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Category: Life in Christ

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You-Turn: An Imperative for New Life in Christ

“Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying,  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  Mark 1:14–15

In my life time, I have changed my mind many times about many things (I changed my mind about how to begin this post at least 10 times). Changing ones mind about anything requires an investment of thought and time far greater than what is necessary to change an opinion; especially when the issue at hand and the conclusion you come to about it may radically change the course of your life. The word often present in the New Testament when a person is presented with the facts concerning Jesus Christ is Metanoia (gk) which is defined as “a call to think differently; to reconsider” which will, I believe result in a change in the way one lives. I submit that apart from a change of mind about Jesus Christ no one can be saved.

Among Christians, men like Lee Strobel and C. S. Lewis (1) stand out to me as men who after great thought changed their minds about things that until that moment were nonsensical to them as former atheists. This is not to say that the conclusions of their research led to their petition for salvation rather, it lead to them receiving the salvation which had already been offered to them by God through Jesus Christ.  They changed their minds about Jesus and ultimately, all who will ever have the eternal life which they received through faith in Jesus Christ will have to do the same.

Some will say that, regarding eternal life, one need not come to repentance but only believe the gospel of Jesus Christ but this statement does NOT seem to agree with Jesus’ words in (Mark 1:15), there the Lord said “repent and believe the gospel.” I think that His words point to things which happen together, namely that faith and metanoia or a changed mind go hand in hand and can not happen apart from each other. In other words, repentance IS essential for salvation. In fact, God’ s drawing (John 6:44) us to Himself along with the Holy Spirits convicting us of sin (John 16:5-11) and our response to those interactions, first in our heads and then in our hearts are all required if anyone would be redeemed or born again.

To my point, I’d like to identify at least six notions which I believe a person will have to reconsider in the process of their becoming a Christian.

• The notion that death is the end. The Apostle Paul wrote in (Romans 6:23) “The wages of sin is death.”  We’ll talk about sin in a few moments but what about death? None of us have ever known life apart from the fact that everyone dies. In fact the writer of Hebrews declares that ” it is appointed to men once to die and then the judgment.” Only Adam and Eve knew of life apart from death, not simply because they were the first of us and the was no one before them to die but because death in the sense that Paul and the writer of Hebrews (arguably Barnabas) spoke of it was a consequence of their sin. As a result of their sin, death became a reality in two areas of human existence: First, it was a physical death. We all die because of Adam’s sin but it is also the death of relationship with God; in that sense death is an eternal lifetime seperated from God in hell. This is the point that we need to get: Death is a portal or doorway into either eternal life with God or eternal separation from God. We will ALL live forever in one of these two states.

• The notion that living is all about you. We all have one life on this planet right? But to what end? What is the purpose of life? To be happy? To find fulfillment? Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that man fills his life with endless futility if in fact we live simply to these ends. But His final words bring even the fatalistic views of Ecclesiastes to a powerful conclusion; He wrote

“Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing,whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14)

Looking to the New Testament, we discover that life is about coming to know the Savior and then declaring him to the world around us.  Jesus said, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:24–26) You might say that we have been given life to come to a decision about Jesus but in (1Cor. 5:9-10) Paul gives indication that the reason we have breath is to declare Jesus to the world and in the larger Westminster Chatechism we read, “The chief end of man is to glorify God.” Life is about more than “eating drinking and being merry for tomorrow we die” its about a choice that involves faith in the Son of God.

• The notion that the Bible and specifically the Gospel of Christ is fable, myth or a product of man’s imagination. Let’s be honest, no sensible person would change their lives over fiction or fantasy. With regard to the Bible, if it is simply fable why should we accept its teachings and live by them? To address ALL the ways that the Bible proves itself to be the word of God and worthy of both our attention and acceptance would take a lot of writing; instead let me position the entire argument on one point: the ends to which the original writers went to get the message out.

First consider that the gospel is the good news concerning the kingdom of God and the way which Jesus made to enter into it. The message hinges on three things: the everlasting Son of God came into the world in bodily form (John 1:14-18), suffered and ultimately died on a Roman cross (Luke 18:33, John 19:17-18) and then three days later rose again from the dead (1Cor. 15:3-8). The why that Jesus Christ endured what He did is also important – namely He died to save His people (by extention us as well) from their (our) sin. But what of those closest to Him who declared these things first and issued what we hold today as the word of God? Those men all risked and ultimately gave their lives to declare this message. Flesh it out. Would you die for a lie? All who declared the message that Jesus died and rose again as Messiah died for doing it and many still do today and their message still rings out 2000 years after it was first uttered. It is my belief that no one will believe in Jesus Christ apart from coming to accept the Bible as truth rather than fiction.

• The notion that Jesus Christ was merely a man. How much theology must one grasp before they can be born again? There is much to know about Jesus but to be saved we need know only a few things: He has the power and authority to save sinners (Luke 5:21-24) and that by faith in Him we find forgivness of sins:

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” Ephesians 1:7–10

This is the message they preached in the days of the early church and which we declare today:

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31

Paul said in (Romans 10:17) “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” This is where the Holy Spirit comes in as well to lead us in all truth. As I write, I’m waiting for a flight. I don’t know the people who built the plane. I don’t understand the science of aerodynamics.  I don’t know the pilots. But I see the plane and have a destination in mind so I’m going to board the plane, buckle in and trust. Likewise, we won’t know all that we can know about Jesus when we first believe but we will know that He died for our sins (personally) and that through Him alone eternal life is promised.

• The notion that we are good enough for the kingdom of God/ an acknowledgement of our sinful condition. By now you probably have recognized that the Holy Spirit is the primary vehicle to changing a person’s mind about the things we’ve mentioned (1Cor.2:10-12). Of course people play a part but if God doesn’t draw them via His Holy Spirit, they will NEVER hear us. The convicting of sin likewise is one of those areas where the Holy Spirit must work in the hearts of those who are coming to faith.

What is sin? Sin by its simplest definition is rebellion or disobedience against God. In our natural condition,  we recognize right from wrong in two ways: the inner voice of conscience which in turn is influenced by the mores of the world around us. As our world continues to “call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20) upsetting the moral fabric of the world through media and the indoctrination of the youngest among us, more and more of what God deems rebellion will be entrenched as “the way we do life” making it more challenging for us to reach the world but not more challenging for the Spirit of God.

By the word of God and the leading of His Holy Spirit a person will change his or her mind about themselves as a part of their coming to Jesus. A person who sees themselves as generally good, summarizing their goodness with phrases like: “I’ve never killed anyone” or “I’m a good person, I think” will not see their need for a Savior. Jesus Himself said to some self-righteous men,  “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Mark 2:17) Our self estimation will change as a part of our conversion experience. Words like the ones we find in (Rev. 21:8):  “…all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death,” really get to the point; you might not have stolen, killed or commited adultery but who among us has NEVER lied? Its not up to any man to convince another about sin, God’s Holy Spirit does that but statements like the one above along with this one in (1 John 1:8): If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us;” and (Romans 3:23) “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” make it clear that no one can claim sinlessness but Jesus Christ alone (Heb.4:15).

• The notion that God doesn’t exist. It all sort of begins and ends with this question. If God does not exist then the words of the Bible are not authoritative and the promises contained within the word are moot. Thus this question will be answered before a person can respond to faith in Jesus Christ. So, how do we know that God is alive AND actively involved in the lives of people today? For the academic and skeptic among us, using the Bible to defend the assertion might be questionable and to that end we have other proofs. Take for instance, biology. The complexities of the human body and how it functions in perfect harmony speaks loudly for an intelligent designer. ” The heavens declare,” Paul said, “the glory of God.” In fact Romans 1 and 2 speak to the proof creation itself offers for an intelligent Creator but again, some rebuff any attempt to prove God from the Bible.

It was God who loved us, and God who sent His Son (John 3:16). It was God by whom, for whom and to whom all things were made (Col.1:15). While I would not argue as Pascal did for the “vacuum or void in our hearts which can only be filled by God” I would say that many people seem driven with a desire to interact with or to worship some deity but God is not one of many, He is God alone. He interacts with both the redeemed and those yet to be redeemed through the small voice of His Spirit, through His word and through myriads of other voices and circumstances in our lives. I would say that God reveals Himself to those He is drawing but the bottom line is, in order to make that life altering decision to trust in Jesus Christ a person who has previously denied the existence of God will have changed their mind about God.

This post has been long but certainly NOT exhaustive regarding just how essential repentance is for salvation. I suppose that many apply the concept of repentance to a turning away from all sin and while turning from sin is part of it, that all begins and continues as a part of the process of sanctification.

When I became a Christian, the Holy Spirit had already been convicting me of a particular sin which I did repent of however, sin is so invasive and we are so thoroughly immersed in it, leaving them will take a life time. Nevertheless, repentance in the sense that we will have to change our minds about some key issues as a part of turning to Christ is an essential aspect to the process of believing in Jesus Christ.

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God’s Whisper – The Conversation Continues

“Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
“This is the way, walk in it,”
Whenever you turn to the right hand
Or whenever you turn to the left.” Isaiah 30:21

I had a moment of clarity today after reading a Facebook post from a friend concerning the question of whether or not God still speaks today. As I thought about it, my thoughts turned to a recent conversation with my son-in-law concerning the word of God which, at the time upset me a little. He insisted that the Bible is not a “text-book” and that even without it people will come to faith. I took issue with him because the word of God declares in (Roman’s 10:17) that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Which is to say that salvation involves hearing the written word of God. I believe that word is spoken both in our ears by the witnessing disciple and into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The word the disciple shares comes from the written word and along with it the drawing word of God’s Spirit speaks from God’s heart into our own. These together work to bring a person to Jesus for salvation. My moment of clarity was in realizing that the Lord was using my son-in-law to remind me that God is still speaking today. But now, rather than a “thus says the Lord” to the masses its a “thus says the Lord ” to me.

To regard the Bible merely as a text-book is to view it on an gnostic or intellectual level only. But as I see it, the Bible is, among other things, a record of God’s interactions with mankind. The Bible itself is an authoritative record but it does not conclude the conversation. God still speaks today. His word, far from being a text book serves not only as a record but also as a proof text. As an authoritative record of what God DID say it serves as an indicator of what God WOULD say. You can be sure that any communication between you and the Lord today will NOT contradict what He has already said.

There was a time in the Biblical record when God was apparently silent, we call that time the Intertestimental Period. The 400 years between His concluding words to and through the prophet Malachi and the words spoken by the angel Gabriel to Zachariah and Mary mark a time when no word came from God.

But we insist that God still speaks today – 2022 years after Jesus walked among us; how can that be? The answer is simple, in the days of the prophets, the Holy Spirit did not indwell people; He abided ON rather than IN them. God gave and recalled His Spirit at a time of His choosing (for an example see 1 Sam. 16:14-15) but not so today. Since the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Holy Spirit is made a permanent resident in every believer (John 14:17). The indwelling Spirit of God serves as the guarantor of our inheritance with Jesus (2 Cor. 1:22, 5:5 and Eph. 1:14) as well as spiritual teacher, mentor and enabler. About the Spirit, Jesus said:

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” John 14:25–26

It is by the Holy Spirit that God speaks and His conversation continues with us to this day. As I awakened to this day, a point was immediately impressed upon my spirit from God. What I heard this morning was this: you can go out and cut your lawn today and continue to maintain that which will eventually belong to someone else or you can set your mind on My kingdom and its priorities. That this was not my flesh or conscience talking is clear as my flesh is not going to demand that I share the gospel with others. Without a doubt the Spirit of the Lord was speaking.

God still speaks to us today. Through others led by His Spirit, through His word, through music and through the created world around us – God still speaks. The psalmist wrote in (Psalm 19:1-4):

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.“

Paul also pointed to the natural created world in (Romans 1) when he wrote that man will have no excuse with regard to knowing or turning to the Lord because everything He has made directs our attention toward the Creator. The wind, the waves, the hammering thunder of Niagara, a babies heartbeat, bird songs, whale calls, dolphins chatter, thunder; these are some of the voices God uses to get our attention. He is still calling, still speaking and still trying to get our attention today and His purpose in speaking to us is to call the lost to Jesus Christ- to salvation in His name and after that, to develop and sanctify the believer.

Can you hear Him? Are you listening?

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Patience’s Perfect Work

” My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:4-5)

To some, the words of James drop like a lead balloon. “Can he be serious?”, they say; their question loaded with emotional exasperation from what they’ve been through or what they are going through in this moment. Does he really mean to say that we are to rejoice in every trial and through every test or challenge of life?                                                  

Yes.

“How can I“, comes the reply. We all have a certain tolerance for circumstances beyond our control but there is a limit to what we can bear. What is your threshold? How much is too much – is so much that it changes your outlook and extinguishes your peace?

The problem of pain impacts us all but it’s really the object of our attention during those times and seasons of life that has the most profound impact in our life and the lives of those around us. Our biblical quote above is taken from a Christian, actually from one of the siblings of Jesus Christ. He did not always believe what his half-brother Jesus said or declared about Himself but one day that changed. His begins his exortation by assigning it to his audience and calls that audience, “my brethren.”

His brethren is a reference not only to people who were but also to those who in these days also are believers in Jesus Christ. Now, the fact is that mankind is born to trouble as sparks fly upward (Job 5:7); in other words there are certain things that afflict believer and non-believer alike: cancer, sudden loss of a loved one or child, (sadly) divorce, loneliness, abandonment of one sort or another, grief in its various forms, economic hardship, layoff etc. But Christians the world over and for two millenia have also faced scorn, hatred, pressure and persecution from family, friends, coworkers, despots, national leaders and other religions just for believing in the name of Jesus and saying so both in word and action. In the midst of such trials of faith James tells believers to rejoice.

One reason for our joy should stem from the fact that every time our faith is put to the test and we patiently endure it our faith is strengthened. Just as a weight lifters strength is increased by adding more weight to the bar and repetitiously straining and lifting the weight, so a Christians faith is strengthened by every trial that does not kill him or her. Another reason for joy in these trials is that the goal of each is to mature us spiritually. Every successful test brings the Christian that much closer to the goal of being like Christ.

So our joy under pressure stems from the two things which our trials produce: endurance and Christian maturity. These are the perfect works of patience. But, when the trial is great, the pressure is high and the time is dragging on and on it helps to have our mind focused on Him who under great trial, anguish and suffering endured the cross and bore its shame (Heb. 12:2) for our souls sake. You see, in my mind, the only way to consider let alone endure any trial or test of faith with an attitude of joy is to focus on Him who went through all of that for us. Jesus is our Savior! Heaven is our home! These trials will come to an end but until then train your mind on a focal point beyond the pain: turn your eyes upon Jesus.

I like the hymn that reminds me of today’s verse: Andre Crouch’s ” Through it all;” part of that songs lyrics are the following words:

“I’ve had many tears and sorrows,
I’ve had questions for tomorrow,
there’s been times I didn’t know right from wrong.
But in every situation,
God gave me blessed consolation,
that my trials come to only make me strong.

“Through it all,
through it all,
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God.

“Through it all,
through it all,
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.”

A good way to end this short study I think…

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The Value of Discipleship

“And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:40–47, NKJV)

The early church was not the formalized and formatted organism that as time went on it became; in the beginning it was a very organic and “real” collection of believers who met at various places for the purpose of worshipping God.

Interestingly the “public” worship of the Lord took place at the gates of the temple and involved the preaching of the Gospel of Christ where many people flocked to sincerely worship a God they did not really know; in essence casting a Gospel net into a place where they were likely to catch the most fish – a tactic which was daily rewarded (according to v.47) with a daily “catch” of new believers; that doesn’t at all look like “church” as we know it today.

Today we expect the “fish” to come to us instead.

But what are people drawn to today? In many churches it is the small group, the discipleship group and Bible studies at various people’s homes that seem to attract the lost. In those settings they can see the church without her make-up; they see believers interacting, laughing, sharing, crying, praying and learning together – they see the church as it was meant to be.

In the early church discipleship wasn’t mandated and didn’t have to be “sold” to people. Note Luke’s description of the church in [v.42]:

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Believers were hungry for the teaching of the Apostles – they wanted to hear about their experiences with Jesus, about His miracles – they hungered to know what the Lord said and taught.  I believe that in sharing these things the apostles could not help but to also share the character and nature of the Lord with the believers – the Apostles taught about a loving and gentle Savior and suffering Servant who gave up His life for the sake of the lost.

Before we paint too rosy a picture we must remember that the people who formed this new community of faith were still flesh and blood. They had things to overcome in their lives; even as they were coming to Christ they were being awakened by His Spirit to things in their lives that faith in Him would require them to “crucify” from their lives. If I could contemporize that community – some of them would be housewives whose husbands also spent the day away from them at their jobs or perhaps they were professional women of industry themselves; some of those men might be businessmen or blue collar workers; some might be truck drivers or salesmen; some might be soldiers spending months at a time away from all that they knew and loved.

The bottom line is this:  While each and every member of the community of faith (whether of the early church or our churches today) shares a set of core values, beliefs and experiences, each of us also has to figure out how to deal with bumps in the road specific to our individual duties or stations in life as the Word of God instructs.

What do we need when were apart from the community of faith doing that which we do day in and day out to provide for our families and to live our lives? What do we need when we are tempted to lash out in anger or shrink back in fear? What do we need when we cry out in frustration and despair? We need the Word of God and the help of His Spirit – most often that help takes the form of another believer walking with us – encouraging us, challenging us, exhorting us, praying with us; telling us that things we don’t necessarily want to hear but no less need to hear; someone to whom we can be accountable.

The Bible says in [prov. 27:17]:

“As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”

This is a powerful aphorism or maxim identifying the great benefit and value of having someone to walk beside us on our journey of faith and identifies one of the most personal settings for discipleship in the Bible.

Consider the first part of this analogy – how does iron sharpen iron?

I thought at first about the tools of a blacksmith – fire, hammer and anvil. For me the fire represents the trials and various situations of life; the hammer is our brother or sister in Christ which God the Father intends to use in the process of impacting our lives and the anvil is the Word of God – His expectations, commands and expressed will.  In our day to day life sometimes we are superheated by a situation – we are tempted to act or express an attitude that is contrary to God’s plan and our friend sees us or hears us and comes along side. God brings a passage to our friends mind and he begins to challenge our attitude with the word of God – he or she “speaks the truth to us in love;” as God tries to shape us into what He’d have us be or do in that situation.

Another way to see this is the way a knife used to be sharpened to carve the Thanksgiving Turkey (before the advent of electric knives): by file and blade. “It used to be common to see the host at a table sharpening the carving knife by drawing each side of the cutting edge against a hardened steel rod with fine ridges – iron sharpening iron. Sometimes it isn’t a temptation to evil or some other stress in your life but simply a misunderstanding of a particular Biblical principal that has you ‘mis-stepping’ in your Christian walk of faith. In such a situation, the “file”aka your spiritual companion might challenge you from their own understanding of the principal in question and in a sense sharpen your understanding through conversation and even criticism with regard to the subject.  

I personally enjoy talking about the Lord and His Word – I enjoy studying it with others and listening to other preachers and speakers share their understanding of a passage; often I learn something or have my understanding of something enhanced. Sometimes it is just refreshing to know that I’m not alone in my understanding of certain biblical text, principal or doctrine and sometimes I reject the teaching out of hand as errant. In any case it is always good to be able to discuss – not debate but discuss the Word of God. I don’t get much of that these days but when I do I enjoy it.

In my own life as a Christian, over the years, I have grown but let me tell you where I grew most. it wasn’t in the preaching service, it was in the Sunday school, the discipleship and in the seminary classes where we could talk it out. I’m sure you’ll discover the same if you’ll allow yourself to be involved in the opportunities which many churches (not all but many) offer for such growth.

Max Lucado reminds his readers in a book titled “On the Anvil” what one translation of [2 Tim. 2:21 ] says; there we read, that God intends for each of us to be

“An instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.”

Lucado added the following thought:

“Ah to be your instrument O God, like Paul to the Gentiles, like Philip to the eunuch, like Jesus to the world, to be your instrument. To be like a scalpel in the gentle hands of a surgeon, healing and mending. To be like the plow in the weathered hands of the farmer, sowing and tending. To be like a scythe in the sweeping hands of the reaper, gathering and using. To be an instrument for noble purposes. To be honed and tuned, in sync with your will, to be sensitive to your touch. This my God is my prayer, draw me from the fire, form me on your anvil, shape me with your hands, let me be your tool..”

To be discipled in the larger setting of the church, the intimacy of a mentoring relationships or in a small group of believers all have one goal and purpose – so that each of us would become a useful tool in the Master’s hands.

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Alive or Just Here – How Will You Live in 2022?

Jack London once wrote, “the proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

Think about those words for a moment.

What great thing was ever accomplished by those for whom the priority was to save their own skin? Consider for instance, Madame Currie who among other things, discovered radium and was a pioneer in the study of radioactive isotopes. Her efforts led ultimately to an illness which took her life but her discovery is still used today in the fight against cancer as an ingredient of Radon gas. Hers is one example if a life which was not wasted.

She epitomizes the phrase, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

As I write, I have another person in mind about whom it can be said that he lived and the life that he lived was not wasted. I read something about him yesterday on a marquee while travelling back from a day on the coast; the marquee read: “We use duct tape to fix everything – God used nails.” Of course the “man” the sign was referring to was Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God and points at the life of the God – man. Jesus has ALWAYS existed but not as a divine couch potato or otherwise uninvolved deity. He was born into the human race but existed before His birth; more than that He was born to die and He lived to set men free from their bondage to sin and eternal separation from God. He expended His 33 years of life for the sake of every human being. His life was not wasted and the life He lived, He lived unto God His Father. His life made an eternal difference.

London’s quote rings remarkably similar to something Jesus once said:

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24–26)

Jesus’ words here call us to a constant dying out to a way of life characterized by self-preservation at all costs and a coming alive to the will and purposes of God. In other words, He does not merely call those who follow Him to exist as Christians, He is calling them to live the life of a Christian. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs is full of what living like that can look like in the extreme. But even in the torment of the flames as some of those martyrs were burned for their faith in Jesus Christ, they looked, as Jesus did, to the joy that was set before them. As Jesus concluded His thoughts in that short passage He did so with a reminder that today’s choices carry eternal consequences.

As we enter into a New Year, it is important for each one of us to ask ourselves, “am I alive or just here?” Staring at our phones into the world of social media or watching the plethora of reality TV shows available on Netflix, YouTube, Prime or HGTV etc; are you spending more time watching others live their lives than you are living your own? Your answer will also cast light on the greater question of your life’s purpose. We have not been given life to merely be consumers of everything we see – we have been given life and especially spiritual life CHRISTIAN, to make a difference just like Jesus. Consider the words of Paul in light of his life in Christ:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

The new life that believers have is to be lived in a new way and for a new reason. Through His Holy Spirit, Jesus indwells every believer and sits on the throne of control that we once occupied and now our purpose is His plan and the accomplishing of His will. Did Paul occasionally deviate from the plan or attempt to retake control of his life? Any time we sin in essence, we are attempting to retake control of our lives and thus the need of a constant or of a daily dying out to our self-will is necessary.

Looking back on 2021, how did you do? Did you draw nearer to God or drift away a little or a lot? Much like a leaf driven by the wind on a pond’s surface is always moving, you and I are never stationary in our life of faith, we are always either drawing nearer to or moving further away from God. Has your faith become stronger in the wake of all that this last year has thrown your way or has it faltered. I ask because before we move forward we ought to take stock of where we’ve been and the lessons we learned or still need to learn for tomorrow. I have learned some hard lessons this year and still have some things to learn – God is patient. Once more, Paul offers us something to think about even as we enter into 2022, we find them in (Philippians 3:12-15):

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.”

Pressing on is the mindset which Paul expects every Christ follower to have as they set their faces to what lay ahead of them. But I invite you even now while keeping your eternal hope set firmly in your minds eye, that is the hope (or confidence) of seeing and dwelling with Jesus for eternity to live each day, one at a time for the purposes of God. Each day is as clean a slate as a New Year is and just as unknowable nevertheless press on – the prize is yet before us and the souls of friends, family, coworkers, and strangers hang in the balance. Draw nearer, press on and press into Him who has made abundant life available to you.

Happy New Year!

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God’s Best Gift

Satisfied with less…

Does that describe the hearts of people during a season which I’ve come to call the season of discontent – are they satisfied with less?

Are you?

I call it a season of discontent because when asked, rather than an “I have everything I need”” people young and old readily state what they want for Christmas. In reality, discontent rather than contentment is a problem for many people and the materialism of the season feeds that felt need for more or better.

This isn’t a rant on that but it is meant to challenge you to consider your desires. You see, I believe that the desire which God has for your life is far greater and better than what you want for and from it. I Believe that most people are simply satisfied with less than what God in Christ wants for them.

Those outside of faith in Jesus Christ are perfectly content to be in the condition I just described and that fact makes clear to me that while some people are never truly content with the things they possess – more are simply content with less.

Jesus Christ promised abundant life (John 10:10) to those who trust in Him – abundant life now and forever more but so many people are satisfied with less than that.

So many are satisfied with less because they can’t imagine a better life, a fuller life or a happier life than the one they have – they are satisfied with less because they don’t know or believe that there is more or better than what they have now or that they can have it.

God sent His Son to usher in better things – whether you know it or not, more than anything else, you really have need of those better things – of grace, mercy, forgiveness, eternal life and an eternal relationship with the Lord.

In Christ, those better things have been provided and are yours for the asking.

Click the link to listen to the full message on today’s subject. https://www.thetextmessages.org/sermons/gods-best-gift/

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Wake Up, Church! (Pt. 3) Return to Your First Works

The words of Jesus to the Ephesian church in (Rev. 2:4-5) needs to be heard by the church today:

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

The Ephesians had let their orthodoxy and legalism get in the way of the mission of God – have we? Just as marriages fail because the fighting over whose right outweighs fighting to save the relationship; speaking truth without love (Eph. 4:15) can get in the way of the point of the truth we are trying to communicate. The problem did not come upon the Ephesians suddenly but was a systemic leftover of their sinful nature rising up in them. As Paul was developing that church he wrote in (Eph. 4:31-5:1): “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ has forgiven you…walk in love, as Christ also has loved us.”

Look again at (Romans 13:11-14), Paul said that “the night “was far spent meaning the time of Jesus’ absence from us as well as of Satan’s work in this world was nearly finished. Whatever the conflict in our lives, it is ALWAYS darkest before the dawn. Its true, the final push whether in the boxing ring, on the field of competition, on the track or in military conflict is always the hardest. The enemy of God will fight hardest when his day is at hand and the Lord’s return is on the horizon; we therefore must be ready for the fight and as Paul said, “cast off the works of darkness.” Some of those works may be the complacency, apathy, indifference or misplaced zeal which control some believers today. Our lust, our desire to have things our way is dulling our senses and making us less that ready in these days to rescue the perishing. Paul says. “let us walk properly, as in the day – not in strife and envy.”

In a similar message spoken to the Colossian church Paul wrote:

“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time….(Col. 4:5) adding in (Eph. 5:16) “because the days are evil.”

Redeem the time…how? Paul said it in (Phil. 2:5):

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”

As we wrap it up today, I want us to consider the passion of Christ.

Jesus Christ left heaven to dwell among men. He minimized His glory and hid it within the frame of human flesh. He humbly allowed men to handle Him, talk to Him, question Him. He allowed their mistreatment against Him – their accusations, their attempts to harm Him and their mischaracterizations of who He was and why He had come. He allowed them to beat Him, literally ripping the flesh from His body – He did not fight back and as a sheep led to the slaughter so He opened not His mouth (Isaiah 53:7). He allowed them to spit on His face and tear out His beard. He allowed them to nail Him to a cross and raise Him up in their hatred, scorn and unbelief. He allowed this because His passion for the will of His Father and for those who would ever believe in Him was greater that His concern and passion for His own life.

Remembering that when Jesus did these things, we were all enemies of God (Romans 5:8,10) whom God nevertheless loved so much as to sent His Son to die for, His example serves as the best model for us today. His passion for you and for me outweighed His passion and zeal for Himself – He put aside every privilege and right belonging to Him as Creator of everything for us.

As we move forward church – let His example, His mindset change and become yours.

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God’s Word is a Mirror

When you look into a mirror and see something out of place, what do you do about it? Assuming that you drag the comb or brush out to fix your hair, or you grab a washcloth to clean your face, or (if you’re a man) a razor to shave your whiskers or (if you’re a woman) you dab some makeup on your cheeks – why? Why, when you see something in the mirror that is out of place do you do whatever you do to correct it?

If we’re honest we might say something like “So I don’t look bad in public.” Or, “So I don’t embarrass myself.” Or, “In order to look good to my girl, my guy, my husband or my wife;” you get the point. It is that last statement which I suspect drives our desire to respond to the reflection in the mirror of God’s word. My daughter had a friend years ago in our churches youth group who gave the following answer in response to a question about why she dressed up for church, she said: “I dress like this because when I come here, I’m out on a date with God.” She valued the relationship that she had with the Lord and dressed like it. I bring that up because as I said last time, I believe that God’s word is a mirror revealing not so much what is on our faces but rather what is in our hearts and, as a Christian, it is my desire to respond to the reflection of myself that I see when I read the word of God not only in order to please and honor Him but also to represent Him well in this world.

The reality is however, that every believer will enter into eternity still working on the man or the woman in the mirror.

When we are “born again” (John 3:3), we become new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17):

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Even so, the New Testament is full of instruction like that found in (Colossians 3:8-10):

 “But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him…”

My point is this: in Christ we are made righteous in a moment: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) That exchange is called justification and it happens the moment we believe in Jesus Christ – we are freely forgiven through God’s grace in Jesus Christ; the burden of our sin having been carried and borne on Christ’s cross and paid for with His blood thousands of years before you were born and applied to your life the moment you believe.

But the process of our ongoing transformation to be like Christ, will take a life time. Think about it, the habits and lifestyles which took a lifetime until we met Jesus to develop will take time to change but one thing WILL change immediately along with our standing before God. As T. W. Hunt wrote in a study called The Mind of Christ – “your want to will change.” You will have seen yourself in the mirror of God’s word and you will want to do something to improve your “appearance” as a child of God.

Such ongoing transformation is called sanctification: an ongoing purification of our souls requiring that rather than being “conformed” to the ways of the world around us (Romans 12:2), we are to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.”  Such a process requires both the mirror of God’s word and the enabling power of God’s Holy Spirit who lives within every believer (Romans 8:9) along with a daily submission to both.

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