Advent 2015 - Day 15

"We must both read and meditate upon the nativity. If the meditation does not reach the heart, we shall sense no sweetness, nor shall we know what solace for humankind lies in this contemplation. The heart will not laugh nor be merry. As spray does not touch the deep, so mere meditation will not quiet the heart. There is such richness and goodness in this nativity that if we should see and deeply understand, we should be dissolved in perpetual joy." (Martin Luther)

Prior posts:

Day 14
Day 13 | Day 12 | Day 11 | Day 10 | Day 9 | Day 8 | Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

A desperate prayer

(Author's note: What follows is simply a compilation of various prayers that I have offered to God this week. My goal is not to engender your pity or your sympathy or even your empathy. Instead, my hope is that we can all be real with God and abandon ourselves in our desperate need of Him)

Father, Abba, Daddy,

Why do I so often come to you wearing a mask? You know all things. You've created all things. You control all things. You know me. You've created me. You are sovereignly at work in my life. Who do I think I am to try to hide from you or pretend that I am someone other than who I am? Perhaps this is just another reminder of how deep my rebellion and arrogance go. And it reveals how desperately bankrupt I am.

But, I need to thank you for the infinite grace and mercy that you have shown me in Christ. I am only now, 20 years into this journey with you, beginning to realize the immensity of the ocean of the love of Christ. I am incredibly grateful for all that Christ has accomplished on the Cross and that you have applied his finished work to my traitorous, treacherous life. And yet I am still standing on the shore holding all I know about you and your Son and the Spirit in a thimble. I desperately need to dive into the ocean of your grace and majesty, power and holiness. I desperately need to drink deeply from your fountain of patience, humility, compassion and forgiveness.

As I consider Christ's promise on your behalf that you would give good things to your children, I want so much to ask and seek and knock in childlike faith not childish pride or selfishness. I regret that too many of my prayers are one dimensional and treat you as a genie or a vending machine and have a view that this life is our ultimate objective. Forgive me, please. How often do I forget Jesus' very words "Your Father knows that we need them all (life's necessities). But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added onto you"?

So here I am, open and exposed. The more I look at myself, the more I see leprosy and gangrene, rotting teeth and cancer to the bone. There is nothing I have to offer you and nothing I can do on your behalf without you. Quite frankly, I'm desperate. If you will, take this rebellious, traitorous, willful, arrogant coward and use him in a way that brings you the most glory and impacts Christ's kingdom in a way that only you can. And empower me to turn any success or setback into an opportunity for your praise and testimony of your great grace and mercy and love and power. Please take my values, my priorities, everything that drives me and reorient them in way that is radically aligned with your values, priorities and what drove (and drives) Christ.

I can only lay this before your throne humbly and with tears because of and through and in alignment with your Son, my savior, Jesus.  Amen.

To God Alone be the Glory

Jars of Clay or Swallowed up by Life?

What does one do with 2 Cor 4-5? I've realized this weekend that I've highlighted and underlined virtually every verse in these two profound chapters. I almost wrote a blog post at the end of chapter 4, but hesitated since, these two chapters are intimately connected. How could I simply write about half of the picture? But now, with chapter 5 under my belt, I have the opposite problem. How do I highlight or summarize these two chapters? I'm not sure I have a good approach, but I'm going to try.

As I looked back over the verses, one thing that struck me was the images of the two conditions of believers. One condition is summed up in 4:7 "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." How true is that? But there is another condition portrayed in 5:4b "so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." Isn't this the hope that all of us have?

Re-reading these two chapters, I see Paul painting pictures around these two conditions. Our current condition: frail, fallen and broken, yet not ultimately defeated, disowned or destroyed. He never says this is simply our fallen state and that we should despair. Instead he encourages us to see our current circumstances, as bad as they may be, as a testimony to the grace and mercy of God. Because through what we are currently enduring, God is glorified and we look forward to our ultimate deliverance. And that is the second image he paints for us. A glorified, resurrected existence that will be in the very presence of God. He then connects these two conditions by saying we are waiting, some days with groans, in the former condition. But we have the Spirit as a guarantee, a promise that one day soon we will make the trade. We will move from our jar of clay and be swallowed up by life.

To God Alone be the Glory

Last Day?

There may be a follow up entry, if the Lord allows, but I felt like simply recording some of my disparate thoughts as they tumble around in my brain. Edwards got me going two Mondays ago when he said

"Resolved, Never to do any thing, which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life"

Since then I periodically ask "What if this were the last...?

• Last good bye with my wife
• Last time I take my kids to school
• Last blog I write
• Last lesson I teach
• Last conversation I have with an individual

These last things could be because my earthly days have ended or the others with whom I interact have died. Trust me when I say that my thoughts are not morbid, but rather they are Spirit convicted to ask ""are those really the last words or thoughts you want to leave on that persons heart?" Or, because I watch too many movies, is that the way you would want your earthly movie to end?

Unfortunately, I don't have any strong, profound answers other than what Edwards wrote and Jesus, Paul and the rest of the NT church lived.

It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  Phil 1:20-21

To God Alone be the Glory.

I will warn you whom to fear

(Editorial comment: Luke 12 is a treasure trove of truth. I noted at least five different topics that easily deserve their own blog entry. But, instead of one massive entry, or getting buried with five or more separate entries, my humble challenge is for you to prayerfully read Luke 12 and ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your heart (Eph 1:18) so that you may see Christ more richly and deeply and you may praise and worship and glorify our Father more fully and that you may know yourself better and realize your role in God's awesome redemptive plan more clearly.  All of this to the glory of the One to made us, died for us, redeemed us, is purifying us and will ultimately glorify us.)

I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.  But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!  Luke 12:4-5

God was very gracious to me today. Actually, He is very gracious to me every day, just the gift of waking up, plus walking, plus thinking, plus a loving family, and the wonderfully extravagant list goes on. But today, on top of all that, He allowed Luke 12 to "click" in my mind.  Narrowing my thoughts down to one item from a chapter packed with an incredible variety of truths was challenging, but I'm trusting that the Spirit will direct these words.

For some reason, verses 4 and 5 always seem to resonate with me each time I read them. Perhaps its because there is an innate fear of man in me. Perhaps its because I have heard John Piper preach or work through this passage on more than one occasion. Or perhaps I'm uncomfortable with Jesus telling me that I should fear God, who can throw me into hell. And, if your hermeneutical defenses go up like mine saying "Context! He must talking to unbelievers." Read the passage again.  Both the broad (v1) and immediate (v4) context show that Jesus was primarily addressing the disciples. Believers. Us.

So, what is Jesus getting at when he tells us to fear the God who can both kill us and cast us into hell?  The first observation is one of proportion. Verse 4 and 5 fit together for a reason. In verse 4 Jesus essentially asks, what is the worst thing man can do to you? Torture? Rape? Destroy your family? Ruin your career? Kill you? All bad things. Without a doubt and no one actively seeks them out. But Jesus' point in verse 5 is that none of those things, as bad as they are, are permanent. Man can draw dramatic and ugly pictures on a dry erase board; only God writes with indelible ink. So why fear man, when nothing he can do will last. Instead, fear God, who alone has the power of permanency.

Another quick observation is that a true view of God gives us perspective.  A glance at verse 1 shows that thousands were now following this little band and that people were getting trampled to get to them. I don't know about you, but if I was part of the "inner circle" my ego would out of control. It seems Jesus sees the same thing. He is beginning to peel back layers of the disciples' pride, self righteousness and selfishness. This hits home even harder when we realize that this a sustained theme throughout the Bible. In and of ourselves, we have nothing of value, nothing of worth. Even the image of God that we are each created with is broken and tarnished and unfit to represent the One whose image we were designed to portray. Praise God that in Christ all of this is reversed!  He took on all that we were so that we could receive all that we were meant to be.

One final observation. We have proportion with what man can do to us versus what God can do to us. We have perspective in who we are versus who God is and what He gives to those who believe. And we also have a corrected view of our position (sorry I had to alliterate). Is God a God of love? Absolutely! We wouldn't be here if He wasn't. Every day since the rebellion in the Garden has been a gracious, merciful, loving gift from God. But yet, is God so simple?  Is love, true agape love so simple? What about God's holiness? I say all this to make the point that God is bigger than we realize.  Not just spatially bigger. Not just chronologically bigger. Not just morally bigger. Not just informationallly bigger. Not just powerfully bigger. Check out Job 26. Job sums his observations of God by saying: Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand? Job 26:14. Paul says it this way: "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?" Rom 9:20.

This healthy view of our proportion, perspective and position before God should drive both our prayers and our praise. Our praise should be unfettered by what others think or expect or say. It will driven by the unimaginable reality that the God who owns everything and is perfectly complete in himself and can't even look upon us and against whom we have traitorously rebelled has designed, commissioned and executed a rescue mission and he has set his affections on us simply because he wanted to do so rather than send us to hell. And our prayers should be marked by a profound awe that we can even approach the One whose majesty and power and holiness should send us directly to the abyss. Not only that, but our prayers should be offered as humble supplications to the sovereign Lord of the universe who has chosen to breathe life into us and to adopt us into his family. Our confidence and assurance rises from the fact that God has given us the one big thing. He has given us Jesus. Anything else we ask, as big as it may appear to us, is really just icing on the cake.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

         “For who has known the mind of the Lord,

                    or who has been his counselor?”

         “Or who has given a gift to him

                    that he might be repaid?”

         For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Saturating Showers of Grace

If God gives a blessing, he usually gives it in such a measure that there is not room enough to receive it. Plenteous grace! Ah! we want plenteous grace to keep us humble, to make us prayerful, to make us holy; plenteous grace to make us zealous, to preserve us through this life, and at last to land us in heaven. We cannot do without saturating showers of grace. - Spurgeon

It is an interesting combination to read a quote like the one above from Spurgeon together with 1 Cor 12. There are many nuances and dare I say, many misunderstandings in 1 Cor 12, but one thing seems abundantly clear God, through the Spirit gives "grace gifts" to his people for their common good and for Christ's glory.  And because the Spirit gives his gifts with our best interests in mind, there is no room for pride, envy or doubt. (kudos to Carson). All that's left for us is worship, and humbly exercising the gift(s) we've been given. And the greatest gift, the gift that all believers receive without exception? The gift of grace, the gift of salvation, the gift of faith.

May we put to use the gift(s) God has given us for the glory of Christ and for the good of his Church. And may we stand in awe of the One who did not turn away from the cross, but embraced it so that by his atoning death we would receive new life and be adopted into the family of God.

To God Alone be the Glory

Imitate me?

"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." 1 Cor 11:1

Even as I write these words I cringe. This verse has stuck with me for a long time and every time I read it and some times when it "pops" into my mind, I want to run and hide. But today, instead of running, I want to reflect on what Paul is asking of us with this verse.

First, as always, Christ must be central. Whatever Paul is calling the Corinthians to be and to do, whatever he is calling us to be and to do, it must be centered on, focused on, reliant upon and give glory to Christ. Nothing else is ultimately worthy of imitation.

Second, there must be something, some component of who Christ was (and is) , some aspect of our Savior that is imitatable.  I will not take the time right now, but it might be a healthy spiritual exercise for each of us to reflect on what aspects of Christ we can in fact imitate.  I would submit that there are more than we care to admit.

Third and, in my opinion, the hardest, we not only need to actually begin to try to imitate Christ in the ways we are able to imitate Him (i.e. not sin baring for me, but I certainly can pray more), but we need to consciously lay our lives out to others as something worthy of imitation. If we read this verse carefully, Paul is not just saying "Imitate Christ" but he's saying "Imitate Christ as you see Him in me". To fully embrace what Paul is saying, we must imitate Christ, not just because he's worthy of imitation and such imitation is really worship, but also because we are part of progression of imitators.

I have no doubt this verse is daunting. It certainly is to me.  It is hard enough to strive to imitate Christ, but to publicly throw my life out there a call people to imitate me, as I imitate Christ, is very risky.  One can appear arrogant, one can be open to charges of immaturity and hypocrisy. It might just be easier to simply let others passively view our lives and possibly catch the one Christ-like thing we did and imitate that. Less risk? Absolutely.  But is God glorified in that? Is Christ-exalted in that? Is the Spirit indispensably needed in that? Is the gospel held forth in that? My resounding answer is No!

So my prayer today in the name of Christ through the power of his shed blood, by the working of the Holy Spirit in each our lives for the glory and renown of God our Father, that we may actively imitate Christ and that we may actively call others to imitate our lives, as we imitate Christ.

To God Alone be the Glory.

A Tuesday Morning Prayer

Father,

I want to approach your Word differently today. I know its true and its your gracious gift to us who believe, but today, like no other day, allow it to penetrate into the core of my heart and soul. Allow your Word to affect me, to press on me in a way it has never done before. And, I humbly, reverently, yet boldly ask that you protect me from the external perspectives toward your Word. Help me today, by the power of your Spirit, to become a Christian, to become a disciple, to become a son. I ask this in the name of your Son, who alone gives life, who alone gives sight, who alone covers sin and who alone makes all things new.

To you Father, the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

A Hunger and a Thirst for Righteousness

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Mt 5:6

The combination of preparing a study on prayer, reading the sermon on the plain (Luke 6), and hearing the first sermon in a series on the sermon on the mount (Mt 5-7), has resulted in me reflecting on the most challenging of the beatitudes for me: Mt 5:6. While all of the beatitudes present their own challenges, and, in the spirit of the entire sermon on the mount, they leave us in desperate need of Christ, the 4th beatitude presses and probes me in a way the others don't.

Hunger and thirst seem to be such common traits. We don't do anything to become hungry or thirsty. Instead, they are both reactions to something lacking in our bodies, namely food and water. But how does this translate to a hunger and a thirst for righteousness? Where is the pang, where is the parchednees, where is the desperate, ravenous need to satisfy our hunger and our thirst righteousness? Why are we so easily contented for something less than a Christ-exalting righteousness? The cool thing, of course, is that as the Spirit increases our hunger and our thirst for righteousness, we will be satisfied.

To God Alone be the Glory

Stewards of the Mysteries of God

"This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." 1 Cor 4:1

"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

"Any many who has had some glimpse of what is it to preach will inevitably feel that he has never preached. But he will go on trying, hoping that by the grace of God one day he may truly preach." Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers. (thanks to Kevin DeYoung)

O.K. I'll admit it. This going to be autobiographical.  I pray that God, through the power of the Spirit can use my self reflective thoughts to exalt His glorious Son and the gospel that transforms lives.

As I read 1 Cor 4 yesterday, I was struck hard by 3 independent, but interrelated thoughts. The first was "We are all, in some degree, a 'steward of the mysteries of God'". Think about it. Not many (or any) of us are called to preach and clearly none of us are apostles or writing additional books for the New Testament. Yet, God has given each of us windows into His truth that He may not have given to others. Why has He done this? Certainly for our own spiritual good.  But, what if that isn't the only reason. What if the objective is not for us to be reservoirs of biblical, gospel truth, but rather to be a source of fresh water to a dry, parched, dying world?

Thought two was right on the heals and basically slapped down any pride I might have regarding being a steward of the mysteries of God. "What do I have that I have not received?"  There is no doubt that this verse can be broadly applied: loving spouse, good job, health, ability to write or sing or whatever. The list could (and should) go on and on to the glory of God.Yet, in its context, verse 7 is speaking of the mysteries of God. And trust me, we are no less shortsighted in this area than in any other. Whatever you know about God, whatever I can trace out about prayer, whatever measure of grace we have received, isn't it all a gracious, gift from God? And if its a gift, what is the proper response toward the giver?

The final thought was driven home by verse 14. "For though you have countless guides in Christ, you don't have many fathers" When I read this last fall, my focus was as if Paul were writing to me.  And the reality is I don't have many (any) fathers in Christ. I have guides (blogs and books and brothers, although not necessarily in that order!), but someone I would consider a spiritual father? Yet this time around, while those thoughts still linger, God, by His grace, brought a different, more pressing question to my mind: "why aren't you a father?"  Probing that thought will take another entry, but the thought and the challenge remains.

My prayer, here at the end, is that you would prayerfully, thoughtfully re-read 1 Cor 4 and allow the Holy Spirit to press you to the glory of Christ and for the sake of His gospel.

To God Alone be the Glory

No Other Foundation

"For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Cor 3:11

1 Corinthians 3 always captivates me. Each time I read it I am reminded (sometimes forcefully) of a few  gospel-driven, Christ-exalting truths.  The first truth is found in verses 1-4 and reiterated in Heb 5. We, as Christians, are quite capable of neglecting the gift that we have been given in Christ. And this is to our detriment and to the detriment of those around us. Listen to the tenor of Paul's argument. He is not saying that you need to graduate to an advanced Christianity or that you are is o.k.,. but there is something better ahead. No, his point is that our faith can degrade into a childish (not childlike) faith and this affects ourselves as  well as others and deserves a godly rebuke.

Another truth the sings in this chapter is that everything happening in the progression of the gospel, both personally and globally is in the hand of God. Look at verses 5-9. Are people involved? Absolutely. But it is God who brings the growth. I have planted many flowers (seeds and bulbs) in various gardens over the years and I have watered and fertilized them all. In all that time, I have not yet made one of them bloom (or whither). All my yearning, all my coaxing, all my TLC doesn't really make them bloom or not bloom and it certainly doesn't make a marigold into a rose. And don't get me started on the wild flowers in the field across the street! The same is true with the gospel. God brings the growth.

A third truth found in 1 Cor 3 is laid out in verses 10-15. Whatever service we do, whatever ministry we participate in, whatever Bible study we lead, they all are built (or should be) on the foundation of Jesus Christ.  This means who Christ is, what he accomplished on the Cross, the reality of His incarnation, His diety, His intercession, His imminent return and so much more must all inform and constrain and empower everything we do. And if it doesn't? Paul is clear: the quality of our work will be revealed. Verse 15 is both a comforting and a scary verse. It is comforting in that we, who trust Christ alone for our salvation will be saved. But it is scary in that everything that we've done, if not built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, could prove to be a waste. In my mind that is similar to graduating high school with a D- average.  Do you have a diploma? Yes. Did you even come close to maximizing your high school years? No.

So what's the big idea? The years (perhaps decades) between the Spirit opening our eyes to the truth of the gospel and His bringing us home do not belong to us. They belong to Christ. And when we grow and serve and depend upon Christ and seek to rely on the Spirit, God is glorified, Christ is exalting and His kingdom breaks through. And, in the end, our lives will be judged worthy of the gospel that we have received.

To God Alone be the Glory

Have You Not Read?

How often does Jesus ask that question? How often does He ask it as a stinging rebuke to leaders who were leading God's people down the wide road of destruction? How often does the question hit us hard in the gut because we have in fact read it many times?

That's the real indictment, isn't it? Not Jesus' contemporaries who have become biblically illiterate. Not the Jewish leaders who seemed blind to the truth of God's Word. Not the world around us that seems to daily devise new ways of ignoring God. No, the real sting of Jesus' question is to us who claim to be his disciples.

Sure we read His Word (I pray that you do and exhort you to start, if you don't), but do we really grasp it? Do we ask the Spirit to illumine the Word written by men, yet inspired by God and crafted over 2 millennia to have a single unitary message? Do we ask, seek, probe the Word itself to see the beating heart, not just of the human author, but that of the heavenly Author? Can we say with Jesus "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God"?

The next time we sit down with the Bible, let this question linger:  "Have you not read?"

To God Alone be the Glory.

Godly rebuke

"Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy."  Prv 27:6

"It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools."  Ecc 7:5 

"Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it."  Ps 141:5

Why is it that we have lost the fine art of the godly rebuke?  Perhaps its because we are so mired in our pride and self-centeredness that we either don't have any confidence that our rebuke is biblically true or we are unwilling and unable to graciously receive the rebuke that is given. And, as I reflect on it, this is like any relational issue that has gone a distance down the road, most actions serve to further the problem rather than to fix or repair it.

So, where do we start to turn the corner? As it is with so many things in our walk with Christ. we must start with prayer.  Prayer that we can both give and receive godly rebukes.  On the receiving side, we need to pray that we hear the Spirit through the rebuke.  Some (maybe most) of the rebuke might be way off target. But we must be alert, prayerfully alert to any element that resonates with Scripture and Christ's call on our lives.  On the giving side we must always keep Matt 7:5, Eph 4:29 and Phil 4:8 in mind. My personal, selfish, sinful preferences and opinions can easily seep into what I am trying to communicate to a brother or a sister. This, in turn, either renders the rebuke ineffective or it keeps me offering it in the first place. So, we must pray; pray for right hearts and submissive spirits.

But, I think there is a second part to this puzzle. It is distinct and subsidiary to prayer, but yet it is tied to it. It is cultivating a heart attitude that is desirous of rebuke. Even as I write that, I know it sounds foreign and almost sacrilegious. Yet, if we pause for a moment and consider how God actually brings growth in our life, isn't usually through some form of correction? And if God's correction leads to our growth in Christ-likeness, shouldn't we be expecting it or even seeking it? And if God's correction can be mediated through our brothers or sisters via a rebuke then ...

Here's the bottom-line, at least for me.  I want to be attentive to the Spirit-directed rebukes of those who love and care for me in Christ. And I want to love others within the church of Christ enough to lovingly rebuke them when the Spirit prompts me to do so.

To God Alone be the Glory

They Had Been With Jesus

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13

I must give credit where credit is due.  The Spirit provoked these thoughts via Spurgeon's morning devo:

If we were what we profess to be, and what we should be, we should be pictures of Christ; yea, such striking likenesses of him, that the world would not have to hold us up by the hour together, and say, "Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness;" but they would, when they once beheld us, exclaim, "He has been with Jesus; he has been taught of him; he is like him; he has caught the very idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his life and every-day actions."

Spurgeon goes on to make some more excellent points, but what struck me the hardest is the idea that Christianity is not something we do or join or simply acknowledge. It is something we become.  Here is a less than perfect analogy: I do many things a manner much like my dad. Do I think about them? Do I intentionally do things or say things to mimic him? Do I walk around asking 'what would my Dad do in this situation?' The answers are no. I have simply picked up various traits of the man I lived with and interacted with for nearly 30 years. In some sense, I have become my father. And if someone knew him, they could say :"He is just like his father"  And if someone didn't know him, I can say (in a small, human way) "If you know me, you know my father"

The bottom-line? We need (well, at least I do) to move from thinking about our Christianity as something external, as something we put on. Rather it needs to be something internal, something that affects the very fiber of who we are. And, when someone who knows our Father sees us they will say, "They are just like their Father"  And if someone doesn't know our Father, whatever else they may say, I pray they would say, "They have been with Jesus"

To God Alone be the Glory

The Radical Gospel

I read an excellent entry in The Gospel Coalition blog by Dane Ortlund. (Read it here)  Ortlund's main thesis is that our righteous living doesn't come from a new "Christianized" morality. Rather it comes from radical dependence on the grace of God.  Here are a couple of quotes:

"The gospel of grace is so radical, so free, so counterintuitive, so defiant of all the entrenched expectations of our law-marinated hearts, that it would be surprising indeed if our preaching of this gospel is not met with the objection anticipated by Paul—'are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?'"

"As for the first question (Paul being accused of antinomianism, surely the answer is the sheer gratuity—the puzzling, head-scratching, wonder-producing scandal—of free forgiveness won for us by another. Forgiveness not only of our rotten badness but also our rotten goodness. Forgiveness that confounds the inveterate semi-Pelagian simmering within every human heart since Genesis 3." 

"The other way (to holiness), which I believe is the right and biblical way, is so to startle this restraint-free culture with the gospel of free justification that the functional justifications of human approval, moral performance, sexual indulgence, or big bank accounts begin to lose their vice-like grip on human hearts and their emptiness is exposed in all its fraudulence. It sounds backward, but the path to holiness is through (not beyond) the grace of the gospel, because only undeserved grace can truly melt and transform the heart. The solution to restraint-free immorality is not morality. The solution to immorality is the free grace of God—grace so free that it will be (mis)heard by some as a license to sin with impunity. The route by which the New Testament exhorts radical obedience is not by tempering grace but by driving it home all the more deeply." 

 Father, thank you for giving us the grace to move from self-centered rebels to Christ-exalting children.

To God Alone be Glory

Matt 25 - Take a look

The time escapes me right now to comment on Mt 25, but my challenge at this point is to simply absorb what it says, both on always being prepared for Christ's return and how our lives as Christians will be reflected on our impact in "inconsequential" things.

More later (by God's grace)

To God Alone be the Glory

The Thrill of Victory

This post will only see the light of the public eye if the "right team" wins. I will be the first to admit there is a proper amount of joy and excitement when teams we support win or do well.  But the ache in my heart is this: why don't we have a similar (or even greater joy) for the gospel? Where are the ecstatic cheers when we hear that Christ secured not just a temporal victory, but an eternal one? Where is our overflowing joy when we learn of one sinner who repents? My deep fear is not that we love football too much.  Rather it is that we love Christ too little.  Father revive our hearts today and give us the love that we have lost.

To God Alone be the Glory.

Football, Idolatry and Exorcising Personal Demons

One may question the sanity (or loyalty) of a football fan writing a blog during what what may be the biggest football match up of a generation.Yet here I am in front of a computer, in different part of the house from my family, with my ear buds in.  And I'm writing what I sense may be my most candid blog.

One thing I want to make clear before I share my heart, is that I am not anti-football or some super-spiritual saint. In fact I am exactly the opposite, an avid football fan that struggles to keeping things in the correct perspective. So, what follows is not a "football is evil" diatribe, but rather an expression of the grace and mercy I've received from Christ and an explanation of the reality that I must work out that grace and mercy by not watching a game that would trash it all.

The best place for me to start is in Mt 4.  Jesus' first temptation, after fasting 40 days, is to turn stones into bread. Nothing wrong with bread, no rules against creators doing whatever they want with what they've made. So, why is this an issue? Because Satan was made the bread making, bread craving reality a test of Christ's divinity. If you are the Son of God. Just like in the Garden. Did God really say?  And Jesus' response? In the ultimate temptation blocking parry, Christ emphatically, scripturally states that bread is not the issue, dependence on God is the issue. So whether we trust God for physical food or spiritual, in the end, we must trust Him, and not our own abilities.

The question, of course, is how does this tie to football? In my personal world a football game where one team is a "favorite" is my bread. Did God really say no football? Won't a little cheering show team and family spirit? Are you some kind of legalist? I could go on, but I think you see the pattern. The draw and the power and the sheer emotionalism of watching the game takes me from honoring Christ to honoring my self and leaves me, in the end, wondering what kind of witness I have been.

As I stand back, I think of passages like Isa 45:20 "They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save." Football, like anything, can become an idol. For me, when certain teams play it is just that. So, in order to honor Christ, and not the idol, I must stay away and do something that keeps my heart and mind on the One who lived and died for me and paid the price for the always near idolatry in my heart.

To God Alone be the Glory

Pray or Serve

In Neh 4, Nehemiah writes: "We prayed to our God and set a guard". I know this passage and much of the book of Nehemiah have been well covered by people smarter than me, but each time I read this phrase I can't help but think how easy it is to separate these two actions.

Maybe its the limitations of my human mind, but I often think of praying then doing. Or maybe praying, then doing, then pausing and praying, then doing some more. But praying and doing?

But isn't that the heart of Phil 2:12-13 "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."? And 1 Th 5:12-22 is a litany of things to do, but the midst of that "to do" list is the phrase "pray without ceasing".

Here's the bottom-line. We (or least I) need to get beyond a one dimensional, linear view of prayer and service. Prayer is not just bowing in the morning and / or evening and asking for help in certain areas or thanking for grace in other areas, although that is certainly a part of it. Prayer is also an intimate heart-level communication with the Creator, Sustainer, Savior and Lover of our souls. Prayer is a sweet dependence on the One who can do everything, but has asked us to do something for His glory. Prayer is acknowledging and submitting to the reality that this is God's deal and we are graciously privileged to be one very small part of what He is doing. And, it is so much more.

To God Alone be the Glory.

Both Riot and Revial

In For the Love of God v2 today DA comments on  Acts 13 "As on other occasions, Paul's preaching brings both a riot and a revolt."  You can read the whole devotional here.

As I read this statement, two thoughts popped into my mind.  1) Carson is right on. Paul's preaching often (always?) has this twin effect.  2) Shouldn't all true biblical preaching, teaching and / or Bible study bare the same  results?

This second though has intrigued me. Most preaching I encounter seems to fit somewhere near the mid point of this spectrum.  Don't press to hard so someone might be offended, but don't press too hard that many might be convicted. And then there's teaching, my own included.  How easy it is to stick to the facts, the Greek, the history, the context and not press the why questions.

But if I can stretch Carson's comment just a little, should all our Bible study and even times of prayer and mediation result in both riot and revival.  If I see the true picture of Christ, if I see the magitude of God's grace, if I grasp a little more of a the magnificent plan of redemption, should that spur revival in my heart and mind.  And if I get a better glimpse of Christ, I get a better look at myself. And there's the riot. I can either riot against the sin in my life or against the press of the Holy Spirit in my life.

Father help us not waste our preaching and our teaching and our study and our prayers. Bring us to the point of both riot and revival.  And use us to that end in the lives of others as well.

For the Glory of God Alone.