Falling into sin again after 40 years of serving the Lord, God’s people are told by a prophet that it is their fear of the world that has caused them to disobey. That’s not how the people understand it though. When the angel first comes to Gideon, this son hiding his threshing from the Midianites believes that God has forsaken them (Judges 6). Continue reading “Go in This Might of Yours”
And the Lord Added
Any bride beginning a new marriage would have trouble if she only spent 1-3 hours with her husband, spoke to him only when she needed something, made excuses to not study him, and never wanted to spend time with his family. Yet, that’s often how we treat our relationship with our Bridegroom, Christ (Acts 2:42-47).
I. Ephesians 5:21-24. Our work in our relationship with Christ is to devote ourselves to Him. One of the words used to describe how we are to work in 1 Corinthians 15:58 is ‘steadfast,’ which is the way that the KJV translates how early Christians approached their new relationship with their Bridegroom. Other translations use ‘devoted,’ which Paul and James say is to wholeheartedly submit to our Husband (James 4:7-10).
II. Ephesians 5:25-27. There’s mutual benefit when both work in a relationship. Jesus sanctifies His bride, the church, so that it can glorify Him. He died for us to give us life, so we set our hearts and minds on things above (Colossians 3:1-4). When someone’s hobby, such as fishing or cars, is his life, it’s obvious. Christ is our life now, and so this ought to be obvious in what is important to us and how we live. This was obvious with the early Christians.
III. Ephesians 5:28-30. Faithfulness and steadfast love being the foundation of God’s character (Psalm 89:14), He never changes in our relationship with Him (2 Timothy 2:11-13). He equips us out of love with what we need, but our job is to grow in Him (Ephesians 4:15-16). In the ‘Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20, we can see the dating phase that with our Bridegroom’s authority, we are to make disciples. The wedding occurs as they are baptized and the Lord adds them to His bride, the church.
Then, the marriage begins as we work to keep them as disciples with Jesus’ help. Any relationship takes much work to maintain. How are you growing in yours?
Go to Dark Gethsemane
Often we look for a sanitized version of the gospel. Jesus is serenely praying in the garden, looking just tired or sad in Pilate’s hall, or calmly awaiting death on the cross. The hymn, “Go to Dark Gethsemane,” challenges us to step into those scenes and learn from Jesus’ example in submission, suffering, and death for our lives as living sacrifices here (Matthew 26:36–27:50).
I. Hebrews 5:7-9. If you go to Gethsemane, you will experience the Savior’s sorrow unto death. We must linger here to know too how to submit and obey.
Go to dark Gethsemane, Ye that feel the tempter’s pow’r; Your Redeemer’s conflict see; Watch with Him one bitter hour; Turn not from His griefs away; Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.
II. Philippians 3:8-11. If you spend time witnessing the sham trials our Lord endured and the terrible suffering that came to him before Calvary, you’ll learn the value of suffering as well.
Follow to the judgment hall; View the Lord of life arraigned; O the wormwood and the gall! O the pangs His soul sustained! Shun not suff’ring, shame, or loss; Learn of Him to bear the cross.
III. Colossians 3:1-4. If you climb the hill of Golgotha, hear the crowds and the Christ cry out, see the darkness and the agony of the silent Lamb bearing your sin, you may learn to die.
Calv’ry’s mournful mountain climb; There, adoring at His feet, Mark that miracle of time, God’s own sacrifice complete: “It is finished!” hear the cry; Learn of Jesus Christ to die.
The sadness we see early on the first day of the week is that of the women going to the tomb after a somber Sabbath. It is there that Jesus shows how to rise to walk in new life.
Early hasten to the tomb Where they laid His breathless clay; All is solitude and gloom; Who hath taken Him away? Christ is ris’n! He meets our eyes: Savior, teach us so to rise.
None of Self and All of Thee
In our relationship with God as in our earthly relationships, we would all insist that we love the other, but to what degree do we love? The transition to love for God begins when we recognize ourselves in the first stanza of this song and obey the gospel:
O, the bitter pain and sorrow That a time could ever be,
When I proudly said to Jesus, “All of self, and none of Thee” …
[In brackets, I will tell the story of four Valentine’s Days or my spiritual journey: In our last semester of college while student teaching, my wife and I both obeyed the gospel on Sunday, February 14, 1993, just four months before we would graduate and be married, and thus we began our married life together as new Christians.]
I. 1 John 4:7-12. Growing in our relationship with God, however, progresses from our second birth–just as a baby grows from his first birth or a marriage grows from a wedding. Sadly, many Christians stagnate for years with a head knowledge of God and the gospel. They can often cite book, chapter, and verse and can tell all about the love of God (Romans 5:6-8) without truly loving Him in return. They are caught in the second stanza:
Yet He found me; I beheld Him Bleeding on th’ accursed tree,
And my wistful heart said faintly, “Some of self, and some of Thee” …
[On February 14, 1994, my wife gave me a study Bible to celebrate our first birthday in Christ. I dove into knowing everything I could learn about it, God, and salvation, even completing a Bible degree. While my wife was always a solid rock of faith–even through a cancer diagnosis of 2012 and a first brain tumor diagnosis of 2017, I used the gifts God gave me to teach and preach for the next three decades with a strong head love for Christ that went up and down through the years.]
II. 1 Peter 1:6-9. In the Old Testament, God speaks about refining His people in the furnace of affliction. In the New Testament, He speaks of using various trials to test the genuineness of our faith that hopefully leads to the salvation of our souls. In most places today, the freedom to worship and general lack of persecution has made Christians complacent in our spiritual growth and content living with a low level of faith. Struggles can stir us to a heart love for God as seen here:
Day by day His tender mercy Healing, helping, full and free,
Bro’t me lower while I whispered, “Less of self, and more of Thee” …
[The previous summer had my wife reacting to air quality, chemicals, surfaces, electricity, and wifi. In desperation, she attended a naturopathic clinic in Kansas in January that showed a mold toxicity in her system. I began mold remediation and reconstruction in the house to prepare it to sell while also cleansing, storing, trashing, or burning our possessions. Living with a friend with similar issues, my wife met me for dinner on February 14, 2020, less than a month before her second diagnosis of brain tumors, where we spoke about our uncertain future. Through radiation, a host of physical struggles, and months of hospice care, God gave us a last season together while He and I worked to break through my wall and I could grow in my heart love for Him.]
III. James 4:7-10. A total submission to God in a Christian’s head, heart, soul, and strength is required for him to truly love God and live (Luke 10:27-28). This soul love can only come with a yielding of oneself to Him entirely and is beyond a head and heart love. It comes through much prayer and perseverance. When seeking of His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33) is added to fear of God and the keeping of His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13), submission can be achieved. It is beyond the first four stages of grief after a great struggle or loss: denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. It is found in acceptance and is spoken about in the last stanza of the title song:
Higher than the highest heavens, Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered, “None of self, and all of Thee” …
[I did not arrive here when my wife died in mid-December. It was only in the past couple of weeks when I finally gave up in my fight against God, no longer struggling to make provision for the flesh (Romans 13:11-14), that I awoke to that soul love for God and Christ, my Savior. Not that I no longer face temptations, but I am wearing the armor of God while fully submitting to Him and seeking for Him. And so, this is the lesson I am preaching this Sunday, February 14, 2021, on the 28th anniversary of when my wife and I first professed our love for God, having first realized His great love for us.]
Which stanza of the song do you find your love for God?
Beyond My Ken
O God who gives beyond our needs:
What time and cost we spend on non-essentials!
With bread and drink let us be content,
With simple clothes to cover us.
Keep us from worry over the vanities of life,
Over things beyond our control.
I strive, O Lord, not to occupy myself
With things that are beyond my ken,
Nor do I have great aspirations.
Keep me from pride and arrogance,
O God who is exalted above all.
I humble myself before your throne;
The Kingdom and the power and the glory
Belong to you, and in your hand
Are the fortunes and destinies of all man.
In your care I am content.
To attain the marvelous goal of faith —
Salvation for my soul — and to help
Another reach it as well, by example
And teaching, is the greatest work of all.
Protect me, O Father, to reach your glory.
In Charge
Words are not sufficient
to express my gratitude
for patience on your part
toward slow decisions to change.
I give you thanks, O Lord,
for powers I’ve never known,
and ask that thorns of weakness
be gone, and in their place,
a strength of mind and heart.
Three times and more I’ve pleaded,
desiring to overcome,
but met with heavenly silence.
Yes, grace, I know, is mine,
sufficient to the task,
but I’d prefer, if possible,
another path to victory.
Can I not choose my struggles?
I did not ask for these!
To you, O God, I render
all claims of being in charge.
To you, my will, my life,
my future, is in your hands.
Give peace in fiercest battles,
calm in troubled waters.
Be present, O my Father.
I Will Offer It Up
God made us in His image, but so often we try to make God in ours. We want a god we can control, and so we’ll try to bargain with God by making promises or deals that usually begin with “If You will …, then I’ll ….” But, God doesn’t operate that way; rather He works through love.
I. Judges 11:1-40. Despite a similar start to life, Jephthah nevertheless had a different spirit than the judge from previous chapter, Abimelech. Jephthah tried to reason with the Ammonite king to avoid war, but war came anyway. Rather than trusting God, however, Jephthah made a rash vow to God to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house, which sadly was his daughter, if God would give him victory.
II. Isaiah 44:9-17. In making us in His image, God put us in dominance over all the earth, but that does not include God Himself (1 Corinthians 11:3). We turn to idols even today because we can control them rather than submitting to, trusting in, and obeying God. Even Job thought he had a few points that he would like to argue with God (Job 13:3), but how can creation argue with the Creator (Romans 9:20)?
III. Romans 8:28-32. Instead of coming across as a used car salesman with God (Do I have a deal for You!), we must realize that God loves us unconditionally, will give us whatever we need in line with His will, will never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), has thoughts and ways so much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8), and has a perfect plan for the perfect time in the perfect way (Galatians 4:4-5). And sometimes we have something to learn from His discipline (Hebrews 12:7-11).
Therefore, love is the coin of the Kingdom. Just as we do for those we love without bargains, promises, or vows, how much more will God do for us as He’s already proved His love through the giving of His Son on the cross (Romans 5:6-8)?
Gave Him as Head Over All
As I’ve taught my four kids how to drive, I’ve wished for a brake on the floor of the passenger side of my vehicle. It’s just so hard to give up control over many realms of our lives–but especially when it comes to spiritual things. Allowing Jesus to be lord or head over us is difficult.
In answer to the popular bumper sticker, “God is my co-pilot,” Christians who understand this principle of Jesus as head have said, “If God is your co-pilot, switch seats.” This doesn’t mean at all that God should control us as robots, but rather that we need to live our lives in submission to Him.
I. Ephesians 1:15-23. Our Head is exalted above every name. All other churches, groups, clubs, organizations, and businesses are temporal. Many do a lot of good in the world for a lot of people, but when one day the elements melt in the heat, all of them will be gone. Only the church that Jesus promised to build (Matthew 16:18) and bought with His blood (Acts 20:28), His bride, His body is eternal. God invests so much, including His great power, into those who make up His body.
II. Matthew 8:8-10. For the church, our Head is over all things. All authority in heaven and on earth was given to Jesus through His death, burial, and resurrection. Even sinners will be put under His feet in the Judgment to come (Hebrews 10:12-14). He understands what it means to be our Head, but we struggle to submit to our Head. Sin and selfishness or adding or taking away from our Head’s Word exalts ourselves as Head over us, no matter how we justify it to ourselves.
III. 2 Peter 1:3-4. Our Head’s body is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. In all other groups, there is a separation between the management and the workers. Not so in the one eternal organization, the Lord’s church. Using marriage to illustrate the relationship of the Head to His body (Ephesians 5:22-24), we understand that Jesus gives us every blessing so that we may be partakers of the divine nature. In other words, He fills us and we are His fullness.
Now that is a Head that we can freely submit ourselves to! His bride does submit to the Bridegroom. The big question is–are we as individuals submitting to our Head to be part of His bride?
From Me No Argument
From me no argument, Lord — I accept
your will — come what may — events
delightful or traumatic. Be done
in me and in the world your way.
Omniscient God, I confess —
my ignorance, my lack of vision,
my limited view, and yes my blindness.
You know, you see, you cause to be.
Submission belongs to me — you love,
you care — you desire, in so many words,
communion, fellowship, connection —
For this, O Lord, come down to save!
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem
O how it hits a parent’s heart to hear his child cry out, “I hate you!” yet that is exactly how it hits God when we turn away from Him by sinning. How do we know? A passage in Luke tells us so ….
I. Luke 13:22-35. The question that is asked strikes right to the core of God in the flesh, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” God, who doesn’t want anyone to perish but come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), knows the reality that few will find the narrow path that leads to eternal life. And, as Jesus pauses on His way to Jerusalem, we hear the Creator lament that He has often longed to gather those made in His image, who are far from Him because of sin, together. Here, we glimpse the heart of God.
II. 1 John 4:10-12. Next, we glimpse the hand of God. Because He loves us, He will not take away our choice to love Him back. We must be like Jesus at Gethsemane, who willingly submits to His Father’s will (Luke 22:41-43). Speaking as God, Jesus admits that He has often longed to gather those He created together, but they “were not willing.” A good and loving God, He longs to give us many blessings–even eternal life–but we keep ourselves from receiving them because we are not willing to love Him back by our obedience.
III. 1 Peter 4:1-6. We must return to the arms of God. If we suffer in our bodies, we are done with sin and live now for the will of God. We certainly have “spent enough time” in all sorts of sin and selfishness. How much more do we need? Aren’t we sick of our sin and the separation from God that it brings? God calls us to repent–to turn our lives, our attitudes, our ways back to Him. Once we become willing, He will gather us like a hen does her chicks and bless us in every way (Joel 2:12-14).
God’s love for us is unconditional and deep. He’s already demonstrated that by His Son on the cross. And, though He loves you, unless you turn to Him by repenting, He cannot remain just and claim you. Won’t you return to Him?