In It Together

Posted on May 1, 2019 by Pete

Chewing on 2Corinthians 7 this morning. And trying to imagine it playing out in our modern context.

For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God.

(2Corinthians 7:11-12 ESV)

Paul’s writing about the church’s response to a letter Paul had sent them before–a letter he wished he had never had to send. A letter that caused them to grieve because it called out their collective sin in failing to deal with sin in their midst. A letter, though, which caused them to grieve “into repenting” (v.9). Their godly grief producing “a repentance that leads to salvation” (v.10). Obviously not a “coming to Jesus” salvation, but their on-going “becoming more like Jesus” salvation. And this not through individualized sanctification, but each made more like Jesus through their collective sanctification as a church.

Paul speaks of this godly grief producing an “earnestness” within them, as a church, to deal with the matter. And, of their “eagerness”, as a church, to clear themselves, as a church. That, more than just dealing with the matter at hand, it was used of God to reveal to them their collective heart, as a church. Used of God to test their loyalty to Paul and to show their submission to his authority–an indicator of their desire to be obedient to their God. And this, as a church.

And I’m thinking, how would this play out in my church today? Who would receive the letter (or email)?  Who read the letter? And to whom would they read it? Where and when would it be read? Would the congregation see it as something they needed to respond to, or view it more as something “the staff” needed to deal with? How, as a family, would we deal with the specific matter at hand, and how, as a body, could the incident produce a sanctifying work in us? How, collectively, would we demonstrate our earnestness, and our eagerness, to submit to God’s word and be found obedient to His way?

Honestly, while I think we might have some mechanics in place to work this, I wonder if we have the sense of community in place to truly work it as a church. In our individualistic culture, how many of us see “my church” as the church I attend rather than the family I’m a part of? How many would really see “the problem” as “my problem?” How many would view the need to act as our need to act, as my need to act alongside my brothers and sisters?

Not trying to be critical. Just chewing on how this might work today?

Thinking again of the battle we need to wage against what I fear is a prevailing consumer approach to doing church, rather than the community approach to being the church, which I think is reflected in scriptures like 2Corinthians 7.

Seeing ourselves truly as a family.

A Family that’s in it–whatever it is . . . good or bad . . . easy or difficult– together.

With one another. For one another. Because we truly see ourselves as part of one another.

In Him. For Him. As body members of Him.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Ponder the Way

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Pete

It’s a sanctification song. A song that aspires to holiness. David’s desire for personal holiness. And, David’s determination to do everything he can do to promote holiness within his kingdom. It’s a song born of a longing to model steadfast love and justice (v.1).

So, it’s a song of holy determination. Eight times David declares “I will.” I will walk with integrity of heart. I will know nothing of evil. I will look with favor on the faithful. And, I will destroy the slanderer. I will not endure the proud and arrogant. I will get rid of the wicked. The songwriter avows a holy determination to be holy and declares a holy determination to remove everything from his kingdom that is not.

While I know that these words will come back to haunt David later in his life; though I know that apart from God re-wiring the heart of man, no matter how determined the will of man may be, holiness is not something we can achieve solely through our own determination; I find myself inspired by the songwriters desire. Why wouldn’t we want to be singing a song of sanctification?

And it’s one of David’s “I will“s in particular that caught my eye and has got me thinking this morning.

I will ponder the way that is blameless.   (Psalm 101:2a ESV)

Seems to me, we’re a generation that runs the risk of doing life on autopilot. Just like so much of our driving today, we’re prone to open up some app, type in some destination or desired outcome, and, turn by turn, mindlessly follow whatever directions come from our electronic device.

Might work just fine for traveling along the highways and byways, but maybe not so much for navigating our way through life. Just as, through our reliance on our phones, we’re prone to losing our sense of direction, or of becoming unable to any longer remember anyone’s phone number, so too, life on autopilot has a way of dulling our senses as to what life, and life to the full, can be, and should be, all about.

So, I’m thinking David is on to something when he determines to “pay attention to the way of integrity” (HSCB).

Probably makes sense, from time to time, to pull over to the side of the road and take a look around. To think about where we’re going. To give careful consideration as to how we’re getting there. To turn off the external GPS’s and instead listen for the still, quite voice within us saying “This is the way, walk in it” (Isa. 30:21).

Makes sense to take a breath every once in a while and make time to evaluate the road we’re on. Not mapping it to the latest downloaded version of worldly wisdom or the ways that seem right to a man, but to line up where we’re going, and how we’re going, by things above; according to the code of the kingdom; in line with the word of God.

Ponder. Not a word I hear used a lot today. Not something, I’m thinking, we make time for much today. Too busy going wherever, however, according to whatever GPS is barking out directions.

Might be a good idea to turn off our autopilot once in awhile and ponder the way.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Have Faith in God

Posted on April 26, 2019 by Pete

Honestly, for me they can be kind of uncomfortable verses to hover over. They’re verses about faith and prayer . . . audacious prayer and unwavering faith. Prayer that involves moving mountains and faith that doesn’t doubt it will happen.

Now I believe in faith. And I believe in prayer. But I also find myself believing in reality and reasonability. And I find myself wary of excess, extreme, and expectations that might be born out of selfish motives. I’m so cautious of any sort of “name it and claim it” approach that, if I’m honest with myself, I nod in assent, but recoil with a bit with reserve, as I read Jesus’s exhortation to His disciples this morning.

And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea, ‘and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

(Mark 11:22-24 ESV)

I’m all about the promises of God. But this one is a doozy, isn’t it? Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Whatever you ask? That’s a big promise.

But the thought I’m chewing on this morning is that the promise at the end of Jesus’s counsel to His disciples only makes sense in the context of the exhortation at the beginning. “Have faith in God.”

Not just faith that God can do whatever–for all things are possible with God (Mk. 10:35). I believe that. But faith that God is able to move in us to ask for the right whatever’s.

Have faith that you really are indwelt by the Spirit of God. That a spiritual dynamic really is at play in you. A dynamic that imparts the mind of Christ (1Cor. 2:16). A dynamic that battles and represses the flesh (Gal. 5:16-18). A dynamic that so knits your spirit to God’s that, even when don’t know what to pray, “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Rom. 8:26).

Have faith that through the work of the gospel you really are God’s workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). That along with a new life, He has prepared a new work and a new walk. And with that, a need for divine enabling and, sometimes, even divine intervention.

Have faith that with the Spirit in you, and whatever way He has prepared for you, that, though it be with fear and trembling, you can, in fact, work out your salvation believing that God is enabling you “both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Php. 2:13). And part of that willing and working will involve asking for whatever you need. Even if it seems like a mountain that needs to be cast into the sea.

Have faith in God.

If our sin is being confessed and we are being covered by His blood; if we are abiding in the Savior and are being enveloped with His love; if we are pursuing what we believe to be His work, in His way, willing to wait on His timing, then, says Jesus, “Ask whatever.” Believe it and you’ll receive it. And know it will be yours.

That takes faith. Faith in God.

I believe.  Help my unbelief.

By Your grace. For Your glory.

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An Eternal Weight of Glory (A 2014 Rerun)

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Pete

This morning I’m reminded again why I so enjoy the reading plan that has guided me, from cover to cover, through the Bible each year for over the past 12 years. Because it keeps bringing me back to truths and promises that make a difference in how I look at life and do life. Reminders that refresh, renew, and revitalize. Such is the case with one such reminder in 2Corinthians 4 this morning. Looking back over my journal, I’m not surprised at how often it has ended up being something I’ve chewed on and written about during my morning devo’s. Re-running some thoughts from 5 years ago that encouraged me this morning as I read them . . .

It’s not very often that I look up to someone else. Not that there aren’t people I have great respect and admiration for . . . but that there aren’t many that I physically have to look up to. At six-foot-three, even those who are taller than me, usually aren’t much taller than me . . . no strain on the neck to go eyeball to eyeball with them. But a couple of weeks ago I met a young man who I looked up to . . . looked WAY UP to . . . as in, fifteen inches taller than me . . . as in, if I didn’t look up, I’d be looking into his chest . . . as in, if we had talked too long I would have had a serious crick in my neck. Though I’m pretty tall, next to this guy I looked kind of small.

So, why do I go there? Why does that come to mind? Well, this morning I’m reading in 2Corinthians 4 where Paul talks about being afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down for the sake of the gospel. Paul said that he lived like one “always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake” (4:8-12). Sounds like a big deal. Sounds like quite the burden to bear. But Paul would refer to it as “light momentary affliction.” How could he say that? More importantly, how could he believe that? Because of what he held up beside his trials. The bigness of his sufferings was dwarfed when it stood up next to “an eternal weight of glory.”

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

(2Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV)

Weight of glory . . . that’s what caught my eye this morning. That which we faithfully endure and suffer under is preparing for us a weight of glory beyond all comparison.

That word, “weight,” is used only a five other times in the New Testament. Once translated “demands” . . . the other four times translated “burden.” Literally it has the idea of a great weight . . . of a huge heaviness. I imagine it as a great sack that when, flung over the shoulder and carried, bows the back. But in this case, it is a great, heavy bag of treasure. It is a weight of glory. The glory being so great that it can make the weight of our afflictions seem light in comparison.

Place whatever you want up against the glory to be revealed, and it seems smaller . . . much smaller. Not that we minimize or trivialize our trials . . . Paul was very much afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. But he was not crushed, driven to despair, forsaken, nor destroyed. Though he knew what it was to be near death often, he also knew what it was to be enveloped in the power of Christ’s resurrected life. Though he knew things could come to an end at any time, he knew that it would only be the beginning . . . “knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence” (4:14).

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

(Romans 8:18 ESV)

What’s more, through the voice of the Spirit indwelling him, Paul also lived in the reality that his “light afflictions” were momentary . . . but that the great burden of glory he’d bear was eternal. The length of any season of suffering pales when compared to the season that awaits. For this season is transient . . . the next, eternal.

And so, says Paul, we do not lose heart.

Instead we are encouraged to look up . . . to look WAY UP . . . “setting our minds on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:2). There we see, with faith’s eye, the risen Christ, sitting at the right hand of God. And we believe, with abiding Spirit generated assurance, that one day we will appear with Him . . . in glory. And together we will “bear” an eternal weight of glory!

What a day that will be!

By His grace. For His glory.

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Another Metamorphosis Dynamic

Posted on April 24, 2019 by Pete

Metamorphosis. To change form. To transform. Looks like the root Greek word for metamorphosis is found four times in the New Testament. Twice the word is used to describe Jesus’ transfiguration on the mount, when He changed form physically as “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light” (Mt. 17:2, Mk. 9:2). And twice it is used to describe a dynamic that can occur spiritually in the believer.

Before this morning, if you had asked me where those two times were, I’d be quick to respond with Romans 12:2–that we are transformed by the renewing of our mind. That as God’s word is taken in, God’s nature is born out. That as we set our minds on things above, we start to behave as people of the kingdom of heaven here below. That as the living word of God infiltrates our thinking, the living Spirit of God increasingly influences our walking.

But, before this morning, though familiar with the verse, I’m not sure I would have been quick to identify this other metamorphosis dynamic revealed in Scripture.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

(2Corinthians 3:18 ESV)

Spiritual metamorphosis happens in a believer’s life through beholding the glory of the Lord. Some translations says the dynamic occurs by “reflecting the glory of the Lord” (CSB, NIV). And some translations, in dealing with the tricky Greek word being translated, say it’s both–that we are changed by “beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord” (NKJV, NASB), that it happens as we “see and reflect the glory of the Lord” (NLT).

Bottom line? Turn your face to the sun consistently enough, and eventually you’re going to emit the effects of the sun. Behold the glory of the Lord and eventually you’ll reflect the glory of the Lord.

How come? Because to be fixed on the glory of the Lord is to be transformed increasingly into the likeness of the glory of the Lord. From “one degree of glory to another”, behold the likeness of the risen King and you’ll eventually know a metamorphosis, “being transformed into the same image.”

Chew on that for a bit. Behold Christ, become like Christ. Fix your eyes on Him, find yourself, more and more, like Him. Be a reflector of Jesus, as His light shining on you starts bouncing off you, and you’ll be a resembler of Jesus, as you increasingly think like Him, feel like Him, and act like Him.

To be sure, a work in progress. But that’s the exciting dynamic of metamorphosis, isn’t it?  Being a work in progress!!! Being transformed, from the inside out, as we behold Jesus.

Behold Him in Scriptures. Behold Him in His living temple, the body of Christ, the family of God, as we gather together with other believers. Behold Him as, together, we come to the cross, as often as we do it, when we sit with Him at the Lord’s table. Behold Him every time we seek to be still know that He is God.

Who doesn’t want to be transformed? Who doesn’t want this sanctification thing to take? Who doesn’t want to be more like Jesus?

It happens through the renewing of mind. And it also happens, praise God, as we behold the glory of Jesus!

Open the eyes of our heart, Lord! We want to see Jesus! We want to know metamorphosis!

By Your grace. For Your glory.

Amen?

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The Aroma of Christ to God

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Pete

What a big difference a little word can make. That’s the case as I noodle on a picture Paul paints in 2Corinthians.

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.

(2Corinthians 2:14 ESV)

It’s a happy picture. A triumphal procession. Christ is victor and we share in the victory. And not only are we on the winning side, we have opportunity to spread that win to others. Just as, back in Paul’s day, it was customary to spread incense along the streets of the victor’s parade, we, like Paul, can be that fragrance–“the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.”

But what is that fragrance? Is it some sweet smelling perfume? Or is it something else?

Here’s where a little word is making a big difference for me this morning.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.

(2Corinthians 2:15-16a ESV)

The fragrance Paul is talking about is “the aroma of Christ TO God.” It’s not a sweet-smelling savor for God, but an aroma to God. And that’s got me thinking sacrifice. Isn’t that how the Old Testament sacrifices are described? How many times did I come across the phrase “a pleasing aroma to the LORD” in Leviticus? Lots!!! That’s how many.

Makes sense, too. To the natural man, to those still dead in trespass and sin, a burnt offering wholly consumed is likely to smell just like a burnt offering. To the world, it’s not gonna be all that appealing. After all, a sacrifice to God is resulting in death to self. No longer captain of its own ship. No longer the master planner of its own plans. Instead, laid on the altar and offered wholly to God. Some might say, “What? Not living for myself? Not about my happiness? Not about my profit? Well, that stinks!”

But for those alive to the things of God, offering oneself as a living sacrifice is at the core what it means to have life and have it to the full. It’s the fundamental dynamic of those who are new creations in Christ; of those who are putting on Christ even as they die to self; of those who are laying up treasure in heaven; of those who are marching triumphantly with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords — the One who also came not to be served, but to serve and give His life as a sacrifice for many (Mark 10:45). And to those alive in Christ, by the Spirit’s enabling, we say, “Sweet!”

So this aroma TO God is picked up by others. Living sacrifices poured out on the altar have a collateral impact on those around them.

But, let’s not pretend that even though it is a pleasing aroma to the Lord, it somehow lessens what is involved in being a living sacrifice. Sometime’s it’s hard to keep placing ourselves on the altar. It comes at a cost. A willingness to faithfully serve. A determination to trustingly suffer. A continual belief that to try and preserve our lives is to lose them, but to freely give them up is to keep them (Lk. 17:33). Ultimately, it costs us our lives.

An aroma of Christ TO God. Might that be the fragrance we emit.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Another “Me Too!”

Posted on April 22, 2019 by Pete

I don’t hear a lot about it in the news these days, but I’m thinking the #MeToo movement continues to make a much needed difference in how casual our culture has become with sexual harassment and how pervasive the reality of sexual assault has been in areas we never imagined. So it is with some fear and trepidation that I even think about co-opting just the idea of #MeToo for this post.

But this morning I’m chewing on something Paul writes about himself and I wanna say in response, “Me too!”

Beyond the theology of Paul’s letters, beyond the implications of those beliefs on our behaviors, who hasn’t also read Paul’s story and Paul’s writings and found themselves inspired by Paul’s life? Who hasn’t wanted to be more like Paul? Who hasn’t wanted to “run the race” with discipline like he did (1Cor. 9:24-26); or “fight the good fight” they way he fought (2Tim. 4:7): or to truly be able to say that, like Paul, they gloried in their weakness so that power of Christ might be known in them (2Cor. 12:9)? And the list could go on and on. Things that Paul says about himself that I find myself whispering as I noodle on them, “Me Too!”

So here’s another “Me Too!” from this morning’s reading.

For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God . . . ”

(2Corinthians 1:12 ESV)

How’s that for something to aspire towards? A clear conscience. A sober self-assessment that how we did life in the world was done free from pretence and hypocrisy, and full of purity and ingenuousness. That we were the real thing. Not the perfect thing, but the real thing. And that this wasn’t done by leveraging the wisdom of the world, or through any “fancy footwork” (MSG) on our part, but solely by the grace of God.

Just being who we are. And who we are is “in Christ.”

Being ourselves. And that’s being dead to ourselves and alive to Christ.

Sinners saved by grace. Growing in godliness as the righteousness imputed to us by the Son bears the fruit of the righteousness being developed in us through the Spirit.

No tricks. No gimmicks. Just sanctification at work. Our holy determination. His indwelling power.

For all that Paul did, for all the legacy that he left, at the end of the day, when all was said and done, he wanted to be able to say, “we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God.”

Me too!

By His grace. For His glory.

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Making Sense of Today

Posted on April 19, 2019 by Pete

I’m chewing on the fact that they did not understand. That the disciples didn’t get it. That to the followers of Jesus it made no sense. It just didn’t add up. And, as I mull over it, it shouldn’t have made sense. Who would have thought? Unimaginable. It simply does not compute!

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And [Jesus] did not want anyone to know, for He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

(Mark 9:30-32 ESV)

Think about it. Terms like “Son of Man” and “they will kill Him” shouldn’t go together. You’d think they should be mutually exclusive. I think of “Son of Man” and I think of Daniel’s vision (which our men’s group recently studied).

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

(Daniel 7:13-14 ESV)

That’s what you would expect of the Son of Man. Coming with clouds, not betrayed into the hands of men. Commissioned by His Father, the Ancient of Days, not condemned by Him as He poured out on the Son the wrath deserved by others.

That the Son of Man should have been given dominion and glory, not bound and abused. That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him, not be spitting on Him as they mock Him. That the Son of Man would be reigning over an everlasting dominion, not hanging in defeat on a Roman cross.

The last thing you’d expect from Someone destined to reign over a kingdom that shall never be destroyed is that they would die.

I wonder if Daniel’s prophetic words hadn’t also come to mind for Jesus’ band of twelve as they scratched their heads trying to process His words. So confused by “they will kill Him” that they didn’t even hear, “He will rise.”

They didn’t understand. Ya’ think?!?

Nor should we, in a sense, understand this day we call Good Friday. What makes it good? It doesn’t make sense.

Unless you consider afresh our desperate need and the depths of God’s love. Unless you confess again that the wages of sin is death, and remember that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord–the Son of Man. Unless you marvel anew that the Son of Man came in flesh to be the Lamb of God, the once for ever offering for sin, the ultimate Passover, the final shedding of blood for our redemption and deliverance from bondage to sin and death.

Maybe even with that it still doesn’t make sense. But it does make something so good out of this Friday.

That the Son of Man would die in time and space so that we might live eternally. That He would suffer so that we might be saved. That He would offer His life so that we might know new life and present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship (Rom. 12:1).

O’ what a Savior!

What amazing grace!

To Him be glory this day and forevermore!

Amen?

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A Glorious Journey Into The Mundane

Posted on April 18, 2019 by Pete

It’s a journey. You start here and you end up there. That’s how I’m digesting 1Corinthians 15 this morning.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared . . .

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

. . . we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. . . .

“Death is swallowed up in victory.“
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

(1Corinthians 15:3-5a, 42-44, 51b-53, 54b-55, 58 ESV)

It’s a gospel journey. A journey that starts with preeminent truth and works it’s way to a practical takeaway.

The journey starts with an empty tomb; gains momentum with a risen Savior; picks up along the way immortal people; crescendos with a trumpet sound and victory song; and then touches down on what is seeming to me to be a pretty profound implication. Profound in that it is not all that profound. Remarkable in that it’s not really that remarkable. Magnificent in that it’s pretty mundane.

Sunday’s a coming! Easter celebrations are just a couple of days away. The wonder of a finished work, the glory of an empty tomb, the reminder of a blessed hope. We’ll poke our heads into the cave with Peter and John and see the empty grave clothes; we’ll watch Jesus, nail scars and all, making the rounds, connecting with Peter, and then the twelve, and then the more than five hundred; we’ll consider afresh that Jesus’s resurrection isn’t the finale, it is the firstfruits, and that there will be a mind-blowing harvest of resurrected people ascended into immortality just like Him. And then, we’ll sing our doxology (we’re singing a bit of a pumped up version of Victory in Jesus this Sunday . . . can’t wait), turn out the lights, lock the door, and go back to doing what we do. We’ll return to our same old, same old.  ‘Cause Monday’s coming, as well.

Back to the routine. Re-engaging in the mundane. But doing so as people of the resurrection . . . the glorious resurrection of Christ, which has happened . . . the just as glorious resurrection of our bodies, which will happen.

Steadfast. Immovable. Abounding in the the work of the Lord and, in whatever our job is, for the Lord. Knowing it’s not in vain.

A glorious journey into the mundane.

By His grace. For His glory.

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This Week Is Important

Posted on April 17, 2019 by Pete

Oh how we need this week in our post-Christian, postmodern, increasingly post-truth culture. A culture that debates not only the abstracts of truth (which man has done throughout the ages . . . think Pilate (Jn. 18:38)), but also seeks to redefine what was once considered unambiguous and without debate, tangible biology. Having decided to worship the creation rather than the Creator, ours is a culture increasingly given over to a collective futility of thinking. Claiming to be wise and enlightened, we are increasingly marked by foolishness and darkness, exchanging the truth–both abstract truth and physical truth–for a lie (Rom. 1:21-25).

And it would be naïve to think that, even though we are those who worship the Creator and recognize an objective truth and reality outside ourselves, we are not influenced by the culture around us. Naïve to think that our truth can’t be influenced and squeezed into the mold of the voices surrounding us. That our values, our priorities, our view on how we should live, cannot, to some degree, be influenced by the popular opinion of the world we come into daily contact with. That even though we have been given the mind of Christ (1Cor. 2:16), we can still set our minds on the things of man.

After all, if it could happen to to those who walked with Jesus when He walked, it can happen to us, as well.

And [Jesus] began to teach [His disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He said this plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

(Mark 8:31-33 ESV)

It’s a battle for the mind. A constant struggle as to whether we will set our minds on things above or on things of earth (Col. 3:2). Continually contending to cast down “arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” and to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2Cor. 10:5).

To not enter the fray for the mind is to run the risk we’ll find ourselves on the wrong side of the battle. Who wants to hear Jesus say to them, “Get behind me Satan!”

And so this week is important. We need this week to remind ourselves that, just as Jesus was rejected by the popular opinion of His day, today He is also refused entrance into the public square of discussion and debate. To remember, in a fresh and deep way, that Jesus came to suffer many things–things at the hands of sinful men because of men’s sin. That He was put to death–having been wounded for our transgressions, slain for our iniquity, once for all paying the price that we might know redemption, reconciliation, and regeneration. And that, after three days, He rose again–sin’s bondage broken, death’s reign defeated.

How important for us to seize the opportunity afforded this week to firmly set our minds on the things of God. So that, when we are asked the question, as Peter was long ago, “But who do you say that I am?” we might, stand firm, stand fast, and declare with renewed conviction and vigor:

You are the Christ!     (Mark 8:29 ESV)

All because of grace. Ever for His glory.

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