salvation Posts

A Gratitude Adjustment

19 Nov , 2018 No Comments

Imagine with me, a man sitting around a dinner table. His heart is overwhelmed with gratitude. He sits there surrounded by his children and extended family. With an unrestrained smile on his face he looks at each of his loved ones in the eyes. He has not been a part of a gathering like this in years. In fact, he’s not been near his wife or children for years. Imagine, as his wife lays the final plate of food on the table, she places her hand on his shoulder and asks if everyone would hold hands. Holding hands, that’s another thing he hasn’t done in years. He hasn’t even touched anyone in years. Imagine that he squeezes his wife’s soft and tender hand tightly. As he begins a prayer of thanksgiving, his emotion overwhelms him and tears of joy fill his eyes. His voice cracks, he pauses, and his loving wife finishes his prayer for him.

No, this is not your normal family gathering, nor is it a Hallmark commercial or a Norman Rockwell painting. This is the story of a man whose life has been radically changed. He wasn’t off fighting a war and he hasn’t spent time in prison, at least not the kind of prison you might be thinking of. He had been locked up for years in a prison of a disease, resulting in isolation, injustice, and discrimination.  I want us to push rewind and go back a few weeks or months and see why this man is so grateful that he cannot control his emotions. Let’s look at a man who’s like us, who encountered the One Man who could help him.

 Luke 17:11-19 tells his story. He was healed of leprosy by Jesus and though we don’t know about his life after he was healed, we can imagine.  But to fully understand the power of this story and the radically different life that we’ve imagined after this encounter, we must first understand the life of isolation and utter despair this man lived as a leper in the first century.

These ten were together for a reason. First of all, if they were to be with anyone at all, it would have to be with each other. Secondly, they share a common pain. Pain draws together unlikely companions- with a powerful bond (like Dallas Maverick’s or Rangers fans), or seriously, like a recovery group or cancer support or Grief-Share ministry. These men suffered from Hansen’s Disease, or H.D., its called in the medical community). This disease was incurable and would attack the nervous system- (not the central nervous system but the sensory nerves and especially the extremities- the hands, feet, and facial features. Often it would result in severe ulcer damage and the loss of fingers, toes, even hands and feet. Facial nerves were often destroyed leading to hideous deformation of the face. The nerve damage would cause paralysis and even attack the cranial nerves, leading to blindness.

There was no mistaking someone with leprosy. And because it was a communicable disease, contracted through touch or even through the air, the person was forced by law to be separated from all others- some sources say at least 50 feet- can you imagine. They were even required to shout their coming: “Leper!” (I’m a threat to you, I’m not wanted! I’m an outcast!”). They were ostracized, outcasts, left to a degenerative state and a life of chronic pain. Worse than the disease was their separation from family, friends, and the faith community. Why did ONE come back to express thanks? Were they all grateful but only one expressed it? And can you be truly grateful without expressing it? Why are some people more grateful than others? Is your life marked by thanksgiving?

Choosing a Life of Gratitude I truly believe that a life of thanksgiving (or thanks-living) is a choice. But I’m also convinced that the more vibrant your walk with Christ, the more grateful you are. When you align yourself and, therefore your life, up with God’s perspective on life (that is, who you are and who He is), you WILL live a life of gratitude. To the degree that we are not aligned to God’s Way, we be less grateful. It’s possible to choose a life of gratitude but you must first acknowledge a few things…

  1. Acknowledge WHAT you have. The Bible says over and over again to “remember” what God has done for you. The old hymn says, “Count your many blessings- name them one by one… count your many blessings, see what God has done.” Health, home, church, family, friends, job, trials. Are you content with what you have? Or do you always tend to want more? Be grateful for what you have. Isn’t it amazing that America is the wealthiest country in the world and yet we are the least content? This reveals the folly of a materialistic life. Many of us have been to other countries where we have served among the poorest of the poor and have found them to be the most joy-filled, content people we’ve ever seen. Why is that? You begin to realize that material blessing is often not a blessing at all, but a curse. And how can such a materialistic people learn to be grateful? What’s the solution?:
  2. Acknowledge WHY you have what you have.

Not by your own power. “He has made us and we are His.” Everything you have is from God so “enter His courts with thanksgiving- give thanks to Him.” Psalm 100

Not by your own position.  Exodus 33:14 – “The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Moses learned that it was only God’s presence that brought him success in life. Your position of power or wealth was not of your own doing.  We see this in the book of Daniel where Nebuchadnezzar learned the hard way that “the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes”- Every person of any position has been put there by God. If you have had any success vocationally or financially it’s only because of God. God is the one who gives and takes away. Whatever position you have has been given to you by God.

Not by your own person.  Zechariah 4:6 “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit’, says the Lord almighty.” Why do some people have a sense of entitlement- they think the world owes them something- they deserve what they want- when others are so humble and so grateful when they receive even something small? They see all gifts from God.

  1. Acknowledge HOW you have what you have.

You are blessed.  Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth and He adds no trouble to it.” Wealth brings great trouble if it comes through ungodly means.

You are loved. Everything we have is an act of grace from God. Romans 5:8 – While we were sinners Christ died for us!  1 John 4:10 – it’s not that we loved God but that He first loved us. And verse 19 says we can now love others in the same way.

You are responsible.  1 Corinthians 4:1-2– those given a trust must be found faithful. You are a steward of all that you have. How do I steward all that I have been given? Exodus 21:5-6– the bondservant who chooses to be a voluntary slave to the Master. I am responsible for the grace that I have received from God.

  1. Acknowledge WHO you have.

Family– express thanks to your family, Friends, Others people in your life- your brothers and sisters in Christ. In the end, life is really about WHO you have, not WHAT you have. If you want friends be a friend. But IF you don’t have Christ, consider this:

“He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”  Romans 8:32  All of God’s blessings begin with Jesus. It’s why Thanksgiving is clearly a believers’ holiday- like the atheist who suddenly felt profoundly grateful and realized he had no one to thank. We know who to thank. Our gratitude is ultimately focused on a Person.

  1. Gratitude is always centered on Christ. This leper’s story is our story- we are all diseased; we’re all lepers. We have a disease called sin that only Christ can cure. We don’t deserve his love. The Bible says that we deserve eternal separation from God.

 

Thank Him for your salvation- and share it with others!

“The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to Father but through me.” John 14:6

“God so love the world that he gave His one and only son so that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

A Holy Separation Anxiety

30 Mar , 2018 No Comments

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Matthew 27:46

We call it “Good Friday”. But like everything else on the day of His death, it was good for us, but terrible for our Lord Jesus. As you go about your day today, consider these facts: Early on that Friday morning, after no sleep the night before, Jesus was taken to Pilate’s prison. He was beaten by professional torturers who knew their craft all too well. He was then presented to the crowd who chose a notorious prisoner over the very Son of God. Throughout the night Jesus was silent, ironically, directing the entire process that led to His death. He was taken into the courtyard (called the Praetorium) and the entire company of soldiers surrounded Him. They stripped Him, put a crown of thorns on His head, a staff in His hand, and knelt down before Him in mockery. They spat on Him and blind-folded Him, punching Him many times, as hard as they could. Later that morning, exhausted and famished, He carried His own cross, most of the way to Golgotha. At 9:00 am, the executioners impaled Him through His wrists and His feet, with long spikes, and fastened Him to the cross. Darkness came over the earth from noon until 3:00 pm.

At 3:00 pm, in anguish, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In that moment, Jesus was experiencing the wrath of the Father (His holy reaction to sin), as He “became sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He was abandoned by the Father, so that you and I would never be. Then Jesus cried out, “It is finished!”, and He died. At this final cry of victory, God’s inflexible holiness and His unconditional love collided as our redemption was made possible. Around 5:00 pm the women came to prepare His body for burial and at 6:00 pm they placed Him in the tomb. A massive stone was rolled into place as the sun set on the saddest day in history. And the angels were silent as all creation watched to see what would happen next.

As you go throughout this day, be in a constant state of remembrance, meditating on what happened to our Lord Jesus. Think about each event as if it was happening today. Consider the horrific emotional strain Jesus faced, knowing He was about to endure a slow, painful death, and greater still, the anticipation of the very wrath of God upon sin that would come upon Him. And remember, He did all of this for you and me. Remember also that it’s Friday, the saddest day in history, but Sunday’s coming. Praise Him.

Pray:  Lord, today I will walk with You through Your sufferings. I will meditate on every phase of Your sacrifice for me and give thanks to You/ My heart breaks over my sin that put You on the cross. May I always remember what You have accomplished for me. And may Your love for me lead me to love You, to obey You, and bring glory to You Name.

Jesus, the Incomparable Substitute

27 Mar , 2018 No Comments

As Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism was dying, his devoted followers asked how they should keep his memory alive, propagate his greatness. He said, “Don’t bother. Tell them not to remember me, but adhere to my teachings. They can forget me, but let my teachings be propagated around the world.” This sounds like a very self-less, humble response. But Jesus would have never said anything like this. If He had it would validate what many people think: that Jesus was yet another religious leader whose primary message was, “work harder, get better”. It would confirm what a lot of Christians seem to believe today – that Jesus came to initiate a new and improved behavior modification project. As if Jesus came to help us get better. Clearly Jesus taught us much, but think about it, what was at the heart of His teaching?

The central focus of Jesus’ teaching was His identity, who He was and is. He would have never said, “Forget me, just follow my teachings.” He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” It may sound self-evident but at the heart of the Christian faith is Christ Himself, Who He is and what He has done. So, it’s paramount that we get our Christology right (who He is) above all else and then put everything else at it’s service. Here’s why:  Your view of Christ determines your response to Him. The Person of Jesus – His character, His identity, and the essence of His nature is clearly revealed in the Gospel accounts and is brought into undeniable focus and clarity the final week of His life.

Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem begins with a counter-procession, presenting a contrary way, a rival king, a contrasting social order, and an opposing theology, ushering in an alternative kingdom – the kingdom of God.

Jesus said His kingdom is “not of this world,” and it contrasts the kingdom of the world in every possible way. This is not a simple contrast between good and evil, but rather two fundamentally different ways of doing life, two fundamentally different belief systems- two fundamentally different loyalties. This King is ushering in a different kind of kingdom and it’s embodied in the King Himself.

This is why the angry pursuit of the religious leaders ramped up the final week of His life. In the end, He was not crucified because He talked about loving others or caring for the poor. He was crucified because of who He claimed to be. In the end, He lived the perfect life for us, suffered and died, taking on our shame and punishment, and He rose again, conquering death and hell- this is the Gospel, the Good News that has rescued us from death and hell. He is the King we worship, the One we proclaim, and the One we follow every day.

This Holy Week, let’s tell others who Jesus really is. Tell them He is not another good example, but our incomparable Substitute.

 

“Who is the LORD that I should obey Him?”

29 Jan , 2018 No Comments

The question Pharaoh asked Moses is the modern question of our day. As we read the Old Testament, we often think that these people are primitive, uneducated, even barbaric. We have a general idea that we are progressively getting smarter and better. We have better medicine, technology, faster transportation; we’re enlightened, educated, modern. But at the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.

The Pharaoh was a highly educated, affluent man. He is the modern man and his question is the question of our day. The entire story of the plagues, and the Exodus, hinges on his question: “Who is the LORD and why should I obey Him?” Exodus 5:2 Our entire story hinges on this question as well. The Pharaoh was not an atheist, but a polytheist. He had no trouble believing in gods, as long as they served him. But to believe in a god that would actually tell him what to do was preposterous. Not unlike most of us today.

Some struggle with God, thinking He is too harsh, judgmental and wrathful. Instead, we fail to see that in His mercy He rescues you from our gods, that will otherwise crush us. It is His mercy, not His wrath that saves us. In His wrath is His mercy. His judgement is mercy. “O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.” Habakkuk 3:2

God’s judgment comes upon those who disregard Him. But even in His warnings of judgment there is mercy. Like the Pharaoh, we need a renewed vision of who God is.

By His grace, through warnings and judgment, God lovingly draws us to Himself. Every plague has a corresponding Egyptian god and what the LORD (Yahweh) is doing is answering Pharaoh’s question with each subsequent plague: “Who is LORD? I am the one, true God and I am greater than your false gods. I will crush them for your good and for my glory.”

Consider: what are the gods we serve in our day? And what corresponding plagues might God bring into our lives so that we would turn to Him and worship Him alone? What plagues might God unleash on us in order to show His supremacy, His place as the LORD, so that He might satisfy our soul’s desire? Just a few examples:

Our gods and the plagues that confront us

Comfort – the plague of inconvenience God will bring discomfort, perhaps Illness, relational struggles that confront us. Like gnats or flies, they may seem small at first, but they destroy our peace and comfort. All of this, so we will turn to Him and find that He alone is our Comfort and Peace.

Control – the plague of chaos The god of control says, “I will control how I live, how I look, how my life goes. I will cover every possible contingency, I will prepare, build an impenetrable wall around me. I will build an emotional wall around me. I will not let anyone in. I will control my environment.” In his famous poem, Invictus, William Henley (an atheist), writes (from a hospital bed), these last two stanzas: “Beyond this place of wrath and tears. Looms but the Horror of the shade, and yet the menace of the years finds, and shall find me, unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” Henley echoes the Pharaoh’s question: “Who is the LORD, that I should obey Him?” Instead, our desire to control our lives results in impotence, disorganization, mismanagement, addictions. It’s why all alcoholics know that the first of the 12 steps to recovery is, “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.” We must admit that you are NOT in control.

Success – the plague of dissatisfaction Success is never up and to the right always. And even if it is, we are left empty if success has become our functional god. This week, Tom Brady will start in his eighth Super Bowl. He’s won five. Surely, he is the GOAT, the greatest of all time. Brady is handsome, married to a model wife, and worth millions (billions?) of dollars. In a moment of rare vulnerability, on 60 Minutes, in an interview with Steve Kroft, Brady said, “This is what it is- this guy (himself) has it all. But I think, “there has to be more than this.” Kroft asked, “What’s the answer?” Brady responded, “I wish I knew, I wish I knew.” At the pinnacle of success he is plagued with dissatisfaction.

Approval – the plague of rejection Our desire for approval is met with the plague of disapproval, even self-condemnation. For the person who worships the god of approval, rejection is devastating. In a world of social media, the need for approval escalates to devastating results.

How can we discern our idols? Your deepest emotions will point you to your idols, to the gods you worship. Look at your anger, anxiety; what do you think about that makes you worry? What makes you really sad? Most often our anxiety is caused by the thought of losing something we love, something we worship- a god.

But what if God, by His mercy, is drawing us to Him? Paul asks: “What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath- prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory.” Romans 9:22-23

At the cross, God’s unending grace and His inflexible holiness collided and our salvation was made possible. On the Cross He brought mercy for sinners and judgment on sin that came upon Jesus. You and I were spared the ultimate plague of sin’s shame and death.

We find purpose and ultimate satisfaction in GOD alone, through Christ alone. The process that comes as God strips us of our idols is painful. But He does this so that you will turn to Him and rejoice in His presence and praise Him as you discover that He is enough.

 “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

In His wrath, He has remembered mercy.

29 Sep , 2017 No Comments

October 31, in 1517, was a day that changed the world. It was “All Hallows Eve”, the day before the day when all “hallows”, or “saints” who had died were recognized and honored. Hallows Eve is now our Halloween, still the day before all saints day. On that day, in 1517, a little known priest named, Martin Luther, posted 95 theses (grievances, complaints) that he had with the Catholic Church, by nailing them to the front Door of the Church in Wittenburg, Germany (where he was a priest and university professor). Though odd to us today, his act was a way to post an opinion to the public (like a writing on an OpEd page or posting on Social Media). The printing press was just coming into play – which would be as dramatic as the advent of the internet- but by nailing his 95 theses on the church door he was launching his opinions for anyone in town to discuss, deliberate, and debate. This single act sparked the Protestant Reformation.

The Reformation was a rediscovery of the major beliefs of orthodox, biblical Christianity. It was a rediscovery of the Gospel. This year marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Historians and theologians observe that, about every 500 years, the empowered structures of institutionalized Christianity, whatever they may be at that time, become an intolerable covering, or a hard shell, that is broken, even shattered, in order for renewal and new growth to occur. It’s an unsettling time, but the result is always a fresh and revitalized expression of the Faith, and advancement of the Gospel. Consider, of course, the Great Christ event (His incarnation, perfect life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection) that split history into BC and AD. Then around 500 years later we see the Great Fall of Rome occurred and the Great Pope (Gregory) brought reform to the Church and the Gospel spread westward into Europe. Then the Great Schism (of 1054) took place, that split the Church between the West (Roman Catholic) and East (Orthodox Church). Then, in the 1500s, the Great Reformation took place, resulting in a dramatic shift of theology and practice- called Protestantism. And now we’re experiencing what some are calling the Great Emergence. We’re praying for a Great Revival that will bring dramatic changes.

Historically, when this upheaval takes place, there is first, a more vital form of Christianity that does indeed emerge. Secondly, the organized expression of Christianity (that up until then had been the dominant one), rediscovers a more pure and less fossilized expression of its former self. And thirdly, every time the fossilized form of an overly established Christianity has been broken open, the Gospel has spread dramatically into new geographic and demographic areas, which exponentially increases the range and depth of Christianity’s reach as a result of its time of unease and distress.

So what we see in the Reformation is that the birth of Protestantism not only established a new, powerful way of what it means to be “Christian”, but it was a history-making shift that resulted in social and cultural movements of global proportions. We are experiencing that kind of historic shift in spirituality and Christian life in our day. Through it all the Church remains the most resilient movement on the planet because she is constantly being driven back to her roots, by faithful preachers and Gospel-centered teachers who are found devoted to the Scriptures and centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The “New Reformation” that is critical in our day, is calling us back to a biblical, orthodox Christian faith. It is again, a rediscovery of the Gospel and all its implications. It is a rediscovery of Christ Himself and how His Spirit lives in us. As we celebrate the first reformation throughout the month, we will be exploring the new reformation that is needed in our minds and hearts today. I hope you will join me and pray for revival in your heart during this significant time.