Fighting the Ghosts

God is the potter, and Christians are his clay (Jeremiah 18:4 / 2 Corinthians 4:7). And he is shaping you into the likeness of Jesus, using all of life to do it. That’s the idea of Romans 8:28-29. But when you go against his guiding hand, God has to break you to remake you. And God may use the devil to break a believer down.

Maybe you’ve experienced this. Everything seems to upset you. You try and try, but things just go wrong, and you can’t seem to get a break. It seems like awful is amplified all over your life. It’s like you’re fighting a ghost, whose arming your enemies. 

Now sometimes, God is allowing this season to show your faithfulness as an example to others.  God may allow an attack to show his strength in your life. You’re wearing the full armor of God. You learn to have the patience of Job. You’re earning rewards in heaven. And those who would accuse you of sin are wrong. You need to stand strong in the Lord despite all the hurt feelings, lack of support, and hard circumstances. And your faith will be vindicated.

However, sometimes you aren’t just fighting your emotions, or people, or systems, or situations. Sometimes, God will allow the devil to invade your life because you have continually opened the door. You have continued in a pattern of particular sin, and God will use the devil to break and humble you. God uses the devil in a Christian’s life to accomplish his purposes. God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.

 Satan wants to use this time to further cement you into distrusting, disbelieving, and disobeying God. But God intends for this season to liberate you into a deeper trust and greater belief and joyful obedience. The deliverance you need is not just from the devil, but to Jesus. It is no good to cast the devil out when you keep inviting him back in. If you want to stop fighting the ghosts, you’ll have to stop fighting against God’s will. 

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Focus on Jesus, not on Peter

He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
(Matthew 14:29 – ESV)

You will hear some say, “If your faith is focused on Jesus then you too can walk on water”. However, the focus of the passage from Matthew 14:22-33 is on the fact that Jesus can and did walk on water, showing that He is Lord over creation. By God’s power we can do great things, but to take this passage and make it about us is to miss the point. People say focus on Jesus not on the storm, but I also say focus on Jesus not on Peter. Do not focus on what Peter could have done, or what you think we can do, focus on Jesus and what He is doing and has done. That is the focus of this passage, not on our faith giving us water walking ability but our faith in a water walking God. It is not that Jesus gives us the power to save ourselves; it is that Jesus is the power to save us, and He does save us. That is the essence of the gospel message.

This was the second time Jesus calmed a storm before the disciples (Matthew 8:23-27). This event was immediately after feeding the 5000, but now it was the 4th watch, between 3-6 am: it was stormy, they were tired and they thought they saw a ghost!

He walked on water to show that He was Lord over creation and the Divine Messiah. Moses parted the Red Sea (Exodus 14) – Jesus can just walk across it. Joshua parted the Jordan (Joshua 3:14-17). Elijah parted the Jordan (2 Kings 2:8). Elisha also parted the Jordan (2 Kings 2:13-14). This miracle shows us that Jesus is greater than Moses, Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha.

Jesus walking on the water was a testimony to His divinity (Job 9:8). The Egyptian hieroglyphic for impossibility is a man walking on waves. God alone can do this. Peter tried and could not (vs.28-30). This was a testimony to Jesus being Lord over creation, not a testimony to our water walking power of faith. The disciples worshiped Jesus in response (vs.32-33).

There was a further miracle. John 6:19-21 – although they had gone about 3½ miles, once Jesus came into the ship it immediately arrived at the land. Only God has this sort of power.

Jesus isn’t calling us to walk on the water; He is calling us to Himself. Our faith must be in Him. Sometimes we can seem to do the impossible, but even when we fail, He did not, has not, will not fail. Our faith, our trust must finally be in Him alone, for only He cannot fail. I’m not trying to be down on you or down on me, I’m trying to be up on Jesus!

I’m not saying don’t attempt great things, I’m saying DO attempt great things, but even if we fail to walk on water, Jesus won’t. Yes, use what God has given you, yes, develop whatever skills you can and use them for the glory of God. Enjoy the good graces that have been bestowed upon you, but the bottom line is you must trust Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, and trust your life and death and eternity to Him. Walking on water is not our role, it is not some matter of stirring up our faith so that we can, it is about calling on Jesus who did and who can.

Peter asked twice. We say, “God help me to rise above my stormy circumstances”, but then sometimes we need to cry out “Lord, save me from the storm, I can’t do it”. Peter cried out, and the Lord saved him. It is not the strength of our faith, but the power of God that saves us.

You don’t have to walk on water, you just walk by faith, and if you do, the waves may get high and the wind might get strong but you will never sink without being able to call on Christ, who will never leave us nor forsake us. We walk by faith, not by sight, and we walk by the Spirit, not by the flesh. This is a spiritual thing; even if physical things turn stormy Jesus is still with us and will deliver us, perhaps not out of the immediate storm, but out of the storms of doubt as to who He really is and what He can really do. Most importantly what He has already done and will do for us if we will believe Him and be saved. Don’t focus on Peter, and don’t focus on yourself, focus on Jesus. He can do the impossible.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Faith to Faith (Radio / Podcast)

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith:
(Romans 1:17)

Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because the righteousness of God is revealed in it. This righteousness, as shown by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is placed over and opposed to the depravity of man we see illustrated in the verses following this one. Here Paul is not talking primarily about the justice of God that rightly damns sinners, he is talking about the righteousness of God that grants sinners eternal life for those who put their trust in Jesus Christ. He is not ashamed because it is not a man-centered gospel; it reveals the righteousness of God, not the power of man. The gospel is that power which renders the righteousness of God operative. The gospel isn't a storehouse of religious information; it is how men and women are made right with God. He is talking about the gift of grace that is received by faith.

When God justifies a sinner, it does not mean that the man was actually good. It does not even mean, at that point, that He makes him good. It means that God treats the sinner as if he had not been a sinner at all. It is also the righteousness of Jesus Christ accredited to our account. It’s more than just the forgiveness of our sins. That would merely leave us with a blank slate. Innocence is not perfection, and so we need more than His death, we need His life. Just as our sin was imputed to Christ so that He could pay the full price of it for us; in exactly that same way, His perfect life counts as ours by imputation – 2 Corinthians 5:21 / Romans 3:21-22, 4:5-6 / Philippians 3:9 / Galatians 3:24-29 / Colossians 3:3 / Jeremiah 23:6. We are not justified by the righteousness Christ works in us, but by the righteousness Christ is for us.

The phrase “from faith to faith” means “by sheer faith” or “faith alone”, that is all it takes and all it can take. We see the necessity of a complete trust in Christ and the folly of placing any trust in our own good works – religious or otherwise – for salvation. It is not from faith to works (Galatians 3:3). The gospel is an outreach to others and it has an in-reach for us. The process and the progress of the gospel in our lives change us (2 Corinthians 3:18). We mustn’t treat the gospel as a common thing (Hebrews 10:29, 2:3), as if we need something else because it isn’t just for the future, the gospel is for your whole life. We need to be living in the faith, living for the faith, and living by the faith (Habakkuk 2:4 / Galatians 3:11 / Hebrews 10:38).

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Reformation Day (Radio / Podcast)

In 1514, Albert of Mainz became the Archbishop. Being the Archbishop of Mainz made one a member of the prestigious Electoral College: a group of seven members, three ecclesiastical rulers (the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne) and four secular rulers (the king of Bohemia, the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Count Palantine of the Rhine, and the Duke of Saxony) whose responsibility it was to elect emperors.

Obtaining such a position did not come without expense, and in order to finance becoming the Archbishop, Albert borrowed 21,000 ducats from a famously rich banker. In order to pay off his debt, Albert obtained permission from Pope Leo X to collect alms in return for indulgences, provided that half of the money collected would be forwarded to the papacy in order to help finance the building of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. In 1517, Pope Leo X commissioned John Tetzel as the Commissioner of Indulgences for all of Germany.

To understand what an indulgence is, one must first understand Roman soteriology (doctrine of salvation), that is one must first understand how a Roman Catholic believes a person is justified.

Roman Catholics believe that grace is a commodity that one can accumulate through faith empowered good works, and that justification is therefore a process by which you accumulate enough "grace" through faithful works to justify yourself. Being born again, according to Roman soteriology, is a process that begins at water baptism and progresses until death, at which time you may or may not have any certainty about whether you had accumulated sufficient grace to avoid purgatory and go directly to heaven.

Purgatory, according to Rome's teaching, is the place where souls who didn't have enough grace in this life to be sufficiently cleansed from sin's stain, would suffer punishment. Even if a sin was confessed and forgiven by a priest, unless an "indulgence" was received from an ecclesiastical authority, one could expect to spend time in purgatory being punished for their sins at least until that punishment erased the guilt of their sin. Once the individual had been sufficiently punished in purgatory, his sins were purged, and he could continue on into heaven.

An indulgence therefore was a pardon or release from the expectation of punishment in purgatory, presuming of course that the sinner had been granted absolution by a priest already.

John Tetzel came to Wittenberg Germany in 1517, generating money to pay off Albert's debt, and to build up Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, but when Tetzel began to sell these indulgences to the uneducated German on masses, it struck a nerve.

Tetzel had created a chart itemizing prices for various sins, and sloganeering with such crass slogans as "As soon as the gold in the casket rings - the rescued soul to heaven springs" and even claiming that the indulgences he sold could save a soul who violated the Virgin Mary.

God was about to force the Church to examine what it had become, and to choose for itself whether to pursue God or mammon. The original reformers had no intentions to leave the mother church. But God chose to separate his sheep from the treacherous wolves dressed in royalty.

So it was that on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther wrote a letter to Albert of Mainz protesting the sale of indulgences. Included in that letter was a copy of what has come to be called the 95 Theses, the same which were so famously nailed to the Wittenberg Castle church door. The door was a regular bulletin board, being close to and facing the main road through Wittenberg. It was not intended, I believe, to be an act of defiance, but rather an open invitation for scholarly discourse on the matter. However, by the Hand of God’s providence, the 95 Theses were quickly translated from Latin into German, printed, and widely copied, making the controversy one of the first in history to be aided by the printing press.

Whatever the case, the event had the effect of a catalyst - bringing to the forefront the profound need for reform in the Roman church. In his preaching and writing, Luther began to emphasize two main points: justification by faith and the priesthood of all believers.

Justification by faith means that Christians can never earn, deserve, or merit God's forgiveness. What we must do is to accept the life and atoning work of Jesus Christ as our substitute.

The priesthood of all believers means that every Christian has his or her own personal relationship with God, reading the Bible and worshiping in his or her own language, and praying directly to God without anyone's going in between.

What we think of as the Reformation, began as a bid from within the Roman Catholic church for reformation - a bid to correct what had become a radical departure from historic Christian faith, and ultimately a bid that was rejected by the papal system, in favor of their present, perversion of the gospel - a money generating, works based soteriology whereby men depend upon the church rather than Christ for salvation. Those who refused to embrace this perversion were excommunicated.

Before the 20th century, many churches celebrated Reformation Day on October 31st, regardless of which day of the week it occurred. Today, most churches that do celebrate it transfer the festival, so that it falls on the Sunday (called Reformation Sunday) on or before October 31st.

The fact that Reformation Day coincides with Halloween may not be mere coincidence. Halloween, being the Eve of All Saints' Day might have been an entirely appropriate day for Luther to post his 95 Theses against indulgences since the castle church would be open on All Saints' Day specifically for people to view a large collection of relics. The viewing of these relics was said to promise a reduction in time in purgatory similar to that of the purchase of an indulgence. Luther may have been shrewd in his choice of that day to post his theses.

This emphasis on the true gospel, justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone has been widely lost today. Luther said, "If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." May God raise up a Luther today who will face down the demonic opposition of all the false religion and lift up high the name of Christ and the gospel in truth.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Faith to Faith (with audio)

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For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith:
(Romans 1:17)

Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because the righteousness of God is revealed in it. This righteousness, as shown by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is placed over and opposed to the depravity of man we see illustrated in the verses following this one. Here Paul is not talking primarily about the justice of God that rightly damns sinners, he is talking about the righteousness of God that grants sinners eternal life for those who put their trust in Jesus Christ. He is not ashamed because it is not a man-centered gospel; it reveals the righteousness of God, not the power of man. The gospel is that power which renders the righteousness of God operative. The gospel isn't a storehouse of religious information; it is how men and women are made right with God. He is talking about the gift of grace that is received by faith.

When God justifies a sinner, it does not mean that the man was actually good. It does not even mean, at that point, that He makes him good. It means that God treats the sinner as if he had not been a sinner at all. It is also the righteousness of Jesus Christ accredited to our account. It’s more than just the forgiveness of our sins. That would merely leave us with a blank slate. Innocence is not perfection, and so we need more than His death, we need His life. Just as our sin was imputed to Christ so that He could pay the full price of it for us; in exactly that same way, His perfect life counts as ours by imputation – 2 Corinthians 5:21 / Romans 3:21-22, 4:5-6 / Philippians 3:9 / Galatians 3:24-29 / Colossians 3:3 / Jeremiah 23:6. We are not justified by the righteousness Christ works in us, but by the righteousness Christ is for us.

The phrase “from faith to faith” means “by sheer faith” or “faith alone”, that is all it takes and all it can take. We see the necessity of a complete trust in Christ and the folly of placing any trust in our own good works – religious or otherwise – for salvation. It is not from faith to works (Galatians 3:3). The gospel is an outreach to others and it has an in-reach for us. The process and the progress of the gospel in our lives change us (2 Corinthians 3:18). We mustn’t treat the gospel as a common thing (Hebrews 10:29, 2:3), as if we need something else because it isn’t just for the future, the gospel is for your whole life. We need to be living in the faith, living for the faith, and living by the faith (Habakkuk 2:4 / Galatians 3:11 / Hebrews 10:38).

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

God’s New Year’s Resolution

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power,
(2 Thessalonians 1:11 – ESV)

Upon each New Year we often think ahead about what will happen in the world in general, and in our own slice of the world. We think about what we might like to get accomplished in the coming months. To that end we try and “resolve” to do something we feel would be good for us or others in the coming year. About 45-50% of people make “New Year’s Resolutions”; everyone at some time has, and even when you say you won’t you just resolved not to do it!

Yet even with so many making these resolutions, they rarely ever “stick”. Research over the years has concluded that about 80% of all New Year’s Resolutions are broken by the end of January. Of resolutions having to do with health and fitness, 90% will be broken by the middle of January. By the end of the year, less than 5% will have kept their resolutions. Articles are written every year to help us keep our goals intact this year, finally.

Why do we make them? We want to make ourselves better. Why do they fail? For many and various reasons, but as a Christian, I want you to think about something. Too often, resolutions are about our will but we are supposed to be concerned with God’s will. We are trying to triumph over our own selves when we should be advancing in the grace that has us submitting our will to God. We might think that by making resolutions we are doing this, and that in this or that way is where we would like to see God move this next year. But is that where God wants to move this year? When it becomes obvious during the year, during each day where He is trying to shape us, do we still have the will, or does He control it? It is God who controls the situations, not we, and to try and control every situation is to be controlled by every situation. Think about it in the context of the following verses from that most practical of books, James 4:13-17:

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"-- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t make “resolutions”, not at all, as we consider the opening verse of this post. However, we must consider more carefully our motives. We cannot simply say I’m going to do this or that; we may want to “do” something but the “source” and the “motive” are most important. You cannot just tack on “I’m doing it for Jesus” because you think that is the right answer. That would be just like those little prayers that someone who feels guilty at the moment says but doesn’t really mean; it is man power not God’s power doing that. Did you ask God what He wanted you to do for this New Year? You can be sure that through your experiences this year that He will let you know (if you are truly listening) what He would like you to be doing. As in stop speeding your car when you get caught again.

The truth is that we can say we want something “For His glory” and still have mostly selfish motives. Do you know why this or that would give Him glory? Even if it is a good thing that would glorify Him, do you want that thing to change so that it will satisfy you more than wanting it to glorify Him? Check yourself. Oswald Chambers said, “You cannot sanctify to God that with which you aim to satisfy yourself”. Let us look at a few verses and apply them to this context.

Psalm 139:23-24 – Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Psalm 19:12-14 – Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 51:6 – Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

He will lead you and you must follow, and you know this to be true, He puts you in situations to let you know where your faith is. Stopping sin in its tracks is well, of course, but we often want only to be rid of embarrassing things rather than root causes which will pop up in some other form unless dealt with. We too often want to treat the symptom instead of God bringing the cure. Instead of wanting to get rid of that glaring sin, how about the sin no one sees, which may very well be the reason you stay in this other, more gross and overt sin, because if you were not, you would be swelled up with pride, perhaps, and so you must be kept down lest you become spoiled in your gifts. God will lead you to this end, but you must submit when the opportunities present themselves. In this way you will know Gods’ power, as you submit, and work out your salvation with fear and trembling, and see that it is indeed He who is working both to will and to do of His good pleasure in conforming you to Christ. Renew your mind around these meditations.

We make New Year’s Resolutions because we think we want to “turn over a new leaf”, but as Christians we have already turned ourselves over to Christ, and sometimes our efforts at turning over a new leaf are just as if it was Adam and Eve turning over their fig leafs! It isn’t what we really need, and it is works righteousness, when what we need is to live in the grace and godliness that God Himself provides and directs us to as we submit to Him through our experience. This is not willpower but living God’s will.

Let me give you another example. Your resolution might be to lose weight, and you may even have reasoned that it would give God glory because it is taking better care of the body He has given you. It will give you more energy to witness more or whatever, and it will stop your gluttony. This can be good of course, but we ought not to avoid those other things that keep popping up in places we should submit but never have. This is where God is obviously leading, He wants us to do right in those areas, and we keep seeing opportunities to submit and obey, but we want our agenda first. It would be even better if you paid attention to what God is bringing your way this week as you get caught once again for speeding, or someone reminds you that they haven’t talked to you in a while or seen you at church, or your friend or relative comes to mind for you to pray for, etc. Our resolution should be to submit. Do you see what I mean now?

Our New Year’s Resolution should center on asking God that in His grace we would submit to His will more as it appears before us. That we would trust Him, and instead of trying to make ourselves into some type of thing we think God would be pleased with, we would actually start becoming it by following where He is leading. Again, I am not saying we shouldn’t make resolutions, but I am saying we should pay attention to what God puts on our plate and not avoid that thing as if our agenda is more important. “No God, not that, do this” is in effect what we are saying. Perhaps, instead of telling God in what areas we would like molded, we would ask that we might submit to His molding process this year.

Each morning, ask for wisdom (James 1:5). “Father, give me the grace to realize opportunities to be submitted to your will this day, in Jesus name”, and then expect opportunities. It is submitting to God’s plan as revealed in time by circumstances presenting themselves to you.

Then the question is do you have faith? Our problem is that we just don’t want to be vulnerable; we cover it all up. All this does is delay the divine directive. Instead, the more we submit to it the more we will see it work. Yes we are to be willing and intentional about killing off sin, but we must remember, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31), and He is the one who brings us to battle. Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered (Proverbs 28:26). Stop trying to fit yourself into the mold you think Jesus will be pleased with, and start letting it happen for real. After all, it is Jesus who tells us to take up our cross and follow Him, not the other way around.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

The Long Walk of Faith

So Abraham called the name of that place, "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."
(Genesis 22:14 – ESV)

The journey to Moriah took three days, like Jesus spending three days in the tomb before the resurrection. Abraham walks three days to deliver his son as a sacrifice. Jesus walks three years to deliver Himself as a sacrifice. Abraham and Isaac are a type of the sacrifice of Christ, but their faith was no match for the Son of God. They were they type; He is the antitype, the fulfillment.

We can be in situations and we can realize that we are being tried, tested, and proven (1 Peter 1:7). If everything you have, everything you hold on to, everything that means anything is being taken away, you still have Jesus (Hebrews 13:5). He will not leave, He cannot be taken away, and we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Christ has made the journey. He has perfected the walk. He has made the sacrifice.

Jesus had to taste the torment of knowing He was going to be giving up His own life, but more than that, He tasted death for all men (Hebrews 2:9). This was not simply the physical pain of the cross but also having to drink the cup of the wrath of God against the sin of you and me, of all God’s children. Jesus suffered torment, not just of having done it his own way and then having to walk the long road, as Abraham had to do. Christ had never done it His own way, but He only ever did it His Father’s way, and yet He had to walk that long road, and taste death for all our sins.

By this type God’s people were to be trained to look for Christ. The Tabernacle and then the Temple were also pictures of the Ultimate Sacrifice seen in the death of Jesus. We can now look back and see God’s grand design and His masterful work in painting us pictures of redemption.

Now it is our chance to live as portraits of His grace, pictures of redemption, living sacrificial lives that point to our Master and the Maestro behind it all. Does you life point to the beauty of Christ? Does it glorify Him? Are you on that path? Are you keeping your eyes on Him even as the pressure may mount? Are you learning to trust Him and treasure Him above all else?

Look to Christ, learn of His greatness, His glory, of His love for you, and you will learn to love Him, and loving Him, you will learn to live like Him. The sound you will hear, the song that will move you, is the sweet sound of salvation, which is the Master Plan from the Maestros hand. We know that we will have tough and trying times in this life but our God is working it out according to His plan, and we can rest assured in Him (John 16:2-4, 2 Peter 3:14-18).

The introductory verse of Genesis 22:1 helps the reader understand that God never intended to allow the sacrifice of Isaac to come to full fruition. The test was not known to Abraham but God was known by Abraham – this is also what we see with Job 13:15, Daniel 3, Matthew 10:25, Luke 12:4-5. When you know the character of God you will trust Him, when you know the love of God you will treasure Him.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

What about Isaac?

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
(Genesis 22:9 – ESV)

How would God fulfill His promise to Abraham that Isaac would have many descendants, one of these being the Messiah, if he was supposed to kill him? Abraham could only speculate, but he trusted God, because he knew God. Abraham drew a conclusion; "God will raise Isaac back to life" (Hebrews 11:17-19).

How did Abraham “know” that God would not allow the seed, Isaac, to be destroyed? God had promised a seed from Sarah, and God had delivered in spite of Abraham having gone against the plan of God, thinking he was going for the plan of God, in having Ishmael. God made it right even though Abraham had messed up, so that is why he could trust this time when asked to offer up Isaac. We make mistakes, we still sin, we think we are following God and we are not at times, but even when you have done wrong you can trust Him to make it right if you will walk on the right path now, and when you fall down again, you get back up and trust again.

Now we often look at the faith of Abraham, but what about the faith of Isaac? He must have known he was the promised seed. He must have been able to stop his old father from sacrificing him, but he went along with it. We cannot know for certain what age he was, but we do have some clues. Isaac was given the task of carrying the wood for the impending sacrifice, enough wood to consume a human body when set on fire. Joseph is called a lad at the age of seventeen (Genesis 37:2) and at the age of thirty (Genesis 41:12, 46). The men with him are also called by the same Hebrew word. It would seem he was at least a young man, and not a child.

Abraham didn’t know exactly what was going to happen but on he went anyway, as did Isaac. An altar was constructed, wood arranged, and Isaac bound, a process that probably took 2-3 hours. What discussion must have been happening? Isaac had heard his father tell the servants that they would return, and he had also asked Abraham, basically, “Hey, what’s going on here?” (Genesis 22:5-8). His father replied that God would provide a sacrifice, and Isaac had to trust his fathers, both heavenly and earthly, as he allowed himself to be bound on the altar of sacrifice. Like Isaac we need to have faith in our Heavenly Father even when it seems as if we are on the chopping block. Abraham’s trust that God will provide doesn’t reduce his agony, agony grips his every step up the mountain. Isaac also trusted that God would do what was right even if it meant he would be the sacrifice.

It is interesting that some Jewish commentaries state that Isaac with the wood on his back is like a condemned man, carrying his own cross! Of course we know it to be a type of the Messiah, Jesus (John 19:17). It is also interesting in that we also have a cross to bear so that we may identify with Christ. He does the work but we carry the name and bear the cross, and share in His sufferings, but also His comfort. Abraham had to have faith for the “long haul”. Isaac had to have faith right in the most intense moments. We go through both.

It is hard to stay committed to something we don't value. We might think we value God, but increasing trials point to the truth. Is God increasing in value to us? He must be if we are to face increasing trials. Is future grace and God’s glory more of a treasure to you than pleasure or temporal relief of pain, especially as the pressure mounts? Sometimes we aren’t certain about what is going on, but we can know for certain that God will make everything work to our own good even if we have to suffer the details while we are on the way (Romans 8:28). We must learn to value our relationship with God, and this will increase our spiritual vision.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Dead Man Walking

On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
(Genesis 22:4 – ESV)

In this scene it starts out hard but gets harder every step of the way as the details are filled in. Abraham had been walking with God, he had been given the promise, and he had received the seed, the one that started the line that would give us the Messiah, though whom the whole world would be blessed. But now he is being asked to destroy the dream, and he had already thrown Ishmael out of the camp.

Imagine that night before; Abraham must have had restless sleep, if any. In the early morning hours, instead of having his servants saddle his ride, or cut the wood, he did the work. When he got up early and got everything together, including Isaac, what did Sarah think? What did Abraham say to her? We do not know.

Imagine the walk, and how hard it was to keep his eyes on God and His will. He could have turned back or taken some other way, no one else would have known, no one else would have thought him to be doing anything wrong. It was a long walk alone with God and the knowledge of what he was about to do, but it still was about the walk with others as well. There was plenty of time to turn back, three days at least, and then it was still far off, the long climb to the certain death of his son, it would seem. Oh the temptations to turn back, or stand still or not to finish it out, and no on else would even have to know! How often this has been us!

From other narratives we know that Abraham did reason with the Father about things he didn’t understand, although he would still submit to them. He made his case, and said, in effect, not my will but thine be done. In Genesis 15:2-3, he raised an objection to God's promise; in 15:8, he raised a doubt; in 17:17 and following, he tries to get God to bless him his own way; and in 18:23-33, he reasoned with God on the basis of God's character.

Above all, fellowship with God was what Abraham treasured. Abraham wasn’t sending the promised seed to its destruction, even if Isaac had to die. No, he wasn’t abandoning the promise; he was fulfilling it, taking it one step at a time. Not in his own strength, but in faith, with the power of God, as a soldier in the Lord’s Army.

God has promised to be with us every step of the way (Psalm 23:4), but we aren’t promised that we will see every step along the way. That is what dying to self, and walking in faith is about. We think that we cannot do it, but the Bible begs to differ. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:24). We can see the far future, and we know the end result will be to our good and God’s glory (Romans 8:28-30), but for now we must be as dead men walking.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Right Here Now

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."
(Genesis 22:1 – ESV)

The text says that God was testing Abraham “after these things”. What things? The background to this is helpful in our understanding of this scenario as it goes forward. Specifically he had just sent Ishmael from the camp (Genesis 21:14). Abraham had done it his way, and now, having lost Ishmael, he would have to seemingly let go of Isaac also! Was Abraham supposed to just let go of God’s promise? Why would God now tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?

Imagine how difficult this whole event must have been. We only see the resolve to do what was commanded, and this is to drive the point home, no other words are given so as not to dilute the potency of the pressure which must have been palpable. Looking at the text and comparing it to events in our lives, we can all feel it. It was tangible; Abraham could taste the torment of those moments, as he drove Ishmael out of the camp, as God told him he would have to sacrifice Isaac, as he took the long journey up the mountain, all the while knowing what was about to happen. Abraham had to be fully committed right then in the now, or he would fail in the near future. In a sense, it isn’t hard to see our own lives within this story.

We often have to go through a long haul and often against heavy odds, and have to suffer many stresses and struggles, loss and anguish, to follow after God when it seems He is actually coming against us. This passage teaches us that we must still have faith; we must still trust God even when our eyes see things that tell us not to. We must truly surrender our hearts to God. We must let go of our own way, of trying to help God out, not wanting to wait, not wanting to have to go through any pain, not wanting to sacrifice something we worked so hard and so long for, not wanting to throw it all away, not wanting to admit it was all wrong. We must stop trying to justify ourselves or our actions, stop trying to add our works to His words, and stop trying to hide behind some pretense to good motives. It is time for full commitment, right here now.

After these things, this is when the test comes. After having done it our way, now we try and do it God’s way, and it seems to be getting worse. The life we dreamed about and we think God has promised us is being torn apart by God Himself! This text should help us to stop guessing about why some things just don’t seem to go the way we think they are supposed to. We abort our assignments because we think God is going to abort our dreams. However, if Abraham, who is our father in the faith (cf. Romans 4:1) had to learn to fully commit then so do we. Abraham kept on believing God, and that is why he could keep on going forward in faith.

We are often asked, “Why does it always seem like everything goes wrong, even when I try and follow God?” Sometimes it is because we just try God on a trial basis. We will follow until it doesn’t go our way, but that is the problem, we still want to go our way. We want God to make the path nice and easy and then we will follow; we will only repent and obey to the extent that it satisfies our own desires. Instead God must be what we learn to desire, what we learn to place our value in, and then as we treasure Him above all else we will pass the tests, we will learn God, love God, and live God, and not worry so much about our own agenda. Then when it rains we won’t complain, when we lose things we gain God, and we will press on in faith.

It is time to stop pretending and time to be repenting. Just because they are spelled with most of the same letters doesn’t mean you can get the order wrong. It is time to stop trying to get God on our agenda, and time to start getting on God’s agenda, no matter what we might have to do. We have to give up our right to govern ourselves according to our tired old selfish nature. Partial commitment will lead to part time Christianity, with the eventual downgrade, back into the old way you never really left from. Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered (Proverbs 28:26). We need to commit, or else we will quit. It is time to let our Lord be our Lord, for real. Things may seem cloudy in the short term, but we need to have a long term vision about what God is doing in us and where He wants to take us, and learn to value it, even when we are made to change course, or we won’t act right. Here. Now.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Feel Good Faith

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it
(2 Timothy 3:14 – ESV)

When it comes to spirituality, something more than the Bible will give you something less than Jesus Christ. Don’t settle, and don’t look for something more.

Now I am not talking about acquiring life skills, learning, and the discovery of our natural world. It is right and good to gain knowledge, skills, and to develop our understanding of things. It is right to make progress in politics, in human rights, it is right to try and stop poverty, and war, and to fly to the moon and beyond. It is good for technology to help in our studies and for our societal issues. However, when seeking God and spiritual growth, accept nothing less than the Holy Spirit revealing Jesus Christ as found in the Word. If something claiming to be spiritually good for Christians doesn’t line up with what the scriptures teach, it is in the line heading for hell. If something about spirituality isn’t found in accord with the Bible, it isn’t what you need. If you don’t see it in the Bible, don’t look for it now. Don’t fall for counterfeit Christianity and superstition just because you yearn to see the supernatural. If you learn to discern what the Bible teaches, you’ll put yourself further from deception’s reaches.

People often are deceived because they can become so desperate that they begin looking for someone to confirm what they want to hear. Most often what they want to hear is that there is some solution, some fix, something they can do to receive relief, blessing, or fulfillment of some felt or real need, right now, or soon enough. They don’t want to wait, but they have to because they are on the wrong track. When it doesn’t work they are told that they are the problem, and the cycle starts all over again. The wind up never getting what it is they want, but they spend all their energy trying to get it, and running to and fro to meetings, seeking to be at the place where “the Spirit is moving”, or looking for “prophetic” teachers, and “apostles” or elites who are selling something or promising something, or who are all hyped up and talking of the “anointing”, the “glory” or whatever the lingo is this time. Their desperation leads to deception.

Somebody tells them if they just try and reinvigorate or fulfill this Old Testament type it will bring blessing, and they think it is deep stuff. If they just let loose and let themselves shake, rattle, and roll they will dance into dominion over their defeat. If they will just sow seed into this or that “good soil” they will reap their heavenly harvest a little early. They get flattered with words like warriors, intercessors; it is always something new, something novel, something more.

It would seem that most people would wake up and smell the coffee of confusion they have been brewing and stewing in, that they would see the treadmill of frustration they are on, and begin to call out these charlatans for what they are, snake oil salesmen, as in serpent in the garden of Eden type. Alas, many people always want something more than hope in heaven, more than the Word, more than Christ. They lose all sense of discernment, and are willing to accept anything and everything that has any semblance of spirituality in it, as long as it promises a hope of relief. They aren’t looking to know God; they are looking to feel good.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Minimum Wage

So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"
(Luke 17:10 – ESV)

Do you have to be baptized, do you have to take Communion, do you have to give money to the church, do you have to go to church every week, do you have to read your Bible every day, how often do you have to pray, and on and on and on. How many times have you heard these or similar questions? How many times have you wondered about them yourself?

Well, we need to think about these things, not because we need the answer, but because the questions themselves reveal a wrong mindset. It is a worldly one that is reflected in the way the world thinks, you know, do just enough to make the boss happy, just enough to earn that diploma or degree, or take just the minimum amount of pills to get well, etc., etc. They just want to be done with it and get on with their lives. The kingdom of God isn’t like that, however.

Considering these things and other questions like them, ask yourself why. Why do you want to do it? Cause you have to, or because you want to be recognized? If you want to do any of these things so that you can be blessed or keep from making God mad, then I say don’t do it. That’s right I’m talking to you, don’t do it. Now if you want to do these things, not to be blessed but so that you may bless God, please avail yourself of every opportunity.

If some were to tell the truth, if they didn’t feel like they had to do it they wouldn’t do it at all, and that is the real reason for the questions. For others, it is just a fear thing, they want to make sure, but when they feel like they have made sure then they feel like they can live any way they want, they’ve done what they’ve “had” to do. It is sort of like the lawyer who asked Jesus who was his neighbor. He didn’t do that so he could find out whom he needed to love, but to find out whom he didn’t have to love. He wasn’t looking to include people, but to exclude them.

When we have this same attitude we are looking, not to include God in our lives, but to exclude Him. We may add Him to our lives in increasing ways, but only in activity not in real devotion. The minimum requirement mentality can do these things divorced from the heart. If they feel things aren’t going the way they want, to get God off their back they just add another thing to the list. They could fill up every box on this imaginary list and still God not have their heart. He wants us to want Him not to simply dispatch our duty. You could do all your duty and still Jesus says that all it means is that you are an unprofitable servant. Your faith has to go further than that. God doesn’t want us working on a minimum requirement resume.

We ought to be finding new ways to walk the extra mile, not looking for any way to get out of going the first mile. If that is the way you feel about serving God, why would you want to be in heaven? Oh, I see, you just want to find a way out of hell. Sounds to me like you already know what that is like. You have a habit of turning blessings into burdens.

One of the benefits of Christ paying the price of redemption for us is that we might be able to bless Him. When you in turn pay the price to bless Him, you are the one who gets blessed. We should see these things, things like obeying Him by being baptized, or taking Communion, living a moral, godly life, praying, reading our Bible, and yes, giving, as gifts we can enjoy giving to God, not as burdens we must bear lest we be lost. Besides, we are earning wages in heaven for such things, let alone the fact that they please God. Christ gave us many such blessings, different ways to be able to be like Him. Don’t look for a list of minimum requirements. Don’t settle for minimum wage.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

The Guiding Hand

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
(Psalm 51:6 – ESV)

Your effectiveness as a Christian, in prayer and in all of life, is directly tied to your intimate relationship with Christ. The more intimate, the more sanctified, and the way to know Christ intimately is to know His sacrifice. The more we experientially sacrifice, the more intimately we know Him.

However, I am talking about sacrifice on His terms, not ours. That would include our obedience, because it is to sacrifice our fleshly desires. Hebrews 12:2 – it was for the joy of the sacrifice that Jesus gave His life, and He had to come to that place in Gethsemane, honestly pleading, and that is where we must start too. Don’t just give up something if there is no joy in it, first go to God and plead with Him, tell Him the truth about why you don’t want to give something up, and be willing to let Him make you into a joyfully sacrificial Christian.

Submit to the Guiding Hand instead of always opposing where it is leading. You know God is leading you to do away with that sin, but you want to save it till some later time when you think you will be stronger, more ready. By doing that you are opposing God. Instead you must learn submission by allowing yourself to be influenced by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the body when and while they appear before you, in those moments.

It is not your well mapped out battle plan that gets the job done, but submitting to God’s plan as revealed in time by experience and circumstance presenting themselves to you, and then the question is do you have faith? Yes we are to be willing and intentional about killing off sin, but we must remember, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31), and He is the one who brings us to battle.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Faith

And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.
(1 John 5:4 – ESV)

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The reason why God’s commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3) is because of the power we have received from God upon being born again, attested to by our faith. We can continue to keep the righteousness of God and His commands to us in view, in focus, and stay on target, because even when then world would try and drag us back, the power of God brings us through. That is the power of the faith that God gives us to overcome the world. Faith is more about being a martyr than it is moving a mountain. The mountains moved might be when they have fallen on top of you, yet they hold no eternal weight to truly crush you. They have been moved, they are light as a feather compared to the weight of glory (Romans 8:17-18).

Faith is not the power to zap problems out of existence; it is the power to trust in God even when they are trying to zap you out of existence. Faith is not “I now have enough so I don’t have to go through those things again”; it is “look, even though I have gone through these things my faith in God is intact, and even stronger”. It is not, “I won’t be beat down again”, it is, “Pressed but not crushed, struck down but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Overcoming doesn’t mean overpowering the natural, it means being able to survive spiritually despite being overwhelmed in the natural. We overcome even when we die (Romans 8:35-39). We overcome the devil and the world by Jesus, loving Him more than life itself, and sometimes having to die to prove it (Revelation 12:11). We have overcome Satan’s accusations because we count on the blood of Christ as our righteousness.

This isn’t about living some successful, victorious, abundant, physically rich and healthy life, it is about things that money cannot buy, and the devil cannot steal. The abundant life that Jesus says Satan is trying to steal, kill, and destroy, he can’t, because it is spiritual abundance (John 10:10). Our faith is what teaches us that (1 John 5:4). The victory that overcomes the world even our faith doesn’t mean our faith gets us out of the problems it means we remain faithful even while we are in them! We have been granted the faith and the power to endure suffering not to remove it. It isn’t the more faith you have the less suffering and trials you will have but the more faith you have the more faithful you will be during them! We keep on conquering what the world would try and have us do, turn our backs on God, and instead, our faith turns us back to God, crying Abba Father (Romans 8:15)!

When the rest of the world would fear, Jesus says fear not, because even though you will have trials, troubles, and tribulation in this world He has overcome it (John 16:33). THAT is how we identify with Christ, even while we are being shot at with flaming arrows from the enemy. Overcoming is not, “I can avoid all falls”, but “nothing can keep me down”. Not, “I will never have any bruises”, but “I will continue to fight on”. Not, “There will be no more pain”, but “I can see the redeeming power of Christ through it”.

I don’t want you to feel guilty for feeling good, and if things are good rejoice. But when things aren’t so good, rejoice, because they will be eventually, and that for eternity (James 1:2 / Philippians 4:4). That is the eye of faith. Faith isn’t, “I can take control in Jesus’ name, and I can do what I will”, it is “I give God control in Jesus’ name, and He can do what He will”. Amen.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

The Place of Grace

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
(Hebrews 4:16 – ESV)

The writer to the Hebrews is putting this all together now. Let us therefore with assurance keep coming, we are free to speak, we can confidently approach the throne of God in His grace. We can enter in because He has entered in. Since we do have such a Great High Priest, we can enter into the presence of God and find provision. We can come to Him for grace so that we will not yield under the pressure, and for mercy if and when we do.

That we may receive mercy and find grace – receive and find, both verbs are in the aorist tense, for specific situations, both in the subjunctive mood, which means it is a contingent thing; you have to come and get it.

To help – to undergird like we see it used in Acts 27:17 – help in righting the ship.

With Jesus on the throne we can have confidence that we can get the help we need. We can find mercy and grace, mercy to not get what I do deserve, and grace to get what I don’t deserve. Mercy to forgive me for that thing I did, and grace to help me to not do it again. We don't escape the pain, the stress, the disappointments, the suffering, the tragedy, the frustrations and pressures of life in this world. But we do have a place where we can go to find mercy and grace to help us. At that place we have Someone who sympathizes with us, is willing and able to help us, who has no limits to His resources, and we can go to Him anytime, and He will help us right on time.

In time of need – now we are always needy, but this means timely, right on time, in the nick of time, well timed for your situation. He can help us, He is willing to help us, and if we enter in He will help us, and He will do it right on time. We can grab a hold of it and have confidence in it.

This is the big picture of Hebrews 4:11-16: the Bible and prayer. It is about the written Word and the Living Word, about repentance and faith. The Word of God speaks to you, and you speak to the Word of God. You see your need through the Word, you take hold of that Word and bring it to God who is ready, willing and able to help you get the most out of it. The battle is won in prayer. That is how you enter in.

God’s Word reveals to you something He wants to operate on. You pray to Him in faith, repenting and telling Him you will trust Him to operate, to be the Great High Priest, the Great Physician in your life, to stop trying to do it in your own power. Later, when you are up against temptation, right then at that moment, rush in, don’t wait, and don’t cave in to pressure, but enter in to prayer.

When we are faced with difficulty, we either enter in or stay away, we either panic or we pray. The Jews at Kadesh-barnea were facing giants, and they panicked and never entered in. The Jewish converts in this passage were under heavy persecution, they were being publicly scorned, losing property, and being put in prison, and they needed to be warned not to fall back. God was showing them where they were faltering, and they needed to pray for help. Jesus suffered under more pressure than anyone in history, and He knows what you are going through, right when you are going through it. We should follow Him to the Promised Land.

Instead of yielding to temptation, next time enter in and ask for mercy and grace to help you in your time of need. Since we do have Christ as our High Priest, we can enter in to His rest.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Grab a Hold

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
(Hebrews 4:14 – ESV)

Since then means therefore, a conclusion – applying what he is now going to say to what he has already said. Who He is (Son of God, High Priest) and where He is (the heavens). He is the right person, in the right place, for our right now time. That is why we can seize the opportunity for help. We can enter in because He has entered in. He is in the right position, as far as purpose, as far as place, and as far as power.

Purpose – We have a great high priest – the Greek means “mega” – the OT High priest was in symbol the way, but Christ is the real deal. The High Priest of the Tabernacle couldn’t rest in the Most Holy Place, he could go in only once per year, and couldn’t wait around, he had to get the incense in and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat and then leave. He couldn’t stay in the presence of God. Christ is different – Jesus sat down, and He has taken all of us with Him.

Place – Who has passed through the heavens – perfect tense, an event with continuous results, Jesus has taken His place in the throne room. He has passed through the heavens to sit at the right hand of the Father, where He performs as our High Priest. He’s in the right place.

Power – Jesus the Son of God, who has gone into the Most Holy place in heaven and sat down at God’s right hand, He is our High Priest, He is able to do what we need, He is in the right place to do it, and He has unlimited resources. He is the Son of God, the right man for the job.

Now through the Word you know what you need but you also need to know who can help you. As it is said, it is not what you know but who you know. You could know you need your roof fixed, but do you know a roofer? You could have a perfect diagnosis as to your illness, and even know exactly what medicine to take and even have it on your shelf, but if you don’t take it you won’t get cured. You could know all the theology in the Bible but if you don’t place your faith in Jesus it will do you no good. It is not just what you know, but who you know.

Yes, we should come to know the things of God revealed in the Bible, we should study it, intensely and continuously. However, some are so fixed on looking at the trees they miss the fact that they are in the forest. The Jews of the day were so fixed on letters and words they missed the bigger picture of Divine intent and meaning (John 5:39-40). In all our studies in the Word of God we must remember that the God of the Word is whom we seek.

Let us hold fast our confession – this is the exhortation – Christ is the object of our confession. Confession is homologia (Gr.) – to speak the same – keep that Word within us, homogenize, to make us like it. We agree with God, with His Word, we have been exposed and we agree, we need a savior, a sanctifier, or to be rid of something so as to obtain rest from it. I speak the same thing as God has told me to. The Word abides in me.

Hold fast – krateo (Gr.) – to seize it with strength, present tense (keep on doing it, now), active voice (you take the action, not passive, not to yourself), subjunctive mood (conditional).

Hold fast in Hebrews 4:14 is different word than Hebrews 3:6,14 (which means possessing), there it is holding onto, in 4:14 it is reaching out and getting it, once you have it you hold onto it, but you have to take it first, one means “hold on tight”, the other “get a hold of it quick”, the latter being the meaning here.

Let us seize the opportunities we have to take hold of Christ (Philippians 3:12 uses a different word but it reminds us that Paul said His conversion was the beginning, not the end of the chase). Let us hold fast, grasp it, seize it, make it ours and become one with it. Having the written Word active in your life, as you are allowing Him to operate on you through it, you are entering in and you can take that word and let it make you more like Christ, you seize the moment.

We have an inside man, we have a connection, and this man is in the right position to help us, that is His purpose, He’s in the right place, and He has the power. Grab a hold of Him.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Rising to Truth

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.
(Micah 7:8-9 – ESV)

When we mess up real bad, and we lack an assurance of our salvation, we need to focus on the more complete truth, which includes the primacy of Christ’s sacrifice for the payment of our sins. The current truth is that you are guilty, you have sinned, but the ongoing truth, the complete truth is that you are also forgiven, and that you will rise up again. You may feel His righteous chastisement, but He will always bring you back into His loving arms once again. Indeed, because He chastises you, this is the indication that you never left. Repent, and be restored to the joy of God’s salvation with a blessed assurance.

Of course, our sin is personal and we cannot simply expect theological ramblings to help us if they remain cold, sterile, and impersonal. These things must be lived out in community. Often what we need is to do a better job modeling brokenness and forgiveness in church. Somehow, we don't trust grace; we think we need to shame people into repentance first. I disagree with that. God's way is love; we draw people to repentance by showing them how much more beautiful life is when we are free from sin and free to love.

We think freedom from sin means an absence of desire, but it doesn’t. What it does mean is that I am free to not sin, not that I am never going to have sinful desires. I have a choice; I can enter in, or fall back into sin. Our flesh is not cured by God it is killed by God, and we live that out by faith. We are able to rise up again. Whatever the issues may be, the single issue has been forever settled in your favor. Rise up to Him in faith.

When you are able to see this beautiful truth of the gospel more and more clearly you will sin less and less, because Christ will become more and more what you treasure. We have this great treasure and a down payment in our lowly bodies, these jars of clay hold the power of God. We have nothing of ourselves to boast about, but we can always be boasting of the cross, what God has done for us in Christ. That is something worth being thankful for. It is the reason we come to church, and why we can rejoice in Christ with one another. It means that I can believe in God and I can believe in you because you believe in God. We are justified by faith, and we can live by that same faith. Amen.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Single Issue Voter

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
(Romans 3:28 – ESV)

Paul anticipated what critics might say and then answered the charges. In perhaps similar fashion, when speaking of the glory of the great doctrines, you might hear someone say something like this. “Well this all just too abstract for me, what does doctrine do for me right now, how can I get a grip on what it means for today?” Okay, lets “go there”.

Let me start by saying that doctrine is the tool that helps you grow. It is a process, and it becomes applied as we live out life, not as we take them like a pill, but as we plant them like a seed. We see the doctrine, and what it says about Christ and about us, and we meet that with our faith, and it blooms as fruit in our lives. We don’t just look at it and then write it down or fill out some form, we believe it and become conformed into His image, from glory to glory as we see and believe it more and more (2 Corinthians 3:18).

It happens best within the context of a local church community but it is not an impersonal thing, but a very personal thing where the great doctrines make a great difference in our everyday living. And these particular doctrines are all-important, not only for our justification, but for our sanctification, our growth in grace, and we must understand that Jesus is the source of your life, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). Now let me just bring these doctrines right into your personal life right now, okay? So how does this filter out into giving God glory in my life? I’ll just apply this to one area that many have trouble with, perhaps all of us at times.

Many people measure their spirituality based solely on their self-control in one area or another. If they are “being good” in that one area that they are struggling with, then they feel spiritual, if not, then they feel like a failure spiritually. It is all or none, in a sense. It can be hard to help people find balance when they gauge the health of their relationship with Christ on a single issue – such as their sexual purity, anger issues, their thought life, or something else. Now we don’t want to give license to licentiousness or to excuse or encourage a lack of effort to control the self life, but instead of thinking solely about one issue as a measure, consider the whole life, are you advancing anywhere at all, in many areas, perhaps even in most areas?

If you are a “single issue voter” this may be why you fail to see your relationship with Christ as it is, a growing and complex dynamic of repentance and faith, based on His works, His love, His steadfastness. When a single issue carries so much weight the guilt and shame of failure can overwhelm a person. It also may be the reason why you neglect other areas, and as a result the whole life, spiritual and otherwise, suffers. Pay attention to your failings, sure, but don’t give them any more weight than they ought to have, and keep thanking God for the victories He has given you, and pray for more, all the while counting on this fact: it is not what we did, it is what He did that counts. The single issue has been forever settled in your favor.

Yes the sin is a problem, but it can lead to a greater problem because it can lead to more failure. The greater tragedy is not the failure of the individual sin, but when it leads to the failure to get back up, to be so swept away with guilt and shame that we let it bring us back down, away from any chance of victory. We settle for settling into a rut of routine spirituality, thinking that this is all there is, and we let the devil win, keeping us from becoming more solid in other areas as we lose the fight with this one issue. However, we must realize that the mark of faith is not that I don’t fail but that I do fight.

God makes a way where there is no way. There was no way for a man to be perfect and the Law pointed that out. By the deeds of the Law no man will be justified, but by faith in the person and works of Christ any man may be justified. This is the one necessary thing to salvation; you see it is God who is a single-issue voter, and He always wins the election. Have faith.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Above the Law?

He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
(Romans 3:30 – ESV)

Although we are not under the Law we are not above it either, but rather we are more in tune with its spiritual components, a heart circumcised to believe and obey, trusting in Him and glorifying His name through our obedience; not being saved by it but being saved we fulfill it. Justification does not mean to be righteous or to make righteous but to declare righteous, for the Christian we are declared righteous based on the perfect righteousness of Jesus the Messiah. He has fulfilled the Law for us and by our faith we establish that fact.

The Law still has purposes, for the non-believer and also for the believer. It is designed to lead people to the gospel of Christ (Galatians 3:19-23) and also to indict what is not in accord with the gospel (Galatians 2:14). Using the Law lawfully (1 Timothy 1:8-9) means using it to convict people of living out of accordance with the gospel. It is for those that don’t know it and for those that should know better. That is why we use both, we give the Law to the proud and grace to the humble, both Christian and non-Christian.

Through faith or by faith means that our faith is not the ground or that we are saved on account of our faith, but that it is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). God is absolutely holy and just, and so any justification, any declaration of righteousness, any acquittal of guilt, must be on a just basis; it must be right to do so. The penalty of the Law had to be satisfied and Christ paid that for us, and so God declares us righteous not on some whim, but because of Christ, and it is a just declaration. We are guilty but Christ pays the penalty, and then God is just in justifying the ungodly (Romans 4:5), declaring us righteous, because of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to our account (2 Corinthians 5:21).

As we see in Romans 3:24-26, the substitutionary atonement is the reason we can be justified by faith. It is faith in the person of Jesus and His finished work on the cross. With the wonderful doctrines of substitutionary atonement and justification by faith you can rest assured of your salvation, and as you cling to Christ in faith, you can conquer those voices that tell you tomorrow morning that you are a hopeless case. You don’t have to remember the names of the doctrines to remember who and what they are about. Jesus Christ dying for your sins and giving you a right standing before a satisfied God. By abiding in Christ by faith, you are not above the Law; in Christ you have fulfilled it.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©