The Glory of Grace

On August 29, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Corinthians 15: 9 – 10

For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. but by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of the them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Paul enters the story of the Christian church as one of the preeminent weapons that Satan had in play, perhaps even the most valuable tool in Satan’s arsenal. He was zealous in his persecution of Christians. It is perhaps a bit difficult for us to fully appreciate what a bad guy Paul, then Saul, really was. Imagine today someone who goes throughout the country, fully authorized, beating, stoning and imprisoning Christians simply because of their faith. In happens in other countries even today but this is not something that occurs in most of our experiences. Then imagine that the guy who is the most zealous and dangerous persecutor of all becomes a minister of the gospel. It really is difficult to wrap your head around.  

How was Paul ever able to stand in the presence of God? How could he even pray to the one whom he persecuted? He tells us in this passage. Only the grace of God could repair a relationship which was so badly broken. Only grace could cover Paul’s sin and the harm that he did to so many people. Grace does what nothing else can. Only God’s grace can take our damage and turn it around for good. 

Humility is a good thing in a person because, as was the case with Paul, it allows the grace of God to wipe away our idiocy so that in God’s eyes we are as pure and innocent as Jesus himself. Paul describes himself as the least of all of the apostles. He is humble as to his own stature and merit. None the less, he boasts in the work that God was able to do through him but he says it is because of the grace.

Some people use the message of grace as a way to excuse their sin or continue in it but, you see, that isn’t grace. Grace reaches out to your brokenness and creates a saint. Grace doesn’t just cover your mistakes. It eradicates them. But … if you have truly been touched by grace, then you have a deep, deep desire to never sin in any form ever again. Grace repairs a person’s heart and reforms them into the very image of the Christ. No one who understands grace, or even fathoms a smidgen about grace, will intentionally keep sinning. A person who would use the blood of Jesus to continue to sin is a fool and I don’t want to even stand near them. That is an insult to the blood of Jesus and blasphemes the Holy Spirit. My point is, do not let an idiot teach you the meaning of grace. Don’t even give that kind of person your ear for a moment for there is nothing they can say that would enlighten even one hair of your head. 

Grace turned the biggest sinner of the age into the greatest apostle of the time. Grace takes people like you and me and makes us giants because grace requires nothing of us except humble surrender. When we understand that grace is not about us but is only about the goodness of God then we can experience a new level of freedom. And by the grace of God, we can do all things. Whatever God has put in your heart, you can do because His grace will do for you what it did for Paul. You can be the greatest apostle of this age. He who surrenders best will win the race. The more we let go of ourselves and rely solely on the grace of God, the stronger and more effective we become. Isn’t that great news? Even if you are the biggest mess on the block, the dunce of the family, tomorrow could be a whole different story. Even if you have been out persecuting and killing Christians, you could become the best mouthpiece for God of our age. Never lose hope; just lose yourself in the grace of God.

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Who is it?

On August 28, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Job 9: 24

If it is not he, then who is it?

You know the story of Job and of how great his suffering was. Job was a godly man so when calamity struck his house he was bewildered. The book of Job records conversations he had with his “friends”. In today’s passage Job is answering Bildad. He makes the assertion that so many Christians make which is essentially that God is the source of our trouble and misfortune.  

I was guilty of this myself. In my early years I, like everyone, suffered some hardships. My religious training had not taught me that there was a source of evil in the world. I remember saying to someone who was a Christian, “It must be God who is causing these bad things to happen to me.” It was a horrible thing to say to a believer but do you know what? He didn’t correct me. He didn’t explain to me how wrong I was and about the goodness and love of our God. Surely he believed in John 3: 16, who doesn’t? How, then, do we reconcile this God of love who gave everything to save us with the ideology of a God who inflicts pain and suffering? We cannot because the two are irreconcilable.

The devil has done quite a number on the church. He has reduced his image to that of a cute Halloween costume. He has shifted our understanding of him to fantasy and make believe. However, we have the means to learn and know the truth. James 1: 5 is the pronouncement of a major theme of the Bible, that being that the Lord, our God, gives us wisdom. The wisdom of God reveals all truth, so, the devil cannot hide in his lies when wisdom has come upon the scene. He is always exposed for the liar that he is.

When bad things happen, we need to understand that the devil is our enemy (1 Peter 5: 8). However, we can take comfort in knowing that our Lord has already defeated the enemy which means that we are no longer subject to the devil. We can overcome all of his machinations through the victory of Jesus. The first step, however, is in not being deceived that there is no devil or that our benevolent Father is the source of the bad things that happen in life. Believe me, when I thought that God was the source of trouble in my life I could not receive relief. It is only in our Father that we can triumph. 1 Corinthians 13: 8 says that love never fails. Well, here is an example of that non-failing force. Love always wins so we take the love of God, which is God’s very substance, and we apply it to the problem and love wins every time.

Your Father loves you more than you can imagine and He would never inflict harm on you. He only wants good for you and since He is love and goodness that is all that He has to give you. Give the devil his proper due and put him back under your feet where he belongs.

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Follow the Blessing

On August 27, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 28: 2

And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the Lord your God.

When you read the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy you see that there is much blessing promised in that chapter. I quite like the idea of the blessing chasing us down in the street and overtaking us. And as much as we might relish that thought and even believe God, we still might question how it is going to happen. The answer, fortunately, is in the last phrase of the sentence. The blessing is in our obedience. That may sound more spiritual than it needs to. It is more basic than many of us appreciate. God will bless you even in tough economic times by giving you ideas and plans for gaining wealth. Maybe he is telling you to save 10% of your income. Maybe he is telling you to give money to a charity. We have to become sensitive to the urges God is using to prompt us and then we must obey. Maybe we have thought to give money to a minister but haven’t done it. Maybe we had a generous thought towards someone else and didn’t follow through. God isn’t trying to get something from you; he is trying to get something to you. He will prosper you in these times but you must obey. In the midst of a bad economy, God wants to prosper you abundantly. Listen to what he is telling you. Pray about it and by all means follow through.

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Give us Life

On August 26, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 22: 4

The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor and life.

A funny thing happened on the way to the . . . .

You’ve heard that old joke but it happened to me today on my way to another verse. This 22nd proverb just jumped out and caught me. I hope God caused it to leap off of the page for the Word of the Day, rather than it being a personal message for me. Eeither way, this scripture is seriously worth considering.

Most of us revere the Lord, which is what this “fear the Lord” means. So I don’t see that part as a problem for any of us. I suppose we could each take a moment and question how highly we esteem our Lord. Having done, though, I suspect that the larger problem that many of us need to deal with is humility. We have seen that humility is a pretty big issue with God. In the last couple of months we have seen half a dozen scriptures which either specifically talk about humility or which deal with the subject. It is certainly in our self-interest to be humble. First of all, people do not like arrogant people so we will have better friendships if we walk in humility but look at today’s passage. With humility also comes honor, riches and life. Well, we want life don’t we? So we need to pay attention to whether or not we really are humble.

The real question, I think, is, “Would other people describe me as humble.” You see, we are not always accurate assessors of ourselves. Think about your friends and family. Would they say you are a humble person? That is the test.

You know, Jesus, for all his power was a humble person. Do your remember this statement from Matthew 11: 29, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” That makes one think. How can anyone of us be proud and arrogant when Jesus was humble? What do we think we have that makes us so special? Well, I can tell you that the only thing that I have that makes me special is Jesus.

So, here is what you do. Pray. Ask the Lord Jesus if you ever demonstrate arrogance or pride. Wait and let him answer. Many of us will be confronted with an uncomfortable truth but that is okay. The next step is to ask the Lord to take that out of you. Pray for his help because you cannot do this on your own. Ask him to continue his work in you making you into the image of himself. He will help you. He cannot do it without you, though. You are the master of your own house and he will not violate your sovereignty. However, he is poised, waiting and wanting to transform you into that beautiful creation that you were always destined to be. Do not hesitate in having this conversation with Jesus. Do it today because the longer you wait the longer you are denying yourself riches, honor and life.

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The Blessing of the Lord

On August 25, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 10: 22

It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.

Upon what are you dependent for you prosperity? I hope it is not this economy because the present economy is sure to let you down. We are blessed in the Lord with every blessing under the sun. Part of that blessing is the wealth of God. Having a hard time believing that? Look at Kind David or his son Solomon. Solomon was the richest man ever to live. He was so wealthy that he didn’t even bother to count silver. It just wasn’t worth his time or effort.

Modern day Christians have a hard time receiving all that God has to give because we have bought into the lie that it is wrong for Christians to be wealthy. That doesn’t even make sense and it certainly isn’t biblical. You are the kid of the Almighty, you should be abundantly blessed. Deuteronomy 28: 6 says that we are blessed coming in and going out. 

Do not worry about this present economy. It only means that the world system is failing. Your prosperity and the provision for your needs are not in the hands of the world but rather in the hands of the Almighty. Lift up your eyes and your voice to him. Tell him that you are putting all of your trust in him for your financial well being and you will be able to look back on these times and say that in the worst economic climate since the great depression you prospered.

   

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Barnabas and Paul

On August 22, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Acts 15: 39

And there arose such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another.

This is such a tragic story. It is an early New Testament example of a church split. Barnabas and Paul were preaching partners. They travelled together spreading the good news of Christ. In fact, it was Barnabas who, we could say, sponsored Paul.  

Do you remember that Paul’s name had been Saul? He was well known in the region for persecuting Christians. He was even there when Stephen was stoned to death. Then he had that remarkable conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). After his conversion he began to preach about Jesus. He went to Jerusalem and tried to associate with the disciples but they didn’t trust him and so wouldn’t have anything to do with him. It was Barnabas who vouched for him. The scripture says “But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles” (Acts 9: 27).  

Barnabas was already established in the church but Paul was a newcomer and an outsider. It appears to me that Barnabas took Paul under his wing and helped him. No doubt Barnabas was Paul’s best friend and probably his mentor. Something has gone very wrong by Acts 15 though. They had a bitter disagreement and it split up the team. Neither one, it would seem, was willing to concede the point so they, quite literally, went their separate ways.

What was at the base of this split, do you think? A conflict arose over whether or not to take John Mark with them on their trip. It seems to me, though, that the argument really isn’t over this issue. There is something deeper going on here. I found another scripture recently which may shed some light on this situation. It is Proverb 139: 18 and it reads, “Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.”  

I wonder if pride had crept into their relationship. Perhaps Barnabas still perceived himself as the leader and expected to make decisions and to advise Paul. Paul clearly did not wish to defer to Barnabas’ wishes. Neither man would give in so they were forced to separate. It’s sad.

We are faced with the same situations today and it is my theory that pride is at the root. Face it. Few of us have the humility to receive advice. We all want to pretend that we have all of the answers. Pride is our calling card. This is why we quarrel and why we lack wisdom. We are unwilling to receive wisdom from those who would willingly share it with us. There are people with great wisdom and experience who keep it all to themselves because they have learned that most people would rather blindly stumble along in their own strength. And that is a shame. We should be learning from the learned. We should be sitting at the feet of the elderly, gleaning information and experience from them. But alas . . . .

Perhaps if we could learn something from this story of Barnabas and Paul we would have fewer church splits and fewer relationship splits. We’ve learned a few things about pride and humility. Wisdom is found in those who take advice and pride breeds quarrels (Proverb 139: 18). When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom (Proverb 11: 2). “Pride precedes a disaster, and an arrogant attitude precedes a fall” (Proverb 16: 18). Up ‘til now, though, all of this knowledge is just in our heads. It will only transform us and our lives when it makes its way to our hearts. For that we need at least enough humility to pray to our God and ask Him for help and for wisdom. The problem is that the people who need this most are the one’s least likely to receive this into their hearts. Those of you who are nodding your heads as you read this have already come to appreciate the truth of these verses. Perhaps, then, if you would pray for the rest of us, maybe, just maybe, those of us who have a greater challenge in this area could find a measure of humility such that we could humble themselves before the Lord. We must go before the Lord and ask Him whether we are the humble or the proud and ask Him to soften our hearts. “While you are in there, Father, remove the prideful attitude and arrogance and remake us into the image of your dear son.”

Truly, if we will allow the father to remake our hearts so that arrogance and pride are not central cast members on the stage of our lives, we will live a much better existence and the peace of God will surround us at all times. Hallelujah.

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Whom Do You Love

On August 21, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 21: 15

So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?

That was a loaded question. If you have ever heard a teaching on this passage which delves into the Greek words for “love” you know that Peter was really up against the wall because Jesus was talking about a deeper kind of love than Peter was yet able to fathom. I would like for us to look at this passage today in a similar way to the Greek word study but in a way that I think makes Jesus’ meaning even more clear. (By the way, the easy way to see what was going on in the Greek is to read this passage in the Amplified Bible.)  

Let us take today’s verse and overlay it onto 1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 8a. When we do so we find Jesus asking Peter a series of questions. First let us read the passage from 1 Corinthians. “Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn’t jealous. It doesn’t sing its own praises. It isn’t arrogant. It isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep track of wrongs. It isn’t happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth. Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up. Love never comes to an end” (God’s Word Translation). In many versions the last sentence reads, Love never fails. Well, you get the point but if you really want a revelation, read this passage in the Amplified translation. Actually, read it in a lot of translations. You will be enlightened. Anyway, when you read 1 Corinthians 13 together with John 21: 15 you find Jesus asking Peter (and each of us), Peter, do you love me – will you be patient with me? Peter, are you kind to me? Are you jealous? Do you brag? Are you arrogant and self-centered? Are you ever rude to me? Peter, are you thinking of yourself or of me? Are you irritable with me? Do you keep a record of past wrongs? Are you happy with unrighteousness; happy in the truth? Will you always be patient with me, believe in me, never give up, never fail and never stop hoping? That is what Jesus was asking when he said, “Peter do you love me?” 

Now think of it this way. Jesus has said to you, “I love you.” When Jesus says he loves you he speaks in the fullness of the concept of love. That means that he is conveying to you all of those things found in 1 Corinthians 13. There is great richness and depth in Jesus’ love for you. This is the way the Father loves you also. They love you with their whole being for love is not a shallow word in Christ.

Think of this also the next time you tell a person that you love them. Do you mean to convey all that is found in 1 Corinthians 13? If not, then you don’t really love that person. It may be a deep form of “like” but it isn’t love if you cannot put their needs in front of your own applying all of the characteristics of love. You see, 1 Corinthians 13 defines love for us. In our society we can sometimes use the word love very casually but now that we see what it truly means we may want to curb our tongues. Don’t misunderstand me though. I am all for telling people that you love them. I just want you to mean what you say and understand what love is. If we are not patient and kind to people then we have to conclude that we really do not love them with what God calls love. We may need them, want them, etc. but we have not reached that place in our hearts where we can love as Jesus commanded. When this is the case we must look within ourselves and ask why we, like Peter, have such difficulty expressing true love.

Peter was at the infancy of his ministry when Jesus asked him this question and it really was a question that was intended to prepare Peter for ministry. As we continue to follow Peter’s life and ministry we see that he did get a revelation of what Jesus began teaching him with that simple question. Peter grew and changed and became a great disciple of Christ and a great bearer of the commission and commandment of Jesus. Jesus only gave us one commandment and that command is to love one another (John 13: 34). Our commission is to spread love. It sounds so 1960’s but it is the truth and the essence of Christian life and evangelism. Go into all the world and tell them the good news (Mark 16: 15). What is the good news? That God loves them and that Jesus has restored them to that non-failing, endless love.

So, I want to ask you this question. Who do you love? Do you love Jesus? Does your love for God stand up to the test? Are we putting our needs and wants before God? It is a tough test, to be sure, but looking inside our hearts for the answers will help us to grow as people and as Christians. Live, love and grow.

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