt heads, we even have wars, when we disagree among ourselves as to which appetite to pursue. Christianity is much simpler. Christianity promises us a relationship with the sovereign creator. That relationship is founded on love. It ultimately requires obedience. We are no longer in control. Just as the two religions are mutually exclusive, so are the two appetites.

And there it is.

Mankind divides itself between the two great religions based on appetites.

Either

We take control of the universe in order to satisfy our appetites.

Or

We seek out a relationship with our creator.

It comes down to this:

Which is more important to us.

Control of everything…….or……..relationship with God.

So…….choose.

“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus struggling with the choice between control and relationship, Matthew, 26: 38-39, ESV

There is a war going on. This war is far bigger and more important than the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. It is the war between secular humanism and Creationism…….Christianity. This war is a spiritual war. It is not fought on a battlefield. It is fought on terrain that is both physical and spiritual. It is fought in a realm that is both temporal and spiritual. It is fought in the hearts of mankind. More importantly, it is a war for the hearts of mankind. It is a war for my heart…… and for yours.

Let me begin by identifying the combatants. They are not physical armies. Rather, they are ideologies. Both of these ideologies are religions, though secular humanism camoflages itself with science. A religion is a belief system that explains who we are, how we came to be, why we are here, and where we are going. Science tries to do the same thing. The difference is subtle but critical. In its pure form……which is rare, science confines itself to measurable observations…….facts. The problem arises when science encounters a gap in its observations that cannot be bridged with current knowledge acting on measurable data. For example: the first 400 million years after the ” big bang”, the universe before and at the instant of the big bang, dark matter, and dark energy, the phenomenon we call “Hubble tension”. These are phenomena that scientists simply cannot explain based on the laws of science. Science fills in these gaps with theories. A theory is a possible explanation that cannot be proven based on current understanding. The big bang itself is a theory. There are multiple theories that try to deal with dark energy and dark matter. Science is completely befuddled by Hubble tension. Christianity, on the other hand, cannot explain the mechanics of creation, the virgin birth, or the resurrection. Both science and Christianity ask us to accept, on faith, the explanations that they offer that cannot be proved by current knowledge.

Both secular humanism and Christianity answer the really big questions with a combination of fact and faith. As such, both are religions. But, that is where the similarity ends. Christianity, creationism, posits a creator…..an active, intelligent force that operates both outside and inside our physical/temporal world. Christianity posits a spiritual world governed by a sovereign creator, a creator who has expectations. The creator has a plan and he is working his way through that plan. Secular humanism accepts no such creator. Secular humanism rejects the idea that an outside being has expectations of us.

The reason that these two great religions are important…..the reason why they are at war is very basic. Secular humanism and Christianity are mutually exclusive. One is right…….and one is wrong. We must choose. Secular humanism is the default. To not actively choose Christianity is to choose secular humanism.

So……how do we choose? I would like to tell you that we study the situation and reach an ordered, logical conclusion. For better or worse, that is just not the case. Both Christians and humanists choose their religion based on a simple diagnostic.

Appetites

We choose between these two great religions based on what we want. We choose based on what they promise us. And what is that?
Secular humanism promises us control. Mankind is in charge of everything. The environment, the rules of social behaviour, our recreation, sex, drugs, even our sexual identity. We butt heads, we even have wars, when we disagree among ourselves as to which appetite to pursue. Christianity is much simpler. Christianity promises us a relationship with a sovereign creator. That relationship ultimately requires obedience. We are no longer in control. Just as the two religions are mutually exclusive, so are the two appetites.

And there it is.

Mankind divides itself between the two great religions based on appetites.

Either

We take control of the universe in order to satisfy our appetites.

Or

We seek out a relationship with our creator.

It comes down to this:

Which is more important to us.

Control of everything…….or……..relationship with God.

So…….choose.

“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus struggling with the choice between control and relationship, Matthew, 26: 38-39, ESV

First off, a few facts, many of these are estimates based on theories:

Distance to the sun. 8 light minutes
Distance to proxima centauri. 4.2 light years
Distance to the north star. 400 light years
Distance to the Andromeda galaxy. 25,000 light years
Distance to the furthest detectable galaxy 34 billion light years
Distance to the edge of the observable universe. 93 billion l.y.
Distance to the edge of the rest of the universe. 7 trillion l.y.

Speed of a commercial airplane. 500 mph
Speed of a satellite. 10,000 to 25,000 mph
Speed of our solar system around the Milky Way 500,000 mph
Speed of the Milky Way, rel. to cosmic background 1.3 million mph

I’ll start with the distances. I spend a lot of time in a dark sky area looking at the night sky. I see a lot of stars, each of them a ball of burning gas. They are so far away that the light that I see tonight is due to gas that burned some time ago. In fact, most of the light from the stars that I see is from gas that burned before I was born. I see the stars as they were hundreds to trillions of years ago. The cold, hard reality is that I don’t even know if they are still there. There is a star in the constellation Orion named Betelgeuse. Astronomers expect it to explode soon. But, Betelgeuse is 600 light years away. It is entirely possible that it exploded before Columbus sailed. We just haven’t seen the explosion……yet.

On a typical night, I’ll see a few airplanes, a dozen satellites, a meteor or two, maybe a planet, and thousands of stars. The planes, satellites, and meteors are visibly in motion. The stars and planets hardly seem to move. And yet, they are all moving at a blistering pace in every imaginable direction. The night sky looks relatively quiet; but the reality is that it is a seething cauldron of activity. The vast majority of what is going on up there is beyond my vision. Worse yet, I can’t even be sure that what I am seeing is still there. And what I can see, if it even still exists, is already billions of miles away from where it appears to be.

There’s a lot going on up there….. I just can’t see it all.
What I can see isn’t where or what I see today.
Even worse, some of what I can see……is no longer real.

Which brings me to the topic this week.

Reality and what I can sense, measure, analyse……..what I can know………..do not always agree.

What I know falls into several categories:

The things that I can see and touch……..the tangible.
The things that I can’t see or touch, but can infer…..the intuitive.
The things that I simply can’t detect using the tools of the physical world……the spiritual.

The tangible world is pretty straightforward. I’m holding my phone……it’s real.

The intuitive world is a little tougher. It’s 6 am and the sky is getting brighter. I can’t see the sun……but I am confident that it will be up in about an hour. The sun is real.

The spiritual world is where we get into trouble. It is beyond our senses. It is beyond our ability to logically explain. And yet, we sense its reality. Ask 100 Americans if there is life after death. 75 will say yes. There are not many things that 75% of Americans agree on. This, in spite of the fact that there is little hard physical evidence to prove the existence of the spiritual world.

We accept the existence of the spiritual world for three reasons. The first is that, though we hate to admit it, we respect our ignorance. We accept the reality that most of the cosmos is beyond our understanding. What follows from this is that……the fact that we cannot measure, understand, and manipulate something…..does not preclude its existence. The second reason is that we can sense the spiritual realm. It is written on our hearts. We recognize the spiritual for the same reason that we love our children. It is built into our design. It was put there by our creator. It is the very purpose of our existence. We deny or ignore it at our peril. The third reason is miracles. A miracle is an event that defies the rules of the physical world. It is a window into the spiritual world…….a world where science simply does not apply. We encounter these miracles with some regularity. The Bible is full of them. But, they also occur in our everyday life…….if we are tuned in to the spiritual.

The final point is this:

The tangible world will have an end.
The intuitive world will have an end.
The spiritual world, whether you accept it and honor it…..or not, will not end.

The spiritual world is real.

The spiritual world is your destiny.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 5: 24, ESV

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 17: 3, ESV

We put up a Christmas tree every year in December. It’s a tradition in our house. If you asked me why we do this, I doubt that I could give you a good answer. We begin with a plain tree. Then we start covering it with decorations. Sometimes the decorations follow a theme: a white tree, a gold tree, ornaments that remind us of important moments in our family history. Once we had a tree with the Grinch as a theme. By the time we are finished…….if we do good job…….you can hardly see the tree for the decorations. Then we throw a party and pass out gifts.

Great fun.

It occurs to me that our Christmas tree is a metaphor for our life, our faith, and our relationship with our creator. We begin with something that comes from outside of our experience…….something created by an external entity. The tree. It is natural. It is beautiful. It is real. It is true. It is God’s creation. Then we start adding to it. We add things that we like. We add things that we love, maybe things that we want……things that we hope for. And, in the process, we pretty much bury the tree in ornaments, lights, and tinsel. And we stand back and admire it……..our creation. God’s contribution is pretty much lost beneath the glitter that we have applied. God’s creation is obscured by our embellishments.

I’m sitting in my kitchen this morning, looking out the windows as the day happens. I see grass, trees, a dusting of snow, and the occasional deer. All of this is the work of my creator. It is beautiful. It is true. It is perfect. And I am blessed beyond expression.

But, if I look further, I can see radio towers, a factory, cars, planes, and a water tower. All of these are things the we, mankind, have added…….embellishments. I am blessed that, in my back yard, the added embellishments do not overpower and obscure God’s contribution to the view. It’s not hard to go to a place, perhaps a city, and experience a view where human decoration completely obscures God’s creation. It’s not hard to sit down in my family room and spend the evening watching TV and never see a thing that comes from God……..and never see a thing that brings me closer to God.

More and more, the experience of our world is the experience of the human decoration. More and more, God’s contribution to our world is obscured, lost.

And so, I start my day, sitting in my back yard communing with God’s world. I start my day by returning to that part of my world that is closest to God…….closest to the undecorated tree. The power of that experience in shaping my day is immense.

I’m not kidding myself. I have been blessed beyond comprehension. And I am grateful. You may live in a place that is overwhelmed……..with “human decoration”……..or worse. You may have to work harder to find a place where you can experience God minus all of the decoration. But, you can find it. You can find a corner of your world where you can meditate on God……..a place where you can commune with God……free from all of the decoration.

Begin your day in that place. You’ll spend the rest of your day in a better world.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

Jesus, John 14:6, ESV

I live in a part of Kentucky that is defined by Karst geology. This is large sheets of limestone that have been focally dissolved by acidic water. This phenomenon results in three things that define the bluegrass region of my state:

Thoroughbred horses which thrive on the limestone water and the bluegrass

Bourbon whiskey which requires this special water

Caves which are formed when the water dissolves the limestone

On a tour of one of our caves, I was introduced to a species of fish that lives only in the depths of the caves. This species is completely blind. It simply has no eyes. It has no lungs. It has no nose. It has no ears. It lives out its life in a world without air…..without light. This fish understands its world based on the taste and temperature of the water, based on what it touches, and based on vibrations that pass through the water.

Now, imagine that you are that fish. You swim around seeking water that is the temperature, taste, and chemistry that you prefer. You feed yourself by chasing down the source of vibrations nearby. You swallow what tastes good and spit out what tastes bad.

Life is good in your world.

Then, one day, someone describes to you a warm summer evening. The sky is a deep blue. The setting sun is a rich red. It’s a little muggy. Katydids are singing. You can hear a mourning dove. There is a gentle breeze. There is a campfire and there are steaks on a grate. You are tired from the hike up the mountain to your campsite. Soon, the stars will come out. There is going to be a meteor shower tonight.

Life is good in this other world.

The problem is that you cannot conceive of that world. Your experience of life gives you no understanding of the atmosphere, the weather, the sounds of the woods, the feel of the air, the beauty of the sunset, and the glory of the night sky……..not to mention that steak. The fact is that, even if you were exposed to these things, you don’t have the sensory apparatus to detect the data that you would encounter. The facts and rules of your world simply do not apply to this other world. The experience, the science, of your underground world simply cannot handle the information of the aboveground world.

We live our lives in the physical world. All that we know……all that we can conceive is limited by our experience of our world. All that we can understand is limited by the rules of the science of our physical world. And the science of our physical world is limited to what we can sense and measure.

We are blind cave fish living in our physical world.

There is a spiritual world. It operates on a set of rules and realities that are entirely different from our physical world.

And we just don’t understand. So we do the same thing as the blind cave fish. For the most part, we go about our business. We swim around and eat what we can find. We don’t think about the aboveground world because we can’t. We lack the tools and experience. Maybe we simply deny the possibility of a sunset. After all, it is impossible………in a world without light and air…….in our cave world.

But, the fact that a sunset is not possible in my “blind cave fish” world………does not mean that such a sunset doesn’t exist in that other world. The concept that just because I cannot sense something, measure something, or comprehend something……means that it cannot exist is flawed.

This is a good working definition of hubris:

A blind cave fish………who has it all figured out.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God, Isaiah 55: 8-9, ESV

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

Paul, 1 Corinthians, 2:9,ESV

It is odd, that we go through our lives and never study the most important concepts in our world. We just take them for granted and go along our way. Arguably, the most important reality in my world…….your’s too……..is life itself.

So……here it is:

What is the nature of life? More specifically……..what is the nature of my life?

The answer is, at once, both simple and straightforward…….and dauntingly complex.

First, the simple part:

Life is: breath, movement, thought, and much more. This is our physical life. We can see it, touch it, even understand it. We can manipulate our life and the lives of those around us. Our physical strength and our intellect give us the ability to master the physical world around us. Some of us have more power…….some have less. This is heady stuff. It is very easy for us to become proud of our success at running our world. But, all of us are constrained. Our power and understanding are limited to the physical world. The physical world is the realm that we typically think of when we talk about life.

The problem is this:

There is a duality to life. The physical world that we enjoy is a thin veneer covering a much larger reality. That larger reality is the spiritual world.

We are, for the most part, blind to the spiritual world. In a word, we are almost completely ignorant of the nature of the vast majority of our life. We are given brief glimpses of the spiritual side of life……of our life. These glimpses consist of the life of Jesus and the prophecies of the Bible. Occasionally, something happens that violates every rule and law of our physical world. We get a glimpse of the spiritual world. We call these episodes “miracles”. We tend to minimize these events. We try to explain them away using the rules of science. We deny these facts…….because the rules of our world cannot deal with them. The resurrection of Jesus is one of these events. The resurrection is not a lie. It is not a myth. The resurrection is a brief glimpse into the other side, the spiritual side, of our life. It is just as real as the people who surround us.

Scientists talk about a concept called a singularity. A singularity is an event where the entire nature of a system is completely charged. The nature of time, matter, and energy are completely re-arranged. The rules that we call science on this side of the singularity simply do not apply to the new order. The classic example of a singularity is the “big bang”. This is the event that science uses to explain the creation of the universe…….out of nothing……no mass……no energy…….no intelligence……no creator. The rules, time, and structure of the universe prior to the “big bang” are beyond our comprehension. This is because they are completely different from the “science” that governs our physical world. We will never understand what is on the other side of this singularity. We just do not have the tools. The simple fact is that we cannot even measure the “big bang” itself. So, we make something up as best as we can using the rules and structure of our physical life. But, our explanation is doomed to fail……because the rules on this side of the singularity simply do not apply to the other side of the singularity.

And then we die…….and everything changes.

Because death is a singularity too.

No matter what you believe. No matter what you want. No matter your politics. No matter if you lived a good life…….or not. You simply cannot know what is waiting for you on the other side of the singularity that we call death:

Paradise
Hell
Dead black nothing

At our death, we transition from the physical world into the spiritual world. The old rules simply no longer apply. Time, mass, energy, and space as we know it no longer apply. The Bible deals with this using language that is largely symbolic. We call it apocalyptic literature. Try applying the rules of our physical world to the book of Revelation……or Daniel…….or to Biblical prophecy. We just lack the tools to understand it all. We are forced to rely on faith.

So….what do we really know about the spiritual world?

Not much.

What do we understand about the spiritual world?

Even less.

Here is the best I can do:

There is a sovereign creator……..God.

God’s primary characteristic……..is love.

God has expectations……..love him…….love everybody else.

Welcome to the spiritual world. You might as well start getting used to it. It’s going to be around…….forever.

So are you.

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:3-4, ESV

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.

Psalm 102: 25-27, ESV

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality

Paul explaining the “singularity” of death, 1 Corinthians 15: 50-53, ESV

The most important questions you will ever ask……..and answer…..come down to a simple binary decision:

Is Jesus divine…….supernatural…….God?

Or

Is he the greatest con-man who ever lived?

This question has a corollary:

Is the Bible true?

Or

Is it a myth?

Because Jesus endorsed the Torah. He also endorsed heaven, eternity, and a literal burning hell.

The answers to these questions will set you on one of two paths. The importance of these questions arises from the destination at the end of each of those paths:

Heaven, Hell, Eternity, something you made up, or dead black nothing.

There cannot possibly be any choice that you will make in your life that is more important. And here is the rub……..not deciding……..ignoring the question……..is, by default, choosing the con-man path.

So what is the evidence?

Jesus clearly and unmistakably said that he was supernatural……devine……..God. And he was crucified for it. This is a historical fact, documented in multiple contemporaneous sources, not to mention the Bible. If this is untrue, then Jesus was a con-man……..or perhaps a lunatic.

Peter saw Jesus transfigured into a supernatural being. Mary and Martha met him a few days after the crucifixion. Paul spoke with Jesus on the road to Damascus years later. If this is untrue, then the divinity of Jesus is not only the rant of a con-man, it is a conspiracy.

Jesus appeared to hundreds of followers on Pentecost. Now, it is a vast conspiracy.

All of the disciples, save John, were brutally killed for their faith. Not one of them ever denied the divinity of Jesus.

Somewhere between 25 million and 100 million Christians have been martyred since then. They died rather than deny the divinity of Jesus. If Jesus is not divine, this is now a vast, lethal conspiracy. Some have called it a delusion.

My first question is this:

Can you name any other belief system that is supported by hundreds of eye witnesses………..any other belief system that tens of millions of followers have endorsed at the cost of their very lives?

My second question is this:

Search your heart. Do you really believe in dead black nothing as your destiny?

Or

Do you really believe that you get to decide the nature of your eternity? Because, if you get to dictate the terms of eternity, then people should be building churches…….to worship you.

“I and the Father are one.”

Jesus, claiming his divinity, John 10: 30, ESV

Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

The transfiguration, Matthew 16:1-5, ESV

Paul had an ailment. He called it a “thorn in his flesh”.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul discussing his illness with God, 2 Corinthians l, 12:7-9, ESV

Paul’s ailment clearly bothered him. It bothered him enough that he repeatedly asked God to heal it. But, God said “no”. Sometimes “no” is God’s answer to our prayers. It can even be the answer given to the greatest leaders of the church, leaders like Paul. If anyone ever deserved……earned…..an answered prayer, it was Paul. But, God denied Paul’s prayer…….over and over. And Paul accepted God’s answer…….and he was content.

How often does God answer a sincere, honest, perhaps desperate, prayer from you…….with “no”. God says “no” and we ask “why”? At best we decide that we don’t understand, and we trust God. At worst we lash out at God. We may even reject God altogether. Have you ever heard something like this, “I refuse to accept a God who would let my child die.” It happens every day. God says “no” and we try to punish him by rejecting him.

Back to Paul and his “thorn”. Instead of healing him, God sent Paul a physician. This physican became a close friend and traveling companion of Paul in addition to being his personal doctor. In return, Paul was likely a mentor in the faith for the physician.

The physician’s name was Luke.

Yes, that Luke.

A decade or so after Paul’s death, Luke wrote two books, “The Gospel, according to Luke” and “Acts of the Apostles”.

Together, Paul and Luke wrote over half of the New Testament. This happened because of a friendship and collaboration that grew out of God’s refusal to heal Paul. God had a better idea. Perhaps, God knew what he was doing after all.

The moral of the story is this:

God is working out his plan…….not ours. We cannot see the whole plan. We cannot expect that everything that God does will make sense to us. We cannot expect that everything that God does will satisfy our short term needs and appetites. What we can expect is that God loves us and is building something fabulous for those who accept him, honor him and love him.

We must be like Paul. We must trust God and be content.

The Bible is full of answered prayers. Elijah prayed for drought and it didn’t rain for 3 1/2 years. Then he prayed for rain…….and it rained. We love the answered prayers on the Bible. They give us confidence. There are precious few unanswered prayers in the Bible. But, those unanswered prayers are the most important prayers in the Bible.

I believe that the most important prayer in the Bible was unanswered. It was Jesus’s prayer, in Gethsemane, that he be excused from the crucifixion. He repeated it three times……just like Paul. In the Bible, repetition means “PAY ATTENTION…..THIS IS IMPORTANT”. And God was silent. By his silence, God said no to the prayer of his son.

Think that through:

If God had answered the repeated prayer of Jesus…..there would be no crucifixion.

No crucifixion……..no resurrection

No resurrection……..no reconciliation

No reconciliation……..no forgiveness of sin

No forgiveness of sin………means that we are all doomed.

The simple reality of the denial, by God, of his son’s prayer, is this:

The only reason that I have the hope of paradise……….is that God said NO…….to another guy’s prayer.

Something to ponder……the next time God says no to you.

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus……the greatest unanswered prayer……ever,
Matthew 26:39, ESV

Jesus began his ministry in about 30 AD.

He was crucified in 33 AD.

Paul, as Saul, viciously persecuted Christians from 30 AD to 40 AD.

Paul had an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus in about 40 AD and began his ministry.

Paul wrote his letters between 50 AD and 60 AD.

Paul was executed in 65 AD.

The four gospels were written between 70 and 100 AD.

Let that sink in.

Paul’s entire ministry occurred before the Gospels were written.

Paul wrote his letters between 50 AD and 60 AD. In addition, he mentored Luke. Indirectly, he was responsible for the gospel of Luke and of Acts. Together, these letters and books constitue just over half of the New Testament. This means that most of the New Testament was either written by or inspired by Paul before the Gospels were written.

Paul (Saul) was a passionate enemy of Christianity. He had never read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He had obviously heard about Jesus and was familiar enough with the fledgling Christian faith to persecute them mercilessly.

Then, one day, out of the blue, he became an itenerant preacher and the first author of what would become the New Testament. He did this without having read the Gospels.

He never recanted his teaching about Jesus, and he was imprisoned and beheaded for it.

A few days after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to His supporters and the apostles. Six or seven years later, he appeared to Paul (Saul), arguably his greatest and most dangerous enemy. This was clearly a very special, “one off” event.

Paul’s conversion from persecutor of the Christian church to the second most important founder of the Christian church, after Jesus, occurred in a 3 day encounter on the road to Damascus. More importantly, it did not come from a study of the Gospels. Paul’s conversion came about as a direct, first person, revelation delivered by Jesus himself. Nothing quite like it had ever occurred before. Nothing like it has ever occurred since.

Of millions of people, Jesus chose Paul. Jesus chose his most virulent enemy to be his spokesperson…….to author most of the New Testament.

What was Jesus thinking?

I can only speculate; but, I think that Jesus saw Paul’s talent and his passion. I think that Jesus chose Paul to initiate the writing of the New Testament. Jesus orchestrated a catastrophic event in Paul’s life in order to “turn Paul’s head”,

The history of Paul’s ministry, in particular, the three days on the way to Damascus, is more than just another “Bible story”. It is one of the most compelling pieces of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As such, it is one of the most compelling pieces of evidence supporting the truth of the entire Bible.

I can imagine no other experience that would lead to such a drastic change in Paul…….no experience short of a first person encounter with the resurrected Jesus Christ.

I, too, will someday have that experience.

So will you.

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Luke, relating a conversation between Jesus and Paul,
Acts 9: 1-5, ESV

So…..what is the opposite of freedom?

Enslavement
Restriction
Loss of control

Nope………the opposite of freedom……….is safety.

I know a guy.

He has made his way through the last 40 years without a regular 9 to 5 type job. He makes his living through tens of thousands of small individual transactions. He gets up in the morning, has his coffee, and decides how he will spend his day. This guy understands freedom. He lives it. But, he doesn’t have a clue as to where the money will come from next month. He doesn’t have a pension. He never has carried a lot of insurance. He has survived cancer and multiple hurricanes without it. In a word, he has freedom; but, he has given up a lot of safety.

I am the polar opposite.

At age 12, I chose a career path that would guarantee me a good stable income, respect, and prestige. I worked my fanny off. One summer I worked a job that was 36 hours on and 12 hours off…….all summer long. I have almost no memories of college. I slept during the day and studied at night. I did this to avoid the distractions of a social life. And it worked. I had a fabulous, extremely successful career. I live a liberal retirement. But, to get here, I have thrown away freedom by the truckload.

Freedom vs. Safety

It occurs to me that one of the most important choices that we will make in our lifetime is a choice between freedom and safety. It is the choice between secular humanism and Christianity.

Secular humanism offers us freedom. We can do whatever we want. If you don’t like being a man……identify as a woman. If you have an unwanted pregnancy….abort it. If you disagree with a law…..ignore it. Ultimately, you are in charge. Nobody can tell you what to do. You live freedom……every day. But, you are going to die. At that point, the lights will just go out. And, that is the best possible case scenario. The worst possible case is hell. Looking at it from a long-term perspective…….you have no safety at all.

You are on a tight rope with no net. And…..sooner or later…….you are going to fall.

“No one gets out alive”.

Jim Morrison

Christianity, on the other hand, is a way of life that imposes expectations on us.

Love God
Love everyone else
Obey the 10 commandments
Accept Christ as your leader……your saviour

These expectations will restrict everything that you say and do for the rest of your life…….if you do it well. You will give up freedom by the truckload. In exchange, you will gain ultimate safety. No matter what life sends your way…….you will spend eternity in paradise with a creator who loves you………a creator who made you for that one purpose.

Freedom or Safety.

And here is the amazing part.

You get to choose.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

Invictus, a poem by Henley

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 23: 4-6, ESV