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In All Circumstances

Americans have a history of rebelling against what they perceive is wrong.  From the Boston tea party through Rosa Parks to stadiums erupting in “Let’s Go, Brandon!” they find ways to let the status quo know how they feel.  So, how does a Christian rebel?  Perhaps in ways like 1 Thessalonians 5:18 begins by telling us to “give thanks in all circumstances.”  We’re not just thankful when things are going our way–but even when there’s no earthly way the things we are going through can be good (Mark 8:34-35).  Take that, world!

I.  Matthew 5.  To rebel against the world, we must choose man’s weakness.  The Sermon on the Mount is a Christian’s Declaration of Independence!  In it, Jesus turns all of man’s wisdom and weapons upside down.  In it we are blessed if we are poor in spirit, meek, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted.  It’s only with God’s wisdom that we’re better off if we mourn or hunger and thirst for righteousness, and isn’t it weak to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, and turn the other cheek?  Yet, Jesus showed us at the cross that this denying of ourselves works!

II.  1 Thessalonians 5:14-22.  We must also choose God’s strength.  In the closing of his letter, Paul outlines actions that the Christians in Thessalonica could do to rebel against the world like admonishing the idle, encouraging the fainthearted, helping the weak, being patient and our brother’s keeper, doing good, rejoicing always, praying unceasingly, and giving thanks in all circumstances ….  Just as Jesus chose the Father’s will over His own (Luke 22:41-43), so must we if we are a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2).  It is only by doing what is most difficult that we carry our crosses!

III.  Matthew 27:28-31.  Finally, we must choose Jesus’ path.  We lose many, especially boys, when we only portray a meek and mild Jesus.  Both the Jesus who loves and judges must be balanced.  As the Lamb of God, He is concealed; as the Lion of Judah, He is revealed.  The same Jesus who asked the little children to gather to Him is the Word of God on a white horse with a sword coming from His mouth to strike down the nations.  We must be willing to drink His cup (Matthew 20:21-23) while we walk as He did (1 John 2:5-6).  Only then can we live in true rebellion against the world!

If you only live a little different in degree but not character than the world, then you are in a very silent rebellion against it.  How will you win souls for Christ with your example or your teaching if you’re not denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Him?

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Abide with Me

In Western thought the rich ruler’s question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” might be thought of as an event, but the Greek indicates the concept of abiding.  Perhaps it would be better asked, “How must I abide to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus goes to the heart of what is separating this man from Him by getting him to address his love of material possessions.  Once he has done that, then Jesus tells him to “come, follow me,” a continuous action to abide with Him (Luke 18:18-23).  The song, “Abide with Me,” encourages us to take hold of the heavenly joys that could be ours:

Abide with me: fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens: Lord with me abide!  When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me!

I.  Matthew 6:19-21.  The rich ruler chose earth over eternity.  Where our treasure is, there our heart is also.  So, is yours in heaven or on earth?  The rich ruler went away sad because he loved this world that is temporary and passing away (1 John 2:15-17).  The hymn continues:

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me!

II.  James 1:13-15.  The rich ruler chose sin over strength.  The tempter tempts us from the evil desires within us, yes, but we each are guilty when we give into that temptation and sin.  We choose our comfort in what pleases us rather than trusting in Jesus (John 14:1-6).  The song speaks of this too:

I need Thy presence ev’ry passing hour: What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?  Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?  Thro’ cloud and sunshine, O abide with me!

III.  2 Corinthians 4:7-10.  The rich ruler chose terror over triumph.  We’re bound to have struggles in this life, but only through Jesus can we have victory (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).  And only in an abiding relationship with Jesus can we truly know His love (John 17:14-23).  Let us not, choose to be condemned with the world instead:

I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness; Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?  I triumph still, if Thou abide with me! 

For each of us, there may be something different that keeps us from abiding with Jesus.  Let us not be like the rich ruler who was sad because he was unwilling to give up temporary treasure for a heavenly reward.  As the song concludes:

Hold Thou thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies; Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!

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What You, O Lord, Don’t Do for Me

So much you do, O Lord, for me,
So much you give — new life and hope;
On me so many blessings you heap!
Above them all, your presence in three.

But you do not make my decision;
Free will you gave to me instead.
I choose your will, your glory, your aid —
This too in its own way is blessing.

To will to do, for strength I ask,
To never heed the tempter’s voice;
In me confirm the eternal choice,
The Kingdom first I’d daily seek.

Let Jesus be example and guide,
In every thought and word and deed;
On his transforming word I’d feed.
With you, O Lord, let me abide.

The above prayer led to this chart.

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Behold, The New Has Come

For me to get to acceptance in the grieving process after my wife of almost three decades passed last year, I had to keep a forward focus or risk getting mired in memories.  Any move from an old life to a new one is like that.  If we are focused too much on what we have lost, we will miss what we have gained.  Becoming a new creation in baptism is like that as well. If we do not die to sin and work through the transformation process, then we can never embrace the new and abundant (John 10:10) that God has called us to live.

I.  2 Corinthians 5:17-18.  If in Christ, you are a new creation, but how do you life differently if all you know is your old life with its old habits and sinful way of living? Sadly, many people obey the gospel but then only live differently in degree, not in character, than those in the world. Paul spoke of this spiritual war that raged within him (Romans 7:21-23) that was still a transformative process that began at his baptism when he rose out of the water to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-5). But, he was working hard to become like Jesus in His death, so He might attain to Jesus’ resurrection in His new life (Philippians 3:10-12).

II.  Romans 12:1-2.  As a new creation, the old has passed away … but has it?  We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, not being conformed to the world but transformed by the renewing of our minds.  Then when the old has truly been put to death, then we can test what is a good way of living this new life in Christ.  We must die to sin first (Romans 6:6-8). The problem with being a living sacrifice is that the offering keeps crawling off the altar. To do this we must forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead. By keeping this forward focus, Paul says, is how he presses on to the goal of heaven (Philippians 3:13-16).

III.  2 Corinthians 5:19-20.  Without Jesus’ reconciling work at the cross and at the grave, we could not have new life, and with this new life comes new work that we also aren’t familiar with.  We are to be “ministers of reconciliation” or “ambassadors for Christ” who speak on behalf of God about this new life–even though we have just taken hold of it ourselves. Just as Jesus died to sin and rose to life, we must press on to take hold of this new life that has now come to us (Romans 6:9-11). Instead of looking back at our old life and regressing into those old habits and behaviors, we must hold true to what we have already attained.

Rather than focusing on what I have lost when my old life died with my wife, I am riveted on taking hold of what God has given me as a widower for His Kingdom in this new life. We must all do the same thing with the new life He has given us in Jesus.

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Called to Freedom

Floating along with the current of culture, the church fell asleep in its complacency and compromise as the stream changed direction.  Christians began to accept the world’s restrictions on our freedoms to worship and proclaim the gospel, and instead of awakening, we withdrew into the walls of our buildings.

I.  1 Corinthians 10:23-33.  God, of course, puts limits on our freedoms.  We must not sin.  Rather, in obedience to His commands, we must choose to be helpful, build others up, seek the good of others and not ourselves, and glorify God in all that we say or do.  Our humanistic culture we live in, though, seeks to externally regulate us and persecutes us if we do not submit to its dictates.  Now, as Christians, we know we should submit to our governing authorities (Romans 13:1), but Jesus said we should not give to the culture what is God’s (Matthew 22:21).  Our primary allegiance is not, then, to the current that has changed directions, but to where we are citizens (Philippians 3:20).

II.  Romans 12:1-2.  Sadly, many live lives conformed to the world rather than transformed by the gospel.  Asleep while the current of culture sweeps them to their destruction (Matthew 7:13-14), they have accepted the walls the world has erected for us: the gospel is too outdated or can’t compete or is hate speech.  Or perhaps the restrictions are personal: I’m too old or out-of-touch or have circumstances to overcome.  When we use our freedoms for ourselves, we retreat within those walls by dwelling on the past, complaining, or just playing church.  We know that all things are possible with God (Mark 10:27) and declare that if the church is not doing more, then it must be God’s will.  But, God wants us using our freedoms for Him (John 14:12-14), and then He will do more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21).

III.  Galatians 5:13-15.  When we, through love, choose to use our freedom in Christ to serve others instead, we turn our focus outward rather than inward where we will destroy one another.  The very nature of the church is to step outside of the walls where we have been driven by the culture to serve instead in deed and truth (1 John 3:16-18).  Using Jesus as our example, we choose to serve in whatever station in life that God has placed us (Titus 2:1-8) and reaching outside the walls of the world and waging war against it with very different weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

You may be using your freedom in Christ to fight, but what or whom are you fighting?  Where is your focus?  Inward for self or outward to serve?

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How Long Will You Go Limping …?

Elijah describes those who should have been God’s people in his day as “limping between two opinions.”  That is a good way to describe those in the church that have grown complacent and compromised in their faith and the lost but searching that we’d like to reach with the gospel.  In the contest he forces between the impotent false gods the people were worshiping and God Himself, Elijah shows God to be GOD! with tremendous power.

I.  1 Kings 18:11-39.  Just how difficult those in power had made it for God’s people who were truly seeking to worship God in spirit and in truth is evident when Elijah tries to send Obadiah, one of the Lord’s prophets, to force the contest with Ahab and Jezebel.  Obadiah relates how the faithful are being persecuted and how prevalent enforced idolatry is in the culture.  In the contest on Mount Carmel, true power is displayed from God, the people see this, and their decision to choose God cancels out the power those in power believed they had over the people as the false prophets are put to death.

II.  Acts 2:22-39.  In Jesus’ time on earth, those in power feared the opinion of the people as well (John 11:45-48), and when it began to turn towards hailing Jesus, they sought to put Him to death (Luke 22:1-2).  With a “hard saying” Jesus, like Elijah, sought to make the spiritually limping among those who should have been God’s people choose between opinions (John 6:25-69).  Most left Him then but not “the twelve” at that time, Peter wisely answering, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the gospel confronts us with the same choice.

III.  Romans 10:9-15.  The only way that the lost will be reached with that choice (call on His Name) is if those who have already obeyed the gospel (Romans 6:3-5) go (are sent) … so the power of the gospel is presented as a choice (is preached and they hear it) … because they believe it.  First, we must truly believe it ourselves (John 8:24).  Far too often, Christians fear the opinion of the people controlled by those in power and our love grows cold (Matthew 24:9-13).  Instead, we must love through obedience (John 14:15) and sacrificial living (Romans 12:1-2) to love the limping as Jesus did (John 13:34-35).

Are you limping between two opinions?  See the power of God in dying on the cross for your sins and being raised from death for your eternal life.

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Have You Counted the Cost?

In the story of Dr. Faustus, a man exchanges his soul to the devil for all that the world has to offer, but eventually payment comes due!  How many believe themselves walking on the narrow path that leads to eternal life but because they have compromised with the world, find their feet on the broad road that leads to destruction?

I.  Matthew 7:13-14.  The first verse of the hymn, “Have You Counted the Cost?” challenges us to examine our walk with Christ:

There’s a line that is drawn by rejecting our Lord, Where the call of His Spirit is lost,

And you hurry along with the pleasure mad throng, Have you counted, have you counted the cost?

Our whole duty is to fear and obey God (Ecclesiastes 12:12-13).  Why?  Judgment is coming.  We will be judged by every word of the Word (John 12:48).  His Word is a living standard by which we must give an account (Hebrews 4:11-13).  Even if we’ve obeyed the gospel and on that narrow road, we must make every effort to obey (Mark 8:34) and not be compromised with the world (1 John 2:3-6).  Do you cross His line?

II. Matthew 6:19-21.  The second verse challenges us to examine where we are storing our treasure:

You may barter your hope of eternity’s morn, For a moment of joy at the most,

For the glitter of sin and the things it will win, Have you counted, have you counted the cost?

We are either storing up treasure for this temporary life or for eternal life (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).  Some justify disobedience because the trials of life are difficult, but we must persevere instead (1 Peter 1:3-7).  Sin does attract us (Mark 8:35), and Satan knows exactly which lure to use for each of us.  Obedience or disobedience in this temporary life has eternal consequences (Revelation 21:22-27).  Do you barter your hope?

III.  Matthew 4:5-7.  The third verse asks us if we test God when we’re put to the test:

While the door of His mercy is open to you, E’er the depth of His love you exhaust,

Won’t you come and be healed, won’t you whisper, I yield, Have you counted, have you counted the cost?

Time is the gift that God gives us to repent (2 Peter 3:9).  Unlike Jesus who recognized that His time of testing was not an excuse to test God, we often give in when struggles are hard.  God’s patience, kindness, and mercy are intended to return us to Him (Romans 2:3-8).  Our giving in is denying Him (Mark 8:38).  Rather we should submit our lives to Jesus (James 4:7-10) and live through the gospel.  Is the door open to you?

The chilling chorus compels us each to answer to questions:

Have you counted the cost, if your soul should be lost, Tho’ you gain the whole world for your own?

Even now it may be that the line you have crossed, Have you counted, have you counted the cost?

 

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In This IS Love

As more see the current trends in our culture, George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 have been selling well.  What the Catholic apologist, Peter Kreeft, once said is quickly coming true: control language and you control thought; control thought and you control action; control action and you control the world.  Sadly, many who profess to follow Christ are more influenced by the world than they are God.

I.  Isaiah 5:18-23.  Whether it is 1st Century paganism or 21st Century humanism, Christians have been persecuted for not following culture’s god, the state.  Increasingly, those who stand for truth in a politically-correct world find themselves as labeled “intolerant” by the “tolerant” because their beliefs differ.  The means of control and cancellation the state uses is language (James 3:1-12).  Terms such as ‘love,’ ‘gender,’ ‘marriage,’ ‘life,’ and ‘equality’ are hijacked to punish the populace into conformity.  The ramifications for Christian athletes, colleges, businesses, and churches are great.

II.  Exodus 4:10-12.  God reminds Moses that He made man’s mouth, and therefore controls the definitions of our language.  All man can do is choose to follow his own will or God’s in regard to this (Hebrews 13:15).  God alone defines love (1 John 4:7-12), gender (Genesis 1:27), marriage (Genesis 2:24), pre-born life (Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:13-16), and equality.  Like the culture, He defines it as sameness in regards to sin (Romans 3:23) and the need for salvation (Galatians 3:26-28), but we are each different according to His sovereignty (Hebrews 2:4) and our abilities (Matthew 25:15).

III.  Romans 1:16-32.  The culture wants the church to remain complacent and compromised, but we know that the righteous live by faith.  We must wake up to the sin that we have so readily accepted in our lives and know the wrath that is coming because of it.  We must recognize how the bad company we’ve kept has corrupted our morals (1 Corinthians 15:33) and ask who has influenced us more–God or the culture?  Nearing the time of his death, Joshua asked the Israelites to choose God or the cultures of the land they had refused to eliminate from their lives (Joshua 24:14-15).

This same choice is before us.  What will you choose?

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What Portion Do We Have in David?

An heir to his grandfather’s and father’s big legacies, Reheboam had a choice if he would seek God like they did or lean on his own understanding.  Just as we cannot get to heaven on the coattails of another’s faith, the new king should have tapped into what had made David and Solomon’s forty-year reigns great in the first place.

I.  1 Kings 12:1-5.  Born sometime, no doubt, in the spiritual decline of his father’s reign into a chaotic household of 999 stepmothers or “aunts” who worshiped a variety of gods, Reheboam might argue today that he was a victim of a lost world plunged into sin and relative morality.  And yet, he was on the waning edge of Israel’s golden age and knew the covenants God had made with his grandfather.  His dad built the temple!  At the moment of his crowning, however, Reheboam had a choice to make.  Would he include God in his decision-making (Joshua 24:14-15) or would he lean on his own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6)?

II.  1 Kings 12:6-17.  He had at least heard of his father’s wisdom given to him by God (1 Kings 3:10-13) if not seen those coming to the palace seeking it (1 Kings 10:21-27). But, he seemed to have forgotten the important ‘if’ attached to the gift (1 Kings 3:14) and the reason for the spiritual decline of the kingdom because his father had ignored it too (1 Kings 11:1-4).  So, when forced to choose between relying on those who had advised his dad and stepping out on his own, he chose the counsel of the young men who had grown up with him.  The result was that he did get to establish his own legacy–that of splitting God’s kingdom!

III.  John 5:19-23.  Jesus lived to be his Father’s Son as well … except that His Father was God!  He went around doing good (Acts 10:38), spent regular time in prayer (Mark 1:35), insisted on others knowing the Scriptures as He did (Mark 12:24), and was an example for us to live up to (John 13:15).  His dying on a cross and rising from the dead empowered us to be our Father’s children as well (John 20:17).  So, we must seek wisdom (James 1:5-8), answer with gentle words (Proverbs 15:1-5), seek advice from godly counselors (Proverbs 24:6) who follow God’s Word (Psalm 119:24), and live as an imitation of Christ (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Oh, how things might have turned out differently if Reheboam had chosen differently!

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For Ezra had Set His Heart

Is a person just blessed to be selected from the world by God for great things … or does God use a person for great things because he selects God over the world?
I.  The answer to this question is so important in the ‘hand-out’ culture that we live in. If God just randomly chooses a person for great things, then that gives us an excuse not to do great things for Him because “He hasn’t selected me.” This would mean that God’s sovereignty is really favoritism (Ephesians 6:9) at its worst and lets us shrink back into His spiritual welfare system waiting for our next scrap.
But God has always been about our individual responsibility. He did the work of salvation through His Son on the cross, yes, but we are to believe, obey, love, forgive, serve, and go–among other acts of obedience. These are actions that require us to stand up from our spiritual couches, brush the crumbs off our laps, and roll up our sleeves.
II.  God raised up Ezra to be a priest to lead His people returning from exile in the way of the Lord. Was Ezra just in the right place at the right time to get chosen haphazardly? Ezra 7:9-10 says, “… the good hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had set his heart TO STUDY the Law of the Lord, and TO DO it and TO TEACH his statues and rules in Israel.”  What have you set your heart to DO for Him?
III.  Sounds like Ezra was no spiritual slacker. What about us? Ephesians 2:10 tell us, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Each and every day good works for each of us have been prepared in this day that the Lord has made.  Are you walking in them?  Are you diligent in your search to know what they are?
And so neither is God a spiritual slacker as He plans for us.  If God could raise up an Ezra who would make good choices at the right time to be used by God to do great things for His Kingdom, then what has He planned for you to DO today? Rather than dwell on opportunities missed, might you be rolling up your sleeves and be willing to DO all that He has planned for you to Do tomorrow?