A Lineage of Grace

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Pete

I don’t know how many years I’ve been doing it, but it occurs to me this morning that I’ve been doing it wrong . . . or, at the least, not completely right.

Started in on my reading plan for 2017 this morning. Genesis, Matthew, Acts, and Psalms. A great set of beginnings. And as I’ve done for a number of years now, there are four names in Matthew’s genealogy of the Christ that I shade over with my brown pencil crayon or, as my American friends say, my brown colored pencil. Because brown shading is what I use for grace.

Matthew begins his gospel by establishing the royal line from Abraham to David to Jesus, the promised King of kings. A heritage passed down through the male, by who fathered who. But four times mothers are mentioned. In a list predominated by men four women stand out.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, . . . and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah . . .

(Matthew 1:1-6 ESV)

Tamar, Rahab,  Ruth, and “the wife of Uriah.” They jump off the page. They don’t fit. And it’s not like they are included because they illustrate the best of the best of Christ’s lineage. Tamar was Judah’s widowed daughter-in-law who, disguising herself as a prostitute, sells herself to her father-in-law in order to have children (Genesis 38). And one of those kids was Perez, an ancestor of Jesus. Rahab too was harlot, but one who gave birth to a son who would father a royal line . . . by the grace of God.

Then consider Solomon. Though the son of David, his mom isn’t even mentioned by name. Instead, she is included as the wife of another man. Matthew being led by the Holy Spirit to highlight that fact she was a mother in the royal line through adultery and murder . . . and because of the grace of God.

And while the parents of Obed, another ancestor of the Messiah, were noble in character, his mom wasn’t even Jewish. Ruth was a Moabite. But one who, by faith, left her people determining that Israel’s people would be her people, and their God her God. And so she became the great-grandmother of Israel’s most noted king, the one through whom Messiah would come. This too proclaiming the grace of God.

And so, I get why I pull out the brown pencil crayon every year and shade over these ladies’ names.

But what hit me this morning as I hovered over Christ’s genealogy is that those aren’t the only names meriting some “grace shading.”

Think of the dysfunction in the homes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Or of the kingdom divided because Rehoboam was such a doofus. Jehoshaphat wasn’t a bad king but he had a tendency towards some pretty unholy alliances. And what about Manasseh? If anybody signed for the ticket to Babylon, it was him.

And what about mentioning that in the genealogy, the deportation to Babylon? Wouldn’t necessarily think that the Son of God would come out of a people which in it’s entirety was deserving of a 70 year timeout.

Shouldn’t I be shading the entire passage? Isn’t Christ’s entire lineage a testament of God’s unmerited favor? I’m thinkin’ . . .

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

(Galatians 4:4-5 ESV)

His ancestors, a lineage of grace. His first coming, a demonstration of grace.  His children, trophies of grace. His coming again, the culmination of grace.

All for the glory of God.

Amen?

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Knowing the End from the Beginning

Posted on December 24, 2016 by Pete

Years and years ago I heeded the advice that if you have kids in the house and you want time to be alone, you need to be awake when they are asleep. That’s been hard to do this week with a two-year-old in the midst who has inherited the “morning gene” that runs in the Corak family. But a bit of insomnia this morning has afforded some extended quiet time and an opportunity to wrap up my reading plan AND put a few thoughts down.

It doesn’t always happen, but I like finishing up my reading plan before Christmas–and Christmas Eve seems especially appropriate. The eve of our celebration of a new beginning seems a good time to be reminded of how things end.

Christmas focuses us on the beginning. The birth of a child. The first glimpse of Deity incarnate. The introduction of a Savior. The fresh reminder of the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love–that He would send His only Son to redeem us and reconcile us to Himself.

And with this new birth beginning on the horizon, I reflect on how my readings have concluded.

First, Job is vindicated before his friends while being humbled before his God. Though he may have spoken what was right about God (Job 42:8), he learned a thing or two about how one must speak to God. He had rashly “uttered what I did not understand” and pontificated on “things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” And while God in His grace restores the fortunes of Job, it is not before Job humbles himself and repents (Job 42:3-6).

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

(1Corinthians 13:12 ESV)

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

(James 4:10 ESV)

And thus, a reminder to humble myself. I can read the Bible, I can think I know a thing or two about God and His program, but when all is said and done what I know is but a shadow of who God is and what is to come.

Then, through Malachi, the LORD asks the tough questions. He calls out vain acts of worship which fail to acknowledge the holiness of the One being worshiped. And so, God promises a Messenger who will come as a “refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD” (Mal. 3:3). And their names will be found in a book and they will be gathered to Himself.

Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed His name. “They shall be Mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up My treasured possession, . . . For behold, the day is coming . . .”

(Malachi 3:16-17a, 4:1a ESV)

A reminder to be real. To beware of worshiping my God with my lips while my heart is far from Him. To worship in Spirit and truth.

Next, John concludes his gospel with Jesus revealing Himself again to His disciples. Manifesting again His power as He directs them to a great catch of fish. Demonstrating again His desire to abide with them as He makes breakfast and breaks bread with them around a morning fire (and “they knew it was the Lord”). And then, through His conversation with Peter, calling His disciples again to give themselves fully to serving their Master.

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to Him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” . . . And after saying this He said to him, “Follow me.”

(John 21:17, 19b ESV)

A reminder, in light of His great love, and by His grace and power, to faithfully keep on keepin’ on in the calling He’s given me.

Finally this morning, as I read Revelation 21 and 22, I beheld the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. That glorious city comprised of those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. And God is in their midst, dwelling among them. Thus, no need for a temple, “for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.” And, no need for a sun nor a moon to shine on them, “for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

What’s more, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.

(Revelation 22:3-4 ESV)

We will see His face. And we will worship Him. That’s how it ends . . . though it never ends.

And so we know the end from the beginning.  We know the end because of the beginning.  Confident in what will be because of what has been. His second coming anticipated with assurance because His first coming was realized by faith.

Our Savior has come. O come let us adore Him!

Our King will return. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Merry Christmas!

Because of His grace. For His glory.

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The Faultfinder

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Pete

Spent the last couple of days driving down to California to do Christmas with the family at the Scott River Lodge, the retreat center managed by my son-in-law and daughter. Although the lodge is more than big enough to accommodate all of us, communal living does have a way of disrupting routine. So, while I’ll continue to work my way through the last few entries in my reading plan, finding computer time to put down some thoughts could be kind of challenging. Likely to be hit and miss.

But this morning, for right now, I’m alone and chewing on something I read in Job.

I can’t imagine the fear factor experienced by Job when God decides to answer him “out of the whirlwind” (38:1, 40:6). Whatever storm Job may have thought he had been enduring through his suffering, it paled when compared to the tempest experienced when the Almighty Creator determines to enter the debate. For most of this book Job’s comforters have been answering Job’s complaint and Job has, in turn, been answering back at their answers. Now it is the Almighty’s turn to answer. And when He speaks it’s like being in the middle of a hurricane.

But, though the sensory overload due to God’s manifested presence must have driven Job to his knees, I think hearing God’s accusation against him is what really humbled and mortified this man of whom God Himself had said “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (1:8, 2:3).

And the LORD said to Job: “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.” . . . the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to Me. Will you even put Me in the wrong? Will you condemn Me that you may be in the right?

(Job 40:1-2, 6-8 ESV)

I think Job was shocked when He heard God’s summary of his arguments. While Job had certainly been defending his own record against his accusers, I mean comforters, I don’t think this man who feared God and sought to bless the name of the LORD in all circumstance (1:21) ever intended to find fault with God . . . or assert that God could be wrong . . . or seek to put God down that Job might lift himself up.

But, in a nutshell, that’s pretty much what Job had done.

And so I’m thinking, how does a godly man like Job end up getting on the wrong side of his God? Short answer: he allows his world to revolve around him rather than around his God.

He becomes so consumed with his own story that He forgets it’s but a subplot in a much greater narrative. He starts to believe that the ways he has planned, and the goals he has set, must somehow dictate the steps God should ordain for him. He develops a self-centered arrogance which, at least implicitly, asserts that his sense of right and wrong should define God’s sense of justice and purpose.

I don’t think Job consciously determined to find fault with his faultless God. I don’t think he said to himself, “Self, God must be in the wrong if I am to be in the right. Jehovah needs to be corrected so that I can be justified.” Rather, as Job allowed himself to increase, his view of God was forced to decrease. As his circumstance became the paramount circumstance, God needed to find an orbit around his planet. And before he knew it, Job had become a faultfinder.

O’ that I might learn a lesson from this man of God. Might I not cease to be ever humbled before an all-knowing, all-powerful God. By His grace, might I always see my circumstance in the greater context of His sovereignty. Trusting in His promised presence. Resting in His steadfast love.

Quick always to say, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done.”

That above all things He might be given all the glory.

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Questions

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Pete

Re-worked / re-posting some thoughts from 2008 on one of my favorite verses in Scripture . . .

————————-

So, I read Job 37 this morning, the last words of counsel from Elihu. And as I finished up I thought about what’s coming tomorrow in my reading. I glanced at the first few words of Job 38, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind”, knowing that God is about to unleash on Job.

You know, you can’t blame Job for being a bit confused about the turn of events in his life. You can’t blame him for asking, “Why?” But you do sense that maybe he could have asked the “why” question a little differently. Less arrogantly, perhaps. Not so demanding. With more reverence, more humility. Maybe God’s response would have been different had Job asked his questions more like Habakkuk.

I really do like this guy, Habakkuk. There is a spirit about him that inspires me. And he too asked God questions.

The first chapter is all about him asking questions. Questions about God’s tolerance of the wickedness within Israel and God’s apparent silence as injustice increased in the land. “How long shall I cry for help? . . . Why do You make me see iniquity?” (1:2-3). And God answers his questions, “Good observations, Hab! And I am going to do something about it. Something that will utterly amaze you. Something you’d never see coming. I’m going to raise up the Chaldeans to judge my people.”

Ok, that isn’t the answer Habakkuk’s expecting. Israel at large may have been bad, but the Chaldeans? Compared to them, Israel looked like a bunch of choir boys. And so the questions come again, “O LORD, You have ordained them as a judgment? . . . O Rock, You have established them for reproof? . . . Why are You silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?” (1:12-13).

And, in chapter 2, God answers Habakkuk again. But instead of blasting Habakkuk (like God’s about to do in Job 38) for persisting with his questions, the LORD instead enlightens the prophet and leads him to a place of greater trust and faith.

So what’s the difference between Job and Habakkuk? Why does Job ask, “Why?” and get rebuked for his questioning, while Habakkuk asks, “Why?” and gets answers? The difference, I think, is found in Habakkuk’s attitude.

I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

(Habakkuk 2:1 ESV)

Habakkuk asked his questions in humility. He didn’t understand why God allowed Israel to continue to sin and so he asked God, “Why?” He really couldn’t understand how God could use such a wicked nation as the Chaldeans to judge Israel and so he asked God, “Why?” But when He was done asking His questions he says in essence, “Ok, now I’ll wait for God’s answer. And I’m fully expecting that I may be corrected in my limited view. That I will find that my understanding of the situation is incomplete. For God knows a lot more than I do. His ways are higher than my ways. His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. And so, I’ll watch and I’ll wait and listen for what God might say to me.”

Far from demanding an audience with God that he might question Him, you sense that Habakkuk is just sincerely confused, and so, he takes his confusion to His God. And then he quiets himself and waits for God. Ready, should God in His purposes determine to graciously provide insight and wisdom, to receive whatever answers, or not, God might give.

I don’t think God minds us asking questions. I do think there is a right way and a wrong way to ask them, though. Our questions should not be such that they question God. Nor should we arrogantly demand an answer from the Almighty. But ours is take our questions and our confusions to the Lord in humble submission to His sovereign purposes. To present our “whys?” before Him knowing that He is Righteousness and Just. And to wait on Him to graciously help us work through the confusion if He chooses.

I don’t think Habakkuk really ended up with full reconciliation in his mind of how God could “partner” with the Chaldeans to judge Israel. Yeah, he was told that God would eventually judge the Chaldeans too, but I gotta think that Habakkuk still had a nagging, “Them Lord? Really??” in the back of his mind. But Habakkuk had asked his questions and God has provided His answer. And that would be sufficient.

Questions? It’s ok to ask them. Our God? It’s imperative that we trust Him.

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

GOD, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deers; He makes me tread on my high places.

(Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV)

By His grace. For His glory.

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Stop

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Pete

It might be the best advice given yet. After thirty-five chapters of listening to their unproductive debate, the young upstart, having held his tongue as long as he could, may have been the most in tune with Job’s greatest need. And perhaps his valuable insight is something that I might do well to heed myself.

Job has grown increasingly agitated over the course of receiving his “comforter’s” pathetic attempts at comfort. Job has no clue as to the why of what has befallen him. How could he? Who would have imagined the debate in heaven between his God and his adversary which started it all? His suffering not tied to some great mysterious cause-and-effect of his own making. Instead, what has befallen him has been according to Divine permission for God’s sovereign purposes–purposes, for the most part, known only in the heavenly realm.

And so, what started with, “I wish I had never been born” has escalated to “I want to hash this out with the Almighty . . . face to face . . . man to God!”

All the while, his comforters bristle at his apparent self-righteousness and thus seek to “sooth” his torment with, “Admit it Job. God punishes sin. Obviously you are being punished. Therefore, based on how great this punishment, time to confess how great your sin.”

And back and forth they go. Job repeatedly defending his righteousness and demanding an audience before heaven. His friends. again and again, shutting him down condemning his out-of-touch-with-reality arrogance.

Enter Elihu. Enter into the debate perhaps the best advice yet. Stop!

“Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God.”

(Job 37:14 ESV)

Stop! Stand still, say other translations. Take a breath. Cease and desist. Be still.

Job was so wrapped around the axle with demanding a reason for the “why” of his suffering that he was losing perspective (and a measure of reverence) concerning Who presided over his situation. Time, says Elihu, to stop. To stop and consider.

“Behold, God is exalted in His power; who is a teacher like Him? . . . Behold, God is great, and we know Him not; the number of His years is unsearchable. . . . God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things that we cannot comprehend. . . . stop and consider the wondrous works of God.”

(Job 36:22, 26; 37:5, 14 ESV)

Sometimes we just need to put it in park and look around. And then look up . . . look way up. Take time to think. Take time to meditate. Take time to be still . . . and know that He is God (Ps. 46:10).

The “wondrous works” Elihu gives as examples aren’t the extraordinary things. He doesn’t appeal to the miraculous or that which is apart from the common course of nature. Nothing like parted seas, water from rocks, or food from heaven (yet to happen, by the way). Instead, the wondrous works Elihu points to for Job’s consideration are the snow God tells to fall on the earth and the downpour God commands at His will. Everyday indicators of Majesty on High such as scattering winds, moisture bloated clouds sending forth lightning, and bodies of water frozen fast by cold temperatures. The often overlooked things like beasts who know enough to shelter in their lairs when the weather turns bad.

Stand still. Ponder the everyday operation of the natural world around you. Behold the wondrous works of God.

And then, as the awe-o-meter rises through the contemplation of the mundane and ordinary, know that the God who ordains and maintains the taken-for-granted mechanics of the world around you, is the same God who is well aware of your circumstance . . . of your suffering . . . of your searching for understanding. And that, though He has not produced an explanation for the affairs of the day, He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us (Deut. 31:8, Heb. 13:5). And He has invited us to boldly draw near to His throne of grace, “that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). And He has assured us that His grace is sufficient, “for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2Cor. 12:9).

We can know this. We can rest in this. We can be revived in this. We just need to stop. To stop and consider.

To stop and know again that He is God. Mighty in deed. Every day declaring His wondrous works and unfathomable power.

To stand still and to be reminded that God is love. Having so loved us, He gave His Son to redeem us . . . His Spirit to seal us . . . His word to guide us . . . His promises to encourage us.

Stop. Pretty good advice I think.

That we might know afresh His grace. That we might determine anew to live for His glory.

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Behold Your King!

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Pete

I like gazing upon a Nativity scene. I can overlook the historical inaccuracies of shepherds and magi and angels gathered all together under a bright star to surround a new mom and a proud dad gazing down into a straw-filled manger. ‘Cause it’s not really about them. And it’s not the bleating sheep or lowing cattle that primes the pump of imagination. No, it’s not the cast of beholders that grabs my attention, but the One who is being beheld.

“. . . you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

(Luke 1:31b-33 ESV)

. . . behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.”

(Matthew 2:1b-2 ESV)

Behold your King!

The Nativity commands it. Consider afresh God’s own Son, the Messiah, come in flesh to establish a kingdom. “Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end” (Isa. 9:7).

Immanuel. God with Us. No wonder angels shouted and sang with great joy. No wonder that we picture heaven and earth gathering together all at one time in one place to gaze upon Him declared to be born a king.

That’s the contrasting thought that runs through my mind as I read in John 19 another scene focused on the King.

No longer a baby carefully set in a manger, but a Man bloodied by a Roman flogging. No longer wrapped in swaddling clothes, but clothed in a mocking robe of purple wearing a crown of thorns twisted together and pressed down upon His brow. No longer the subject of heaven’s praise, “Glory to God in the highest.” Instead, the object of earth’s derision, the chorus about Him now chanting, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!”

So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place call the Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha.  Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover.  It was about the sixth hour.  He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 

(John 19:13-14 ESV)

Behold your King!

Born to die. The serene Child in the manger come to be the sacrificial Lamb upon a cross. God in flesh “so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb. 2:9-10).

There’s a reason we don’t put up “crucifixion scenes” preceding Easter. Not the sort of scene that invites you to turn down the lights, grab a cup of coffee, and gaze upon it as Mary might have, who “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

Yet, Behold your King!

Gaze upon the nativity, wonder at God’s great gift. And then remember that the manger lies in the shadow of a cross. That, while a glorious throne awaits, it was achieved through a nondescript tomb. That, though the King will be highly exalted and every knee will bow and confess Jesus Christ is Lord, first He would humble Himself . . . becoming obedient to the point of death . . . even death on a cross (Php. 2:8-11).

Behold your King!

Remember God’s grace. Proclaim God’s glory!

 

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A God of Nuance

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Pete

I don’t know if this is going to come out right or not, but as I read Job 35 this morning the wonder I’m experiencing is that our God is a God of nuance.

Nuance. I think that’s a good word. What I mean is that on most continuums our God does not simply reside at one end or the other. Except for continuums like that of good and evil, our God is not bound to only one side. Rather, He is the continuum. He is the Alpha and the Omega.

For example, on the continuum defined by mercy on one end and judgment on the other, our God operates throughout the continuum. Merciful and yet rendering judgment. Mercifully judging and judging mercifully. Sometimes showing mercy followed by judgment, other times rendering judgment and then mercy. Different shades based on His purposes.

A God impossible to be defined, in many aspects, as an “either / or” God. A God who doesn’t easily fit into a box. A God of nuance.

It’s something that Ellihu says to Job that triggered the wonder . . .

“Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you. If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give to Him? Or what does He receive from your hand?”

(Job 35:5-7 ESV)

If I’m picking up what Elihu’s laying down with this argument, it’s something like, “Job, you have been incessantly claiming to act more righteously than God. You say that righteousness, your righteousness, obviously does not pay and therefore God is unjust? But really Job, does what you do make any difference at all to what God does? Man’s sin doesn’t harm a sovereign God, neither does man’s righteousness benefit a holy God. In the end, God is God and what you do, or don’t do, really doesn’t impact Him.”

And if God were a God of only one end of the continuum or the other there’d be some merit in Elihu’s assertion. But our God has not attached Himself to some well-defined, never to be altered continuum. Instead He has purposed to bind Himself, in a sense, to those He determined to create in His own image. To love them as He is love. To commune with them as He has ever known communion within Himself. To link His glory with their lives. And in order to do that God works along the continuum. Different shades for different circumstances. Different manifestations of the character of God according to His divine purposes.

So, does our sin affect God? Yeah. It grieves the Holy Spirit of a good God. It commands the deserved wrath of a holy God. And it so moves the hand of a loving God that He acts by sending His Son to die on a cross to pay the wages for our sin. An “either / or” God either has to judge all sin because it is sin or ignore all sin in order to spare His people. But a God of nuance is able to be both just and the justifier.

. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show Gods righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

(Romans 3:23-26 ESV)

God’s righteousness shaded with divine forbearance because of an atoning sacrifice of His doing, and His alone. Yeah, our sin has impacted the Almighty God.

What about our righteousness? Does He care about that? After all, no matter how holy we might become, what is that to the One who is Holiness?

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness . . .

You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.

(Isaiah 61:10a, 62:3-4 ESV)

Our righteousness matters. Christ not only having died to take away our sin, but having lived to impute to us His righteousness as our eternal covering. To credit to our account His holiness. Our righteousness mattering so much to our God that He provides it through His Son and imparts it through His Spirit. And thus, we bear His beauty. And thus, He delights in us.

Our is not a God who sits on one end of the scale and says, “Work your way to Me.” But ours is a God who has ventured out. One who has entered our world as Emmanuel. Seeking the lost. Binding up the wounded. Carrying home the lame.

A God who operates on the continuum. A God of nuance.

Known through His abundant grace. Worthy of infinite glory.

Amen?

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The Love of God

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Pete

While I think I pretty well get it, I’m sure I pretty much do not fully grasp it.

Finished up John 17 as part of my morning readings. “Christ’s High Priestly Prayer” is how it’s summarized in my Bible. Jesus’ final discourse. Directed this time not to those around Him but to Him who had sent Him.

And I get to eavesdrop. I’m the proverbial fly on the wall as Jesus lifts His eyes to heaven and talks with the Father.

“Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You” ~ Jesus

(John 17:1b ESV)

What’s at stake is the glory of God. His divine glory made manifest through “the hour.” The hour of Jesus’ death for the sin of mankind. The hour of His once for all atoning sacrifice. The hour when He bears the wrath for our transgressions. The hour when, with His last breath, He declares, “It is finished.” The hour of His burial.

And then, on the third day, the hour of His triumphant resurrection from the dead. Exhibiting, for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear, that He has conquered sin and has vanquished death. Glorify Your Son, Father . . . that the Son may glorify You!

Wonder of wonders!

But then, get this, the glory is linked to a people. First, tied to those who were with Jesus, those to whom He directly manifested the Father’s name. Those the Father had given Him. And, as I continue to eavesdrop, not to them alone.

Jesus then also prays for those who would believe in His name through their witness and word. And that would be me. That would be us. All who have come to faith in Christ. Believing the truth of that hour. Receiving the forgiveness offered through the finished work of the cross. And Jesus great supplication for us? That we be woven into the tapestry declaring the glory of God.

“The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me.” ~ Jesus

(John 17:22-23 ESV)

I get it, I think. But do I fully grasp it? I’m guessin’ not.

Those redeemed by the Son, bearing, in some manner, the glory of the Son as they are brought into relationship with one another. A unity which Paul says is through the Spirit (1Cor. 12:13, Eph. 4:3). A unity which reflects the essence of the Triune God, “one even as We are one.” And a unity which actively binds not only believer with believer, but believer with the God of their belief–Jesus in us, the Father in Him. Perfectly one.

And, here’s the beyond fathoming part for me this morning, “So that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You love Me.”

Loved of the Father as the Father has loved the Son. What is that?!?

We have been brought into an eternal Triune love. The same love the Father has had for the Son since before the foundation of the world (17:24b). Divine love. Eternal love. Perfect love. The love of God.

And Jesus, before going to the cross, looks to heaven and intercedes for His people, Father, let’s show them that love . . . let’s love them with that love . . . let’s bring them into such love. That they might share in Our glory. That they might bear Our glory.

Loved with the love of God. I get it. But I don’t fully grasp it.

Oh, that through the Spirit’s illuminating work I might, more and more, know the power “to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:18-19).

To know that which surpasses knowledge. To not only understand the fact that great love has been shown to us. . . . but to grasp the essence, nature, and implications of His divine love. And then, to live in the light of being enveloped in such love.

Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know;
Spirit, breathing from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so.
Oh, this full and perfect peace!
Oh, this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His, and He is mine.

His forever, only His:
Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss
Christ can fill the loving heart.
Heaven and earth may fade and flee,
Firstborn light in gloom decline;
But, while God and I shall be,
I am His, and He is mine.

– George Wade Robinson (1838-1877)

Because of grace. For His glory.

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Heaven’s Shelter and Shepherd

Posted on December 8, 2016 by Pete

Hovering over the latter part of Revelation 7 this morning. What an awesome sight John beholds. A great multitude. Literally beyond numbering. A diverse gathering. From every nation. Representatives from all tribes and peoples and languages. Diverse, yet all wearing the same thing. White robes. All the robes made white by the same purifying and cleansing agent. The blood of the Lamb. And this massive multitude is gathered to one place. Before the throne and the Lamb in the midst. And this massive multitude is gathered for one purpose. To worship!

“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

(Revelation 7:10b ESV)

What a sight. How does John take it in? Myriads and myriads of shining white robes as far as the eye can see. Did John have to shield his eyes? And the sound of this great throng crying out in unison with a loud voice? Did he have to cover his ears? Yet, despite the sensory overload, this great gathering pales in comparison to the great God they stand before. The One sitting on the throne still commanding all attention. The Lamb in the midst never ceasing to be preeminent.

But what really grabs me this morning is that while the multitudes worship, the Father and Son still minister. Though the many people may sing, the Triune God still serves. They are His servants, He is their Shelter and Shepherd.

“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

(Revelation 7:15-17 ESV)

A Shelter and a Shepherd. Protection and provision. Shielded from hunger and thirst. Guided to springs of living water. Such is the on-going ministry of the God who loves His people . . . and loves them to the uttermost.

And I can’t help but think that what will be experienced then face to face we now see, though dimly. Though we are yet to fully know what it is like to be under the protective shelter of God’s presence, by faith we enter our day knowing He has promised never to leave us nor forsake. His presence provided through His Spirit. His shelter experienced as He guards our hearts and minds with a peace that passes understanding.

Moreover, though we long to see the Great Shepherd and have Him welcome us to that place He is preparing for us, we rise knowing the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep. And by faith we hear and known His voice through the Helper He has left with us. Though, at times, we may feel dry and depleted, out of our hearts flow rivers of living water through His all-sufficient provision.

And so, even now we get a foretaste of what it will be for the hunger to be satisfied, the thirst to be quenched, and the tears to be wiped away. And by faith we await that time when we will know, up close and so very personal, heaven’s Shelter and Shepherd.

By His grace. For His glory.

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The Whole Promise

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Pete

If I’m honest, there are some promises in Scripture that I’d just as soon not claim as my own. Some, I’d rather not even be reminded of. I came across one of those in John 16 this morning where Jesus tells His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation.”

Who wants to spend a lot of time noodling on that? Whether it’s something as big as the world economy, or something as personal as a struggling relationship; whether it’s society’s tendency towards, in the name of tolerance, becoming less and less tolerant of those who follow the Way, or something much more personal involving failing health, in this world, Jesus assures His own, we will have tribulation. Pressure . . . affliction . . . distress. It’s gonna be ours at some point. Count on it.

But I’m only focusing on a piece of what Jesus is telling His disciples. If I stop there, I’m going to miss the whole promise.

Sometimes we do that. Sometimes that’s exactly what the enemy would have us do–focus on a just a piece of the puzzle. And it can kill the “joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart” if I focus just on the tribulation and trials. It can distract from the faithful walk if I’m crushed and discouraged by the hard things of life. It has the potential to hamstring the “abundant life” if I’m consumed by how tough or how unfair things seem.

I think about Paul and if anyone knew that in this world there would be tribulation it was him. Yet what does he say? “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; . . . we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day” (2Cor. 4:8,9,16 ESV).

So how could Paul write this? How did he live it out in day-to-day life? Paul remembered the whole promise.

“I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  ~ Jesus

(John 16:33 ESV)

Yes, in this world we will have tribulation. Troubles, trials and sorrows are going to come. But take heart, says the Risen Savior. Be encouraged. Know also that I have overcome the world. And in Me, regardless of the nature of the storm, there is a great shalom to be known.

I was also reading in Revelation 6 this morning. And it is so obvious that the Lamb who has stepped forward as the One worthy to take the scroll is calling the shots concerning what happens on earth. As He opens seal after seal there is no doubt who is in control. No question as to who has overcome this world. And so, when the souls of those who had been martyred for the word of God ask Him, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth,” the Sovereign Savior says to them, “Rest a little longer.” And to the soul in this chair He says, as well, “Rest. Take heart. In Me you have peace!”

No promise of answers, necessarily. No guarantee that we’ll understand all that’s going on. No assurance of the resolution of our choosing. Just the whole promise that though we will have tribulation in this world, He has overcome the world. And thus, in Him, we can have peace.

Not ours to understand fully, but ours to appropriate by faith. A peace that passes understanding. A deep abiding sense of security and safety, because He has overcome.

Hard-pressed? Maybe, but not crushed. Perplexed? Sometimes, but not in despair. Feeling like we’re in the fire, like we may be going down for the count? Could be, but also knowing that we are not forsaken and will not be destroyed. Because He has overcome.

Tribulation in the world? Yup, gonna happen. But that’s only part of it.

Peace in the inner man? Just as sure. For He has overcome the world.

That’s the whole promise.

By His all sufficient grace. For His everlasting glory.

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