Well... it's been about... WAY TOO LONG since I've posted a blog entry!!! I'll have to go back and check the last time I put anything on here, but I just wanted to throw out a quick post, hoping to get back into the swing of things... So, here's a quick shout-out/warm-up for today.
God is alive! He is moving individuals and people groups for His glory! I'm excited to be a part of what God is doing in the every-day hustle and bustle of the little town I live in, as well as the general Austin area.
God reveals Himself through the inspired Scriptures which, when read, speak boldly of His character, His love, His sacrificial work on the cross, and of His desire to restore us to Himself.
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
I've been reading through the Scriptures lately and have been greatly encouraged by what I've read. Paul, in Romans, speaks of the peace which we have with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1). And Jesus tells us that we are blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness, for we shall be satisfied (Matt. 5:6)! But I've also been seeing several warnings as well... There are parts which speak of an incorrect type of righteousness, which leads to self-righteousness! There are those who would rest in peace with God but have no love of Christ, the Mediator and peace-negotiator.
These things and more have been exciting and sobering to read. I long to share them with you all, but I'm afraid this is all I can handle for today! Blogging is something I have enjoyed in the past, but have put off for a long time. It's going to take some getting re-adjusted to. I'm actually hoping that nobody will read this until I get back into the groove of writing!
Well, Grace and Peace to you, my friends!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Just Some Thoughts...
You know... there are some times when I feel completely inadequate for any task. Do you know that feeling? I hope not...
There is something so "real" feeling about inadequacy, sometimes... but you know what... it's these feelings, when I listen and obey them, which cause me to be completely ineffective for the kingdom. So, then it comes down to a couple of questions which I must ask myself in order to determine the validity of my concerns.
1. Am I strong? Not, am I physically strong, but am I a strong-willed, confident person?
Well, I'm just going to come out and admit right now that I'm not a very confident person. In fact, my track record is so full of passed-up opportunities because of my deep fear of failure! What a shame! I have left alone so many opportunities for sharing the gospel because of my lack of confidence! Why???
Well, here's the deal... I care waaaaaaaay too much what other people think about me. You see, when I care more about what someone might think of me than how desperately that person's soul needs salvation... I revert to a selfish withholding of the life-giving message of Christ's atoning work! (actually, I'm making myself sick thinking about the Silence which has so often molested the opportunities I've had for sharing the Gospel...)
Consider this... If I have an opportunity to share Salvation with a friend and I don't say a word about Christ... I have become an ineffective Christian and, more or less, an agent of damnation to that person's soul! Now, is that person's soul my responsibility? Directly, I would probably say "no." But, indirectly, this friend's soul is under my gaze as we speak, and by not caring enough to offer the Way at some point in the conversation... I have indeed lost all effectiveness as a disciple of Christ.
So, to answer question 1... I am not strong! However, I have Christ! He is my strength! 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says:
"And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
That's awesome! If only I could remember these words of encouragement when I am tempted to remain silent, for fear of man... Would I still consider the rejections of men to be such a great burden to bear if I allowed Christ to be my strength? And not only my strength, but if He was my only focus, my only love... this indeed would free me from much of my self-induced fear and ineffectiveness!
Alrighty then! Answering question 1, once and for all: "I am not strong, in-and-of myself, but I have Christ. He is my strength when I am weak, and His power is perfected in my weakness. Therefore, my feelings of inadequacy, because of fear, are invalid and should not hold sway or command over my words and actions."
2. Am I necessary? Does anyone really need me or am I just tolerated?
This question is so self-centered and prideful that I'm ashamed to admit it's presence in my life. However, for the sake of honesty, it remains a question I must ask when these feelings of inadequacy arise.
Okay, well let me clear this up at the beginning... this is not a question that we MUST ask ourselves, except if it is something that you actually struggle with. For me, my deep-rooted desires of acceptance do affect my effectiveness as a Christ-follower, therefore this IS a necessary inspection.
The answer to this question is two-fold. First, am I necessary in the sense of "Does God need me?" NO! He doesn't need me, but that's the beauty of our serving God! He doesn't NEED any of us! But He allows us to bring what little we have to offer and uses us in spite of our failures and shortcomings. However, if I come with pride in my service, thinking that I have something to offer God... I am approaching this service in a very wrong way! I have to remind myself, constantly, that God can work quite effectively without me being present. How comical is that??? How prideful is that??? That I would even begin to worry that the Holy Spirit would somehow be less able to move and work if I'm not there to help. Clearly I think WAY too highly of the value of my service!
So, to answer part one of question two... I am not necessary! However, God has promised to work, in and through me, for the spreading of His fame. The requirements for me are:
A. That I serve with humility.
B. That I serve UNDER the Christ who's name I carry, and not attempt to make my own name greater! (okay, so A and B are pretty much the same thing...)
C. That I serve with ALL my strength, and that strength not being my own, but Christ's power in me.
D. That all of my service be done in an effort to show the love of Christ to others in whatever I'm doing. (This includes that all service be done to the glory of God, whom I serve)
So, the second part of this question is this: "Does anybody care about me?" or "Am I necessary in people's lives or am I just a tolerated presence in the room?"
Wow! Talk about a self-centered, prideful question to have to ask yourself! And I'm going to answer this one very quickly because I feel gross just examining this part of the question! How highly do I consider myself, if I am asking this internal question of other's affections?
The answer to this question is: "It shouldn't matter ONE BIT what other people think of me!"
This may sound kind of cold and unfeeling, but my prayer has been "Lord, please help me to not care at all what other people think of me!" Please understand the gravity of this prayer and do not take it lightly... There is such a deep-seated desire in me for acceptance and approval that I cannot rightly examine how I appear in other people's eyes until I have completely deconstructed my current self-examination, in this respect. So, I'm not asking that God would allow me to be completely unaffected by the concerns other might have about any wrong behavior I might exhibit, but that I quite simply no longer let my fears and desires of approval and acceptance rule my actions and, again, cause ineffectiveness for His name's sake.
Do you feel this very same weight? Perhaps some of you do not... but maybe some of you do. Maybe you, just like me, need to be freed from the weight of approval. Friends, wait not a moment longer! This SIN, for sin is what it is, causes the soul to rot while the ego grows roots deep within the heart! There is not a moment to lose in uprooting this barrier which so quickly strips the wandering, searching, perhaps well-meaning Christian of any usefulness.
"Do people need me?" There is NO ROOM for this question in our hearts! There are many other, much more important, questions that we should be asking ourselves!
So, a wrap-up of question 2... Recognize, in humility, that we are not NEEDED, but that God has chosen to use us, to His glory and for His purposes! There is no greater cause to which we might play a role or in which we might find meaning!
Secondly, LET GO of the desire for approval and acceptance by other sinners! We are acceptable in the sight of the only One whom it really matters that we might be found acceptable by! Because of the blood of Christ, we are acceptable in the sight of God, by His grace and mercy! Praise be to God! There is indeed acceptance for the longing heart... we just have to look in the right place.
3. Who am I serving?
This question makes me reconsider whether or not my focus has shifted off of Christ, as my center focus.
Am I now serving myself, my desires, etc...? If I become more focused on my own desires, I very quickly fall into the traps we discussed in questions 1 and 2. Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters..." (Matt. 6:24a) And He meant it! You cannot serve the God of heaven if you are serving your own agenda.
So, how do we avoid this trap? We conform our agenda to the agenda of Christ! We no longer look at our own desires but, instead, follow the example of Christ in glorifying our Father in heaven in EVERY aspect of our lives!
Another important consideration is this: "Am I serving the affections of others?" This is easy to do! It is very easy for me to make an idol of other people... to set them in front of Christ and to make them a higher priority than Him. What a sad day... the day when you awake to realize that your Savior is calling out to you from the back of a crowd... a crowd which you have placed in-between yourself and your true Master. This is a hauntingly familiar situation...
Serve God alone! This is my only exhortation and encouragement for this final question. If you are serving God, then you will find yourself serving others, but it will be service which points all glory to God and not a self-seeking, approval-hunting type of service. By making God the sole focus of your service, you will glorify Him even in your service to others!
To bring this all back together... What are the results of these feelings of inadequacy which tend to arise when I'm off focus? Well... depression, ineffectiveness for the kingdom, fear of man, failure to share the Gospel and ultimately you get the life sucked out of you! There is a loss of all vitality when I do not live missionally! Seriously! If you want your "Best Life Now" then forget about yourself and live for the glory of God!!! There is no other way to a fully satisfied life! The greatest and only true joy to be found is a life that is fully devoted to Christ.
Do I say all of this because I have triumphed in this area? No! But I say these things because of my repeated failures in these areas... and because of the repeated grace of God over my soul! If ever there was one upon whom the well of grace might run dry... it is I! But thanks be to God, that His faithfulness, grace and mercy FAR EXCEED my failures towards Him! I am a grateful wretch... unworthy, but doubly blessed! All praise and glory to God!
Is there anyone who has experienced the depression I speak of? Is there one who has known the desperate longing for acceptance and approval? Friends... beloved friends... All is found when we lose ourselves in the love of Christ! There is no greater satisfaction for the longing of your soul! Please... hear these words, not of mine, but of Christ... "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Our Lord does not desire to burden us down with cares, but rather to give us lasting peace. Rest for the weary, wandering soul can ONLY be found in Christ alone!
Grace and Peace to you, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ!
Questions or Comments? Please e-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com.
There is something so "real" feeling about inadequacy, sometimes... but you know what... it's these feelings, when I listen and obey them, which cause me to be completely ineffective for the kingdom. So, then it comes down to a couple of questions which I must ask myself in order to determine the validity of my concerns.
1. Am I strong? Not, am I physically strong, but am I a strong-willed, confident person?
Well, I'm just going to come out and admit right now that I'm not a very confident person. In fact, my track record is so full of passed-up opportunities because of my deep fear of failure! What a shame! I have left alone so many opportunities for sharing the gospel because of my lack of confidence! Why???
Well, here's the deal... I care waaaaaaaay too much what other people think about me. You see, when I care more about what someone might think of me than how desperately that person's soul needs salvation... I revert to a selfish withholding of the life-giving message of Christ's atoning work! (actually, I'm making myself sick thinking about the Silence which has so often molested the opportunities I've had for sharing the Gospel...)
Consider this... If I have an opportunity to share Salvation with a friend and I don't say a word about Christ... I have become an ineffective Christian and, more or less, an agent of damnation to that person's soul! Now, is that person's soul my responsibility? Directly, I would probably say "no." But, indirectly, this friend's soul is under my gaze as we speak, and by not caring enough to offer the Way at some point in the conversation... I have indeed lost all effectiveness as a disciple of Christ.
So, to answer question 1... I am not strong! However, I have Christ! He is my strength! 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says:
"And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
That's awesome! If only I could remember these words of encouragement when I am tempted to remain silent, for fear of man... Would I still consider the rejections of men to be such a great burden to bear if I allowed Christ to be my strength? And not only my strength, but if He was my only focus, my only love... this indeed would free me from much of my self-induced fear and ineffectiveness!
Alrighty then! Answering question 1, once and for all: "I am not strong, in-and-of myself, but I have Christ. He is my strength when I am weak, and His power is perfected in my weakness. Therefore, my feelings of inadequacy, because of fear, are invalid and should not hold sway or command over my words and actions."
2. Am I necessary? Does anyone really need me or am I just tolerated?
This question is so self-centered and prideful that I'm ashamed to admit it's presence in my life. However, for the sake of honesty, it remains a question I must ask when these feelings of inadequacy arise.
Okay, well let me clear this up at the beginning... this is not a question that we MUST ask ourselves, except if it is something that you actually struggle with. For me, my deep-rooted desires of acceptance do affect my effectiveness as a Christ-follower, therefore this IS a necessary inspection.
The answer to this question is two-fold. First, am I necessary in the sense of "Does God need me?" NO! He doesn't need me, but that's the beauty of our serving God! He doesn't NEED any of us! But He allows us to bring what little we have to offer and uses us in spite of our failures and shortcomings. However, if I come with pride in my service, thinking that I have something to offer God... I am approaching this service in a very wrong way! I have to remind myself, constantly, that God can work quite effectively without me being present. How comical is that??? How prideful is that??? That I would even begin to worry that the Holy Spirit would somehow be less able to move and work if I'm not there to help. Clearly I think WAY too highly of the value of my service!
So, to answer part one of question two... I am not necessary! However, God has promised to work, in and through me, for the spreading of His fame. The requirements for me are:
A. That I serve with humility.
B. That I serve UNDER the Christ who's name I carry, and not attempt to make my own name greater! (okay, so A and B are pretty much the same thing...)
C. That I serve with ALL my strength, and that strength not being my own, but Christ's power in me.
D. That all of my service be done in an effort to show the love of Christ to others in whatever I'm doing. (This includes that all service be done to the glory of God, whom I serve)
So, the second part of this question is this: "Does anybody care about me?" or "Am I necessary in people's lives or am I just a tolerated presence in the room?"
Wow! Talk about a self-centered, prideful question to have to ask yourself! And I'm going to answer this one very quickly because I feel gross just examining this part of the question! How highly do I consider myself, if I am asking this internal question of other's affections?
The answer to this question is: "It shouldn't matter ONE BIT what other people think of me!"
This may sound kind of cold and unfeeling, but my prayer has been "Lord, please help me to not care at all what other people think of me!" Please understand the gravity of this prayer and do not take it lightly... There is such a deep-seated desire in me for acceptance and approval that I cannot rightly examine how I appear in other people's eyes until I have completely deconstructed my current self-examination, in this respect. So, I'm not asking that God would allow me to be completely unaffected by the concerns other might have about any wrong behavior I might exhibit, but that I quite simply no longer let my fears and desires of approval and acceptance rule my actions and, again, cause ineffectiveness for His name's sake.
Do you feel this very same weight? Perhaps some of you do not... but maybe some of you do. Maybe you, just like me, need to be freed from the weight of approval. Friends, wait not a moment longer! This SIN, for sin is what it is, causes the soul to rot while the ego grows roots deep within the heart! There is not a moment to lose in uprooting this barrier which so quickly strips the wandering, searching, perhaps well-meaning Christian of any usefulness.
"Do people need me?" There is NO ROOM for this question in our hearts! There are many other, much more important, questions that we should be asking ourselves!
So, a wrap-up of question 2... Recognize, in humility, that we are not NEEDED, but that God has chosen to use us, to His glory and for His purposes! There is no greater cause to which we might play a role or in which we might find meaning!
Secondly, LET GO of the desire for approval and acceptance by other sinners! We are acceptable in the sight of the only One whom it really matters that we might be found acceptable by! Because of the blood of Christ, we are acceptable in the sight of God, by His grace and mercy! Praise be to God! There is indeed acceptance for the longing heart... we just have to look in the right place.
3. Who am I serving?
This question makes me reconsider whether or not my focus has shifted off of Christ, as my center focus.
Am I now serving myself, my desires, etc...? If I become more focused on my own desires, I very quickly fall into the traps we discussed in questions 1 and 2. Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters..." (Matt. 6:24a) And He meant it! You cannot serve the God of heaven if you are serving your own agenda.
So, how do we avoid this trap? We conform our agenda to the agenda of Christ! We no longer look at our own desires but, instead, follow the example of Christ in glorifying our Father in heaven in EVERY aspect of our lives!
Another important consideration is this: "Am I serving the affections of others?" This is easy to do! It is very easy for me to make an idol of other people... to set them in front of Christ and to make them a higher priority than Him. What a sad day... the day when you awake to realize that your Savior is calling out to you from the back of a crowd... a crowd which you have placed in-between yourself and your true Master. This is a hauntingly familiar situation...
Serve God alone! This is my only exhortation and encouragement for this final question. If you are serving God, then you will find yourself serving others, but it will be service which points all glory to God and not a self-seeking, approval-hunting type of service. By making God the sole focus of your service, you will glorify Him even in your service to others!
To bring this all back together... What are the results of these feelings of inadequacy which tend to arise when I'm off focus? Well... depression, ineffectiveness for the kingdom, fear of man, failure to share the Gospel and ultimately you get the life sucked out of you! There is a loss of all vitality when I do not live missionally! Seriously! If you want your "Best Life Now" then forget about yourself and live for the glory of God!!! There is no other way to a fully satisfied life! The greatest and only true joy to be found is a life that is fully devoted to Christ.
Do I say all of this because I have triumphed in this area? No! But I say these things because of my repeated failures in these areas... and because of the repeated grace of God over my soul! If ever there was one upon whom the well of grace might run dry... it is I! But thanks be to God, that His faithfulness, grace and mercy FAR EXCEED my failures towards Him! I am a grateful wretch... unworthy, but doubly blessed! All praise and glory to God!
Is there anyone who has experienced the depression I speak of? Is there one who has known the desperate longing for acceptance and approval? Friends... beloved friends... All is found when we lose ourselves in the love of Christ! There is no greater satisfaction for the longing of your soul! Please... hear these words, not of mine, but of Christ... "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Our Lord does not desire to burden us down with cares, but rather to give us lasting peace. Rest for the weary, wandering soul can ONLY be found in Christ alone!
Grace and Peace to you, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ!
Questions or Comments? Please e-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
What Faith Looks Like: A Brief Glimpse
"But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep." - 1 Corinthians 15:13-20
So, here's a little something that is extremely pertinent to the faith I've been touching in on the past few blogs... the resurrection of Christ, from the dead, is the only thing that makes our faith worth anything. Without the resurrection of Christ, our faith does nothing and we are to be pitied above all others. What would a live of sacrifice and devotion to a cause be, if the cause was not legitimate? The same is true of our relationship with Christ and the faith that we put in Him.
If Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our faith is useless!
If Christ has not been raised from the dead, then those who have historically placed their lives on the line and sacrificed comfort and pleasure for His sake, have done such commendable acts in vain!
HOWEVER... since Christ HAS BEEN RAISED... we have a faith that saves and Savior who is interceding, on our behalf, before the throne of God!
So, who or what then is the object of our faith? Is it not Christ? The only One who can save! Yes! Indeed Christ is the the ONLY way, as is seen in John 14 where Christ says, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (Jn. 14:6) Faith in Christ, faith in His atoning work on our behalf is our only hope for redemption from our sins. Now, this requires that you actually see and recognize your sin for what it is... that it is the separating factor between you and God. If you do not see your sin and understand it's effect on your relationship with God, then you will not understand or appreciate the altering affect of Christ's death on your behalf.
However, assuming that you do in fact recognize the fact that YOU are a SINNER in need of saving grace and that Christ has paid the penalty for your sins... and not only did He pay them, but He paid them in FULL... then there is nothing left for you to pay! God no longer has a bill with your name on it, if in fact you have put your life in the hands of Christ, and have put your faith in Him. That's why the Scriptures say, "...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Rom. 10:9)
It's the faith in Christ and His resurrection that makes all the difference!
I know this is short, but that's all I've got for right now!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
God Justifies Through FAITH
"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law." -Romans 3:28-31
These few verses bring a lot of hope to those of us that live in the Western world... If justification of sins came through the Jewish Law... we would have no means of justification. However, since faith is the concept by which we are saved, there is hope for those who are not of Jewish origin and have not grown up in Jewish society.
I can tell you right now, without hesitation, that we would all be in trouble if we were justified through the Law! There is no doubt in my mind that we would all fail, miserably, in our attempts to uphold the Law. You see, as we've studied in the past, the purpose of the Law is to reveal sin. It convicts, by it's higher standard, the fallen nature that resides within us. Even in Jewish society the Pharisees and Sadducees would uphold the Letter of the Law, but not necessarily the Spirit of the Law.
What do I mean? I mean that they would outwardly comply with what the Law commanded them to do, but would not do it out of a heart that desired to please God... they were more concerned with their appearance before men. Actually, when Christ would call them hypocrites, a term that literally means "one who wears a mask," He was specifically calling them out on their false appearances. Rather than seeing the Law as a basic guideline of life, with plenty of room for upward progress, it was often viewed by many as the highest standard to be reached and most would try to get by with the bare minimum that was required of them.
All of that to say, "Thanks be to God that it is through faith in Christ by which we are saved!" And not only that it is Christ who saves, but that He is the Savior of the Gentiles as well as the Jews! This is really the only point I have to make this morning...
I am so thankful that faith in Christ is the prerequisite for a relationship with God the Father. If we were measured according to the Law then I would fall so short that there would be no hope of recovering... But God justifies us by faith!
What is this faith? Perhaps you are very familiar with what it means to have faith in Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior... but then again, perhaps not. If this is a new concept for you and you are curious to learn more, please e-mail me at the e-mail address below. Faith in Christ is the total dependence on His death, burial, and resurrection, as your only hope for reconciliation with God. It is the understanding that we are not, and could never be, good enough for God, in our own strength. Faith is the confession of sins, repenting (turning away) from your sin and no longer living in it, and trusting Jesus' blood to pay God's demanded penalty for your sins. This is a very simplistic, introductory look at what it means to have faith in Christ. For a more in-depth understanding, please e-mail me with specific questions or talk to a pastor or elder in your church or a trusted Christian friend. Ask them to show you, in Scripture, what faith looks like.
I don't want to make this blog so long today that we lose the simplicity of this concept of faith being our only hope of redemption.
Well... I'm probably going to have to jump back into this same thought, the next time around, because I'm out of time this morning!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
These few verses bring a lot of hope to those of us that live in the Western world... If justification of sins came through the Jewish Law... we would have no means of justification. However, since faith is the concept by which we are saved, there is hope for those who are not of Jewish origin and have not grown up in Jewish society.
I can tell you right now, without hesitation, that we would all be in trouble if we were justified through the Law! There is no doubt in my mind that we would all fail, miserably, in our attempts to uphold the Law. You see, as we've studied in the past, the purpose of the Law is to reveal sin. It convicts, by it's higher standard, the fallen nature that resides within us. Even in Jewish society the Pharisees and Sadducees would uphold the Letter of the Law, but not necessarily the Spirit of the Law.
What do I mean? I mean that they would outwardly comply with what the Law commanded them to do, but would not do it out of a heart that desired to please God... they were more concerned with their appearance before men. Actually, when Christ would call them hypocrites, a term that literally means "one who wears a mask," He was specifically calling them out on their false appearances. Rather than seeing the Law as a basic guideline of life, with plenty of room for upward progress, it was often viewed by many as the highest standard to be reached and most would try to get by with the bare minimum that was required of them.
All of that to say, "Thanks be to God that it is through faith in Christ by which we are saved!" And not only that it is Christ who saves, but that He is the Savior of the Gentiles as well as the Jews! This is really the only point I have to make this morning...
I am so thankful that faith in Christ is the prerequisite for a relationship with God the Father. If we were measured according to the Law then I would fall so short that there would be no hope of recovering... But God justifies us by faith!
What is this faith? Perhaps you are very familiar with what it means to have faith in Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior... but then again, perhaps not. If this is a new concept for you and you are curious to learn more, please e-mail me at the e-mail address below. Faith in Christ is the total dependence on His death, burial, and resurrection, as your only hope for reconciliation with God. It is the understanding that we are not, and could never be, good enough for God, in our own strength. Faith is the confession of sins, repenting (turning away) from your sin and no longer living in it, and trusting Jesus' blood to pay God's demanded penalty for your sins. This is a very simplistic, introductory look at what it means to have faith in Christ. For a more in-depth understanding, please e-mail me with specific questions or talk to a pastor or elder in your church or a trusted Christian friend. Ask them to show you, in Scripture, what faith looks like.
I don't want to make this blog so long today that we lose the simplicity of this concept of faith being our only hope of redemption.
Well... I'm probably going to have to jump back into this same thought, the next time around, because I'm out of time this morning!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
No Room For Boasting!
"Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." -Romans 3:27-28
In contrast to yesterday's blog... this is going to be amazingly short!
Faith in Christ trumps works! A million to one, you cannot out"do" the grace of God, through Christ Jesus' death on the cross. Since there is nothing we can "do" to be justified, by obeying and observing the Law, we see that faith is the requirement of justification.
Don't understand this to mean that we should not do good works, since we have been saved through faith in Christ. Rather, as a result of having been saved through faith in Christ, we should live as God has commanded us to live -to help the poor, the orphan, the widow- all the while understanding that NONE OF THIS will save or justify us before Him. It is only the atoning work of Christ which will redeem us, but it is the ministry of Christ which we are called to, so that "they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16)
Basically, it is the privilege of the one who's faith has been placed in Christ, to then do good works for the glory of God. AND... in all of this, our boasting is eliminated because it is by the very act of God that we receive the faith to believe in Christ in the first place! So, works won't save us, which means no boasting there. Faith in Christ is the ONLY thing that can save us, which is from God so that boasting in ourselves is excluded! The only thing left to boast in is the One who had mercy on your soul!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
In contrast to yesterday's blog... this is going to be amazingly short!
Faith in Christ trumps works! A million to one, you cannot out"do" the grace of God, through Christ Jesus' death on the cross. Since there is nothing we can "do" to be justified, by obeying and observing the Law, we see that faith is the requirement of justification.
Don't understand this to mean that we should not do good works, since we have been saved through faith in Christ. Rather, as a result of having been saved through faith in Christ, we should live as God has commanded us to live -to help the poor, the orphan, the widow- all the while understanding that NONE OF THIS will save or justify us before Him. It is only the atoning work of Christ which will redeem us, but it is the ministry of Christ which we are called to, so that "they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16)
Basically, it is the privilege of the one who's faith has been placed in Christ, to then do good works for the glory of God. AND... in all of this, our boasting is eliminated because it is by the very act of God that we receive the faith to believe in Christ in the first place! So, works won't save us, which means no boasting there. Faith in Christ is the ONLY thing that can save us, which is from God so that boasting in ourselves is excluded! The only thing left to boast in is the One who had mercy on your soul!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Righteousness of God Demonstrated
"But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." -Romans 3:21-26
Okay, so I included yesterday's text, in addition to today's verses, in order to keep the context of verses 25 and 26 clearly intact. So, without further ado, let's dive in!
Remembering that we're looking at the redemptive plan of salvation being fulfilled through Christ, let's look at God's purpose behind Christ's death on cross... verse 25 says, "whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;"
Once again we will review our necessity for a savior... Verse 23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." Thus, all of us are incapable of pleasing God in our own strength or efforts. Christ's death was the atoning sacrifice on our behalf, so that there might be a way for us to be reconciled to God. Therefore, as we see in verse 25, His blood was shed on Calvary as the propitiation (The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person - dictionary.com "Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1996") of our sins, before a holy and righteous Judge. The penalty of our sins was blood and Christ paid that penalty, once and for all.
Now... the reasoning behind this sacrifice on man's behalf? Well... I could sit here and type for hours about how all things that have ever happened and will ever happen are caused, by God, to bring glory to God. The thing that we will look at today, though, is how God's character is revealed through the entering of sin into the world and then, through the death of Christ.
First, God's character revealed through the entering of sin into the world. Before sin entered into the world, here's what we know about God:
We know Him as Creator. In Genesis 1 we see that God made everything that exists out of nothing. This gives us an understanding of God's authority over all creation. We see His power to create matter, an ability that God exclusively posseses.
We see Him outside of space and time. We understand from Genesis that God existed before all matter. He is not bound by the same laws that bind us as finite beings.
We see Him as the Author of good. In each part of creation, we read that God saw what He created and called it "good."
We see Him as the Provider. He provides Adam with all of the necessary things of life in order to demonstrate His ability to completely satisfy all of man's needs.
Now, enter sin! What do we now see about God's character?
We see Him as Holy. His character is such that, once sin has entered into the world, perfect communion with His now stained creation is no longer possible.
We see Him as Judge. He pronounces judgment against the offenses commited towards His commands. (Gen. 3:14-19)
We see Him as compassionate. God does not completely forsake His creation because of their sins, but rather provides the first blood sacrifice as the atonement of their sin, and uses the skins to clothe them!
We see His faithfulness. Genesis 3:15 gives us the first glimpse of a Savior to come."And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." This is God's first promise of the redemption to come, through His Son!
Now... enter Christ! The Savior of the sinful world!
We see God's Mercy! Mercy can be defined as "not receiving the punishment I deserve." Christ paid our debt... and with that act of mercy, we now have a Perfect High Priest who intercedes for us before the throne of God Almighty!
We see the Grace of God. Grace can be defined as "the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God" - (dictionary.com Random House)
Eph. 2:1-10 describes this grace in a very poignant manner.
We see the Love of God. God's love is made evident in His effort of restoration between us and Himself. We have nothing to offer God, but He gave up His only Son in order to restore our relationship with Him.
Finally, looking again at Romans 3, we see His righteousness displayed through the death of Christ. His righteousness was displayed towards mankind in order that we might be justified, by God, through our faith in Jesus. (v. 26) God alone is the Justifier of our souls. This is an attribute of the character of God, revealed through Christ's death. Does it seem like I'm going in circles? Perhaps I am, but somewhere in these circles I'm trying to make certain that we understand this incredible glimpse into the character of Almighty God! I'll try to make my point a little easier to understand...
God, through the death of Christ, allowed us to understand His love, mercy, grace, and compassion, to name a few attributes. These would have otherwise gone as unknown characteristics if we did not have the death of Christ as the demonstration of these attributes of God. Now, of course we see glimpses of His patience, mercy, grace, etc... throughout the Old Testament, but not to the perfect extent which we see in Christ Jesus.
Now! The final point. All of these attributes of God are put on display so that God might be glorified in all things. God, as perfect and holy, is the only One who is able to exalt and glorify Himself in a righteous manner. We as humans cannot rightly exalt ourselves, but for God it is perfectly right and just for Him to cause His name to be lifted high, because He alone is Holy, Holy, Holy!
So, all things that exist are in existence for the final and utmost reason of glorifying God. This is a point which we could spend literal DAYS looking at and marveling about! I'll try to boil it down a little: If we live lives of Christ-likeness and in pursuit of God, bearing witness to His name and loving Him in all that we do... we bring glory to His marvelous love, grace, mercy, compassion, kindness, faithfulness and strength. On the other hand, if we live in selfish ambition and in rebellion to His Word... we bring glory to His justice, judgment, righteous anger, holy jealousy, and perfect wrath. So, in a nutshell, "You cannot escape your purpose in the glorification of God, no matter what side of the fence you're on!"
Well... that was a mouthful! Er... a "whatever-ful" it is when you blog for a long time on a very small set of verses! And I'm not even sure if any of it made sense! Hopefully, this will prove helpful to someone, in some respect. Otherwise... well... we'll just move on!
Grace and Peace, dear friends!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Okay, so I included yesterday's text, in addition to today's verses, in order to keep the context of verses 25 and 26 clearly intact. So, without further ado, let's dive in!
Remembering that we're looking at the redemptive plan of salvation being fulfilled through Christ, let's look at God's purpose behind Christ's death on cross... verse 25 says, "whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;"
Once again we will review our necessity for a savior... Verse 23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." Thus, all of us are incapable of pleasing God in our own strength or efforts. Christ's death was the atoning sacrifice on our behalf, so that there might be a way for us to be reconciled to God. Therefore, as we see in verse 25, His blood was shed on Calvary as the propitiation (The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person - dictionary.com "Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1996") of our sins, before a holy and righteous Judge. The penalty of our sins was blood and Christ paid that penalty, once and for all.
Now... the reasoning behind this sacrifice on man's behalf? Well... I could sit here and type for hours about how all things that have ever happened and will ever happen are caused, by God, to bring glory to God. The thing that we will look at today, though, is how God's character is revealed through the entering of sin into the world and then, through the death of Christ.
First, God's character revealed through the entering of sin into the world. Before sin entered into the world, here's what we know about God:
We know Him as Creator. In Genesis 1 we see that God made everything that exists out of nothing. This gives us an understanding of God's authority over all creation. We see His power to create matter, an ability that God exclusively posseses.
We see Him outside of space and time. We understand from Genesis that God existed before all matter. He is not bound by the same laws that bind us as finite beings.
We see Him as the Author of good. In each part of creation, we read that God saw what He created and called it "good."
We see Him as the Provider. He provides Adam with all of the necessary things of life in order to demonstrate His ability to completely satisfy all of man's needs.
Now, enter sin! What do we now see about God's character?
We see Him as Holy. His character is such that, once sin has entered into the world, perfect communion with His now stained creation is no longer possible.
We see Him as Judge. He pronounces judgment against the offenses commited towards His commands. (Gen. 3:14-19)
We see Him as compassionate. God does not completely forsake His creation because of their sins, but rather provides the first blood sacrifice as the atonement of their sin, and uses the skins to clothe them!
We see His faithfulness. Genesis 3:15 gives us the first glimpse of a Savior to come."And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." This is God's first promise of the redemption to come, through His Son!
Now... enter Christ! The Savior of the sinful world!
We see God's Mercy! Mercy can be defined as "not receiving the punishment I deserve." Christ paid our debt... and with that act of mercy, we now have a Perfect High Priest who intercedes for us before the throne of God Almighty!
We see the Grace of God. Grace can be defined as "the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God" - (dictionary.com Random House)
Eph. 2:1-10 describes this grace in a very poignant manner.
We see the Love of God. God's love is made evident in His effort of restoration between us and Himself. We have nothing to offer God, but He gave up His only Son in order to restore our relationship with Him.
Finally, looking again at Romans 3, we see His righteousness displayed through the death of Christ. His righteousness was displayed towards mankind in order that we might be justified, by God, through our faith in Jesus. (v. 26) God alone is the Justifier of our souls. This is an attribute of the character of God, revealed through Christ's death. Does it seem like I'm going in circles? Perhaps I am, but somewhere in these circles I'm trying to make certain that we understand this incredible glimpse into the character of Almighty God! I'll try to make my point a little easier to understand...
God, through the death of Christ, allowed us to understand His love, mercy, grace, and compassion, to name a few attributes. These would have otherwise gone as unknown characteristics if we did not have the death of Christ as the demonstration of these attributes of God. Now, of course we see glimpses of His patience, mercy, grace, etc... throughout the Old Testament, but not to the perfect extent which we see in Christ Jesus.
Now! The final point. All of these attributes of God are put on display so that God might be glorified in all things. God, as perfect and holy, is the only One who is able to exalt and glorify Himself in a righteous manner. We as humans cannot rightly exalt ourselves, but for God it is perfectly right and just for Him to cause His name to be lifted high, because He alone is Holy, Holy, Holy!
So, all things that exist are in existence for the final and utmost reason of glorifying God. This is a point which we could spend literal DAYS looking at and marveling about! I'll try to boil it down a little: If we live lives of Christ-likeness and in pursuit of God, bearing witness to His name and loving Him in all that we do... we bring glory to His marvelous love, grace, mercy, compassion, kindness, faithfulness and strength. On the other hand, if we live in selfish ambition and in rebellion to His Word... we bring glory to His justice, judgment, righteous anger, holy jealousy, and perfect wrath. So, in a nutshell, "You cannot escape your purpose in the glorification of God, no matter what side of the fence you're on!"
Well... that was a mouthful! Er... a "whatever-ful" it is when you blog for a long time on a very small set of verses! And I'm not even sure if any of it made sense! Hopefully, this will prove helpful to someone, in some respect. Otherwise... well... we'll just move on!
Grace and Peace, dear friends!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Manifest Righteousness of God
"But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;" -Romans 3:21-24
Hello, all! Wow! It's been awhile since I've been on here... Well, God's been working in some interesting ways, in me, and I'm excited start blogging again! I won't go into all of the details of my sabbatical, just yet, but I assure you some of it will come up in some of the future blogs...
Well, with that being said, let's jump right in! I don't have a lot of time today so I'm going to try and break this down rather quickly this morning...
So, the last thing we covered was the Law and how it makes us aware of sin. Now let's get into the Good News! The Gospel, as it were, from Romans chapter 3... Now we see that "apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested..."
First, let's look at this word, "manifested." From dictionary.com the definition of "manifested" is as follows: "readily perceived by the eye or the understanding; evident; obvious; apparent; plain" (dictionary.com; based on the Random House Dictionary)
So, manifested means "apparent." God has made His righteousness apparent! Through what? His Son! In Christ Jesus, the righteousness of God was made apparent for all those who believe. This may seem pretty simple, and maybe it is... but it's essential that we grasp the point of our salvation, right here and now, before we move any further into Romans...
Without Christ being understood as our ONLY good and our ONLY righteousness and our ONLY hope... we will fall into the desperate depravity of believing that we are able, by some other strength, to redeem ourselves before God. That's why we've looked at the Law!
Paul showed us the Law so that we might realize the depth of our wickedness, not because he hoped that some might stand and say, "I've done all these things!" How can I say this? Because look at the very next thing that Paul says... "for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." We looked at the Law so that we might realize our desperate need for a Savior.
Why is this so important? Why must we understand how wicked we truly are? Because until we do see our wickedness for the offense that it is against Almighty God... we will never understand the gravity of our sin and it's effect on our relationship with Him. Until we are able to take ownership of our faults, instead of passing the blame onto someone or something else, we will never be open or humbled enough to receive the healing that Christ offers us.
If you do see the depths of your own sins, however, and you do understand the need that you have for a Savior... then let's keep reading! Be prepared for the greatest headline that has ever hit this world! "Christ has been raised!"
Through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, He has paid the penalty for our sins and made apparent, "manifested," His claims to deity by His resurrection from the dead. These claims have been made known to be true by His appearance to hundreds of men and women in the weeks following His resurrection.
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." -2 Corinthians 5:17
Let's look at verse 24 really quickly and then I'm going to have to be finished for today...
"being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus."
What a hope we have! We are justified, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, and can spend eternity in heaven with Him, because of what HE has done! It's a gift of grace, not something we have accomplished in ourselves... simply an undeserved measure of grace and mercy which has been poured out on us by the God of the universe! (Eph. 2:1-10)
What love! We were all sinners, damned to an eternity of punishment... "But God!" What an amazing combination of words! Please... read this passage and let it's implications rest on your soul as you go throughout this day...
"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." -Ephesians 2:1-10
Grace and Peace, dear friends!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Law and the Lamb
"Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." -Romans 3:19-20
So, here's one more look at the problem of sin in our lives. The question now becomes, "How do we know that what we're doing is wrong?". The answer... through the Law!
The Law is God's standard of holiness. It is the bar which has been set, and by no other law does God judge the world. Through the Law we are made aware of those things which we do that displease God; those things which are against His laws and standard of perfection. The Law condemns the sin within us.
This is an incredible gift! If you cannot see the benefits of the condemnation which comes from Law... let me try to explain what I mean. The Law makes us aware of a fracture in our goodness. We begin to see, through the Law, that we have displeased our Creator and we have rebelled against His goodness. The sin in our hearts is revealed through God's standard of obedience. Look at the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20 -
"You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:3-17)
As is evident by this list... there is not a single person (outside of Christ) who has ever been able to keep all of these commands. From the moment we are born we are selfish, self-serving beings who cannot, in and of ourselves, honor God or faithfully serve Him. The Law burns in our consciences the fallen state of our hearts. We see, through the Law, our failure in following the commands of God. Ten rules of living which no man or woman has been capable of keeping... These laws have been in effect for thousands of years, and yet only one man, Jesus Christ, has ever kept all of them to their fullest extent. You see, Christ came to fulfill Law. We see this in other places in Scripture; that Christ was the fulfillment, not the abolitionist, of Law. This is something we will be studying in greater detail, in the not-so-far-off future.
So, I've mentioned the conscience already... The conscience is a gift from God. It is the tool by which we are convicted of those things which are wrong in our lives, even before we become children of God, our consciences convict us of wrongdoing. Think about it... our society has a standard of "right" and "wrong." For example:
We all agree that murder is wrong. Murder is not considered acceptable in our society... Where does this conviction of wrong come from? Who is to say that there is anything wrong with murdering another human being? Why do we recoil at the news of such happenings? Why can a non-Christian group of people stand up and say, "This man deserves death! He has taken the lives of others, therefore His life is forfeit!" What gives us this sense of justice and judgment? There must be a foundation for such a universal wrong... If you think about standard human behavior for a minute... there are very few things which people agree on to such an extent as murder, embezzling, rape... even lying is something which causes distrust and sorrow in the lives of those who are affected by it. What gives us this feeling of wrong-doing when we see and experience these things, whether done by other or by ourselves? Where does the guilt come from? Where does the sense of punishing the one responsible for such actions come from? ... The conscience!
The Law speaks to our conscience and tells us that those things which we read, of which we are all guilty of breaking at least some if not all, are the standard of behavior that demonstrates righteousness (right-standing with men/God). We see ourselves in light of the Law and it reveals the sins which we have within us.
Even in human law, given by humans, the reason for laws is not for the upright citizen but rather for the ones who would seek to do wrong. The law condemns wrongdoing. This has been a very long and probably a very circular topic to look at this morning... I just want to make sure that we understand Law before we look at the bright side of this whole ordeal. You see, the Law does not give us much hope for right-standing before God. If all we have is the Law and our conscience, which tells us that we have not kept the Law, then we are condemned within ourselves and stand ashamed before the throne of God. We understand that there is no good in us and that we have fallen short...
There is yet hope, though... Enter, Christ Jesus, the Savior and fulfillment of Law! The only way by which men could be justified before God, according to Old Testament Law, was through the sacrificing of animals. The blood of lambs, bulls and other animals was the atonement by which current sins could be forgiven. This, however, was never meant to be the fulfillment of Law, because the blood of lambs could not cover the sins which you were yet to commit. You had to keep sacrificing lambs and bulls to atone for the sins which you would continue to commit, over and over again.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only One to ever live a sinless life, upholding the entirety of the Law... He became the sacrificial Lamb to take away the sins of the world. Through the blood of Christ we have eternal redemption. This is not something which must reoccur in order for our sins to be continually covered. Christ's death was the finality of blood sacrifices! Through His death and resurrection we now have a way to be found blameless in the sight of God! This is something we will look into in much greater detail, in the next blog. I did not, however, want to leave this blog without the hope of the Gospel.
So, basic recap... The Law speaks to our conscience and reveals the fracture that has taken place between us and God. Our conscience convicts us of our wrongdoing and urges us to make things right. We see that, through the Law, we can never be completely forgiven or made clean... there is only temporary cleansing through Old Law. Then, we see Jesus! God's redemption plan! "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn. 1:29b) His death and resurrection make a way for us to be cleansed, completely, of our sins and shortcomings before God. We are washed in the blood of the Lamb and, therefore, we are clean in His sight. This is such incredible news!
I can't wait to get into this in much deeper detail. I must, however, end this episode right here and now. I'm sorry to cut things short, but I will be late for work if I don't get going!
I love you all! Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com
So, here's one more look at the problem of sin in our lives. The question now becomes, "How do we know that what we're doing is wrong?". The answer... through the Law!
The Law is God's standard of holiness. It is the bar which has been set, and by no other law does God judge the world. Through the Law we are made aware of those things which we do that displease God; those things which are against His laws and standard of perfection. The Law condemns the sin within us.
This is an incredible gift! If you cannot see the benefits of the condemnation which comes from Law... let me try to explain what I mean. The Law makes us aware of a fracture in our goodness. We begin to see, through the Law, that we have displeased our Creator and we have rebelled against His goodness. The sin in our hearts is revealed through God's standard of obedience. Look at the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20 -
"You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:3-17)
As is evident by this list... there is not a single person (outside of Christ) who has ever been able to keep all of these commands. From the moment we are born we are selfish, self-serving beings who cannot, in and of ourselves, honor God or faithfully serve Him. The Law burns in our consciences the fallen state of our hearts. We see, through the Law, our failure in following the commands of God. Ten rules of living which no man or woman has been capable of keeping... These laws have been in effect for thousands of years, and yet only one man, Jesus Christ, has ever kept all of them to their fullest extent. You see, Christ came to fulfill Law. We see this in other places in Scripture; that Christ was the fulfillment, not the abolitionist, of Law. This is something we will be studying in greater detail, in the not-so-far-off future.
So, I've mentioned the conscience already... The conscience is a gift from God. It is the tool by which we are convicted of those things which are wrong in our lives, even before we become children of God, our consciences convict us of wrongdoing. Think about it... our society has a standard of "right" and "wrong." For example:
We all agree that murder is wrong. Murder is not considered acceptable in our society... Where does this conviction of wrong come from? Who is to say that there is anything wrong with murdering another human being? Why do we recoil at the news of such happenings? Why can a non-Christian group of people stand up and say, "This man deserves death! He has taken the lives of others, therefore His life is forfeit!" What gives us this sense of justice and judgment? There must be a foundation for such a universal wrong... If you think about standard human behavior for a minute... there are very few things which people agree on to such an extent as murder, embezzling, rape... even lying is something which causes distrust and sorrow in the lives of those who are affected by it. What gives us this feeling of wrong-doing when we see and experience these things, whether done by other or by ourselves? Where does the guilt come from? Where does the sense of punishing the one responsible for such actions come from? ... The conscience!
The Law speaks to our conscience and tells us that those things which we read, of which we are all guilty of breaking at least some if not all, are the standard of behavior that demonstrates righteousness (right-standing with men/God). We see ourselves in light of the Law and it reveals the sins which we have within us.
Even in human law, given by humans, the reason for laws is not for the upright citizen but rather for the ones who would seek to do wrong. The law condemns wrongdoing. This has been a very long and probably a very circular topic to look at this morning... I just want to make sure that we understand Law before we look at the bright side of this whole ordeal. You see, the Law does not give us much hope for right-standing before God. If all we have is the Law and our conscience, which tells us that we have not kept the Law, then we are condemned within ourselves and stand ashamed before the throne of God. We understand that there is no good in us and that we have fallen short...
There is yet hope, though... Enter, Christ Jesus, the Savior and fulfillment of Law! The only way by which men could be justified before God, according to Old Testament Law, was through the sacrificing of animals. The blood of lambs, bulls and other animals was the atonement by which current sins could be forgiven. This, however, was never meant to be the fulfillment of Law, because the blood of lambs could not cover the sins which you were yet to commit. You had to keep sacrificing lambs and bulls to atone for the sins which you would continue to commit, over and over again.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only One to ever live a sinless life, upholding the entirety of the Law... He became the sacrificial Lamb to take away the sins of the world. Through the blood of Christ we have eternal redemption. This is not something which must reoccur in order for our sins to be continually covered. Christ's death was the finality of blood sacrifices! Through His death and resurrection we now have a way to be found blameless in the sight of God! This is something we will look into in much greater detail, in the next blog. I did not, however, want to leave this blog without the hope of the Gospel.
So, basic recap... The Law speaks to our conscience and reveals the fracture that has taken place between us and God. Our conscience convicts us of our wrongdoing and urges us to make things right. We see that, through the Law, we can never be completely forgiven or made clean... there is only temporary cleansing through Old Law. Then, we see Jesus! God's redemption plan! "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn. 1:29b) His death and resurrection make a way for us to be cleansed, completely, of our sins and shortcomings before God. We are washed in the blood of the Lamb and, therefore, we are clean in His sight. This is such incredible news!
I can't wait to get into this in much deeper detail. I must, however, end this episode right here and now. I'm sorry to cut things short, but I will be late for work if I don't get going!
I love you all! Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Problem of Sin - Part 2
Well, the good news is that I wasn't late for work yesterday! The rest of the good news is that I'm off today and I can make this entry as long as I want to! So, let's dive back into Romans 3 and re-examine the text...
"As it is written, 'THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.
THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING, THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS;
WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS; THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.
THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES." -Romans 3:10-18
Again... the stress and importance of this entire section of Romans is the realization of our hopelessness without a Savior. Steps 1 and 2 of the Alcoholics Anonymous "12 Steps" program state:
1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behavior; that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
I find it interesting that a program that is designed to free people from addictions states that we are powerless over the things which have beaten us down... You see, the understanding of the need for outside assistance is universal. God Himself said, "It is not good for the man to be alone..." You see, we were created with a "relational gravitation." All I mean by that is this... we were created with a desire for community with others. In our fallen state, however, we turn inward for help and the solution to our problems. God's original design was for us to turn to Him with all of our fears, doubts, problems, pains, struggles, etc... So, the first step in overcoming the sins with which we struggle is, "To realize that we can't overcome our sins!" We can't beat them! This, in turn, leads us into step 2...
"We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." Finally! The answer to all of our problems! Jesus is the ONLY power we have! He says in Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Are you weary of your problems? Does sin own you on such a regular basis that you simply don't have the strength to fight it anymore? This is the place where you can admit "I need help!" It's when we are at the end of ourselves that we can finally realize that someone with greater power than us is our only option for restoration! This is the place where we must fall to our knees and say, "Jesus, You are my only good! Please, help me! I need You to rescue me from myself!"
Albert Einstein said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." This is true of us, as well. We try to overcome our failures in our own strength... I don't know about you, but this usually just leaves me feeling defeated when I fail again... it leads to depression, anger, self-pity... it's not a good place to find yourself. We expect different results from the same attempts at "being good" on our own. When does the insanity end???
It ends when we realize that sin is too big of an issue for us to deal with on our own! When we realize that Christ is the only One who can heal us... that's the first step towards freedom from the bondage which holds every man and woman captive.
So, we are unable to bring any righteousness of our own before God as an acceptable offering of atonement for our sins... We see that there are none who seek God and none of us does good. We are a crooked, broken mess! We have NOTHING to offer to God! This is the understanding to which we must come before we are ready to move into the good news of Christ's redemptive work on our behalf.
We're going to be getting into more of chapter 3 tomorrow, most likely, but THIS is the thought for today.... the only point I wish to convey. Dig deep! Think long and hard about this concept... we have nothing to offer God and we cannot do good, based on what we've read in Romans 3. So, apart from Christ, where do we stand in the sight of our Creator and Lord? Secondly, have you come to the place where you can say, "I need Christ to change me! I cannot do this on my own!"? Do you believe that Christ can restore you to sanity? If you're not sure if Christ can restore you, I'll help you out a little bit... Of course He can! There is nothing which you have done that Christ cannot redeem you from! There is no trouble which plagues you that Christ cannot replace with His peace! There is no sin which outweighs the blood of Christ!
Well... more of that at a later time!
Grace and Peace, broken sinners in need of a Savior! It's nice to have you here beside me... there is comfort in the realization that you're not the only one with struggles.
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
"As it is written, 'THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.
THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING, THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS;
WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS; THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.
THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES." -Romans 3:10-18
Again... the stress and importance of this entire section of Romans is the realization of our hopelessness without a Savior. Steps 1 and 2 of the Alcoholics Anonymous "12 Steps" program state:
1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behavior; that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
I find it interesting that a program that is designed to free people from addictions states that we are powerless over the things which have beaten us down... You see, the understanding of the need for outside assistance is universal. God Himself said, "It is not good for the man to be alone..." You see, we were created with a "relational gravitation." All I mean by that is this... we were created with a desire for community with others. In our fallen state, however, we turn inward for help and the solution to our problems. God's original design was for us to turn to Him with all of our fears, doubts, problems, pains, struggles, etc... So, the first step in overcoming the sins with which we struggle is, "To realize that we can't overcome our sins!" We can't beat them! This, in turn, leads us into step 2...
"We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." Finally! The answer to all of our problems! Jesus is the ONLY power we have! He says in Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Are you weary of your problems? Does sin own you on such a regular basis that you simply don't have the strength to fight it anymore? This is the place where you can admit "I need help!" It's when we are at the end of ourselves that we can finally realize that someone with greater power than us is our only option for restoration! This is the place where we must fall to our knees and say, "Jesus, You are my only good! Please, help me! I need You to rescue me from myself!"
Albert Einstein said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." This is true of us, as well. We try to overcome our failures in our own strength... I don't know about you, but this usually just leaves me feeling defeated when I fail again... it leads to depression, anger, self-pity... it's not a good place to find yourself. We expect different results from the same attempts at "being good" on our own. When does the insanity end???
It ends when we realize that sin is too big of an issue for us to deal with on our own! When we realize that Christ is the only One who can heal us... that's the first step towards freedom from the bondage which holds every man and woman captive.
So, we are unable to bring any righteousness of our own before God as an acceptable offering of atonement for our sins... We see that there are none who seek God and none of us does good. We are a crooked, broken mess! We have NOTHING to offer to God! This is the understanding to which we must come before we are ready to move into the good news of Christ's redemptive work on our behalf.
We're going to be getting into more of chapter 3 tomorrow, most likely, but THIS is the thought for today.... the only point I wish to convey. Dig deep! Think long and hard about this concept... we have nothing to offer God and we cannot do good, based on what we've read in Romans 3. So, apart from Christ, where do we stand in the sight of our Creator and Lord? Secondly, have you come to the place where you can say, "I need Christ to change me! I cannot do this on my own!"? Do you believe that Christ can restore you to sanity? If you're not sure if Christ can restore you, I'll help you out a little bit... Of course He can! There is nothing which you have done that Christ cannot redeem you from! There is no trouble which plagues you that Christ cannot replace with His peace! There is no sin which outweighs the blood of Christ!
Well... more of that at a later time!
Grace and Peace, broken sinners in need of a Savior! It's nice to have you here beside me... there is comfort in the realization that you're not the only one with struggles.
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Problem of Sin - Part 1
"As it is written, 'THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.
THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING, THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS; WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS;
THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.
THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES." -Romans 3:10-18
Okay, so now we're getting into some of the really tasty stuff!
So here is where we learn that there is no good in us! This is a key concept to grasp for those of us who would be called children of God. You see, what these verses show us is that there is no merit by which we come to the cross of Christ. We are completely devoid of any deservance of the mercy and grace which has been shown us. Not only that, but we cannot seek God!
Jesus tells us in John 6:44-45, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me." Jesus tells us in these verses that it is by the will and prompting of God that we even begin to desire Him! He calls us to Himself, reveals Himself to us, and we respond according to His grace and kindness towards us. This is such an incredible concept to try and grasp. I don't want to delve too deeply into this issue today, but if you have any questions about this whole concept please feel free to e-mail me.
The major issue in Romans 3 is the fact that we are all sinners... Paul lays an incredible foundation for the following chapters with this concept that we all have this problem called "sin." It's a defect of character that is found in every human being who has ever lived. The understanding of the weight of our sin is, as I said earlier, crucial to the concept of Christ's death on our behalf. If there was a way, apart from Christ, by which we could atone for our sins, then His death would have been pointless. There is, however, only Law apart from Christ... The Law, as we will look at later, reveals the problem of sin in us. It is a standard to which no man can ever fully measure up. Thus, it is the glass by which we see ourselves in our broken state... by which we see our sin. The Law is the background against which our sins are held in order to be examined. The Law is the light to which we hold up the bill of our righteous deeds in order to test for falsity. And, sadly, we are all found as frauds...
"There is no one who does good, not even one." Psalm 53:3b
Apart from the grace of God, we are depraved and subject to the destructive power of our own selfish desires and sins. I cannot find a smidgen of light in Romans 3:10-18... As I have already mentioned, if there was hope for us apart from Christ, then the cross looses it's power. But there is no other way. All we have is sin and unrighteousness when Jesus isn't a part of the picture.
Paul says, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not." (Romans 7:18)
So, a little something we can take away from this (since I have to end this so suddenly and abruptly, this morning)... If Jesus is the Lord of your life, then this is what you have been saved out of! This lifestyle... the one that serves and pleases only "self" should no longer be a part of who you are. The fear and love of God should be apparent in our lives. These things are evidence that Christ does indeed dwell in us and that He is doing a restoring work in us! This is great news! Especially since we've just read that, apart from God, we cannot even desire to do good!
So, hopefully this has been as equally encouraging as it has been sobering. A basic re-cap would be... "We have no good in us, that comes from ourselves. Any and every bit of good which we have comes from the redemptive work of Christ, in us!" So, there you have it! Once again I apologize for the abrupt end I must put to this entry... However, I'm about to be late for work!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.
THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING, THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS; WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS;
THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.
THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES." -Romans 3:10-18
Okay, so now we're getting into some of the really tasty stuff!
So here is where we learn that there is no good in us! This is a key concept to grasp for those of us who would be called children of God. You see, what these verses show us is that there is no merit by which we come to the cross of Christ. We are completely devoid of any deservance of the mercy and grace which has been shown us. Not only that, but we cannot seek God!
Jesus tells us in John 6:44-45, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me." Jesus tells us in these verses that it is by the will and prompting of God that we even begin to desire Him! He calls us to Himself, reveals Himself to us, and we respond according to His grace and kindness towards us. This is such an incredible concept to try and grasp. I don't want to delve too deeply into this issue today, but if you have any questions about this whole concept please feel free to e-mail me.
The major issue in Romans 3 is the fact that we are all sinners... Paul lays an incredible foundation for the following chapters with this concept that we all have this problem called "sin." It's a defect of character that is found in every human being who has ever lived. The understanding of the weight of our sin is, as I said earlier, crucial to the concept of Christ's death on our behalf. If there was a way, apart from Christ, by which we could atone for our sins, then His death would have been pointless. There is, however, only Law apart from Christ... The Law, as we will look at later, reveals the problem of sin in us. It is a standard to which no man can ever fully measure up. Thus, it is the glass by which we see ourselves in our broken state... by which we see our sin. The Law is the background against which our sins are held in order to be examined. The Law is the light to which we hold up the bill of our righteous deeds in order to test for falsity. And, sadly, we are all found as frauds...
"There is no one who does good, not even one." Psalm 53:3b
Apart from the grace of God, we are depraved and subject to the destructive power of our own selfish desires and sins. I cannot find a smidgen of light in Romans 3:10-18... As I have already mentioned, if there was hope for us apart from Christ, then the cross looses it's power. But there is no other way. All we have is sin and unrighteousness when Jesus isn't a part of the picture.
Paul says, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not." (Romans 7:18)
So, a little something we can take away from this (since I have to end this so suddenly and abruptly, this morning)... If Jesus is the Lord of your life, then this is what you have been saved out of! This lifestyle... the one that serves and pleases only "self" should no longer be a part of who you are. The fear and love of God should be apparent in our lives. These things are evidence that Christ does indeed dwell in us and that He is doing a restoring work in us! This is great news! Especially since we've just read that, apart from God, we cannot even desire to do good!
So, hopefully this has been as equally encouraging as it has been sobering. A basic re-cap would be... "We have no good in us, that comes from ourselves. Any and every bit of good which we have comes from the redemptive work of Christ, in us!" So, there you have it! Once again I apologize for the abrupt end I must put to this entry... However, I'm about to be late for work!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Friday, May 8, 2009
Faithfulness... It's a God Thing!
"What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, 'THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED.' But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?" -Romans 3:3-6
So, here's one of those things that's going to be really fun to think about... God's faithfulness! It stands throughout the entire span of time; past, present and future! His faithfulness is carried out in many different ways....
First, we see His faithfulness through the promise of redemption. Jesus Christ, God in flesh, came to earth and lived a sinless life. He was then unjustly tried and crucified for the sins of the world. He took upon Himself the punishment which was due each of us, for our sins, and made a way for us to be found acceptable in the sight of God. John 14:6 says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." So, we see God's faithfulness to provide a way of redemption...
Next, we must look at God's faithfulness to carry out judgment against sin. God is holy! This means that sin cannot be found in His presence. We are sinful beings. Without the blood of Christ to atone for our wrongs, we cannot come into the presence of God. Therefore, God's judgment is carried out against the unrepentant heart. This demonstrates God's faithfulness to His holiness. He does not change! His Word stands forever! Sin must be punished, and God is the perfect and righteous Judge. He is faithful to judge the nations, and the heart of every man.
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:38-39
Here is another aspect of His faithfulness to consider. He does not change! (1 Sam. 15:29; Malachi 3:6) God is immutable! This means that His character does not change! He is, always has been and always will be faithful to His character. This is a great relief for those of us who have been betrayed, time and time again, by others... When Jesus said, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." (John 6:37) He is saying, "If you are Mine, then you are Mine, I shall never leave you nor forsake you!" (Deut. 31:6).
So, basically what Paul is getting at in Romans 3 is that we might not comprehend the mind of God, but that He is faithful, nonetheless. Let every man be found a liar, but God's words and promises will stand forever! We see this in an even clearer light when we look at Isaiah 55:8-11...
' "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.' "
It's actually quite comforting to know that God's mind is infinitely greater than our own! Let's face it... if the Creator of the Universe thought along the same lines and at the same level as the average human being... WE'D ALL BE IN TROUBLE! If He was subject to change as often as we are... if He was not the very essence of stability for all of matter... then we'd be living in chaos!
So, thanks be to God! That He is ever faithful! His promises are true! And we can count on His faithfulness when ours runs out! His love is faithful, even when we are not... such faithfulness truly transcends the human capacity for understanding! So, if we can learn to live with the same faithfulness, to the same cause, as Christ, which is to magnify His Father in everything, then I think we just might be on the right track! Let's learn to live in faithfulness! First, to our God, then to His Word, then in everything which His Word shows us.
My simple thought pattern is this... If it's a characteristic of our God... it's probably worth modeling! Let's learn to be faithful beings!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Circumcise Your Hearts!
"For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God." -Romans 2:25-29
Well, these verses go very nicely with the last few that we looked at...
It's a slightly different twist on the same issues we saw in verses 17-24. Paul is going after the heart of those who would claim Christ as Lord and is asking them, "What is really god to you? Is it the God of universe, or is it something which He has created?"
This is an important question, which Paul asks in 25-29... What is genuine circumcision?
I think the answer is "circumcision of the heart." That's what God desires of us. We see countless times in the Scriptures where Jesus is talking to a large crowd and one of His biggest issues was that the actions and the words of the Pharisees and Sadducees didn't line up. Not only that, but the fact that He knew their hearts, and the pride and duplicity with which their disciplined lives were laced... Being outwardly circumcised, they had a false sense of security and belonging, all the while their hearts were completely uncircumcised! The covenant they kept was one of outward obedience, but their hearts were still chained to their desires for worldly pleasure and monetary gain.
You know... pride is an extremely dangerous thing! It's a very common problem too! It takes root when we live the life of the "good Christian" on the outside, but we do not change what's wrong inside of us. We see those who are struggling around us and, since our hearts are not humbled, we look down upon the "weaker brother." Friends, it is a dangerous position, when you find yourself feeling contempt for the struggling believer, rather than feeling compassion for such a one...
Well, that's pretty much an entirely different subject all-together, but I can't help but rail a little on such a predominant issue as hypocrisy! My apologies....
So, how do we become inwardly circumcised? How do we belong completely and wholly to the God we serve?
There's a couple of things to look at here...
First, the work of inward circumcision is done by the Holy Spirit. (v. 29) Paul says in Romans 7:18 "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not." The Holy Spirit does the work of conviction in our lives and is the One who empowers us to do the will of the Father. In and of ourselves we could not live uprightly.
Secondly, we must look at the things which we call "god" in our lives. God says, very simply, in Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me." And Jesus says in Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth." Notice the NO ONE can serve two masters... Jesus says that it is impossible to be wholly devoted to two different things... and with God, you cannot be only partially His. He hates the lukewarm... "And because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." (Revelation 3:16)
So, we see two definitive truths alive in these verses. A relationship with Christ means that our inward being is wholly devoted to and belongs completely to Christ. And, secondly, we see that the Holy Spirit is at work in us.... which means that we must listen (through the study of the scriptures and through our conscience) to His prompting in our lives. (Phil. 1:6, 2:13, Romans 5:5, 8:14,16, 1 Cor. 2:11-14)
Also, if you look at the last few words of verse 29, "and his praise is not from men, but from God." This is, once again, extremely indicative of the heart... are we striving for the praise of men? Or do we operate in such a way that we do the things which nobody else will ever see, just because it's the right thing to do? Do we honor God in the small, unobserved ways? Or just in the ways which are noticeable by others?
All of this to say, "Be circumcised in your hearts." We are not trying to be Jews, but we are trying to live lives which honor God and show Him to be our Lord. We ought to be striving for sincerity, as I mentioned last week, in every aspect of our lives.
Well, I'll leave you with these thoughts... I know it's given me plenty to think on!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Well, these verses go very nicely with the last few that we looked at...
It's a slightly different twist on the same issues we saw in verses 17-24. Paul is going after the heart of those who would claim Christ as Lord and is asking them, "What is really god to you? Is it the God of universe, or is it something which He has created?"
This is an important question, which Paul asks in 25-29... What is genuine circumcision?
I think the answer is "circumcision of the heart." That's what God desires of us. We see countless times in the Scriptures where Jesus is talking to a large crowd and one of His biggest issues was that the actions and the words of the Pharisees and Sadducees didn't line up. Not only that, but the fact that He knew their hearts, and the pride and duplicity with which their disciplined lives were laced... Being outwardly circumcised, they had a false sense of security and belonging, all the while their hearts were completely uncircumcised! The covenant they kept was one of outward obedience, but their hearts were still chained to their desires for worldly pleasure and monetary gain.
You know... pride is an extremely dangerous thing! It's a very common problem too! It takes root when we live the life of the "good Christian" on the outside, but we do not change what's wrong inside of us. We see those who are struggling around us and, since our hearts are not humbled, we look down upon the "weaker brother." Friends, it is a dangerous position, when you find yourself feeling contempt for the struggling believer, rather than feeling compassion for such a one...
Well, that's pretty much an entirely different subject all-together, but I can't help but rail a little on such a predominant issue as hypocrisy! My apologies....
So, how do we become inwardly circumcised? How do we belong completely and wholly to the God we serve?
There's a couple of things to look at here...
First, the work of inward circumcision is done by the Holy Spirit. (v. 29) Paul says in Romans 7:18 "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not." The Holy Spirit does the work of conviction in our lives and is the One who empowers us to do the will of the Father. In and of ourselves we could not live uprightly.
Secondly, we must look at the things which we call "god" in our lives. God says, very simply, in Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me." And Jesus says in Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth." Notice the NO ONE can serve two masters... Jesus says that it is impossible to be wholly devoted to two different things... and with God, you cannot be only partially His. He hates the lukewarm... "And because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." (Revelation 3:16)
So, we see two definitive truths alive in these verses. A relationship with Christ means that our inward being is wholly devoted to and belongs completely to Christ. And, secondly, we see that the Holy Spirit is at work in us.... which means that we must listen (through the study of the scriptures and through our conscience) to His prompting in our lives. (Phil. 1:6, 2:13, Romans 5:5, 8:14,16, 1 Cor. 2:11-14)
Also, if you look at the last few words of verse 29, "and his praise is not from men, but from God." This is, once again, extremely indicative of the heart... are we striving for the praise of men? Or do we operate in such a way that we do the things which nobody else will ever see, just because it's the right thing to do? Do we honor God in the small, unobserved ways? Or just in the ways which are noticeable by others?
All of this to say, "Be circumcised in your hearts." We are not trying to be Jews, but we are trying to live lives which honor God and show Him to be our Lord. We ought to be striving for sincerity, as I mentioned last week, in every aspect of our lives.
Well, I'll leave you with these thoughts... I know it's given me plenty to think on!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Friday, May 1, 2009
Sincerity Is a MUST! (Practice what you Preach)
"But if you bear the name 'Jew' and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For 'THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,' just as it is written." Romans 2:17-24
Wow! What a wakeup call! I was sitting here reading this text, this morning, and I couldn't believe how clearly it woke me up...
Are we practicing what we preach? Because I can definitely talk a good talk! But can I walk the road to Calvary as well as Christ did? I'm not so sure about that one...
What does it really mean to take up our cross and follow Christ? I think Paul nailed it right there! It means that we're an example of everything that we claim as truth. We don't live double lives. There is no differentiation between our "Sunday-selves" and the "Weekly-Us." How on earth can we expect to be an example of Christ if we preach His Word and then live a completely opposite life???
Check out this portion of the verse again... it just slammed me this morning...
"For 'THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,' just as it is written."
?!?!!! Yeah... that's not intimidating in the slightest, right? How many times have I said one thing and then done another? This is such a sobering thought.... that we who claim to be children of God would blaspheme His holy Name with our duplicity!!!
So... Who wants to be on this side of the line? Who wants it said of them, "You are a blasphemer of the God of the Universe, because you spoke His Words but lived like the world and thus destroyed all and any impact you might have had for the sake of the Gospel..."? Well? Any takers? Yeah, me neither.
So what do we do? What steps do we take to avoid such incriminating charges as "blasphemy"?
Well, I think step one is "Sincerity." There must be sincerity in our walk with Christ. If things aren't right between me and God then I am NEVER going to be an effective disciple. So, sincerity starts with the inward relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Secondly, sincerity must take place in our relationships with others. If we wear the "Sunday mask" to church and pretend to be who we're not... we'll never be free of the guilt which accompanies such games. There is a certain level of fakeness which plagues most churches today. The modern church has become a place where you cannot have problems... what's with that??? Isn't the church the place where broken people are supposed to find healing? Isn't the church supposed to be the place where we come because we know that we aren't good enough and that Christ is the only good in us?
So, we go to church with this understanding that we have to be "Super Christians" in order to be found acceptable. We say all the right "churchy" words and know all of the songs by heart... but our hearts are calloused by our adulterous relationship with the world!
This cannot be! Sincerity means that, when we talk with others, our life says, "I'm messed up! But thanks be to God, I am His! He's working on me and sanctifying a life that has been broken by sin!" After all... the world already has a surplus supply of people who live in duplicity. What people are looking for, when they come to a church or are looking into the lives of those who claim Christ as Lord, is for truth, real-ness... they want to see what "real" looks like. Anyone can pretend to be okay and deny all hurts and pains; but it takes a sincere Christ-follower, who lives humbly and according the Word, to admit that they are powerless in-and-of themselves and that Christ is the only good they have!
Perhaps I've gone a little too far out on a tangent, but I hope you understand the point I'm driving at... How true and effective is our witness if we are preaching repentance and truth to others and then living in the very sins we call others to repent of? There is no truth in that! Have you ever wondered at the ineffectiveness of your witness? Perhaps this is something to reflect on.
So, today let's make an internal inspection of ourselves. Let's check those deep corners of our hearts and minds for things which are a little out of whack. Then... let's take those things to the cross... let's confess them to the One who already knows all of our faults. He has already died for and covered those sins with His blood, but we are told to confess them to Him openly anyways. That's what sincerity is all about. We have to be sincere and honest with ourselves just as much as we do with anyone else. If you lie to yourself about the issues of your heart, then how can you ever expect to be honest with someone else?
My prayer is that we will be bold in this and ask God to bring to light anything and everything with is not honoring to Him. That He would show us those things which would be damaging to our relationship with Him and which would cause us to be called hypocrites and blasphemers. My hope is that we would take these things and lay them at the foot of the cross... that we would repent of these things and turn away from them.
Friends, I can say this from experience... there is so much freedom in sincerity! God's been shaking me, breaking me, and re-shaping me these past few weeks... I'm not going to lie, it's definitely painful, but it's also definitely WORTH IT!!! The freedom that comes with sincerity is incomparably greater than any life lived in hypocrisy and duplicity!
I'll leave you each to wrestle with these thoughts...
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
"But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified." - Romans 2:3-13
Wow! I apologize for the gaps in-between the last few blogs... God's been doing a work in me, and it's left me less than energetic about blogging. But it's all good, because times of brokenness and reliance upon Christ cause us to become more devoted to Him and become less amused with ourselves and our own abilities. When you're brought to the edge of yourself and the love of Christ and His abilities continue to stretch out in front of you... You realize the smallness of self and the enormity of God and of His love for us.
I just want to touch, really quickly, on a single verse in this passage... "For there is no partiality with God." Amen to that! Isn't it great that no matter what we do we cannot earn, nor detract from, God's love for us???
I was recently struggling with this very concept... Have you ever felt outside of the grace of God? It's not a pretty place to be! Of course, we know from Scripture that God will never fail us or forsake us (Deut. 31:8). But what's happening, then, in those times when we feel so far off? Guilt! Shame! It's quite simple really, we are judging our character by the standards of Scripture and realizing that we have fallen short... again! It's important, at this point, to remember the grace of God. We CANNOT be good, but Christ is our good, instead. He paid the penalty of ALL of our shortcomings, past, present and future! The hope we have is in HIM!
So, forget about the partiality that we humans struggle with, because it doesn't exist with God. Nor should we have partiality, it shows that we are basing our response to others on their ability to perform well. This is not the love of Christ.
Really quick, though, here's what I'm not saying.... I'm not saying that this is applicable in, say, the workplace. Should the boss give everyone a raise so as to not show partiality to those who perform well? Of course, in a situation like that, there is reward for good behavior and correction for bad behavior. But this is because these institutions are run by fallible humans, who are working for money, which has nothing to offer us in eternity and can actually become a god to some of us, if we're not careful.
What I am saying is this... in your workplace, home, school, etc. treat everyone with the love of Christ. Don't evaluate their worthiness of your good treatment towards them. Remember what you have to offer God? Nothing. So, keep that in mind when you are showing kindness and the love of Christ to others. They might not have anything to offer you, but that's okay. You have everything that matters, Christ, to offer them!
I don't think I'm doing a very good job of explaining what I am thinking... but unfortunately that's all I have time for today. I'll probably revisit this idea tomorrow and try to make more sense of it.
In conclusion, we can rest in the assurance that we are children of God and that His love for us is not portioned out according to our worthiness, but rather according to the fact that He has decided to love us and that His love never fails. We have been called out of our sins, and He has given us the greatest gift, eternal life! I hope this is as encouraging to you as it has been for me... to know that my past failures aren't going to affect my grade with God, but that Christ's blood is all that matters when I stand before Him.
Look at verse 4 again... "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"
It is the kindness of God, which we see, in light of our unworthiness, which causes us to fall on our faces and cry out for mercy... We cry out for forgiveness, not because of our own understanding, but because God revealed to us the greatness of His love for us!
It is this same kindness which birthed forth the Savior... Jesus' death was the kindest act of God towards us. It was the only way that we could be saved from our sins, and He accomplished ALL of it. We had no part in our salvation. He simply chose to express His kindness towards each of us! What an awesome concept!
So, don't get caught on the flipside! Don't sit there with a stubborn and unrepentant heart, as Paul continues on to say. God's righteous judgment will be poured out on the stubborn one who says in his heart, "There is no God."
The contrasts are given... which side are you on?
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Don't Play "The Judge"
"Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things." - Romans 2:1
"Therefore" means "in light of what we've just said." So, we need to remember what we've just looked at in the end of Romans 1.
"And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." - Romans 1:28-32
So, here we see Paul calling out the Romans on their sin. They were busy keeping an eye on each other's holiness and, in that process, not keeping a close enough eye on their own! Jesus talked a lot about this same subject...
"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:1-5)
This whole ordeal really boils down to one simple thing... Spiritual maturity. It is the humble and loving Christian that is going to be able to bring peace and restoration to a situation. To paraphrase what we just read from Matthew 7... "Examine yourself, FIRST!"
Have you ever noticed how the faults that someone points out in another person are usually the same faults that we notice in the person doing all the pointing out? Did that make any sense at all??? You know what I mean, though, right? There are people who are so quick to point out the things that they see in others, but we notice the same things in them!
Okay, so first off... would it not be considered gossip if we were to discuss the faults of others with people not at all directly related to the issue? I think that's a big "Yes"... it would be gossip to talk about other people's faults and shortcomings, in their absence.
Secondly, according to what we've just read... What does that tell us about the condition of the gossip's heart? It would seem that, according to the Scriptures, the person who notices the faults of others should be just as quick, if not quicker, to examine themselves before they ever consider going to that person and pointing out the things that they notice.
So, what does a judgmental heart say about our inward condition? It says that we have the same problems as the one whom we see struggling! Not only that... but we condemn ourselves when we judge others with a higher standard than the one that we use to judge our own behavior! Consider this... no matter what "standard" you judge by, it will always fall short of perfect. God's standard is so much higher than man's standards could ever reach! With that being said... why would we ever even think of judging others while letting ourselves off of the hook? We're saved by GRACE alone! There is nothing that we have ever done to make ourselves worth the saving work which Christ has done in us! So, really, we're putting our own standards above the power of the cross when we judge our brothers and sisters in Christ.... That's a sobering thought!
Galatians 6:1 puts this concept into perspective, perfectly!
"Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted." (Galatians 6:1)
"You who are spiritual..." again we come back to the idea of spiritual maturity being a primary necessity in dealing with others. We must be able to come to a brother or sister in love. There cannot be a judgmental tone to the way in which we address the issue, because that is pure hypocrisy according to Christ. It shows a lack of compassion and desire to see the other person restored.
"In a spirit of gentleness..." Again we see what we've just covered... that our goal must be their restoration. Anything short of seeking the other person's restoration shows a dangerous relation to a judgmental spirit, which again leads us back to hypocrisy. Do you see the vicious cycle which takes place when we do not treat others as if they are given the same amount of grace with which we ourselves would hope to be treated?
In conclusion... how much grace are you extending to your brothers and sisters in Christ? How much understanding do you treat their circumstances with? And how much of an emissary of Christ's love are you towards those who are struggling and in need of support? Being a "mercy-giver" is as important a ministry as any other... some are called to be comforters, but we are all called to love others with the same love which Christ showed us!
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." - Romans 1:21-32
I know we've covered the first couple of these verses several times already, but I wanted to add them on as a refresher since it's been a little while since we last looked at them. I won't be directly addressing them, but they're there to show their relationship to the verses that we'll be looking at today.
This is all a continuation of one thought... darkened hearts, without the light of Christ to illuminate them, fall into the deepest pits of sin and rebellion. The list that Paul gives... "being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful..." (vv. 29-31) it shows us that there is a broad spectrum which he calls the foolishness of those who do not acknowledge God. So, do we mean that those who are disobedient to their parents are not acknowledging God? Yes... God gave us parents, He told us to honor and obey them, and when we do not follow this command upon our lives we are breaking God's law and are not showing acknowledgement of His authority over our lives. We should be acknowledging God's authority over every aspect of our lives, but this is often easier said than done...
Well... I'm running out of time, much quicker than I would have hoped... My prayers for you, today, is that you will take some time to reflect on how you either have or haven't been acknowledging God as your ultimate authority.... What drives us? What is the determining factor of our actions? Who do we serve? Ourselves and the lusts of our flesh, as Paul mentions? Or are we serving the One Who has called us to forsake our own agenda and to follow Him, wholeheartedly?
If you call yourself a Christian, you've been called out of the depravity of "self." Paul says, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" (Rom. 6:2) We're a part of something bigger, by the grace of God, and that's not something to take lightly! We must take the necessary steps to be freed from the lusts of our own desires! Confess your struggles to the One who understands... repent and turn away from them... And be used by the One who has set YOU apart for His glory and your ultimate good! He loves you... that's why He called you out of your darkened state of depravity. That's why He was willing to send His Son to earth to live a perfect life and die a gruelling death on your behalf... because of the great love with which He loved us... The least we can do, in return (not that we could ever repay the debt which He covered with His own blood), is live a life which points to Him in everything that we say and do... to flee from the things which cause Him sorrow and which separated us from Him in the first place.
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
I know we've covered the first couple of these verses several times already, but I wanted to add them on as a refresher since it's been a little while since we last looked at them. I won't be directly addressing them, but they're there to show their relationship to the verses that we'll be looking at today.
This is all a continuation of one thought... darkened hearts, without the light of Christ to illuminate them, fall into the deepest pits of sin and rebellion. The list that Paul gives... "being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful..." (vv. 29-31) it shows us that there is a broad spectrum which he calls the foolishness of those who do not acknowledge God. So, do we mean that those who are disobedient to their parents are not acknowledging God? Yes... God gave us parents, He told us to honor and obey them, and when we do not follow this command upon our lives we are breaking God's law and are not showing acknowledgement of His authority over our lives. We should be acknowledging God's authority over every aspect of our lives, but this is often easier said than done...
Well... I'm running out of time, much quicker than I would have hoped... My prayers for you, today, is that you will take some time to reflect on how you either have or haven't been acknowledging God as your ultimate authority.... What drives us? What is the determining factor of our actions? Who do we serve? Ourselves and the lusts of our flesh, as Paul mentions? Or are we serving the One Who has called us to forsake our own agenda and to follow Him, wholeheartedly?
If you call yourself a Christian, you've been called out of the depravity of "self." Paul says, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" (Rom. 6:2) We're a part of something bigger, by the grace of God, and that's not something to take lightly! We must take the necessary steps to be freed from the lusts of our own desires! Confess your struggles to the One who understands... repent and turn away from them... And be used by the One who has set YOU apart for His glory and your ultimate good! He loves you... that's why He called you out of your darkened state of depravity. That's why He was willing to send His Son to earth to live a perfect life and die a gruelling death on your behalf... because of the great love with which He loved us... The least we can do, in return (not that we could ever repay the debt which He covered with His own blood), is live a life which points to Him in everything that we say and do... to flee from the things which cause Him sorrow and which separated us from Him in the first place.
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Friday, April 10, 2009
Good Friday: Just a verse or two...
"Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors."
- Isaiah 53:1-12
That's our Christ! Those were our sins... He took them all! He interceded for US!!! We are the transgressors, WE were due the stroke of wrath... but He shielded our lashings with His own body!
That's all I have to say for today...
May the Grace and Peace that comes through the Blood of the Lamb be yours in abundance!
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors."
- Isaiah 53:1-12
That's our Christ! Those were our sins... He took them all! He interceded for US!!! We are the transgressors, WE were due the stroke of wrath... but He shielded our lashings with His own body!
That's all I have to say for today...
May the Grace and Peace that comes through the Blood of the Lamb be yours in abundance!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Just A Quick Thought...
As I sit here in my living room... listening to my family as they all play a game together... I'm compelled to stop and think a minute about the fast-approaching day. Good Friday.
Why do we call it "Good" Friday? Perhaps we're referring to the gruesome death of our Savior, on a cross? I'm not sure we could call that "good"...
Perhaps it's because of the diverted wrath of God being poured out upon His Only Son, instead of upon each of our souls? I guess the only problem I have is... couldn't they have found a better word than "Good" to describe what happened on that day? I consider it to be a "good" thing when I can have chocolate ice-cream while I blog from the comfort of my couch! So, something's wrong in the wordage of our modern society...
Could it be that the word "Good" just doesn't do justice to the enormous work accomplished on the cross? Or could my usage of "Good" just be WAY too generous a word for the situation? When Paul talks about Goodness being a Fruit of the Spirit, in Galatians 5:22-23, the meaning of the word is "moral or spiritual excellence." I don't think that my chocolate ice-cream is causing moral excellence in me... I'm just saying... I could probably find a better word to use.
Again, though, I'm thinking that there MUST be a better word we could use for the day in which sin and death were fought with the sinless blood of the Lamb of God! But what word could it be? This my dilemma...
You know what, though? It's not as big a deal, as I'm making it, that we would have a word to better describe what our Savior accomplished... but rather that we would have a better (fuller) understanding of what exactly happened on that day. That we would understand our sin... that our sin was the reason that He must die. That our punishment was placed upon the shoulders of the only person who should never have needed to bear that load. That the punishment for our sins was the greatest agony that can possibly be experience, both by body and soul. The agony of suffocating, ever so slowly, drowning in your own blood... But if that weren't punishment enough for the perfect life that He lived, there was a greater, more despairing thing to come.... The agony of separation from His Father... The Father whom He had had perfect communion with since before time began.
His Father could not look upon Him because of the enormity of the sins which fell upon our Savior that day... He cried out! Not because of the pain from the whips. He Cried out, not from the weight of the crowds jeering. He Cried Out, not because of the searing pain in His most blessed wrists and feet, as cold, cruel nails dug deeper and deeper into Him... HE CRIED OUT... because His Father had forsaken Him! He cried out because His perfect communion with the Father was broken!
Do we understand this agony? I don't think that we do... I don't think a human being has ever experienced, on this side of the grave, complete separation from the God of the Universe.
Does the prospect of complete separation from God cause you to tremble? Does it cause in you an extreme desperation? If not, we must question what our hearts are truly devoted to. How much do we love our Lord? Does the idea of being separated from Him cause us to weep in despair of what our lives would be like without His light in us?
To what extent do our words and actions demonstrate the grateful love and devotion that we have for our Savior? What is our response to the Love that we've seen? Do we humbly bow and cry "Holy! Holy! Holy!"? Or do we sniff contemptuously at the blood that we have taken part in shedding, blood which has the power to redeem souls, and go about in our pursuit of worldly pleasures? Friends, I confess my guilt to the latter... I have chased meaningless things! I am guilty of allowing distractions to creep in and become more important to me than loving my Lord!!!
What is this illness??? What madness could possibly drive us beyond perfect love? What insanity could offer more pertinent things than eternal life to our souls??? Two words... Pride and Selfishness
Pride... the inability to recognize our need for someone, outside of ourselves, to save us from our predicament. Or, quite simply, the unwillingness to admit that we don't have all of the answers and that we aren't in control of our own destiny.
Selfishness... the self-absorbing cancer which plagues so many of us, today! The constant pursuit of personal goals, rather than pursuing the things of Christ!
I don't want to get too in depth, right now. But I do hope that these thoughts, mixed with an understanding of the meaning of Christ's death on our behalf, might cause us to consider our priorities more...
Who do you love? God or this World?
Who do you serve?
Who gets the majority of your time?
Who is on your mind, when you wake up and when you go to bed?
I'm convicted by the very questions that I'm asking each of us to consider! I'm guilty! I'm a sinner, saved by grace that I do not, CANNOT, deserve! I'm a work in progress... but that doesn't mean I'm exempt from growing in my love for my Savior. If we truly call Him "Lord," then we will want to know Him more, to serve Him more, to give our all for HIM!
So, Good Friday... the day that the World was given HOPE! Without Christ's death, there is law... And we cannot keep the whole Law. There is no way for us to keep the law, or the death of Christ wouldn't have been necessary. There would be less importance to the death of Christ if we were capable of saving ourselves. But that's not the case! The Law cannot be kept, in full, by a fallen soul. BUT GOD! Those precious words! Most precious because they represent intervention by the only One who could possibly bring hope. The only One outside of the fallen nature. The only One... sent His Only Son. His Only Son, after living a perfect life, sacrificed Himself for us... a people who could never repay Him! There's something to be said of sacrifice with no expectation of repayment. He loved us that much!
I feel as though I may be rambling... there are more qualified preachers who could do a much better job of helping you to understand the weight of our sins and the freedom and hope we have in Christ's victory over sin and death! I just thought I'd give my "two-cents worth."
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Too Few Hours In A Day
I, uh... er... ran out of time today...
I thought that I'd have time, this evening, to work on some more thoughts with these few verses... but I think we'll have to wait and hope that it works out better tomorrow morning.
Of course, by the time most of you read this, I'll probably already have the next post up! At least... hopefully!
Grace and Peace!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Glory? Who's Glory?
"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." - Romans 1:21-23
" 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.' " - Isaiah 55:8-11
"Thus they exchanged their glory for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt, wonders in the land of Ham and awesome things by the Red Sea." - Psalm 106:20-22
"Many times He would deliver them; They, however, were rebellious in their counsel, and so sank down in their iniquity. Nevertheless He looked upon their distress when He heard their cry; and He remembered His covenant for their sake, and relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness." - Psalm 106:43-45
Well, hopefully these few verses have helped in the understanding of the history from which Paul pulls this concept of "Professing to be wise, they became fools..." Do not suppose, though, that this behavior is limited to the Old Testament. No, we are still professing wisdom, today, and are, all the while, becoming more and more foolish in our thinking. The "wisdom" of the world is called foolishness in the Scriptures... we see it many times.
The "wisdom" of the Israelites often got them into more trouble than it was worth! Wouldn't you agree? That perhaps if they had just followed the commands of God... they might have all made it into the Promised land of God a whole lot earlier? Am I crazy in assuming that God could have kept His promise to bring them into the land the first time they arrived? But God does keep His promises. He promised blessings for those who would be obedient, and a curse upon those who would turn away and seek their own ways... If you don't believe me, just read Leviticus (chapter 26) and Deuteronomy (chapter 28)!
So, here we see Paul dealing with those who have turned away... They began to follow after idols. He lists a few different things here, but I think one of the more interesting, and probably more applicable, things that he deals with is an image in the form of corruptible man! Isn't that weird? No! It's absolutely true! We idolize those around us... we make a person our ultimate standard of what is good and right and true.
We try to obtain Truth, capital "T", in the places where Truth isn't found. Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. If Jesus Christ is Truth.... then, when we try to find fulfillment and truth in places other than the Scriptures and our relationship with Him.... we're failing ourselves and our Savior. We are rendering ourselves completely ineffective for His kingdom when we chase after the corruptible, as our number one goal in life.
So, what should we be chasing after? What do the Scriptures say that a follower of Christ should chase after? Well... Jesus said that we should pursue the souls of everyone around us. And when we run out of souls to pursue around us.... we relocate and pursue more souls in other places. We are told to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." (Matt. 28:19)
In the New Testament we see several other commands as well:
To love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Mark 12:30)
To have love above all other gifts of the faith. (1 Cor. 13)
To have humility. (1 Peter 5:5)
To have joy in times of trial. (James 1:2-4)
There are more, but this list should give us a little bit of insight into what God requires of those who would call themselves by His Name. We are not called to be consumers, but rather to be servants... Just as Christ said that He did not come to be served, but rather to serve. (Matt. 20:26-28) Can we even begin to understand this concept? Not of our own accord and on our own merit, but through the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the humbleness (through grace) which He gives us, we can become the fully devoted servant whom God will use mightily for His name's sake! Can I get a "hallelujah!"? Have you ever noticed that the ones who seem to love and understand the things of God the most are those who serve Him without expecting praise or anything else in return? I think there is some good reasoning behind this...
So, all of this to say... "Chase hard after God, and do not turn to the left, nor to the right. But rather let us continue on in the faith and work of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! For there is nothing greater on this earth that we could possibly be a part of!"
Don't profess wisdom... profess Christ! That's all the wisdom we need!
Don't exchange the glory of God for the glory of man... there is no lasting value in glorifying yourself. Only the glory of God is everlasting! Only the glory of God is worthy of our mentioning. Boasting of our own efforts is like bragging about the shack we built next to the Empire State building. Let's take it one step further... It's like boasting about the Empire State building while we stare at Mount Everest. There is a Builder and Creator Who is infinitely greater than we are. Nothing is worth mentioning unless it points back to, or reflects, His greatness.
Be a mirror of Christ. Be a reflection of His light in a darkened world, where men are professing wisdom while spouting follies by the minute! Don't follow the crowd in exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God for corruptible things. Store up your treasures where they are really going to matter the most! (Matt. 6)
Grace and Peace!
Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .
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