Love Incorruptible

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Pete

At first, it came across as a pretty tall order. One of those “challenging encouragements” that is thrown out with the intent of getting believers to step up to the plate and just do it. Raising the bar . . . setting the standard. But quite frankly, just as easily as inspiring someone to “go for the gold,” it can just as easily cause someone’s shoulders to bow under the weight of another exhortation beyond our ability to attain.

Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (Ephesians 4:23-24 ESV)

I read verse 24, Paul’s final words to the Ephesians and, at first, thought, “Really. Paul’s wishing grace upon all who love Jesus with an incorruptible love? Who can claim that?” Other translations say who love Jesus “in sincerity” (NKJV) or ” with an undying love” (NIV). The NLT translates it giving a different sense, that the incorruptibility is with God’s grace and not about our love. While that’s true and while I like that better, given that it doesn’t align with the sense given by the ESV, NASB, NIV, or NKJV, I think I have to wrestle a bit with what the verse seems to be saying.

So what does it mean to “love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible?”

Literally the word has the idea of “unending existence.” That which is beyond corruption, that which is immortal in nature.

And chewing on that for a bit, maybe the love we’re talking about is less about a love we’re able to manufacture and maintain and ensure that it’s a sincere, incorruptible, non-decaying love, but more a reflection on the nature of the love which God, in His grace, has “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).

We love because He first loved us (1John 4:19). We know Him because He first knew us. We sought Him because He first sought us. We pursue Him because He first pursued us. We’ll love him eternally, into immortality, because God has seeded within our hearts His eternal, immortal love. We might falter, but we won’t fail. We might get distracted, but we won’t be disqualified. We can love with a love incorruptible because God is love and He has taken up residence in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

So, I’m thinking it’s less about an exhortation to step it up, and more a reminder of the riches of grace that is ours through Him who “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1). And in so doing, has empowered us to love Him to the end . . . the end of eternity . . . with a love incorruptible.

All because of grace . . . all for His glory.

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Limping Along

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Pete

It really wasn’t about wicked king Ahab or his prophets of Baal. Nor was it about a showdown on Mt. Carmel. It wasn’t even about fire from heaven. As I’m reading 1Kings 18 this morning, I’m reminded it was about God’s people. God had determined to show Himself powerful . . . God had determined to show Himself preeminent . . . for the sake of a people who were limping along.

And [Elijah] answered (Ahab), “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your fathers house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebels table.” So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.
 (1Kings 18:18-21 ESV)

Oh the lengths to which God would go to call back the hearts of a people who were “limping between two different options.” Like a kid going down the street with one foot on the curb and one foot on the road, never really in balance. Like a lame man who, while seeming to make progress, is always encumbered by an inability to walk properly. In fact, the people’s attempt to walk both sides of the fence was pictured in the futility of the actions of the prophets of Baal who were also stumbling about as “they limped around the altar that they had made” (18:26).

The futility of the prophets of Baal before their sacrifice was a reflection of those who tried to have “the best” of both worlds. Though Baal was a god who could claim a place in the hearts of people, just as the God of Israel could, Baal was a god without voice, one incapable of answering (18:26). No matter how much they cried aloud . . . no matter how much they cut themselves and offered their own blood for this poor excuse of a god . . . no matter how much they raved and limped along . . . “there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention” (18:29).

Stupid to sacrifice to such a god . . . dumb to waste a good bull . . . crazy to offer your blood to some composition of earthly materials. But that was one “opinion.” That’s one world to put a foot in so that you don’t risk missing out just in case the god does answer. But as long as there’s a foot in that world . . . it will always result in nothing more than limping along.

How much do we, as God’s people today, limp along in similar fashion? When we look at how we set our priorities and invest our time, what does it say about the “gods” that we are looking to, in addition to the God of heaven, in order to find happiness, fulfillment, or satisfaction. What sacrifices are we offering? What kind of crazy dance are we performing? How much blood are we pouring out in the futile attempt to hear some voice that validates our lives and makes us feel good. If the people of Israel teach us anything it’s that, at the very best, to try and follow the God of creation as well as the creations we make gods, it’s nothing more than just limping along.

Instead, what about wholeheartedly seeking and following the God who sacrificed for us? . . . the God who called out to us? . . . the God who shed His blood for us? . . . the God who made Himself known from heaven for us? That’s solid ground . . . when it’s not about how much we sacrifice and dance around, but all about a God who, motivated by eternal love and because of overflowing grace, showed Himself from heaven . . . not in some blaze of fire, but through the cross of Calvary.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.    (Galatians 5:1 ESV)

No more “two opinions” . . . “The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God” (18:39).

No more limping along . . . by the grace of God . . . for the glory of God.

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Making God Angry

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Pete

In a conversation with a friend earlier this week, he reminded me that we tend to classify sin. All sin is bad, sure. But some sin, based on the response of many, is REALLY bad . . . way worse . . . the only thing to be focused on. And in doing so, he pointed out, we tend to minimize the nature of other sin . . . our sin. You know, that sin which we’ve become more comfortable with . . . that sin which we can talk about without it turning our stomach. But as I’m reading in 1Kings this morning, it occurs to me that perhaps we should be focusing first on another sin. One sin that I wonder if, after pride, isn’t at the root of all other sin.

It’s the sin of Jeroboam. The sin that was adopted by king after king in Israel. The sin that would lead to other sin. The sin that ultimately would lead to the northern kingdom’s downfall. The sin of idolatry.

And if there’s nothing else you learn about this sin in Kings, it’s that it makes God angry.

Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did more evil than all who were before him. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.   (1Kings 16:25-26 ESV)

Jeroboam, chosen by God, graced by God, and lifted up by God to be king of Israel’s northern ten tribes, chose to replace God. As a means to secure his own rule in Israel, Jeroboam built two golden calves so that people would not have to travel to Jerusalem to worship and perhaps have their hearts drawn again to the southern kingdom. And so he sets one in Bethel, the other in Dan, and declares these to be the gods who had really delivered them from Egypt (12:25-30). And this became “the sin of Jeroboam.” The sin which king after king followed in and, often “improved” upon. And, repeatedly, I’ve been reading that it provoked the LORD to anger.

King after king . . . generation after generation . . . more and more common place as time passes. But God never gets over it.

As I’ve said before, if repetition in Scripture is God’s way of saying something in “bold print” . . . if it’s His way of emphasizing a truth . . . then, as I read in 1Kings, God is yelling, “Idolatry makes me angry!”

Provoking God to anger. To trouble His spirit. To vex His very nature. To stir up righteous indignation that can only be followed by holy and justified wrath. Such is the nature of replacing God with an idol. Such is the outcome of looking to something of our own making as the source of deliverance and happiness. Not to be minimized. Not to be forgotten as we point the finger at those sins which are popular to call out. Idolatry makes God angry. Period.

To be sure, the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin . . . even the sin of idolatry. But we must apply the blood. “If we confess our sins,” John says, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1John 1:9). But there is no cleansing apart from confessing.

And if the kings of Israel tell us anything, it’s that idolatry is truly a slippery slope. That when we start to worship other things, there is no stopping what we will add to our worship list and what we will do in order to serve those other gods which are no gods at all. And though we might grow more and more comfortable with it, Kings also reminds me that God does not. Again and again, I read in Kings that they provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.

I’m guessing that’s why something else I read in Ephesians is resonating right now . . .

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. . . . For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
(Ephesians 5:3, 5 ESV emphasis added)

That God’s people would beware of idolatry. That we would see it as the sin which leads to all other sin. That we would first deal with the plank in our own eye before dealing with the spec in another’s . . . and, to be sure, we should be showing others the way of rescue from their sin. That God would reveal to us our other gods that we might leave them at the foot of the cross. Looking to the Son only for our deliverance . . . bowing to the Father only with our worship . . . drinking deep of the Spirit only as our sufficiency.

By His grace . . . for His glory.

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A Dinner Invitation

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Pete

In many ways it’s kind of a confusing story. Not the part about the man of God sent to King Jeroboam to pronounce judgment on the king for his idolatrous leadership of the northern kingdom. That part’s pretty clear. The altar Jeroboam had built in Bethel, as the place of sacrifice to the two golden calves he had declared to be “your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (1Kings 12:28), would be the altar upon which Jeroboam’s fake priests would be sacrificed (1Kings 13:2). Jeroboam had provoked the LORD to anger (1Kings 14:9, 15) and, unless there was repentance, judgment was inevitable. No, that part’s not the confusing part.

The confusing part is what happens to the man of God. At first he is invited by Jeroboam to come home with the king. You sense it’s Jeroboam’s way of trying to get on God’s “good side.” Seems like he’s thinking he can wine and dine and bribe the prophets favor, then maybe he secures some of God’s favor. But God doesn’t turn a blind eye to sin . . . He can’t. And besides, God doesn’t work for the man of God, the man of God works for Him. So, as a further sign of God’s judgment, the man of God refuses to “eat bread or drink water in this place” for the word of the LORD had been clear to the man of God, “You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came” (13:8-9). So far, so good.

Then the confusing part.

As the man of God heads out of town, an old prophet who lives in Bethel invites him home for dinner. The man of God refuses. Just as he had said to the king, the man of God tells the old prophet, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, for it was said to me by the word of the LORD, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came'” (13:16-17). But the old prophet lies to the man of God and says that he too received a word from the LORD and that God had changed His mind — the man of God was to eat in Bethel at the old prophet’s house.

Old man’s motivation for lying? I’m thinking it’s the same as the king’s. To secure favor and avoid God’s just wrath upon his own sin in worshiping the golden calves which “led Israel out of Egypt.” But while they are eating, God’s Spirit overpowers the lying flesh of the old prophet and uses him to pronounce judgment on the man of God for his disobedience. The man of God, after receiving the word, finishes his meal and leaves. Shortly thereafter he encounters a lion on the road and is killed. Weird. Kind of confusing.

Who feels sorry for the man of God? How unfair does it feel that a lying old man can cut short the aspiring career of a promising up-and-comer? What does it say about the importance of obedience?

So, not sure exactly what all this passage is meant to teach us, but here are some thoughts that run through my mind. First, God is God and His ways are perfect. Second, God’s word is to be guarded and obeyed and we need to beware of anyone or anything that says, “We’ve heard something different from God.” And third, while there is no buying God’s favor with the bread and drink we have to offer, there is the need to invite THE MAN OF GOD home for dinner.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me.”
~ The Ascended, Living Jesus (Revelation 3:20 ESV)

Jeroboam couldn’t bribe his way into God averting His just judgment upon sin.. The old prophet couldn’t lie his way into God overlooking his complicity in Bethel’s idolatry. They both tried by inviting someone home for dinner. But they invited a man who, just like themselves, ended up tripped up in his own disobedience.

Instead, God calls all those enslaved in sin to invite His Son for dinner. It’s not what they can put on the table for Him, but about the table He has prepared for them. His body, our bread . . . his blood, our wine. Favor with God secured not by our wisdom, but by the wisdom of the cross. Having taken our wrath upon Himself, He now invites us to invite Him in for a meal. A meal of His provision . . . a meal which will result in eternal fellowship with the King of kings.  If we open the door, He will come in and eat.

Amazing grace . . . for the glory of God.

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The New Selfie

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Pete

I don’t know why we still call them phones. For most of us, that little (or, in more and more cases, not so little) device we carry with us 24/7 is probably used the least as a phone. It connects us with the Internet . . . it plays our music . . . is used as our Daytimer (who remembers those?) . . . tracks how many steps we’ve taken today . . . allows us to communicate with our thumbs. But I guess we call it a phone because “personal computer” has already been taken. And the reason I’m thinking about this is that for everything our phones do, for more and more people, it has also become the camera of choice. Cue the selfie.

I don’t know if it’s an official new word . . . but it shows up in Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. Even if it’s not an official word, pretty much everyone knows it . . . and, it seems, everyone’s doing it. All you need is a phone, your arm, and your face . . . or your face and as many faces as you can cram next to your face. And for the exceptionally well prepared and advanced student, you’re carrying a selfie-stick with you wherever you go. Extends the arm . . . allows more faces to be crammed together or more of the background to be captured. Crazy!

Ok . . . so two paragraphs in and you’re wondering, “Where’s this going?” What could he possibly be reading in the Bible that gets him thinking about phones that aren’t really phones and this new craze in self-portraits. Well, here it is. As I’m reading in Ephesians this morning it occurs to me that every time a child of God takes a pic of themselves with their phone, it’s either of the old-selfie or the new-selfie.

. . . put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, . . . be renewed in the spirit of your minds, . . . put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV)

After three glorious chapters of inventorying all that is the believer’s “in Christ,” Paul shifts to the practical implications of this divine reality. And so he says, “You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds” (4:17). Don’t do it, he says. Don’t go around living like the person you used to be . . . don’t do life after the natural man, the man governed by the sinful nature. Don’t give yourself up to hardness of heart . . . to living to fulfill your lusts . . . to unbridled, impure living. Because that’s your old self. The one who was crucified with Christ. The nature that was in rebellion to kingdom. It’s gone. Don’t live like it isn’t.

Instead, says Paul, put on the new self. Note that it’s not, “work your way up” to the new self. It’s “put it on.” By the renewing of the mind — through the pursuit of God’s word and way through the power of God’s Spirit — you “slip into” those robes of righteousness that are yours in Christ. The new self isn’t some self-improvement program, it’s a reality to wear. In Christ, the believer has been re-created after the likeness of God. Because of the nature of Christ imputed to them, that is, credited to their account, the believer possesses “true righteousness and holiness.” The work is finished . . . His holiness has been woven into us . . . it’s who we are in Christ through the Spirit. The task for us is to put it on. That’s the new self.

So every time I pause to take inventory of how I’m choosing to live my life . . . every time I take a moment to look in the mirror . . . every time I whip out the phone and take a selfie, it’s a picture which captures me either living like the old self . . . or of me living in the truth of the new self. It’s either an old-selfie or a new-selfie.

Might be interesting some time to go back over those tons of photo’s sitting in our phones, and reflect, “Old-selfie or new-selfie?”

New-selfies. That’s what you want, says Paul (kinda). Living as who we are in Christ and not as who we once were when we were “darkened in our understanding.”

Here’s to phones throughout the church which are packed with pictures of the new-selfie.

All because of grace . . . all for His glory.

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God’s Body Building Program

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Pete

Show me a follower of Christ who has stalled and I’ll show you a follower who’s not connected to a fellowship of other followers. Tell me about someone who was tracking well with the Lord and then just kind of went into a slow drift, and I’d be interested to know if that coincided with when they were too busy, or too disinterested, or too put-off, to keep gathering with the Lord’s people in a meaningful and regular manner. I know God is not to be put in a box . . . and that with God all things are possible–even a believer growing apart from fellowship with other believers . . . but I also know that God has prescribed a normative way for His children to grow and mature in the faith. And that’s through God’s body building program.

And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
(Ephesians 4:11-16 ESV emphasis added)

The church wasn’t our idea. Calling it the body of Christ wasn’t some quaint term we came up with. The Son of God said He would build His church. And the Spirit of God has said that it is His body. A body for which He provides gifted men and women to equip the saints for building up of the body of Christ. He intent is that we grow up . . . becoming more and more like Jesus . . . becoming conformed to the image of God’s Son (Rom. 8:29). And the dynamic He has set in motion is that of the body of Christ, individual members joined together, gifted, and equipped, when it’s working as it should, builds itself up. The body works to together to grow and mature. Such is God’s body building program.

Divine perpetual motion.  That’s what it is.  Started with a few at Pentecost. Equipping itself . . . building itself up . . . each part engaged and contributing according to their gifting . . . and the body grows and builds itself up in love. First in Jerusalem . . . then Judea . . . then Samaria . . . and to the ends of the earth. Starting 2,000 years ago and continuing century after century. Set in motion by the Spirit of God . . . sustained in perpetual growth by the Spirit of God. It’s God’s normative way. What arrogance to think that we can accomplish God’s desired outcome for us to mature in Christ without engaging in His prescribed means for our development and growth.

If I was the sworn eternal enemy of God . . . opposed to all that which brings Him glory . . . if I couldn’t prevent people from believing in His Son . . . I would sure try and keep those people from growing up and being glory givers. I’d create a culture that seduced people into calendars too full to regularly meet with the body on Sundays. I’d work discord so that bad experiences would keep people from seeking out the dynamic God has ordained for His people’s spiritual growth. I’d sow seeds of complacency or resentment or discontentment within the church. I’d seek to misdirect popular opinion to conclude that doing community with God’s people is passé or irrelevant. And I’d do whatever else I could do to keep members of the body from connecting with the body so that they wouldn’t grow up through God’s body building program.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.   (Hebrews 13:23-25 ESV)

Oh that there would be revival among God’s people for God’s people. That, with a fresh sense of urgency and purpose, they might see the necessity of being all in with God’s prescribed way of growing their faith.

That we might no longer be children tossed to and fro . . . that we might mature to the measure given us of the fullness of Christ . . . that we might do so by His overflowing grace . . . that we might do so to His everlasting glory?

And God’s people said . . . ?

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The Unsearchable Riches of Christ

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Pete

After waking to eight verses in Psalm 119 . . . and chewing on Solomon’s great prayer of dedication at the just completed and glory-filled temple . . . and taking in Zechariah’s song of praise at the birth of his son and the prospect of his Messiah . . . like a good cup of coffee, I’m finishing with savoring the first part of Ephesians 3. To be sure it’s been a feast this morning. And the lingering after taste is awe, wonder, and worship as I consider the unsearchable riches of Christ.

For Paul, the gospel was a “stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you” (3:2). It was a treasure to be managed, shared, and directed as God willed. And, in that, was the mystery. The mystery of Christ given to Paul through revelation by the Spirit, “that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (3:6). Though very few of the twelve tribes saw it coming, it was always intended to be . . . “the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things” (3:9b). It’s what God meant when He promised Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). And that “eternal purpose” was realized in Christ Jesus our Lord (3:11).

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of Gods grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ . . .   (Ephesians 3:7-8 ESV)

The unsearchable riches of Christ. Unable to be fully tracked. Unable to be completely comprehended. But more than able to evoke awe and wonder.

Unsearchable in ITS EXISTENCE. Determined before the foundation of the world. Hidden for the ages. All of redemptive history pointing to it. Nothing done that was done by God without the determined purpose that it would culminate in Christ. Hinted at in the seed that would crush the serpents head. Pictured in the Passover Lamb. Foretold in Isaiah’s prophetic vision of a suffering servant. Promised as the Son of David who would sit on the throne forever. Go as far back as you can . . . and then some . . . and there you find the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Unsearchable in ITS REACH. Not just for the Jew, but for the Gentile as well. Not just for those who seek the Light, but for those so enveloped in darkness they don’t even know it. Not just for the saint but for the sinner. Reaching to the lowest hell . . . redeeming those that we might consider beyond redemption. It’s the nature grace . . . it’s the fruit of imputed righteousness . . . it’s the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Unsearchable in ITS BENEFIT. That the gospel was but an exemption from having to pay the wages our sin demanded, that would be a gift beyond expectation. But that it would be accompanied with “boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him” (3:12) is beyond measure. Not just rescued, but righteous. Not just saved, but sons. Not just excused from hell, but invited to dine at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits (Ps. 103:2) . . . the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Unsearchable in ITS INSTRUCTION.

. . . so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.   (Ephesians 3:10 ESV)

The mystery of Christ . . . the grace of the gospel . . . impacting not only creatures here on earth, but also leaving an eternal impression in heavenly realms. What does it sound like for an angel to gasp in disbelief as he witnesses an enemy of God willingly surrender before the cross? What is the nature of the thunderous voice that is raised around the throne when, in celebration, heaven rejoices over a lost one found? How is the church providing the fuel for eternal worship in the heavens? Don’t fully know. It’s unsearchable.

And, it’s unbelievable!

But it is also undeniable!

All because of grace! . . . All for His glory!

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Near

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Pete

“Therefore remember . . . ” That’s how my reading in Ephesians (2:11-22) began this morning. I took it as a command to obey. Sometimes you need to recall where you were in order to appreciate anew where you are. Sometimes it makes sense to look back at what was, so that you might reflect afresh on what is. Sometimes it’s worth recalling the reality of the alienation of the past life so that you might wonder again, and worship again, because of the reconciliation we can take so for granted in the present life. Sometimes it’s good to remember how far off you were, so that you might thank God that now you are near.

And so, I remember. Like the Ephesians, I was a “Gentile in the flesh.” Separated from Christ. Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, a stranger to the covenants of promise. And so, I too was someone “having no hope and without God in the world.” Sum it up in two words, and I was “far off.”

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.   (Ephesians 2:13 ESV)

How easy it is for me to take “near” for granted. For the past three-and-a-half decades I have, for the most part, lived “near.” Because of a new nature, light has been preferred over darkness. By God’s grace, abiding as been the norm rather than the exception. But once, I’m told to remember, I was far off.

At one time, I was hostile toward God. At best, I thought if I left Him alone, He’d leave me alone, and then we could work out something in the end. At worst, His name was on my lips in a manner that now causes me to cringe in remorse and shame . . . maybe that’s why I don’t like to remember. While I’d like to think I lived in ambivalence, I reflect and concede that I lived in hostility.

For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility . . . that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.    (Ephesians 2:14-16 ESV)

He Himself is our peace. The blood having brought us near, the cross having dealt with, once for all, the hostility. Therefore remember . . .

And so I pause. For, if not for the grace of God, where might I be today? If not for the offering of the Son of Man as the Lamb of God for the sin of the world, how wide would the chasm be? If not for the empty tomb, how bleak would the prospect of eternity be? If not for the gentle wooing of a Savior Shepherd who made His voice known that I might hear and believe, how lost would I be?  If not for the life-giving power of the Spirit who dwells within me, how dead would I be?

And so I give thanks. For, though I once was far off, this morning I am near.

Near by the grace God . . . Near for the glory of God.

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Have A Seat!

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Pete

The rap sheet is long. Dead in trespasses and sins. Followed the course of this age . . . was led by the the spirit now at work in people of disobedience. Lived after the passions of the flesh–if it was about me, liked it . . . if it felt good, did it. By nature, a child of wrath. And though the rap sheet was huge and condemning, grace was immeasurable and liberating.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved–and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV)

Hovering over the great turnaround of Ephesians 2 this morning.

We were dead, BUT GOD made us alive. We were people enslaved by our sinful nature, BUT GOD is love. We were by nature children of wrath, BUT GOD is rich in mercy. How much do you have to like those two words, “but God.” That’s the game-changer. Not because of who we were or what we’ve done, but despite of who we were and all that we did. Not because of our good works, but all because of His immeasurable grace. We were lost in self, BUT GOD made us alive in Christ.

And as I noodle on the blessings of this great salvation, one in particular captures my thoughts. In redeeming us through super-abounding unmerited favor, God has not only made us alive in Christ but has also “seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Where is Christ seated today? At the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). At the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven (Heb. 8:1, 12:2). So where am I seated?

That the right hand of the Father is reserved solely for the Son is clear. But who gets the seats next to Him because they are in Him? We do. Have a seat!

How I need to be reminded that although I’m living on earth, I am a blood bought, bona fide, seat-possessing citizen of heaven (Php. 3:20). While I might be occupying a chair at my desk in the here and now, one day, in the there and then, I will be granted to sit with Him on His throne (Rev. 3:21). That though I hold no rank or office of significance in this world, I share in the authority of the King of heaven who is sovereign over all and has established His kingdom on earth through those He has redeemed.

Seated with Him in the heavenly places. What a high and holy position. What privilege. What blessing. All without merit save that I am “in Christ Jesus.”

Might I live like one seated in the heavenlies. Live in the blessing of the riches of that seat . . . live in the power of the authority of that seat . . . live in the responsibility to be a faithful ambassador of that seat . . . live in the awe and wonder of the reality of that seat.

. . . so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Have a seat! I think I will . . . only because of grace . . . only through grace. Thank you, Lord!

To Him be all glory!

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More Than We Could Ask or Deserved

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Pete

It must be one of the best known encounters between a man and God in the Old Testament. And, it must be one of the most inspirational. God appears to the newly crowned king, Solomon, in a dream and says, “Ask what I shall give you.” Talk about a blank check! Talk about the classic, “If you had one wish what would it be?” And Solomon, the son of David, the king of Israel, asks for “an understanding mind” to govern God’s people. In sincere humility, knowing that he is insufficient to govern God’s great people, when told by God he can have anything he wants, Solomon asks for discernment that he might be a faithful leader and judge over Israel. (1Kings 3:3-9).

Bam! That’s the type of leader you like to see. Rather than seeking anything for himself, he wants what will benefit his people the most. It’s not about him, but about faithfully discharging the duty God has called him to. And not only does it ring right with us, but it also pleased the LORD (3:10). And so God gives Solomon what he asks for . . . and gives him what he didn’t ask for.

. . . behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. (1Kings 3:12-13 ESV)

Yup . . . pretty cool. Pretty inspirational. But here’s what hit me this morning . . . the foreboding context in which this divine transaction took place.

Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaohs daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had  finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem.
(1Kings 3:1 ESV)

As I read this I could almost hear the ominous tolling of a bell. Wife number one. One down, nine-hundred-ninety-nine to go. The first of many foreign wives which God had warned the people of Israel not to marry “for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. And if one might turn away a man’s heart, then one-thousand was going to do a job on this son of David. And Solomon “clung to these in love . . . And his wives turned away his heart.” (1Kings 11:1-3).

So the chapter starts with exposing Solomon’s Achilles heel. And yet, having seen this act of disobedience in the heir to the throne, . . . despite the perfect foreknowledge of knowing that this would be far from an isolated incident, . . . fully aware that Pharaoh’s daughter would be the first of many, many who would successfully mess with the king’s spiritual GPS, God still asks, “What shall I give you?” God still is pleased when Solomon asks for wisdom. And God still grants him not only wisdom but a royal experience which will be second to none in all of history. Can anyone say, “Grace?”

If it had been performance based, God might have held off asking the question? Maybe waiting to see if this Pharaoh’s daughter thing was a “momentary slip” before showering him with wisdom, riches, and honor. If it had been on the basis of works . . .

But it wasn’t. In God’s sovereign determination, in order to fulfill God’s sovereign purpose, according to God’s steadfast love, and by God’s super-abounding grace, He bestows upon a king that which he did not merit. Sounds kind of familiar . . .

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved–and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV)

God loved Solomon . . . and showered him with wisdom, despite his choice of wife. And then He gave more him than he asked for, or deserved, and bestowed on him riches.

And God loved us . . . and gave us life, despite our dead works. And, more than just redeeming us, He lavishes on us “the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

By grace, giving us more than we could ask . . . and more than we deserve.

How great is our God? Pretty!

To Him be the glory . . .

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