SIMPLE THEOLOGY

Category: Hope

  • Remember! What God has done – Happy Reformation Day

    Remember! What God has done – Happy Reformation Day

    The Church is called to be the light in the world, leading people from the deception of sin to the truth of the Living God. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has suppressed the truth and put people in darkness. The purpose of the Church and the Scriptures was defeated during this dark period.

    According to Church history, right from the early second century, the Church has slowly deviated from the word of God to mere human methods and traditions. By the Medieval period, the Church has come into a state of darkness. The corruption in the Church was so evident and strong that God called for a reformation.

    God in His own sovereign way worked out a reformation. He raised up his men who would expose the corruptions of the Roman Catholic Church and its popes. God enabled His men to fight until the truth was available for everyone. These men fought to bring back the scriptures to the primitive place and into the hands of every common man.

    Today is commemorated as the Reformation day. October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the Wittenburg church door, leading to a firestorm response in Germany. Reformation fire spread across Europe. Men like John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, John Knox, William Tyndale and many others played a major role in Reformation and men like John Hus, John Wycliffe, Jerome of Prague and others paved the way for Reformation. Oh! We cherish now because of their efforts. We hold our Bibles because of them. They laboured hard that the Word of God would be available to the common man. They laid down their lives that all men may be exposed to the Truth of God’s Word which was hidden from the world by the Popes and the Roman Church. Let us thank God for what He has done through these men. The Truth of God had burst forth through the overlay of papism, and other Roman Catholic heresies.

    Let us re-affirm our allegiance to the truth revealed in the Scripture alone. Let us stand for the Truth like these men and honour God alone. For, the reformation is not over yet. Look at the modern church which is plagued by many heresies. Heresies, which spring from the wrong interpretation of the scriptures and also from those who are not subjected to the word of God.

    Lo! There are false preachers everywhere, who do everything in the name of Christ, but they do not know Christ, they do not preach the truth, and only speak lies to deceive people. And there are people who flock to them, who do not seek the truth. They both represent only a false Christianity. We need to expose them. It is time for the faithful remnant to take a stand against them and against the heresies that they teach. Let all the faithful become the beacon of lights in a time where darkness pervades everywhere. A vast majority of people in the church are ignorant of even fundamental truths of the Christian faith. Many do not know that we are justified by faith alone through God’s grace alone. They need to know the importance of the word of God and the right way of studying, interpreting and applying the same.

    Today’s Church needs men and women who are slaves of God and who are subjected to the word of God. We need more Pastors who would not care for their own bellies but rather shepherd the Church with love and truth. We need more faithful preachers and teachers who would expose and divide the word rightly and point people to Christ alone.

    It is time for us to pray for another reformation in our day and suffer to declare the wonderful Word of God with great Joy and Gladness. May God open the eyes of His people.

    May God bless His Church.

  • Christians in the Pandemic

    Times like these are painful and difficult. Many have become prey to this pandemic already. We have no clue how many lives would be lost due to this and when will this come to an end.

    Humans suffered many epidemics and natural disasters until now. At the moment we are witnessing a pandemic. I think this cycle will continue. And the reason for this is that we live in a fallen world.

    The fall affected us as well as the world in which we live. As the man dies, and our physical bodies decay, the world will be destroyed too. It is a vain fantasy to hope that our lives would get better on this earth. No efforts of man will ever make this world a better place to live.

    The apostle Peter says, “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7).

    While the earth is bound for destruction, believers should be hopeful while living in this world. Yet in another epistle, Peter wrote to the first-century suffering believers and was about to face even more severe trials for their faith (1 Peter 4:12). He encourages those believers to be hopeful amid those trials.

    We need these reminders because we easily forget the purpose of our lives and get adjusted to our comforts and tend to think that our comfort zones are normative. But the trials in life remind us who we are.

    While we are in this lockdown situation, this will probably reorient our lives. The Apostle Peter addresses the believers who reside in this world as ‘aliens’ or ‘exiles.’ Which means ‘those who are passing through’ and our lives on earth are temporary. Which means that our relationships, the houses that we build to live, and our careers and work are temporary.

    Living as exiles doesn’t mean that we can be careless while we live here on earth. The Apostle Peter encourages the believers unto a proper life while as exiles:

    “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts . . .” 1 Peter 1:14

    “. . . like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.” 1 Peter 1:15

    “. . . conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth.” 1 Peter 1:17

    “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.” 1 Peter 2:13, 14

    Therefore, believers living on earth as exiles or aliens means living on earth with a sense of having our citizenship in heaven and living here with a longing to be with Christ and to enjoy Him forever.

    The Apostle John said, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). He continues to say that, “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3).

    All the people of Christ should live with this hope and longing to be with our Lord. We must also long to be like our Lord, which will encourage us to live like Him while we are here on this earth. The Bible calls this as our Christian hope. We are disoriented people if we do not live with this longing. And now and then our worlds and comfort zones are shaken to reorient us.

    Living with hope is very important because we know that we are not doomed even when our lives here on earth are temporarily shaken through trials, sufferings, sickness and death. And that is the reason, the Apostle Peter says, “. . . fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).

    And this hope is not wishful thinking. Many of us hope for many things. We hope to buy a new car, a new gadget, and we hope for an increment in the salary, a promotion, a beautiful spiritual wife, a rich godly husband, a small and a happy family, for a good and secured life (all this is wishful thinking). We live in a world of fantasy. Self and greed control our dreams and wishes. Such wishful thinking does not have a base from the Bible. And such thoughts will encourage us to focus more on ourselves, our problems, our future, our potential, & etc. Thus, making us ineffective and unfruitful for the Kingdom of God and His purposes.

    Biblical hope is not like wishful thinking. It is God’s promise to His people and therefore, it is dependent on the faithfulness of God. God is true to His Word and is unchanging in His character. He is also able to accomplish all His promises. And our lives should be characterized by faith in God and His word.

    Did God promise us health, wealth and prosperity? It is not biblical to trust Jesus for health, wealth and prosperity. Therefore, it is an unbiblical faith. God did not promise such things, but He promised us biblical hope, a hope that will not fade away. Does this blessed hope control your heart? Anchor you? Relieve you? This biblical hope should fashion our lives, desires, ambitions and even our hobbies. We live here in light of our eternity. Our failure to trust the promised hope is a failure to trust God.  

    Even now, during this pandemic, God expects us to be hopeful. We should remember God’s promises to us.  And the biblical hope should drive us while we are living here as exiles.