Righteousness and Freedom

Recently my thoughts focused on the concept of hunger and thirst for righteousness. Our Lord declares that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be satisfied. Such a hunger and thirst seems to mandate a willingness to allow the Holy Spirit to take us on an inward journey that we might discover the attitudes and desires which fertilize our thoughts and actions with unrighteousness. Such an inward look is necessary, but it is difficult—difficult because we fear the discovery of sinful attitudes, strongholds, or experiences which shatter our self-concept or the images we project to others. Often we avoid such a journey because of deep hurts, disappointments, or failures that we have managed to bury without knowing deliverance from them.  An inward look is difficult but necessary.

In Romans 6:15-23 the apostle Paul reveals his understanding of the tyranny of unresolved sin in the inner person. He clearly states that choices we make will determine either our freedom in the Lord or enslavement to selfish, shallow desires. In Romans 7 Paul takes the inward journey and acknowledges that he recognizes sin in his members. It is a difficult but blessed journey because Paul did not remain in the frustration of chapter 7. The inward journey is just that—an inward journey. The inward journey intends to take us beyond ourselves into the very heart and love of God. Thus, Paul can say in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” He goes on in Romans 8:11 and in verses 28-39 to describe the steadfastness of our Lord’s love for us, which fills us with hope and security.  

Therefore, as we dare to allow hunger and thirst to call us to an inward journey, the following wonderful things occur:  we find freedom from the tyranny of sin; we are filled with the steadfast love of God as we move beyond ourselves; we are enabled to love ourselves and others; we are enabled to fulfill the two great commandments—to the love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, strength and soul, and to love others as ourselves—upon which all the law and the prophets hang.

“Those who abide in Me will produce much fruit,” our Lord declares.

Piety—A Real Consequence of Abiding

It has been sometime since I offered an entry to my blog, for many reasons. Life has been very busy with moving, a daughter’s wedding, and other life considerations. The greatest reason however is due to what our Lord has been speaking into my life concerning faith and authentic Christian piety.

 

Once in my early experience I would hear the word piety used to negatively describe one person or the other.  It gave me the impression that piety was a term of derision for those who were overly spiritual.  I however have come to understand piety as a virtuous quality that has been lost in much of western Christianity.  It is true that a false piety feigned or projected in a rather nauseous manner seems to be an expression of self-righteousness or spiritual superiority, but this false projection or image does not negate true piety. 

True piety is the essential quality of Christian growth, and in my mind it results from an authentic poverty of spirit, a mourning of one’s sinfulness, an attitude of meekness, a spirit of mercy and a hunger for righteousness, all of which give rise to a pure heart. In brief, it is what sanctification is all about—to be conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of the Father. 

True piety is the result of an abiding relationship with our Lord that calls us to an inward cleansing and renewal. Such a renewal draws us deep into God’s love and nature, and thus creates a supreme love for Him and generates loving acceptance and ministry to others. In addition to saturating life in love, true piety results in a peace and joy, which only our Heavenly Father can bestow through the Holy Spirit.  It is a life of fruitfulness for the Kingdom of God.

John 17:19|ESV

And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Once again, let us abide.

What about Gethsemane?

I have been thinking of Gethsemane since preparing for this year’s celebration of the Holy Week. Yesterday I read an encouraging devotional about the need each believer has to know the recommissioning experience Peter had beside the Sea of Galilee with our Lord after the resurrection. It caused the question to rise in my mind about Gethsemane. What about Gethsemane in relationship to the daily lives of believers? 

In the shadow of the cross the Son of God knelt in agony beyond my ability to understand or empathize with. There He spoke the words which would change life and eternity forevermore: "Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done." It seems to me that our Lord denied Himself, took up His cross, and followed the will of the Father. I think another way of saying it is that He loved the Father with all of his heart, mind, and soul (strength); and he loved us as Himself. My thoughts raise a question. If it is true that the Lord denied Himself and took up His cross (that is, loved the Father with all of His heart, mind, and soul; and loved us as Himself), should Gethsemane be a part of every believer’s life? 

My answer to this question is, "Yes, it should and will be a part of every believer’s life." Jesus clearly states in Luke 9:23 that anyone who would follow Him must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him. We each are commanded to obey the Great Commandment, with the promise of the Father and His presence if we do so (John 14:20-24). When do we therefore encounter our Gethsemane?  

We encounter it whenever we are faced with a decision to do what honors the Lord, or what benefits us, or what provides for our comfort. We encounter Gethsemane when we are discouraged and want to change life to be less demanding or difficult rather than be faithful to Him. The minister faces it whenever he is faced with the unrelenting pressure of those who oppress and control. A wife faces Gethsemane whenever she is discouraged and feeling unloved. The businessman faces it whenever he must choose between what is right and godly or what is profitable. The Christian leader faces it whenever he or she has the choice to relate to people out of what is most comfortable, safe, or beneficial for him or her, rather than obeying the Great Commandment. The young person or student faces it when making choices of going along with the group or honoring God and parents. Yes, we each face our own Gethsemane, each and every day, each and every decision. Some days our decisions are more agonizing than others. The Lord therefore says to each of us, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”  

Abiding—well, it is all about prayer, and sometimes it is in the agony of our own Gethsemanes.

Faith, Relationship, and Prayer

My wife checks her email every day. She normally finds an e-mail with a new recipe from a website she subscribes to. When we go to a doctor, we are prescribed a course of treatment to enable us to return to health. Often we are counseled about living life in way which prevents illnesses or debilitating diseases. Appealing and satisfying food needs recipes, healing needs a prescribed plan, and the ability to live healthily requires goals, discipline, and often endurance.

  

This past week we celebrated Easter Sunday. For Christians it is an annual day of celebration and rejoicing. We rejoice because our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is indeed risen from the dead and is alive forevermore! In the words of the old hymn "I serve a risen Savior; He’s in the world today." We rejoice to know He is alive.  

Thinking on the implications of the resurrection I was reminded of two scriptures. One is Romans 6:5-11. In this text Paul explains that one who is born again has indeed experienced that the old person (the old person separated from God by sin and in bondage to sin) has been put to death. In the same way he declares the one who is put to death in Christ is raised in Him. Verse 10 is significant because it emphasizes that the one raised in Christ Jesus is to live a new life unto God—a resurrected life. Verse 11 commands the one who is truly born again to be aware he or she is to live a resurrected life. 

The second scripture is found in Romans 8:11 which declares that “… He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” As I write this moment, a third scripture comes to mind. In Galatians 2:20 Paul says as a Christ follower, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." All of the scriptures emphasize a born-again Christ follower is to live a resurrected life. The question is: How do we live such a life? What does living a resurrected life look like, as we live it in this crazy and confused world?  

Jesus anticipated this question prior to His crucifixion, and He sought to prepare His disciples by providing a recipe or prescription for them. In John 14:1-14 our Lord teaches that one will live the resurrected life by faith in Him—faith in Him who establishes a place, in the very heart and presence of God, for all who are born again—faith in Him as the One who will guide us in the way, instruct us in truth, and enable us to know His life as we live the resurrected life toward the fulfillment of the hope He establishes. He also tells us He has revealed the Father to us in all He said and did. 

Jesus was even more majestic when He declared, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” The resurrected life is therefore eternal life, as we live in a personal and real knowing relationship with our Heavenly Father (John17:3). Then finally He sends those who are His Christ followers into the world to do greater works than He did because they will be empowered to declare and serve the Kingdom of God. He explained that the preeminent need for a Christ follower is prayer in His name—to live the resurrected life in a consistent prayerful relationship with the Father through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  

The prescription or recipe is to believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ, to abide in a confident and real relationship with God as Abba Father, and to prayerfully live life in the hope of eternity. Thus Jesus explains that we abide in Him and He in us.  

Let us celebrate our Lord's resurrection by abiding in His love, praising our Heavenly Father forever, as we endure in His hope to His glory.

Dark Days, Angels of Light, and Glorious Grace

When reading through the Bible we find times when great people of God experience days of despair, disappointment, uncertainty, and even confusion. Most people recall the experience of Elijah who, after evoking and beholding the glory of our Heavenly Father on Mount Carmel, ran to a cave in despair. When reading the Psalms of David we often find him lamenting his plight before our God. Jeremiah and so many others of the prophets of God had dark days come upon them as they faithfully served their God. We know the Apostle Paul describes such an experience in his life in First Corinthians 1:8-11, and then he affirms dark days are experienced by most believers who faithfully serve the Lord in chapter 4, verses 7-9 of the same letter. Perhaps we can empathize with these experiences as we seek to live faithfully in Christ Jesus.

I was experiencing one such day recently. It seemed that concern for the future, obstacles to growth in the church’s ministry, and the grief expressed by some of the Lord's children over wrong attitudes and spirits they have experienced over the years from some who profess to be followers of Christ all seemed to coalesce to shroud my day in a dark cloud of despair. Of course such dark days are not pleasant for me, nor do I suppose them to be appreciated by others, but this day was a day of wonderful opportunity. It was in fact an opportunity to meet the Lord’s angels of light and experience His grace through them.

I encountered the first angel of light as I was seated with a fellow pastor and wonderful brother in Christ. He was sharing out of a pastor’s heart of care and concern for his people and the ministry the Lord had placed him in. He shared from his experience, but was speaking into my life words of encouragement and comfort which strengthened my soul.

After a time of wonderful fellowship and prayer I next found myself standing with a young man who was himself seeking to find how he might be faithful to His Lord. As we were speaking together the Spirit of God began to impress upon me the wonderful privilege afforded me. Here I was standing in a beautiful church building, speaking to a young believer who was a member of another church, and from a totally different cultural background half a world away. It was a moment of a marvelous and humbling reality. The question which came to my mind was: Who am I to deserve such a privilege as this? It was a moment of encounter with an angel of light further dispelling the darkness which seemed to have shrouded my day.

Then I went to a time of small group prayer. A wonderful brother of Christ came in to the small group and began to speak to another person about the song which was on his heart as he awoke that morning. It was to “give the sacrifice of praise unto the Lord.” It called to mind Hebrews 13, and as I turned to read this wonderful chapter, the Spirit of God spoke through the Word of God to shatter the darkness, dispel the cloud, and totally remove any remnant of the shroud of darkness as I realized anew our Lord's power and His presence. I was strengthened and renewed in joy as I heard my Lord call me once again to His side, instruct me from His hope, and pour His abundant grace out upon me. Truly I wonder, who is deserving of such a love and such marvelous grace?

In days of darkness we cannot seem to see the Light—yet the Light sees us and sends His angels of light. Through them He pours out immeasurable grace upon grace. How many times have we encountered His angels of light and missed them? How many times could we be angels of light in others lives but allow our busyness to keep us from it?

Let us abide so we might know His grace in the darkest of days, as He ministries through His angels of light.

Faithfulness, Opposition, and Faith

Christmas of 2010, the joy of celebrating Christ's day, has passed. All disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ have once again marveled at the wonder of God who has so loved the disenfranchised, the broken-in-spirit, the ones laboring in self-destructive self-centeredness, and the ones afflicted with the guilt of failure and sin. We continue to be amazed that He would send the Redeemer of the world to them. His disciples have once again gathered with the shepherds, the wise men, the innkeeper, and with Simeon in the temple to rejoice at the salvation of their Lord. As I reflect upon the incomprehensible grace of our Heavenly Father in Christ Jesus our Lord, the words of an old hymn come to mind: "Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble." 

We continue to marvel with amazement at the grace of our Heavenly Father even as we have now crossed the threshold of a new year. 2010 is now another of those years gone by, and 2011 lies before us with all of its unknown hopes, blessings, opportunities, possibilities and challenges. We know it is filled with some, if not all, of these things for each of our lives. 

How will I face and journey through 2011 as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? This is the question which comes to my mind. Perhaps those who are reading this join me in the experience of prayerful consideration of our level of faithfulness to our Lord and the disciplines which enable us to abide in our Lord Jesus Christ as we journey through this next year. Our burden is not to just make it through the next year, but to do so faithfully fulfilling our Lord's will for us even when we encounter opposition along the paths of our lives.

Opposition comes from circumstances, from controlling or rebellious people, from strongholds in our lives, or our own personal failures. How do we faithfully continue day to day to follow our Lord and His redemptive activity in and through our lives? This would seem to be an appropriate question for churches as well.

I once again began reading through Deuteronomy as I continue to abide in the word of God through daily devotional reading. As I read in Chapter 2 of Moses’ recounting a portion of the journey of the people of God, I took note of three important aspects of a successful journey with God, which I offer for your prayerful considerations.

First I noticed Moses was able to discern the voice of God in the midst of many responsibilities, challenges, criticism, and even failures on the part of the people of God. This of course is a result of Moses’ response to God's call to cooperate with God the Father in His redemptive purposes. Moses had responded with a singular commitment to His call. All believers are saved by the grace of God in Christ Jesus. If we as disciples are to be able to discern the voice or will of God, we must respond with a singular commitment to cooperate with God in His redemptive purposes and love, in and through our lives.

Second, I noticed even as the people of God faithfully followed God’s leading, they encountered situations of potential or active opposition. Four such situations are recorded in Deuteronomy Chapter 2.

• First is the potential of conflict with the people of Esau as they were to pass through their land.
• Then we find the people of God in a similar situation as they journeyed through the lands of Moab.
• Again God’s people encountered the same scenario with the people of Ammon. 
• The fourth was very real opposition from King Sihon, who came out against the people of God as they were faithfully journeying with God.

When they experienced the first three occasions of possible opposition, God gave instruction to His people through Moses that they were not to go against the peoples that posed the possible challenges. The reason He gave for them not to do so is important. He was at work as the Sovereign of His creation, and His purposes were greater than the comfort, reputation, or desires of His people.

In our journey as disciples through this next year, we will encounter opposition. The opposition might be in circumstances, a change in direction, or through controlling or rebellious people around us. If we are to continue through 2011 faithfully, we will need to be abiding with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in order to discern His activity and cooperate with it.

Third I noticed that the instruction of our Lord was different when His people encountered King Sihon. The people of God were being faithful—even in the face of opposition. Even when God’s people follow Him faithfully, they may encounter intimidating opposition. Such opposition can evoke improper responses out of fear or even arrogance. The Israelites had learned a lesson at Kadesh Barnea where they rebelled against God because they thought the opposition before them was so great they could not continue the journey into the Promised Land as God was directing.

But this time they continued to be faithful to God's will and ways. They did not set themselves against King Sihon; they simply continued their journey with the Lord. King Sihon however rose up against them. He and his people stood against the people of God as they were seeking to be faithful. In verse 24 God spoke to Moses saying, "Go up against King Sihon for I have given him, his people, and his lands to you."

As disciples of Christ we will meet opposition, and we must abide in order to discern our Lord's activity in it. Sometimes we will simply move away from the opposition because of the Lord's activity, but at other times being faithful means we will meet and overcome the opposition. We need to exercise faith in the difficult circumstances. We must trust that our Lord is accomplishing His redemptive purposes, as we trust Him to work in us and sustain us in these difficult times.

We sometimes however must stand steadfastly and not submit to those people who would control or demand our submission to them when they stand in opposition to what we know is our Lord's will and ways as we continue our journey. We also must remember to stand steadfastly His way, empowered and guided by His Spirit, with complete faith in His presence and power.

We continue our journey with our Lord through life as we enter yet another year. Let us abide that we may be faithful on the journey, even in the midst of opposition, with complete dependence upon our Lord Jesus Christ who has loved us and given Himself for us. Let us abide as we remember His promise to never leave or forsake us.

Spiritual Lupus, Dry Bones, and Reconciliation

It has been some time since the last blog. Several significant events have occurred since my last blog. One of the most significant was the time I spent with fellow pastors and church members from the International Baptist Convention and the ministry of the guest speaker to the convention. It was a blessed oasis of spiritual refreshment. Recently the Lord has been very present to guide in significant messages for ministry, and a spirit of renewal seems to be growing among His people in His body at IBC Munich. It is an exciting time for the church.

Today I am mindful of a devastating disease which attacks joints, tissue, and blood cells of the body. Lupus for some unknown reason turns on the body and attacks it. It can have a tragic effect on the organs of the body and will severely limit the function of the body and the quality of life of the person afflicted by it.

As I think of this disease I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul in Colossians 1:18 as he speaks about the preeminence of Christ, who is the head of the church. He then identifies the church as His body. The image of the church as the body of Christ is used by Paul in I Corinthians 12 to describe the importance to the body of each member of the body. I highlight this in order to suggest that often we find the body of Christ afflicted with Spiritual Lupus as the members of the body seem to turn on one another. The consequence is that the body is so focused on itself that it eventually comes to a place of compromise and defeat. This can even result in the destruction of a local body of Christ. Spiritual Lupus is devastating when it afflicts a church, because it can reduce the church to a "valley of dry bones" as seen by the prophet Ezekiel.

The question which is put to Ezekiel is, "Can these dry bones live?" (Ezekiel 37:3) Dr. John James answers this question for churches that seem to be devastated by this dreadful disease of Spiritual Lupus. He declares it in the title of his book: Dry Bones Can Live: How to Be a Part of a Healthy Church. Dr. James emphasizes that the treatment of reconciliation and covenant should be applied when a church appears to be a "valley of dry bones."

Dr. James focuses us on Matthew 18:15-20. Today I want to highlight two points made by Dr. James. First, when we are offended, hurt, or perceive ourselves to be the object of someone else’s negative judgment of us, we should go to that person and seek to be reconciled. Second, if the person does not hear us, then we are to take one or two others along with us. These two points will determine our personal spiritual health and the health of the church, and could even provide the cure for Spiritual Lupus.

Note how this can be the cure. First we are to go to the one we believe has offended us and speak directly to him or her in love. This is a cure for Spiritual Lupus, because we often go to those that we know will support or empathize with us, and we deliver a negative report to them about the “one who has offended us.” I wonder if any of us have ever been guilty of doing such a thing. (Perhaps we should all read I John 1:8 before we answer the question.) The moment we deliver such a negative report, we introduce the dreadful disease of Spiritual Lupus into our spiritual lives and the life of our church.

Next note that if our brother/sister doesn't hear us, then we are to take one or two others with us. This will necessitate a discussion of the offense with others. It is here that those who are receiving the report bear the responsibility. Dr. James points out the question which must be asked when one person begins to share a negative report about another: "Are you telling me this in order for me to be part of the reconciliation process?" This question is the preventative medicine we need to have in our hearts and minds in order that we do not introduce Spiritual Lupus into our lives. We must apply the preventative medicine, but the cure also requires restitution. We need to be able to go to those about whom we have given a negative report, and we need to ask their forgiveness; then we must covenant with the Lord not to deliver a negative report about another in the future.

If Spiritual Lupus is affecting your life and the life of our church, then let me recommend that you reconcile with your brothers and/or sisters and covenant with our Lord not to do so in the future. Such action is, after all, the only cure. Let us be reconciled that we might fully abide.