Return and Rest

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Pete

Hovering over Isaiah 30. While there’s much about Isaiah that disorients me as I try to map his prophecies to a historical timeline, there are gems encountered frequently along the way. Truths about the Holy One of Israel, promises concerning His holy purposes for the people of Israel. And in the midst, principles for those of us called also to be “God’s people” (1Pet. 2:10), having been grafted into this ancient root (Rom. 11:17) through the finished work of Christ. This morning I’m chewing on one of those principles, a principle of salvation.

Judgment for sin had begun. The generational warnings of the prophets were becoming realities. The people of God, who for years had drawn near to God “with their mouth” and honored Him only “with their lips,” but whose hearts were in reality “far from Me” (Isa. 29:13), were now experiencing the response of God. Their Enemies had begun to lay their siege works. Unless something drastic happened, the outcome seemed inevitable.

And so they made plans. Plans to “go down to Egypt”, enter into an unholy alliance, and “seek shelter in the shadow” of Pharaoh’s military might (Isa. 30:1-2). Those who had once been delivered from Egypt by the mighty hand of God were now turning to Egypt to be rescued themselves from the mighty hand of God. Instead of such foolish plans, instead of adding “sin to sin”, God calls His people to another approach for securing their salvation.

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

(Isaiah 30:15 ESV)

Return and rest. That’s the plan for responding to God’s just discipline. Repent and cease from your own wisdom and ways. That’s the way for restoring the equilibrium known by His finished work. Turn from trusting in your own strength, or the strength of Egypt, and instead quiet yourselves as you trust in the One who had called you to be His special people in the first place. Return and rest. That’s the principle of salvation pre-occupying my thoughts this morning.

We’re not unlike ancient Israel. Just as their hearts had drifted far from the God they worshiped with their lips, we too are prone to wander. Just as they looked to Egypt as the solution for their wayward strife, we too can so easily look to the world and its ways to be our needed shelter when we are under sin’s siege. Instead, beckons our God who “waits to be gracious” (Isa. 30:18), return and rest.

Repent and be still. Confess and be contrite. Turn again and trust. Make a beeline for the cross and believe again that My love is unfailing, My grace is abounding, and the blood of My Son is sufficient to cleanse from all sin.

We were once saved through repentance and resting in the finished work of Jesus. It also is how we are “being saved.”

As long as we wake every morning to the flesh battling the Spirit and the Spirit battling the flesh (Gal. 5:17), we are going to know times when the flesh gets the upper hand. Return and rest.

As long as our hearts are works in progress, they will, as Calvin puts it, be prone towards being “a perpetual idol factory”, churning out affections towards things that should be directed only towards God. When we see that happening, return and rest.

If repentance isn’t a normative part of our working out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Php. 2:12), it should be. It’s not because we have nothing to repent of, but more likely that we have devised other plans for dealing with sin’s on-going desire to lay siege to our lives.

Return and rest.

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.

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Things That Belong to Salvation

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Pete

Chewing on the first twelve verses of Hebrews six this morning. Tough chewing. A lot of gristle. Hard to know exactly who is being spoken of as those who “have once been enlightened . . . and then fallen away” (v.4-6). Believer? Unbeliever? Or as some suggest, a different “class” all together, an “apostate” — one who experienced some of the believer’s experience but never believed. Instead, they “have fallen away” holding Christ “up to contempt.” Thus, it is impossible “to restore them again to repentance.”

But what nourishes the soul this morning is what is clear in this passage. That which marks the one truly born again, the fruit of those who abide in the vine, the evidence of a Christ-sourced, Spirit-fueled, living faith. The things that belong to salvation.

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things —  things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints, as you still do.

(Hebrews 6:9-10 ESV)

While the writer to the Hebrews has a stern warning for the mere professors of salvation, he also expresses confidence in the true possessors of salvation. Those whose claim to saving faith goes beyond what they say but is evidenced by what they do. Things that belong to salvation.

First, there is their work. Not their good works, I don’t think we’re talking good deeds here. I think this is the work of engaging with our salvation. As one commentary puts it, the “whole Christian life of active obedience”. Those who have been baptized into the body (1Cor. 12:12-13) actively being a body part (Eph. 4:16). Those who have been made into a holy priesthood “offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1Pet. 2:5). Those who have been called to be a royal priesthood proclaiming “the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1Pet. 2:9). Those who are abiding in the Vine bearing much fruit (Jn. 15:5, 16). Things that belong to salvation includes doing the work of salvation.

And then, there is the love that is shown for God. And how is that love shown? In serving the saints.

Check that out! Ministering to other believers. Waiting on those redeemed by Christ. One of the things that belongs to salvation is attending to the needs of others in the church. So, how are we going to do that if we are not spending time with others in the church?

Ours is a busy age. Where once “regular” church attendance was seen as being gathered together three times a week, now it’s viewed as making it to a Sunday morning service two or three times a month. Where once hospitality was preached from the pulpit, I don’t think we hear much about it these days, as it competes with our already over-booked calendars.

Our is also a hyper-individualistic age. Too many, I fear, have taken a “personal relationship” with the Lord to mean that seeking the kingdom is a just-you-and-me-Jesus pursuit. But from what I can see, that’s foreign to what the New Testament teaches.

It seems to me that so much of the New Testament assumes that if you’re saved, you’re also part of a local gathering with others who are saved. If you’re born again you belong to a body of believers. As such, one of the things that belong to salvation is loving God by serving the saints. Living in the context of a family of faith as those adopted as children by the Father is how we demonstrate our affection for the Father. Being part of a body of which Christ is the Head is how we show our allegiance to the Head.

If we’re saved by God, we’re to be loving God. And one way we do that is by serving the saints. It’s part of what marks us as believers. Ministering to the body of Christ is some of the fruit we bear from abiding in Christ. Attending to our family of faith adds to the evidence that we possess a living faith. These are the things that belong to salvation.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Moving Beyond Picture Books (2012 Rerun)

Posted on August 30, 2022 by Pete

Dull of hearing. Unskilled in the word. Should be meat-eaters, instead only able to digest milk. It’s what I think was at the heart of the problem that the writer to the Hebrews addresses. They were tempted to fall away because they hadn’t yet grown up. Tempted to second guess themselves because they didn’t make growing in the Word their first priority. Problem in the first century. Still a problem, I think, today. I know I thought it was a problem 10 years ago. Here are my thoughts from 2012 on my Hebrews reading today.

My kids loved picture books. You know those big, over-sized children’s books that cared less about narrating a story but instead captured the imagination with full page graphics and photos. It seemed they never got tired of them . . . we’d pull them out again and again. But eventually my kids grew up . . . and while there may be fond, nostalgic memories of those picture books, my girls don’t read them anymore . . . don’t rely on them for their intellectual stimulation. They moved beyond picture books . . . started reading “chapter books” . . . and now read “adult books.” My reading in Hebrews 5 this morning reminded me that, as the people of God, we need to move beyond picture books, as well.

. . . for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

(Hebrews 5:13-14).

The writer to the Hebrews wants to take His readers deep . . . “connecting the dots” of Scripture with the Person of Christ . . . showing them that Christ is the Messiah, and has become the Author or Source of eternal salvation . . . that He is a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek . . . BUT . . . screech to a stop . . . the writer to the Hebrews can’t plumb the depths of this thought because his readers had become “dull of hearing” (5:11b).

He says that by now, with how long they have had exposure to the Word, they should be teachers (5:12) . . . instead they need someone to take them through the basics again — they are still on “milk” and not “solid food” . . . still babies . . . not mature. They need to get out of Sunday School . . . move beyond the “Bible stories” and picture books . . . and get deeper. Stop sucking on the sippy-cup and get their teeth into the meatier stuff. It is possible — and perhaps too prevalent in the Church — to be “unskilled in the word of righteousness” (5:13). Inexperienced . . . bottle-feeders . . . unable to chew on the solid food of the Word and digest it themselves.

I have often thought that we don’t spend enough time showing believers the basics on how to feed themselves. We focus on pre-packaged Bible studies (good stuff, not saying it isn’t) without also spending time on how to study the Bible . . . how to read and correctly handle the Word and get beyond the Sunday School stories and dig out of the pages of Holy Scripture solid teaching for themselves. To experience for themselves the rush that comes from making an observation to then find the Spirit stirring their souls with illumination.

For too many, their sole intake of the Word, I fear, is the pre-digested, 3 or 4 point sermon on Sunday morning. I’m not saying there isn’t a place for gifted teachers to open up the Word for others and feed the sheep — there is . . . it is an integral part of how the church is intended to grow. But we also need to equip the sheep with enough tools so that they can be Bereans . . . that, after receiving the Word with gladness on Sunday morning, they can go home and “examine the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11) . . . to take in “solid food” for themselves and grow up.

If we don’t move beyond the picture books, the people of God are in such danger of looking like and living like the world about us . . . rather than being salt and light. Without “constant practice” . . . without having “our powers of discernment trained” by handling the living Word of God we lose our edge to discern good from evil . . . and can so easily settle for “good enough.”

Constant, habit forming, consistent use . . . reading . . . studying . . . meditating . . . obeying. It’s as we seek to get deeper . . . as we “use” the Word . . . that we develop the spiritual discernment concerning good and evil . . . that we recognize what’s beneficial and what’s not . . . that we distinguish what’s just good, from what’s better, from what’s best.

It doesn’t happen overnight . . . but maturing isn’t an overnight process . . . it occurs over a lifetime. We need to move beyond the “Sunday School stories” . . . and put away the picture books . . . and ask God, by His grace and through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, to take us deeper as we exercise ourselves in the Word . . . seeking to become “skilled” in the Word of righteousness.

For our benefit . . . By His grace . . . For His glory . . .

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We Must Give An Account

Posted on August 29, 2022 by Pete

Read that title again. We must give an account.

Who’s the we? You and me. What must we do eventually? Give an account. Literally, give a speech. Provide an answer. Give an explanation. Render a reckoning.

Okay . . . that level of accountability sounds a bit scary. Who are we giving this account to? You guessed it — God Himself. The Maker. Our Creator. The Holy One. Anyone feel like going facedown?

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

(Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV)

Okay, we all must give account. And it ain’t like we get to make it up or write the script or author our own evaluation. For all are naked and exposed to the eyes of God.

So, if verse 13 is true (and I’m thinking it is), then isn’t verse 12 a gift?

We don’t need to wait to find out what God knows about us. We don’t need to be in the dark concerning God’s will. We don’t need to guess where we stand in doing that will. For the word of God is living and active. It will splay to the very thoughts and intentions of our often fickle hearts. It will reveal to us now what God is seeing hidden in us. It will lead us now to repent and return when what we see isn’t lined up with who we are in Christ. And with such knowledge, we are fully equipped to be prepared for that day when we must give an account.

So why would it be so hard for so many to make time to be in the Word? Spending time in God’s word reminds us of what God’s requires of us. Regularly subjecting ourselves to this two-edged sword will reveal the depths of sin and the flesh still waging war within us. Faithfully following the meta-narrative of the Scriptures will remind us anew that the payment for our on-going transgressions has been rendered in full and that only the gospel is the power of God for our salvation (Rom. 1:16) — past, present, and future. I don’t think I’m over simplifying things to say that reading now readies us for that day when we must give an account.

Through the active agency of the Spirit living in us, the Word will renew our minds and transform our lives. But not if we’re not subjecting ourselves to the sword on a regular basis. The Word can cleanse us, but not if we’re not clinging to its thought-discerning, soul-cleansing pages.

Seems to me our Bibles are a gift so that we will not be caught unawares on that day when we must give an account.

And what speech will we speak? What answer will we provide? What explanation will we give? What reckoning will we render? The account we’ll give is, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for my bible tells me so. He died to atone for my rebellion against God. He rose from the dead on the third day to defeat death. By faith I believe He is the Lamb of God come to take away the sin of the world. That He is the Son of God, in whom the fullness of deity dwells, and I am His because He has purchased me with His blood. That He is the only hope of God. And, because of His finished word and His imputed righteousness, I can stand without spot before God . . . and give an account.”

It’s all there. In our bibles. Available, in this land at least, to be accessed at will as often as we want.

So, if we really must give an account (and we do), then why wouldn’t we make reading our bibles a priority? I’m thinking we should.

It’s a gift. It’s His grace.

To Him be the glory.

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Again

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Pete

There was a story I used to tell about the kind of disciplinarian my mom was when I was a kid. Can’t remember the incident but here’s how I recalled one instance of her “progressive discipline”. The immediate reaction to my transgression was “You’re grounded for a week, mister!” A little time passed that day and she sternly reminded me, “Don’t you forget, young man, you are not leaving this house until the weekend!” As we sat down around the dinner table that night, again she emphasized the consequences for my actions, “You will not be going out tonight to play with your friends.” Before we were done eating it was, “Remember, before you go anywhere after dinner you will have to do the dishes first.” That was mom.

That distant memory reemerged as I hovered over a couple of verses in Hebrews 4 this morning. In particular as I chewed on one word, the word again.

Since therefore it remains for some to enter [His rest], and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again He appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

(Hebrews 4:6-7 ESV)

God appoints a certain day. He specifies a certain time. He marks out boundaries around a set opportunity. The opportunity to respond. And, when some fail to take advantage of that set appointment, He does it again.

Not because He’s a fickle enforcer as was my dear mom, but because His boundless grace permits Him to set many boundaries. To provide many opportunities to enter into His promised rest.

And I’m not thinking as much of that initial entrance into rest when by faith I first knew my sins past were forgiven, my estrangement from God had been reconciled, and my soul was saved because the work of my redemption had been completed once for all on the cross of Christ. Instead, I’m thinking of the certain day He appoints again and again for me to confess my most recent sin, to be ushered afresh before His throne of grace, and know again that He is faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness because of the enduring power of the blood of Jesus (1Jn. 1:9). Again He appoints a certain day.

And so, I need to heed the exhortation.

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Today is that certain day. Right now is that appointed time. The boundaries have been freshly lined. Do it! Now! Enter afresh into the rest of the finished work of the Savior.

Don’t harden your heart. Don’t dismiss your guilt. Don’t get comfortable with your sin. But humbly come to the cross, again. Confess your transgression, again. Know the cleansing power of the shed blood of the blessed Lamb of God, again. And ground yourself in the reality of His promised Sabbath rest, again. Enter again that promised rest, knowing again that “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30).

Again. And again. And again.

Not because our God is weak in discipline. But because He is great in mercy and grace.

Today’s the day. Right now is the time.

To know afresh His overflowing grace. To ascribe again to Him His all-deserving glory.

Amen?

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Taking Care with Something That’s a Done Deal

Posted on August 25, 2022 by Pete

Chewing on the dynamics of salvation this morning as I hover over Hebrews 3.

If salvation is all of God and nothing of us (and it is), then I’m inclined to think that those who are “truly saved” will be marked by “stick-to-it-iveness.” That the fruit of salvation is faithfulness to salvation. Case in point:

And we are His house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

(Hebrews 3:6b ESV)

For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

(Hebrews 3:14 ESV)

Holding on to the end with confidence and courage in our hope. It’s the evidence that we really have come to “share in Christ.” That we are, in fact, His people. If salvation is all of God (and it is) then shouldn’t those who are saved live and believe like they’re saved? I’m thinking.

So then, why include this exhortation?

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

(Hebrews 3:12-13 ESV)

Two commands to obey: take care and exhort one another every day. Watch out and encourage each other daily (CSB). Take heed constantly and be constantly exhorting one another (Wuest). Watch your step and keep each other on your toes (MSG). Sounds like a lot of daily diligence for something that’s already a done deal (and it is).

Behold, the dynamics of salvation. God’s finished work of an eternal hope intersecting with our faithful work of kindling daily our confidence in that hope.

And how come we need to “take care” of something that has already been taken care of (and it is)? Because a heart which has been made new is a heart in the process of learning to function like new. It’s a work in progress that still has “muscle memory” towards unbelief. A heart still susceptible to being hardened by the lies of sin. A heart which, though made new by the Spirit, can be drawn again towards the old by the flesh.

While the work of salvation begun by the Lord will be completed by the Lord (Php. 1:6), it happens as the Lord prompts, enables, convicts, and restores me to keep doing the work of salvation. While He has freely given me His forever “precious and very great promises, so that through them [I] may become [a partaker] of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2Pet. 1:4), I need to be encouraged by my brothers and sisters every day to intentionally live into these promises. While He has taken care of it, I must take care with it.

Isn’t that the dynamics of salvation?

Take care. Beware of the unbelieving heart and the deceitfulness of sin. What’s more, know that it isn’t an individual thing but is intended to be team sport as we are to encourage one another every day.

Confident in His forever finished work (and it is). Dependent upon His forever enabling power to do our work of holding fast to His work.

Such is God’s amazing, enduring, limitless grace. To God be all the glory.

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Bringing Us to Glory

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Pete

It’s a verse about Him, but I can’t help take notice of what it says about me. A jaw-dropping truth about the Savior, and a head-lifting reality for those being saved.

Jesus is greater. That’s the big idea of the opening chapters of Hebrews. He’s a greater spokesmen, revealing the will and way of God, than were the prophets of old (Heb. 1:1-3a). He is greater than the angels who all are but “ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). As such, through His earthly ministry, because the Son of God “partook” of flesh and blood and death (Heb. 2:14-15), Jesus is the founder of a greater salvation. And it’s something about that greater salvation that’s captured my thinking this morning.

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.

(Hebrews 2:10 ESV)

The amazing truth here about the Savior? God the Father, for whom and through whom all things exist, determined that the source of salvation, God the Son, should become the perfect savior by fully identifying with those He came to save, so that “being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Php. 2:8).

Stop there, chew on that, and you’ve got yourself a full meal deal. But wait . . . there’s more!

The soul renewing reality for those being saved? He’s bringing us to glory.

Redeemed from the guilt of our sins. Reconciled with the Father. Regenerated from within. Robed with righteousness from above. Released from slavery to death. All aspects of what it means to have been saved. But this morning I’m feeding on the reminder that our salvation is also about the Father’s determination to bring many of the offspring of men into His glory.

To behold His glory. To share in His glory. To forever be His glory. As we head into a new day, through the finished work of the cross and the power of an empty tomb, that’s where the Father is leading us — to glory.

Reminds me we’re not home yet. This world’s not the glory we were saved for.

Reminds me that life now is but a journey. We’re just passing through, even as we seek to shed a bit of light, and sprinkle a little salt, as ambassadors of a different land and messengers with a glorious gospel.

Reminds me that nothing on earth is worth comparing to the prize that awaits the child of God. Anything less than the glory of His presence is but a cheap trinket, unworthy of lasting affection.

Reminds me that just as He perfected the Founder of our salvation, He will perfect those who are being saved. The work He has begun, He will bring to completion. A work in progress, but a work founded on an unalterable promise.

My heavenly Father is bringing many sons and daughters to glory through the abiding ministry — past, present, and future — of His blessed Son.

Lift up your head, dear saint. Your redemption is drawing near.

Through His unfailing, limitless grace. All to behold His everlasting, unimaginable glory.

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Aman, Aman

Posted on August 23, 2022 by Pete

It was an ancient prophecy, but it contains an abiding principle. And in the original language, it looks like at its core is a twice-repeated word. Aman, aman.

Back story: In the days of Ahaz, king of Judah, the kings of Syria and Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage ware against it. And, in the face of this massive military aggression, the hearts of Ahaz and the people of Judah “shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind” (Isa. 7:1-2). Appropriate response, I would think. Makes sense to me.

The LORD, however, sends Isaiah the prophet to the king and commands him, “Be careful, be quite, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint” (7:4a). How come? Because, declares the LORD, though they advance together to conquer Judah, “It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass” (7:7a).

Hmm . . . An enemy army is advancing. Their intent is to terrify us, conquer us, and rule over us. But we’re not to fear, faint, or fret. Because Isaiah says that You have said, Lord God, “It ain’t gonna happen.” Your word, is that all we’ve got to go on? Apparently.

And here’s the abiding principle. The Lord God then says,

“If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.”

(Isaiah 7:9b ESV)

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all (CSB). If you will not believe, you surely shall not last (NASB). If you will not confide, you shall not abide (Hebrew play on words). Aman, aman.

Believe and be still. Believe and be strong. Not complicated. Not easy either.

To be faced with what would naturally bring fear but to stay calm, be quiet, and trust that what God has said will be, will be. To face a situation that rightfully causes the heart to faint, and yet, by switching out just one letter, stand firm because of faith. That’s the principle I’m reminded of in this passage.

It is the way of the people of God. The way since the beginning of God choosing for Himself a people. Check out the first occurrence of aman in the Scriptures:

And [the LORD] brought [Abraham] outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed (aman) the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness.

(Genesis 15:5-6)

Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). Without faith it is impossible to stand before God (Eph. 2:8-9). Without faith it is also impossible to stand with God (Isa. 7:9). Lord, I believe; help my unbelief (Mark 9:24).

Chewing on these ancient words of prophecy. Confessing how often I fail to rest in this abiding principle.

Believe and be still. Believe and be strong. Aman, aman.

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.

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Worth Everything

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Pete

We can’t help but place ourselves in the story. After all, isn’t that what good biblical application is all about?

So, as I hover over Esther 5 this morning, where do I show up?

I’m certainly not the king. Don’t have a palace, not sitting on a throne, not really much power at my disposal.

I might like to think I’m Mordecai. One of God’s covenantal people, an agent for good behind the scenes, and refusing to bow the knee in public. Or perhaps, Esther. Prepared to take a risk and “come out” as a follower of Yahweh and plead the cause of my people. If I’m not the king, perhaps I’m a hero.

Yet, there’s one more player in this scene, Haman. But really, who would want to identify with him?

But really, again, maybe I can’t avoid it.

And Haman recounted to [his friends and family] the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. Then Haman said, “Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

(Esther 5:11-13 ESV)

Worth nothing. Really?

The splendor of riches. Might as well be a zero balance in his bank account. Many sons to carry on his name. Could be homeless orphans for all he cared. Promotion after promotion on the job, honor after honor by his boss. Meteoric rise to the top of the food chain. Big deal, he says. An honored guest at the royal banquet table. Like fast food from a drive thru. Worth nothing . . . as long as he didn’t receive the respect he thought he was due by all those from whom he thought it was due.

The world in his hands. A hold on everything a successful man could want a hold of. Blessed abundantly. And yet, worth nothing because his unchecked pride thought he deserved more.

Ugh. Who wants to be Haman in this story? Not this guy.

But search me, O God, and know my heart — try me and know my thoughts (Ps. 139:23). See if there isn’t a way of discontent within in me. Expose the leaven of Haman — a prideful heart, a jealous disposition, a greed for glory.

Worth nothing. Incredible, if you chew you on it. But chew on it a little more, and perhaps all too relatable.

So, Lord Jesus, I come again to the cross. To the cleansing fount for all my sin — not just past transgression, but those present in the present, as well. Let me not long for worldly things, or worldly recognition to satisfy what can be an insatiable thirst but lead me to drink afresh of the living water of Your gracious, abundant, and eternal provision. By Your Spirit in me, help me to put to death the pride of the old man and walk in the humility and contentment of Your life in me. Remind me that I have already been blessed with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3). Help me to see anew that nothing else compares with the reality of already being raised up and seated with You in those same heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). To know again that You are worth everything so that “there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You” (Ps. 73:25).

Hmm. I may not like identifying with Haman, but in a sense it is the sweetest of connections because it leads me to Jesus. The revealing of my pride becoming the path to knowing afresh the prize — Jesus and Him alone.

Such is the work of grace and the power of the gospel. To Him be all the glory.

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Devoted to Good Works

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Pete

Okay, the echoing bell of repetition is ringing louder as I continue reading in the first half of Titus 3 this morning. I’ve already encountered its peal a couple of times so that when it rings this morning, I’m primed to pay attention. (I look ahead and I’m going to encounter it again for a fourth time before I’m finished reading Titus).

The inescapable message of these repeated words? That the gospel is not just something that tells us how to be saved for a better life someday, but it is the power of God which will radically rewire us for a life of good works today.

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.

The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

(Titus 2:7-8, 11-14; 3:8, 14 ESV)

Good works. Good works. Good works. Good works. Come on people, tell me we aren’t saved for good works.

Paul told Titus he was to model it. He says grace appeared to redeem us so that we might be zealous for it. That believing in God will make us careful and want to learn how to be devoted to it. It = “good works.”

Beautiful deeds. Honorable actions. Everything our hands produce praiseworthy by reason of a heart which has been made pure and a life which has been declared holy. All that we accomplish having about it an air of other-worldly, enduring quality as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior, being transformed by the renewing of our mind, becoming conformed increasingly into His likeness. The aroma of Christ on us impacting everything — yes, everything — done by us.

Modeling good works. Zealous for good works. Devoted to good works. Learning to let the Christ, who lives in us, live through us so that all we do are good works. Thinking that’s some of the fruit of new life in Christ.

If we are not marked by a desire for good works, can we really have confidence that the gospel has authentically left its mark on us?

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? . . . So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

(James 2:14, 17 ESV)

Not that we are to muscle-out good works in order to be saved. Paul’s clear, “He saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness” (Tit. 2:6). Rather according to His mercy and grace, “by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”, He justified us by grace and called us to be heirs according to “the hope of eternal life.”

But Paul is equally clear–and repetitively clear–that when this happens in a person’s life, they will be careful to devote themselves to good works.

Only by His transforming grace. Only for His all-deserving glory.

Amen?

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