Jimmy Hinton

March 30, 2022March 30, 2022

It’s All Crap

Many Christians around the world are celebrating Lent, a period of 40 days of fasting to reflect upon Jesus’ 40 days he spent in the wilderness. This always happens leading up to Easter Sunday. Whether we celebrate Lent or not, it’s important for Christians to understand, reflect upon, and practice denying self. Denying self was one of the core practices Jesus gave for people to be followers of him. He said that anyone would would be his disciple must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Jesus.

Paul understood what it meant to deny himself for the sake of Christ. The letter to the Philippians was possibly the last words penned by Paul before he died. Many believe that Paul knew his end was near when he wrote the letter. Paul said that, prior to becoming a Christian, his righteousness under the law was blameless. But he considered it all a loss for the sake of Christ.

Paul went on: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order than I may gain Christ and be found in him. . . ” (Philippians 3:7, 8 ESV). The word for rubbish was a harsh slang term in Greek that literally would translate to “crap” (or really, a slang word harsher than that). The word is intentionally offensive, and it’s only used here in the entire Bible. Paul uses it to drive his point home that everything we think we value is actually all crap. Our righteousness doesn’t come from the law or flesh, but fully depends on our faith. Everything else does not matter!

March 23, 2022

Be Reconciled to God

unrecognizable man praying in church in sunlight

Paul made an appeal to the church in Corinth to be reconciled to God: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV). Paul prefaces this by saying that this ministry was given by God himself: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (vs. 18).

Paul says that in Christ God was reconciling the world to him, not counting their sins against them. This is certainly not a human mindset, as we all struggle not to hold sins against others. But God has the power to not hold our sins against us, thereby reconciling us back to him. Paul says that anyone in Christ is a new creation where the old has passed away.

This is the very reason God sent his son to Earth. Christ came to reconcile us to God “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (vs. 21). Paul implores the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain. Paul is not even hinting at cheap grace. The grace of God comes at a very steep cost. It cost Christ his life. Therefore, we are urged to live according to this grace that we receive when we put Christ on in baptism.

March 16, 2022

In God I Trust

“In God I trust.” These words were spoken by King David when he was seized in Gath by the Philistines. The Philistines were ruthless people and were not known for letting captives live. David wound up in the city of Gath after fleeing King Saul when Jonathan warned David that Saul would stop at nothing to have him killed. When Saul entered Gath, the people recognized him as the man who slayed their great warrior Goliath.

David was captured by the Philistine king Achish. After being captured, David immediately pretended to be insane, chewing on doorposts and letting drool run down his face. The king was convinced of David’s insanity and let him go free. It was a terrifying moment for David and he wrote Psalm 56 while in captivity.

David asked God to have mercy on him because his enemies trampled him. David wept, yet trusted God: “Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 56:9-11 ESV). When David put his trust in God, he was delivered to safety. Trusting God doesn’t guarantee our physical safety, but it does ensure our eternal promise.

March 10, 2022

Paul’s Thorn and God’s Grace

Paul wrote to the Corinthians to tell them about the 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 my from becoming conceited” (2 Cor. 12:7). Paul twice mentions not becoming conceited, or wrapped up in himself. This was why the messenger of Satan was harassing Paul.

Paul response was to beg God to remove this thorn: “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'” (vs. 8, 9). Grace means a gift, or having favor towards someone. It’s a leaning in to someone because you care about them.

We may never know exactly why God didn’t remove this “thorn” from Paul, but we know that God allowed Paul to be harassed by Satan and that God’s favor rested on Paul regardless of this harassment. It’s a reminder of the power of God’s grace in our times of weakness. God’s grace is abundant, and is sufficient!

March 1, 2022

Christ Is Our Advocate

Most people don’t have the gift of confession. When people sin, they keep those sins close to their heart. Spilling our guts isn’t the first response when we sin against God and others. But what is the proper response? John says that Jesus is our advocate with the Father when we sin: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1 ESV).

When we sin, Jesus should be the first one we turn to in confession. Jesus is our advocate when we sin. In other words, he will make the right judgment because he is close to us. That’s what an advocate is. It’s someone who tells someone else what to do in a time of crisis. Their judgment in the matter is important because they intimately know the person for whom they are advocating.

John goes on to say that people who say they know Jesus but don’t keep his commandments are liars. So how do we really know Jesus, our advocate when we sin? “By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:5, 6). The more we look like Jesus the more we know him, and the more we know him the more we look like him.

February 23, 2022

Beware of the Hypocrisy

In the gospel of Luke Jesus had just given a very lengthy rebuke of the pharisees and lawyers. He was addressing their hypocrisy for essentially putting on a show and requiring all kinds of things from the common people while they themselves didn’t follow their own rules.

After a crowd pressed in on them to the point that people were being trampled, Jesus spoke to his disciples and said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:1-3 ESV).

In other words, people will recognize hypocrisy. Whatever is happening in the dark reveals where your heart is. Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus is telling people to be the same wherever they are. He gives this message to his disciples because it was especially important for them to model consistent, moral behavior. There is a reckoning that is happening among religious leaders who privately are harsh and abusive but publicly look squeaky clean. Jesus was warning his disciples to remain holy at all times for the sake of the kingdom.

February 9, 2022

Don’t Pass Judgment With Those Whom You Disagree

inspirational quote spelled out with board game letter tiles

Paul spent a lot of time in his letter to the Romans addressing issues that the church was facing. Rome had gone through a dark period when Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from the city. When the Jews were finally able to return, there appears to have been a rift between Gentile and Jewish Christians. It’s easy for division to happen when people feel excluded. This is magnified when we make people feel bad for their differing opinions on how we please God and keep a clean conscience.

Paul said, “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him” (Romans 14:1-3 ESV).

Paul goes on to give other examples but concludes that, no matter what we decide on these issues, nobody should pass judgment on the other. The reason is that we all live and die to God, not ourselves. God judges us. Paul said that we should place no stumbling block in front of others because the kingdom of God is “of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (vs. 17). Finally, Paul says, “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (vs. 19).