“Hear the Gospel, only mind that what you hear is the Gospel. You can hear some very smart sermons and very clever sermons and, as a rule, I may say that the cleverer they are, the worse they are!  Where you see so much of the man, you will see very little of His Master.” – Charles H. Spurgeon

“I say that a Christian congregation can survive and often appear to prosper in the community by the exercise of human talent and without any touch from the Holy Spirit! All that religious activity and the dear people will not know anything better until the great and terrible day when our self-employed talents are burned with fire and only that which was wrought by the Holy Ghost will stand forever!” [Tragedy in the Church: The Missing Gifts, 30.]  - A.W. Tozer

“In every believer there are two seeds, the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent; the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. It is with the believer, when quickened with grace in his heart, as it was with Rebekah, when she had conceived Esau and Jacob in her womb; she felt a struggling, and began to be uneasy; ‘If it be so says she, why am I thus?’ (Gen. 25:22). Thus grace and nature struggle (if I may so speak) in the womb of a believers heart: but as it was there said, “The elder shall serve the younger;” so it is here, - grace in the end shall get the better of nature; the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” - George Whitfield

“Knowledge of scripture, while essential, is not sufficient. Knowledge of scripture alone, apart from grace motivated obedience to scripture is insufficient and according to James potentially deceptive.” - C.J. Mahaney

“While purporting to ’see through’ others’ facades, cynics lack purity of heart. A significant source of cynicism is the fracture between my heart and my behavior. It goes something like this: My heart gets out of tune with God, but life goes on. So I continue to perform and say Christian things, but they are just words. I talk about Jesus without the presence of Jesus. There is a disconnect between what I present and who I am. My words sound phony, so other’s words sound phony too. In short, my empty religious performance leads me to think that everyone is phony. The very thing I am doing, I accuse others of doing. Adding judgment to hypocrisy breeds cynicism.”  - Paul Miller, A Praying Life, page 91

“As much as I value what instruments can add to congregational worship, the Spirit-inspired and faith-filled voices of God’s people are always the sound that’s most important.” – Bob Kaufflin

“The man whose heart is endeared to the woman he loves . . . dreams of her in the night, hath her in his eye and apprehension when he awakes, museth on her as he sits at the table, walks with her when he travels. . . . She lies in his bosom, and his heart trusts in her, which forceth all to confess that the stream of his affection, like a mighty current, runs with full tide and strength.” - Thomas Hooker (1586-1647), quoted in Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were (Grand Rapids, 1986), page 40.

It has been a long time coming since I have written here.  Partially because of a lack of anything necessary to write and partially because of the magnitude of the things God has been doing in mine and Holly’s life which demanded from me more praying and less talking.  If you happen to read this blog and have not heard what the Lord is doing in our lives, I encourage you to go here: http://becomingbostonians.blogspot.com

But on to this post…I have been amazed lately at things that I have heard happening in peoples lives, going on in our church, seen first hand, and even seen come out in my own life.  I have been broken by my personal sin and broken by the sin that I see around me.  This ultimately led me back to the thoughts that brought about the title of my blog “Ben Smith: a life without rights.”

OUR STRUGGLE

We live in a culture (the American culture) consumed by “our rights.” We have the right to free speach, the right to justice, etc…You name it and we have the right to it and we deserve it and are willing fight for those rights.  We love to hold fast to our declaration of independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These all are true, we do have rights as people and as americans! However, the truth of what is means to follow Christ is this:

we are called to give up those rights (”deny ourselves”), crucify ourselves (”take up our cross”), and follow Him in the way that He loves and serves others (”the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”). - see Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23, Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45

HOW FAR HAVE WE STRAYED FROM THIS CALLING?

Lately, I have witnessed in the life of others and my own life the desire to fight for our rights.  I have even seen “scripture” used to justify this desire.  We fight, we quarrel, we get angry, we sin, we disrupt fellowship in the body, and we defame the name of Christ all because “we have our right to…(you fill in the blank).” We hold to those rights more closely than we do the reality of the grace of God in the Gospel that was given to filthy undeserved sinners.  We forgotten that we have been “bought with a price” ( 1 Cor. 6:20, 7:23) and our lives are not our own!

Why do we fight so much for our rights?! We have a Lord and Savior who has taken us as His and gave of the rights to His life for the sake of redeeming our souls!

side note: I encourage you to research the deep Greek meaning for the word redemption. It will bring your to your knees.

THE DIFFICULT CHALLENGE

One of the most difficult challenges in scripture (in my opinion) is the challenge Paul gives in Philippians 2:1-11. Paul calls for us to “in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3). He then goes on to say that we are to “look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4). To this you may say, “well look, he says ‘not only to your own interest’ which tells me that it is ok to look for our own interest.” But as we read on we see that Paul address every objection to this manner of life (even this one) by pointing to the example of Christ.  He says that “while He existed in the form of God (a.k.a. even though He was God), He did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but made Himself nothing (some translations say “emptied Himself”)” (Phil. 2:6-7, commentary added is mine).

So, we see the example of Christ as the one who IS GOD and yet He ”emptied Himself” and did not fight for His equality with God.  He gave of the rights He had (and rightfully so) to be honored and adored, to receive the glory that was His, and instead took on the form of a servant. Wow! Can we really fight for our rights when we see this example of pure humble sacrifice?

It is time for us all to learn how to live a “life without rights!” Stop fighting for your rights.  Take the example of the psalmists, let God fight for you.  He has redeemed you! He has bought you! He will seek justice! He will seek vengeance (Romans 12:19)!  Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we need to lay the rights to our lives at the feet of Jesus.  Then we will be free!

I am still learning. I am still failing and seeking repentance. Join me in this life…

anticipation - the act of looking forward; especially : pleasurable expectation

It seems like our entire lives are built upon anticipation.  There is always something new that we are looking towards, there is always a new adventure or the end of a task in sight, always a milestone to reach or a stage of life we are looking towards.  Every day seems to have a new season around the corner or another holiday to anticipate.  Everything about our lives seems to be built on anticipation. 

There is no greater holiday that we anticipate than Christmas.  As soon as September comes, our minds begin to build in anticipation towards Christmas.  Sure, thanksgiving gets a few thoughts because it stands between summer and Christmas, but most of that is even because it is a reminder of how much closer Christmas is.  Inevitably some will start to think of decorations and gifts right when the leaves on the trees turn colors, others may have the patience to wait till the day of thanksgiving. But then the anticipation really climaxes. The ads come out, the papers get scattered across the floor, the fathers are sent up into the attic to bring down the decorations, and to the tree farm (or local corner that sells trees) to get that perfect tree.  The anticipation just seems to build and build only to enjoy one day and then the season is over and we are left to move on to the next anticipation. 

IS THIS HOW LIFE IS SUPPOSED TO BE?

I used to say, no, of course not.  After all, we need to be content with today and satisfied with what we have now, right? But then I started to think, is it not that we shouldn’t have anticipation? But rather, that our anticipation is misdirected? Are we really just missing out on something better?

See, I think the problem is not that we live with anticipation, but that we live with anticipation in things that are fleeting. We anticipate that new job (which becomes the old job in a couple of months) or that new car (which loses half its value after 1 mile of driving). Maybe it is the thrill of that new adventure (which might last a couple of days if you are lucky) or that next stage of life (which actually becomes something you may wish you never made it to in the first place). Or it is that new Christmas season that is filled with the excitement of holiday drinks, decoration, visiting family, and of course the gifts (can’t forget about those!).  And all of these things are fleeting. 

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, WE SHOULD LEARN TO ANTICIPATE THE INFINITE INSTEAD OF THE FINITE.

Maybe we should learn to anticipate the same things the saints of old anticipated…the coming of the Messiah! The coming of the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6)!

The Old Testament is filled with prophecies of the coming King of the Jews. It fact, the Old Testament is replete with reference to Jesus Christ and the New Testament has countless references to how Christ fulfilled the prophecies in the Old Testament. Maybe you have heard this and maybe you even believe this.  But, have you ever thought about what it was like for the Israelites to live in anticipation of their coming king?  Have you thought about what it would be like to spend your lives anticipation something that was prophesied to happen? And then think about how most of the saints in the Old Testament didn’t ever get to see that actual fulfillment of those prophecies.  Yet, the anticipation of their fulfillment is what pushed them throughout their lives (see Hebrews 11). They weren’t simply anticipating the next festival or next milestone in life.  They were anticipating far more! They were anticipating the coming of their king!  And this drove them to do some crazy things. It moved them to radical lifestyles and choices. 

THEN, AS WE OPEN MATTHEW 1, WE SEE THE CLIMAX! THEN, WE READ THE FULFILLMENT!

Isn’t that what Christmas is? Isn’t it the fulfillment of anticipation?  Think about it, the magi, the shepherds, Mary, and Joseph; didn’t they all receive the fulfillment of their anticipation? So, shouldn’t that be what Christmas reminds us of? Shouldn’t it remind us of the fulfillment of our anticipation?  The eternal Son of God came into this world as promises to bring life to us.  He came to bring light into the darkness (Isaiah 9:1-7; and John 3)! But instead, we fill the Christmas season, and our lives, with momentary pleasures. We fill our lives with finite things. Let’s begin to fill them with eternal joy! But the question rises:

IF OUR ANTICIPATION HAS BEEN FULFILLED? THEN, HOW CAN WE STILL LIVE IN ANTICIPATION? AND WHY SHOULD WE?

This is where the resurrection of Jesus Christ comes in.  Let me take you to a few simple verses in Acts 1.

“So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:6-11).

Not to take away from the typical use of these verses, being a push to local and foreign missions, but allow me to suggest another thing to notice in them. Look particularly at the question the disciples asked and the later declaration by the two men in white robes.  First the disciples asked, “Is this when you will restore Isreal and reign (my paraphrase)?” They wanted to know if that was the moment Christ would bring to completion the entire fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.  They were still driven by the anticipation of the physical reign of Christ. This at first seems selfish and Christ even seems to combat this desire. But, now skip down to the response of the two men in white robes, “why do you still stand here, this Jesus, will come back in the same way he has left (again my paraphrase).” The disciples were promised, by these two men in white robes, that Christ would come back. They were promise that the physical kingdom of Christ would indeed come one day. And then they left to Jerusalem.  

THIS BECAME THE NEW ANTICIPATION THAT DROVE THEM AND SHOULD BE OURS AS WELL

I believe this became the new driving force in their lives.  They were not driven to radical sacrifice by merely choosing to obey what Christ had commanded them to do; they were driven by living in anticipation of future coming of Christ.  They were driven by being with Christ again.  Look at what Paul says in Philippians 1: 23, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far much better.” This became the anticipation of the children of God and this should still be our anticipation.  We should not try to remove anticipation from our lives but learn to redirect it.

WE SHOULD TAKE OUR ANTICIPATION OFF OF THE FINITE AND PLACE IT SQUARELY ON THE INFINITE!

The remembrance of the birth of Christ at Christmas (the remembrance anticipation of the Israelites that was fulfilled) should remind us to live our lives in anticipation for the future return of the King.  So, this year my mind is captivated by the anticipation of what is to come. 

- one whose mind is focused on the anticipation of the coming of the King!

The psalmist writes in Psalm 119:11, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” For years now, I have used this passage to push myself to memorize scripture.  It has challenged me given me the motivation to memorize so that I would learn not to sin and walk upright and holy before the Lord.  This is a good motivation and one that I would suggest anyone to use in order to memorize more of scripture.  Store it in your heart so that you might now sin against God. More recently though, I have seen another reason to store the word of God in my heart. For encouragement in times of trials and suffering. I hope this encourages you to store the word up in your heart.

There is an old, old story from the Bible that I can’t even count on one hand how many times I heard as a child growing up in church.  It is the story of Gideon in Judges 6-7, where the Lord delivered the Israelites out of the hand of the Midianites with only 300 men.  The story begins with the call of Gideon from God to “save Israel from the hand of Midian” (6:14). Gideon responds by saying, “my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (6:15). From the beginning we are shown the inability of Gideon to execute this task.  After a few signs of confirmation performed by God, we turn the page to Judges chapter 7 and see a few more astounding things take place.  In the beginning of chapter 7 we find God removing men from the army, bringing the size of the army from 32,000 men to 10,000 and then finally down to 300 men.  Seriously? So, despite an already insufficiently sized clan, the Lord strips the army even further.  Why? “The Lord said to Gideon, ‘The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’’” (7:2).  He does this so that He can be shown to be the provider of the victory and Israel with trust in the Lord.

This story came to my mind as I accepted the call of my life to full time vocational ministry and began to look at my resume on paper. The insufficience of my ability quickly came to the forefront.  Due to choices that I had made in the past, all of which I still believe are decisions made inside the sovereign plan of God for my life, I am left now with a resume (a clan) that is nothing pretty on paper in the eyes of the church. I am the “least in my family.” Since this realization, I have been stripped even further of any ability of my own to carry out the call of God in my life without His hand being intricately involved.  I find myself as Gideon did, unable to bring anything about in my own power.  Yet, joy fills my heart because I am reminded of the countless times in the Bible where the Lord has acted in this manner,  as He did with Gideon.

“Man can do that, let’s see what God can do.” I heard this phrase as I sat down with my pastor and began to tell him my heart towards full-time ministry.  Through this statement and the challenge of the word which was stored in my heart, I can now stand (or rather bow) in utter dependence on God to move.  Man can earn a degree, man can use charisma to get a job, man could accomplish all that is done to spruce up a resume…”man can do that”….

Let’s see what God does!

- one who knows he is in the Potter’s hands

Two passages of Scripture have taken a deep root in my soul lately and I have understood the beautiful truth found in them.  The passages almost seem to be in complete contrast to each other but both teach a beautiful truth about God’s design for relational community.  One speaks of joy and the other of burdens but both attest to a love for the church and desire for it to live in relational community.  Let me provide the text and then show what I mean..

“Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of my concern for all the churches ” (2 Cor. 11:28).

“make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, and intent on one purpose” (Phil 2:2).

You may have already seen the connection between these two verses but I don’t want to assume it is clear. First, it is necessary to know that there is an aspect to our being created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) that is sometimes missed, which is us being created to be relational beings. Notice in Genesis 1:26 the word “our,” “Let us make man in our image.” The reason we are created to be relational beings is because God is a perfect representation of relational community.  There is perfect harmony and community that exists in the Godhead (see the doctrine of the Trinity, a good book for this is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by Bruce Ware). The Godhead is the perfect representation of relational community and therefore an aspect to our imaging God is that we are created to be relational.  This has a lot of implications for us to consider but I am primarily focusing on the implication present by the apostle Paul in two different letters.  Let’s begin with the later and make our way to the former.

Our joy is complete in the fellowship of others

For those of us who long for a sweet fellowship and joy in our walk with the Lord we need to see this point.  Our joy is partially dependent on the fellowship of others.  What do I mean by this? I mean that we find an extra amount joy in the fellowship of others, a complete joy. This fellowship is both their fellowship with God and their fellowship with us and others.  Paul tells us very plainly that his “joy is complete” when the Bride is “of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, and intent on one purpose.” His is showing us that our joy is partially dependant on the fellowship of the Bride of Christ. 

Why is this so?  It is because he is infatuated with the praise and proclamation of the name Jesus Christ. He has just finished done telling the church in Philippi that for him “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21), and it is his “hope that Christ will be exalted in his body, whether by life or by death” (Phil 1:20). He is fixated solely on the exaltation of Christ and he knows that the fellowship of the Bride brings forth more exaltation. 

I have experienced this joy lately as I have watched students of the College and Young Adult Ministry I lead and other men I minister along side of live out this true fellowship that Paul describes in Philippians 2:2. My joy has been complete as I have seen students praying with each other and sharing scripture with each other. It was full when I woke up and spent by morning with 7 men who are longing to know God more and willing to sacrifice sleep to meet together for this endeavor.  Our joy will fail to be fully complete until we see the joy that is found in longing for the fellowship of the Bride to be pure and complete. 

A biblical burden is found in the disrupted fellowship of others

But I have also see what Paul shows us in 2 Corinthians 11. Paul is sharing his sufferings with the church in Corinth and at the end he mentions how his concern for the churches is a part of his sufferings.  He wants to let the church know that he one of his many sufferings is a concern for the fellowship of the church.  We can know this because most of his letters have a familiar ring to them in regards to unity.  This is because he understands that we are created to be relational beings and our joy is connected to the fellowship of the Bride.  There is a biblical burden when this fellowship is interrupted.  There is a natural burden on our hearts when someone we know is held captive by personal sin and their fellowship with the Lord is interrupted.  We long for them to be in fellowship with Christ because our joy is found in Him being exalted.  This is because the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is to being glory to the Son (John 16:14). And this Spirit has been given to us in order to accomplish this with our lives. There is also a natural burden on our hearts when the fellowship of the Bride is interrupted by sin.  When there is turmoil in our churches our hearts should be troubled because the beauty of the Bride is not shinning as bright as it should.  God has designated the collective Bride to be the display of His majesty (Ephesians 2:10) and that is why we are burdened by the interrupted fellowship of the Bride, the majesty of God is not seen as clearly when our fellowship is disrupted.

This too I have understood more clearly recently as my heart has been troubled by the interruption of fellowship within the Bride (this being all those bought with the blood of Christ not just the local church). My heart has been heavy whenI have seen both the sin in my life that disrupts my fellowship with Christ and the sin in those around me that does this as well.  All too clearly do I understand the words of Paul when he relates this to being a part of his suffering.  My plea is for us to turn from our sin so we can fellowship with each other and the Lord in the way He has created us to fellowship.

Take the time to take this in…

This is a wonderful truth when you take it in.  God has created us as relational beings, not just for the purpose of a relationship with Him, but also for us to live in perfect relational community with each other.  This is a perfection that will come one day when He brings forth the new heavens and new earth.  But now, as we wait for this glorious day, He has given us the privelege of experiencing the joy He has in His Son which is shown through the love of the Bride. This is a reason why we spur one another towards love and good works (Hebrews 10:24) because our joy is complete when unity in love exists.

May our joy abound in our fellowship with God and others and their fellowship with each other.! May we desire for the glory of God to shine in the unity of the Bride!

- One experiencing the dichotomy of complete joy and biblical burden coexisting in my soul

“There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God’s Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation—the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands—the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that Throne. On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth, and we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust.” - Charles Spurgeon

Every doctrine that we ever discuss as followers of Christ has to be measured up against the entire counsel of Scripture.  Every conversation we have about who God is or how He acts needs to always be firmly rooted in what He has revealed to us through His Word. When we seek to understand the breadth and depth of theology (the study of God) our counsel must derive its root from Scripture above any logical conclusion that we may see. With that said, this is merely thoughts laid down in written form, I encourage you to study the Scriptures with a fervency to understand what we can about our Lord and be very careful about what we may add or take away from what the Word reveals to us.

I am well aware that there are many differing view about the Sovereignty of God and realize that I am still learning the fullness of this doctrine.  The purpose of this post is not to debate the doctrine of God’s Sovereignty in regards to salvation but rather address our limited view of God’s Sovereignty over events of history and control of creation. The resource that began my thoughts on this subject is a book called “Spectacular Sins” by John Piper. Since then, I have been measuring it up against the Word and wrestling with the thoughts presented. I encourage you to pick up a copy of this small book and wrestle with the Scripture that is presented. 

What do we really believe?

Do you believe that God is on His throne?  I mean, do you really believe it? When you think about how the world runs and goes about do you see it being masterfully planned out and governed by the Lord? Is the God that you believe in one who is reigning and ruling as He sees fit, or one that has limited scopes of His sovereignty?  Psalm 29 tells us that, “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood, the Lord sits enthroned as king forever” (v. 10). Psalm 33 tells us that, “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations” (v. 10-11). Isaiah tells us the the Lord blows on the reign of the rulers of the earth and they wither (Isaiah 40:23-24). The book of Job reveals that even Satan has to ask for permission to cause calamity on the righteous servant Job.  Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that God the Father will put all things in subjection to Jesus Christ and in Philippians that even our suffering has been granted to us by Him.  What do you believe about His rule?

What happens when we limit this Sovereignty?

The Lord truly reigns and when we limit any part of His sovereignty we first hinder our wonder at the majesty of the King. Our wonder and awe of the Lord will always fall short when our view of His power and reign is small. Wonder comes from marveling at the way the Lord has ruled throughout history.  How He has brought kingdoms down with a few hundred men (Judges 7) and turned a mighty king away to be killed by his own people (Isaiah 37). Wonder stems from seeing the greatness of His power and majesty. 

Also, when we limit the sovereignty of God our sufferings become a heavy burden to bear. Very few people in life have suffered more than the those we read about in Scripture.  Take Job for instance, his suffering was immeasurable to most of us and yet he stood firm in one thing…the masterful hand and plan of God.  Say what you will about whether his questions towards God were warranted or not but one thing they do show is that the rule of God is what held Job up during the suffering.  He knew that God was involved and therefore pleaded with Him for His intervention.  Or David, who was sought after to be killed by the king.  Read his psalms and then tell me that he did not trust explicitly in the sovereign hand of God. What about Paul? (2 Corinthians 11:24-28)…the list could go on and on.  All these men held firmly onto the understanding of the reign of the Lord.  They trusted Him with their very lives and when we begin to limit His sovereignty we will find suffering too heavy to bear.

Finally, when we limit the sovereignty of God our prayers become weak.  What do you really take to God in prayer? Paul calls for us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). But will you really pray without ceasing if you are unsure of the power and scope of God’s sovereignty?  When you do pray, are you encouraged at the end or still anxious? Our understanding of the soveriegnty of God effects our peace.  How can we truly rest in the grace and work of God if we do not believe He is in complete control?

Listen to the words of Paul after pondering the work of God in salvation:

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid?’ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:33-36).

Meditate on these words and let them challenge your understanding of the sovereign hand of God.  Read 2 Corinthians 1 and 12, then ask yourself if the Lord still reigns in the same ways.  Read Job and look to how the Lord acts.  Take courage that God is not out of control but rather working all things for good (Romans 8:28).  

- one who is learning to trust more and more in the Lord who sits on the throne

I have been reminded of two very beautiful verses recently that have brought me to remember the faithfulness of the Lord.  Allow me to share them with you and what they have meant to me…

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” - Matt. 6:34 

“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comings with the morning” - Ps 30:5

These are two very distinctive, powerful truths, yet recently I have found a wonderful connection between the two. Allow me to begin with the first verse mentioned and show how the second relates. 

anxiety will get you nowhere

The first comes from a pretty familiar passage in Matthew 6 which speaks both to the love of money and the worry of necessity.  The two things addressed in Matthew 6 are not two different thoughts but rather a building of ideas.  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on” (Matt. 6:19, 24-25). Jesus is letting us know that the treasures we store up can exist in the form of anxiety towards what we believe we need.  He is showing that the love of money can be revealed by how much we are even concerned for food and clothing.  He says a few other bold statements in this passage. The first is, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (v. 25), the second is, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (v. 27), and finally the verse I first mentioned, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (v. 34). All are equally piercing when related to the fact that we all worry about our situations in life.  When we go through times that we do not have what we believe we need, the anxiety starts to set in and we can become consumed by it.  Sometimes, as in my case, it is not that fact that there is not enough for the needs of today but rather that the needs of the future are not being met.  What if my car breaks down? What if I lose my job? What if our insurance/rent/gas/etc goes up? And with all those fears the words of Christ resound with these three statements over and over. It is all very clearly in the hands of a Father who cares.

noticing the connection will do wonders

Now, notice the connect to Psalm 30:5, ”Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” Don’t miss what the psalmist is telling us.  Weeping may happen and honestly will inevitably happen but joy is coming.  Sometimes that weeping may last more than a night, sometimes it may last months, and sometimes even for years but know that joy is coming.  And more importantly the joy that is coming with out last the weeping that is taking place. Wade through the weeping and subdue the anxiety by looking towards the morning.  Do not let tomorrow become the reason for your anxiety, care for each day as if it is your last, JOY WILL COME!

I hope this truth has found you today in the same way it has found me time and time again.  I hope it will strengthen you to make it through any time of anxiety and help you stand strong by knowing that joy is coming. 

- one who has had his mourning turned into dancing (Ps. 30:11)

As I was driving to work this morning I ran across a bumper sticker that began my thoughts for this post. I guess you could say it inspired this post.  I know this is not the first time I have seen this bumper sticker and maybe you have seen it as well, but this morning it hit me and sparked a thought in my mind that I want to share.  The bumper sticker said this:

“Commit a random act of KINDNESS”

To this I say both an “amen” and “why does it have to be random?” Why can’t it read “commit an intentional act of KINDNESS?” Now, understand that I know it is probably meaning stop and do something that seems random to other people but it still aids in understanding what I am getting at.  We have decided lately that the acts of kindness that the church should be committing need to be random and seemingly have no purpose behind them.  We almost speak ill of anyone who commits an act of kindness that has intentions behind it. I have heard many people say to me, “what if the church performed acts of kindness without any intention of pushing Jesus on them?” To this is respond, why does it have to be this way?

Our acts should always be intentional! Our acts of kindness, generosity, and love should always have the underlining motive of the glory of God being shown to the world.  Jesus says in Matthew 5, “in the same way, let your light shine before other, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Someone can and will only glorify our Father in heaven when they been redeemed, so, our good works (or deeds in some translations) help bring about salvation.  Therefore, they should always be intentional and the intention should always be for the salvation of others because it leads to glorifying God. This is a short post but what more needs to be said. 

Commit intentional acts of kindness/generosity/love so that others may see your good works and glorify God.  Commit them for the purpose of drawing others into the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

- one who seeks to be intentional in everything he does

I have recently found a new insatiable craving in my life.  A craving that, as of late, I have not been able to quench and to be honest I hope that I am never able to quench.  It is a craving for what Peter describes as the ”pure spiritual milk of the word” (1 Peter 2:2). And it is a craving that I hope will remain in my life until the very day I see my Savior face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12) and only then to be replace by a stronger and more delightful craving for the ongoing presences of the only Son of God.

This can partially be attributed to a new found love for reading.  Growing up, reading was the last thing I wanted to do.  I always thought that I had something better to do than to sit down and reading a book.  Sadly enough, I did not read a full book through until 6th grade (and only read that one book until 11th grade). My mother-in-law would be appalled at this fact (she is a librarian) but sadly it is true.  I look back and regret that decision now because as of late I have become an avid reader.  I can’t think of anything better than to go into the mountains, brew a good cup of coffee, sit in a rocking chair and open a great book (I got to do this over the weekend).  But there is another thing that has attributed to both my love of reading and new insatiable craving for the Word. And that is my delight shifting from myself, and the things this world has to offer, to Christ and Him alone. 

I have recently understand how Paul can say “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21) or “I count all things as rubbish compared to the value of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord” (Phil. 3:8).  My eyes have been opened to the glory that John and the author of Hebrews write about, being the “glory as of the only Son from the Father” (John 1:14) and the “radiance of the glory of God” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus Christ truely is the greatest treasure we can obtain. So I love reading things that pertain to Him and His glory. 

I began by reading books, books that were filled with Scriptures, but none the less they were books.  Recently (after running out of free books to read) I realized that I already had something greater than any book available to read.  I had the very inspired Word of God at my disposal any time I would like it.  So I picked up my Bible reading plan (one that goes through a Bible is a year) and began to read.  I have failed this particular attempt before because it was done out of discipline or guilt but I found something new as I picked it up again.  I couldn’t put it down! As I began to read I began to crave more.  I was blown away with what I read and longed to continue reading.  I spent hours upon hours reading.  I wanted to make sure I always had my Bible around to read when I got the chance.  I have an insatiable craving!

You see, you don’t have to tell an avid reader to remember his/her book they are currently reading.  If you notice, they always have it with them.  And any free chance they have the book is opened and their eyes are glued to the pages.  This is how we should be with the Word.  We should be the avid reader that takes the Bible with us whereever we go and can’t wait to find time to open it. We should have an insatiable craving for the Word of God.

I challenge you to spend a week with the Bible close by, and every time you have a spare moment pick it up and begin to read (I suggest starting with the Gospels).  Just read! But never let the Word leave your side and you will begin to see the craving swell up in you as well. Put whatever book you might be reading down and pick up the scriptures that have been “breathed our by God (1 Tim 3:16). Spend a week doing this, if you can spend a month. Watch as the craving becomes stronger and stronger. Try it…I dare you

- one with an insatiable craving

when asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus gave an answer that carries a lot of weight with it.  He says, “The most important is, ’Hear, O Isreal: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).  These two commandments carry so much weight with them.  We are called to Love the Lord our God (the Lord that is one), with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  We are to love Him with every part of ourselves and likewise we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Considering our neighbors interest as more important than our own (Phil. 2). Laying down our lives for our brothers (1 John 3:16) even when that means we need to give to our brother’s to meet their needs (1 John 3:17; Acts 2:44-47). This is a weighty call. 

But the beauty of our Savior is that this call, this commandment, is not left up to us to carry out.  1 John 4 tells us that His love is perfected in us.  Our love is imperfect at best.  Even in our strongest days our love is still imperfect.  God is love and the fullness of love comes from Him to others around us and ultimately to Himself.  “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

So, while the commandment is great, we are not left alone to carry it out.  There is the glorious power and love of Jesus Christ which is perfected in our imperfect love. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (wrath satisfying payment) for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).

- one who loves because He first loved me