The good news of Christ
What’s in it for me? This question shows
The uncovered self. O Lord! Expose
My inward love for me and mine —
Upon my lonely darkness shine!
For me my Lord and Savior died!
For sins of mine was he crucified.
He gave his life for all mankind —
Forgiven, I the lost must find.
My Father above, ’tis for your praise,
To seek my place in your good ways.
When life seeks not my happiness,
I then am blessed, and able to bless.
Based loosely on Psalm 77
Loudly I cried to God — loudly —
So he would open his ears to me.
I went to the Lord for help on the day
Of troubles, upset, unable to speak.
What happened in the days of old?
The long-ago years when God was merciful?
Has God forgotten his tender mercies?
Is the Lord no longer the same as before?
O God, your ways are holy! Who
Is great as our true, faithful God?
The water saw you, O God, and shook,
Your arrows flashed in every direction.
Your road passed through the sea, your people
Walked to safety, you led your children
Away from Egypt — As you saved them,
O Lord, come take me by the hand.
Show me, O God, how to hate
This wicked world and all its ways,
To hate this life wrapped up in things,
In thoughts that throw us far from you.
Destroy what cannot remain forever,
That I might gain eternal blessing,
Release desires and old resentments,
For cleansing the heart grown hard by sin.
Show me, O Father, how to love
All heavenly truths that lighten my burden;
Let die this seed, enrich the soil,
To grow in Christ from the ground of pain.
People have done all kinds of things while sleepwalking–cooking, driving … even killing–to wake up without a recollection of their actions. That’s how some believe the Holy Spirit works in our lives, that it takes us over and we have no choice but to do what it forces us to do. Usually assemblies of these folks will have multiple people at once babbling in tongues, dancing, jumping, fainting, or rolling around. But, is that how we see God’s Spirit working in the lives of first century Christians? Rather, like a boy who has just caught a big fish and can’t help but tell others about it, we see the Spirit giving them boldness to edify and evangelize.
I. Acts 4:17-31. It must have seemed overwhelming to Jesus’ followers who didn’t yet have the Counselor to be told to go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Jesus had commanded. What a difference there was between the group in Acts 1 of about 120 huddled within the walls of the upper room with the gospel message hidden within them to the same group accused in Acts 5:28 of filling Jerusalem with their teaching. That difference was the gift of the Holy Spirit given to them at baptism (Acts 2:36-39).
II. 1 Corinthians 14:26-33. Without the complete Word of God written that thoroughly equips us today (2 Timothy 3:16-17), God used the lesser gifts of tongues, prophecy, and knowledge early in the first century to impart and attest to His Word, but these would end (1 Corinthians 13:8-13) and had largely ended by the time the gospels and epistles were written and circulated (Hebrews 2:3-4). But, God was never about chaos. Even when He chose to use lesser gifts to impart His Word, the spirits of prophets were subject to the control of the prophets. Those through whom God used to speak in languages they hadn’t studied, prophesy, or present knowledge were to take turns and choose to remain silent at times. God did not take them over but equipped them through His Spirit.
III. Romans 8:9-11. Though we were given the gift of God’s Spirit dwelling within us at baptism, we (probably in reaction to the misuse of how He works in us by groups around us) act like we don’t have the Spirit within us and largely ignore this gift. Though we know the great commission that Jesus has given to us, we huddle within the walls of our upper rooms with the gospel message that a lost world so desperately needs to hear hidden within us. Like Acts 1 followers, we pray that God will change the world to make it more receptive and tremble in fear of politically-correct persecution. But, after the Acts 2 Christians had been beaten and threatened not to speak in the Name of Jesus anymore, they prayed instead for boldness to edify and evangelize … and the Holy Spirit equipped them to do so.
Understood within the proper context, we have an incredible gift–God’s Spirit living within us to guide, equip, strengthen, and embolden us to live as Acts 2 Christians. Are you ignoring it or guarding it (2 Timothy 1:13-14) to use for God’s Kingdom?
O Lord, I’d win a world for you,
Make millions hear the message of truth,
Throw mountains into the midst of the sea,
Grow churches where hearts are changed forever!
But where’s the path to greater things?
I’ve toiled with sweat and tears and blood.
I’ve fought in battle with Satan himself.
So few have faith! Where have I failed?
O Lord, keep me from looking for fruit,
But watch the sowing in every soil.
Give patience to walk the path of service,
O Savior who brings the season of harvest!
Lord, did you ever get distracted? Was it ever difficult for you to concentrate? Did you ever lose your focus?
You are my example of keeping the goal firmly in mind. You set your face steadfastly toward Jerusalem. You never wavered doing the Father’s will, even in the sweat of blood.
Make me like you. Focus my mind. Center my heart. Firm up my decision at every step of the way. Let me never turn to the right or to the left.
Be glorified in me.
Amen.
O God! Before your face we search
for proper words and lovely lines,
To bless our Lord and the only church
And all your mercy’s grand designs.
Our minds are small to well extol
Your plan before the world began,
To make from dust a living soul,
To love and bless intelligent man.
But in the Book are words possessed,
From glory to glory, to loudly praise:
In Christ we know your purpose best,
We love your grace in all its ways.
Father above, of tender mercies,
Cool the heart from hard emotions,
Rest the waves of turbulent thinking,
Quiet the storms where harbors perish.
Lord of winds and tossing waters,
Bid me walk above the surges,
Sight affixed on soothing knowledge:
Earth and sea must do your bidding.
As the anniversary of 9-11 came around this week, many still want vengeance for what happened to us. But, is that what we should be seeking? Both had the Spirit of the Lord, but isn’t it good that Jesus, while on the cross, sought forgiveness rather than vengeance for us like Samson would have done?
I. Judges 15:1-15. Back and forth Samson waged war with the Philistines, each seeking vengeance for what he or they perceived the other side had done to him or them. They literally fought fire with fire, and it all came from worldly thinking: “As they have done to me, so have I done to them.”
II. Romans 9:20-24. God’s sole right to vengeance is rooted in His sovereignty. Since He made everything, everything is His (Colossians 1:16). Since God has the sole right to reveal His wrath (Romans 12:19), He also has the sole right to bring mercy. His wrath will be wreaked against those against Him or who don’t know Him (Romans 1:18-21) and those in the church who deliberately sin or shrink back (Hebrews 10:26-31).
III. Romans 12:14-21. Since we’ve all sinned (Romans 3:23), we’ve all earned His wrath (Romans 6:23), but He has shown mercy to those in His Son by Jesus’ work on the cross (Romans 8:31-39). So, rather than waging war as Samson or the world does (2 Corinthians 10:3-5), we who have escaped God’s vengeance by obeying the gospel, persuade men instead and reconcile them to God’s mercy through the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).
Realizing that you have escaped God’s vengeance through the gospel, do you seek vengeance or mercy for others?
Father, help me today to be
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