The good news of Christ
Psalm 43.3-5 NIV (1984)
Send forth and guide me your truth and light
To your holy mountain where you dwell;
I then will worship in joyful delight,
With praise, O God, my heart will swell.
Why, my soul, be so downcast?
Why in your heart be so distraught?
Put hope in God, to faith hold fast;
Yet will I praise him for all he’s wrought.
What would be the theme song for your life? “Standing on the Promises” would be a good one as it calls for glory and praise to go to God. As Christians, we’d all like to be known for that.
Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Thro’ eternal ages let His praises ring; Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God.
But, if we were honest, we might have to change a few letters for it to be sung as “Sitting on the Premises.” Ouch! Have we withdrawn so much into the walls of our church buildings that we only glorify and praise Him there? What do we have to do for us to truly sing that we are indeed “Standing on the Promises” (Romans 12:1-2)?
I. Hebrews 10:19-23. The reason that we can stand on His promises at all is because He is faithful who makes the promises. In Psalm 119, we see that He promises to save (v41), comfort (v50), answer prayer (v58), and to uphold us (v116). We must long for His promised salvation (v123) as He keeps steady our steps (v133), and His promises are well-tried (v140) as He lets us meditate on them (v148). So, we must offer ourselves as living sacrifices to stand on His promises that are needed in life’s storms.
Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.
Are you standing on the promises that cannot fail?
II. John 5:21-24. Our Father is faithful in His promises, but how about Christ? He makes similar promises to us (John 14:1-3). He is able to fulfill His promises because all that the Father has has been given over to the Son through the cross. Only if we are living in Him can we overcome the world … because He has overcome the world (John 16:30-33). Once baptized into Him, we can begin the transformational process of rejecting the world and living for Christ to truly stand on His promises.
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord, Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword, Standing on the promises of God.
Are you standing on the promises of Christ the Lord?
III. 2 Peter 1:3-11. Once standing on the promises, are we ever able to step off? It is by His divine power that God has given us everything for life and godliness. His glory and excellence has given us His “precious and very great promises.” But, here it speaks also of the process we must go through to hold onto them or “never fall.” We must “make every effort” to add certain “qualities” to our faith in “increasing” measure. This is walking with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25) and lets us test what is God’s will.
Standing on the promises I cannot fall, List’ning every moment to the Spirit’s call, Resting in my Savior as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God.
Are you standing on the promises so you cannot fall?
So, is the chorus of your theme song “Standing on the Promises” or is it sung more like this:
“Sitting on the premises, sitting on the premises, Sitting on the premises of God my Savior; Sitting on the premises, sitting on the premises, I’m sitting on the premises of God“?
Heavenly Father, you seek those who seek you. You reward those who pursue your peace. You bless those who open their lives to your hand. I want to be one of those.
Yesterday, in the meetings of the congregations, people were present who had made sacrifices to assemble. Bless them for their efforts. Continue reading “Sacrifices to assemble”
Why do many Christians choose to live their lives in Christ different than the world only in degree but not by nature? A stranger meeting them for the first time would see them as another predator, not the man escaping uphill on the bike. Cutting through all the excuses and justifications, the real reason is that the one who died with his Savior in baptism to live for his Savior in new life doesn’t want to be hated like Jesus was (John 15:18-21).
I. Philippians 2:5-8. Just before the cross, Jesus tells His followers that because He was hated they will be too. Why? Because their very nature will no longer be like the world’s but be like His. Because we obeyed the gospel, we died with Christ to live our new lives for Christ (Romans 6:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17). Set apart from the world, we will face persecution (Matthew 5:11-12) for living sanctified, just like the prophets (Hebrews 11:37-38). The world is not worthy of us, yet we often live like we’re not worthy of it.
II. John 13:12-15. But, can we blend in with the world and still be Christians? Jesus told the servants to serve as we saw the Master do. When persecuted, early Christians rejoiced because they were considered worthy to suffer for Jesus’ name (Acts 5:40-42). Yet, often we strive to avoid persecution at all costs that we might somehow be spared the world’s rejection and scorn. We change the church to become more like the world rather than shining the light of the gospel to change the world (John 3:19-21).
III. Matthew 5:43-48. The apostle speaks of an upward spiral in John 14:15 and 1 John 2:3-5. If we love, we’ll obey; if we obey, we’ll know God; if we know God, our love will be perfected. But, while seeking to live the minimum to still be considered Christians (although God has spoken about those who are lukewarm in Revelation 3:16), these chameleons are really in a downward spiral: they don’t obey His words, so don’t love; they don’t love, so they don’t know God; they don’t know God, so they don’t obey Him.
One popular slogan today says, “Stop trying to fit in when you were born to stand out.” From a spiritual perspective, we should stop trying to blend in with the world to avoid being hated when we were born again at a terrible cost to our Savior to live sanctified.
Holy Father, another day is here. I shall look upon it as a gift of life, as a door of opportunity, as the expression of love.
Oppression, hatred, falsehood, and dishonesty rule the world. We are still surprised by it, although we shouldn’t be. Let your Kingdom, seen now in the people of Christ, be my refuge and safe space.
Carry me beyond the façades of the lost, to enter their emptiness and fear, and deliver to them the peace of eternal hope.
Let me see Jesus who forgot himself in order to save others.
I shall look upon this day, whatever its limitations, as a mission to fulfill.
Jesus is my Lord, the Spirit my helper, your Word my guide and power. Amen.
In the movie version, based on the WWII story of conscientious objector Desmond Doss who saved 75 men on Hacksaw Ridge, the combat medic, exhausted and abandoned by his infantry company for dead, powerfully cries out, “Just one more, Lord,” as he lowers the wounded one by one down the cliff edge. This should be our attitude towards evangelism, not just one aspect of church life that we’ll get to if we can or have time but the vehicle through which we conduct our Christian walk (1 Corinthians 9:16-27).
I. Do you want to be a soul winner for Jesus every day? Paul describes his preaching of the gospel that “necessity is laid upon me,” that “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel,” and that he has been “entrusted with a stewardship.” Are you similarly compelled? What return are you making on the investment that has been entrusted to you (Matthew 25:14-30)? How often we sing, “I want to be a soul winner for Jesus every day …,” but do we mean it?
I want to be a soul winner for Jesus ev’ry day, He does so much for me; I want to aid the lost sinner to leave his erring way, And be from bondage free.
II. Do you want to be a soul winner and bring the lost to Christ? Paul’s compulsion made it so that everything he did “in word or deed” was done “in the name of the Lord Jesus” Colossians 3:17. Is what Christ has done for us through the gospel also convict us to “become all things to all people that by all means [we] might save some”? Do you view your life as not your own because you were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and so must persuade others (2 Corinthians 5:11-21)?
I want to be a soul winner and bring the lost to Christ, That they His grace may know; I want to live for Christ ever, and do His blessed will, Because He loves me so.
III. Do you want to be a soul winner till Jesus calls for you? It’s evident that Paul understood that his very eternal reward was at stake, and so being a soul winner was the operating system through which he lived his life (Romans 6:4-11) in Christ. He wanted to run his race in such a way as to win the prize and the only choices were to be disciplined or to be disqualified.
I want to be a soul winner till Jesus calls for me, To lay my burdens down; I want to hear Him say, “Servant, you’ve gathered many sheaves, Receive a shining crown.”
Do you truly want to be a soul winner for Jesus?
As the Christian walk has been described as being on the narrow road that few find and leads to eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14), it’s easy to picture him struggling to keep his balance on a tightrope while the will within and the winds without work to knock him off. In Philippians 3:17-21, Paul gives us three ways to persevere to the safety at the other end of the narrow line.
I. 2 Timothy 1:5-7. We must keep our eyes on those who walk according to the example. Paul ventured to tell others to follow him as he followed Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), and then the Hebrew writer tells of the great cloud of witnesses who had walked this walk before us (Hebrews 12:1-3). Because that walk was difficult for them (Hebrews 11:33-38), we should learn from their example, just as Timothy did from the godly women that had walked the tightrope before him.
II. Judges 2:2-10. Beware of the many who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Colossians 3:1-4 gives us the motivation to keep our balance on the tightrope: we died with Christ and so will be raised with Him. Sometimes that which makes us fall are of our earthly nature and our selfish will that we haven’t yet put to death (Colossians 3:5-10), and sometimes the enemies are winds of the immoral culture or circumstances beyond our control. Our example to others watching how we walk is at stake.
III. Ephesians 4:11-16. Because our citizenship is in heaven and not of this world, we must walk in obedience as Jesus did (1 John 2:3-6). He left us an example that we might follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21-23), so we can fix our eyes on Him to persevere to the end of the tightrope. He has given us in His church everything we need to attain unity and mature into the fullness of Him. He has given Himself and His Word as poles for balance as the whole body in fellowship helps each other reach the end.
Some on the tightrope are so concerned about their own balance that they’ve stopped helping others to step out onto it or their fellow walkers to keep their balance. Working together using what Jesus has equipped us with, we can all reach the end safely.