The Active Agency of Abiding

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Pete

In John 15 Jesus said it was the secret sauce of prayer. He said it was also the key to bearing fruit. In fact, He said, do it and you’ll bear much fruit. Don’t do it and you won’t be able to do anything at all for the kingdom. So what’s the “it”? It is abiding.

But sometimes knowing what to do doesn’t mean that I know how to do it. I can order furniture that needs assembly and know what needs to be done–it needs to be assembled. But how to do it? I’ll need some directions for that . . . preferably IKEA type of directions. So while I might know that I need to abide in Christ, it may not be intuitive as to how. My reading in 1 John this morning helped with the “how.”

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

(1John 2:24 ESV)

I’m not the brightest bulb in the box so I like If/Then statements. If this, then that. If you do this, then you will realize that. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in Him.

So the gospel, that which I heard in the beginning, is key to abiding in Christ. The imperishable seed by which I was born again, the living and abiding word of God (1Peter 1:23), is the catalyst for communion. If I want to hang out with the living Christ, then I need to be hovering over His living word.

And John goes on to explain why this works the way it does.

But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. . . the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything–and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you–abide in Him.

(1John 2:20, 27 ESV)

We’ve been creamed. Smeared is the literal term. Smeared by the Holy Spirit. Think of the woman breaking open her flask of expensive perfume and pouring it over Jesus’ head and now imagine the Holy Spirit being poured upon us when we first believed. And just as it was the ointment’s interaction with the air that spread an aroma through the house, it is the Spirit’s interaction with the word of God that creates the active agency of abiding.

We read, He illuminates. We wonder, He enlightens. We have questions, He provides answers. We don’t understand, He teaches. We meditate, He invades our thinking.

Let’s not dumb down the holy habit of reading our Bibles. Let’s not think it is just about reading a few words at the beginning of the day so that the rest of the day will go well. Rather, our daily reading can be that which primes the pump and results in rivers of living water flowing out of our heart–a picture Jesus used to refer to the Holy Spirit (John 7:38-39).

You want to interact with God, interact with God’s word. You want to know how to abide, activate His anointing by abiding in His word. If the Spirit we’ve been anointed with is driven to glorify the Son by leading us into truth (John 14:13-14), then when we open the word of truth we can be confident that He’ll kick into gear. And if we are interacting with the Third Person of the Trinity then you can bet we are abiding with the Second Person of the Trinity . . . and the First.

Abide in Me, Jesus beckons.  We abide in Him when His word abides in us. We know real relationship with the risen Son of God when we know the active agency of the indwelling Spirit of God leading us into all truth.

All because of grace. All for God’s glory.

 

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An Arbiter

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Pete

Somebody’s not playing fair! So reasons Job, it would seem. Though Job never heard the exact words the Almighty spoke repeatedly to Satan, Job knew his own determination to be marked as a man who was blameless, upright, feared God, and shunned evil. And that such a man should be rewarded for such a righteous life seemed only right. The herds, the flocks, the quiver full of kids (Ps. 127:4-5)–it all seemed to be the appropriate outcome for someone who had determined to bless the name of the LORD with all his life. So how come he’s lost everything? How come he’s covered in painful sores? Why is he surrounded by such miserable comforters?

“How can a man be in the right before God?” asks Job (Job 9:2). Somebody’s not playing fair.

If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet You will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. For He is not a man, as I am, that I might answer Him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.

(Job 9:30-33 ESV)

Job laments that there is no arbiter. No one to act as a referee. He needs an umpire (NASB). Someone to step in between him and God, to lay his hands on both of them and say, “Break it up! Let’s get to the bottom of this.” A third party to intervene and make a call as to what’s right. He wants a judge to examine the facts and render a just verdict. Because no matter how righteous he thinks he is, obviously he’s missing something–or, perhaps, heaven is.

In my reading in Job, Job’s looking for an advocate. Then in my reading in 1 John, John reveals one.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

(1John 2:1-2 ESV)

Jesus Christ the righteous. The Advocate. Come to bring reconciliation between God and man. Sent to bring peace between Him who is Holy, Holy, Holy, and those who could never be holy enough.

Jesus the God-man. Deity incarnate. Taking on flesh that He might lay His hands on both heaven and earth. “Made like his brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17). Offering up His own body that the curtain might be rent and access made possible into the Holy of Holies. Shedding His own blood so that He who is just might also be the justifier (Rom. 3:24-26).

An arbiter. And arbitrate He has.

And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Him, . . . And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

(Luke 23: 33-34 ESV)

Yeah, somethings not fair. That the Son of God should die for the sin of men is not fair. Thank God for His unfairness!

An advocate. And advocate He does.

. . . He holds His priesthood permanently, because He continues forever. Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

(Hebrews 7:24-25 ESV)

Kept perfectly, completely, eternally because we have an Arbiter without beginning, nor end.

Job would eventually get his audience with the Almighty. And though he would never get an explanation as to the why of his suffering, because of the Advocate promised since the foundation of the world, he would know the Who of His salvation. He had his arbiter. And so do we.

Because of God’s “unfair” grace. All for God’s unfading glory!

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Majoring on the Minors

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Pete

Though they should have been staring into his eyes, they were instead fixated on the mud stains on his shirt. Though they should have been in awe that his eyes were looking at them, instead they were enraged that it was on the Sabbath that a man blind since birth was made to see. They looked a seeing blind man in the eyes and yet they saw nothing.

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this Man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether He is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

(John 9:24-26 ESV)

The Pharisees had already lost the first two debates. In round one the man who had formerly been blind stood before them. He who had not been able to see anything since birth had already looked these interrogators in the eye and had already told them once of how Jesus had made his dead eyes alive. Of how as a lifelong creature of perpetual darkness he had now been transferred into the realm of glorious light. Logical conclusion? . . . Jesus is a Man of miracles. Their conclusion? . . . this blind man seeing was never really blind. Let’s interrogate his parents. And in round two they did. Only to end up at the same place,

His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.”

(John 9:20b-21 ESV)

And so, round three. They call before them again the blind man seeing. And because they had already dealt with the “who” question in their own minds–“We know this Man is a sinner”–they focused instead on the “what” and the “how” questions. Because of the hardness of their hearts, in order to justify themselves they were forced into majoring on the minors.

And as much as I marvel at the blind man seeing in this story, I also wonder at the seeing men who were blind. Religious men. Men who knew the Scriptures. Men who talked of Messiah’s coming. Yet men who couldn’t recognize Messiah even when the signs and wonders that testified of His coming stared them straight in the eye. Men whose pride and self-preservation over-shadowed the Son of God’s power and self-revelation. It’s not they could not believe. It’s that they would not believe.

And so they majored on the minors. They fixated on the finer points of what constituted work on the Sabbath as the ultimate measure of whether or not sight had really been given to the blind. They refused to look into the man’s eyes and instead looked at the dirt on his shirt.

And I can’t help but think there’s a warning in this for me. A caution about being so wrapped up in my understanding of the “what” and “how” heaven works that I miss the “who.” Of being so focused on how the details should play out that I look beyond the people actually touched by Deity.

Not that I don’t need to be grounded in the Scriptures. Not that it shouldn’t be the standard and measure. Not that anything goes. But that there should be a humility–I just might not have it all figured out. And on matters of secondary importance there should be grace-filled latitude. So that I don’t end up majoring on minors and missing the miracles that are staring me in the face. Blind men seeing . . . lame women running . . . lost people found . . . dead people alive.

All by His grace. All for His glory.

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The Power of a Promise

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Pete

He had done everything for her. She had done all she could to throw it back in His face. He set her up for success. She foolishly determined to fail. He poured out His love. She responded with shameless displays of her lewdness. He made a promise to love her. And love her He did. Thus, the power of a promise.

I’m moved this morning as read again Ezekiel 16. Perhaps one of the most beautiful portrayals of God’s love towards His people as personified in Jerusalem. Perhaps one of the most disturbing accounts of her subsequent betrayal and adultery.

Through the prophet God portrays Himself as her great benefactor. From her unseemly birth He had His eye on her. Though she was abhorred by all from the day she was born, having been thrown in a field naked and covered in afterbirth, when He passed by and saw her “wallowing in her blood” He determined to give her life. And she grew up and flourished.

At a later time He passed by again. And though she had grown up, she was still naked and bare. So, having given her life, He now determined to also give her love. He claimed her as His own. And He gave to her a promise.

When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of My garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made My vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became Mine.

(Ezekiel 16:8 ESV)

With no merit or standing of her own, with nothing to bring to the relationship, He took her to be His. He bathed her. He clothed her. He wrapped her in fine linen. He adorned her in exquisite and costly jewelry. He fed her with the finest foods. And she blossomed!

You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.  And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD. 

(Ezekiel 16:13b-14  ESV)

But as she looked in the mirror beholding her beauty, forgetting from where she’d come, it went to her head. And it spoiled her heart. She trusted in her beauty and lost sight of her Beautifier. Because of her fame and glory she started strutting her stuff and flaunting her beauty. And she fell, and fell hard. She “played the whore” giving herself away to any and every passerby.

And she suffered the consequences of such great infidelity. God is not mocked. What is sown will be reaped. The wages of sin is death. The beauty of Jerusalem destroyed by those who were once her lovers, now become agents of God’s wrath. The splendor of the bride-gone-bad but a faint memory.

But there is power in a promise.

. . . yet I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, . . . I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord GOD.

(Ezekiel 16:60a, 61-62 ESV)

O’ glorious word, “Yet!” Though she deserved to be returned to the condition in which she was first found, abandoned in a field, wallowing in her blood, ready to die, YET, because of a promise, she would know anew her great Benefactor . . . she would never again know her shame . . . for He would pay the price and atone for all that she had done.

And her story is our story.

. . . but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5:8 ESV)

Seen when no one else cared to look. Rescued when others considered us abandoned. Cleaned up, having had our sins washed away. Clothed up, having been given garments of righteousness on the merit of Another. Fed up, having been given a desire for the pure spiritual milk as newborns in Christ and then having tasted and developed a hunger for the solid food of the Word as we matured. Flourishing in the overflowing abundance of grace. A bride betrothed to her Bridegroom. And all this, not because of any merit of our own, but because of a promise.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? . . . in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

(Romans 8:31-32, 37 ESV)

Praise God for the power of a promise!

By His grace. For His glory.

 

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The Hedge

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Pete

Job wants out. “I give,” he cries. Life, or what’s left of it, is just too hard. Everything he worked for, his herds and flocks, were gone. Everything he sacrificed for, his children, gone too. Everything he drew on to deal with the day, his health, up in smoke. Too much, he says. I wish I had never been born, he says. Not sure, I can keep on keepin’ on, or even want to, he says. The seasons of gains not worth the losses. No hope in sight. His spirit broken. All he could see was the hedge.

“Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?” ~ Job

(Job 3:20-23 ESV)

One of those mornings when something I think I’ve never noticed before jumps off the page. I’ve read the book of Job many times over the past 38 years. In fact, it was the topic of my first ever young adults Sunday School bible study shortly after I was saved. So, if you were to ask to me what the book of Job says about a hedge I’d immediately go to Satan’s rebuttal of God’s boast of Job as a man who was blameless, upright, feared God, and shunned evil:

“Does Job fear God for no reason? Have You not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.” ~ Satan

(Job 1:9b-11 ESV)

It’s the hedge, Satan counters, it’s the fence You’ve built around him. You’ve surrounded him with Your protective wall. You’ve enveloped him within Your ever abiding care. And within the hedge he has known great blessings. Within the hedge he has experienced seasons of prosperity. But let me in the hedge, hisses Satan, and let’s see what happens.

And it occurs to me that’s what happened–adversity had entered through the hedge.

It’s not that God had removed the hedge. Not like it had been taken down. Job knew it was still there. He couldn’t see beyond it in his suffering, but he knew it was there. The hedge loomed so large Job thought no one could see him, that his way was hidden. That he was alone. That he had been abandoned. But, in fact, God’s hedge of protection was still about him. Satan having been let in, but with limited latitude.

It struck me as kind of ironic. In chapter one the hedge is the reason for blessing. In Job three it is the imposing question mark of suffering. But it’s still the hedge, God’s unfailing wall of protection.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

(1Corinthians 10:13 ESV)

No temptation except what God has permitted. No trial beyond what God has allowed. Nothing within the hedge that God has not let pass through His fingers. Nothing beyond our ability to weather in the power of His strength. Nothing we can’t endure through His all sufficient grace.

God is faithful. The hedge stands fast. By His grace. For His glory.

Praise God for the hedge!

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The Fifth Attribute (A rerun)

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Pete

Came across something I wrote back in 2009. Back when I was still reading the NKJV, before switching to the ESV. Well before this current season of trial and testing. Thought I’d rerun it as is . . . no touching up. But as much as the thoughts encouraged me again, what also grabbed me was the reminder that it’s in times of peace that we should be preparing for inevitable turmoil. That in the calm is the time to make ready for the storm. Really hard when you’re in the midst of it all to then start to try and establish a firm foundation to stand on. We feed on the word and store up it’s truth today so that tomorrow, in the battle, we can take up the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17).

——————————————————

Job has long been one of my heroes of the faith. For some time now he has been a mentor to me . . . a role model . . . someone that I have wanted to emulate. Now, I’m not talking about the getting wiped out part . . . not looking to imitate that. But, should God in His sovereign purposes allow calamity to come upon this man, I would want to respond as Job did.

There have been four character attributes of Job which I have long had memorized and kind of worn as a banner. They were true of Job and I have desired, by God’s grace, to have them be true of me in some measure. The book of Job opens with them . . . God declares them twice as His testimony of His servant, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (Job 1:1, 1:8, 2:3) There they are . . . blameless . . . upright . . . fears God . . . shuns evil. Not bad words to live by. Not a bad model of character to seek to imitate.

And though I’ve read these opening chapters of Job many, many times, this morning I noticed a fifth attribute. I found it in chapter 2 . . . I noticed it because it’s repeated twice . . . or, because the Holy Spirit picked it up off the page and decided to bless me with it this morning. This fifth attribute is first mentioned when Satan returns to the presence of God after having wiped out Job’s wealth and family . . . to which Job had responded by falling to the ground and worshiping God, declaring, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:20-21). (I never cease to be amazed by Job’s response!). Anyway, Satan returns and the LORD says to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” (Job 2:3)

And there it is . . . the fifth attribute . . . do you see it? . . . “He holds fast to his integrity.” Later in the chapter, when Job’s wife tempts Him to walk away from the faith, here’s what she says, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (2:9). Job was a blameless man . . . and an upright man . . . he feared God . . . he shunned evil . . . and, he held fast to his integrity.

This form of the word “integrity” is used only 5 times in all the Old Testament . . . and all those occurrences are here in the book of Job. It comes from a root that has the idea of “innocence,” or “simplicity,” and that of “fullness” or “completeness.” For Job it wasn’t complicated . . . and it didn’t need a lot added to it . . . God is good . . . period. He kept it pretty simple . . . He really believed what He said He believed . . . God is faithful . . . end of discussion. He wouldn’t interpret God by his circumstances . . . instead, he would view his circumstances in the light of what he knew to be true of His God. Job would hold fast to his integrity . . . he would remain faithful to his “true north” . . . he determined not to step off the Rock of his salvation. It’s not that he wasn’t teachable . . . we know how the book ends . . . God graciously (though very powerfully) revealed more of Himself to His servant. But that added knowledge would also become part of his inner compass . . . it too would be something he would hold fast to with integrity.

I don’t know that we place a lot of value on integrity as a society. Things seem pretty situational . . . the answer is different depending on the circumstances. We’re too sophisticated for “pat answers” or “simple solutions.” Rather than locking and loading on what is right just because it’s right, we’ll redefine right when it doesn’t suit our purposes or it becomes to hard to be right. We’ll faithfully follow God and praise and worship Him when things are going good . . . but, should expectations not be met or, or some adversity be encountered . . . then the praise turns to grumbling . . . and the “good fight” turns into a “good flight” as we think, “What’s the point? Why follow?”

Oh, that God’s people would model the fifth attribute. That not only would they be blameless, upright, fearing God, and shunning evil, . . . but that they too would hold fast to their integrity. “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10) God is good . . . all the time . . . God is faithful . . . all the time. It’s simple . . . it’s complete . . . it’s the fifth attribute . . . it’s integrity . . . and it’s for the glory of God.

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Partakers Partake

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Pete

The opening verses of 2 Peter are, for me, among the most inspiring found in Scripture. A reminder that our salvation is so much more than just fire insurance. Not that I want to minimize the fact that we have escaped judgment for our sins because the wages of our sin, death, have been paid in full by Another. That, in and of itself, is enough to evoke eternal praise and thanksgiving. But if we only think about the outcome of faith in terms of what we have been saved from and not what we have been saved for, we’re missing a big part of the picture. It’s much more than just what has been taken away–the debt, guilt, and shame of our sin–but just as much about what has been given.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

(2Peter 1:3-4 EV)

Everything pertaining to life and godliness, miraculously gifted to us. Far more than having just escaped death, we have been given all the tools to do life as God intended. To do it, as Jesus promised, “abundantly” (John 10:10). Literally to live life to the full, experience it “over and above.” And far more than just having suppressed the old nature’s tendency toward sin, I have been given a new nature, one that can fully enter into godliness. God-likeness! That’s what’s been put on the table for our attaining. Not that we become God, but that we can become more and more like Him in all His holy excellence. Having escaped the corruption in the world because of sin, we have been set up to be partakers of the divine nature. And, as I’m reminded this morning, partakers partake.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

(2Peter 1:5-7 ESV)

“Make every effort to add to your faith.” Huh? I love the way my senses are jarred by the juxtaposition of effort and faith. It’s easy to think about faith as being mutually exclusive of effort as we have been saved by faith alone, not as the result of any works, or effort (Eph. 2:8-9). But here we are told to supplement that faith by earnestly striving. A reminder that while we don’t work for our salvation we are exhorted to work in order to maximize our salvation. To take the seed planted and do our part to see it bears fruit. To take the “things that pertain to life and godliness” which have been given to us and see that we actually partake of the divine nature.

And so ours is to waste no time building on the foundation. While the faith that saved us was a gift from God, we are to supplement that faith with the provisions promised us by God.

Thus, with holy determination, and through Holy Spirit enabling, we seek to add to our faith with virtue, desiring to imitate all that comprises the excellencies of our great God’s nature and character. With that desire we seek to know Him through His word. Not just knowing about Him, but to, through the Scriptures, increasingly gain Spirit-illuminated insight as to the mind and heart of Christ. And that mind becomes the basis on which we bring our members into line. With discipline and Spirit-empowered determination saying no to the flesh and wanting only to walk in step with the Spirit. And self-control will result in steadfastness. As He who redeemed us is faithful, we will also prove to be faithful, not easily shaken regardless of what life throws our way.

And from this “passionate patience” (MSG) will emerge the likeness of God. The work He began in us to form His Son in us will take shape and become increasingly evident. We will progress from being only imitators of Christ to Christ living in us and through us. The glow of His glory starting to show in our countenance. And where God is formed, affection for God’s people is grown. And through lovin’ on the household of faith, the love with which God loved the whole world will supernaturally pour out of our lives.

Kind of an exciting journey if we’re willing to enter into it. If we heed Peter’s encouragement to make every effort to supplement our faith. If, as partakers of the divine nature, we earnestly seek to partake.

May it be so among His people.

Because of and by His abundant grace. All for His eternal glory.

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Expose to Restore

Posted on October 21, 2016 by Pete

Jeremiah’s eyes flowed with tears. As he stood amidst the ruins of what was once the splendor of Israel, he was overwhelmed with sorrow. The prophet could not contain himself as the Spirit of God upon him was overwrought as well with the aftermath of divine anger, fury, and fierce indignation. Not much about the book of Lamentations that will act as a “pick me up.” Beyond a verse or two, not a lot here that’s gonna make it on to a t-shirt or be inscribed on a wall hanging. It is a book of sorrow and mourning. And, it is a book of warning for those who have ears to hear.

The reasons Jerusalem lay in ruin were widespread. Hard-hearted, self-serving, idol-worshiping kings. A stiff-necked, law-rejecting, lets-be-like-the-nations-around-us people. Shepherds who were more interested in physically feeding themselves than they were in spiritually feeding their flock. Priests who were really about worshiping the priests. And prophets who made it up as they went in order to find favor among those looking for a good word. And it’s this last group that’s caught my attention because of something I read in Lamentations this morning. They had failed to expose to restore.

Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.

(Lamentations 2:14 ESV)

The prophet’s job was less about predicting the future as it was revealing the Father. Most of their prophecies weren’t facts to be charted but warnings to be heeded. In an increasingly dark world they were to be heaven’s light. Among a people who were going farther and farther astray they were to be the GPS that showed the way home. They were to declare God’s heart through God’s word. And among a nation that was caring less for the things of God, their message wasn’t going to be popular.

Unpopular because their job was to expose iniquity. They were to face the people of God with their transgression against God. They were to lay bare the people’s rebellion. They were to expose the lie of trying to cover all bases by bowing down to multiple deities. They were to make the connection between spiritual unfaithfulness and marital unfaithfulness and categorically declare them both wrong and offensive to God. They were to condemn living for the appetites of the flesh. Yes, they were to proclaim, it can be so wrong even if it feels right.

They were to uncover the people’s sin. Lay it bare. Reveal it for what it was. Their’s was to expose. Expose to restore.

For apart from revealing the truth of Israel’s iniquity there would be no compulsion to seek reconciliation. Without an appreciation of the problem, no reason to ask if there existed a solution. Without knowing they were lost, no sense of needing to be found. Without declaring bankruptcy no desire for solvency. Without a diagnosis there’d be no need for a cure.

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”   ~ Jesus

(Mark 2:17 ESV)

Sin was to be exposed so that sinners might know their need for restoration. The word of God was to reveal transgression against God so that a way back might known by the grace of God.

But because Israel’s prophets valued popularity over obedience, because they determined to tell the people what they wanted to hear, because their visions were deceptive and their oracles were misleading, Jerusalem lay in ruins rather than knowing divine restoration.

And I’m reminded that, while I’m no prophet, I have been entrusted with the word of God. While I may not have a voice among the nation, I rub shoulders with a small group around me. And where there is iniquity, I need to be willing to expose it for what it is–sin against a holy God. Not to condemn but, should God’s Spirit move, to restore. Not to seek anyone’s destruction, but, by God’s grace, to avoid it.

And the Lords servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

(2Timothy 2:24-26 ESV)

Expose to restore. Isn’t that part of what we’re called to do as God’s messengers? I’m thinkin’.

May not be popular with those around us, but, by God’s mighty working, some will thank us. And we’ll know we’ve been faithful to the Father who called us and the Son who sent us.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Where Would I Go?

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Pete

The going was getting tough. And so, many got going . . . as in, “I’m outta’ here!” For them, it just seemed to be getting weirder and weirder.

What started out as talk on the crowd’s motivation for following Jesus (answer: not because they were intrigued by His signs but because they wanted to eat some more of His free food), quickly devolved into a treatise about bread from heaven. And not the manna stuff that Moses gave, but the “man stuff” that Jesus claimed to be.

“I am the bread of life,” Jesus tells them. Come to Me, He says, and you’ll never hunger. Believe in Me, and you’ll never thirst. Not only did it not make sense to the crowds, it ticked off the religious leaders. Any claim Jesus made about coming down from heaven, no matter how nonsensical it seemed, was enough to get their backs up. They made the connection to Jesus’ “Messiah complex” even if they didn’t get His “bread of life” shtick.

And then, it gets a little more bizarre. Jesus tells the crowd that they need to eat the bread of heaven. And their minds are spinning, “I need to eat Jesus?” Yup. And to avoid any misunderstanding as to the implication of what He was saying, Jesus clearly declares, “Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life” (John 6:44). Like I said, weirder and weirder.

Following Jesus was already starting to come with a cost. And it’s not like He was an exact fit for what they imagined Messiah to be. And then throw in this eat My flesh and drink My blood stuff? For many, it was too much. It was time to tap out.

When many of His disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” . . . After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.

(John 6:60, 66 ESV)

And so Jesus turns to the Twelve and asks them, “Do you want to go away as well?” (6:67).

And I’m thinking that’s a question that most of us disciples have heard the Lord ask at least once or twice as we have followed Him. Not because we’re hung up on eating His flesh and drinking His blood. The illuminating work of the Spirit has shown us that “partaking of the Lord” is a metaphor for receiving and believing Him. For taking by faith the life offered through His death and resurrection.

But while we might have that bit of understanding down, there’s much we still don’t get. Perhaps some of it related to hard teaching, but much of it, I’d suggest, connected to hard times.

Times in our life when our reality doesn’t align with our dreams. When what we thought would be, isn’t. When what we couldn’t have imagined has come to be. When life just seems hard. When it doesn’t make sense. When following Jesus hasn’t resulted in the storyline we had written for ourselves in our own minds. When things just seem to get weirder and weirder. When others might very well say, “Enough. This isn’t working like I want it to. I’m outta’ here!”

Then that still small voice breaks through and, in some form, we hear Jesus ask the question, “Do you want to go away as well?” It’s then the Spirit works in us to answer as Peter answered:

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

(John 6:68-69 ESV)

To whom would we go? Where would we turn?

No matter how turbulent the ride gets, no safer place to be than in His arms. Regardless of how crazy the situation is yet to get, no wisdom I’d rather have than His wisdom. Whatever comes, no one I’d rather encounter it with than with the Holy One of God. The Creator and Sustainer of all things. The One who loved me and gave Himself for Me. The One who intercedes for me at the very throne of heaven. The One who has promised that, one day, where He is I will be also.

Lord, to whom shall we go? To no one but You. Where would we flee? Only to the refuge of Your mighty hand. How should we weather the storm? Always by your all-sufficient grace.

Where would I go? But to the Lord.

Because of grace. For His glory.

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Drawn

Posted on October 19, 2016 by Pete

When it comes to the dynamics of our salvation there is much to evoke awe and wonder. Start with a debt we could not pay, transgression against a holy God, and that the debt was paid by Another. And that that “Another” was none other than God’s own Son. Or the fact that not only did we not have to pay that which we owed, but that we also received that which we could never earn–a holy standing before God. Our accounts were wiped clean of what we owed for the wages of sin, and then were credited anew with the righteousness of Christ.

Ok, then add to this the fact that we have been adopted as sons and daughters by the Father making us joint-heirs with the Christ. And how do we even know that for sure? Oh yeah, let’s not forget the Spirit of adoption we received when we believed. The very presence of God dwelling inside us, our guarantee and seal that we are His forever. His active agency in our lives manifesting itself as our Advocate, our Comforter, our Counselor, and our Teacher leading us into all truth.

Can I get an, “Unreal!” from the congregation?!?!

And how about the work the Father has begun in us? The forming of the very nature and likeness of His Son within us. And what about the hope set before us? An inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, being kept in heaven for us. And the assurance that sustains us? That one day we will see our Savior face-to-face . . . faith giving way to sight . . . suffering and tears gone, replaced with the joy and glory of being in His presence.

And that’s not even scratching the surface of the great salvation that is ours. Volumes have been written with salvation as their inexhaustible subject! Myriads of songs have been sung with salvation as their inexpressible grand theme!

But there’s something else about this jaw-dropping salvation that I was reminded of as I was reading in John 6 this morning.

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” 

~ Jesus  (John 6:44a ESV)

Drawn. That’s what I was, drawn to salvation.

I was not bright enough to know I had a problem much less that I needed a Savior. I was so enamored with me as a creation that I never gave a thought to any claim on me that a Creator might have. I was lost, but didn’t know it. So I can’t say that I was seeking. I was blind but everything seemed pretty clear to me. I was dead, but had no idea what real life felt like. I’d love to take a bit of credit and say that “I found Him” . . . but in reality, He found me.

Yes, I came to Jesus. But only because I was drawn to Jesus. The original word for “draw” can mean “to drag off.” And, in my case, that’s probably closer to the truth. Not that I came to the cross kicking and screaming, but not that I came really willingly either. Took some pretty extreme circumstance to get my attention. Some pretty persistent conversations before I had ears to hear. A pretty impactful crusade event before I was really ready to come, just as I am.

No way I was going to run to the Father’s arms apart from His impelling work within me. I was drawn.

And why me? No idea. But for God’s desire that all should be saved, and God’s determination that grace should abound, I have no explanation other than “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1Tim. 1:15). No boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14). No explanation, other than Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20).

How amazing is our salvation? Pretty! And isn’t it awe-invoking that we were drawn by God Himself into such a great salvation? Pretty much!

What can I do but thank You
What can I do but give my life to You
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!    (Paul Baloche, What Can I Do?)

All because of His amazing grace. Only for His everlasting glory!

Amen?

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