Freedom, Contentment, Presence Part 3
Presence
Hebrews 13:5-6 ESV
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." [6] So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"
"For he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Luke 12:22-23 ESV
And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. [23] For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
Luke 12:28-31 ESV
But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! [29] And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. [30] For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. [31] Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
Do we believe what our Lord has said? Do we really? Or do we believe this only when we are comfortable and at our ease? Oh believer know you not that there is much great danger in comfort and ease? Know you not that you risk much when your dependence strays from His promises, when you demand and aquire more than He would have you - and for reasons of satsfying yourself?
Is the great thing in your life the presence of Christ or is that presence obscured by the presence of possessions and covetousness?
Let me bunny trail here and plainly state that it is not just in plenty that we obscure His presence but we can do that when in need as well. We can so focus on the need that we darken our ability to acknowledge and rejoice in His presence.
We must consider being free from the love of money-stuff, being content with what we have and the presence of Christ being inseperable and necessary to the life of the believer. His promise to never leave us or forsake us needs to be seen in opposition to the love of money and lack of contentment. They conflict one with another and ceate in the heart of the believe a raging torrent of grief - or at least I hope they do.
But there is one work here we must take seriously. It is the word "FOR."
Reread the verse this way:
"Becasue he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have."
Does that change your perspective just a little? It is His presence and His non-forsaking of us that is the justification for freedom and contentment.
But, more importantly His promise of His presence and not to forsake us should be the core of our freedom and contentment. He should be enough. He and His promises are for ever.
Think on this oft used passage:
1 John 2:16-17 ESV
For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions-is not from the Father but is from the world. [17] And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
The question we must ask is, "If someone looked at my life and how I use the blessings and mercies of God (especially money-stuff) could they tell I find freedom and contentment in His presence and promises?"
Oh Lord, deliver us again and again from the bondage of our corrupt natures that we might be free of idolatry and covetousness and content with using Your provision for Your glory and honor. Father make the presence and promises of Your Son rise in my heart and indeed in my life. Make me a simple satisfactory steward of all You entrust to me and keep me safe from myself, the world and the devil. Let me not yield to the conventions and covetousness of my culture and to see everything You provide as a challenge to my faith and my heart.
Showing posts with label Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christ. Show all posts
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Faith in Affliction Weak or Strong 032414
Faith in Affliction Weak or Strong
"If it never proves great, yet weak faith shall save; for it interests us in Christ, and makes Him and all His benefits ours. For it is not the strength of our faith that saves, but the truth of our faith, nor weakness of our faith that condemns, but the want of faith; for the least faith lays hold on Christ and so will save us. Nor are we saved by the worth or quantity of our faith but by Christ - who is laid hold on bu a weak faith as well as a strong - just as a weak hand that puts meat into the mouth shall feed and nourish the body as if it were a strong hand, but by the goodness of the meat." John Rogers, The Doctrine of Faith
In Affliction we are confronted with the strength or weakness of our faith. Indeed I think it is more often the latter than the former. But as Rogers writes even our mustard-seed faith is sufficient to lay hold of all that Christ provides and promises. The difference, perhaps, is more in our sense of faith than its sufficiency.
How often do we, in afflictions, find ourselves confronted with the laziness of our faith and consider it a sign of no or weak faith. This is not to be done. The exercise of our faith will indeed be commensurate with its strength or weakness but yet whether one or the other it is sufficient.
If our faith is weak, afflictions are great torments and trials and yet Christ is not stingy in His providence regardless. It is the object of our faith that is of the greatest import and what we often confuse with a weak faith is actually a misplaced faith.
We tend to trust God to provide according to our own reason and insight and when we do not see that happening we , in our distress, consider our faith to be too weak to have its effect. But brother and sister, by God's own Word, this cannot be. His promises are to those who believe whether small or large.
"Lord I believe, help Thou my unbelief," should be a fundamental prayer we pray in affliction. For we all have areas where our faith struggles to settle upon its true object and grow upon that object.
And, we must remember that our faith is a gift and gifts are given according to the desire of the giver and the need of the gifted. That one has what they consider a "small faith" is simply an invitation to stand amazed as God grows that faith in time and space. Indeed, once we are with Him there will be no weak of strong faith for our trust in Him will be complete.
In affliction we will find that we question the strength and veracity of our faith - or at least we seem to. However I find among believers that it is rarely a question of whether or not God will provide but rather how and when. This shows that we have faith in Him even if we struggle in the details.
But some believers do struggle with whether or not God will provide. Wondrously and happily this doubt is usually based upon their view of their own worthiness to even get God's attention much less His provision. This is "works" thinking and we all do it. There is nothing like an affliction to kick us into the old, "I'm not worthy," or to bring to our remembrance every jot and tittle of our sins.
Well, we are not worthy - period. But in and through Christ we are - but only through Him. Yes, God may indeed, through some affliction, chastise us for sin. But this is a mercy for first it falls far far short of what any sin deserves and second it is meant to cleanse, to refine the dross out of our hearts and lives. Yet we often fail to see the blessedness of God's heavy hand upon us and we miss praising Him for that mercy.
Trusting God in affliction is simple but it is not easy. The world mocks, the flesh wrestles with shame and the devil accuses and taunts. That's a tough trio to contend with. But knowing the source should drive us to look to God more intensly and humbly and - sometimes - desperately.
But, isn't the bottom line our redemption? Isn't that the aim of our faith as Christ who provides it is the object? Do we want heaven of relief more? Do we want the comfort of our salvation or the comfort of things? Do we want the praise of men or the "well done" of Christ?
Faith in affliction looks to its object and the priorities held by that object. Which means that our priority should be the glory of God and our ultimate home with Him. Everything else is NOT unimportant but it is secondary if not tertiary.
Therefore let us turn to Christ in our affliction and to His Word and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in getting our priorities back in line. Let us allow the anxiety of trials to wash over us and away from us as we call out to God in supplication and thanksgiving.
"Though I am not pleased with God's chastisement, I will be pleased with its effect. Though I struggle to thank Him for this testing I praise Him for loving me enough to test me. Though I am assailed with fear let me be filled with His comfort. May I accept this affliction as a mercy and blessing from my God who is determined to transform me into the likeness of my loving Savior." ms
"If it never proves great, yet weak faith shall save; for it interests us in Christ, and makes Him and all His benefits ours. For it is not the strength of our faith that saves, but the truth of our faith, nor weakness of our faith that condemns, but the want of faith; for the least faith lays hold on Christ and so will save us. Nor are we saved by the worth or quantity of our faith but by Christ - who is laid hold on bu a weak faith as well as a strong - just as a weak hand that puts meat into the mouth shall feed and nourish the body as if it were a strong hand, but by the goodness of the meat." John Rogers, The Doctrine of Faith
In Affliction we are confronted with the strength or weakness of our faith. Indeed I think it is more often the latter than the former. But as Rogers writes even our mustard-seed faith is sufficient to lay hold of all that Christ provides and promises. The difference, perhaps, is more in our sense of faith than its sufficiency.
How often do we, in afflictions, find ourselves confronted with the laziness of our faith and consider it a sign of no or weak faith. This is not to be done. The exercise of our faith will indeed be commensurate with its strength or weakness but yet whether one or the other it is sufficient.
If our faith is weak, afflictions are great torments and trials and yet Christ is not stingy in His providence regardless. It is the object of our faith that is of the greatest import and what we often confuse with a weak faith is actually a misplaced faith.
We tend to trust God to provide according to our own reason and insight and when we do not see that happening we , in our distress, consider our faith to be too weak to have its effect. But brother and sister, by God's own Word, this cannot be. His promises are to those who believe whether small or large.
"Lord I believe, help Thou my unbelief," should be a fundamental prayer we pray in affliction. For we all have areas where our faith struggles to settle upon its true object and grow upon that object.
And, we must remember that our faith is a gift and gifts are given according to the desire of the giver and the need of the gifted. That one has what they consider a "small faith" is simply an invitation to stand amazed as God grows that faith in time and space. Indeed, once we are with Him there will be no weak of strong faith for our trust in Him will be complete.
In affliction we will find that we question the strength and veracity of our faith - or at least we seem to. However I find among believers that it is rarely a question of whether or not God will provide but rather how and when. This shows that we have faith in Him even if we struggle in the details.
But some believers do struggle with whether or not God will provide. Wondrously and happily this doubt is usually based upon their view of their own worthiness to even get God's attention much less His provision. This is "works" thinking and we all do it. There is nothing like an affliction to kick us into the old, "I'm not worthy," or to bring to our remembrance every jot and tittle of our sins.
Well, we are not worthy - period. But in and through Christ we are - but only through Him. Yes, God may indeed, through some affliction, chastise us for sin. But this is a mercy for first it falls far far short of what any sin deserves and second it is meant to cleanse, to refine the dross out of our hearts and lives. Yet we often fail to see the blessedness of God's heavy hand upon us and we miss praising Him for that mercy.
Trusting God in affliction is simple but it is not easy. The world mocks, the flesh wrestles with shame and the devil accuses and taunts. That's a tough trio to contend with. But knowing the source should drive us to look to God more intensly and humbly and - sometimes - desperately.
But, isn't the bottom line our redemption? Isn't that the aim of our faith as Christ who provides it is the object? Do we want heaven of relief more? Do we want the comfort of our salvation or the comfort of things? Do we want the praise of men or the "well done" of Christ?
Faith in affliction looks to its object and the priorities held by that object. Which means that our priority should be the glory of God and our ultimate home with Him. Everything else is NOT unimportant but it is secondary if not tertiary.
Therefore let us turn to Christ in our affliction and to His Word and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in getting our priorities back in line. Let us allow the anxiety of trials to wash over us and away from us as we call out to God in supplication and thanksgiving.
"Though I am not pleased with God's chastisement, I will be pleased with its effect. Though I struggle to thank Him for this testing I praise Him for loving me enough to test me. Though I am assailed with fear let me be filled with His comfort. May I accept this affliction as a mercy and blessing from my God who is determined to transform me into the likeness of my loving Savior." ms
Monday, March 10, 2014
Heart Keepers 06 031014
Heart Keepers 06
6. The realizing of God's presence with us and setting the Lord always before us.
God is always with us. The Holy Spirit indwells us. All this is true but do we intentionally set that in the forefront of our minds and the center of our hearts?
Are we desirous of being obnoxiously aware of and desperately desirous of His being always and all ways before us?
Without the practice of the disciplines of the faith, without partaking of His means of grace and His mercies this will never never be the case. We are but babes in holiness (in many ways but especially in terms of separation from the world). As babes we need goood food and good exercize. Without both we will not grow or we will grow poorly.
But we have too much to do. Too much to worry about. Too much of too much. So we nibble a breakfast bar of faith thinking it will provide the nutrition we need for our daily walk. We crave spiritual fast food and just the occassional healthy meal and think we will be OK.
We set God before us when we are in need; not accepting that we are always in need. Prosperity and comfort keep us fat, sassy and lost.
Keeping the heart takes work - focused and diligent work - but who has the time? Who makes the time? So we stubble along bringing ridicule to the name of God by our shallow, ignorant and intermitant faith. We violate the first line of the model prayer since we do not "hallow" His name as it should be hallowed.
We do not keep our hearts and so our lives are warped and twisted all the time we claim to be serving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Jesus made it very very clear that it is our hearts that are the source of evil and it is our hearts we must keep. It's not a feeling, its facts. It's not a disposition, it's discipline. It's not neat, it's necessary.
6. The realizing of God's presence with us and setting the Lord always before us.
God is always with us. The Holy Spirit indwells us. All this is true but do we intentionally set that in the forefront of our minds and the center of our hearts?
Are we desirous of being obnoxiously aware of and desperately desirous of His being always and all ways before us?
Without the practice of the disciplines of the faith, without partaking of His means of grace and His mercies this will never never be the case. We are but babes in holiness (in many ways but especially in terms of separation from the world). As babes we need goood food and good exercize. Without both we will not grow or we will grow poorly.
But we have too much to do. Too much to worry about. Too much of too much. So we nibble a breakfast bar of faith thinking it will provide the nutrition we need for our daily walk. We crave spiritual fast food and just the occassional healthy meal and think we will be OK.
We set God before us when we are in need; not accepting that we are always in need. Prosperity and comfort keep us fat, sassy and lost.
Keeping the heart takes work - focused and diligent work - but who has the time? Who makes the time? So we stubble along bringing ridicule to the name of God by our shallow, ignorant and intermitant faith. We violate the first line of the model prayer since we do not "hallow" His name as it should be hallowed.
We do not keep our hearts and so our lives are warped and twisted all the time we claim to be serving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Jesus made it very very clear that it is our hearts that are the source of evil and it is our hearts we must keep. It's not a feeling, its facts. It's not a disposition, it's discipline. It's not neat, it's necessary.
Friday, February 7, 2014
"We" Prayers
I was praying this morning about some folks I'm involved with and was asking God to help me as I served them. I was using a lot of "I(s)" and "me(s) which bothered me but I persisted in prayer.
Then I was praying for one paricular person and I said, "May we be a blessing......."
It may be a silly point - it may be trivial but that "we" got to me. I think what got to me was how much I prayed that God would enable me to do this of that - or be this or that and I forgot that it has to be a "we."
It's not "I" who does anything. It's He and I, emphasis on the He. It was a shocker for me to realize how even in prayer my self-ish-ness, my self-focus comes into play. I realized that I was asking Him to help "me" istead of asking Him to allow me to help Him, serve Him.
I realized that in my corrupt and wandring heart I was using Him like somekind of a supply post where I went and got what i needed (or thought I needed) and then went on my merry way doing my thing - even though I did it for Him.
I came away from that time with a new perspective on my prayer and my service. I don't want to serve Him but rather serve with HIm. Maybe that's just a distinction He needed to make for me but it has been a good one.
Think about it - how often you pray "I" instead of "we." How often you go to Him for provision and then wander off kind of without Him. The Spirit is not in us for no purpose - so it's always gotta be a "we."
Then I was praying for one paricular person and I said, "May we be a blessing......."
It may be a silly point - it may be trivial but that "we" got to me. I think what got to me was how much I prayed that God would enable me to do this of that - or be this or that and I forgot that it has to be a "we."
It's not "I" who does anything. It's He and I, emphasis on the He. It was a shocker for me to realize how even in prayer my self-ish-ness, my self-focus comes into play. I realized that I was asking Him to help "me" istead of asking Him to allow me to help Him, serve Him.
I realized that in my corrupt and wandring heart I was using Him like somekind of a supply post where I went and got what i needed (or thought I needed) and then went on my merry way doing my thing - even though I did it for Him.
I came away from that time with a new perspective on my prayer and my service. I don't want to serve Him but rather serve with HIm. Maybe that's just a distinction He needed to make for me but it has been a good one.
Think about it - how often you pray "I" instead of "we." How often you go to Him for provision and then wander off kind of without Him. The Spirit is not in us for no purpose - so it's always gotta be a "we."
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Melancholy - Moving Forward 020614
I hope you've gotten a better appreciation for the soul affliction of melacholy. Whether you suffer it yourself or know someone who does it is a tough thing to deal with. But God is faithful and He will not let us face trials that we can not bear. I know that sounds hollow, but it's true.
One key to our spiritual life when the affliction of melacholy is present is to keep it simple. Pray simply. Read the Word simply. It is not time to try for lofty heights or profoound depths of sirituality. It is time for rest and trust and, well, simplicity.
I often simply pray the Model Prayer or the 23rd Psalm or another Psalm that toouches my need. I often simly read Pslams of Proverbs to take in what spiritual nourishment I can. As an old Puritain once wrote, "Do it s you are able in order to do it better." Be gentle with yourself.
One thing to remember is that our feelings are twisted up by the affliction. We have to really work to remember thaat what is true is true regardless of how we feel. I've found that quoting (reading) passages of assurance like those found in Eph. and Rom. can make a real difference. I just read them over and over not like a chant but to fix my mind and keep it from wandering to the worries melacholy brings with it.
If you are involved with someone struggling melancholy you have a powerful ministry to be about. Tenderness, patience and taking care of yourself are critical. You can not "fix" it but you can be a source of comfort and encouragment. It will take a lot out of you but God will supply your need. You will at times, feel helpless and hopeless yourself and the things I've mentioned above will benefit you as well.
Perhaps the gretest thing you can do is to pray for and with your friend of family member. Pray scripture with them, pray comfort for them, pray piece for them. They are not defective they are afflicted. One friend descibes their depression as a bad case of the ful that never ends.
I haven't mentioned medications yet but I need to. My motto is, "Trust God and take your medications." God in His providence has provided some wonderful treatments for melacholy and we would be foolish to not take advantage of them. You want to be on the right med' that allows you to engage and address the melacholy. I tell those I minister to, "You are not responsible FOR your melacholy but you must be responsible IN it."
The med's don'c cure anything but they do alleviate the melancholy so that we may, to one degrree or another, function responsibly. Remember the quote above, "Do it as you can......" That's what you want your med's to do.
I'll revisit melancholy form time to time and am still open to questions and dialogue but that's about it for now - I'm "Doing it as I can........"
My prayers are with the melachoy and those who care or them. You are not alone no mattter how alone you feel. God is certainly with you and you are in the hearts and minds of many many others who suffer as you do.
May God lead you to the warmth and light of His grace more and more, day by day.
Michael
One key to our spiritual life when the affliction of melacholy is present is to keep it simple. Pray simply. Read the Word simply. It is not time to try for lofty heights or profoound depths of sirituality. It is time for rest and trust and, well, simplicity.
I often simply pray the Model Prayer or the 23rd Psalm or another Psalm that toouches my need. I often simly read Pslams of Proverbs to take in what spiritual nourishment I can. As an old Puritain once wrote, "Do it s you are able in order to do it better." Be gentle with yourself.
One thing to remember is that our feelings are twisted up by the affliction. We have to really work to remember thaat what is true is true regardless of how we feel. I've found that quoting (reading) passages of assurance like those found in Eph. and Rom. can make a real difference. I just read them over and over not like a chant but to fix my mind and keep it from wandering to the worries melacholy brings with it.
If you are involved with someone struggling melancholy you have a powerful ministry to be about. Tenderness, patience and taking care of yourself are critical. You can not "fix" it but you can be a source of comfort and encouragment. It will take a lot out of you but God will supply your need. You will at times, feel helpless and hopeless yourself and the things I've mentioned above will benefit you as well.
Perhaps the gretest thing you can do is to pray for and with your friend of family member. Pray scripture with them, pray comfort for them, pray piece for them. They are not defective they are afflicted. One friend descibes their depression as a bad case of the ful that never ends.
I haven't mentioned medications yet but I need to. My motto is, "Trust God and take your medications." God in His providence has provided some wonderful treatments for melacholy and we would be foolish to not take advantage of them. You want to be on the right med' that allows you to engage and address the melacholy. I tell those I minister to, "You are not responsible FOR your melacholy but you must be responsible IN it."
The med's don'c cure anything but they do alleviate the melancholy so that we may, to one degrree or another, function responsibly. Remember the quote above, "Do it as you can......" That's what you want your med's to do.
I'll revisit melancholy form time to time and am still open to questions and dialogue but that's about it for now - I'm "Doing it as I can........"
My prayers are with the melachoy and those who care or them. You are not alone no mattter how alone you feel. God is certainly with you and you are in the hearts and minds of many many others who suffer as you do.
May God lead you to the warmth and light of His grace more and more, day by day.
Michael
Sunday, February 2, 2014
The Hell of Melancholy - Sunday
I've tried four times to write to you concerning Sundayship - it all boils down to this - at least for me - at times . . . .
Go
Get up - get dressed - and go
Don't go with expectations
Just go
Be there
With others
Who are just as needy as you
But don't know it
Go
Be there
With them
With Him
Go
Enter late - sit in the back and leave early - but go
Go
Go
Go
Go
Get up - get dressed - and go
Don't go with expectations
Just go
Be there
With others
Who are just as needy as you
But don't know it
Go
Be there
With them
With Him
Go
Enter late - sit in the back and leave early - but go
Go
Go
Go
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Ever Before Me 011014
For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.
Psalm 51:3
Do we - do we really know our transgressions? Are we as aware of, as sensitive to sin as we should be? I know I am not and that is a cause for great distress.
I catch myself in sin and am shocked that I never saw it coming.
Perhaps you would say that I am being too scrupulous. But is that even possible? Are there some sins that deserve more attention than others? Are there OK and not OK sins? Do I consider the opportunity for sin in every choice and decision I make? Can I be too scrupulous concerning my sin?
Why can't I cry with Paul: Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Romans 7:24
I hear much talk about pornography, drugs, adultery and fornication (among others) but I do not hear much talk of envy, covetousness, fear of man, etc. Are we making distinctions between the seriousness of sin?
Take, for example, one I struggle with constantly: The desire to have material comfort and security over and above having a strong and effective witness. My prayers are constantly assaulted with interruptive and distracting thoughts concerning my "needs" which inhibits (to say the least) real heart-felt prayer for His glory and the salvation of those around me.
Or, consider the struggle in praying when one is envious of those who do not have to deal with my trials and afflictions. It is hard to pray when one's heart is envious and covetous. These are sins few others ever see and yet they are there and of no less import than any other. Yet it is easy to dismiss them or at least minimize them because they do not fall into the category of "big sins" (as though there was such a thing).
I want to know my transgressions as David knew his and to hate them more that I may love Christ more. I want to be more sensitive and active concerning those sins you don't see and probably wouldn't suspect that hinder my prayers and plague my heart. They are so easy to miss or dismiss that I must pray for the Holy Spirit to make my conscience raw and sensitive to these sins.
How can I know His salvation and its worth if my sins are not always before me?
Saturday, December 28, 2013
A New Years Prayer 120813
A New Year's Prayer
Psalm 51:10-13 NASB
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. [11] Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. [12] Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. [13] Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You.
This is my New Year's verse and a wonderful verse it is.
We all find that at times our zeal and enthuziasm wains and our love seems to grow cold. We all find, at times, that we are are luke-warm. We grow by undulation and experience highs and lows.
This fact makes this prayer a great blessing in that it not only reminds of our deep and abiding need but cries out to our Father for mercy and provision. It is a supplication and confession in one.
But there is more. The last verse is critical. We often read it as a promise that if God will do what we find in verses 10-12 we will do what is found in verse 13. But perhaps we read amiss.
As I read this passage it dawned on me that unless I seek what is found in verses 10-12 I will not be able to do what is found in verse 13. I will be neither motivated nor qualified to teach transgressors (much less anyone else) His ways. Without His provision I will continue to just float along wating for something to happen instead of being sensitive to and yearning for the opportunity to share the gospel.
This verse is worthy of meditation. It deserve (as does all scripture) our close attention and prayerful examination. It also deserves our expectation of being answered in the affirmative. It is a prayer held in the promise.
I encourage you to join me in seeking what this passage seeks for the purpose of being His means and provision in the lives of the many lost and suffering we connect with every day. We are here to serve Him as His witnesses - His witnesses not ouu own.
All around us, at work, in our families, in our recreation even in our churches there are transgressors who need to hear His ways, His truth, His good news. We need to pray this purposeful prayer daily - even many times each day.
We must warn a fallen world and call it to repentance. We must offer it the hope of eternity and His special providence in Christ.
Psalm 51:10-13 NASB
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. [11] Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. [12] Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. [13] Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You.
This is my New Year's verse and a wonderful verse it is.
We all find that at times our zeal and enthuziasm wains and our love seems to grow cold. We all find, at times, that we are are luke-warm. We grow by undulation and experience highs and lows.
This fact makes this prayer a great blessing in that it not only reminds of our deep and abiding need but cries out to our Father for mercy and provision. It is a supplication and confession in one.
But there is more. The last verse is critical. We often read it as a promise that if God will do what we find in verses 10-12 we will do what is found in verse 13. But perhaps we read amiss.
As I read this passage it dawned on me that unless I seek what is found in verses 10-12 I will not be able to do what is found in verse 13. I will be neither motivated nor qualified to teach transgressors (much less anyone else) His ways. Without His provision I will continue to just float along wating for something to happen instead of being sensitive to and yearning for the opportunity to share the gospel.
This verse is worthy of meditation. It deserve (as does all scripture) our close attention and prayerful examination. It also deserves our expectation of being answered in the affirmative. It is a prayer held in the promise.
I encourage you to join me in seeking what this passage seeks for the purpose of being His means and provision in the lives of the many lost and suffering we connect with every day. We are here to serve Him as His witnesses - His witnesses not ouu own.
All around us, at work, in our families, in our recreation even in our churches there are transgressors who need to hear His ways, His truth, His good news. We need to pray this purposeful prayer daily - even many times each day.
We must warn a fallen world and call it to repentance. We must offer it the hope of eternity and His special providence in Christ.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Synopsis - wisely said 101013
Mark Deckard write (base upon a work by J. Burroughs (the Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment)
"Contentment is not found in obtaining our desires, although God may sometimes grant them to us if they are not harmful. Rather it is found in finding God in the midst of our unmet desires and in the end discovering that he is all we trule need (Matt. 6:25-33)."
Matthew 6:25-33 ESV
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
"Contentment is not found in obtaining our desires, although God may sometimes grant them to us if they are not harmful. Rather it is found in finding God in the midst of our unmet desires and in the end discovering that he is all we trule need (Matt. 6:25-33)."
Matthew 6:25-33 ESV
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
How hard it is to lay aside our own answers and solutions and to wait upon His! The flesh is strong when we are in distress and contentment seems so far from us.
The occassional Christian who runs to God when they have run out of themselves will find times of trial and discontent harder to bear than that believer whose habit it is to go before the Lord regularly seeking His will and the mortification of the fleshly, abiding sinful desires.
I have come to think that we are to see our lives as a moment by moment battle not just an occassional skirmish with the world the flesh and the devil. To see our lives as having but an occassional struggle is to see our lives as needing God only occassionally. This leads to spiritual weakness and desperation in tiimes of great confrontation.
There are "musts" in the Christian walk. Prayer, worship, stewardship to name a few. They are not intended to gain us favor with God but to keep us close to Him to facilitate our growth and usefulness. They also prepare us for those times of trouble and discontent that we must know we will face in this life. When we fail in these Christian duties we are simply setting ourselves up for pain and agony.
Is he all you truly need? Can you accept that and settle your soul? Are you seeking to discover that through faithfully engaging with Him? Are you seeking His kingdom, His kingship and all the mercies that come with them?
Or, are you simply getting through life as best you can under your own power and effort?
Contentment is wonderful but without godliness it is an empty shell, a fractured pillar, a damaged foundation.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
A disturbing reason for praise and thanksgiving 100213
John Owen wrote:
"And this is a remarkable feature of God's providence in the world: He limits the flood of sin that would overflow the earth by restricting men's power to bring it to pass."
Couple this with the fact that in the last century over 800,000 million men, women and children have been killed in secular conflicts and I believe we should all be driven to our knees in thankfulness and humility.
Should God "blink" the evil we know would seem child's play - a mere discomfiture - compared to what sinful man is capable of.
Evil, as we know it within God's limits, must be a arrow pointing to a greater goodness we can only know in part. As great as the evil we can know is the goodness of God is greater. Every stick has two ends. On one end we see the limited evil man is allowed and on the other we see (in a limited way) the great goodness of God.
There has to be two ends to the stick or there is no meaning, no purpose worth our efforts.
In my work in law enforcement as well as in my ministry I have seen the raw effects of sin. I've smelled the bile and washed the blood from my hands. As a young child I was witness to terrorist actions up close and personal where there was no regard for any human life.
Evil is and will be until He returns but we must keep in mind and be awed that it is a very very limited evil, restrained by an utterly unlimited God. We need to not allow the commonness of evil in our world numb us. Terror should terrify, injury should hurt, fear should birth fear - these are normal, human responses. But none of these can be allowed to shock us into numbness.
Pray in gratitude for God's restraining hand. Somehow the truth that regardless of how bad things are they, "could always be worse," should comfort us as it is our God who restrains, prohibits, denies the greater evil of which sinful man is capable.
For a good insight into the problem of evil I suggest Oz Guinness' book; "Unspeakable' Facing up to the challenge of evil"
"And this is a remarkable feature of God's providence in the world: He limits the flood of sin that would overflow the earth by restricting men's power to bring it to pass."
Couple this with the fact that in the last century over 800,000 million men, women and children have been killed in secular conflicts and I believe we should all be driven to our knees in thankfulness and humility.
Should God "blink" the evil we know would seem child's play - a mere discomfiture - compared to what sinful man is capable of.
Evil, as we know it within God's limits, must be a arrow pointing to a greater goodness we can only know in part. As great as the evil we can know is the goodness of God is greater. Every stick has two ends. On one end we see the limited evil man is allowed and on the other we see (in a limited way) the great goodness of God.
There has to be two ends to the stick or there is no meaning, no purpose worth our efforts.
In my work in law enforcement as well as in my ministry I have seen the raw effects of sin. I've smelled the bile and washed the blood from my hands. As a young child I was witness to terrorist actions up close and personal where there was no regard for any human life.
Evil is and will be until He returns but we must keep in mind and be awed that it is a very very limited evil, restrained by an utterly unlimited God. We need to not allow the commonness of evil in our world numb us. Terror should terrify, injury should hurt, fear should birth fear - these are normal, human responses. But none of these can be allowed to shock us into numbness.
Pray in gratitude for God's restraining hand. Somehow the truth that regardless of how bad things are they, "could always be worse," should comfort us as it is our God who restrains, prohibits, denies the greater evil of which sinful man is capable.
For a good insight into the problem of evil I suggest Oz Guinness' book; "Unspeakable' Facing up to the challenge of evil"
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Sinning away conviction of sin.
In his book, Indwelling Sin in Believers, John Owen writes of the believer who, "sins away his conviction of sin."
I must admit that this was a source of very real conviction for me. I reflected upon how often I catch myself engaged in something that one might consider a "little" sin with less conviction than I should have. Maybe a book or a TV show or a movie. Even the purchase of something that I delude myself into believing will bring some lasting satisfaction and meaning to my life.
I am confronted with the question, "How sensitive to sin and I - really?" I have to admit that like many folks I don;t do well in my answer. As James tells us, my desires create havoc in my soul that unfortunately is common enough to be dismissed unless directly confronted from outside.
This is due to several things not the least of which is an intentional examination of most of my life in the light of the Word and the Spirit. What seems OK is most often not. The law of grace loses it's power to restrain me because my mind is not fixed upon Him, His sovereignty and His calling. I simply find it distressingly easy to let the "little" one's slip by.
Though these "sins" are (according to man;s measure) "little" they have the cumulative effect of numbing my heart to sin in general. The old "everyone does it," or the "it's not a biggy," even "I'm redeemed and forgiven," are poor rationales for my failure in regards to these sins.
I have to make myself remember that if I had only committed the least of these "acceptable" sins Christ would have still had to suffer the horrors of their payment. There only one acceptable payment for any and all sins but I, maybe like may of you, have a tough time keeping this in the front of my mind.
So I grow numb to conviction in an ever increasing way and find myself humiliated by greater lapses. Lapses that would not have been so easy to make had i dealt honestly and directly with the "lesser" sins.
All this is to say that we must (ok, maybe it's just me) must do whatever is needful to become and remain sensitive to all sin in our lives.
This take intentional commitment and discipline. It is hard and tedious work. It looks a lot like legalism but though the law was fulfilled its use in our lives still stands. Some how I have to move from being a mere fan of Jesus to being a fanatic for His glory.
Sin is spelled S-I-N not O-O-P-S!
It's a scary proposition to consider praying for a level of sensitivity to sin that truly honors God. So much of what is our lives - my life - will have to be examined and re-evaluated. So much will have to change - even what seems like the minutia.
But - gratitude demands it. God expects it. The Word and the Spirit enable it. Who am I to refuse it?
Pray to see to what degree you may had sinned away some of your conviction of sin.
I must admit that this was a source of very real conviction for me. I reflected upon how often I catch myself engaged in something that one might consider a "little" sin with less conviction than I should have. Maybe a book or a TV show or a movie. Even the purchase of something that I delude myself into believing will bring some lasting satisfaction and meaning to my life.
I am confronted with the question, "How sensitive to sin and I - really?" I have to admit that like many folks I don;t do well in my answer. As James tells us, my desires create havoc in my soul that unfortunately is common enough to be dismissed unless directly confronted from outside.
This is due to several things not the least of which is an intentional examination of most of my life in the light of the Word and the Spirit. What seems OK is most often not. The law of grace loses it's power to restrain me because my mind is not fixed upon Him, His sovereignty and His calling. I simply find it distressingly easy to let the "little" one's slip by.
Though these "sins" are (according to man;s measure) "little" they have the cumulative effect of numbing my heart to sin in general. The old "everyone does it," or the "it's not a biggy," even "I'm redeemed and forgiven," are poor rationales for my failure in regards to these sins.
I have to make myself remember that if I had only committed the least of these "acceptable" sins Christ would have still had to suffer the horrors of their payment. There only one acceptable payment for any and all sins but I, maybe like may of you, have a tough time keeping this in the front of my mind.
So I grow numb to conviction in an ever increasing way and find myself humiliated by greater lapses. Lapses that would not have been so easy to make had i dealt honestly and directly with the "lesser" sins.
All this is to say that we must (ok, maybe it's just me) must do whatever is needful to become and remain sensitive to all sin in our lives.
This take intentional commitment and discipline. It is hard and tedious work. It looks a lot like legalism but though the law was fulfilled its use in our lives still stands. Some how I have to move from being a mere fan of Jesus to being a fanatic for His glory.
Sin is spelled S-I-N not O-O-P-S!
It's a scary proposition to consider praying for a level of sensitivity to sin that truly honors God. So much of what is our lives - my life - will have to be examined and re-evaluated. So much will have to change - even what seems like the minutia.
But - gratitude demands it. God expects it. The Word and the Spirit enable it. Who am I to refuse it?
Pray to see to what degree you may had sinned away some of your conviction of sin.
Monday, September 30, 2013
093013 Motes
John Owen wrote, "Most would rather hear of the doctrines of grace, the pardon of sin, and the free love of God than break the fallow ground of their hearts and see to the weeds and briars that grow thee, though this is the only way to come to a true knowledge of grace." (Indwelling Sin in Believers)
Self-examination is not something that comes naturally to either reprobate or redeemed. Certainly we avoid what we might call the "big" sins but we do that to avoid the unpleasant and public consequences more than we might do it for the glory of God. But as there are NO distinctions made between sins the fact that we are so prone to make distinctions tell us a great deal about the condition of our souls.
It would seem, at least in my experience, that it is so very hard to take the time and make the effort to find the mote in my eye, much less the log. Logs I can for the most part avoid. But this makes me wonder if in this teaching Jesus was not trying to tell us that our personal motes are in actuality logs. We will nit-pick another's sins while finding a comfortable means of avoiding doing the same for ourselves.
I would challenge us to take an accounting of our motes. One Puritan writer, his name fails me, tells us the the "small" sins we commit and dismiss are more heinous than the (supposed) great sins. The reason for this is that we commit the "lesser" sins with greater impunity thereby bringing greater insult to the glory of God and greater injury to our souls condition.
I would suggest that the apathy that is so prevalent in our age is now a part of our faith. We carve out a comfortable harmatology (theology of sin) and do all we can to abide there regardless of the effort needed to maintain the self-deception.
I was talking with a friend who had just taken a very expensive vacation and was struck by the phrase, "I earned it, I deserved to take a break." What distressed me was what appeared to be his utter disregard for the fact that he had earned nothing. Though he labors diligently in his profession he seems to have no understaaning that everything he has is a gift, a blessing, a mercy from the heart of God. Nor did he seem to realize that his attitude expressed a certain selfishness concerning this merciful provision.
These are the motes we need to seek to root out. Where do we fail to keep God's providence and His intent for that providence? How do we get to a point where we even think there is a possessive "mine" to any of God's merciful providence? Yet, I - we do that so very often. How do we experientially repent of such subtle sins as this?
Self-examination - diligent and disciplined - is demanded. Certainly as His child I am secure in my salvation but am I faithful in it? Is He indeed the sovereign Lord to whom all things belong and for whom all things should be done? Or is He a co-sovereign Lord who at some point abdicates to me and allows me to reign over what He alone has provided.
Yes, we may have to work terribly hard in and for what He provides. Long ours and hard work may be our daily lot but regardless of any effort or sacrifice on our part it is all from His providence and it is all, always His. It never - ever- becomes ours. This is a "mote" that is truly a log. This is that one drop of poison that poisons the whole cup.
Self-examination is not something that comes naturally to either reprobate or redeemed. Certainly we avoid what we might call the "big" sins but we do that to avoid the unpleasant and public consequences more than we might do it for the glory of God. But as there are NO distinctions made between sins the fact that we are so prone to make distinctions tell us a great deal about the condition of our souls.
It would seem, at least in my experience, that it is so very hard to take the time and make the effort to find the mote in my eye, much less the log. Logs I can for the most part avoid. But this makes me wonder if in this teaching Jesus was not trying to tell us that our personal motes are in actuality logs. We will nit-pick another's sins while finding a comfortable means of avoiding doing the same for ourselves.
I would challenge us to take an accounting of our motes. One Puritan writer, his name fails me, tells us the the "small" sins we commit and dismiss are more heinous than the (supposed) great sins. The reason for this is that we commit the "lesser" sins with greater impunity thereby bringing greater insult to the glory of God and greater injury to our souls condition.
I would suggest that the apathy that is so prevalent in our age is now a part of our faith. We carve out a comfortable harmatology (theology of sin) and do all we can to abide there regardless of the effort needed to maintain the self-deception.
I was talking with a friend who had just taken a very expensive vacation and was struck by the phrase, "I earned it, I deserved to take a break." What distressed me was what appeared to be his utter disregard for the fact that he had earned nothing. Though he labors diligently in his profession he seems to have no understaaning that everything he has is a gift, a blessing, a mercy from the heart of God. Nor did he seem to realize that his attitude expressed a certain selfishness concerning this merciful provision.
These are the motes we need to seek to root out. Where do we fail to keep God's providence and His intent for that providence? How do we get to a point where we even think there is a possessive "mine" to any of God's merciful providence? Yet, I - we do that so very often. How do we experientially repent of such subtle sins as this?
Self-examination - diligent and disciplined - is demanded. Certainly as His child I am secure in my salvation but am I faithful in it? Is He indeed the sovereign Lord to whom all things belong and for whom all things should be done? Or is He a co-sovereign Lord who at some point abdicates to me and allows me to reign over what He alone has provided.
Yes, we may have to work terribly hard in and for what He provides. Long ours and hard work may be our daily lot but regardless of any effort or sacrifice on our part it is all from His providence and it is all, always His. It never - ever- becomes ours. This is a "mote" that is truly a log. This is that one drop of poison that poisons the whole cup.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
I beseech you . . .
In his commentary on 1st Peter, Alexander Maclaren writes:
"And so, I beseech you, open your eyes to the meaning of life, and do not suppose that you have found the last word to say about it when you say, 'I am afflicted,' or 'I am at ease.' The afflictions and the ease, like two great wheels in some great machine working in opposite directions, fit with their cogs into one another and move to something beyond them in one uniform direction."
The must be purpose behind all of God's providence be if afflicting or easing, confounding or comforting. If there is no purpose then we are great fools to believe in Him and to seek to serve Him. Both affliction and ease carry their own dangers and their own promise. The danger of sin and the promise of being conformed to the likeness of Christ. And which dear friend would you have?
We were promised tribulation in this worlds. We are told over and over that we will face trials. but we are assured over and over that there is a point a purpose. We may complain about them to God but we must never complain of God about them. They are, for all their bite and sting, for our good and His glory.
There is not much that should be needed to be said about trials and ease for you dear reader, if you have been attentive to your Bible will know this at least intellectually. but God would have you know it experimentally - to know it deeply and to trust His working in your lives for your good and His glory.
We are, as Peter says, living stones. As stones that are intended to be fitted together with others that build the temple we muse be hewn, sized and polished. This demands a hammer and chisel. We must trust that He is forming us to take our place in His temple, to be "fitted" for our purpose and place.
Indeed affliction and ease serve a purpose far beyond the experience. Will we accept that and rejoice in His care regardless of it's pleasantness of unpleasantness?
There in ends the lesson.
"And so, I beseech you, open your eyes to the meaning of life, and do not suppose that you have found the last word to say about it when you say, 'I am afflicted,' or 'I am at ease.' The afflictions and the ease, like two great wheels in some great machine working in opposite directions, fit with their cogs into one another and move to something beyond them in one uniform direction."
The must be purpose behind all of God's providence be if afflicting or easing, confounding or comforting. If there is no purpose then we are great fools to believe in Him and to seek to serve Him. Both affliction and ease carry their own dangers and their own promise. The danger of sin and the promise of being conformed to the likeness of Christ. And which dear friend would you have?
We were promised tribulation in this worlds. We are told over and over that we will face trials. but we are assured over and over that there is a point a purpose. We may complain about them to God but we must never complain of God about them. They are, for all their bite and sting, for our good and His glory.
There is not much that should be needed to be said about trials and ease for you dear reader, if you have been attentive to your Bible will know this at least intellectually. but God would have you know it experimentally - to know it deeply and to trust His working in your lives for your good and His glory.
We are, as Peter says, living stones. As stones that are intended to be fitted together with others that build the temple we muse be hewn, sized and polished. This demands a hammer and chisel. We must trust that He is forming us to take our place in His temple, to be "fitted" for our purpose and place.
Indeed affliction and ease serve a purpose far beyond the experience. Will we accept that and rejoice in His care regardless of it's pleasantness of unpleasantness?
There in ends the lesson.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Finger thinking 070113
The secret to the successful Christian life is a very very well kept secret. It is buried in mound of flesh and tons of skewed and twisted teaching. That's why it's a secret.
We try so very hard to come up with the scheme that will allow us to win God's favor and in doing so we nullify the cross and make mockery of the resurrection. We challenge the sovereignty of God and refuse His right to have dominance over all of our lives.
We don't really like God much. We want to just live our lives in comfort and ease singing silly songs about Jesus and playing the game the world offers us. We are weak, sultry, rebellious and stupid - and that's just believers.
There is NO secret to living the successful Christian life. It's written on every page of scripture. We also find the why of our pathetic attempts to live for ourselves while giving lip-service to Him.
OK - hard stuff - and maybe just maybe it's just me. If that is so than Praise God the rest of you are doing so well. Maybe I'm just one among a few who while trusting in His death and resurrection for my salvation have little interest or appreciation of His desire to conform me into the likeness of His Son.
Of course there is only one way to be conformed to Christ and that is to share in His sufferings. He suffered every day in every way and more so than we can ever - ever - comprehend. He suffered and calls us to suffer with Him.
But we don't want to suffer, we just want to be saved. We want a nice cozy road to heaven. We want to just kind of slide right through the gates. but tht is not His plan for any of us.
For some the suffering is great for others the suffereing is common. Those who suffer greatly know Him greatly. Those who suffer "commonly" tend to have a lack of appreciation of the suffering they do experience. They are able to ignore the meaning and purpose of their suffering. It is a light and yet constant suffering that they are able to mediate, medicate and/or minimize and so they miss the blessing and honor for the sake of comfort and acceptance.
In my trial(s) I find that in moments of sweet communion I can accept and appreciate what God is doing in my life. But before me I experience a deep sense of shame and failure and that gives rise to resentment of the trial(s).
God's desires to conform us to the likeness of His Son is a key issue in our lives. do we want it or not? If we do we have to enter the forge.
I have some friends who work a a company that makes tools. Two things are needed to forge those tools into useful and dependable tools (upon which lives depend). It takes heat and force. The metal they use comes prepared for forging. All the trash has been removed - there is no dross left - it is ready for the forge. Then are with the purifying process heat - very high heat is applied to make the metal pliable. then great force is applied to hammer the metal into the tool. The force is so great that "hammed" has to have a special foundation and the whole plant shakes with each blow of the hammer. But the heat and the hammering produces the desired tool.
Christ has purified us by His blood. Yes we still have to wrestle with the evil principle that remains but my point is that while we wrestle with that remaining flaw He is busy heating and hammering that we might be forged into the tools He desires us to be.
Yeah, all analogies have problems but I think that we will do well to look at His conforming us are necessitating the heat and the hammering.
Those of you who know me know I like to keep things simple or as my guy Alistair Begg says I like to stick to the, "main things and the plain things." So here you go brothers and sisters - a simple "secret" to living the life and being conformed -
Joshua 1:6-9 NASB
"Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. [7] "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. [8] "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. [9] "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
We try so very hard to come up with the scheme that will allow us to win God's favor and in doing so we nullify the cross and make mockery of the resurrection. We challenge the sovereignty of God and refuse His right to have dominance over all of our lives.
We don't really like God much. We want to just live our lives in comfort and ease singing silly songs about Jesus and playing the game the world offers us. We are weak, sultry, rebellious and stupid - and that's just believers.
There is NO secret to living the successful Christian life. It's written on every page of scripture. We also find the why of our pathetic attempts to live for ourselves while giving lip-service to Him.
OK - hard stuff - and maybe just maybe it's just me. If that is so than Praise God the rest of you are doing so well. Maybe I'm just one among a few who while trusting in His death and resurrection for my salvation have little interest or appreciation of His desire to conform me into the likeness of His Son.
Of course there is only one way to be conformed to Christ and that is to share in His sufferings. He suffered every day in every way and more so than we can ever - ever - comprehend. He suffered and calls us to suffer with Him.
But we don't want to suffer, we just want to be saved. We want a nice cozy road to heaven. We want to just kind of slide right through the gates. but tht is not His plan for any of us.
For some the suffering is great for others the suffereing is common. Those who suffer greatly know Him greatly. Those who suffer "commonly" tend to have a lack of appreciation of the suffering they do experience. They are able to ignore the meaning and purpose of their suffering. It is a light and yet constant suffering that they are able to mediate, medicate and/or minimize and so they miss the blessing and honor for the sake of comfort and acceptance.
In my trial(s) I find that in moments of sweet communion I can accept and appreciate what God is doing in my life. But before me I experience a deep sense of shame and failure and that gives rise to resentment of the trial(s).
God's desires to conform us to the likeness of His Son is a key issue in our lives. do we want it or not? If we do we have to enter the forge.
I have some friends who work a a company that makes tools. Two things are needed to forge those tools into useful and dependable tools (upon which lives depend). It takes heat and force. The metal they use comes prepared for forging. All the trash has been removed - there is no dross left - it is ready for the forge. Then are with the purifying process heat - very high heat is applied to make the metal pliable. then great force is applied to hammer the metal into the tool. The force is so great that "hammed" has to have a special foundation and the whole plant shakes with each blow of the hammer. But the heat and the hammering produces the desired tool.
Christ has purified us by His blood. Yes we still have to wrestle with the evil principle that remains but my point is that while we wrestle with that remaining flaw He is busy heating and hammering that we might be forged into the tools He desires us to be.
Yeah, all analogies have problems but I think that we will do well to look at His conforming us are necessitating the heat and the hammering.
Those of you who know me know I like to keep things simple or as my guy Alistair Begg says I like to stick to the, "main things and the plain things." So here you go brothers and sisters - a simple "secret" to living the life and being conformed -
Joshua 1:6-9 NASB
"Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. [7] "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. [8] "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. [9] "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Not what but who.
Continuing on the subject of preaching, another wonderful bit of wisdom I was blessed to receive from my mentor was that it is not important for the hearers to hear what you know but rather who you know.
Every sermon must end at the cross. To accomplish this, regardless of text and illustrations, your hearers must "see" Jesus and "hear" the gospel in every sermon you preach. If they do not, you have failed to provide them with the first thing they need to focus their minds on.
Exegetical journeys, grammatical gymnastics and contextual portraits are no more than helpful filler, commercials if you will that allow the hearers minds to relax while they digest the crux of the message. We do not preach to impress but rather to express the whole council of God in a simple clear and certainly memorable manner.
Too many times I have asked concerning a sermon, "How did you enjoy the sermon?" ( Note - never about my own!) I am more often than not the recipient of a big smile and something on the order of, "It was wonderful, very inspiring!' or "It was great, you should have heard it!" Then I ask, "What was it about?" Which typically produces a look of confusion and resentment and I receive some vague answer applicable to any talk or lecture that titillates. If I ask, "As of the result of the sermon what are you going to repent of and seek God's provision to do?" I usually just get a blank stare.
When we preach (formally or informally) we are speaking for God to others. The issue is not what we want to tell them but what God wants for and of them. It matters little how high and lofty, how intellectually challenging or formal the sermon is. If it does not change lives (even if that's is just making people think) then it has missed its target.
The point of preaching is the communication of the gospel in all its applications which is why aiming for the cross in all our preparation is so important. Now I do not mean by that, aiming at an invitation or call to "walk the aisle." That is dubious in reference to the teaching of scripture. What I do mean is that if any sermon does not bring the hearers (believer or unbeliever) to the foot of the cross for assurance and comfort it's a miss not a hit. (Bullseyes are rare due to the appalling ignorance and self-centeredness of the people in the pew.) But that does not excuse us from aiming for that.
I do not want to know how smart you are. Id o not want to here your "agenda." I do not want you to assume that what God has laid on your heart as "the issue facing the faith," has anything pertinent to do with my walk. My battle is with the world the flesh and the devil, the flesh being the most commonly present problem. Tell me how to fight that fight, how to stand firm, how to behave and live and .........
I have a terribly hard time listening to sermons. After the text is read, if I do not hear any, "We see from this passage that the believer need, must, should, should not --- know, believe, do, not do, etc... I pretty much quit listening. After that, if I do not hear at least three and no more than five points listed then expounded I figure my time has been ill used. Not wasted but ill-used - as have my ears and my backside.
Every sermon (formal or informal) is intended, "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." (2 Tim 3:16) Each sermons is to provide for each of these not pick and choose. A man or woman who has been a believer for years needs not less reproof, correction than the most determined unbeliever. Why would we ever assume they do not?
Paul hits the nail on the head when he writes:
but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
(1Co 1:23)
Every sermon must end at the cross. To accomplish this, regardless of text and illustrations, your hearers must "see" Jesus and "hear" the gospel in every sermon you preach. If they do not, you have failed to provide them with the first thing they need to focus their minds on.
Exegetical journeys, grammatical gymnastics and contextual portraits are no more than helpful filler, commercials if you will that allow the hearers minds to relax while they digest the crux of the message. We do not preach to impress but rather to express the whole council of God in a simple clear and certainly memorable manner.
Too many times I have asked concerning a sermon, "How did you enjoy the sermon?" ( Note - never about my own!) I am more often than not the recipient of a big smile and something on the order of, "It was wonderful, very inspiring!' or "It was great, you should have heard it!" Then I ask, "What was it about?" Which typically produces a look of confusion and resentment and I receive some vague answer applicable to any talk or lecture that titillates. If I ask, "As of the result of the sermon what are you going to repent of and seek God's provision to do?" I usually just get a blank stare.
When we preach (formally or informally) we are speaking for God to others. The issue is not what we want to tell them but what God wants for and of them. It matters little how high and lofty, how intellectually challenging or formal the sermon is. If it does not change lives (even if that's is just making people think) then it has missed its target.
The point of preaching is the communication of the gospel in all its applications which is why aiming for the cross in all our preparation is so important. Now I do not mean by that, aiming at an invitation or call to "walk the aisle." That is dubious in reference to the teaching of scripture. What I do mean is that if any sermon does not bring the hearers (believer or unbeliever) to the foot of the cross for assurance and comfort it's a miss not a hit. (Bullseyes are rare due to the appalling ignorance and self-centeredness of the people in the pew.) But that does not excuse us from aiming for that.
I do not want to know how smart you are. Id o not want to here your "agenda." I do not want you to assume that what God has laid on your heart as "the issue facing the faith," has anything pertinent to do with my walk. My battle is with the world the flesh and the devil, the flesh being the most commonly present problem. Tell me how to fight that fight, how to stand firm, how to behave and live and .........
I have a terribly hard time listening to sermons. After the text is read, if I do not hear any, "We see from this passage that the believer need, must, should, should not --- know, believe, do, not do, etc... I pretty much quit listening. After that, if I do not hear at least three and no more than five points listed then expounded I figure my time has been ill used. Not wasted but ill-used - as have my ears and my backside.
Every sermon (formal or informal) is intended, "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." (2 Tim 3:16) Each sermons is to provide for each of these not pick and choose. A man or woman who has been a believer for years needs not less reproof, correction than the most determined unbeliever. Why would we ever assume they do not?
Paul hits the nail on the head when he writes:
but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
(1Co 1:23)
For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. (2Co 4:5)
But, you may say, he was preaching to unbelievers. Well, who among us does not still suffer those places where we struggle with unbelief or weak faith? Who among us does not to hear the gospel in every passage of the Bible that is preached. Who among us does not need preachers who will commit to:
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. (1Co 2:1-2)
In every sermon Christ must be the center. He must be clearly seen and heard for the Word is all His word.
Simply put sermons should be:
Proposition: What God has said.
Presentation: What that means in, for and of our lives
Persuasion: What God has commanded through this. Beginning with our depravity and ending at the cross.
Simple? Yes. Easy to do? No! It's easier to take a passage and just address our own agenda or issue - or what we think are the agendi and issues of our hearers. That Christ gets lost in too many sermons is a shame and a curse to the church. If Jesus is not clearly in a sermon, if you just assume He is because it is, after all, Bible; you have allowed assumption to do what assume always does.
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
(2Ti 4:1-2)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (Joh 1:1-5)
Preach Jesus - no matter where you begin, no matter where you go, preach Jesus.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
What's the point?
(1Ti 1:5) But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
"A sincere faith." Ha!
Sincere???? anupokritos = one without hypocrisy or pretense, unfeigned, genuine, real.
Sincere???? from Latin sincerus or "without wax."
Used when evaluating marble statues.
When the marble had a crack of nick in it, less scrupulous dealers would fill the crack with a wax compound, put marble dust on it and then polish it so that the crack was hidden. But, the right amount of heat would cause the wax to melt and expose the cracks and flaws that were being hidden. that's why I teach and why I write - the way I do.
I only hope the heat I bring to bear is just hot enough to melt the way we've used to cover our cracks - the flaws in our faith.
These flaws are both what we believe and how we live out those beliefs. If we hold to an error our living will demonstrate that. We live what we believe, it shows. We cover up these flaws as best we can but when the heat is on these beliefs are exposed.
They say doctrine divides - and so it does. It divides the wolves from the sheep and the hypocrite from the non-hypocrite. Heat, that is trials, are God's loving providence to show us these flaws - and to expose them to others.
By the way, sin is also treated with wax and dust to keep them hiddden. but they will always be exposed.
This is the work of the Word and the Spirit - but it is also the work of the believer. How can we say we love another and yet continue to allow them to hide their sin/flaws? Though very common this too is a sin and perhaps a very cruel one. It's not fun, it is not comfortable but it is, when done in humility and love, needful.
We are to admonish one another:
(Rom 15:14) And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.
"so you too will not be tempted" = entering into the struggle of another has
its dangers. As a Discpler I am
woefully ware of them. We must pray
diligently BEFORE - DURING AND AFTER-
that we might not be trapped/caught in
their sin and not be caught in a sin of our
own such as pride.
Let's not kid ourselves. We see sincerity as a feeling and not a fact when the very work itself proposes a fact about which we should have a feeling. We all have cracks we seek to hide. Some of us do it well, others don't but none of us can hide them from God - so why, if we are all under His grace, do we work soooo hard to hide them from others.
Is is a lack of a sense of insincerity (sin) that is killing the church and allowing hypocrites and even unbelievers to enter and feel a part of something they really despise. If we were more concerned with sin, if we could but grasp how evil it is we would be repentant and repentance is always the necessary precursor to revival.
Although God certainly desires that my theology and doctrine be as correct as my little brain can take - He did not send His Son so I could "get it all right." He sent His Son so that my sins might be forgiven and I might serve His purposes here as one of His children not just as one of His creatures.
Sincerity can be very deceptive to others and even ourselves. But have courage, God will turn up the heat to melt the wax and He will restore those places where the flaws are. Trust Him - ask Him - wait upon Him - He will do what only He can do.
(1Ti 1:5) But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Tetelesthai!
"A sincere faith." Ha!
Sincere???? anupokritos = one without hypocrisy or pretense, unfeigned, genuine, real.
Sincere???? from Latin sincerus or "without wax."
Used when evaluating marble statues.
When the marble had a crack of nick in it, less scrupulous dealers would fill the crack with a wax compound, put marble dust on it and then polish it so that the crack was hidden. But, the right amount of heat would cause the wax to melt and expose the cracks and flaws that were being hidden. that's why I teach and why I write - the way I do.
I only hope the heat I bring to bear is just hot enough to melt the way we've used to cover our cracks - the flaws in our faith.
These flaws are both what we believe and how we live out those beliefs. If we hold to an error our living will demonstrate that. We live what we believe, it shows. We cover up these flaws as best we can but when the heat is on these beliefs are exposed.
They say doctrine divides - and so it does. It divides the wolves from the sheep and the hypocrite from the non-hypocrite. Heat, that is trials, are God's loving providence to show us these flaws - and to expose them to others.
By the way, sin is also treated with wax and dust to keep them hiddden. but they will always be exposed.
This is the work of the Word and the Spirit - but it is also the work of the believer. How can we say we love another and yet continue to allow them to hide their sin/flaws? Though very common this too is a sin and perhaps a very cruel one. It's not fun, it is not comfortable but it is, when done in humility and love, needful.
We are to admonish one another:
(Rom 15:14) And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.
We are to admonish - WARN - one another when we see a sin or a flaw and we are to do it because we love God, honor Christ and love our brothers. I is not comfortable and should not be engaged in lightly but it must be done.
OK, we all wax up and polish our sins and flaws. But why? Certainly not so God won't see them. No, we do it so others won't see them. I am stealing Paul Tripp's idea here - but we want our horizontal relationships to protect our pride and our illusions. We can't hide from God but we can hide from one another.
What a waste of time and effort. What a waste of grace and blessings. Paul was "sincere" when he identified himself as the foremost of sinners. He was probably recalling his heroic efforts to destroy the church. How that must have weighed on his heart and yet he makes no attempt to hide it because the change God wrought in him was a witness to God's grace and power - as well as a witness to the awfulness of unbelief and it's results.
Note please that it is the common believers who are admonished to admonish one another. Not a priest, not a pastor, not an elder although this is a very big part of their role. Rather we need to find our way to admonishing, melting the wax, at the grass-roots level. Common believer to common believer.
When scripture speaks of going to an offending (or offended) brother it is not speaking about sending in the Marines (pastors/elders/etc). It is talking about YOU going to THEM. Is there a condition? Certainly.
(Gal 6:1) Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.
Note a few things:
"caught" = ensnared
"any trespass = really does mean "any"
"spiritual" = mature (already had lots of wax melted)
"restore" = not remodel but restore - put bad as it should be
"spirit of gentleness"= remember your experience and learn to tough lightly as
possible
"looking to yourself'= we should all admonish another with a mirror in our
hands so that we see ourselves as we admonish. Like
it is said, when you point a finger at someone you have
three fingers pointing at you.
its dangers. As a Discpler I am
woefully ware of them. We must pray
diligently BEFORE - DURING AND AFTER-
that we might not be trapped/caught in
their sin and not be caught in a sin of our
own such as pride.
Let's not kid ourselves. We see sincerity as a feeling and not a fact when the very work itself proposes a fact about which we should have a feeling. We all have cracks we seek to hide. Some of us do it well, others don't but none of us can hide them from God - so why, if we are all under His grace, do we work soooo hard to hide them from others.
Is is a lack of a sense of insincerity (sin) that is killing the church and allowing hypocrites and even unbelievers to enter and feel a part of something they really despise. If we were more concerned with sin, if we could but grasp how evil it is we would be repentant and repentance is always the necessary precursor to revival.
Although God certainly desires that my theology and doctrine be as correct as my little brain can take - He did not send His Son so I could "get it all right." He sent His Son so that my sins might be forgiven and I might serve His purposes here as one of His children not just as one of His creatures.
Sincerity can be very deceptive to others and even ourselves. But have courage, God will turn up the heat to melt the wax and He will restore those places where the flaws are. Trust Him - ask Him - wait upon Him - He will do what only He can do.
(1Ti 1:5) But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Tetelesthai!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Finger Thinking through James 001
James 1:1 NASB
James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Just some insights:
Possibly the first epistle of the NT to be written (50-60 AD)
Written (we believe) by James the brother of Jesus and leader of the Church at Jerusalem.
Written to: Possibly Jewish believers who had fled persecution in Israel but none-the-less the letter is applicable to all believers. Regardless of the background of the recipients the letter is the most practical letter to any church.
Verse on lays out the context for us. The recipients are, "the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad." Though it is tempting to assume the letter is written to believing Jews we can't assume that. There has long been a belief that "Israel" - that is those Jew who were faithful to the faith of Abraham -were aptly the church in the Old Testament. The Puritan especially saw things that way and we would not do wrong to see it the same.
Remember that the redeemed are those who have placed their faith in the Christ regardless of whether they lived before He came, dies and was resurrected or after. It is faith in God and His Word - trust in His faithfulness - that was counted as righteousness to Abraham. Regardless of how little of how much even Abraham understood of God's promise and the coming of a Redeemer, Abraham's trust in god was the key.
So, we have believers, "scattered abroad." This had to be difficult. For Jewish believers
there may or may not have been a Jewish community which would tolerate these folks. for Gentile believers is may have been tougher. They would have not real "community" to associate with in a pagan city and association with the Jewish community would have been iffy at best.
So we have believers living, if you will, in exile. They have been uprooted from their homes and have gone to a foreign place with no real support group. This had to produce trials and with those trials came temptation and with temptation - sin.
They were no different than we are. Even if we were born here in the U.S. we are resident aliens. This is not our "home." It is just where we live. Not only that but our "support group," other faithful believers grow fewer and fewer daily. We too are faced with trials and that brings temptation and hence sin.
We would do well to remember as we move through James that the context is trials. Not temptations as much as the trials which precipitate them. We are constantly bombarded (at least I hope we are) with challenges to our faith and our faithfulness. How could we not be? And if we are not we need to be very very concerned about whether or not we are indeed of the faith. It's one thing to "trust" about Jesus. it is a whole other thing to trust in Him as the only object of trust anywhere and to resist the confrontation of offers to trust other people, processes, things, etc.
The context of James is trials. We will be looking next at that word, trial, and hopefully we will gain a greater insight and sensitivity concerning trials. We desperately need to. Our "trial radar" is being jammed by multiple sources of interference and we need to ramp up the power to overcome them.
Questions:
Do you live as a resident alien, waiting to finally be "home?"
Do you recognize all the subtle trials you and your friends and family face daily?
Are you actively armoring yourself and increasing your wisdom in regards to these trials?
Do you understand that in not being sensitive to trials you set yourself up for temptations?
Peter writes:
1 Peter 2:11-12 NASB
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. [12] Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Finger Thinking 042713
I've been reading Isaiah and Jeremiah - wow!!
But what really hit me (blame the Puritans) is how everything God calls His people to account for (Judah and Israel that it) is just as applicable to the "church" today. As a matter of fact the Puritans had the lovely habit of referring to Israel and Judah (those who had the faith of Abraham no the "religion" of Moses for faith trump form every time) - as the "church in the Old Testament. So leaping from that, the whole of the prophetic writings apply to the "church of today" as well.
As Martin Luther is reputed to have once said, "A golden plated turd is still a turd." It's the old "lipstick on a pig," thing. We are rich and big and hollow. We are sending men and women into the field for harvest while we let our neighbor do to hell. We are more concerned about the unborn and guns than we are the hell bound men and women around us. We are more committed to the Constitution than we are the Scripture. We are more focused on establishing our own security than trusting Him with it all.
We invite the world and the devil into our homes on giant HD screens. We watch trash sponsored by trash and see nothing wrong with it at all. We laugh at sin, we are engaged by corruption and oh how we love the tough guy who just shoots everybody.
We will carry a copy of the Constitution in our back pocket while our Bibles gather dust. We'll memorize the arguments for the Second Amendment but we know very little of God's Word by heart. We'll home-school everything except our faith - that we pay others to do. We have to get our kids into competitive sports so they can learn to "beat"/"defeat" others.
We will sing God's praises because there are 5,000 people in the building on Sunday morning but only a few are believers. We will sing God's praises with lyrics the prophets would detest and we are happy. We want excitement and engagement instead of solemnity and our engaging God. We will read hundreds of books written by questionable teachers but we will not examine their teaching by the Word.
We are indeed the church and we are no different than the "church in the OT." We are faithless in content, context and commitment. We are ripe for refining.
We will engage the "culture' in battles over morality but whoa to the Pastor who does so on Sunday. We hate the "big" sin while we collect the small. Idolatry is a thing of the past? Satan and the demonic are not more? And God forbid you suffer some mental illness that makes folk uncomfortable - there's no place for you pal!
Yeah - I'm pretty fed up with the common "church" and the "common" Christian. Not that I'm perfect - I could write volumes concerning my faithlessness and failure. But at least I am aware and willing to take up the fight. What about you?
But what really hit me (blame the Puritans) is how everything God calls His people to account for (Judah and Israel that it) is just as applicable to the "church" today. As a matter of fact the Puritans had the lovely habit of referring to Israel and Judah (those who had the faith of Abraham no the "religion" of Moses for faith trump form every time) - as the "church in the Old Testament. So leaping from that, the whole of the prophetic writings apply to the "church of today" as well.
As Martin Luther is reputed to have once said, "A golden plated turd is still a turd." It's the old "lipstick on a pig," thing. We are rich and big and hollow. We are sending men and women into the field for harvest while we let our neighbor do to hell. We are more concerned about the unborn and guns than we are the hell bound men and women around us. We are more committed to the Constitution than we are the Scripture. We are more focused on establishing our own security than trusting Him with it all.
We invite the world and the devil into our homes on giant HD screens. We watch trash sponsored by trash and see nothing wrong with it at all. We laugh at sin, we are engaged by corruption and oh how we love the tough guy who just shoots everybody.
We will carry a copy of the Constitution in our back pocket while our Bibles gather dust. We'll memorize the arguments for the Second Amendment but we know very little of God's Word by heart. We'll home-school everything except our faith - that we pay others to do. We have to get our kids into competitive sports so they can learn to "beat"/"defeat" others.
We will sing God's praises because there are 5,000 people in the building on Sunday morning but only a few are believers. We will sing God's praises with lyrics the prophets would detest and we are happy. We want excitement and engagement instead of solemnity and our engaging God. We will read hundreds of books written by questionable teachers but we will not examine their teaching by the Word.
We are indeed the church and we are no different than the "church in the OT." We are faithless in content, context and commitment. We are ripe for refining.
We will engage the "culture' in battles over morality but whoa to the Pastor who does so on Sunday. We hate the "big" sin while we collect the small. Idolatry is a thing of the past? Satan and the demonic are not more? And God forbid you suffer some mental illness that makes folk uncomfortable - there's no place for you pal!
Yeah - I'm pretty fed up with the common "church" and the "common" Christian. Not that I'm perfect - I could write volumes concerning my faithlessness and failure. But at least I am aware and willing to take up the fight. What about you?
Monday, April 1, 2013
It is finished - He is risen - but He isn't done!
OK - it's the Monday after. Not an easy day for those disciples. Still amazed, confused and frightened. But, "it is finished," will come to mean more and more as they are empowered and instructed over the following 39 (?) days.
There are two lessons I hope we will take from this.
First, without the empty tomb the cross is just a very very sad event. I understand why we use the cross as the symbol of our faith - it is appropriate. But I wish someone would design an empty tomb that could be worn - either with or I stead of the cross.
No, I don't want to detract from the significance of the cross in any way but I am saddened that we typically only think of the empty tomb once a year.
Second, I hope we realize from what comes after the tomb - that there is still a plan and process that God is working in the lives of believers. Ignorance, misunderstanding, the flesh, - all these things are worked through by the Spirit in the lives of those early believers. We do ourselves and others great harm when we forget that it is so in our lives as well! We also impose a burdensome yoke on new believers when we have unrealistic expectations of them.
The great commission is primarily to teach - to teach as witnesses and to teach as those who are just a little bit further ahead in our walk than others. But, too much of the "teaching" we find in the church is more world and flesh focused that Christ and the faith focused.
Catechism has gonna the way of the Dodo bird and with it the opportunity to firmly ground believers - young and old - new and mature - in the fundamentals of the faith.
"It IS finished!". "He is risen!". But we aren't finished nor is He finished with us. Oh, we will rise on that great day but between we really need to be about the work of growing in maturity, knowledge, understanding and right living.
Just some post Resurrection Sabbath thoughts.
Father - let me not be idle as You complete what You have begun in me. Give me a hunger and a conviction to do all I can to work with You as You conform me to His likeness.
Amen
There are two lessons I hope we will take from this.
First, without the empty tomb the cross is just a very very sad event. I understand why we use the cross as the symbol of our faith - it is appropriate. But I wish someone would design an empty tomb that could be worn - either with or I stead of the cross.
No, I don't want to detract from the significance of the cross in any way but I am saddened that we typically only think of the empty tomb once a year.
Second, I hope we realize from what comes after the tomb - that there is still a plan and process that God is working in the lives of believers. Ignorance, misunderstanding, the flesh, - all these things are worked through by the Spirit in the lives of those early believers. We do ourselves and others great harm when we forget that it is so in our lives as well! We also impose a burdensome yoke on new believers when we have unrealistic expectations of them.
The great commission is primarily to teach - to teach as witnesses and to teach as those who are just a little bit further ahead in our walk than others. But, too much of the "teaching" we find in the church is more world and flesh focused that Christ and the faith focused.
Catechism has gonna the way of the Dodo bird and with it the opportunity to firmly ground believers - young and old - new and mature - in the fundamentals of the faith.
"It IS finished!". "He is risen!". But we aren't finished nor is He finished with us. Oh, we will rise on that great day but between we really need to be about the work of growing in maturity, knowledge, understanding and right living.
Just some post Resurrection Sabbath thoughts.
Father - let me not be idle as You complete what You have begun in me. Give me a hunger and a conviction to do all I can to work with You as You conform me to His likeness.
Amen
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