Coming to Christ

                                               

                                           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

We come to Him because we have believed in Him, and upon Him we have cast all our hope for our eternal salvation. We come to Him because we depend upon His finished work, His once for all sacrifice, His blood bought redemption, and nothing else. We come to Him because He, and He alone, is the the way, the truth, and the life; and we know that there is no other way to enter heaven and stand before the throne of God except through Him. We come to Him because He alone is the Holy One of God, and He alone has the words of eternal life. We come to Him and Him alone.

Come to Jesus, come to Christ, come to your one and only Savior today. Come to Him casting all that you are and all that you have upon all that He is and all that He has done. Behold, He stands with His arms open to receive you! Cast aside all that hinders you and come to Him now, delay no longer.

Twelve Reasons Our Salvation Is Secure

 1. We have been baptized into Christ Jesus, and united with Him in His death, and then certainly in His resurrection. Romans 6:3-6

2. We have become partakers (koinonos--joint sharers, partners) of the divine nature. II Peter 1:4

3. We have an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, and, which is reserved in heaven for us. I Peter 1:4

4. We are protected by the power of God for a salvation which will be revealed (fully brought to light, fully manifested) when Christ returns. I Peter 1:5

5. Because we are in Christ, there is no longer, forever, any condemnation on us. Romans 8:1, Psalm 34:22

6. When we sin we have an Advocate who stands before the Father on our behalf, who always lives to make intercession for us and plead our cause before God against all of the cries of the accuser. This Advocate was also the one who made propitiation (satisfaction of the wrath and penalty) for our sins through His own death in our stead, and thus He saves forever those who come to Him in repentance and faith. I John 2:1-2, Psalm 119:154, Hebrews 7:25, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 8:33-34, Revelation 12:10

7. It is Christ Himself who has laid hold of us for salvation, never to let us go. Philippians 3:12, John 10:28-30

8. Nothing created...no circumstance, no power, no angel, nothing yet to come, nor ruler can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39

9. The Father would not dishonor the sacrifice of the Son by letting one for whom the Son paid the penalty of the Father's wrath, not make it into heaven and be raised up on the last day. John 6:37-40

10. God has sealed our salvation by the Holy Spirit, who is also His pledge (down payment, escrow) of our inheritance which is reserved for us in heaven. Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30, II Corinthians 1:21-22

11. What God has started, the work of His salvation in us, He will complete. Philippians 1:6

12. All of the promises of our salvation are made sure and complete in Christ. I Corinthians 1:20

So, my friends, rejoice in the security and therefore the surety of your salvation. Let us offer up a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to our great God, and His great Son our Lord and Savior, for the greatness of this salvation, His making it available to us, His making its accomplishment in us fool-proof, and the confidence this gives us in our relationship with Him. What a wonderful God! What beautiful truths!

Biblical Guidelines for Church Leadership: The Weight of Small Sins

 

          Spiritual leadership without character is only religious activity,

possibly religious business or, even worse, hypocrisy......

The qualified leader is a man of the Book, using it not just

to prepare sermons and preaching notes, but, first and foremost,

to prepare himself.

James M. George

The Call to Pastoral Ministry

Pastoral Ministry

(How to Shepherd Biblically)

Page 91

Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you;

and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

Hebrews 13:7

How important it is for those of us who occupy a place of spiritual leadership to be men of character, character forged by the Holy Spirit and formed by the Word of God. Providing spiritual leadership is a daunting responsibility, a responsibility that underscores the Lord's admonition in James 3:1 "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment." This is why the Lord stresses Godly character in His requirements for those who occupy the post of pastor; and why Paul buffeted his flesh, so that after he had preached to others he would not be disqualified.

The landscape of the church is littered with the moral failures of those who failed to watch themselves.  In fact, it has become much too common, and it is just not in the area of personal sexual immorality, as noted by the current furor over an SBC president. Over the last several years we have seen pastors removed due to lying, inflating numbers, financial impropriety, bullying, alcoholism, and undue self-promotion. Another one of the issues the SBC has been taken to task for is the sexual abuse and the toleration of it by certain persons and churches within its ranks.

These are the obvious, the news grabbing and headline making, but what about the ones that don't make the news, the ones that cause damage just as great? I was reading an internet article about how Peacemaker ministries worked to reconcile a church's pastor and elders after temper, egos, and innuendos had split them and the church. What about the detrimental effects of pride, stubbornness, selfishness, ambition, jealousy, unforgiveness, lying, greed, and gossip? What about those that fear man more than they fear God, those that are men-pleasers vs God-pleasers, and those who would compromise rather than confront? What about the small things that are done daily that add up over time? Most often it is the weight of the small sins which make a ministry ineffective and erodes the trust and confidence necessary to be followed.

I remember once hearing Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, preach, and in his sermon he was stressing the need for moral integrity. He said that he had asked God to take him home before He let Bill commit adultery. Admirable, yes, but for most of us, we are on guard against the big A when it is the perniciousness of the so called small sins that we ought to be on guard against as well.  Is our prayer, "Lord, lead me away from temptation in the areas where I am weak and most easily tempted, and let not evil have any way with me. Please keep me from causing any of the brethren to stumble. Help me to adorn the doctrine I preach with the life that I live. Empower me to do what is right, to love what is good, and to walk humbly with You. Enable me to treat others the way I would want to be treated in every circumstance. Let not anyone, saved or unsaved, look at me and cry hypocrite. Let me be at home and behind the scenes what I am publicly."

Who is adequate for this? None of us outside of the power that God supplies. There is a greater burden, a greater responsibility, for those whom God has called into ministry; but there is a greater grace available as well. Let us be on our guard, empowered by the grace of God, so that sin will not have its way with us, not derail us nor render us impotent in our efforts to advance the kingdom of God in our own lives, so that we will be effective in advancing His kingdom in the lives of those whom He appointed to our shepherding. Let not the sin in our own lives be an impediment, an excuse, for those whom we lead in dealing with the sin in their own lives.

Father, guard our hearts and our minds. Work within us only that which is pleasing in Your sight. We are frail and weak in our own strength, so help us by the strength which You supply to live a life worthy of the gospel of Your Son, and a life worthy of the calling with which we have been called. Help us to be an example to the flock, living a life worthy of admiration and imitation. Guard us from our own selves, and give us a sensitivity to the sin which so easily entangles us. Help us to fight the good fight of faith and finish our course without disqualification. AMEN.

The Truth and Our Mind

 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever in honorable,

whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,

whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence

and if anything worth of praise, dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:8

"An old subject is thus brought before us again: the cardinal place occupied by the Christian's mind, for good as well as for ill. Just as a carnal mind is the surest passport to the downward path, so a mind drilled in the things of which God approves is the steadiest way into practical holiness. If, in a difficult relationship (1), we allow our minds and judgment to be clouded by half-truth, or if we allow frivolous and damaging thoughts about the other person (2) to simmer in our minds, we are hardly being like Christ. We should rather determine to think only the truth about the other person (2), to value what is attractive and praiseworthy about him. This will prove to be the way of peace.

We are to meditate on, to prize as valuable, and to be influenced by all that is true, all that merits serious thought and encourages serious-mindedness, all that accords with justice and moral purity, all that is fragrant and lovely, all that brings with it a good word, that speaks well, whatever has genuine worth of any sort and merits praise. It is the will of God that by giving attention to things of which he approves we should shape our minds to be like his: to those who do so, he pledges his guardian peace and his own presence as the God of peace."

Alec Motyer

The Message of Philippians

Page 212

The italics above are mine, and for #1 you could substitute situation or circumstance; and for #2 you could substitute the Lord.

Philippians 4:8 is a powerful verse.  It is one of  the verses that should be required memorization for every Christian.  It is the verse that both guards and shapes our mind. Proverbs 23:7 tells us, "As a man thinks within himself, so he is."  And how we think within ourselves should be guarded and shaped by Philippians 4:8.  

There are two things I would like for us to take note of in this verse:

First is the word dwell (think in the ESV). The Lord could have used the two most common Greek words for think, phroneo or dokeo, but He didn't. Instead He used the word logizomai. This word means more than just having an opinion or giving acknowledgment. It means to give careful consideration, to make a reasoned reflection, to be circumspect about. It implies deliberateness and seriousness. As it is used here, logizomai is also in the present tense and imperative mood, which means it is a permanent command to the point that these qualities are to be the habitual focus of our mind; and then these qualities, qualities of which God approves, will guard and shape our mind.      

Second, is the word truth. This word is the first word in this list of eight things which our minds are to be dwelling upon. The primary, most important, first and foremost thing which we are to give careful consideration to is the truth. Truth is to be the gatekeeper of our mind, and the main shaper of our thoughts. All the other qualities that we are to let our mind dwell on should always be subject to the truth. Truth is the best thing we can know, and the most reliable and powerful thing we can reflect upon.  

The most important, most reliable, and most powerful truth we can know, and therefore dwell upon is the truth about God. How we think about God and what we think about God greatly affect our life; and how we respond to all the different situations we find ourselves in is based in large part on our view of God, and our view of God is shaped by what we know about God. So knowing the truth about God is paramount.

The second most important truth we can know, is the truth about ourselves. It is against the backdrop of the truth about God and in light of the truth about God that we gain insight into the truth about ourselves, and in knowing the truth about ourselves we begin to see ourselves as God sees us. We see our life and all of its dynamics from God's viewpoint. We see our motives, our reactions, our plans, our thoughts and desires from God's vantage point, and we began to view ourselves in light of the truth that we know about God. Of course this truth was realized, brought to full view and manifested thoroughly, in Jesus Christ (John 1:17) because He is the embodiment of the truth (John 14:6).

Where can we go to find this truth? Why, of course, we go to the word of God, which is truth (John 17:17), and speaks the truth concerning every subject it touches (Psalm 119:160). The truth which should guard our mind and shape our thoughts is found in the Scriptures, and is the Scriptures themselves, as the Bible does not contain the truth, but is the truth.

Romans 12:2 tells us that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Our mind is renewed (continually made new) as we grow in knowledge of the truth. In John 8:32, Christ tells us that in knowing the truth we shall be set free. Starting with salvation, there are a myriad of applications in this verse, but the base line is that we shall be set free from the shackles of the lies of the enemy, the lies of the world, and the lies of our flesh. These are the lies we have been believing for most of our life, lies that have shaped our thoughts and governed the course of our life, lies that have made our lives miserable, lies that have separated us from God and from others, lies that our unredeemed flesh still wants to cling to.

So, it is imperative that we know the truth, and not just know the truth but continually reflect upon all that we know to be true, to give deliberate, serious, and careful consideration to what we know to be true. As we do this, our knowledge of the truth, what is true about God, ourselves, and life will grow; and as we engage our minds on the things we know to be true, our mind will be guarded from what is false...the lies of the enemy, the world, and our flesh...and our mind will be trained and shaped.

The more truth we know, the more our mind and therefore our thoughts are conformed to the truth. The more our minds are conformed to the truth the more discerning we will be regarding the lies of the enemy no matter which area of the prevailing culture they emanate from. Truth is the backdrop against which the lies of the enemy become apparent. 

Friends, let us determine today, and pray today for strength, wisdom, and discernment in the things that are true, so that our minds will be fixed upon only that which is true, so we will be people of the truth. In doing this we will be set free from the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and have the peace that surpasses all human comprehension.

Sensational Works or Simple Faith

Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, ' Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you,' Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' 

Look at what these people are claiming as their basis of right standing as they stand before the Lord on that day. It is not faith, but works, and not just any works, but sensational works; and not just any sensational works, but sensational works done in His name. The three works they claim are prophesying, casting out demons, and performing many miracles/works of power (Hmm, sounds like a certain persuasion today). What were these people trusting in for their salvation? They were trusting in their own sensational religious works and not in Christ. They were not doing the will of the Father and therefore were workers of iniquity/practicers of lawlessness. What then is the will of God that we are to do to assure us an entrance into the kingdom of heaven? It is that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, on Him alone, on His person and His finished work for our salvation. There can be nothing more and there is nothing less. 

The context that this sensational claim is made in is interesting because in verses 12-14 Christ says that the gate is wide and the way is broad that lead to destruction, but the gate is small and the way is narrow that lead to life, and few there be that find it. (A friend once made the comment that both gates have the same sign, "This Way to Heaven" but only one takes you there.) In verses 15-20 Christ tells us to beware the false prophets who come to us in sheep's clothing, but that we will know them by their fruits (see also Hebrews 13:7). Then in verses 24-29 Christ says that it is the wise man who hears His words and acts on them, but the fool is the one who hears His word and does not act upon it (see James 1:22). 

Christ is the narrow gate and the narrow way. Religion is the broad way, and the broad gate. Religion says chart your own course to God, choose what you want to believe, what you want to do, believe that there is something you can do to achieve right standing before God. False prophets tell you they know the way, so follow them. They even claim sensational works to back it up. However, they will always lead you away from Christ never to Him. We can know them by their fruits, the result of their conduct, and not be led astray by their sensational works and claims. It is the wise man who hears Christ say, " I am the way, the truth, and the life. Come to the Father through Me." and then follows Christ and Him alone. It is the fool who hears the same words, but decides to make his own way, chart his own course, and great is His fall. 

So, where are you today, my friend? What are you depending on for your entrance into the eternal kingdom of God? Is it your confession, your baptism, your prayer, your attendance, your tithing, something you have done or are doing now, or is it Christ Jesus and His finished work on the cross? Are you depending on yourself or on what God has done for you in Christ? Religion is what man can do to get to God. Christianity is what God has done to bring man to Himself. Where does your faith rest today, on yourself, or in the power of God in the cross of Christ? Think about it, weigh it carefully, consider it wisely because your eternal destiny hangs in the balance. 

He is Worth It

                                           

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view

of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus

my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of

all things, and count them but rubbish so that 

I may gain Christ.

Philippians 3:8

In thinking about my relationship with Christ, its value far surpasses anything else. He is worth the sacrifices I make for Him. In the process of thinking about this, I had a scene come into my mind. A scene that has come up occasionally when thinking on sacrificing for the Lord, and how He is worth the sacrifice. It is a scene from my own imagination, that came about as a result of reading an excerpt from a missionary biography a few years back about John Paton. I wish I could remember where I read it, but here is the gist of it.  

There was a family that felt led of the Lord to go and witness to the natives of the New Hebrides, and were dropped off on the island to begin their ministry. The inhabitants were cannibals, and were fierce warriors. Over the next couple of years his children and his wife died and were buried, and John slept on their graves every night for fear that the cannibals would dig up their graves. John would later remarry and return to the island to continue to share the gospel with these people. Of course, there is more to the story, but the scene that keeps coming to my mind is one where this man, having given up all his possessions, comforts, and security to come to this foreign and hostile land; and then losing his entire family, is alone in the darkness and stretched out over the graves of his wife and children. And in my mind the man is proclaiming to the Lord, "You are worth it!  You are worth it!"

My friends, I don't know what you are giving up to serve the Savior. I don't know what sacrifices you are making or have made; but I do know this, "He is worth it!  He is worth it!" He is worth the work of our faith and the labor of our love. He is worth the taking up of our cross. He is worth the suffering of shame for His name sake. He is the pearl of great price who is worth all of what we have. He is the One who paid it all, and so He is the one who is worth it all. Let us take our lives and offer them up, so that along with Paul, we too may gain Christ and may be found in Him on that day. 

One Time for All Time

 

 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering

of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering

time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;

but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time,

sat down at the right hand of God...

For by one offering He has perfected for all time

those who are sanctified.

Hebrews 10:10-12, 14

Italics mine

Once for all, one sacrifice for all time, and one offering for all time. This is the power and the efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. The blood of innumerable bulls, goats, and lambs sacrificed over two millennia were not adequate for and were not effective in providing redemption. These sacrifices highlighted the need for a sacrifice that would completely take away sins.

In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son who was born without sin and lived without sinning to be the perfect sacrifice for sin. Therefore the offering of the body of Christ completely sanctifies all those whom have placed their faith in Him and His work of redemption. His offering is that by which God sets us apart from sin and unto Himself. The power of that offering is in the holiness of the one who was offered up. He was the sinless Lamb of God, and in His sinlessness was the perfection and power of the offering. This one offering, thereby, which God could accept on behalf of all those who, having no intrinsic merit, would accept this specific sacrifice as their own, and therefore be sanctified wholly and completely unto God; becoming His own possession through the redemption accomplished in Christ's sacrifice

His is a one time for all time sacrifice for sins, which permanently takes away the sin of all who place their faith in Him. No sin is too strong to or too resilient to stand up to the power of His blood. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In His blood is the power to cleanse the guilt of sin, and remove the guilt of sin from all who come to Him confessing their sin and need of His cleansing power; and in faith trusting in His sacrifice as the means of removal of the stain of sin upon them.

Not only has His sacrifice sanctified us and taken away the guilt of sins from us, but through that one offering we are made complete in Him for all time. Nothing else is needed, nothing else can be added, and for all time we live in the sphere of the fullness and completeness of His sacrifice. This is the Sabbath rest of God that we are to enter into. Resting in what He has brought to completion on our behalf in the once for all offering of His Son. We rest in the completeness, the effectiveness, the permanence of this one offering, by faith accepting this offering on our behalf. It is the rest of faith, resting in and resting upon this glorious truth that God in Christ has most thoroughly and completely and effectively done every thing needed to accomplish His great salvation. This is why the author of Hebrews tells us up front to not neglect it.

Let us rejoice and celebrate this great salvation in our own hearts and souls, singing and making melody in our hearts to God. And let's share this joy and melody with those with whom we gather each Lord's day. Let our joy and thanksgiving be contagious.

Only You Father could do such a thing, could accomplish such a great salvation on behalf of those on whom You have set Your great affection upon from before the foundation of the world. Who are we Lord, to be showered and lavished with such a great love? Who are we Lord? Who are we? But we are grateful, knowing our own unworthiness, but basking and glorying in what You have done on our behalf. Praise You!  Glorify Your name! May Your name be great in all the earth, may it be great in our heart, and great on our lips. To You and You alone be glory, power, majesty, and dominion this day and forever! Amen.

The Most Effective Greeter

Pastors, we must remember that the

most effective greeter in the church is us.

We set the tone and are the catalyst

for greeting. Additionally, it is not just

about greeting the guests, but greeting

the members as well. I have never seen a

church that was good at greeting who

had a pastor who wasn't. 

Keeping Our Focus on Christ

There is an old adage in sports, and it is "Keep your eye on the ball!" This is the first fundamental in all of sports, because the game revolves around the ball, and each player has responsibilities relative to their position to the ball. So if a player loses track of the ball, he cannot and will not function properly. This seems relatively simple; but because it is simple, it easy to get sidetracked into putting your attention on all the other activities or movements that are going on around the ball so that the ball no longer has your attention.

There is a similar fundamental in the life of the church in that the life of the church revolves around Jesus Christ, and the minute any church takes its eyes off of Christ, removes its focus from Christ, and Christ ceases to be its priority, then it ceases to function properly even though it might be generating a lot of activity. If you read through the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, what you will see as a common thread among the churches that were chastised is that, in some fashion, they had taken their focus off of Christ and put it somewhere else.

This is what Paul warned the Corinthian church about in II Corinthians 10:3 "But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." This deception that takes a church's eyes off of Christ is a common, but effective tactic of the enemy; and he deceives us with many churchy, well meaning, feel good, even popular/missional du jour type of things; and it is so easy to be led astray by these things. Because of this, we must be vigilant and fight tenaciously to keep our eyes and our focus upon Jesus Christ and keep Him central to all that we are and do.

We must make sure that Christ is the center of our attention and the focus of our devotion. This is fundamental to all that we do as a church. So, just as good sports teams do, let us make sure that we are spending time focusing on the fundamentals, really The Fundamental, so that what we do as a church will be pleasing to the Lord; and our lampstand will not only remain in place, but its light will shine brightly.

Pressing On and Taking Hold

Not that I have already obtained it

or have already become perfect,

but I press on so that I may lay hold

of that for which also I was laid hold

of by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12

"It is the Word of Christ, loved, lived in,

abiding in us, becoming through obedience

and action part of our being, that makes us

one with Christ, that fits us spiritually for

touching, for taking hold of God."

Andrew Murray

quoted in

Transforming Prayer

by Daniel Henderson

Page 110

It is also this same abiding in the Word of Christ that is the foundation behind the promise found in Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart." A heart that delights itself in the Lord is a heart that delights itself in His Word. If you do not delight yourself in His written word, you will not delight yourself in His Living Word...the Word that became flesh, the embodiment of the Word.

It is only to the extent that we abide in His written word that we also abide in Him. Jeremiah 15:16a tells us this, "Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart..." The Lord tells us in John 15:10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." 

We press on and take hold by abiding in His word. If we are abiding in His word, then we automatically will be living in obedience to that word. This is the key to the abundant spiritual life, to a close fellowship with the Father and the Son, and is a marker of our love for Him; as we see in John 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." It is those who love and obey to whom Jesus will disclose Himself; and it is when we press on in loving and obeying that we touch and take hold of God. 

Pressing On for the Progress and Joy of Our Faith

In his letter to his friends in the church at Philippi, Paul was not only thanking them for their gift and love, but also addressing areas such as church unity, opposition to the gospel, and the day of Christ. These topics are addressed throughout the letter. However, Paul's addressing these topics are an aid for His accomplishing His greater goal for them in the writing of this letter, and that is their progress and joy in the faith. We see this goal stated in Philippians 1:25, which is the key verse in this book.

Ever the teacher, ever the discipler (Matthew 28:19, Ephesians 4:11-13), ever the one concerned for the welfare of the church(s) (II Corinthians 11:28), Paul was not wasting this opportunity to build up and strengthen these brethren who were dear to him. Understanding this we can see how Paul goes about this through the instructions, admonitions, and examples he gives in this letter. What Paul does in this letter to move the Philippians forward in their faith is to lay out their responsibilities as believers alongside God's resources available to them.

As believers, God wants us to progress, advance, and go further in our faith; and as such we are responsible for our part, but at the same time the Lord knows that in and of ourselves we are not adequate for the task, so He must give us the resources to do what He has laid out for us to do (II Corinthians 3:5-6). So let's look at both our responsibilities and our resource for progressing in our faith as Paul gives them in Philippians.

Our Responsibility
We progress and have joy in our faith:
1:5    by our participation in the gospel.
1:7    by our defending and confirming the gospel.
1:9    by our abounding more and more in love,
         but by a love that is guided by knowledge and discernment.
1:27  by conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.
1:27  by being unified in the cause of the gospel.
1:27  by standing firm with others.
1:27  by our striving for the faith of the gospel.
1:29  by our suffering for His sake.
2:3-5 by not being selfish or self-promoting.
         by our looking out for the interests of others.
         by having the same attitude as Christ.
2:12  by working out our salvation,
          with the understanding of our accountability
2:14   by not having a complaining or argumentative spirit.
2:16   by holding fast to the word.
2:17   by serving and sacrificing in our faith.
2:18   by sharing our joy with others,
          especially those going through trials.
2:19   by living in a way that is an example and encourages others.
2:25   "
3:2     by being aware of those who would hinder us in our faith.
3:3     by putting no confidence in the flesh.
3:7     by not holding on to worldly possessions.
3:12   by pressing on.
3:13   We press on:
           by always forgetting what lies behind.
           by continually reaching forward to what lies ahead.
3:14   by having an eternal perspective.
          We develop an eternal perspective:
           by keeping the ultimate goal in mind.
           by keeping the ultimate/eternal reality in mind.
3:15    by keeping the right attitude.
3:16    by not regressing in our faith.
3:17    by following the right examples.
3:20    by being mindful of our citizenship.
4:1      by standing firm in all these things.

4:6      by having a robust prayer life.
4:6      by being thankful.
4:8      by training our mind to think properly.
4:9      by living out what we have learned to be true,
4:9      by living out what we have seen to be true.
4:15    by generously and sacrificially supporting the gospel.

Our Resources
We can progress in our faith because:
1:6     We have God Himself, as what God began, God will finish.
1:7     We have been made partakers of grace.
1:11   We are already filled with the fruit of the righteousness of Christ.
1:19   We have the provision of the Spirit of Christ.
2:1     We have the encouragement of Christ.
2:1     We have the consolation of love.
2:1     We have the fellowship of the Spirit.
2:1     We have the affection and compassion of Christ.
2:13   We have God working in us to accomplish His good pleasure.
2:16   We have the word of life.
2:19   We have the encouragement and example of others

2:25    "
3:1     We have the safeguarding of the word.
3:12   We have been laid hold of by Christ Himself.
3:20   We have the knowledge of His returning for us.
4:7     We have a heart and mind that are guarded by the peace of God.
4:9     We have the God of peace, Himself, with us.
4:13   We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
4:19   We have a God who will supply all our needs,
           based on His riches.

What Paul is laying out for us to see in this book, is the working of man and the working of God in the spiritual life. How they work together is a bit of a mystery, as God has not given us a formula to follow, but principles to be lived out. It is in our going and our doing that the grace and power of God meet us and work through us. It is in our obedience that we tap into the resources of God.  It is in our working out what the Lord has worked within that we appropriate all the means He has made available to us to accomplish His will in our life.

So my friends,  today let us progress, let us advance, let us press on in our faith, for He will meet us there in the midst of our going and doing.

 
 

Precision or Sincerity in Preaching

 

Be diligent to present yourself to God

as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,

accurately handling the word of truth. 

II Timothy 2:15

Notice that Paul did not say, "sincerely handling the word of truth." Sincerity is important, surely, but not at the expense of accuracy. The first goal of the preacher/expositor in his study of the Scripture should be accuracy. He should have the desire to be precise in his exegesis of the text, for precision in exegesis leads to clarity in understanding, clarity in understanding leads to accuracy in interpretation, accuracy in interpretation leads to proper application; and proper application leads to a life that bears rich fruit and is well pleasing to God because it properly aligns with His word. Preaching something different, something less, or something more than the Scripture actually says ultimately leads us away from the truth, regardless of the sincerity of our intentions. When we are led away from the truth because we have not been precise in handling the truth, then what we are preaching is not the word of truth, again, regardless of the sincerity of our intentions. To paraphrase an old adage, "One can be sincere, and sincerely wrong at the same time."  

Fellow pastors, and fellow Christians, let us endeavor to be sincere in our quest for accuracy and precision in our study of the word of God. Let us be sincerely right, so that we will never be ashamed of our handling of the word of truth.

The Most Applicable Verse in the Bible

Would you want a command from our Lord that would be universally applicable...in every situation, with every person, in every context, culture, and condition; a command that is easy to remember, easy to relate to, and easy to understand; a command that in keeping would lead you to keep other commands automatically; a command so simple that even a child understands the concept? Have I aroused your curiosity and piqued your interest? I hope so. 

This command is on par with the second greatest commandment, "To love your neighbor as yourself," and, in fact, is the practical outworking of that command. What is it? Glad you asked. Let's look at Matthew 7:12 "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for  this is the Law and the prophets." Here in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives this command, and it comes some time before He is asked the question that leads Him to give us the two greatest commandments; and He says the same thing about this command that He says about those two great commandments...that it sums up the Law and the prophets (See Matthew 22:34-40). Pretty astounding, wouldn't you say. Yes, this Golden Rule that many of our mothers taught us is that powerful and that profound. 

I tell people quite frequently that the Lord has not made being a Christian complex or hard, but in reality He has made it simple for us to live a life that pleases Him and blesses others; for that is what living out this command does. It is universally applicable, and is intertwined in so much of Scripture.  Let's look at some examples.

Do not return evil for evil or insult for insult, but give a blessing instead.
Be patient and kind, not arrogant or boastful or jealous, not taking into account a wrong suffered, not being easily provoked, not acting unbecomingly, and not self-seeking.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.
Turn the other cheek.
Walk the extra mile.
Be generous and ready to share.
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Let your speech be seasoned with salt, giving grace to those who hear.
Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
Be submissive...to masters, to parents, to husbands, to elders, to each other.
Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.
Stimulate one another to love and good deeds.
Forgive those who have sinned against you.
Don't judge your more mature brother or hold in contempt your weaker brother.
Give honor to whom honor is due.
Do not withhold good when it is in your power to do good.
Visit orphans and widows in their distress.
Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.
When reviled, revile not.
Regard one another as more important than yourself.
Pray for those who persecute you.
Love one another fervently from the heart.
Be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, and kindhearted.

Of course we could go on, but what could you add to the list?

If we would but apply this verse with each person every day, think about the witness it would provide, and the blessing it would give. We could apply it to:

Our spouse.
Our children.
Our parents.
Our siblings.
Our friends.
Our neighbors.
Our co-workers.
Our enemies.
Our church family.
Our competition.
The person who gets under our skin.
The person who always seems to have it out for us.
The person who inadvertantly or intentionally cuts us off in traffic.
The person who never lets us get in a word edgewise.
The lazy clerk at the store.
The incompetent clerk at the store.
Our employee when we have to terminate them.
The server who can't get our order right.

Our spouse in a disagreement.
Our children when we have to discipline them.

Someone at church with whom we disagree.
Anyone with whom we get frustrated.

See how applicable it is. Pretty amazing, huh? But it does require something from us, and that is self-sacrifice, a genuine putting others ahead of our self. This is not always an easy task, but this should be a joyous task; one that we know pleases the Father, and one that we know blesses others. Let's start tomorrow by being intentional about putting this verse into practice in our lives, and let's see how the Lord uses it for His glory.

Collision of Wills

Jonah, what an enlightening, delightful, powerful, compelling, and convicting book. Immediately in Jonah 1:2-3 we see a collision of wills between God and Jonah and we see this highlighted in the call of God to Jonah, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it." and Jonah's response...He rose up................to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Jonah was not being reluctant, he was being rebellious. His disagreement with God (Jonah 4:1-2) turned into disobedience to God, and he fled just as far in the opposite direction of Nineveh as he knew to go.

Jonah's fleeing from God was his way of avoiding God because he did not want to do what God had called him to do. God's call to Jonah exposed an area of Jonah's life that needed to be brought into submission to the Lord, and the limits of his obedience were exposed. This is an object lesson for us. Why?.....There are many times when we have a collision of wills with God, and every collision of our will and His will reveals the limits of our obedience. The limits of our obedience are always being exposed and tested, just like Jonah.

In times like these when our will has collided with God, and we are wrestling with God and ourselves, there are some things we need to remember, things that we observe in the book of Jonah:

1. That God's will is always perfect and pure....ours is neither.

2. When our will is not lined up with God's will, it will always be selfish and self-seeking.

3. The imagined cost of obedience is always overshadowed by the real cost of disobedience.

4. Disobedience is always more costly and the consequences are more severe.

5. While obedience may cause some distress, disobedience leads to disaster.

6. Your disobedience does not happen in a vacuum, but will always affect those around you, those whom you are connected to.

7. When you are being disobedient don't be beguiled by the "providential" escape provided by the circumstances.

8. Most often the means of escape our circumstances seem to supply is actually the means of God's discipline, God's chastening.

9. When we are being disobedient our paradise becomes purgatory and our pleasure becomes pain.

10. It is always better to trust the Word of God rather than to trust your own heart.

Loving God

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 

And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God 

with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

 This love that Christ is speaking about is a personal love, an intimate love, a relational love. This love grows out of our knowledge of Him and is basic to our relationship with Him. 

 

To love our God with all our heart, soul, and mind is an unfettered love, a love without restraint, a love without hesitation. It is a full-on frontal embrace without reservation and without self-consciousness. It is a love that fully engages the object of its love. It is a love that knows it is accepted and a love that knows it is safe. Therefore, it is a love that trusts and a love of confidence; and, as such, is a love of commitment and a commitment that entails and engages our total person. 

 

This is a love that brings the fullness of joy; the deep and abiding joy that in and of itself is a source of strength. This joy is not subject to circumstance, but seems to thrive in the worst of circumstances. It is a joy that cannot be shaken, because its foundation is a trusting and confident love involving the entire person, soul, heart, and mind; and the object of this love is Himself immovable, unshakeable, unspeakably good, eternal, immortal, unchanging, and our soul knows it very well. 

 

Let us journey on, let us press on, to know our God and our Lord better…more deeply and more completely. It is in knowing Him and growing in our knowing of Him that our love for Him grows ever stronger and deeper; and in this and through this our lives are enriched and we experience the blessing of abundant life.

Persecution, the Mark of a True Christian

Blessed are those who have been persecuted

for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the 

kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when people

insult you and falsely say all kinds of evil against

you because of Me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your

reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they

persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:10-12

In the Beatitudes Christ gives us the markers that describe a true disciple, one that is truly following Christ. The first seven markers are found in verses 3-9 and they are internal spiritual realities that manifest themselves in many ways in the life of a true believer. They are being poor in spirit, mourning over sin, being gentle or meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, being merciful, being pure in heart, and being a peacemaker (notice it is being a peacemaker, not being peaceful or at peace). The final marker is one that comes from the outside, and that is persecution, which is seen in verses 10-12.  

Interestingly, there are three reasons given for the persecution. They are for right living (righteousness sake, vs 10), right belief (because of Me, vs 11), and right testimony (in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you, vs 12).

In the NT we see many instances of persecution for the reasons listed above, here are a few:

Right Living

I Peter 2:20-21, 3:17,  4:4, 4:15-16, 4:19, II Timothy 3:12,

II Corinthians 3:14-16, John 3:19-21, Ephesians 5:6-11

Right Belief

Acts 4:8-21, Acts 5:41, Acts 15:25-26, I Peter 4:14, II Timothy 1:8, 12

Right Testimony

Acts 4:8-21, 14:1-6,16:19-24, 17:2-7

Because you believe the right thing (the truth), you will speak rightly and live the right way. The result of this at some point and at some level will be persecution; and blessed are you when being persecuted for these reasons. Persecution for right belief, right living, and right testimony is a marker, an identifier, that this person is truly a child of God.

Sometimes God Calls You to a Hard Place

 

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from

your country, and from your relatives and from

your father's house, to the land which I shall show you...

So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him...

and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came 

to the land of Canaan...The Lord appeared to Abram 

and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." 

So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared

to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain 

on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel 

on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar

to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. Abram

journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. Now there

was a famine in the land...

Genesis 12:1-10a

I love this story, a story of the calling of God on the life of a man. The story of a man who was faithful to follow the Lord, and faithful to give thanks and worship. And what did the Lord call Abram into? He called him straight into a famine, in the very land that He had promised him and his descendants. Abram was faithfully following and worshiping the Lord, and the Lord called him into a hard place.

This is an encouraging story, because sometimes He calls us into a hard place. Sometimes when we are faithfully following His call on our life and His leading in our life, we look up and we are surrounded by famine, or hardness, or barrenness, or leanness, and all the difficulties that are associated with them; and just as famine does not go away over night, neither does this time of hardness. Yes, and it is from the Lord, it is where He has led us, it is where our faithfulness has taken us. Just like in Abram's case.

So, lesson number one from this story is that we can be faithfully following and worshiping the Lord, and come right into a place of famine, a hard lean place that we didn't expect, a time that lasts longer that we expected. Also, there is a second lesson here for us as well. It is seen in Genesis 12:10b-13:1.  It is a lesson from the failure of Abram. Instead of staying where the Lord had led him, he took off on his own to Egypt, and it got him in a mess of trouble. Abram was faithful to follow the Lord until it became hard, then he sought his own way out, his own path of escape. How much like all of us is this. Instead of consulting with the Lord, instead of waiting on the Lord, instead of depending on the Lord, instead of trusting in the Lord, he panicked and took off...just as we are tempted to do.   

What we must also glean from this story, is the fact that the Lord knew exactly what He was calling Abram into, and called him there anyway. Yes, the promised land was a land of famine, at that moment, but it was still the land of promise, God's intended place for him, a place of blessing. The Lord knew when Abram would arrive, and what would be waiting. Abram was there, in the famine, because that is where the Lord wanted him. The Lord had raised the ante on the testing of Abram's faith, and the hole in his faith then became visible when put to the test.  

Friends, I write this an encouragement to those who are in that hard place, or who soon will be, and are there because they are faithfully following the Lord. Be like Abram, who faithfully followed the call of the Lord on his life, but don't be like Abram, who sought his own way of escape and fled when he arrived at the hard place. There are a few verses I would like to leave with you that show us how to handle these times, and handle them in a way that is faithful and spiritually profitable.

First is Proverbs 20:24 Man's steps are ordained by the Lord, how then can man understand his way.

Second is Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

Third is Psalm 37:23 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

Take heart, my friends, that you have a faithful God who is completely aware of where He has led you, even if you can't understand why. Understand that you may not understand the whats and whys of where God has led you. Trust in the Lord and His faithfulness, and lean on all that you know to be true about Him. Be patient in staying put where He has put you. Be godly in the midst your circumstances. Be faithful in your stay in the hard place, just as you were faithful in following Him there. 

May you be blessed in your faithfulness, and may you see the blessing the Lord has for you in this hard place.

The Eternal Significance of the Ordinary Day

                                                  

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, 

as for the Lord rather than for men

Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all

  in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks

 through Him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:17

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever

 you do, do all to the glory of God.

I Corinthians 10:31

Remembering these verses helps keep the dailyness and the ordinariness of our lives in perspective, eternal perspective. God expects us to work, speak, eat, drink, and do all things (all the mundane and repetitive activities of daily living) in the name of His Son, for Him, and for His glory. This gives a vital importance to the "every day" of our lives. This says that there are no wasted days, no unimportant days, no wasted or unimportant words, no wasted or unimportant activities in the seemingly unnoticed ordinariness of our lives.

Oh, BUT, when you keep these commands, when you consider why these commands were given, and that they culminate in bringing glory to our great God, and His great Son...well then, life takes on a different meaning and we begin to view our life differently.  

When we follow these commands then we begin to understand that our life, no matter how insignificant it may seem cannot, let me repeat, CANNOT be meaningless. In fact, these verses cry out loudly that our life does have meaning, even down to the smallest and most insignificant thing we do. Additionally, this also shows us that each and every day of our life has value in the eternal plan and purpose of God. 

The "whatever you do" in these verses encompasses everything we find ourselves involved in. So our life becomes a theater for our honoring the Lord with our speech, our eating, drinking, and doing; and thus, He is glorified in our living out our ordinary lives.

Now, when we grasp the concept of God's sovereignty over all of life (Psalm 103:19), it enables us to see His Divine providence in ordaining our very steps (Proverbs 20:24), even to the extent that He delights in the very way He has decreed for us (Psalm 37:23). We then see that for those who have turned to the Lord to follow Him in all His ways, each day, with all its attendant activities, has value in God's eternal plan and purpose because it is used to display His worth and glory as we live it for Him; and if its has value, even though it seems so ordinary and mundane to us, in God's plan it is significant. 

So what does this mean? It means that if you are a Mom, be a Mom to the glory of God. If you are a secretary, be a secretary to the glory of God. If you are a salesman, be a salesman to the glory of God. If you are a coach, coach to the glory of God. If you are a pastor, pastor to the glory of God. If you are an executive, be an executive to the glory of God. If you are retired, be retired for the glory of God. If you fish or hunt, fish or hunt to the glory of God. When you play golf, play golf to the glory of God. 

You see, there really are no "ordinary" days as we would view ordinary, but each day brims with opportunity to bring glory to the Lord, as that is how He has ordained it. Friends, let us look at each day in our life, as a day ordained by the Lord, therefore significant in His eternal plan...and therefore so are we!

Working the Work of God

 In John 6, after Jesus had fed the multitudes, the next day the crowd came after Him on foot and in boats, all the way across the sea of Galilee. Jesus rebuked them for following after Him only to have their stomachs filled. Picking up in verse 27 and starting with Jesus, let's look at the interchange that took place at that point. "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father has set His seal." Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who He has sent."

The question posed to Jesus was legitimate for the religious environment at that time. Israel was under the influence of the Pharisees who had reduced the Law to a system of works. They had their religious works honed finer than a gnat's eyelash, and were very zealous in the protection and promotion of their system of works righteousness. The whole system was based on works, many of which were mutations of the Law, which led them to a state of spiritual bankruptcy where they were like white washed tombs, clean and pristine on the outside, but full of death and decay on the inside. This is why Christ told the crowd in the Sermon on the Mount that their righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, as it is not the external accomplishment of a set of religious duties, but doing the will of God from the heart that constitutes the work of God. This is what Christ expressed when he told them that the work of God was to believe in the One whom God had sent, Christ Himself.  

What then does it mean to believe in the One whom God has sent? Saving faith has two components, and both are centered in Christ. First there is the belief in the person of Christ, that He is all that the Bible says that He is; and the Bible tells us that He is fully both God and man, the Savior, and the only way to God (in fact, these were things that Christ actually said about Himself).  

The other component or element of saving faith is to believe on the finished work of Christ. This entails believing (accepting and not rejecting) that Christ lived a perfect and sinless life in our stead before God by always doing the will of God, not in a perfunctory way, but from the heart. Read through the gospel of John and see how this is laid out for us to see, and is culminated in John 14:31. This pure sinless life qualified Christ to be the sacrifice for our sins in our stead, a sinless man suffering the eternal wrath of God for all the sins of those who would place their faith in Him as the Savior and believe in the completeness of His sacrifice for those sins. This means that we trust Christ's work and not our own.

You cannot work your way to God, no matter how sincere you are nor how hard you try. The only acceptable work before God is what Christ accomplished by living the life he lived and dying the death that He died. We must accept who He is and trust in what He has done. This is what is behind the exclusivity of the Christian faith. There is only One who lived the sinless life, there is only One who qualified to be the one time for all time sacrifice for sins, and that is the God-man Jesus Christ. Christ is the One whom God sent to be the Savior for all mankind, for all of those who would turn to Him and Him alone to be their Savior.

This is the work of God, my friends, to believe in the One whom God has sent, for on Him God has set His seal of approval for the works He accomplished on behalf of all that will come to Him in repentance and faith. Don't delay any longer, cease from believing that you are good enough to determine your own way into heaven and accept the work that Christ has done on your behalf.

Turth, the Great Need of Every Hour in Every Age

I write so that you will know how one ought

to conduct himself in the household of God,

which is the church of the living God,

the pillar and support of the truth.

I Timothy 3:15

What will people hear when they come to your church? What should people hear when they come to your church? What do people need to hear when they come to church, any church? The answer is simple, really, and it is....."The Truth." What people should hear, and need to hear is "The Truth," yes, with a capital "T". 

They don't need stories, they don't need therapy, they don't need moralism, they don't need movie clips or skits, they don't need placating, they don't need pandering, they don't need platitudes, they don't need entertainment, they don't need titillation, they don't need warm fuzzies, they don't need their self-esteem boosted or their ego stroked, they don't need to be manipulated, they don't need to be sold, they don't need vision, they don't need wit or comedy, they don't need a slickly produced event, they don't even need the pastor to be a great communicator. Plain and simply they need the pastor to be a truth-teller; and they need the pastor to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help him God.

They need to hear the truth throughout the service, in the praying and the praising and the preaching. The entire service should carpet bomb them with the truth. In our post-modern age, truth is the great need of the hour; but that is no different than it has ever been, as man has always had an aversion to the truth, which is why people will pile in heaps those who will tickle their ears with what they want to hear, and pile on those who don't. But just because men and women are averse to the truth, doesn't mean they don't need the truth. In reality it is their very aversion to the truth that causes them to be in such great need of the truth.

Fortunately we have the great repository of the truth, the Bible, which is the very truth of God who cannot lie; and we have the Living Word, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, who is truth incarnate and personified, and the locus of the truth (Ephesian 4:21, John 14:6). So if we are to give the people the truth, we should preach and teach the infallible and inerrant word of God, and tell them of His Son who spoke truth and lived the truth (Ephesians 1:13a, John 8:40). 

In Acts 20:26 Paul testifies that he is innocent of the blood of all men. How could he make such a bold and powerful statement? Because he knew that He preached the truth, he knew that he declared the whole counsel of God. It wasn't platitudes that caused him to be stoned, but the truth. It wasn't a therapeutic sermon that caused him to be beaten with a rod, but the truth. It wasn't entertainment and titillation that caused him to be imprisoned, but the truth. It wasn't self-esteem, make them feel good about themselves, tell them God loves them just like they are sermons that caused him to be run out of several towns, but the truth. It was the truth he preached that contradicted the pagan cultures that made him unpopular and the object of wrath, but it was the same truth that was the seedbed for the churches he planted.

Man's great need is the thing he hates to hear the most, the truth. If we are called to preach, then we are called to declare the truth. Anything else, really anything less, is a betrayal of our calling. Let's remember James 4:17, and don't give lip-service to preaching the truth; but preach the truth to the best of our God-given ability, asking Him for His grace and empowerment, trusting in His truth to do what only it can do and trusting in Him for the effects. This is what makes us worthy watchmen (Ezekiel 33:1-9).