Peace and the sense of peace. 091313

Romans 5:1 ESV
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Of this passage, William Bridge wrote:  There is "A fundamental peace which does naturally arise and flow from their justification.  And there is an additional peace, which arises from the sense of their justification."

That we are justified and hence at peace with God is a fact.  From this fact we may draw comfort and peace.  But it is our sense or experience of your justification that we draw a second if not special peace.

But sense being subject to the ups and downs of our living this peace may seem all to transitory and fleeting.  We may struggle to be at peace while our senses are pulled and twisted by the world, our flesh and the devil.

Perhaps we rely too much on sense and not enough on the truth found in the Word.  There is always something to twist or other wise hinder our senses.  It is in our senses that the flesh finds its best target as when we confuse our felt needs with our real needs and our felt condition with our true condition.

We d ourselves no good when we seek to live on some "sense" of our justification.  The evidence that we do not deserve it and are not worthy of it is just too overwhelming to our senses.  But we will still seek to attain that "feeling" of justification.

Consider this;  the only place I can see where we can truly gain a sense of our justification is in our sense of our sinfulness.  Apart from that justification has no meaning and certainly no sense.  It is the same old story.  It is only at the cross looking upon the price paid that we can have the solid and appropriate sense of justification.  For we are justified from our sins and there only.

If I desire to have a sense of the peace wrought by my justification I must see my sin and it's cost and accept that He has redeemed me from it.  There is no other place from which my justification makes sense or gives sense than at the foot of the cross.

There in lies the lesson

M

We would see Jesus 061013

Joh 12:20-21  Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.  (21)  So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, 

"Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

I can remember my homiletics professor telling us that these words were on a small plaque on his pulpit.  Every time he rose to preach he read them and was reminded that if he did nothing else he had to show those in the pews Jesus.  "Jesus," in all that term means had to be shown to believer and unbeliever alike.  If they did not see Jesus, he believed he had failed in his calling.

He would tell us, "Gentlemen, I do not care where you begin your sermon but always - always end at the cross of Christ for that is where the power and hope lies.  Ending anywhere else is to mislead your hearers."

The cross, His final redemptive act must be central to our lives.  You may wear a cross but do you ever think about that cross?  Do you return to the cross daily in gratitude and humility seeking that conviction that was the catalyst for your first love?  Do you take all your sin back to the cross again and again so that you may be assured again and again that you're sins are paid in full and that, "it is finished!"

Paul makes the centrality of the cross plain.  In the midst of all the issues he addressed at the Church at Corinth he made it plain:

1Co 2:2  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Paul knew the Gospel must be preached to un-believers and believers alike.  He know the glorious good news of Christ's atoning sacrifice was indeed the power of God for salvation.  I find that all too easy to assume and not make a central issue in my prayers, conversation and living.  It is well said:

Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand, 

the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land; 

a home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way, 

from the burning of the noontide heat,  and the burden of the day. 

Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see 

the very dying form of One who suffered there for me; 

and from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess: 

the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness. 

I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place; 

I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of his face; 

content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss, 

my sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.

This is an everyday, every moment cross-awareness.  A consistent celebration of humility and gratitude and yet we struggle to keep it in the front of our minds.  We get diverted by the slings and arrows of our daily life and hence the greatest source of our hope and confidence remains on the fringes of our consciousness.

So, we struggle more and harder than we need to.  We bounce up and down, are tossed to and fro in our assurance and peace.  The cross, thought horrible was the most peaceful - peacemaking - place in all of history.  "It is finished," the greatest declaration.  The foot of the cross, the safest place.

Would you see Jesus?  Then see Him there.  Touch His suffering, see His love, know His graciousness.  The cross is the only place to begin and to end.  It is indeed the best abiding place as we face the trials of this life.  

Certainly we can see Jesus through out the Gospels.  We see Him healing and feeding.  We hear Him teaching, admonishing, confronting and correcting.  All this is good and useful but it is at the cross that His life and ministry made it's meaning and purpose clear.  When He surrendered His life for us He made it available to us.  Can we sideline the cross as merely a symbol, a decal, a lapel pin or a necklace?  No, we can not.

If you would see Jesus - and you should so desire - then see him first and foremost on the cross. See Him suffering for us and taking upon Himself our punishment.  Realize that what He experienced simply demonstrated - in ways we can understand - what we were to expect from God were it not for the cross.

Would you see Jesus - then see Him as the Suffering Servant, the Rejected Redeemed, our Master who freely gave up His life at the hands of evil men for our salvation.  See Jesus there and pray to be His servant in the sacrificial and submissive way He was for us.

Think long and hard and prayerfully about:

Gal 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Sorrow for sins OR afflictions? Yep!! 001

Christopher Love, a Puritan preacher and writer makes a distinction in his, A Christian's Directory, between our sorrow for sin and our sorrow in afflictions and trials.  I highly recommend this book as a wonderful encouragement and of course, a challenge.

In this work he explores that curious place where we are sorrowing for our sins and 
afflictions, a place where we can lose our way and confuse our sorrowing.  It's not as complicated as it sounds but I wanted to post something to help those who consider reading this work get the most out of it.

We sorrow for sin and we sorrow for afflictions.  One is not necessarily related to the other.  As a matter of fact, one is easily confused for the other or embellished by the other resulting in just an unproductive sorrowing.

Let us first consider our sin.  We always need to start by turning our minds and hearts to the cross where the penalty for our sins was forgiven.  Then we need to look to the is empty tomb, the proof of His victory over sin and death for us.  This is how we can grasp the seriousness of our sin and deeply appreciate His graciousness.

But - we can't afford to just stop there.  It is a dangerous thing to be presumptuous concerning our being forgiven.  Yes, He died once for all and the matter, in God's economy, is settled - yet we still sin.  Since we still sin we need to still be convicted and brought to repentance.  We're not "done" and we won't be done until He comes or we go.

Sin is never not serious.  It impedes our usefulness to God, it dishonors God, it sullies His glory.  This we need to have abhor and be repelled by.  We need to sorrow for our sins - we need godly sorrow for our sins.

It is all too easy to sorrow simply for the consequences (here) of our sins.  There is nothing wrong with this but if that is all we sorrow for - well, we need to repent of that.  It is the sin itself we need to sorrow for.  

The world, the flesh and the devil want us to minimize our apprehension of our sin.  They want us to not see the terrible cost of them.  They do this by playing upon our assurance and adding to that the easy and dismissive view of sin that is so very rampant in the "church" today.  They want us to (as far as possible) hide our sins even from ourselves.

It is not fashionable in the church today to have the perspective of Paul:


Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?   (Rom 7:24)

Instead they want us to narrow our view to verses like:


For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.   (Rom 8:38-39)

Indeed this passage is true and we can rejoice in it.  But when it is used to corrupt and minimize our sense and conviction of sin we are severely damaged.

James tells us that in reference to sin we must:


Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.   (Jas 4:8-10)

"Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom."

This should be the response to sin in our lives that drives us to the throne of grace in humility and gratitude.  Ok - I'm not talking "shame" although a sense of it is never inappropriate when we are caught in a sin.  But I would encourage you to develop a stronger sense of guilt than shame.  Shame can focus our attention more on us than on Him.  Since our "guilt" is before God it is a more effective way to really see and understand our sin and our forgiveness than shame could ever be.

Sorrowing for sin may well have some focus on ourselves but the main focus must be on the one against whom we have sinned.  Not some mean, nasty, far off God who just waits for us to mess up so He can "get" us.  But the loving and gracious Father who from the beginning has provided the remedy for our sin and claims us as His own at His own expense.  In short we must go sorrowing to the One who has already forgiven us and acknowledge His grace and our faithlessness.  We have His forgiveness, we must seek His empowerment - strength - insight - power ect. to "kill" our sin.

Sorrow for sin is central to our faithfulness.  It is critical to our health.  It is essential for our effectiveness in displaying His glory.  

Father,

I have sinned, I do sin and i will sin.  We both know that.  Please give me such a heart for You and such a gratitude that I never dismiss or lightly engage my sin.  Help me indeed to sorrow mightily and appropriately for each and every sin.  

Do not allow me to continue insensitive to the sinfulness of sin.  Do not allow my head or my heart to presume upon Your forgiveness.  Rather may Your Spirit so convict me that I run to You as a small child confessing my sin and seeking the comfort of Your grace.  Help me to weep for my sin as I remember to great cost of its forgiveness.

Amen