Don’t allow your feelings, finances, or friendships to steer
you away from the will of God. Those are all important things, but don’t let
these things take the lead and keep you from following Jesus as the central aim
of your life. Don’t let a dream situation, a dream job, or a dream relationship
become the thing you pursue to the detriment or denial of your faith. Any dream
that requires you to venture outside the will of God is a nightmare.
Of course, people will try and justify their actions by
thinking about the good that they might be able to do because of the action. But
to do this is to simply justify the action after the fact, when the action itself
is wrong in the first place. You might tell yourself or others, “Well, if I do
this then we can do this or this”, but you can’t do wrong to get a chance to do
right. And you can’t put good things as the reason for denying God things. That
is idolatry.
Speaking of idolatry, think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
(Daniel 3:13-18). King Nebuchadnezzar told these young men that he would spare their
lives if they bowed down to his golden statue. They said no. How could they deny
God in such a way?
But now imagine if Nebuchadnezzar went further, and told them
that he would release all Israel from captivity if they just bowed down to his
idol. What an opportunity! They would be heroes! Surely, God would be pleased.
Surely, he wanted his people set free. Surely, this must be his will. But their
answer would still have been no.
Think about Jesus with Satan on top of the mountain (Matthew
4:8-10). The Devil said he would give Jesus the whole world if he would just bow
down to him. But Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You
shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Lady Folly tells you to gratify your desires (Proverbs 7:18).
But Lady Wisdom says nothing you desire can compare with her (Proverbs 3:15). Don’t
be a fool. Mark 8:36 – For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world
and forfeit his soul?
To follow Jesus despite potential loss is the opportunity of
a lifetime. It shows the world his worth to you.
…feed me with the food that is needful for me (Proverbs 30:8 - ESV)
Have you understood the truth that where God places you He graces you (2 Corinthians 12:9)? When you look back on your life, and as you grow in grace, you discover the hand of providence has always been there for you. It has taken on and worked through many forms. The life of Christ has incarnated in more than one person you have encountered, and this has helped you along your way.
One way is through the parents. Babies cannot feed themselves. Toddlers may be able to stuff food in their mouths, but they cannot handle proper eating utensils. Children may be able to use a knife and a fork, but left to their own devices they would subsist on a diet of sweets and snacks. Teenagers may be able to cook for themselves, but how many would have a regular menu of burritos and fries, sodas and chips? No, the parents have to control the diet of their children, in order to best facilitate their growth and health. The child’s responsibility is to eat; the parent’s responsibility is to feed.
This is the way it is with God. When we pray and study as “baby Christians”, we are not so ready yet to be able to feed on the meat of the Word. The Bible declares that we are to “as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). Just as a toddler moves into adolescence, and can now feed themselves, yet they remain in need of a parent to control their diet, lest they eat nothing but “junk food”.
However, just as a toddler isn’t ready to eat a steak, some of us as believers are “such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat” (Hebrews 5:12). We haven’t yet moved on into a more mature state. This is why Paul told the Corinthians that “I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able” (1 Corinthians 3:2 – ASV).
Indeed, it would seem that even considering milk, we often have need of help digesting the truth. Perhaps you have known of children, whom their mother or father was trying to get used to drinking milk? The children resist, but will comply when a small amount of chocolate is added. “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” it has been said.
The problem is when our “daily bread” is the “bread of affliction” – what then? Well, hard as it may seem, one of God’s gifts to us in affliction is that we may experience His Word in a way that we otherwise could not. It is in this place of grace where we learn some of God’s most profound truths. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” (Psalm 119:71).
Martin Luther discovered this “method” of seeing God in His Word. He said there are three rules for understanding Scripture: praying, meditating and suffering trials. The “trials,” he said, are supremely valuable: they “teach you not only to know and understand but also to experience how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how comforting God’s word is: it is wisdom supreme.”
Therefore the devil himself becomes the unwitting teacher of God’s word: “the devil will afflict you [and] will make a real doctor of you, and will teach you by his temptations to seek and to love God’s Word. For I myself . . . owe my papists many thanks for so beating, pressing, and frightening me through the devil’s raging that they have turned me into a fairly good theologian, driving me to a goal I should never have reached” (What Luther Says, vol. 3 [Concordia Publishing House, 1959], p. 1360).
Well, that is Luther, a “spiritual giant" you might say. What about us as adults, as we are growing in grace? We are told to ask for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11): but is it okay to ask for “chocolate milk” when we ask?
The answer is yes. Perhaps it might be the necessary ingredient we need to be able to digest the truth God is feeding us on. We might liken this to James telling us to ask for wisdom (James 1:5), or to finding the way to escape out of temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). In any event, we can be sure God has made a provision for us (Genesis 22:13-14). His grace is sufficient.
We must let God control our diet, and not eat too much junk food. But when the going gets tough, it could be wise to ask for a little “chocolate milk” to go with the bread of affliction.
For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. (1 Corinthians 7:22 – ESV)
In Paul’s day, and even up till today, we see the cruel context of slavery in some societies. Paul and the New Testament do not condone slavery; they were simply using it to teach that even under the worst of conditions, a child of God could radiate the light of Christ. They were free men indeed if they could feel their freedom in Christ while bound by the earths chains.
Even though most of the world doesn’t have institutionalized slavery anymore, this principle applies to employer / employee relationships and the like (Colossians 3:22-24). Looking at the context of Titus chapter 2, we see Paul stressing that Christlike behavior is a witness to show that all people may come to Christ regardless of social status, gender, race, etc. Whether younger or older, richer or poorer, slave or free, man or woman, or whatever the case may be, the salvation that is in Christ is to be modeled for all to see that Christians can come from anywhere, and that God will save anyone anywhere who will come to Him.
Just because a slave can and should please God doesn’t mean that Paul is teaching that God doesn’t want men to be free. Indeed Paul says that ifyou can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity (1 Corinthians 7:21). He meant legally and not by escaping of course. Just because you can glorify God in that dark place doesn’t necessarily mean God wants to leave you there, but your attitude must be that if He does leave you there you will serve Him by serving in that situation anyway. If you can be free, if you can be loosed, if you can be made whole, healed, helped or whatever then you should praise the Lord. If not, well, then praise the Lord too. In everything give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18). No matter what earthly situation you find yourself in keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 1:21), and don’t entangle yourself in spiritual slavery again.
Being an ambassador for Jesus in a context as cruel as slavery is earning great reward in heaven by honoring our Lord, who experienced a more dramatic drop-off in dignity than any of us on earth could possible face or even imagine. To be a shining light in a dark situation is to do the Lord’s work the Lord’s way. A slave whom God allows to continue in that is bound to be free. Bound in order to be free, bound in order to set others free, bound to be free at last. He, or we, may be bound because being free would lead him, or us, away from Christ. He may be bound but eventually he will be set free because death will bring him to heaven. He may be bound but no one is quite so free as the one who feels his freedom in Christ while shackled with the world’s chains. In other words, his chains are for the glory of the Lord. Others whom God is calling will see Christ.
The Apostle Paul found himself locked up in a Roman jail but God has used the letters he wrote while there to set people free for nearly two thousand years. The Apostle John was chained to a rock on the island of Patmos but he saw a Revelation of The Rock greater than any man in history. The mature Christian may be bound by some situation, but they know that they are bound to win, even in death. They are bound yet free, and we need to show the world the Truth, as living pictures of the Gospel, that Christ was bound up on that cross, setting men free from sin and death for eternity. We are dead to sin and self, and alive to God, and no earthly chains can bind our spirits while we trust in our Deliverer.
See 1 Corinthians 7:22 in light of the context of the New Testament, and God’s redemptive plan. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, the key is to be filled with the Spirit in that situation. The greatest witnessing a Christian can do is by doing what a mature Christian would do in that dark situation. We need ambassadors on all fronts, portraits of grace pictured within every scenario, especially bad ones, so that those without hope can see that there is hope for final redemption, that God has not forgotten them in their chains, and that they can be delivered for all eternity. No earthly chain can strangle the Spirit of God, where the Sprit of the Lord is there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). We need to be filled with the Spirit and feel our freedom.
Sometimes, and perhaps as we grow in grace most often, the power of God is not to deliver you from a situation but through and in that situation itself, so others, whom are not Christians or who are weak in the faith, they can see what a mature believer would do in the same situation. Sometimes God has us bound in order to show others what God’s true freedom is. When everyone is in the same dark place, who do they look for? It is the one with the light, like the one who is bound to be free by being a slave to Christ.
…as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (1 Peter 4:1)
Now we need to look at this verse carefully, because many think it is talking mostly about Christ, and has little to do with us. That is not the truth. The truth is that the last part of the verse isn’t speaking of Christ but us. Want proof? Well look at it, did Christ ever sin? No, well then, it is speaking about us ceasing from sin by suffering in the flesh.
This is what Peter is telling us to arm our minds with, this very fact. Christ suffered in the flesh for our sins, most recognizethat easily. But now, if wewill suffer in the flesh then we will realize this power and cease from sin. Not all sin right away or ever, actually, but instead, in a very real way making very real progress in the process of sanctification. You suffer in the flesh over certain sins, and you cease from them, and move on to the next thing you have to suffer. We live the cross life, and live in resurrection power.
This is the truth. You walk through the pain to get to the power. Most think they walk into power so they can walk through the pain, but Jesus, when He healed people, they were already in pain, and then they got the power. Jesus died on the cross before He rose again in resurrection power. His power is already there; you must go through the pain to realize it. You scream God help me, well, as a Christian He already has, will you walk into it, do you believe it? Renew your mind to this truth, as this verse declares it. The power you pray for is already there; go to it.
…but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God (2 Timothy 1:8)
The bottom line about Spiritual power is the faith to endure. Not only the persecutions that come about because of being a witness for Christ by sharing the Good News vocally, but also by just being a member of the household of faith. We will suffer not only persecution, but also afflictions.
Paul suffers because of the grace of God, the affliction of the Gospel! He is not ashamed. Many preachers are only telling fleshly people what they want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3), presenting a victorious life by applying so-called Christian principles rather than presenting Jesus Christ, life through death, and the way of repentance and faith, which Paul calls the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:20,27). Preachers who preach nothing but “all things are always going to be well”, saying peace, peace, where there is no peace, are giving false hopes to lost people, and leading saved people in the wrong direction. Yes, God desires to prosper us, to have us well and whole, but part of the process will involve pain, so that we may be conformed, before we are comforted, and so we may be able to comfort others who are also being conformed (2 Corinthians 1:3-9).
Notice that our text says afflictions, plural, not just persecution for witnessing, but also having to go through physical difficulty, mental anguish, crucifying the flesh, and other crises (Romans 8:14-18 / Philippians 1:29 / Colossians 1:24 / Galatians 5:24 / 1 Peter 4:1 / Acts 14:22 / 1 Thessalonians 3:3). Suffering aligns us with Christ, and keeps us humble (James 4:9-10). Partaking of suffering helps us learn God’s Word, Will, and Way; Martin Luther said that afflictions are the touchstone of biblical interpretation (Psalm 119:71).
We need to stir up the gift of God, and the gift is the Spirit of power, love and a sound mind. Because of the gift (the Holy Ghost) we can partake of the afflictions, by the power of God to us (Ephesians 1:19 / Zechariah 4:6), not an earthly power. The testimony of the Lord is tribulation (Revelation 6:9), the willingness to suffer as Paul had, and he was not ashamed of the Gospel (Romans 1:16). Remember Paul desired to know the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10).
He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our big goings on, like mountain moving, but His own purpose. His purpose is to make us like Jesus (Romans 8:28-29), not just to fulfill the Great Commission. The great grace of God may seem more manifest when a mountain is moved by faith, but truly, it is the mundane, the everyday, the dear old saint who faithfully comes to church, and who prays for lost ones everyday without fail, and who suffers through ill health, yet still keeps a loving heart toward people, and an unyielding devotion to Christ that showcases the power of God most clearly for His glory. The calling is not just to “do stuff” it is to suffer, to take up our cross and follow Him. We are to do this, not with a stoic “grit your teeth and bear it” mentality, but with joy that we are partaking in the fellowship of Christ (James 1:2, 5:10-11). We are to show our world the power, the grace that brings steadfast faith, the power to endure no matter what life throws at us, to defeat the works of the Devil, this is the victory, even our (immovable) faith (1 John 5:4)!
We can only keep this steadfastness, this boldness, and this witness by the power of the Holy Ghost within us (Romans 8:9 / Colossians 1:27 / Galatians 2:20). Think about the book of Acts, whenever we see them receive power it is immediately met and tested with persecution; we must have faith no matter what (Job 13:15). The victory we have in Christ is not being able to avoid all affliction, it is having the power to persevere, the peace to be able to endure, to truly be Christlike (John 16:33). Yes, the Lord does bring us out of things, praise God (2 Timothy 3:11 / 4:17), but we must realize that to lose faith because of our afflictions is to deny God.
Just remember, when you see the whip in His hand, it was on His back first. This is the gospel of affliction, that He who allows us to feel the stripes of sanctification bore them all for our salvation.
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, (Philippians 2:15 – ESV)
Living the beautiful life, from a Biblical, Christian perspective, means living as a light of Christ (Matthew 5:16 / Galatians 2:20). Living the beauty of Christ means that no matter what this world can do to me I can still live for the glory of God, I can still live the beautiful life; I can still represent Christ to the world.
Paul is in jail when he writes this yet he can say these things. It was not that he didn’t want out but his first priority was not himself but God, and he was able to do the full ministry even from a jail cell. If you are full of the Spirit you are fulfilling your ministry wherever you go and wherever God leads you in His providence, even a jail cell. The Word is your life in any and every situation you find yourself in; He is there with you (Psalm 23). Paul tells us that even if he is going to die in that jail he will rejoice and so should they because he lived the beautiful life (Philippians 1:20-21).
Most people aren’t doing that, living to show others how beautiful Christ is, they are just satisfied with being saved or they have the material, social, and emotional things they want and think that this is the beautiful life, and they give God praise for that and think that they are living God’s best. They have seen passages such as Romans 3:25-26 with them as the starting point, but when we have our order right, when we see it really is about demonstrating God’s righteousness we will want to live for Him. In light of what we have seen about the value of God, how now shall we live? Real living in supernatural life through natural lives; people need to see Christ demonstrated in all sorts of situations. That is one reason why we are left in those sometimes desperate situations, so people can see Christ's light shining in a dark place.
We work out our salvation with fear and trembling because bad things will happen all around you all the time and you must carry on in the character of Christ. God is placing you in situations, and where He places you He graces you. Even if it is your fault that you are in the mess you are in God wants you to live His life on the way out of that place. God uses us even in our mess to bless others and to learn lessons and to live the beautiful life.
It is okay to want good things, but don’t be like the rest of the world and show doubt for God when things go bad. Then you will be a light in a dark place and your life will proclaim the power of God’s grace. Christianity is not the way to the beautiful life it is the beautiful life wherever it is found in truth. Jesus is beautiful so we can live the beautiful life in any circumstance.
For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. (1 Corinthians 7:22 – ESV)
In Paul’s day, and even up till today, we see the cruel context of slavery in some societies. Paul and the New Testament do not condone slavery; they were simply using it to teach that even under the worst of conditions, a child of God could radiate the light of Christ. They were free men indeed if they could feel their freedom in Christ while bound by the earths chains.
Even though most of the world doesn’t have institutionalized slavery anymore, this principle applies to employer / employee relationships and the like (Colossians 3:22-24). Looking at the context of Titus chapter 2, we see Paul stressing that Christlike behavior is a witness to show that all people may come to Christ regardless of social status, gender, race, etc. Whether younger or older, richer or poorer, slave or free, man or woman, or whatever the case may be, the salvation that is in Christ is to be modeled for all to see that Christians can come from anywhere, and that God will save anyone anywhere who will come to Him.
Just because a slave can and should please God doesn’t mean that Paul is teaching that God doesn’t want men to be free. Indeed Paul says that ifyou can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity (1 Corinthians 7:21). He meant legally and not by escaping of course. Just because you can glorify God in that dark place doesn’t necessarily mean God wants to leave you there, but your attitude must be that if He does leave you there you will serve Him by serving in that situation anyway. If you can be free, if you can be loosed, if you can be made whole, healed, helped or whatever then you should praise the Lord. If not, well, then praise the Lord too. In everything give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18). No matter what earthly situation you find yourself in keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 1:21), and don’t entangle yourself in spiritual slavery again.
Being an ambassador for Jesus in a context as cruel as slavery is earning great reward in heaven by honoring our Lord, who experienced a more dramatic drop-off in dignity than any of us on earth could possible face or even imagine. To be a shining light in a dark situation is to do the Lord’s work the Lord’s way. A slave whom God allows to continue in that is bound to be free. Bound in order to be free, bound in order to set others free, bound to be free at last. He, or we, may be bound because being free would lead him, or us, away from Christ. He may be bound but eventually he will be set free because death will bring him to heaven. He may be bound but no one is quite so free as the one who feels his freedom in Christ while shackled with the world’s chains. In other words, his chains are for the glory of the Lord. Others whom God is calling will see Christ.
The Apostle Paul found himself locked up in a Roman jail but God has used the letters he wrote while there to set people free for nearly two thousand years. The Apostle John was chained to a rock on the island of Patmos but he saw a Revelation of The Rock greater than any man in history. The mature Christian may be bound by some situation, but they know that they are bound to win, even in death. They are bound yet free, and we need to show the world the Truth, as living pictures of the Gospel, that Christ was bound up on that cross, setting men free from sin and death for eternity. We are dead to sin and self, and alive to God, and no earthly chains can bind our spirits while we trust in our Deliverer.
See 1 Corinthians 7:22 in light of the context of the New Testament, and God’s redemptive plan. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, the key is to be filled with the Spirit in that situation. The greatest witnessing a Christian can do is by doing what a mature Christian would do in that dark situation. We need ambassadors on all fronts, portraits of grace pictured within every scenario, especially bad ones, so that those without hope can see that there is hope for final redemption, that God has not forgotten them in their chains, and that they can be delivered for all eternity. No earthly chain can strangle the Spirit of God, where the Sprit of the Lord is there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). We need to be filled with the Spirit and feel our freedom.
Sometimes, and perhaps as we grow in grace most often, the power of God is not to deliver you from a situation but through and in that situation itself, so others, whom are not Christians or who are weak in the faith, they can see what a mature believer would do in the same situation. Sometimes God has us bound in order to show others what God’s true freedom is. When everyone is in the same dark place, who do they look for? It is the one with the light, like the one who is bound to be free by being a slave to Christ.
…but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God (2 Timothy 1:8)
The bottom line about Spiritual power is the faith to endure. Not only the persecutions that come about because of being a witness for Christ by sharing the Good News vocally, but also by just being a member of the household of faith. We will suffer not only persecution, but also afflictions.
Paul suffers because of the grace of God, the affliction of the Gospel! He is not ashamed. Many preachers are only telling fleshly people what they want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3), presenting a victorious life by applying so-called Christian principles rather than presenting Jesus Christ, life through death, and the way of repentance and faith, which Paul calls the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:20,27). Preachers who preach nothing but “all things are always going to be well”, saying peace, peace, where there is no peace, are giving false hopes to lost people, and leading saved people in the wrong direction. Yes, God desires to prosper us, to have us well and whole, but part of the process will involve pain, so that we may be conformed, before we are comforted, and so we may be able to comfort others who are also being conformed (2 Corinthians 1:3-9).
Notice that our text says afflictions, plural, not just persecution for witnessing, but also having to go through physical difficulty, mental anguish, crucifying the flesh, and other crises (Romans 8:14-18 / Philippians 1:29 / Colossians 1:24 / Galatians 5:24 / 1 Peter 4:1 / Acts 14:22 / 1 Thessalonians 3:3). Suffering aligns us with Christ, and keeps us humble (James 4:9-10). Partaking of suffering helps us learn God’s Word, Will, and Way; Martin Luther said that afflictions are the touchstone of biblical interpretation (Psalm 119:71).
We need to stir up the gift of God, and the gift is the Spirit of power, love and a sound mind. Because of the gift (the Holy Ghost) we can partake of the afflictions, by the power of God to us (Ephesians 1:19 / Zechariah 4:6), not an earthly power. The testimony of the Lord is tribulation (Revelation 6:9), the willingness to suffer as Paul had, and he was not ashamed of the Gospel (Romans 1:16). Remember Paul desired to know the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10).
He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our big goings on, like mountain moving, but His own purpose. His purpose is to make us like Jesus (Romans 8:28-29), not just to fulfill the Great Commission. The great grace of God may seem more manifest when a mountain is moved by faith, but truly, it is the mundane, the everyday, the dear old saint who faithfully comes to church, and who prays for lost ones everyday without fail, and who suffers through ill health, yet still keeps a loving heart toward people, and an unyielding devotion to Christ that showcases the power of God most clearly for His glory. The calling is not just to “do stuff” it is to suffer, to take up our cross and follow Him. We are to do this, not with a stoic “grit your teeth and bear it” mentality, but with joy that we are partaking in the fellowship of Christ (James 1:2, 5:10-11). We are to show our world the power, the grace that brings steadfast faith, the power to endure no matter what life throws at us, to defeat the works of the Devil, this is the victory, even our (immovable) faith (1 John 5:4)!
We can only keep this steadfastness, this boldness, and this witness by the power of the Holy Ghost within us (Romans 8:9 / Colossians 1:27 / Galatians 2:20). Think about the book of Acts, whenever we see them receive power it is immediately met and tested with persecution; we must have faith no matter what (Job 13:15). The victory we have in Christ is not being able to avoid all affliction, it is having the power to persevere, the peace to be able to endure, to truly be Christlike (John 16:33). Yes, the Lord does bring us out of things, praise God (2 Timothy 3:11 / 4:17), but we must realize that to lose faith because of our afflictions is to deny God.
Just remember, when you see the whip in His hand, it was on His back first. This is the gospel of affliction, that He who allows us to feel the stripes of sanctification bore them all for our salvation.
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, (Philippians 2:15 – ESV)
Living the beautiful life, from a Biblical, Christian perspective, means living as a light of Christ (Matthew 5:16 / Galatians 2:20). Living the beauty of Christ means that no matter what this world can do to me I can still live for the glory of God, I can still live the beautiful life; I can still represent Christ to the world.
Paul is in jail when he writes this yet he can say these things. It was not that he didn’t want out but his first priority was not himself but God, and he was able to do the full ministry even from a jail cell. If you are full of the Spirit you are fulfilling your ministry wherever you go and wherever God leads you in His providence, even a jail cell. The Word is your life in any and every situation you find yourself in; He is there with you (Psalm 23). Paul tells us that even if he is going to die in that jail he will rejoice and so should they because he lived the beautiful life (Philippians 1:20-21).
Most people aren’t doing that, living to show others how beautiful Christ is, they are just satisfied with being saved or they have the material, social, and emotional things they want and think that this is the beautiful life, and they give God praise for that and think that they are living God’s best. They have seen passages such as Romans 3:25-26 with them as the starting point, but when we have our order right, when we see it really is about demonstrating God’s righteousness we will want to live for Him. In light of what we have seen about the value of God, how now shall we live? Real living in supernatural life through natural lives; people need to see Christ demonstrated in all sorts of situations. That is one reason why we are left in those sometimes desperate situations, so people can see Christ's light shining in a dark place.
We work out our salvation with fear and trembling because bad things will happen all around you all the time and you must carry on in the character of Christ. God is placing you in situations, and where He places you He graces you. Even if it is your fault that you are in the mess you are in God wants you to live His life on the way out of that place. God uses us even in our mess to bless others and to learn lessons and to live the beautiful life.
It is okay to want good things, but don’t be like the rest of the world and show doubt for God when things go bad. Then you will be a light in a dark place and your life will proclaim the power of God’s grace. Christianity is not the way to the beautiful life it is the beautiful life wherever it is found in truth. Jesus is beautiful so we can live the beautiful life in any circumstance.
For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. (1 Corinthians 7:22 – ESV)
In Paul’s day, and even up till today, we see the cruel context of slavery in some societies. Paul and the New Testament do not condone slavery; they were simply using it to teach that even under the worst of conditions, a child of God could radiate the light of Christ. They were free men indeed if they could feel their freedom in Christ while bound by the earths chains.
Even though most of the world doesn’t have institutionalized slavery anymore, this principle applies to employer / employee relationships and the like (Colossians 3:22-24). Looking at the context of Titus chapter 2, we see Paul stressing that Christlike behavior is a witness to show that all people may come to Christ regardless of social status, gender, race, etc. Whether younger or older, richer or poorer, slave or free, man or woman, or whatever the case may be, the salvation that is in Christ is to be modeled for all to see that Christians can come from anywhere, and that God will save anyone anywhere who will come to Him.
Just because a slave can and should please God doesn’t mean that Paul is teaching that God doesn’t want men to be free. Indeed Paul says that ifyou can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity (1 Corinthians 7:21). He meant legally and not by escaping of course. Just because you can glorify God in that dark place doesn’t necessarily mean God wants to leave you there, but your attitude must be that if He does leave you there you will serve Him by serving in that situation anyway. If you can be free, if you can be loosed, if you can be made whole, healed, helped or whatever then you should praise the Lord. If not, well, then praise the Lord too. In everything give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18). No matter what earthly situation you find yourself in keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 1:21), and don’t entangle yourself in spiritual slavery again.
Being an ambassador for Jesus in a context as cruel as slavery is earning great reward in heaven by honoring our Lord, who experienced a more dramatic drop-off in dignity than any of us on earth could possible face or even imagine. To be a shining light in a dark situation is to do the Lord’s work the Lord’s way. A slave whom God allows to continue in that is bound to be free. Bound in order to be free, bound in order to set others free, bound to be free at last. He, or we, may be bound because being free would lead him, or us, away from Christ. He may be bound but eventually he will be set free because death will bring him to heaven. He may be bound but no one is quite so free as the one who feels his freedom in Christ while shackled with the world’s chains. In other words, his chains are for the glory of the Lord. Others whom God is calling will see Christ.
The Apostle Paul found himself locked up in a Roman jail but God has used the letters he wrote while there to set people free for nearly two thousand years. The Apostle John was chained to a rock on the island of Patmos but he saw a Revelation of The Rock greater than any man in history. The mature Christian may be bound by some situation, but they know that they are bound to win, even in death. They are bound yet free, and we need to show the world the Truth, as living pictures of the Gospel, that Christ was bound up on that cross, setting men free from sin and death for eternity. We are dead to sin and self, and alive to God, and no earthly chains can bind our spirits while we trust in our Deliverer.
See 1 Corinthians 7:22 in light of the context of the New Testament, and God’s redemptive plan. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, the key is to be filled with the Spirit in that situation. The greatest witnessing a Christian can do is by doing what a mature Christian would do in that dark situation. We need ambassadors on all fronts, portraits of grace pictured within every scenario, especially bad ones, so that those without hope can see that there is hope for final redemption, that God has not forgotten them in their chains, and that they can be delivered for all eternity. No earthly chain can strangle the Spirit of God, where the Sprit of the Lord is there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). We need to be filled with the Spirit and feel our freedom.
Sometimes, and perhaps as we grow in grace most often, the power of God is not to deliver you from a situation but through and in that situation itself, so others, whom are not Christians or who are weak in the faith, they can see what a mature believer would do in the same situation. Sometimes God has us bound in order to show others what God’s true freedom is. When everyone is in the same dark place, who do they look for? It is the one with the light, like the one who is bound to be free by being a slave to Christ.
So these came to Philip… and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." (John 12:21 – ESV)
People often believe that God is able to help them, but they don’t believe He is willing to, at least not in their particular circumstance. They want to blame some curse or something else, but fail to see the plan of God. The truth is that they want to be helped in the way they want to be helped, and if they aren’t helped in that way, they don’t actually want to be helped, and they will grumble about not being helped.
Into this idea of wanting to see God help us walks Jesus. The passage from John 12:20-36 is very instructive in many things. Jesus teaches us that to die to self and to serve Him will bring honor from God the Father to that person who does so, and spiritual light will be the result. Walking in this light will increase our fruitfulness, our faithfulness, and our fulfillment in God and His plan.
We say we see this, and that we believe it, but then we ask, “Why is it so hard?”
This is not just about Jesus and the plan of salvation, but the plan for our personal deliverance from those sins that we cannot see our way out of. God uses the Bible and your individual experience to craft a personal attack plan for rooting out the sin in your life. Oh, it is the same methods and instruments as He uses for everyone else, but it is indeed a unique plan suited for you. The Holy Spirit is truly guiding the child of God to walk in faith, in the Spirit, to continue down Believer’s Boulevard, turning onto Repentance Road, finding Submission Street.
If you are willing to submit to God’s plan He is willing to help you see it more clearly, as far as the goodness of it goes, and to see how it shapes you, and to have a vision for knowing that He and His plan are righteous and to pursue His righteousness despite circumstances. This all takes spiritual vision, and our focus must be honed, and this happens through submission leading to obedience from the heart of the person who sees the value in it. You have to submit yourself to the vision, the plan of God for your life.
The truth is we don’t submit fully and so we see theobstaclesto faith not theobjectof it.
This lack of true submission can be in particular circumstances that challenge our vision for faith, where we see Jesus as our all in all in general terms, but something else looms larger in the moment. We stop walking and the Light grows dim, we can’t see where we are going, and we fail to move from fear.
This lack of true submission also manifests itself in the larger arena, with people who struggle with an overall level of submission. For them their spiritual vision is mostly an idea, Jesus really isn’t in focus day by day, and He is just turned to when everything else is closing in on them. Many people want just enough God to get out of trouble, but only so as to try it their way once again. The problem with this is that if you get out of trouble, but you don’t get into truth, you will get back into trouble again. Your way won’t work, and you have to see that submission to God is the way into true fulfillment for you.
This is not about everyone else’s idea of God’s plan for you, but God’s own plan just for you. Be honest friend, you know some of it right now, you know how you have to start, and you just won’t do it, because you don’t believe it is actually right. You say it, but you don’t feel it, and so you don’t live it. The walk of faith is fraught with steps of submission, and your strength is in yourself, not in God, and you realize you cannot do it. You fail to submit once again, and you are on your knees, crying, or on your back, dying, or even on your feet, trying, but God just doesn’t seem to be helping you.
However, this plan, as you walk it out and value it, you will see the steps and learn to love the new you, instead of wanting to keep just enough of the old you to feel comfortable.
In either case, whether in momentary lapse of vision, or lack of any real focus within an individual’s life, the diagnosis is the same.
This is the true problem; people don’t believe God will do right by them, as far as their measures are concerned. They feel and live as if their ultimate good must also include their temporal satisfaction. They may indeed let God define a good ending but they define a good life.
You must follow Christ to the Cross by faith. There is no side road to salvation, or deliverance. If you want the power of God, if you want to learn to value the vision, to see how good God really is, you must go down Repentance Road, and make sure you stop at Submission Street. If you don’t, believe me, you will have made a wrong turn.
because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:31 – ESV)
The resurrection shows that Jesus will be the judge of humanity (Acts 10:42), and also the standard of righteousness by which all shall be judged (Romans 1:4).
Why does a good God allow evil? It is because He is merciful. If He were to institute instant justice none of us would make it through the day.
When we say that God has all power, we mean all, ALL, A-L-L power...He is the Creator, but also the sustainer, and yes the allow-er, but also the forgiver.
Jesus has been given all power (Matthew 28:18)…be a standard bearer and tell your world of His righteousness and His power to save.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46 – ESV)
Because Christ suffered the penalty of sin for us, we can be assured that we will never be forsaken (Hebrews 13:5). God has not forsaken you no matter how far down in the pit you have sunk. His arm is not so short it can’t save; He can bring you out of the miry clay and stand you on the Solid Rock. He can do for you as He did for the imprisoned prophet Jeremiah and bring someone to pad the ropes as He pulls you up from despair (Jeremiah 38:6-14).
We may know this truth in our heads, but we need to have it in our hearts. We may have the conception, but we need to make the connection. The bridge from conception to connection is compassion. This is the way for His reality to become our reality. Jesus really suffered and He knows that we suffer, and we can call to Him in faith. Our cry to Him is not in vain; it is a very certain call.
For those of you have already called to God to save you, but you are living in a daily despair, let me make this connection even more real to you today. In this life we will have tears on our face and tears in our armor. It is no disgrace to cry out to God when bearing the cross and feeling the pain. God knows we live in an imperfect world. He understands our difficulties. He realizes that we will have complaints, but we have a right way and a wrong way to complain. We need to be honest with ourselves that we may be honest before God, and we need to learn to bring our case before Him in the right way. We should make our complaints with honesty, trust, and hope.
It is good to feel emotion. Sometimes it is good to feel bad; look at the Psalms, depressed feelings are often a legitimate part of our relationship with God, as strange as that may sound. We often think of Psalms as a book of praise (which it certainly is), but laments and grievances to the Lord make up more than 60 of the 150 psalms. God can interact with us through the context of our depression. He has wise and loving motives although we may not see them.
Christians can and do get depressed, to varying degrees, and for varying durations. This is not always about a lack of faith or a direct result of personal sin or some symptom of a problem with the spiritual life. Depression is not a punishment from God; it may be instructive to you and certainly for others. The truth is that it is in some sense compatible with Christianity.
We seem to sell the Christian life in America today with too much triumphalism and denial of feelings, but look at the Psalms, look at our text today and Psalm 22, and see that we as Christians need to embrace and realize a more fully orbed biblical dealing with feelings. This is not to excuse and embrace wrong thinking, but to deal with depression and emotion in the way we see demonstrated as correct in scripture. Not all of this in scripture is correct; we see both the right and the wrong way. The Jews in the wilderness complained in the wrong way (cf. Psalm 78:41) but also in the Psalms we see that you can complain to Him in a way that indicates you are trusting Him, instead of grumbling in a way that amounts to an unbelieving accusation. Take a close look a Psalms 42-43 to get a feel for what I am talking about. Remember, Jesus cried out to God, not against God.
Christ was forsaken that we might never be. His wasn’t an uncertain cry but a very certain call. Jesus cried this out so that we will never have to. He cried this out to show that even in the darkest moments we could have utter assurance of our final victory in God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39). We can have real pain and suffering, and real tears as we cry out in seeming despair, but we can also know God in the midst of it all, and through it all, and through to the other side of despair to declare His victory.
We are not forsaken. Let us adore the One who endured for us. Amen.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. (Mathew 5:14 – ESV)
The Roman Emperor Nero (54-68 AD) was a madman and murderer, who arbitrarily and mercilessly crucified believers. During events at the Coliseum, he would feed Christians to lions, and he often lit his parties with the burning carcasses of Christians used as human torches. Certainly he was demonically inspired, and probably possessed, and is regarded by some as the Antichrist himself. He eventually committed suicide, and he is known more for his atrocities than his achievements. His influence didn’t last beyond his life, but those Christians whom he killed have lived on in the spirit of believers ever since.
Those martyrs may have seemed little more than fuel for the crazed monarch, but they did not die in vain. Indeed, they shined the light of Christ and stoked the fires of a movement that had just started, but that will have no end. No matter how many bodies Nero put to death, the spiritual life of Christians could not be put out. Their bodies may have burned away but their flame has never died out and it has been giving Christians fuel for faith down through the centuries. Nero and countless others have tried to snuff it out but the fire keeps on burning.
I remember watching the movie "The Perfect Storm" and I noticed how, when the waves were crashing and the wind was blowing and all the terror happening, the captain went out to fix the radio antennae using a blowtorch. My wife remarked, "How come that thing doesn't go out with all that wind and water hitting it?" It was because a blowtorch is made to withstand the elements; there is simply too much power in that firelight for it to go out. The torch has its own oxygen and fuel supply. It has enough heat and gas pressure to be immune to problems that could put it out.
I pray that God might make us like blowtorches in the midst of the dark storms ahead. The enemy and his minions cannot hide true lights from shining, so they try and silence them, but even in death, sometimes especially in death, the light burns brighter than ever.
Remember my chains. Grace be with you. (Colossians 4:18 – ESV)
The Apostle Paul sure seemed to get a lot of work done while he was in prison, glory to God. His location may have changed, but his calling didn’t. He may have been bound, but he knew the Word of God wasn’t bound (2 Timothy 2:9). He was doing all he could do considering his circumstances, and more than most would have thought possible. But that is God’s grace, to show that the world’s chains cannot hold the Spirit of God down. It was as if Paul was saying, “Remember my chains, and see how even in this situation God’s grace is with me, and so you can see that His grace will be with you, too”.
However, that doesn’t mean he loved being in jail. Within this chapter, Paul mentions his situation 3 times (Colossians 4:3,10,18). This is particularly instructive. It shows us that although we can endure the greatest of hardships, that doesn’t mean we just become oblivious to them. I can do all things doesn’t mean mind over matter, it means Christ in circumstance.
Paul didn’t pretend that he didn’t care about being incarcerated. He just cared less about getting himself out of prison than he did about getting the good news out to the public. Paul’s priority wasn’t on himself. He prayed for the people he ministered to, and he asked them to do the ministry and pray for the ministry before thinking of him. Even then he prays for grace to help them in their own endeavors.
Still, we see that even the Apostle Paul needed to be prayed for, so don’t just keep all your troubles in, and don’t just say you have left it all to God. Part of giving it to God is letting others know you need to be prayed for, specifically. The strongest pray for the weak and the weakest pray for the strong. All Christians are bound for heaven, but while on this earth we will all be bound to have some of this world’s shackles to deal with. Let us remember to tell others we need prayer, and to pray that the chains of this life will show the true freedom we have in Christ.
We remember to pray for those in chains, but also to remark upon how God in His grace still allows them to be a shining light for Christ. The Colossians were to look to Paul and pray for his release, but also to look to Paul and see the abundant grace and be inspired to do all they could for Christ. The chains of the world can never hold the Word of God down, and we can prove that to the world and to ourselves as we remember the chains that others have used to show that fact.
Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. (Hebrews 5:8 – ESV)
Are you in touch with the reality of this text? Christ had no sin, yet He learned by suffering. The next verse says that through this learning He was made complete, it perfected Him in the mission the Father gave Him. In our daily lives, we either learn to be obedient through suffering or we have to suffer more. Even if and when we learn, we still might suffer but we will still be obedient, as the clarity of our vision of God has changed.
People are challenged by life as to whether they will trust God through trials or not. Often their grief leads to gloom. As pastors, we may not have to deal with some of the things on the level of some of our people, but we will have to deal with them at some level. All of them. All the time. Grief upon grief, and it can be overwhelming if a man doesn’t lean on God. Pastors have to deal with grief challenging their notions of “do they believe in God despite suffering” every day. As the Great Shepherd feels the pain of His sheep (Hebrews 4:15), so too are His under-shepherds made to feel the pain of the people they must keep watch for.
Now some pastors are avoiding burnout, but they are doing that by avoiding their biblical role. They say that they “don’t do counseling”. Well they may not be expert in all areas, and they can use all the tools at their disposal, including other ministers and godly agencies. However, in any event they should be keeping in touch with their folks to know what their problems and concerns are and be praying for them. Not just corporate prayer, but prayer for specific individuals. If they never even talk to their “problem people” they are in effect letting the wolves go after the sheep without a care. Such a man is a hireling, for sure.
Some other pastors insulate themselves from grief by teaching falsehood. They are fond of putting it all back on the pew and avoiding the pressure. They tell folks they only suffer because they “lack faith”. Now some believers might be weak in the faith and as unstable as water, but many times this isn’t the case, and the pastor is just trying to avoid the reality that his “faith message” is a farce. My contention is that those pastors lack grace, saving grace.
Still other pastors have churches that grow so large they become isolated from their congregation on that score. If all their time is study, books, media, meetings, etc., then they have sailed away into the success of their dreams, but they have failed to listen to the voice of God telling them to tend to the flock, personally. If you have a large church, have more pastors. Can any man successfully tend to more than 100 by himself? I am not talking about generic prayer for generic people; I am talking about specific prayer for specific people. I am talking about knowing their problems and feeling their pain, praying personally with them at times and being there for them at all times. Every pastor must be personally tending to at least some or he isn’t what he thinks he is. No shepherd is above tending sheep.
It is all about suffering; we are modeling Jesus to the world. It is not that He suffered so we might not in this life, but that we might have an example in this life and live in the next where we don’t suffer. We are modeling for eternity the power to overcome what everyone has to deal with. Our profession is that yes we believe in spite of and indeed in a sense because of the suffering. We identify with Jesus Christ the suffering servant.
Pastors if you don’t learn to draw near in these times you will find yourself blowing off steam in ungodly ways. It may not start out that way but you must learn that it doesn’t just automatically go away. You must pursue this idea of drawing near when the pressure is on, not simply grit your teeth and endure it, but come to Christ and share it. Don’t hold it in alone. It may not seem like a big deal but it truly is. This is the thing that ensnares you and makes you go to other sources for comfort when it should be that you learn to draw near through these pressing matters on your soul. As people wear you out don’t keep it all in, draw near to Him and let it out to Him in prayer. In those moments don’t wait; the moment you feel it is the moment He is at the door waiting to enter in. Will you enter in?
The bridge between conception and connection is compassion, and that compassion must be undergirded by real, true conviction. You feel the pain, and you know the Lord, and you can speak as His ambassador to those He has placed in your care.
You don’t have to go through every trial to be able to bring the Bible to bear on a subject. But you do have to feel the pain, in a sense, with people as they go through difficult times. If you don’t all you speak are words without unction. Now I ask you again, are you in touch with the reality of this text, or are you just using words?
so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. (1 Thessalonians 1:7 – ESV)
This letter was written during Paul’s second missionary journey. They were much persecuted in Thessalonica, and it followed Paul to Berea (Acts 17:12). However, this persecution actually caused the faith to be more precious to these people, as is always the pattern for true Christians. This is true conversion into God’s kingdom, when others witness of our change and pattern of godliness. Our lives are meant to witness as much as our words. If you are a Christian you will spread the mission. To you your words may seem weak, but to others your life will truly speak.
The Thessalonians’ lives became a pattern for others. The word in your bible for example means they were transformed, the word means a model. With our lives we are supposed to become model citizens, we become an example and show forth the praises of our King. We are to act as ambassadors of the kingdom of God (Philippians 3:20). That can only be done in the power of the Holy Spirit, and it comes about simultaneously while encouragement from other believers goes forth.
There is where the religion is, not simply as we speak words on Sunday morning, but as we live lives unto God during the week. It is a wonderful thing to behold us all in unity and worshipping Christ, hearing His word and singing praise to His name and fellowshipping with people of like precious faith as we gather together as a church family. No doubt this is true. But it is also wonderful thing for other people who do not know Christ to behold our faith and life and devotion to Christ when they see us out in the everyday world. That is what makes it real to them, friends. When we have joy in affliction, when we have joy despite the mundane existence it might seem like we are in, when we truly become examples of what Christ can do through an ordinary life, when we do that God will anoint our words with power and our lives as praise.
We are not called to be models of how good we have it on this earth because we are “king’s kids”, we are called to model the joy thorough sorrow, triumph through trials, the power of perseverance, the life from death lifestyles reminiscent of the suffering servant, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is what the bible would call model behavior.
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, (1 Thessalonians 1:6 – ESV)
Look at Acts 14:22 and Philippians 1:29-30 – Now look carefully at this truth about the word. From 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6, we see that the word comes in the power of the Holy Spirit with conviction, and it must be received in the joy of the Holy Spirit with affliction. Do you see that? Comes with conviction, received with affliction. Comes in power, received in joy. The Holy Spirit gives you someone who is convinced of the truth proclaimed and it gives you joy despite the circumstances you hear it in. That is the pattern.
Isn’t that the way, friends? How many times have you been downcast or under some stress, and you needed a word, and someone who seemed convinced about what they were saying brought you a word from the Bible that had the ring of authority to it? You sincerely follow the word, you do it, you are an imitator of it, because although you are in a crisis that word seems to have a touch of joy to it, like it is the thing you need to be able to endure. Having much affliction but still having joy is a supernatural thing of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:48-52).
Why must we receive it with affliction? Because we need to remember that it is true in spite of the world, the message is overcoming the world. We receive it under such circumstances because then we truly need it; we receive it in spite of what our world looks like at the time. That word is right and then overcoming the world in our lives. We receive it and if we keep receiving it and believing it this will keep us overcoming the world (1 John 5:4). That doesn’t mean the bad stuff always goes away it means that even if the heat increases our purity will too. The fires of persecution only serve to stoke the fires of God in our lives, if we will believe.
Mark 4 describes the fact that we will receive it under stress because the world the flesh and the devil want to steal the word but these same circumstances, instead of stealing the word, they can be sealing the word. We will receive a newfound joy, one with deep roots.
The word also causes affliction because it challenges us at our heart level. There are always some things we just don’t want to change, but we cannot simply pick and choose which areas we are comfortable changing in. We are still our own authority if we do that. We cannot have the Master be our joy when we are still the masters of our own joy. The Bread of Life often comes inside the bread of affliction.
And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, (Hebrews 11:39 – ESV)
We love the stories of great deliverance like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or Daniel in the Lions den, but in Hebrews 11:36 and following we see “and others” who didn’t get it all good, yet they were praised. They too are in the faith hall of fame. We don’t see their names listed because they are too many to number. This passage in Hebrews is telling us that more often than not this is the case.
In our Christian walk, we will have stories of great deliverance, but other times we must suffer through. Some will escape but some must endure; both are of faith and we don’t decide which we get. Get it straight and decide ahead of time; if your theology and your devotion are based upon your circumstances you will come to the conclusion that God doesn’t love people.
When we look at Paul and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego we see what it can look like, but what I want you to do is see the big picture, to get a hold of it. The situations of life either harm you or they hone you, they either make you dull or sharpen you to the things of God. They either hinder or help; it is all about what you do with distractions. Remember, when I say distractions I’m not talking about things that take away your devotional time or things that keep you from church, I’m talking about tough situations that would cause you to focus on them more than you focus on God in the overall sense.
Planting thankfulness and allegiance despite outcomes when everything is good is saying you will serve God even if everything is bad. It produces humility, and so the good won’t spoil you when its all good and it bears fruit if and when it turns bad because you have been giving thanks the whole time and renewing your mind. The secret to contentment in Christ is endurance (Philippians 4:11-13). God gives the increase all we do is till the soil, plant the seeds, water the ground and pull out the weeds. His light, His fire, His power; our part is to halt the hindrances. Stay away from the deceptions, stay focused during the distractions, and stay consistent in your devotions. Remember the doctrine of perseverance when your faith seems to fail, God started it and He will finish it. Keep looking to Christ. Be filled with all the fullness of God.
