Son-glasses

Good morning,

Do you like real estate?  I love to look at houses, both in person and online.  Back when we were actually building homes in this country, especially when Hubster and I were looking for a home, we loved to walk through homes under construction.  Now, I like to roam around Zillow.com and see what's out there, how much folks are asking, etc.  I love to build homes, although it is an awful headache. Hubster and I have been privileged to build 2 homes together, and we are still married! :)

Well, enough of that.  The reason I went off on that tangent has to do with today's passage, 1 Cor. 3:9-15 (Phillips translation) - -

9 In this work, we work with God, and that means that you are a field under God’s cultivation, or, if you like, a house being built to his plan.

10-15 I, like an architect who knows his job, by the grace God has given me, lay the foundation; someone else builds upon it. I only say this, let the builder be careful how he builds! The foundation is laid already, and no one can lay another, for it is Jesus Christ himself. But any man who builds on the foundation using as his material gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or stubble, must know that each man’s work will one day be shown for what it is. The day will show it plainly enough, for the day will arise in a blaze of fire, and that fire will prove the nature of each man’s work. If the work that the man has built upon the foundation will stand this test, he will be rewarded. But if a man’s work be destroyed under the test, he loses it all. He personally will be safe, though rather like a man rescued from a fire.

This passage deals with our "works" as Christians and how God views them.  This is something we've been studying in the college-age Bible study group I lead. Here are a few points to remember:

1.  Jesus Christ must be the foundation of all.  If He is not Savior and Lord, if that decision has not been made to accept Him, then all "works" (good deeds) are meaningless in view of eternity.  This is the most important point of all.

2.  Our eternal salvation is not dependent on our good works.  Paul makes this plain in verse 15 (and elsewhere).  We can accept Christ as Savior and do little to advance His kingdom, or even accept Him on our deathbeds (provided we receive that opportunity; no one is guaranteed it), passing on into eternity with little to show for our Christian walks (think "not resplendent" here).  Such folks will enter Heaven, but with few eternal "jewels".  They'll be smellin' like smoke, Y'all...

3.  Motivation matters.  If a person is working "for the Lord", yet really only doing so to please him/herself (for his or her own glory), those accomplishments won't stand the test of "fire" mentioned in this passage.

4.  So, why "work" at all?  If doing good deeds is not a factor in earning our own salvation, why bother?  Frankly, if a "Christian" has to ask that question, I have to wonder if he/she knows Christ at all, if the heart has even been converted/transformed by His saving grace. Let me quote Tchividjian1 :
The Gospel alone liberates us to live a life of scandalous generosity, unrestrained sacrifice, uncommon valor and unbounded courage.  This is the difference between approaching all of life from salvation and approaching all of life for salvation; it's the difference between approaching life from our acceptance, and not for our acceptance; from love not for love.  The acceptance {by God} ... cannot be rescinded, thank God!
Those who have truly been redeemed (purchased) by Jesus Christ's blood understand that they are FOREVER loved, accepted and saved.  Nothing more can be done (worked) to either add to that or subtract from it.  Those who have had this irrevocable transformation happen in their spirits approach life differently from every other type of person on the planet.  They "chomp at the bit" to serve Jesus, because they love Him.  They long to do "good works" as a love offering to Him.  They don't do this so that they will gain God's approval.  In Jesus Christ, they already have it!

Have you ever looked for your sunglasses only to realize that they were on the top of your head the whole time?  That's the way it is with God's grace.  Sometimes, we act as if we have to "add to" our salvation, or exhaust ourselves "staying in God's good graces".  We look and search for ways to achieve significance, when everything has been done for us.  The sunglasses were there on your head the whole time!  You already possessed them.

When as Christians we truly take hold of this crucial truth, it will revolutionize our lives.  Put on your "Son-glasses", Christian.  Can you see it? Rejoice in the beautiful, secure knowledge of what He has done for you; and then, live out your life as a love offering to Him.  Get busy "building", resplendent sons and daughters!

Father, I still cannot even conceive of the depths of Your mercy, the inexhaustible riches of Your amazing grace!  No wonder we sing about Your attributes in our worship.  You are so far "beyond me", yet You love me and want to draw me ever closer to Your heart.  Stupefying!  I am so grateful that I don't have to "earn" Your love.  Your supernatural acceptance makes me want to serve You with all that is in me, to glorify You with all the gifts You've given, to imitate Jesus Christ in everything.  Thank you for forgiving me when I fall short, forgetting that my Son-glasses were on my head all along.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:
One-Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World, by Tullian Tchividjian, 2013. (chapter 9)

Confounded by the Foolish

Good morning,

Today's main text is 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.  Here it is in the NKJV:

26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."

It is imperative that, as Christians, we pursue humility.  How is that done though, exactly?  It is an illusive target because, once you think you have it, you've lost it!  I mean, once you say, "Oh, I am so humble!", then really you are just boasting and are full of sinful pride.  It is a conundrum.

On the one hand, if you are like me, you can't figure out why in creation God would have chosen you anyhow.  "Of all people," I sometimes think...."why did He choose me?"  It is unfathomable.  God is often counterintuitive, that is, He does things that don't seem to make sense in the visible world.

Grace is one of those counterintuitive things.  Grace makes no logical sense.  "Grace begins where pride ends," said Tullian Tchividjian.1  Why on earth would God send His most beloved Son to rescue a bunch of creatures wallowing in our sin, like a bunch of pigs in the mud? (Romans 5:8) Further, why would He call us His children and elevate us to a status co-equal with that same "only begotten" Son? (Romans 8:17)

The answer is: to please Himself and to bring Himself glory.  If there is a tiny little part of you that whispers, "That's a little arrogant, don't you think?", then you need to call it out for the satanism that it is.  Brothers and Sisters, when we see Him face-to-face, we are going to fall down on our own faces so fast we'll hardly realize how we got there.  In that day, there will be NO question as to who is God and who is not.  When we try to claim some of His glory for ourselves in our day-to-day walk, we have then lost some sight of who He is.  He is due ALL glory, and honor, and praise.

John the Baptist understood this.  When his ministry began to wane, as Jesus' ministry began to surge, John said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30) Yes!  That should be the mantra of each of us. When we focus on that, we will gain humility.

In considering the foolish things of the world to confound (amaze, astonish, confuse) the mighty, I think of the story of Barak and Deborah.  You can read it in Judges 4:12-16 and 5:19-23.  In that day, a woman warrior was very rare.  Yet, Barak told Deborah that he would not attempt to fight the forces of Sisera if she did not go along.  Listen to her reply (Judges 4:9) - - -

9 She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” 

God used the "foolish" things of the world to confound the mighty!   The battle strategy was to lead the superior army of Sisera into a swampy area, which caused their chariots to bog down.  Then, God sent a heavy rainstorm, which made their bowstrings wet and lessened the effectiveness of their archers.  The Israelites who excelled at slingshots and hand-to-hand combat then moved in and defeated the Canaanite army.

Why do you think He chose David to slay Goliath?  Why did He not choose a more "mighty" warrior?  Because the glory is His!  The words David spoke make me shiver (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

Do you think it was David that killed the giant?  A slingshot that brought him down?  I submit to you that it was the Name that is above every name, the Name of the God of Angel Armies that won the day.  He "does not save with sword and spear".  That battle was the Lord's and the glory was His too.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit, may we get a clearer picture of who You are today.  All our spiritual battles are Yours, whose Name is above all others.  Please "increase" in us, even as we "decrease".  And, please do this so that all the victories will be Yours, so that all the glory will be Yours, forever and ever.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:
One-Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World, by Tullian Tchividjian, 2013.

Right Back (to) Where We Started From

Good morning (well, afternoon now),

I had an 8:30 appointment this morning which dictated that I not eat breakfast.  Believe me, you don't want to read anything I've "digested" and blogged about on an empty stomach!  And, then, the air conditioner had to be repaired, etc.  So, I'm just now getting down to my "morning" Bible study.

There is some disagreement among Bible scholars as to when Paul did what and went where. He gave several clues in his letters by mentioning this ruler and that one.  According to Matthew McGee, Paul's first visit to the Corinthian church was in the spring of 52 A.D., during his "second missionary journey".  He stayed there about a year and a half, meeting Priscilla and Aquila, and making tents to support himself.  During this stay, Paul also preached the gospel and wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians. After leaving Corinth, he traveled across the sea to Ephesus.  Paul wrote 1 & 2 Corinthians near the end of his approximately 3-year stay in Ephesus (Acts 16:8, 19), around 57 A.D.

The reason that Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians is that the young church had become so carnal and worldly in their living that the rest of Corinthian society could tell no difference between the Christians and the non-Christians.  Corinth was a city full of every kind of vice, overrun with philosophers spouting their particular brand of virtue.  Instead of listening to and holding true to what they were taught by Paul, the Corinthian church was swayed by the worldly crowd around them, allowing themselves to become polluted, allowing their gospel message to become diluted.  This was a bunch of "take-it-easy Christians":  discipleship and holiness were sadly lacking.

In order to address the situation Paul reminded the Corinthians in 1:1-9 of "where they started from": their holy calling in Christ Jesus.  He attempted to re-frame the situation and re-focus their allegiance to their Lord.

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

I find this interesting...Despite their having become mired in the sin that surrounded them, despite their "practice" (daily walk) having become defiled, Paul talked about the Corinthian believers' position in Jesus Christ.  He did not start out by saying, "Well, Buddy, you've DONE IT NOW!  You have LOST your salvation!  Onto the trash heap of God's judgment you will forever go!"

Instead, he said, "Hey, Folks, you have been called to be saints, to live the sanctified (set apart) life, the holy walk by faith.  People!  Get right back to where you started from!"  He hearkens back to that day when "the testimony of Christ was confirmed in" (them), the day they had received the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving grace.  He pointed out that he had observed in their local church all the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work.

He further pointed out (and this really amazes me) that the Lord Jesus would continue His work of holiness (blamelessness) in them until either they died or He returned to earth, and that the Lord would do that because God is faithful to keep those who are His.  Now, keep in mind, Paul made these affirmative statements to a severely wandering church!

Be assured that by affirming these truths Paul was not condoning the rampant sin that raged through this body of believers.  Not at all!  However, Paul knew that nothing has the power to transform more than the grace of God.

You see, these believers knew, for the most part, that they had gotten off track.  They didn't need to be beat over the head with that fact.  My pastor says that there is no more miserable person on earth than the saint who knows he or she is not walking in holy obedience to the Lord.  When a Christian leaps into sin and wallows in it, the Holy Spirit will make him or her pretty miserable.  Thank God for that!

What these folks needed was to be reminded of the truth of the grace of God.  And, they were probably surprised that Paul took this approach.  Did they deserve this grace from Paul?  No.  IF grace is "deserved", then it isn't grace.  It is "merit".  Grace has everything to do with the One extending the grace, and nothing to do with the merits of the one receiving it.

Why do you think that Peter was called "the rock" by the Lord?  Because of his outstanding track record as a disciple?  Because he tried to walk on water and failed?  Because he tried to talk Jesus out of going to the cross?!  Because he fell asleep 3 times in the Garden of Gethsemane?  Need more examples?

Tullian Tchividjian, in his book One-Way Love, puts it like this:
"It is no coincidence that Peter was both the weakest and the one who recognized who Jesus was.  He could recognize the Savior, because he knew how much he needed one!"  
Peter knew that there was no way he could follow God on his own.  I imagine the Corinthians were discouraged, believing the same thing.  They needed a fresh infusion of God's grace, and that is what Paul gave them.  I think Paul might have liked this song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68uWGunx3yQ

Ok, dance session over!  :)
Look at the underlined and italicized portions of today's Scripture passage again.  Do you see how Paul reminded them of the glorious grace they had received?

So, God's grace is the antidote to all sin.  It is grace that draws the wandering Christian or the lost rebel home.  Hallelujah!

Heavenly Father, I am so grateful to be the recipient of your grace.  I need it every, single day.  Even knowing this, it is stupefying how easily I tend to deny that healing grace to others, instead responding with the hammer of the Law.  But, you are teaching me, and as painful as the lessons are, I am blessed to receive them.  They are intended to mold me more into Your image.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:

http://www.matthewmcgee.org/paultime.html