Heaven on Earth

Today as I was returning from a long walk in the forest I encountered a very precious young lady out enjoying the sunshine. She greeted me as her pastor and began to speak to me about her life and her recent experience of love after lamenting her life for several months. It reminded me of a common experience of many believers or churches.

We find ourselves having made the wrong decision in the face of temptation, or we say the wrong word in a moment of insecurity or anxiety. Churches find themselves embroiled in conflict and confusion without many, if any, knowing the real reason why. When these experiences occur we are heartbroken, and we grieve. Oh, how we wish we could take back the word, back up the clock and make a decision led of the Lord, or somehow unwind the confusion created by conflict in relationships and churches. We grieve and wish we could undo them, but sadly new beginnings and correction for past sins are not possible for us.

What is not possible for us, however, is possible with God in our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot undo our sin or wipe away some of the consequences, but we can be reconciled to our Lord by admitting our mistakes, asking Him to teach us and to strengthen us in Him at the point of our weaknesses. Such confession brings His forgiveness, and we are reconciled to Him. When we are restored we rejoice in His goodness and are able then to demonstrate the same goodness to others as they need our grace to be restored to relationship as well.

We cannot undo our sin or our mistakes, but we can be forgiven through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we can forgive others. Such restoration calls us beyond ourselves and our failures or our difficulties. It lifts us above the shortcomings and mistakes of others and draws us ever upward with an attitude of joy and thanksgiving for the love and grace of our Heavenly Father expressed in the sending of His Son Jesus Christ.

We at IBC Munich turn to the Lord with rejoicing and thanksgiving for His goodness. We invite all who will to come and join us as we learn and celebrate Heaven on Earth. This Sunday we begin a series of sermons from the life and teaching of Christ entitled “Heaven on Earth.” In the Pastor's Club we will be telling the story of a man named Christian, and in the youth time we will continue looking at how we can avoid wasting the life our Heavenly Father has given us. Come join us as we continue to abide.

Life Stability

Perhaps I am unique in life, but I suspect many can identify with me. I have always felt myself capable and believed that somehow I would make it through the difficult moments or the trials of life. This however does not prevent me from moments when I am filled with anxiety or times when stress seems to be the most dominant aspect of life for me.

However I know another experience as well. I have known and continue to know peace in conflict, rest in uncertainty, love when rejected, and hope when all seems lost and desperate. How do we know these things? For believers the word "faith" jumps into one’s mind. We are quick to declare life stability is by faith, and we are normally even quicker in prescribing "faith" to others.

Recently while reading the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) again my mind, and yes, my heart was impressed with the words of our Lord in Matthew 7: 24-27. You will recall this passage as our Lord's conclusion to His Sermon on the Mount. Here He describes faith as He prescribes "faith" as the ultimate remedy for anxiety. He says the ones who hear these words of mine and who do them will be like a house (life) built on a rock which withstands the torrents of life which may assail it with a barrage or threat, one after another.

This seems to be a picture of "faith"—believing enough to “do” what He teaches—and it is His plan for life stability. Let us abide, that we can "hear" and have the strength of the Spirit to "do" what He teaches as the way to life stability.

Blessed Are They Who Mourn

I have recently been drawn back to another passage of scripture from the Beatitudes. It is recorded in Matthew 5:4. One cannot easily understand this passage without understanding the first of the Beatitudes which states, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God." One very concise understanding of who the poor in spirit are is that the poor in spirit are those who have come to understand they are in reality lost and adrift in the sea of opinions, experiences, and futility—all of which are detached from the knowledge of God. The opposite of poor in spirit is arrogance; and arrogance shuts the door to the illuminating Spirit of God and denies one the ability to discover, rejoice in, and marvel at the goodness of God's glory.

Once one comes to a poverty of spirit and begins to taste the goodness of God, one can understand the paradox of "Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted." All of us are aware of the grief which invades one’s life when experiencing loss of one kind or another. The loss of a job, financial security, a valued friendship, one’s health, or the impending loss of the life of a loved one or friend all create a deep sense of grief. The one who relies on the Lord Jesus Christ and the counsel of Holy Scripture can find much comfort in these times. In fact such comfort is a part of the riches of the Kingdom of God.

The mourning this beatitude speaks of includes a deeper mourning over the realized sin in one’s life and the sin in the lives of others who reject the goodness of God. For me one of the most grievous of times is when I encounter an arrogance in myself (which is far too often) or in others upon whom I rely, which substitutes a shallow or simple pragmatic human opinion for a true understanding of the nature, ways, and will of our wonderful God. Such mourning always draws me back to the word of God and self-examination before the Lord, which allows for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to draw me closer to the heart and nature of my Heavenly Father. In these times I am brought to a purer dependence upon the Lord, and I find renewal through conviction and repentance, through instruction, or through the comfort of my Lord's renewed promises and presence. Thus, I am blessed by the Lord's comfort in my mourning.

This past week I was humbled to see just such comfort displayed by a child of God who is in a life-and-death struggle with metastasized cancer. As she was lamenting her health condition, she broke out into a beaming smile and a confident joy as she spoke of the hope which is hers in Christ Jesus. She is an abiding saint of God displaying the reality of comfort in response to her mourning.

Meekness

Two weeks ago I was asked to give a short explanation of why I understand the Lord's assignment for me at this time to be the under shepherd of IBC Munich. My reply was an honest but brief recounting of how my wife and I came to this unquestioned understanding. In the context of my reply I made a statement I have since come to regret. I stated I had to consider the life circumstances I was enjoying at the time as I was prayerfully considering the call back to Munich. I stated, "I was living the good life."

The "good life" was a reference to the fact that I was enjoying adequate and stable income; I was enjoying developing relationships; I was becoming more and more comfortable in the church we had joined; my job security was as reliable as it could be. In short, I was comfortable. We think of these as the characteristics of the "good life," but such thinking reflects the common values of a culture not conditioned by the ways and will of God. When we accept this definition of the "good life," it forms the foundation for our purpose and pusuits in life. We seek it by pursuing wealth or desiring to gain and assert power or influence in order to advance ourselves as we long for true happiness. More often than not we become self-centered, self-reliant, arrogant and consequently unhappy without even knowing it.

Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks a word in Matthew 5:5 which explodes this myth or mirage of our world. He declares wisdom which flows from the heart and nature of God as He says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Imagine inheriting the ability to live with a sense of fulfillment, of contentment with ourselves, and with an ever-increasing sense of love for others--to enjoy the beauty of this world as we experience the goodness of our Heavenly Father in Christ Jesus. It seems to me this concept of "inheriting the earth" brings a state of blessed joy and happiness which can be correctly defined as the "good life." Obviously standing between the words Blessed and the inherit the earth is the one character trait which enables one to experience "God's good life." It is meekness.

In both the Old and New Testaments meekness is always associated with quietness, gentleness, submission and humility. It has been defined by some as a quiet strength under the control of the Spirit. The study note in the ESV Study Bible describes the meek as "... those who do not assert themselves over others in order to further their own agendas in their own strength, but who will nonetheless inherit the earth because they trust in God to direct the outcome of events." Yet, another description of meekness is "the ability to live life with commitment to fulfilling the will of God as one lives in the ways of God and recieves His response with gratitude."

Meekness is a powerful life source, yet one cannot simply decide to be meek, for true meekness is bestowed by God in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Meekness is dependent upon one's faith in God, and one's faith in God will always result from an ever-increasing growth in one's understanding of the Heavenly Father's nature (His glory) as revealed by and in Christ Jesus.

To be blessed through meekness one must repent of unbelief and trust God for the forgiveness of unbelief based upon the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. To grow in this character trait of meekness one must continually seek knowledge of the very heart and nature of our Heavenly Father. Therefore, let us abide to live the true "good life."

Two Choices for Life

For serveral days now a very curious statement made by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians has been coming to mind over and over. It is found in Galatians 2:20. In Chapter 2 Paul adamantly declares that no one is justified by keeping the law of God, but that one can only be justified (declared to be just by God) by one's personal belief in Christ Jesus. Yet, Paul is very concerned that those who are true recipients of an additional birth by the Spirit of God do not think they can simply do as they please without regard for the holy nature of God. They simply cannot go on sinning, rebuilding those sinful habits, attitudes, and values; but rather they are to live a new life which is only available to them as followers of Christ. Thus he declares, "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." (ESV)

This statement of Paul in Galatians is similar to the one he makes in

Romans 6:9-13.

9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (ESV)

These verses from Paul's teaching in Romans 6 and from his own personal testimony in Galatians 2 make it abundantly apparent that everyone has a choice of two lives to live. One choice has devastating implications for life. A person can refuse any connection with God, either by ingnoring Him as the giver and sustainer of life or by relying only on one's ability to satisfy the law of God for acceptance with God. For those who would make this choice, they have only themselves to depend upon.

Those who make the choice now to accept Christ Jesus by faith have the ability to turn from the futility of life lived without hope or direction. They are the ones who do not rebuild the life of sinful attitudes, habits, or values; but rather they live by faith in Christ. They become aware of the soul-satisfying nature of the God of Creation, and His glory changes them into Christ-likeness and changes them to live in His ways, reflecting His glory.

The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is often used to emphasize these choices which are available. The last stanza of his poem challenges each of us to consider how we will look back on life in the end. It reads,

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I wonder today what road we are choosing to travel, what life we are choosing to live. For those of you who are belivers in the Lord Jesus Christ, let us abide in the One who is living in us. For all of the members of our church, let us live unto God by faith in the One who has loved us and given Himself for us.

Two are better than one

Most will recognize the title of this blog as a quote from Ecclesiasties 4:9-12 in which we are reminded of our need for companions as we move through life. I was reminded of this wonderful life truth as I was contemplating a sermon I heard yesterday. The illustration of the Sandhill Crane was used to explain the relationship between those who lead and those who are led. One highlighted characteristic of these migrating birds was the fact that when one of the birds in someway becomes unable to fly and must land, a second bird drops from the sky and lands to be with the crippled or incapacitated bird. This illustrates that "two are better than one."

After declaring that two are better than one, the author of Ecclesiasties goes on to explain the benefit of having with us a friend, spouse, accountability partner, or other person who is abiding in Christ as we journey together into the presence and heart of God. The author says if one falls, the other can lift him up; the warmth of true Christian friendship warms the cold and difficult moments in life; there is a strength for the journey which rises from such true fellowship.

The value of such fellowship has been proven in my life as recent as this week. I was ill for a couple of days, I had not been sleeping well, and I had begun to think in critical and ungrateful ways. This led to my sharing with a friend, who challenged me to rethink life from the Lord's perspective and encouraged me toward a more thankful heart. Such a blessed experience should be shared by all of the Lord's children. At times one will be the weaker, the other the stronger. These roles reverse at other times. Let us not only abide, but let us abide together. For as we do so, we will form a three-fold cord with each other and our Lord; this cord is not easily broken. We are in fact a gift and provision to one another, given by the Lord for our journey together through life into the heart and presence of God.

Fruits as indicators

Enmity, strife, and divisions are discouraging and even devastating when conditioning relationships between family members, friends, Christians, and churches. I wonder what the causes are. The letter written by James in Chapter 4 informs us that the causes of war and strife are the unsatisfied selfish desires we have. He even explains that seeking only to fulfill one's own desires, ambitions, or agendas reveals we are not living in humility in relationship to our Heavenly Father.
Paul in Galatians 5:19 explains our attempts to justify ourselves or advance ourselves will always produce "fruits of the flesh," among which are counted enmity, strife, and divisions. Knowing these are the product of a life dependent on own efforts to fulfill God's will or advance oneself or one's agenda or unrepentent sin should challenge us when we find we are experiencing these "fruits of the flesh."

Perhaps we should look to see if we are truly humble before the Lord. Do we truly recognize how poor in spirit we are? Do we truly know the work of the Holy Spirit? The major questions we must ask are, are we truly alive in the Spirit and do we seek to keep in step with the Spirit, or are we doing our own self-exalting, controlling thing? James tells us God has a better life for us and then challenges us to humble ourselves unto Him. (James 4:1-11)

These things are a matter of daily prayer. Let us abide with a humble attitude, seeking to keep in step with the Holy Spirit of God.