Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, (1 Cor 15:1-4)
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor 15:56-58)
The 1 Corinthians 15 challenge is simple really. Well, simple to articulate. Set aside 15-20 minutes (or more, if you wish) and prayerfully, reflectively read through 1 Cor 15. While reading (or maybe on a second pass), note (feel free to write in your Bible) all that hangs on Jesus' death and resurrection. Note all the positive, forward looking, hope filled promises that are ours, because Jesus died and rose again. Look at the whole Bible themes that Paul lays out as being fulfilled in Christ. And see anything else that Spirit desires to bring to your mind through this chapter. When this is done, spend whatever amount of time seems appropriate simply thanking and praising God for all that He has accomplished on your behalf.
This chapter is too majestic and deserves better treatment than to be summed up in a few paragraphs. So my challenge to you is allow the Spirit to be your teacher today as you reflect on 1 Cor 15, as you consider (again) the gospel in which you stand and by which you are being saved, and as you rejoice and rest in the reality that death itself will soon be defeated, because death will be swallowed up in Victory!
To God Alone be the Glory
related posts: The Gospel in 1 Cor 15
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
The Extreme Gospel
"Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." (Lk 13:25)
"I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture." (Jn 10:9)
One of the paradoxes of Christianity is that it is at the same time both open to everyone and limited to those who follow Christ. I think both strands of this thinking need to be stressed in equal measure to be biblically faithful and honoring to God and exalting of Christ. The verses above represent a glimpse at the exclusivity side of things, while verses like John 3:16 and Mt 11:28-30 show us the expansive openness of Jesus and the gospel.
It is easy for us to lean toward one of the ends of this spectrum or the other. For those of us who don't want anyone to miss the good news of grace and want to make sure we are not the offending agent, we will tend to move toward the expansiveness and the openness of Christ. And there is a lot of truth here. We must never portray Christianity or the gospel as something constrained or limited.
And yet there is a limitation. Those of us who want to make sure that faith and dependence on Jesus is stressed will head toward the other end of the spectrum We rightly highlight the cross and the fact that Jesus himself declares that He is the only way to the Father. And there is a lot of truth here. We must never portray Christianity (or Jesus) as one religion (or religious leader) among many. Christianity and Jesus himself are unique and by definition exclusionary.
So, where do we go? At the risk of being paradoxical myself, I think we need to go both to the middle and to the extremes. We need to go to the middle because each of us is somewhere on this pendulum of expansiveness and exclusivity. If we are not precisely at the apex, we could very easily over emphasize one element of the gospel to the detriment of the other. But we need to go to the extremes because the gospel itself is extreme. The gospel is offered to all. Jesus prayed for Jerusalem's salvation a week before his death in that very city. Paul prayed and labored for his brother Jews even though they were out to kill him. We must push the expansiveness boundary as much as Jesus and Paul did. All the while, the Jesus and the gospel must remain exclusive. There is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved. Any one who does not enter by the gate is a thief and a robber. Behold, I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Father, give us balance in our view and articulation of Christianity and the gospel. And grant us the passion and power to push the envelope in declaring both the expansiveness of the gospel and the exclusivity of Christ. For your glory and exaltation of Jesus Amen.
To God Alone be the Glory
"I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture." (Jn 10:9)
One of the paradoxes of Christianity is that it is at the same time both open to everyone and limited to those who follow Christ. I think both strands of this thinking need to be stressed in equal measure to be biblically faithful and honoring to God and exalting of Christ. The verses above represent a glimpse at the exclusivity side of things, while verses like John 3:16 and Mt 11:28-30 show us the expansive openness of Jesus and the gospel.
It is easy for us to lean toward one of the ends of this spectrum or the other. For those of us who don't want anyone to miss the good news of grace and want to make sure we are not the offending agent, we will tend to move toward the expansiveness and the openness of Christ. And there is a lot of truth here. We must never portray Christianity or the gospel as something constrained or limited.
And yet there is a limitation. Those of us who want to make sure that faith and dependence on Jesus is stressed will head toward the other end of the spectrum We rightly highlight the cross and the fact that Jesus himself declares that He is the only way to the Father. And there is a lot of truth here. We must never portray Christianity (or Jesus) as one religion (or religious leader) among many. Christianity and Jesus himself are unique and by definition exclusionary.
So, where do we go? At the risk of being paradoxical myself, I think we need to go both to the middle and to the extremes. We need to go to the middle because each of us is somewhere on this pendulum of expansiveness and exclusivity. If we are not precisely at the apex, we could very easily over emphasize one element of the gospel to the detriment of the other. But we need to go to the extremes because the gospel itself is extreme. The gospel is offered to all. Jesus prayed for Jerusalem's salvation a week before his death in that very city. Paul prayed and labored for his brother Jews even though they were out to kill him. We must push the expansiveness boundary as much as Jesus and Paul did. All the while, the Jesus and the gospel must remain exclusive. There is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved. Any one who does not enter by the gate is a thief and a robber. Behold, I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Father, give us balance in our view and articulation of Christianity and the gospel. And grant us the passion and power to push the envelope in declaring both the expansiveness of the gospel and the exclusivity of Christ. For your glory and exaltation of Jesus Amen.
To God Alone be the Glory
Sunday, February 26, 2012
This is what we believe
You are the Christ (Matt 16:16)
Anointed One (Acts 4:27)
Light of the world (John 8:12)
God’s only Son (John 3:16)
In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1)
Emmanuel has come to live with us (Matt 1:23)
Truly this Man is the Son
The Son of God (Mark 15:39)
Who takes away the sins of the world
This Man is the Lamb
The Lamb of God
Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29)
This is what we believe
You are the Way
The Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
You came to change
Our wrongs to right (Matt 1:21)
In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1)
And we must sing of what we've seen and heard (Acts 4:20, 1 John 1:3)
We believe that You are God (John 6:69)
Born to set Your people free (Matt 1:21)
Became the final sacrifice (Heb 9:23 - The Message)
Conquered death to bring us life (2 Tim 1:9-10)
This is what we believe
Aaron Shust
To God Alone be the Glory
Anointed One (Acts 4:27)
Light of the world (John 8:12)
God’s only Son (John 3:16)
In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1)
Emmanuel has come to live with us (Matt 1:23)
Truly this Man is the Son
The Son of God (Mark 15:39)
Who takes away the sins of the world
This Man is the Lamb
The Lamb of God
Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29)
This is what we believe
You are the Way
The Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
You came to change
Our wrongs to right (Matt 1:21)
In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1)
And we must sing of what we've seen and heard (Acts 4:20, 1 John 1:3)
We believe that You are God (John 6:69)
Born to set Your people free (Matt 1:21)
Became the final sacrifice (Heb 9:23 - The Message)
Conquered death to bring us life (2 Tim 1:9-10)
This is what we believe
Aaron Shust
To God Alone be the Glory
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Do You Remember?
- How he disarmed the principalities and powers through a carpenter on a tree?
- How he conquers the kingdom of darkness with fishermen, tax collectors, and prostitutes?
- How he still protects his people from the Death-Angel with Lamb’s blood on the door?
- How he still provides daily bread and magic bread from heaven?
- How, when his people thirst, he squeezes living water from the Rock who is Christ?
- How he commands his covenant on fleshly hearts and dwells within them as his lasting abode?
- How he is building a Glory-Tent out of people, a human temple built with living stones from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation?
- How we are that people, wandering in a graveyard of death, building our homes on billions of bodies and bones buried under the earth?
- How we follow the Greater Joshua into the inheritance of the nations, conquering with a two-edged sword (and a worship band or two)?
- How we await the day when we will turn this graveyard into a holy Garden-City, when he will send Death to Hell, and when everything sad will come untrue?
Do you remember?
“Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.” (Ps 111:2)
(Excerpted from a Desiring God blog post by Joe Rigney. Read it all here)
To God Alone be the Glory
Friday, February 24, 2012
Rejoice that your names are written in heaven
“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. [19] Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. [20] Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Lk 10:18-20)
Can it be as simple as that?
Maybe the better question is: How can it be as simple as that?
Joy, happiness, satisfaction, purpose, meaning. Whatever word you want to throw out there to describe that feeling of completeness, wholeness, oneness, safety and security, belonging, loving and loved, we try to find it in a thousand different ways. Some are godly and some are not. But based on Lk 10:20 (and the rest of the Bible) our complete joy / satisfaction / completeness is found in only one place: In Jesus.
The cool thing here is that all of our striving, all of our searching, all of our longing is already fulfilled. We really can rest. We really can trust. We really can give away everything we have, because all the work is done, all the documents are signed and all we have is God's and He has guaranteed us so much more.
So, I pray that whatever is facing you today. A huge success or miserable failure. Completing a marathon or finding our you have cancer. Celebrating a new baby or laying a dear loved one to rest. that you will find joy not in what you are doing (these are like backdrops on a Hollywood set) but rather in the reality that as a believer and disciple of Christ, your name is engraved in the Lamb's book of life. And, it is engraved with indelible ink, the blood of Christ.
To God Alone be the Glory
Can it be as simple as that?
Maybe the better question is: How can it be as simple as that?
Joy, happiness, satisfaction, purpose, meaning. Whatever word you want to throw out there to describe that feeling of completeness, wholeness, oneness, safety and security, belonging, loving and loved, we try to find it in a thousand different ways. Some are godly and some are not. But based on Lk 10:20 (and the rest of the Bible) our complete joy / satisfaction / completeness is found in only one place: In Jesus.
The cool thing here is that all of our striving, all of our searching, all of our longing is already fulfilled. We really can rest. We really can trust. We really can give away everything we have, because all the work is done, all the documents are signed and all we have is God's and He has guaranteed us so much more.
So, I pray that whatever is facing you today. A huge success or miserable failure. Completing a marathon or finding our you have cancer. Celebrating a new baby or laying a dear loved one to rest. that you will find joy not in what you are doing (these are like backdrops on a Hollywood set) but rather in the reality that as a believer and disciple of Christ, your name is engraved in the Lamb's book of life. And, it is engraved with indelible ink, the blood of Christ.
To God Alone be the Glory
Thursday, February 23, 2012
A simple prayer
Not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. (1 Cor 10:33)
Father,
By your power and through your grace, would you move my heart and mind in the direction of Paul's? Would you empower me, by the Spirit, to imitate him as he imitated Christ? I see the distinct difference between Paul's view of ministry and how he used everything You gave him and my views on those same things. I am mired in a very me-centered Christianity that, at best, will die in a generation. Save me out of this and into a Christ-centered Christianity that will joyfully give up everything to serve and follow the risen Jesus.
As I sit on the threshold of the days that are gone and the days that are yet to come, please direct my steps and my heart in the same direction as Paul and the early church. Give me a value system that sees someone's salvation (beginning, middle and end) as so much more important than my preferences being satisfied. Build in me a passion for stripping away things that may hinder one's growth in Christ but an equal or even greater passion for strengthening things that foster and encourage deep and lasting discipleship of Christ.
I know I am a small part of a very big plan. Your story spans the ages and the globe. And yet, you've called me to take up my cross and follow You. I need the strength that only You can provide. I need the joy that only You can provide. I need the perseverance that only You can provide. I need the grace that only You can provide. And, Father, I need the love that only You can provide.
In myself, I am unworthy to ask any of this. But in Christ, I can wondrously approach You with confidence. You are sovereign and do what You will. Yet your Word shows this is what You would desire of me. So I lay these heart aches before You in supreme confidence that You will honor them as a sweet incense before your throne and that you will grant them according to Your overwhelming grace and mercy and love.
I offer all of this simply in accordance with all of who Jesus is.
Amen
To God Alone be the Glory
Father,
By your power and through your grace, would you move my heart and mind in the direction of Paul's? Would you empower me, by the Spirit, to imitate him as he imitated Christ? I see the distinct difference between Paul's view of ministry and how he used everything You gave him and my views on those same things. I am mired in a very me-centered Christianity that, at best, will die in a generation. Save me out of this and into a Christ-centered Christianity that will joyfully give up everything to serve and follow the risen Jesus.
As I sit on the threshold of the days that are gone and the days that are yet to come, please direct my steps and my heart in the same direction as Paul and the early church. Give me a value system that sees someone's salvation (beginning, middle and end) as so much more important than my preferences being satisfied. Build in me a passion for stripping away things that may hinder one's growth in Christ but an equal or even greater passion for strengthening things that foster and encourage deep and lasting discipleship of Christ.
I know I am a small part of a very big plan. Your story spans the ages and the globe. And yet, you've called me to take up my cross and follow You. I need the strength that only You can provide. I need the joy that only You can provide. I need the perseverance that only You can provide. I need the grace that only You can provide. And, Father, I need the love that only You can provide.
In myself, I am unworthy to ask any of this. But in Christ, I can wondrously approach You with confidence. You are sovereign and do what You will. Yet your Word shows this is what You would desire of me. So I lay these heart aches before You in supreme confidence that You will honor them as a sweet incense before your throne and that you will grant them according to Your overwhelming grace and mercy and love.
I offer all of this simply in accordance with all of who Jesus is.
Amen
To God Alone be the Glory
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Why Pray If God Knows Everything?
God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it? (Num 23:19)
"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest" (Lk 10:2)
The linked post from Justin Taylor and sermon by Joel Rigney were very helpful for me in grasping the very real question of why pray (or doing anything) if God is sovereign and all-powerful. Especially helpful to me was Rigney's analogy of God being the storyteller (completely sovereign and all powerful) while we are the characters (the ones that must carry the story toward completion).
This is 42 minutes that are well worth your investment. This is not just an academic, deep theological lecture. It is passionate call for us to pray because God has ordained that we pray to accomplish His will for His glory. It has given me a fresh perspective on the awesomeness and incredible value of prayer in God's economy.
To God Alone be the Glory
"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest" (Lk 10:2)
The linked post from Justin Taylor and sermon by Joel Rigney were very helpful for me in grasping the very real question of why pray (or doing anything) if God is sovereign and all-powerful. Especially helpful to me was Rigney's analogy of God being the storyteller (completely sovereign and all powerful) while we are the characters (the ones that must carry the story toward completion).
This is 42 minutes that are well worth your investment. This is not just an academic, deep theological lecture. It is passionate call for us to pray because God has ordained that we pray to accomplish His will for His glory. It has given me a fresh perspective on the awesomeness and incredible value of prayer in God's economy.
To God Alone be the Glory
Monday, February 20, 2012
Be Merciful
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (Lk 6:36)
Be merciful. That sounds so churchy, doesn't it? So pious and religious. And, I'm guessing, most of us really do show some degree of mercy to the folks we interact with on a daily basis. A wife may withhold a harsh word that her husband deserves. A parent may forgive a debt owed by a child. An employer may overlook a late arrival of an employee. The list could go on. Each of these are genuine signs of mercy.
And yet, I don't think these are quite what Jesus was getting at in Lk 6:32-36. Jesus' call for mercy is to show mercy to those who cannot (or would not) show us mercy in return. Praying for for someone else is definitely a sign of mercy, but how often (seriously!) do we pray for someone who would never pray for us? Not just someone who doesn't know us (like a missionary), but someone like an unbelieving neighbor or co-worker. Or, better yet, someone who is theologically or philosophically opposed to you? How often do we forgive the debts, financial or social, of those whom we are friends with? Yet would we ever do the same for someone we don't know or don't care for?
I say all of this to reiterate Jesus' incredibly insane point. This is a picture of God's mercy to us. He was not on our friends and family list before He invaded our lives. We did not know Him, love Him, seek Him or want Him. Talk about praying for your enemies! (Lk 23;34) And Jesus' radical call is for us to imitate Him and show mercy to those who deserve no mercy nor would they show us mercy if the roles were reversed.
Is this easy? No way. Does this go against both our human nature and the culture we live in? Without a doubt. But it is a command of our King. Let us strive today, and every day, to be merciful as God has been merciful to us.
To God Alone be the Glory
Be merciful. That sounds so churchy, doesn't it? So pious and religious. And, I'm guessing, most of us really do show some degree of mercy to the folks we interact with on a daily basis. A wife may withhold a harsh word that her husband deserves. A parent may forgive a debt owed by a child. An employer may overlook a late arrival of an employee. The list could go on. Each of these are genuine signs of mercy.
And yet, I don't think these are quite what Jesus was getting at in Lk 6:32-36. Jesus' call for mercy is to show mercy to those who cannot (or would not) show us mercy in return. Praying for for someone else is definitely a sign of mercy, but how often (seriously!) do we pray for someone who would never pray for us? Not just someone who doesn't know us (like a missionary), but someone like an unbelieving neighbor or co-worker. Or, better yet, someone who is theologically or philosophically opposed to you? How often do we forgive the debts, financial or social, of those whom we are friends with? Yet would we ever do the same for someone we don't know or don't care for?
I say all of this to reiterate Jesus' incredibly insane point. This is a picture of God's mercy to us. He was not on our friends and family list before He invaded our lives. We did not know Him, love Him, seek Him or want Him. Talk about praying for your enemies! (Lk 23;34) And Jesus' radical call is for us to imitate Him and show mercy to those who deserve no mercy nor would they show us mercy if the roles were reversed.
Is this easy? No way. Does this go against both our human nature and the culture we live in? Without a doubt. But it is a command of our King. Let us strive today, and every day, to be merciful as God has been merciful to us.
To God Alone be the Glory
Sunday, February 19, 2012
I Will Rise
Chris Tomlin
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say "It is well"
Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead
[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise
There's a day that's drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes
Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead
[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise
And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
[x2]
Friday, February 17, 2012
Everything you have
What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Cor 4:7)
Maybe its my continual battle with pride. Maybe its my ever growing sense of smallness in a universe created by a God who is so far beyond me that I cannot even grasp the edges of who He is (Job 26:14). Maybe it is simply the fact that the Bible is truth and whenever it speaks (and we happen to listen) there is a resonant chord in our hearts.
For whatever the reason, the verse above from 1 Cor 4, always presses on me each time I read it. In two simple and straightforward questions, Paul lays out and disarms pride. He establishes God's sovereignty over all things. He demonstrates the deceitfulness of the human heart & mind. He confirms our utter dependence on God (whether viewed as King or Father). And he implies the need we all have (and due we owe) to worship God.
Yes, I know I've put a lot a weight on one verse. And yes, I know would have a hard time supporting these spiritual realities exclusively from this verse. Yet, as the Spirit teaches and guides, I think it is reasonable to say that these thoughts were in Paul's mind when he wrote this, if for no other reason that he brings these truths out explicitly in other places.
In order to avoid an extended discourse, here's my plan for the day. I'm going list the items again, one by one, with a few comments for each. My request of you is to prayerfully read and reflect. Ask God if He would use this verse or these truths to draw you closer to Him.
Paul lays out and disarms pride. This is clearly the main thrust of the verse. "Why do you boast?" seems pretty obvious. And yet, how often do we stop in the midst of reading 1 Cor 4 and actually ask ourselves: why do we boast. So, friend, hit the pause button on your life and really ask yourself "If you've really received everything from God, why do you boast?"
Paul establishes God's sovereignty over all things. This is semi explicit, but in a way it is buried in the first rhetorical question: "What what do you have that you did not receive?" The implied answer is that there is nothing that I have, spiritual or physical, that I did not receive. If this is the case, who orchestrated my receiving? Who designed what I should receive and when and how much? Who is managing this process now? And the negative implication of all this is that if God is not sovereign, then everything is simply random and there is no purpose in the good or the evil or the ordinary events of our lives.
Paul demonstrates the deceitfulness of the human heart & mind. This is shown in the need for the questions, especially the second one. From a pure logic stand point, if we've received everything, we have nothing to boast about. We are not the canvas, we are not the paint, we are not the brushes, we are not the artistic skill and vision. We are the resulting painting. And yet we boast. Why? Is it not the deceitfulness of our own hearts? Even those who are redeemed in Christ continue to battle with the vestiges of this reality. We must never forget or relent in battling against what remains of our old self.
Paul confirms our utter dependence on God (whether viewed as King or Father). This item really overlaps with God's sovereignty. However, it needs to be distinct, because God's sovereignty can be viewed as cold, harsh, distant. But God is not cold, hard or distant. He gives rain to the just and the unjust. He gives life & breath to billions. He gives grace each day to people who are trusting Christ for the first time or surrendering their lives again as they roll out of bed. He listens to every prayer offered in name of His Son and is pleased to act on behalf of his children. Without Him, we would be in the outer darkness, without hope in the world.
Paul implies the need we all have (and due we owe) to worship God. Yes, the proper response is worship. Isn't it always? Not always exuberant. Not always musical. But always joyful. Always grateful and humble. And it need not conform to any of the worship modes currently available to us. (Another topic for another day).
Well, it became a sermon anyway. I pray we will each take time, not just today, but every day to ask two simple questions:
What do you have that you did not receive?
If you've received everything, why do you boast as if you didn't receive it?
To God Alone be the Glory
Maybe its my continual battle with pride. Maybe its my ever growing sense of smallness in a universe created by a God who is so far beyond me that I cannot even grasp the edges of who He is (Job 26:14). Maybe it is simply the fact that the Bible is truth and whenever it speaks (and we happen to listen) there is a resonant chord in our hearts.
For whatever the reason, the verse above from 1 Cor 4, always presses on me each time I read it. In two simple and straightforward questions, Paul lays out and disarms pride. He establishes God's sovereignty over all things. He demonstrates the deceitfulness of the human heart & mind. He confirms our utter dependence on God (whether viewed as King or Father). And he implies the need we all have (and due we owe) to worship God.
Yes, I know I've put a lot a weight on one verse. And yes, I know would have a hard time supporting these spiritual realities exclusively from this verse. Yet, as the Spirit teaches and guides, I think it is reasonable to say that these thoughts were in Paul's mind when he wrote this, if for no other reason that he brings these truths out explicitly in other places.
In order to avoid an extended discourse, here's my plan for the day. I'm going list the items again, one by one, with a few comments for each. My request of you is to prayerfully read and reflect. Ask God if He would use this verse or these truths to draw you closer to Him.
Paul lays out and disarms pride. This is clearly the main thrust of the verse. "Why do you boast?" seems pretty obvious. And yet, how often do we stop in the midst of reading 1 Cor 4 and actually ask ourselves: why do we boast. So, friend, hit the pause button on your life and really ask yourself "If you've really received everything from God, why do you boast?"
Paul establishes God's sovereignty over all things. This is semi explicit, but in a way it is buried in the first rhetorical question: "What what do you have that you did not receive?" The implied answer is that there is nothing that I have, spiritual or physical, that I did not receive. If this is the case, who orchestrated my receiving? Who designed what I should receive and when and how much? Who is managing this process now? And the negative implication of all this is that if God is not sovereign, then everything is simply random and there is no purpose in the good or the evil or the ordinary events of our lives.
Paul demonstrates the deceitfulness of the human heart & mind. This is shown in the need for the questions, especially the second one. From a pure logic stand point, if we've received everything, we have nothing to boast about. We are not the canvas, we are not the paint, we are not the brushes, we are not the artistic skill and vision. We are the resulting painting. And yet we boast. Why? Is it not the deceitfulness of our own hearts? Even those who are redeemed in Christ continue to battle with the vestiges of this reality. We must never forget or relent in battling against what remains of our old self.
Paul confirms our utter dependence on God (whether viewed as King or Father). This item really overlaps with God's sovereignty. However, it needs to be distinct, because God's sovereignty can be viewed as cold, harsh, distant. But God is not cold, hard or distant. He gives rain to the just and the unjust. He gives life & breath to billions. He gives grace each day to people who are trusting Christ for the first time or surrendering their lives again as they roll out of bed. He listens to every prayer offered in name of His Son and is pleased to act on behalf of his children. Without Him, we would be in the outer darkness, without hope in the world.
Paul implies the need we all have (and due we owe) to worship God. Yes, the proper response is worship. Isn't it always? Not always exuberant. Not always musical. But always joyful. Always grateful and humble. And it need not conform to any of the worship modes currently available to us. (Another topic for another day).
Well, it became a sermon anyway. I pray we will each take time, not just today, but every day to ask two simple questions:
What do you have that you did not receive?
If you've received everything, why do you boast as if you didn't receive it?
To God Alone be the Glory
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Foundation is Christ
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 3:11)
At the risk of overstating the obvious, for those of us who follow Christ, there can be only one foundation: Jesus himself.
One might ask, if this is so obvious, why write a blog post about it? Along those same lines, one could ask why Paul felt compelled to state it in his letter to the Corinthians.
The reality is this: We are very nearsighted and have spiritual alzheimers. We too quickly forget how we got where we are and where we are going. We need a frequent (dare I say constant?) reminder that we are the branches and Jesus is the vine.
I think one of the dangers of not continually stressing and reminding ourselves that Jesus is the foundation is that without it we simply assume He is the foundation. Unfortunately, assuming doesn't make it so. Assume Jesus is the foundation long enough and we will end up people, churches, even denominations that have Christ in their label but not in their blood. And if we take just a moment to pause, we can see the potential (or even reality) of this slide in our own lives, our own families and our own churches.
The solution? That is the easy / hard part. It is as easy and as hard as always going back to the foundation of Christ. God wants us to build and to grow. Personally and corporately. But we must build and grow explicitly on the foundation of Christ. It is easy because the gospel is simple, Jesus is always available to any who call on him and He is interceding for us even now. But it is hard because dependence on Christ requires giving up dependence on ourselves. Glory to God means giving up glory for ourselves. Making sure the foundation is true means calling into question and clarifying the foundation of others who may not share this core belief and value.
Remember, in the end, only what is done for Christ will last.
To God Alone be the Glory
At the risk of overstating the obvious, for those of us who follow Christ, there can be only one foundation: Jesus himself.
One might ask, if this is so obvious, why write a blog post about it? Along those same lines, one could ask why Paul felt compelled to state it in his letter to the Corinthians.
The reality is this: We are very nearsighted and have spiritual alzheimers. We too quickly forget how we got where we are and where we are going. We need a frequent (dare I say constant?) reminder that we are the branches and Jesus is the vine.
I think one of the dangers of not continually stressing and reminding ourselves that Jesus is the foundation is that without it we simply assume He is the foundation. Unfortunately, assuming doesn't make it so. Assume Jesus is the foundation long enough and we will end up people, churches, even denominations that have Christ in their label but not in their blood. And if we take just a moment to pause, we can see the potential (or even reality) of this slide in our own lives, our own families and our own churches.
The solution? That is the easy / hard part. It is as easy and as hard as always going back to the foundation of Christ. God wants us to build and to grow. Personally and corporately. But we must build and grow explicitly on the foundation of Christ. It is easy because the gospel is simple, Jesus is always available to any who call on him and He is interceding for us even now. But it is hard because dependence on Christ requires giving up dependence on ourselves. Glory to God means giving up glory for ourselves. Making sure the foundation is true means calling into question and clarifying the foundation of others who may not share this core belief and value.
Remember, in the end, only what is done for Christ will last.
To God Alone be the Glory
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The Sacrificial Love of Christ
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor 13:13)
On Valentine's Day, it seems appropriate that we talk about love. But with such a broad topic, where to go with it or what to say in a short space seems daunting. Just listing the options seems overwhelming. For instance, we could look into:
Each these would worthy of a post, but I'd like to reflect for a moment on the sacrificial love of Jesus. This is probably best summed up in John 15:13 "Greater love has no than this, that he lay down his life for is friends." Combine that with Rom 5:7-8 "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." and we have the heart of the gospel.
The essence of God's salvific love is not that He loves us because we are so lovely or even that we are so potentially lovely. The incredible, awesome, unimaginable saving love of Christ is that He loves us because we are unlovely. Remember the rebellion, remember the sin, remember the self-love. The picture of the Bible and our own lives is that, left to ourselves we always go the wrong way. And God loves us anyway.
We must also remember that God doesn't just leave us as He finds us. His love rescues us, redeems us, restores us. But it does so at cost. Just like everything else in life, salvation isn't free. Oh it is free for you and for me, but is was not free for Christ. The debt had to be paid. Our debt had to be paid.
I want to add one more layer to this awesome picture. If you are a follower of Jesus, you've been called to be a disciple. One of the aspects of being a disciple is hanging out with, living with, interacting with your master so that you become more and more like the master you are following. Isn't that what the disciples did in Jesus' day? The question becomes, is what we are doing today? Especially as it comes to sacrificial love. We will never die for anyone's salvation. Precious few us of will be called on to die for our faith. But as followers of Christ, as disciples of Jesus aren't there small, but very real ways for us to "die" for our friends. Think about it. In the church, in our homes at our jobs. What kind of revolution would we see if we decided to seriously be loving disciples of Christ?
To God Alone be the Glory
On Valentine's Day, it seems appropriate that we talk about love. But with such a broad topic, where to go with it or what to say in a short space seems daunting. Just listing the options seems overwhelming. For instance, we could look into:
- 1 Cor 13 and Paul's definition of love (plus love being greater than the gifts)
- How John uses the love relationship between the Father and the Son to display that Jesus is truly God and that everything He is accomplishing is born out of that love.
- The deep, passionate marital love (and picture of Christ w/ his bride) found in Song of Solomon.
- The sisterly and familial love of Ruth and the tender love of Boaz
- The brotherly love of David and Jonathon
- The creative, sustaining love of God in Gen 1&2, followed by the grieving love of God in Gen 3.
Each these would worthy of a post, but I'd like to reflect for a moment on the sacrificial love of Jesus. This is probably best summed up in John 15:13 "Greater love has no than this, that he lay down his life for is friends." Combine that with Rom 5:7-8 "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." and we have the heart of the gospel.
The essence of God's salvific love is not that He loves us because we are so lovely or even that we are so potentially lovely. The incredible, awesome, unimaginable saving love of Christ is that He loves us because we are unlovely. Remember the rebellion, remember the sin, remember the self-love. The picture of the Bible and our own lives is that, left to ourselves we always go the wrong way. And God loves us anyway.
We must also remember that God doesn't just leave us as He finds us. His love rescues us, redeems us, restores us. But it does so at cost. Just like everything else in life, salvation isn't free. Oh it is free for you and for me, but is was not free for Christ. The debt had to be paid. Our debt had to be paid.
I want to add one more layer to this awesome picture. If you are a follower of Jesus, you've been called to be a disciple. One of the aspects of being a disciple is hanging out with, living with, interacting with your master so that you become more and more like the master you are following. Isn't that what the disciples did in Jesus' day? The question becomes, is what we are doing today? Especially as it comes to sacrificial love. We will never die for anyone's salvation. Precious few us of will be called on to die for our faith. But as followers of Christ, as disciples of Jesus aren't there small, but very real ways for us to "die" for our friends. Think about it. In the church, in our homes at our jobs. What kind of revolution would we see if we decided to seriously be loving disciples of Christ?
To God Alone be the Glory
Monday, February 13, 2012
Christ's death / Our assurance
(The following was excerpted from a sermon I preached on 2/12/2012. The full manuscript is here. The audio can be found here. SDG)
So, we have four reasons that Jesus chose to die.
1) Jesus died because we are his sheep. vv11-13
2) Jesus died because He knows us. vv14-16
3) Jesus died because the Father loves him v17
4) Jesus died because He has the authority to die (and to live again) v18
But what do we do with these truths? How can we take them with us into the rest of our lives? Here are just a few quick items that I pray the Spirit will press upon your hearts.
First, remember that Jesus was speaking both to build our confidence and to bolster our assurance. We must realize that whatever comes our way, He died for his own, for us who by grace have put our faith and trust in him. The hardships in your life are not a surprise to him. The temptations that seem to derail your walk with Christ are not insurmountable obstacles to him. Remember that he died to secure your eternal redemption.
Second, rest on the reality that Jesus’ death was intentional, purposeful and born out of love. We are too quick to view Jesus’ death as just a point in time event. While it was that, it was (and is) so much more. The Father, Son and Spirit planed your redemption before the world began. They have been acting throughout history to bring the cross and the Christ together. They have been working everyday of your life, first to bring you to faith, and second to build you up in Christlikeness. And they are laboring now toward the restoration of all things. As Paul asks in Romans, if God is doing all this, will He not, along with Christ graciously give us all things? On top of that, if Christ has done all of this, what in all of creation could possibly separate us from the love of God that is in Christ?
Third, we need to rely on the fact that all of this, our salvation, sanctification and glorification, the redemption of all things, the restoration recreation of the universe all hinges on the magnificent and incomprehensible love of God. Jesus’ love for the Father sends him to the Cross. The Father’s love of Christ accepts, approves and is filled out by Jesus loving submission. The love of the Shepherd for his sheep compels him to protect them and preserve them despite the cost to his very life.
Finally, we are both recipients and responders. The Bible is God’s story of creation, redemption and restoration. From Genesis to Revelation, we are simply recipients of God’s unmerited favor. Jesus did the heavy lifting. In reality, He did all the lifting. And yet, God expects a response to his grace. We need to receive it. We need to own it. We ought to revel in it. We ought to run with it. But whatever we do, we dare not reject it.
But I would remiss not to reiterate that the security of Jesus’ sacrificial death only applies to His sheep. If have not surrendered your life to Him, if have not accepted the free gift of his grace, neither I nor the Bible can offer you any assurance. Yet the Bible is clear: today is the day of salvation. If the Spirit is pressing on your heart, if the love of Christ has hemmed you in, if you are experiencing a gut wrenching hunger for this kind of assurance, let go of your tightfisted grip on a self-righteousness that can never save and reach out to embrace the magnificent gospel of grace and the Savior who chose to die so that you could live.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He has laid down his life for us. We are safe, we are secure. We are free to live and serve and die for the one to has our lives in the palm of his hand.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
To God Alone be the Glory
So, we have four reasons that Jesus chose to die.
1) Jesus died because we are his sheep. vv11-13
2) Jesus died because He knows us. vv14-16
3) Jesus died because the Father loves him v17
4) Jesus died because He has the authority to die (and to live again) v18
But what do we do with these truths? How can we take them with us into the rest of our lives? Here are just a few quick items that I pray the Spirit will press upon your hearts.
First, remember that Jesus was speaking both to build our confidence and to bolster our assurance. We must realize that whatever comes our way, He died for his own, for us who by grace have put our faith and trust in him. The hardships in your life are not a surprise to him. The temptations that seem to derail your walk with Christ are not insurmountable obstacles to him. Remember that he died to secure your eternal redemption.
Second, rest on the reality that Jesus’ death was intentional, purposeful and born out of love. We are too quick to view Jesus’ death as just a point in time event. While it was that, it was (and is) so much more. The Father, Son and Spirit planed your redemption before the world began. They have been acting throughout history to bring the cross and the Christ together. They have been working everyday of your life, first to bring you to faith, and second to build you up in Christlikeness. And they are laboring now toward the restoration of all things. As Paul asks in Romans, if God is doing all this, will He not, along with Christ graciously give us all things? On top of that, if Christ has done all of this, what in all of creation could possibly separate us from the love of God that is in Christ?
Third, we need to rely on the fact that all of this, our salvation, sanctification and glorification, the redemption of all things, the restoration recreation of the universe all hinges on the magnificent and incomprehensible love of God. Jesus’ love for the Father sends him to the Cross. The Father’s love of Christ accepts, approves and is filled out by Jesus loving submission. The love of the Shepherd for his sheep compels him to protect them and preserve them despite the cost to his very life.
Finally, we are both recipients and responders. The Bible is God’s story of creation, redemption and restoration. From Genesis to Revelation, we are simply recipients of God’s unmerited favor. Jesus did the heavy lifting. In reality, He did all the lifting. And yet, God expects a response to his grace. We need to receive it. We need to own it. We ought to revel in it. We ought to run with it. But whatever we do, we dare not reject it.
But I would remiss not to reiterate that the security of Jesus’ sacrificial death only applies to His sheep. If have not surrendered your life to Him, if have not accepted the free gift of his grace, neither I nor the Bible can offer you any assurance. Yet the Bible is clear: today is the day of salvation. If the Spirit is pressing on your heart, if the love of Christ has hemmed you in, if you are experiencing a gut wrenching hunger for this kind of assurance, let go of your tightfisted grip on a self-righteousness that can never save and reach out to embrace the magnificent gospel of grace and the Savior who chose to die so that you could live.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He has laid down his life for us. We are safe, we are secure. We are free to live and serve and die for the one to has our lives in the palm of his hand.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
To God Alone be the Glory
Sunday, February 12, 2012
If You Could See What I See
(Happy Valentine's Day, Sally!)
all of my life
i have dreamed
that somehow love would find me
now i can't believe you're standing here
If beauty is all
in the eye
of the beholder then i
wish you could see
the love for you that lives in me
(Chorus)
And you would know you have my heart
If you could see, what i see
that a treasure's what you are
if you could see, what i see
Created to be
the only one for me
If you could see, what i see
I know there are days
when you feel
so much less than ideal
wondering what i see in you
It's all of the light
and the grace
your belief in me drives me to say
that i promise you
a faithful love, forever true
(Chorus)
if you could see
then you'd understand
why i fall down to my knees
and i pray my love
will be worthy of
the one who gave his life
so our love could be
if you could see
what i see(x2)
You're created to be
The perfect one for me
If you could see
What i see
if beauty is all
in the eye
of the beholder then i
am beholding...
true beauty
all of my life
i have dreamed
that somehow love would find me
now i can't believe you're standing here
If beauty is all
in the eye
of the beholder then i
wish you could see
the love for you that lives in me
(Chorus)
And you would know you have my heart
If you could see, what i see
that a treasure's what you are
if you could see, what i see
Created to be
the only one for me
If you could see, what i see
I know there are days
when you feel
so much less than ideal
wondering what i see in you
It's all of the light
and the grace
your belief in me drives me to say
that i promise you
a faithful love, forever true
(Chorus)
if you could see
then you'd understand
why i fall down to my knees
and i pray my love
will be worthy of
the one who gave his life
so our love could be
if you could see
what i see(x2)
You're created to be
The perfect one for me
If you could see
What i see
if beauty is all
in the eye
of the beholder then i
am beholding...
true beauty
Friday, February 10, 2012
A Snapshot of God
I think sometimes it better to simply reflect on God's Word. Below is a excerpt from Job 9. Please consider it in the context of his response to his "friends." But also consider that out of the deep anguish of our souls, God can produce silver and gold and diamonds. Prayerfully soak up these verses. Allow the Spirit to strengthen, expand or maybe even redirect your view of God via His very words.
I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)
To God Alone be the Glory
[1] Then
Job answered and said:
[2] “Truly
I know that it is so:
But how can a man be in the right before God?
[3] If
one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand
times.
[4] He is wise in heart and mighty
in strength
—who has hardened himself
against him, and succeeded?—
[5] he who removes mountains, and
they know it not,
when
he overturns them in his anger,
[6] who shakes the earth out of its
place,
and
its pillars tremble;
[7] who commands the sun, and it does
not rise;
who
seals up the stars;
[8] who alone stretched out the
heavens
and
trampled the waves of the sea;
[9] who made the Bear and Orion,
the
Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
[10] who does great things beyond
searching out,
and
marvelous things beyond number.
[11] Behold, he passes by me, and I
see him not;
he
moves on, but I do not perceive him.
[12] Behold, he snatches away; who
can turn him back?
Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)
To God Alone be the Glory
Thursday, February 9, 2012
The Root That Supports Us
Remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. (Rom 11:18)
How often do we mentally assent to a truth like this, yet in very practical ways live exactly the opposite? "God holds the future" we might say. Yet we fret and worry and devote inordinate resources to plan our retirements (or college funds). "God's Word will never return void" is a great, churchy Bible-based cliche. Yet we fret and worry and orchestrate our preaching and our services and our witnessing so the we have the best chance of affecting the outcome.
What is it that is in us that needs so desperately to be in control. We do not want to be the branches, do we? None of us want to be the worker bee; we all want to be the queen. What drives this? And why does this invade all aspects of our lives?
The short answer is that we are sons and daughters of our father Adam and mother Eve. Their catastrophic sin and the heritage they passed down to us was that they wanted to be like God. And since God is the only true root, part of the implication of their sin was they wanted to replace God at the root of things. Be in control. Make the decision. Affect the outcome.
And now, we want the same. We want control, power and influence. We want praise, honor and glory. What is hardest of all to see and most painful to realize is that this not just about retirement or planning church services. This seeps down to our essence of our standing before God. I challenge you to take an informal survey of people who profess to be saved. Ask them, why they think they are saved. For the ones who are able to articulate this (don't be surprised if several can't), many (dare I say most) will answer along these lines: I trusted Christ or I put my faith in Jesus or I invited Jesus into my heart.
Now, I realize that a part of our salvation experience is accepting the free gift of grace and surrendering our lives to Christ. And yet to have our minds fixated on our side of the equation is to invert the root and the branches. If Jesus didn't die for our sins there is no sacrifice to accept. If Jesus, through the Spirit isn't seeking us there is nothing to open our hearts toward. Additionally this inverts the pride and humility components of the gospel. There is nothing for us to be proud of in the gospel. Spiritually, we are blind and lame and dead. God is the one who orchestrated everything and rescued, restored and redeemed us. The glory is His. The honor is His. The humility is ours.
This is part of Paul's thrust throughout Rom 11 and moving into 12. We must have full view of God's redemptive purpose and plan if we are going to be an effective part of it. We must see and know that He is the root. We must see and know that He graphs in the branches and cultivates them. We must see and know that His purposes and plans go way beyond what we see or can even conceive. We must see and know that everything He equips us for is fueled by and driven from His mercy.
So in the words of Romans 11: Do not be arrogant; remember the kindness and severity of God.
I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)
To God Alone be the Glory
How often do we mentally assent to a truth like this, yet in very practical ways live exactly the opposite? "God holds the future" we might say. Yet we fret and worry and devote inordinate resources to plan our retirements (or college funds). "God's Word will never return void" is a great, churchy Bible-based cliche. Yet we fret and worry and orchestrate our preaching and our services and our witnessing so the we have the best chance of affecting the outcome.
What is it that is in us that needs so desperately to be in control. We do not want to be the branches, do we? None of us want to be the worker bee; we all want to be the queen. What drives this? And why does this invade all aspects of our lives?
The short answer is that we are sons and daughters of our father Adam and mother Eve. Their catastrophic sin and the heritage they passed down to us was that they wanted to be like God. And since God is the only true root, part of the implication of their sin was they wanted to replace God at the root of things. Be in control. Make the decision. Affect the outcome.
And now, we want the same. We want control, power and influence. We want praise, honor and glory. What is hardest of all to see and most painful to realize is that this not just about retirement or planning church services. This seeps down to our essence of our standing before God. I challenge you to take an informal survey of people who profess to be saved. Ask them, why they think they are saved. For the ones who are able to articulate this (don't be surprised if several can't), many (dare I say most) will answer along these lines: I trusted Christ or I put my faith in Jesus or I invited Jesus into my heart.
Now, I realize that a part of our salvation experience is accepting the free gift of grace and surrendering our lives to Christ. And yet to have our minds fixated on our side of the equation is to invert the root and the branches. If Jesus didn't die for our sins there is no sacrifice to accept. If Jesus, through the Spirit isn't seeking us there is nothing to open our hearts toward. Additionally this inverts the pride and humility components of the gospel. There is nothing for us to be proud of in the gospel. Spiritually, we are blind and lame and dead. God is the one who orchestrated everything and rescued, restored and redeemed us. The glory is His. The honor is His. The humility is ours.
This is part of Paul's thrust throughout Rom 11 and moving into 12. We must have full view of God's redemptive purpose and plan if we are going to be an effective part of it. We must see and know that He is the root. We must see and know that He graphs in the branches and cultivates them. We must see and know that His purposes and plans go way beyond what we see or can even conceive. We must see and know that everything He equips us for is fueled by and driven from His mercy.
So in the words of Romans 11: Do not be arrogant; remember the kindness and severity of God.
I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)
To God Alone be the Glory
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
And again He taught them
And again, as was his custom, he taught them. (Mk 10:1)
It is interesting to me that in a "throw away" transitional sentence, Mark, by the inspiration of God, both communicates volumes about Jesus' earthly ministry and calls us to learn, really, deeply, repeatedly learn from Him as well. It brings to mind a statement I read just a few days ago. It is God's Word itself that teaches us. And, Mark 10 is an awesome resource for calling us to follow hard after Christ.
First, we are called to have deeply dependent faith. Men and women who follow Jesus are exhorted to have a faith as dependent as a child, How often do we look to God like that? Simply trusting that He is always on our side. Somehow knowing that everything will be o.k. Not worrying if we've outrun His love. Not concerned that we will wake up tomorrow and find that He is gone.
Next we are challenged to get our priorities straight. One can always meet an external code, especially one that is man-centered (or worse yet, man-made). But one can never meet the internal requirements of God. Please note that Jesus loved the young man (and us) enough to keep pressing the issue until his heart was revealed. He will do the same for us, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear and a child-like faith to trust that He can save us out of the mess we've created for ourselves.
Beyond this, Jesus underscores by lesson and by personal testimony, that true faith does not terminate on ourselves. The primary terminus is God, who deserves all praise, but out of the gratitude and worship that our salvation generates comes a service to others that is beyond comparison. Mark 10:45 is the epitome of this truth. But we must not leave it simply in Christ's repertoire. He has called us to imitate Him in this.
The chapter is closed out by an example of the child like faith described at the beginning. The blind beggar will not be kept from Jesus and simply asks for what he needs most: his sight. Oh, if we could drop our pretense before God and "barge into His presence" and ask for the deepest aches and needs of our hearts.
I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)
To God Alone be the Glory
It is interesting to me that in a "throw away" transitional sentence, Mark, by the inspiration of God, both communicates volumes about Jesus' earthly ministry and calls us to learn, really, deeply, repeatedly learn from Him as well. It brings to mind a statement I read just a few days ago. It is God's Word itself that teaches us. And, Mark 10 is an awesome resource for calling us to follow hard after Christ.
First, we are called to have deeply dependent faith. Men and women who follow Jesus are exhorted to have a faith as dependent as a child, How often do we look to God like that? Simply trusting that He is always on our side. Somehow knowing that everything will be o.k. Not worrying if we've outrun His love. Not concerned that we will wake up tomorrow and find that He is gone.
Next we are challenged to get our priorities straight. One can always meet an external code, especially one that is man-centered (or worse yet, man-made). But one can never meet the internal requirements of God. Please note that Jesus loved the young man (and us) enough to keep pressing the issue until his heart was revealed. He will do the same for us, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear and a child-like faith to trust that He can save us out of the mess we've created for ourselves.
Beyond this, Jesus underscores by lesson and by personal testimony, that true faith does not terminate on ourselves. The primary terminus is God, who deserves all praise, but out of the gratitude and worship that our salvation generates comes a service to others that is beyond comparison. Mark 10:45 is the epitome of this truth. But we must not leave it simply in Christ's repertoire. He has called us to imitate Him in this.
The chapter is closed out by an example of the child like faith described at the beginning. The blind beggar will not be kept from Jesus and simply asks for what he needs most: his sight. Oh, if we could drop our pretense before God and "barge into His presence" and ask for the deepest aches and needs of our hearts.
I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)
To God Alone be the Glory
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Hold on to Jesus
Steven Curtis Chapman
I have come to this ocean
And the waves of fear are starting to grow
The doubts and questions are rising with the tide
So I'm clinging to the one sure thing I know
I will hold on to the hand of my Savior
And I will hold on with all my might
I will hold loosely to things that are fleeting
And hold on to Jesus
I will hold on to Jesus for life
I've tried to hold many treasures
They just keep slipping through my fingers like sand
But there's one treasure that means more than breath itself
So I'm clinging to it with everything I am
Like a child holding on to a promise
I will cling to His word and believe
As I press on to take hold of that
For which Christ Jesus took hold of me
Hold on for life
To God Alone be the Glory
I have come to this ocean
And the waves of fear are starting to grow
The doubts and questions are rising with the tide
So I'm clinging to the one sure thing I know
I will hold on to the hand of my Savior
And I will hold on with all my might
I will hold loosely to things that are fleeting
And hold on to Jesus
I will hold on to Jesus for life
I've tried to hold many treasures
They just keep slipping through my fingers like sand
But there's one treasure that means more than breath itself
So I'm clinging to it with everything I am
Like a child holding on to a promise
I will cling to His word and believe
As I press on to take hold of that
For which Christ Jesus took hold of me
Hold on for life
To God Alone be the Glory
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom 7:24-25)
Who among us, if we are honest, has not asked this question? Who among us, if we are honest, has not at some point looked at our lives and asked along with Job "Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’" Who among us, if we are honest, has not wanted to simply quit, start over or simply walk away?
If you think about it, that is the dilemma facing Paul in Romans 7. It is also the dilemma that faced Job. Even Nicodemus in John 3 is probing this question. There's a sense of this in what the author of Hebrews is addressing and also the churches that received the book of Revelation were facing this issue. Friends, when these aches arise in our hearts, we are not alone.
We do need a dose of reality as we face these times in our lives. One reality that we can't escape, but often try to anyway, is the fact that we are all physically dying. If you are reading this and are on the "upward slope" of "the hill", you may agree intellectually, but may not appreciate the pervasiveness of this reality. If you are "over the hill", you are beginning to grasp that your body is a finite machine that is wearing out. And for all of us, we are one accident, one illness, one phone call away from having this reality smashed into our face. Do I say this to depress? No, but to remind us all that physically we are all living in a body of death.
There is another reality that we need to keep in our minds. It is the fact that we are all in spiritual jungle. This picture is too nuanced to fully paint today, but the image we should all have in our minds is that while God has given us a clearing in the jungle by grace through the death of Jesus, the jungle keeps encroaching. We, by the power of the Spirit whack at the vines and insects, the snakes and the underbrush, but if we pause or get distracted, the jungle begins to over power us. And we feel ourselves drifting back to that body of death.
At this point, if we are honest, I think each of us can say with Paul "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" And while being at the end our ropes, or feeling like it, is not what we wish for or hope for or strive for, it is a place each of us has been (or will be some day). The question is how do we respond? Do we respond like Job's friends, with empty, pious religion? Do we respond like Nicodemus, probing but not grasping the simplicity of the answer. Do we respond like Job who sensed God was in the midst of everything yet needed Him to prove himself or at least explain what was going on? Or, do we respond like Paul and say this may be a struggle and this may be a fight, but thanks be to God because there is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ?
You see what Job's friends and Nicodemus missed, what Job himself didn't see until God revealed himself but what Paul understood is that what we have here is not the end. Our physical bodies will fail and die. Our spiritual battles will require effort and strength and training and blood, sweat and tears. And we will lose some of those battles. But the decisive battle has already been won. There is a mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Jesus will!
So as we move forward, our hope is not in physical deliverance and protection, even though God may graciously give us both. Our hope is not in spiritual victory, although we strive, in the Spirit's power to grow up into Christ. Our hope is that Jesus died to deliver a people to himself. And that the Triune God had a plan from beginning to end to rescue and protect his sheep and present them faultless before his throne And that one day, every tear will be dried, every tongue will praise God and the Lamb, every sin will be vanquished and we will receive a body of life. And we will walk with God.
I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)
To God Alone be the Glory
Who among us, if we are honest, has not asked this question? Who among us, if we are honest, has not at some point looked at our lives and asked along with Job "Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’" Who among us, if we are honest, has not wanted to simply quit, start over or simply walk away?
If you think about it, that is the dilemma facing Paul in Romans 7. It is also the dilemma that faced Job. Even Nicodemus in John 3 is probing this question. There's a sense of this in what the author of Hebrews is addressing and also the churches that received the book of Revelation were facing this issue. Friends, when these aches arise in our hearts, we are not alone.
We do need a dose of reality as we face these times in our lives. One reality that we can't escape, but often try to anyway, is the fact that we are all physically dying. If you are reading this and are on the "upward slope" of "the hill", you may agree intellectually, but may not appreciate the pervasiveness of this reality. If you are "over the hill", you are beginning to grasp that your body is a finite machine that is wearing out. And for all of us, we are one accident, one illness, one phone call away from having this reality smashed into our face. Do I say this to depress? No, but to remind us all that physically we are all living in a body of death.
There is another reality that we need to keep in our minds. It is the fact that we are all in spiritual jungle. This picture is too nuanced to fully paint today, but the image we should all have in our minds is that while God has given us a clearing in the jungle by grace through the death of Jesus, the jungle keeps encroaching. We, by the power of the Spirit whack at the vines and insects, the snakes and the underbrush, but if we pause or get distracted, the jungle begins to over power us. And we feel ourselves drifting back to that body of death.
At this point, if we are honest, I think each of us can say with Paul "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" And while being at the end our ropes, or feeling like it, is not what we wish for or hope for or strive for, it is a place each of us has been (or will be some day). The question is how do we respond? Do we respond like Job's friends, with empty, pious religion? Do we respond like Nicodemus, probing but not grasping the simplicity of the answer. Do we respond like Job who sensed God was in the midst of everything yet needed Him to prove himself or at least explain what was going on? Or, do we respond like Paul and say this may be a struggle and this may be a fight, but thanks be to God because there is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ?
You see what Job's friends and Nicodemus missed, what Job himself didn't see until God revealed himself but what Paul understood is that what we have here is not the end. Our physical bodies will fail and die. Our spiritual battles will require effort and strength and training and blood, sweat and tears. And we will lose some of those battles. But the decisive battle has already been won. There is a mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Jesus will!
So as we move forward, our hope is not in physical deliverance and protection, even though God may graciously give us both. Our hope is not in spiritual victory, although we strive, in the Spirit's power to grow up into Christ. Our hope is that Jesus died to deliver a people to himself. And that the Triune God had a plan from beginning to end to rescue and protect his sheep and present them faultless before his throne And that one day, every tear will be dried, every tongue will praise God and the Lamb, every sin will be vanquished and we will receive a body of life. And we will walk with God.
I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)
To God Alone be the Glory
Friday, February 3, 2012
Enough of Jesus?
And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. (Mk 5:17)
Jesus' encounter with the demon possessed man is familiar to most of us. It is a clear demonstration of Jesus' authority even over a spiritual world that is adamantly opposed to Him. Yet, what sticks with me, in varying degrees, each time I read this account, is the reaction of the observers. They beg Jesus to depart.
To depart?
When I think about this, I wonder who would actually ask Jesus, the real-in-the-flesh Jesus, to depart. Please note, this is not a passive, I will just keep my head down, ignoring of Jesus. This is an active, I don't want you in my city, begging of him to depart.
I think there's a sense in my mind, and probably in yours too, that I would never do that. Perhaps we think (or hope) that we would be more like the demon possessed man after he was rescued, begging to go with Jesus. And while it may be the inclination of our hearts to want to see ourselves this way, the point of this episode is that apart from grace, nobody wants Jesus.
Clearly the demon possessed man was not inviting Jesus over for coffee. Clearly the demons themselves, although they probably saw Jesus most readily, wanted nothing to do with him. Clearly the townsfolk want Jesus to get lost, even after his miraculous work. What made the difference? Jesus did. He spoke into one man's life and he was changed. The demons were gone, sanity was restored and worship and discipleship had begun.
But what about the people from town? Their reaction is a lot like the reaction to Jesus in our own day. Jesus is fine in church. Jesus is fine for religious people. Jesus is fine on Sunday. But don't bring Jesus into my hurting marriage. Don't bring Jesus into my selfish lifestyle. Don't bring Jesus into my political decisions. Please Jesus, just leave us alone. And, according to Rom 1, the most terrifying curse of God is when He does exactly that.
I need to wrap this up with a question. Where are we in all of this. As I said earlier, I think we all want to view ourselves as the rescued demon possessed man. And, in one sense, if we are believers in Christ, we are. However, I need press this a little harder. How often to we still resemble the townsfolk? How often to we look at Jesus then look at some portion of our life and say, in effect, "Jesus please leave me alone"? How often do we say, consciously or subconsciously, "I have enough Jesus"?
Note this: It is a very dangerous thing to beg Jesus to depart. He may just do it.
I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)
To God Alone be the Glory
Jesus' encounter with the demon possessed man is familiar to most of us. It is a clear demonstration of Jesus' authority even over a spiritual world that is adamantly opposed to Him. Yet, what sticks with me, in varying degrees, each time I read this account, is the reaction of the observers. They beg Jesus to depart.
To depart?
When I think about this, I wonder who would actually ask Jesus, the real-in-the-flesh Jesus, to depart. Please note, this is not a passive, I will just keep my head down, ignoring of Jesus. This is an active, I don't want you in my city, begging of him to depart.
I think there's a sense in my mind, and probably in yours too, that I would never do that. Perhaps we think (or hope) that we would be more like the demon possessed man after he was rescued, begging to go with Jesus. And while it may be the inclination of our hearts to want to see ourselves this way, the point of this episode is that apart from grace, nobody wants Jesus.
Clearly the demon possessed man was not inviting Jesus over for coffee. Clearly the demons themselves, although they probably saw Jesus most readily, wanted nothing to do with him. Clearly the townsfolk want Jesus to get lost, even after his miraculous work. What made the difference? Jesus did. He spoke into one man's life and he was changed. The demons were gone, sanity was restored and worship and discipleship had begun.
But what about the people from town? Their reaction is a lot like the reaction to Jesus in our own day. Jesus is fine in church. Jesus is fine for religious people. Jesus is fine on Sunday. But don't bring Jesus into my hurting marriage. Don't bring Jesus into my selfish lifestyle. Don't bring Jesus into my political decisions. Please Jesus, just leave us alone. And, according to Rom 1, the most terrifying curse of God is when He does exactly that.
I need to wrap this up with a question. Where are we in all of this. As I said earlier, I think we all want to view ourselves as the rescued demon possessed man. And, in one sense, if we are believers in Christ, we are. However, I need press this a little harder. How often to we still resemble the townsfolk? How often to we look at Jesus then look at some portion of our life and say, in effect, "Jesus please leave me alone"? How often do we say, consciously or subconsciously, "I have enough Jesus"?
Note this: It is a very dangerous thing to beg Jesus to depart. He may just do it.
I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)
To God Alone be the Glory
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