I was cutting the grass this morning and had these thoughts while listening to Matt Chandler preach.
Look at the story of Moses and Pharoah and the plagues that God sent to the land. God sent these plagues in the midst of a struggle over authority with Pharoah. In other words, Pharoah says, "I am in charge." God says, "No I have authority."
Please, do not think of this story as some fairy tale kids movie. This is not for kids, it is intense awful stuff that happened to a nation whose leader was in opposition to the authority of God.
Among other things, this is what God to show his authority. Every bit of livestock from the nation of Egypt died. Every horse, camel, cow, sheep and every other piece of livestock just dropped dead. The great river Nile turned into blood. Houses were filled with locusts, dust turned into gnats. Then every first born son of everyone in the land of Egypt died in the night.
Make no mistake, God has authority. We can submit to it or we can be in opposition to it.
Ferocious Faith
When we read and study about the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11, we see that every single example of faith produced in them an outward, ferocious way of living for the Kingdom of God. Faith is never simply an inward thing, but always produces an outward way of living that exalts Christ and advances His Kingdom.
How is the Lord calling us to be bold and ferocious in our pursuit of Him - to live out our faith and be placed into the category as people "of whom the world [is] not worthy" (v.38)?
It goes without saying that what these men and women accomplished by faith in advancing the Kingdom (as described in Hebrews 11), required an act of God and never was it comfortable and easy. In fact, most of the time they were probably out of their element and completely out of their comfort zone. I mean, think about it, what in the world is comfortable about "stopping the mouths of lions, escaping the edge of the sword, being tortured, suffering mocking and flogging and chains and imprisonment, being stoned, and sawed in two (SERIOUSLY!?!?!) and killed with the sword?" ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! So why do we think that our calling to advance the Kingdom of God should look any different???
As Matthew put it:
12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force (Matt 11:12).
THE ANSWER!!
So how in the world do we do this??? I love it when the Bible shoots you straight...so here it is.
Heb 13:20-21
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Notice how the gospel produces the power of God in our lives to equip us to be and do exactly what he is calling us to be and do. Oh that God would work this kind of faith in our lives...that we would never be the same...that our church and our community and the nations would never be the same!!!
Will you join me???
How is the Lord calling us to be bold and ferocious in our pursuit of Him - to live out our faith and be placed into the category as people "of whom the world [is] not worthy" (v.38)?
It goes without saying that what these men and women accomplished by faith in advancing the Kingdom (as described in Hebrews 11), required an act of God and never was it comfortable and easy. In fact, most of the time they were probably out of their element and completely out of their comfort zone. I mean, think about it, what in the world is comfortable about "stopping the mouths of lions, escaping the edge of the sword, being tortured, suffering mocking and flogging and chains and imprisonment, being stoned, and sawed in two (SERIOUSLY!?!?!) and killed with the sword?" ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! So why do we think that our calling to advance the Kingdom of God should look any different???
As Matthew put it:
12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force (Matt 11:12).
THE ANSWER!!
So how in the world do we do this??? I love it when the Bible shoots you straight...so here it is.
Heb 13:20-21
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Notice how the gospel produces the power of God in our lives to equip us to be and do exactly what he is calling us to be and do. Oh that God would work this kind of faith in our lives...that we would never be the same...that our church and our community and the nations would never be the same!!!
Will you join me???
Identity Crisis
This is on the front page of Espn.com under a picture of Michael Vick.
"Michael Vick has spent the past 2 ½ years as a symbol. On Sunday, he will become a person again when he takes the field for the Eagles."
Who we are is not defined by what we do for a living or even the gifts that we have been given by God. This statement and this man are prime examples of how we worship false idols and how we find our identity in temporary and destructible things and how those things can and do crumble.
As I read that and started to think about it, I thought of two things. First, is John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" That word truth is the Greek word Alethia. It means that which is true under any matter under consideration. It means that Jesus is unaffected by circumstances or environment. It means that he is unchangeable, unfaltering and unwavering, he is the same today as he has always been.
Second, I thought of the old hymn that says, "My hope is built on nothing less that Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name." The identity of the follower of Jesus is found solely and completely in the person of Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:3 says that our lives are now hidden in Christ.
May you rest in the hope that your identity cannot perish, spoil or fade and is placed in the unchanging unaffected nature of Jesus Christ.
"Michael Vick has spent the past 2 ½ years as a symbol. On Sunday, he will become a person again when he takes the field for the Eagles."
Who we are is not defined by what we do for a living or even the gifts that we have been given by God. This statement and this man are prime examples of how we worship false idols and how we find our identity in temporary and destructible things and how those things can and do crumble.
As I read that and started to think about it, I thought of two things. First, is John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" That word truth is the Greek word Alethia. It means that which is true under any matter under consideration. It means that Jesus is unaffected by circumstances or environment. It means that he is unchangeable, unfaltering and unwavering, he is the same today as he has always been.
Second, I thought of the old hymn that says, "My hope is built on nothing less that Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name." The identity of the follower of Jesus is found solely and completely in the person of Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:3 says that our lives are now hidden in Christ.
May you rest in the hope that your identity cannot perish, spoil or fade and is placed in the unchanging unaffected nature of Jesus Christ.
On Authority, Submission and Covering
Hebrews 13:17 (ESV) Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
I have been thinking a lot about authority and covering. Scripture has a lot of references about submitting to authority. In Gethsemane, Jesus was submitting to the authority of the father. In Ephesians wives are called to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. Romans speaks to submitting to governmental authority as a form of worship. 1 Peter 2 speaks of submission.
Headship is a principle of responsibility for a relationship. Christ is the head of the church, therefore he holds the responsibility for that relationship. The husband is the head of the wife and so it is the same deal, he is responsible for the relationship. A pastor will give an account for the work he has done and for the people in his care. We must understand this concept:God has designed us to be under authority and in submission to that authority.
This is not done for some sort of cosmic power trip. It is not done rob you of freedoms or to be oppressive, even when that authority is oppressive or is perceived to be oppressive. It is done as a covering. It is done for your benefit.
The Road to Perdition
About 1:40 into this clip there is a great speech about submitting and covering. It paints a very Biblical picture of the importance of submitting to authority and the covering that it provides. The rest of the clip is for your entertainment.
I have been thinking a lot about authority and covering. Scripture has a lot of references about submitting to authority. In Gethsemane, Jesus was submitting to the authority of the father. In Ephesians wives are called to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. Romans speaks to submitting to governmental authority as a form of worship. 1 Peter 2 speaks of submission.
Headship is a principle of responsibility for a relationship. Christ is the head of the church, therefore he holds the responsibility for that relationship. The husband is the head of the wife and so it is the same deal, he is responsible for the relationship. A pastor will give an account for the work he has done and for the people in his care. We must understand this concept:God has designed us to be under authority and in submission to that authority.
This is not done for some sort of cosmic power trip. It is not done rob you of freedoms or to be oppressive, even when that authority is oppressive or is perceived to be oppressive. It is done as a covering. It is done for your benefit.
The Road to Perdition
About 1:40 into this clip there is a great speech about submitting and covering. It paints a very Biblical picture of the importance of submitting to authority and the covering that it provides. The rest of the clip is for your entertainment.
From J I Packer
The Way of the Weak Is the Only Healthy Way
By J. I. Packer
“It’s a grand life if you don’t weaken,” says the British platitude. It’s a good life only when you do weaken, says the Bible. Once more the wisdom of God upsets the conventional wisdom, the wisdom of this world. Christians must always be alert to points at which God’s thoughts cut across what society takes for granted and must dare to be different when loyalty to their Master so requires—which is frequently. With regard to strength and weakness, the antithesis between the world’s way and that of Christ is total and stark and may not be toned down.
The world’s stance—that is, the view of mankind in the mass, without God and under sin—is not in doubt. Ever since Lamech and the tower of Babel the world has worshipped successful strength—the physical strength of Goliath, the executive strength of emperors and generals, the strength of purpose that explorers, go-getters, and tycoons display, the mental strength of thinkers and teachers. Individuals have sought to emulate these forms of strength by gestures of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. But Scripture shows that weakness, known and embraced as such, is of the essence of right living.
The world continues as it was. That explains why body-building (gaining an intimidating physical presence) and assertiveness training (learning, by verbal push and shove, how to get your way) and the “success syndrome” are so prominent in North America today; just as it explains why an Englishman feels that his home is his castle and why an Asian cannot contemplate losing face. Our proud world, thus tuned to seek strength, sees personal limitations somewhat pitiful and its compassion for handicapped humans often has a touch of contempt mixed in. It was so when the Corinthians said of Paul, “his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible”(2 Cor. 10:10, NKJV) and therefore declined to take him seriously. The world never has time for weakness in any form.
In its dictatorial way, the world tries to make Christians revere successful strength. When people’s spiritual quality is measured by whether they are good speakers or outstanding athletes or great money-makers or popular TV personalities, rather than by their character as it appears in non-official relationships, the world is making headway in this. When preachers present salvation as God’s gift to us of power to use, whether in maintaining a type of euphoria called victorious living or in effectively claiming health and wealth or in ministries of evangelism and healing or in any other acknowledged type of Christian effectiveness, the world’s strategy is advanced again. To say that God gives us power to use is not at all what Scripture means when it affirms that God’s power works in us and the Christian life is distorted when it sets forth as a use of strength in this way.
Certainly, God strengthens the weak—but understand how! Strength means ability to do something that requires effort. Scripture tells us that God gives strength for three things: endurance of strain and pressure, fidelity in serving God and others, and resistance to Satanic wiles. The Lord Jesus, who showed this threefold strength to perfection in the days of his flesh, now from his throne imparts it to those who are alive in him. In them the moral and spiritual instincts of Jesus’ holy character now seek active expression, and the Holy Spirit acts in their actions to work in them the good works in which the expression of these instincts is seen.
But, and this the crucial point to grasp, what I have just formulated only becomes reality when Christians feel too weak, mentally, morally, and spiritually, and maybe physically too, to rise to the demands of each situation. Then they extend the hand of faith to God as drowning men stretch for the lifebelt. “Help!” is prayer at is truest, as it is weakness at its most explicit. And it is a prayer that God answers!
Why does God shape his children’s lives in a way that keeps them feeling weak and swamped? Why do believers constantly find thorns in their flesh and in their beds? Why does the God of sovereign love periodically plunge his beloved ones in to suffering and strain? Paul’s testimony tells us partly why. “We were under great pressure . . . this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God.” “We who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.” “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 1:8 f., 4:11, 12:10). Exactly!
What the world never understands and those who think that the good Christian feels strong and powerful and has life easy never understands is that only consciously weak souls ever lean hard enough on the Lord to stand steady or walk straight in his risen power. Weakness is the true path, the only healthy way.
How weak, I wonder, are you today?
J.I. Packer is professor of historical and systematic theology at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
This article was previously published in Eternity Magazine, November 1987.
By J. I. Packer
“It’s a grand life if you don’t weaken,” says the British platitude. It’s a good life only when you do weaken, says the Bible. Once more the wisdom of God upsets the conventional wisdom, the wisdom of this world. Christians must always be alert to points at which God’s thoughts cut across what society takes for granted and must dare to be different when loyalty to their Master so requires—which is frequently. With regard to strength and weakness, the antithesis between the world’s way and that of Christ is total and stark and may not be toned down.
The world’s stance—that is, the view of mankind in the mass, without God and under sin—is not in doubt. Ever since Lamech and the tower of Babel the world has worshipped successful strength—the physical strength of Goliath, the executive strength of emperors and generals, the strength of purpose that explorers, go-getters, and tycoons display, the mental strength of thinkers and teachers. Individuals have sought to emulate these forms of strength by gestures of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. But Scripture shows that weakness, known and embraced as such, is of the essence of right living.
The world continues as it was. That explains why body-building (gaining an intimidating physical presence) and assertiveness training (learning, by verbal push and shove, how to get your way) and the “success syndrome” are so prominent in North America today; just as it explains why an Englishman feels that his home is his castle and why an Asian cannot contemplate losing face. Our proud world, thus tuned to seek strength, sees personal limitations somewhat pitiful and its compassion for handicapped humans often has a touch of contempt mixed in. It was so when the Corinthians said of Paul, “his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible”(2 Cor. 10:10, NKJV) and therefore declined to take him seriously. The world never has time for weakness in any form.
In its dictatorial way, the world tries to make Christians revere successful strength. When people’s spiritual quality is measured by whether they are good speakers or outstanding athletes or great money-makers or popular TV personalities, rather than by their character as it appears in non-official relationships, the world is making headway in this. When preachers present salvation as God’s gift to us of power to use, whether in maintaining a type of euphoria called victorious living or in effectively claiming health and wealth or in ministries of evangelism and healing or in any other acknowledged type of Christian effectiveness, the world’s strategy is advanced again. To say that God gives us power to use is not at all what Scripture means when it affirms that God’s power works in us and the Christian life is distorted when it sets forth as a use of strength in this way.
Certainly, God strengthens the weak—but understand how! Strength means ability to do something that requires effort. Scripture tells us that God gives strength for three things: endurance of strain and pressure, fidelity in serving God and others, and resistance to Satanic wiles. The Lord Jesus, who showed this threefold strength to perfection in the days of his flesh, now from his throne imparts it to those who are alive in him. In them the moral and spiritual instincts of Jesus’ holy character now seek active expression, and the Holy Spirit acts in their actions to work in them the good works in which the expression of these instincts is seen.
But, and this the crucial point to grasp, what I have just formulated only becomes reality when Christians feel too weak, mentally, morally, and spiritually, and maybe physically too, to rise to the demands of each situation. Then they extend the hand of faith to God as drowning men stretch for the lifebelt. “Help!” is prayer at is truest, as it is weakness at its most explicit. And it is a prayer that God answers!
Why does God shape his children’s lives in a way that keeps them feeling weak and swamped? Why do believers constantly find thorns in their flesh and in their beds? Why does the God of sovereign love periodically plunge his beloved ones in to suffering and strain? Paul’s testimony tells us partly why. “We were under great pressure . . . this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God.” “We who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.” “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 1:8 f., 4:11, 12:10). Exactly!
What the world never understands and those who think that the good Christian feels strong and powerful and has life easy never understands is that only consciously weak souls ever lean hard enough on the Lord to stand steady or walk straight in his risen power. Weakness is the true path, the only healthy way.
How weak, I wonder, are you today?
J.I. Packer is professor of historical and systematic theology at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
This article was previously published in Eternity Magazine, November 1987.
Thoughts on hope
The dictionary defines hope as the feeling that events will turn out for the best. It is also what we think of, perhaps subconsciously, when we see the word when it appears in scripture.
The word as it appears in the Old Testament is a trinity of wait, hope and expect. Stop for a moment and reflect on that. Seriously, stop reading and reflect on that. When we are directed to hope in the Lord, we are being directed to wait until the fruit of faith bears it self. We are being directed to know that Lord will come through as he has promised to come through. We are being directed to expect from the Lord; to plan our lives around that expectation. I expect tomorrow to come so I put my kids to bed at their bed times so that they will be refreshed for school in the morning.
Faith is inseparable from hope. You cannot hope in a Biblical sort of way without it being bound up in elements of faith. You cannot have this sort of trinity of waiting, hoping and expecting without knowledge our God and what he has promised to be and what he has not promised to be.
Psalm 130:5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word do I hope.” In Psalm 130:7 it says, “Oh Israel put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is steadfast love and plentiful redemption.”
See the Lord as the immovable bedrock upon which our hope is built. His unchanging word that was given to us to reveal his character is the object of our hope in verse 5. His steadfast love and plentiful redemption are the objects in verse 7. Notice those image creating adjectives…steadfast and plentiful. His love does not change. It does not change because it is not dependant on us to be deserving of it nor does it need to change to fully satisfy the core of our soul’s need to be loved. His redemption is without end, it is extravagantly given like Thanksgiving pie at Grandma’s.
Stop today and ask God to give you the grace gift of Biblical hope.
The word as it appears in the Old Testament is a trinity of wait, hope and expect. Stop for a moment and reflect on that. Seriously, stop reading and reflect on that. When we are directed to hope in the Lord, we are being directed to wait until the fruit of faith bears it self. We are being directed to know that Lord will come through as he has promised to come through. We are being directed to expect from the Lord; to plan our lives around that expectation. I expect tomorrow to come so I put my kids to bed at their bed times so that they will be refreshed for school in the morning.
Faith is inseparable from hope. You cannot hope in a Biblical sort of way without it being bound up in elements of faith. You cannot have this sort of trinity of waiting, hoping and expecting without knowledge our God and what he has promised to be and what he has not promised to be.
Psalm 130:5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word do I hope.” In Psalm 130:7 it says, “Oh Israel put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is steadfast love and plentiful redemption.”
See the Lord as the immovable bedrock upon which our hope is built. His unchanging word that was given to us to reveal his character is the object of our hope in verse 5. His steadfast love and plentiful redemption are the objects in verse 7. Notice those image creating adjectives…steadfast and plentiful. His love does not change. It does not change because it is not dependant on us to be deserving of it nor does it need to change to fully satisfy the core of our soul’s need to be loved. His redemption is without end, it is extravagantly given like Thanksgiving pie at Grandma’s.
Stop today and ask God to give you the grace gift of Biblical hope.
Baptism of Repentance
Mark 1:4 says that John appeard, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance.
I preached alot this summer about repentance and used this verse in the set up. But I missed this until this morning, "proclaiming a baptism of repentance. That words means immersion or submersion. Either way, it means put yourself fully and wholly into something.
John's call to those he encountered was to "immerse yourself in repentance." I was thinking just yesterday about how those messages I got to preach this summer impacted my own heart. I was fearful that I had moved past them and onto the next thing that Jesus was talking to me about.
I have prayed for my heart and yours today that Jesus would remind us to live this life immersed in repentance.
Further study on repentance::
North Church sermons on repentance
The two sermons on repentance are from May 24 and 31
A Spurgeon manuscript on repentance
An A W Pink mini book on repentance
All of Life is Repentance by Tim Keller
I preached alot this summer about repentance and used this verse in the set up. But I missed this until this morning, "proclaiming a baptism of repentance. That words means immersion or submersion. Either way, it means put yourself fully and wholly into something.
John's call to those he encountered was to "immerse yourself in repentance." I was thinking just yesterday about how those messages I got to preach this summer impacted my own heart. I was fearful that I had moved past them and onto the next thing that Jesus was talking to me about.
I have prayed for my heart and yours today that Jesus would remind us to live this life immersed in repentance.
Further study on repentance::
North Church sermons on repentance
The two sermons on repentance are from May 24 and 31
A Spurgeon manuscript on repentance
An A W Pink mini book on repentance
All of Life is Repentance by Tim Keller
