A Perfect Plan

 

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: `When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her  menstruation she shall be unclean. 3 `On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 `Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed. (Leviticus 12:1-4 NKJV)

 

   I'm often willful, but less often obedient. The culture in which I dwell teaches me willful disobedience. It encourages me to pursue my own desires and to find self fulfillment. Strangely, the initiation of the story of God's redemption of the world included the strict obedience of a variety of humans.

 

    Joseph was a "son of Israel". His linage wound through King David. When Caesar Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire, demanded that the "whole world" (in his world view the whole world included only the Roman world) register so that he could tax them, Joseph obeyed. When the angels appeared to heathen shepherds and instructed them to go find and worship Jesus, they obeyed. When eight days had passed after Jesus' birth, Joseph recalled the scripture (above) given by God to Moses centuries earlier regarding circumcision, he prepared Mary and the one week old Jesus for travel and walked eight miles to the temple in Jerusalem in obedience to God's Word. Imagine, He carried Jesus (God) and offered Him to God. He sacrificed two doves as an offering to God for blessing him with the birth of a son, Jesus (God). Mary returned to the temple 33 days later in obedience to verse 4 above as the Israelite women had for centuries.The Magi then obeyed God's stars and journeyed long and far to find the new King of the Jews the stars had predicted to them.

 

   All of these were willful acts of obedience.

 

   In my dawn prayers I often re-submit my life to Christ, remembering Paul's words - it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Rebellion is always crouching at the door of my heart, waiting for an opportunity to tempt me. A heart submitted in a prayer of salvation often needs refreshed submission. God's salvation is eternal. There is no wavering in the heart of Jesus. My submission to Him is frail. It is weak. It often quietly plans its own escape to sin. It sometimes succeeds. My obedience is quite imperfect.

 

   When Christ was sent to save, His obedience was quite perfect. All aspects of His redemption are therefore perfect too. My failures sometimes have serious consequences in human terms, but the power of my sin is incapable of destroying the power of His redemption. Complete forgiveness is never further than a prayer's distance from me. Once forgiven, my sin is forgotten in the heavenlies. The shame that often accompanies it evaporates when the Lord's grace is applied.

 

    The birth of Christ we celebrated yesterday began the only life of complete obedience ever lived. He was the only Lamb of God without blemish. He was the only Lamb who was also the Good Shepherd. His perfect obedience produced a perfect sacrifice which produced a perfect Redemption. Today, not through my perfection, but through His, I have received the gifts of His perfect grace, His perfect redemption, and His perfect peace. 

Adam Lanza, Gun Control, Social Norms and Resting in God

   America has been shocked this week by Adam Lanza's unthinkably murderous rampage in Newtown, Connecticut. Several times I've found myself in tears as the details of the deaths of innocent young children have been revealed. In response, public debate has opened on a variety of subjects including mental illness identification and treatment, gun control, and the impact of violent entertainment. Plagued by a sense that we must do something to make certain that an event like this will never happen again, it seems that everything is on the table for discussion. 
 

   As the focus of these discussions sharpens, the debate often centers on "what is normal"? In a free society, what is normal and acceptable gun control? What is normal and acceptable monitoring of those who suffer mental illness? What is normal and acceptable portrayal of violence in movies and video games? We are searching simple answers to a an exhaustively complex set of questions. As we search, we regularly bump up against our constitution. Gun advocates wave the Second Amendment, the entertainment industry waves First Amendment free speech rights, and advocates for those who suffer mental illness Wave First, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment privacy rights. Given these diverse factions, interest groups, and settled law,  is it possible to find and define an accurate new social norm?

 

   Proverbs 3:5,6 says -- Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in a all your ways and He shall direct your paths. Our society was founded upon and for years looked to the bible for the definition of behavioral normalcy. In my lifetime, cultural normalcy has been redefined in many ways which are no longer compatible with biblical teaching. It seems that normal as defined by man is far weaker than normal as defined by God. Our cultural shift from God has created a courser society. Our societal floating normal, ever changing, leaves no well defined image in its wake, and that jiggly, slippery  normal it produces prohibits peace, with confused definitions of right and wrong competing for our approval.

 

   Through the great prophet Isaiah (55:9) the Lord reminds us -- As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. As Christians we can find peace only by resting in God's Truth.  There is no need for us to form opinions on every subject debated and we certainly should never bend to the social pressure applied to us to reject biblical wisdom and rely instead on human thinking. We do not conform to cultural norms, but rather are transformed by the renewing of our minds by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and by studying God's Word.  

 

    We can have a positive effect on the debate not by spouting angry opinions, but by contributing God's wisdom instead of ours. We can console the wounded, empathize with those suffering, and pray for grieving families and our political leaders. We must be purveyors of a point of view born in the heavenlies. We are vessels of the Lord's peace, to be poured out amid pained confusion.

 

    We live in a world broken and transformed from God's image by sin. Evil will strike our heel from time to time, but one day the Lord will crush Evil's head permanently.

   Until then, even in the midst of catastrophic tragedy, we can only rest in God, trusting Him alone as the source of our peace.


Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com

Cool Greek, Island Holidays, and Time Well Spent with Jesus

  Here's a cool thing about the Greek language. It has verb tenses that don't exist in English. It is interesting to think that although the bible was written and maintained for centuries in Hebrew, the New Testament was written primarily in Greek. This did not surprise God. In fact He planned it. It is peace generating to know we can rest in the understanding that we are continually saved by Jesus. But the same  verb tense applies to other important words which inform our faith walk daily. Sound too geeky? Why is this important? Let me demonstrate...
 

    In Greek, the aorist tense compares to what we would call the past tense - it represents something that has happened at a point in the past. In Greek, there is also a tense known as the perfect tense. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God  The words have been saved sound like our past tense, but they are not. They are in the Greek perfect tense, so they imply that you are saved, having been completely saved in the past with ongoing results in the present, and by implication will continue to happen in all the future present moments. Jesus saved me on the day of my spiritual rebirth, is saving me now, and will continue to save me for all future nows. Hallelujah, Amen!

 

      The Apostle John wrote in 1John 1:1 - That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life-- John is saying we have heard and have seen with the present result of still hearing and seeing and by implication we will continue to hear and see Christ in all future days. However, if I fail to sit with the Lord in prayer daily, my mind subtly begins to think of Him in the past tense. When this happens my lamp darkens, my heart shrinks, and my holy boldness turns to timidity. My faith walk is a daily walk, refreshed by daily time of seeing and hearing Jesus. My daily time with Him also refreshes my understanding that our relationship will continue to happen in all future days.

   A few verses later John wrote (1:8) - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  Dave Guzik wrote this in his commentary on 1John.

   There are few people today who think they are sinlessly perfect; but how many of us really think we sin? Many of us will say "I make mistakes" or "I'm not perfect" or "I'm only human," but usually we say such things to excuse or defend ourselves. This is different from knowing, and admitting, "I am a sinner." To say that we have no sin puts us in a dangerous place, because God's grace and mercy is extended to sinners. Not "mistakers" or "I'm only human" or "Nobody's perfect" people, but sinners. We need to realize the victory and forgiveness that comes from saying, "I am a sinner - even a great sinner - but I have a Savior who cleanses me from all sin." (Guzik)

   So here the present tense applies to us. If we drift into the self deceit of diminishing our sin to a lesser infraction, that thinking defines us as liars to God both now and in the future. When we reduce our sin to self correctable offenses, we reduce our need for a Savior.

   We've all heard that John spent time alone in exile on the Island of Patmos. I doubt if he would agree. As he wrote the Book of Revelation, John described hearing and seeing Jesus. He was actually on an island holiday with the Lord. Let's have a perfect tense experience with Jesus today, hearing and seeing Him as present now in our lives, moment to moment and as going to be present in all our future moments. Let's talk to Him, and listen to Him, walk with Him and worship Him.

   
Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reproduced in part or in whole without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday,blogspot.com
  

 

 

  



 

 

  

Chained to a Pillar of Shame

"You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the LORD your God.  You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates. (Deuteronomy 16:21,22 NKJV)

   Sacred “totems” were common among the pagan Canaanites. Some were carved similarly to those we are familiar with from Northwestern indigenous tribes, having images of actual living things. Others were carved with created images, and some were left uncarved. Both Alaskan and Canaanite ancients had another similar totem called a “pillar of shame”.  In modern Alaska, a few remain. One has the image of Exxon’s CEO. It is a “pillar of shame” for the perceived unpaid debt to Alaska for damage done when the Exxon Valdez spilled oil and polluted the local environment. The concept is that the pillar will stand until the debt is paid. Images carved on totems tell a story, and pillar of shame totems repeat at every glance the story of unpaid debt. In Croatia, an ancient pillar of shame still stands. People who had committed various misdemeanors were  chained to it for a day of public humiliation.

   The worship of God must be pure. Yahweh commands that we don’t worship anything but Him. You shall not plant for yourself any tree…I know I’ve erected several totems to myself over the years. Before I knew Christ, I enjoyed being exalted. When I read this verse today it made me consider that I may have also erected some pillars of shame. You shall not set up a sacred pillar…. I didn’t cut down any trees to do it, but instead tried to carve someone’s sin into a permanent pillar by repeatedly  mentioning it, ….which the LORD your God hates. Although I haven’t initiated a Christian sin totem carving class, I have too often repeated the past sin of others. When I preserve someone’s pillar of shame by mindlessly gossiping about their sin, I am denying the existence of Christ’s work on the cross. The damage done to a fellow Christian by verbally re-carving their sin stories is small compared to the damage to our Lord. Sin gossip can turn Christ's church into a minefield of unrelenting shame.

   I know that nothing I have done or can do has remitted my sin. Amazing Grace is God’s alone, but sometimes I seem to want God to require more than that of others. Grace seems like a sentence too light for them. I want and enjoy immediatef reedom from my transgressions of the law but prefer if my cellmates aren't paroled before their due time. The bible says of Jesus -- He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Hebrews 9:26b) If I erect a sin pillar of someone's shame, I deny my Lord’s plan and purpose. If I repeat the sins of others I re-animate their sin, and I am saying that the blood sacrifice of Christ is an insufficient payment. And it’s not enough to just stop repeating the sin totems of others. I need to stop listening to them, too. Listening to Christian gossip is sin. 

   The Lord is not absent minded. He chooses to forget my sin. He is a just God and his unwillingness to even hold the memory of my forgiven sin reveals His justice. My sin is gone to prove it is forgiven, to validate the righteousness and finality of the sacrifice and the One who was sacrificed to remove it. OK God. Help me stop carving pillars of shame. Praise the Lord, let it be so.

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29 NKJV)

Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com 

Powerball Dreams, Fireman Ed and Forgiveness Flowing From Love

 

 

A few years ago I was in Asia in a restaurant that served western style food. A wealthy local family entered and were seated. They were very westernized Asians. They all wore all name brand expensive western clothing. They had several children with them and also a poorly dressed young woman, the family slave. She watched them eat and waited on the kid’s every whim. When they had finished eating, she was allowed to finish their unwanted scraps. At 15, she was their slave. She had no rights. She had no right to express her indignation. She had no recourse but to do exactly what she was told, exactly when she was told to do it. In a nation like America where many are focused today on small white Power Ball lottery tickets that will award someone $500,000,000 (pre-tax) and how we would spend that if we won, it is hard to relate to the notion of one human owning another.        Peter reminds those who were slaves in the natural who belonged to Christ that they were to, by voluntary submission to Christ, also submit to their masters, whether good or evil. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.(1 Peter 2:18 NKJV)

  

  There is almost nothing as likely to bring me charging from a submissive state of mind than when I suffer an injustice and the accompanying feeling of humiliation at the hands of another person. I feel the need to voice my opinion and fight back. Slaves do not enjoy that right. Peter lived in a world where often nearly half the people he saw were slaves. I might more easily agree with this verse if he had written — If your master treats you well, respond well. His instruction for Christian response to harsh unjust treatment was to voluntarily carry the burden that is unfairly being heaped upon you. Fireman Ed, the New York Jets most famous super fan, resigned his fanship this week because the indignation of supporting a losing team was more than he could bear. Really? We live in a country with very high class injustice.  
 

   Peter’s words make me consider my own reaction when I suffer harsh unjust treatment. In the very next verse he says — For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.
 

    The issue of my reaction to harsh treatment and suffering because of conscience toward God lands fundamentally in my faith. Do I trust God to care for my rights and my honor or do I let my hurt feelings reign and determine that I must fix the problem myself? God will always treat me more than fairly. My salvation testifies to the Grace of God in this regard. Christ’s revenge on me for my sin was expressed not like I would have expressed it, but instead with forgiveness flowing from love. Is it possible for me to follow Him to a place where I can respond to injustice with forgiveness flowing from love? What if I react instead of with revenge or even quiet separation, but with forgiveness flowing from love? What if the greater the harsh injustice, I meet it with greater forgiveness flowing from love?
 

   Jesus often leads me to places where I cannot take another step until I surrender to suffering for His name’s sake and trust Him to lead me through it. When I submit, the issue is settled and I have peace (even if my tormentor is still flailing away). People may call that losing, but it is in fact a mighty spiritual victory. It exalts Christ. I cannot lift the name of Jesus by refusing to suffer injustice like He did. There can be victory in submission to suffering that the world will never understand. I need to revisit these thoughts daily, submit, pick up my cross and follow Him.

Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. Can be quoted in whole of in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordwrokswednesday.blogspot.com

Running from the call of God

    Many people refuse to be used by God because they think of themselves as "not ready." But in a sense, we are never ready or worthy. If we were, the sufficiency would be in ourselves, not from God. (Guzik)

And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2Cor 3:4-6 NKJV)

 

   Some days I only have enough faith to believe God has saved me, but an insufficient faith to follow through on even the smallest things He asks of me. On worse days I seem to find my footsteps walking anywhere but in His will. According to Strong's, the most common word in the New Testament translated as faith is pistis, - belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same. And we have such trust through Christ toward God.

 

   When the Holy Spirit calls me to any task I often think of my insufficiency to complete it. I used to try to tamp down that feeling. I tried to think positive, I tried to have a better attitude. Platitudic wisdom will never solve the problem of my human frailty. I will live in a perpetual state of "not quite ready" simply because I am human living in a world broken by sin. As Guzik said, If we ever felt completely ready, the sufficiency would be of ourselves and not God.

   God's will as expressed through His Word never asks me to take instruction from Him and then walk forward without Him, but our sufficiency is from God. So the proper response to a divine call or divine instruction or leading is not "I can't do it, Lord" but rather "I can't do it without You, Lord".

   Do you trust His Word? Then trust this -- who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. Sufficiency that comes from God can't end up insufficient. Christ, who is formed in us, makes us sufficient to accomplish whatever He asks of us. How is this sufficiency transferred to us? ....not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

    The next time Jesus lays a challenging call on you life, forget the notion of self reliance. Rely on Him and relax into submission to His will. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (preaching to myself here). Peace will overtake anxiety and Holy Spirit will empower the mission. Stop ignoring Him. Pray it out. Trust Him to be what you aren't. Step into His calling. Find the peace that comes when your footsteps are aligned with His.

  

Being Comfortable, Comforted, and Comforting

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3 KNJV)
 

 What brings comfort to someone experiencing a time of great distress? A Google search led to these top five suggestions:

 

 1- Make contact.

 

 2- Listen to the story.

 

 3- Be there emotionally.

 

 4- Help make decisions.

 

 5- Rally support.  

 

   All five are sound advice. While these are secular suggestions, they align perfectly with scripture both as to how God has comforted us and how He uses us to bring comfort to others. Let's take a look at these suggestions through the lens of scripture.

 

 1- Make contact. Jesus says, And I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever....  (John 14:16) Once we have received the comfort of God as the Holy Spirit makes contact with us and begins witnessing comfort to our spirit we should find ourselves compelled to make contact with others in distress. The peace of Christ seeks distribution through those who have received it. To possess God's peace, we must give it away. 

 

2- Listen to the story.  The psalmist wrote - Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1 KNJV) Our God is an attentive God, always listening for the cries of our hearts. One of the great transformations incurred by growing faith is the development of a desire to listen, especially to those suffering through a time of need. The relief we find by the expression of prayer encourages our understanding of the simple comfort that is found in cathartic expression to a willing listener.

 

3- Be there emotionally.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8 KNJV)
Empathy cannot be faked. If you show up, then listen but actually could care less about the problems of others, your hypocrisy will be effortlessly detected. Empathy is loving kindness  expressed without language. The confidence we find in the continuous flow of love we enjoy from the Lord exhorts us to loving others. Empathy expressed in a time of distress is love released by heaven, through our hearts, to another.  

 

4- Help make decisions.  Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. While the Twelve were scattered and broken immediately after the Crucifixion, Joseph stepped in and made decisions about important practical matters of recovery of the Lord's body and its burial. Practical assistance is practical ministry to those in distress.

 

5- Rally support.  We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng. (Psalm 55:15 KNJV) To sustain comfort encourage five or six others to help you execute steps 1-4. Fellowship with other believers produces its own sweet comfort. Oswald Chambers wrote - God never gives strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the minute. Gather others to help someone in need get past the strain of the moment.

 

   Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. (Jesus of Nazareth, AD 33) When you hear of someone suffering trough a difficult time, bear the fruits of fellowship, attentiveness, empathy, practical assistance, and sweet counsel with other Christians to those who are in any trouble, and they will be blanketed with God's comfort.

Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday@blogspot.com 

Post Election Christian Angst, Frankenstorms, the Amerca Dream, and Dying Minor Gods

You cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless you are born again…

   Years ago on my first mission trip to India I visited a small shop in Kolkata looking for some token gifts for my wife and friends. The shop owner was Hindu. On the wall behind his cash register was a large photo of an older man with a long grey beard. He was very elaborately dressed. He wore a fancy headpiece. I asked who he was. The shop owner replied, “He is my god”.  I asked, “Have you ever met him?” He then proudly told me about several times he had met his god personally. I asked how old his god was and he simply replied, “Oh, he’s dead. He died five years ago.” I told him that my God had died two thousand years ago, then rose again. I asked what happened to all the people who had followed the teachings of his god. He told me, “No problem, there are plenty of gods. They found another one.”

   In John 3, Nicodemus, a great Jewish leader in the temple at Jerusalem went to meet Jesus personally to try to figure out who or what He was. Jesus immediately told Him, You cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven unless you are born again… This was more than a meet and greet. Jesus offered Nicodemus (and through this verse us) eternal life. No god before or since Jesus had the power or authority to make this offer. As Followers we believe this verse. We have prayed the prayer. We have repented our sin. Jesus has saved us. Our hope is in Him. We await His glorious returning…..

   So why has an election outcome that didn’t go the way they voted got so many of my Christian friends tied in knots? They are convinced their country will not survive. They say the American Dream is dead. What is the American Dream that is so fragile a thing that one term of a president can destroy it? I’m tempted here to define and pick apart the counter biblical elements of the American Dream comparing it to the biblical standard, but I won’t. Instead let me ask you to tell me about your kingdom dream.

   I’m a flag lovin’, gun totin’, chicken eatin', bible carryin’ patriot. I love America. I’m blessed to have been born American. But I am far more blessed to have been born again in Christ. My passport identifies me as American, but I have emigrated to the Kingdom of Heaven. It is my current primary residence. My eternal life won’t begin when I die. It began the moment Jesus saved me. It will never end. That citizenship will still exist a million years from now. When the earth as we know it has perished, The Kingdom of heaven will remain unchanged. When we are there we will look toward the Throne of the Ancient of Days and see the Son seated at His right hand, 2012 will be a dusty memory and names of presidents unimportant. Christian friends, relax! You voted. Your choice lost. You have a president you don’t like but a King you love. You are still citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. That will never change.

   American and our particular version of the American Dream are minor gods that can die. Since its inception America has been in a state of constant change. We began as a slave state but changed that. We used to jail debtors but changed that. We’ve experienced civil war, world wars, terrorist attacks, dust bowls, depressions and even Frankenstorms. We are a great social experiment. Some of what we try fails, but we always center ourselves and continue.

   As Christians we can be patriots but must never love our country the way we love our Lord. We can never exalt our American Dreams like we exalt out God. We have a God who can never die and leave us looking for a replacement. He is a God of peace. If the election has left us without peace, we are looking for peace in the wrong place. Our angst over this election is misplaced. Where is our angst for the poor, the lost, the unloved, the homeless, the abused children, the lonely? Where’s our angst over the need for prayer and revival? We must not let one election divert our eyes from the Kingdom of Heaven and its reigning King, Jesus. 

   I lift my eyes to the hills (far above Washington). From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, maker of Heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1,2 NKJV)

 

Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part without written permission if a reference is given to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com

Hurricane Sandy, Limited Menus, and a No Substitutions Please Gospel....

 

   Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. (Galatians 5:2-4 NKJV)  
   
         I prefer restaurants that have limited menus. If you give me six items to choose from, I can easily choose. If you give me a six page menu with great color photos, I am never certain what I am going to order until I hear myself say it....and then I still wonder if I should have enjoyed my second or third choice instead (or also). Often those expansive menus explicitly instruct -- No Substitutions!  Life often provides circumstances where we have few choices. When Hurricane Sandy came by yesterday, I had no choices. The government ordered us to stay inside our home until the storm passed. Others were ordered from their homes into shelters. The government provided orders. No Substitutions! 

 

   In John chapter six, Jesus taught at the synagogue at Capernaum -- I am the bread of life...... and ......This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever. When we hear the Gospel of Jesus, we are left with a limited menu. We can ignore the Gospel and live our lives as we please, letting our flesh or the world dominate our decisions. We can even choose to submit to the forces of evil and intentionally worship Satan. Some do. Most don't make such a blatant choice, but are seduced by flesh attractions that don't bear the name of Satan but are derived by his plans and spirit. Of course we can and should choose to live by faith and yield our hearts to the Lord and be saved from the consequence of our sin. What makes God's limited but saving Truth so hard to accept? Maybe it's the attraction of our other options...

 

   The world's menu and Satan's menu are very flexible. They allow any choice and any substitution -- even partial faith in Jesus. Satan preaches daily that we can have Jesus and our second and third choices too. He loves leading Christians back to the law of Moses because in so doing he enacts today's verse -- ...you have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 
 
       The Lord's menu is limited to one choice -- being saved by faith alone -- No Substitutions! None are available because none are necessary. It's a limited menu with unlimited benefits. Eat the Bread of Life and drink the Living Water and you'll never be thirsty or hungry again. God wrote -- For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
 

   We are complex beings, and we often try to choose Jesus and then substitute many things which are not on the Lord's menu instead of simply  receiving our righteousness from Christ by faith alone. Paul is emphatically exhorting us here that if we look to any other menu for any substitution as a part of our hope for salvation, we have abandoned the righteousness we have received by faith in and through the death of Jesus on the cross. We cannot have both. No Substitutions! John Calvin wrote -- The legalists among the Galatians wanted them to think that they could have both Jesus and a law-relationship with God. Paul tells them that this is not an option open to them - the system of grace and the system of law are incompatible. Whoever wants to have a half-Christ loses the whole.

 

    Have you come fully to Christ by faith alone? Have you added anything to the Gospel? Are there efforts you make in the name of Jesus which you think help secure your salvation? Are you working for or are you resting in your salvation in Jesus?
 
     Throw off every heavy yoke. Throw off sin and receive by faith alone by the gift of God -- the righteousness of Christ. Throw off Satan and look to Jesus. Throw off the burden of self righteousness and receive the Lord by faith. Throw off accomplishment and accumulation and pick up the Lord's peace. Throw off work (less Martha) and pick up worship (more Mary). Trust Jesus and be saved. Find rest for your soul.

 

   Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. Maybe quoted in whole or in part if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com

Hebrew Roots, the iPad Mini, Lance Armstrong, and an "I will" God...

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:26-28  NKJV)

 

Behind the Word – and cause – (Hebrew) – ‘asha (pronounced aw-saw’) – to produce, to make, to accomplish with effect, to ordain, to bring about. 

 

   I went back and read what God told Moses in Exodus as He dictated the ten commandments. God prefaced His commands with – if you… Mankind saw that if you... and said sure, I will. The statement was not a lie repeated with no intention of following through, but rather a hope with no ability to be carried out. Lance Armstrong didn't set out to win with an illegal advantage, but was so obsessed with winning that he was willing to cheat to win. Christians should not judge him. We have all tried to win with God but found ourselves unwilling to carry out our plan without sinning. Our attempts to live within God's rules always fail until we receive God's Spirit who begins to cause us to be sanctified.

 

   God sent these commands knowing the predicament in which I would find myself – willing to obey, wanting to obey yet unable to fully obey. Was this a flawed strategy on the part of a flawless God? Hardly! It was a strategy designed to get the precise effect God intended. Paul wrote to the Galatians -- Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (3:24) God knew He had to first prove beyond all doubt to me that I was incapable of willing myself to live a sinless life.

 

      Christ came and died and I found Him (really He found me) and so found relief from the weight of my sin. Then God sent His Holy Ghost to my heart that had received Him by faith in Jesus, and His language changed. The Old Covenant, The Law, The Commandments came with the – if you language, but through Ezekiel and Jeremiah, my loving Father changed His New Covenant mood and tense saying -

 

I will give you a new heart…

I will put a new Spirit within you…

I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh…

I will give you a heart of flesh…

I will put My Spirit within you…

I will cause you to walk in my statutes…

 

    When I became a Christian, I had a well tuned swearing tongue. I tried everything I could to quit swearing and failed. Abruptly one day the Holy Spirit confronted me. I confessed immediately that I had proven myself incapable to stop swearing. I had tried many times but I had failed. The Lord said to me, You are right. Now release all that effort and receive the power of My Spirit. Immediately and effortlessly, my thirty year career as a high level cursor was over. Unlike the iPad, I didn't receive help from a new improved Holy Spirit Mini. I received help from the original full sized Holy Spirit. He's not new and improved. He can't be improved. He's perfect. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Fully capable of causing sanctification where we have failed to cause it.

 

    The fullness of the New Covenant arrived with sufficient power to accomplish what God intended. The Holy Spirit resides in my inner being. He is continuously coaching, counseling, witnessing, and generously empowering.

 

I will put My Spirit within you…

I will cause you to walk in my statutes…

 

   God does not leave us as unarmed and unprotected warriors in our battle with sin. He will cause us to be sanctified once we are His children. Righteousness is an imputed blood bought gift.

But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.  (1 Corinthians 6:11 NKJV)
   I cannot commit the sanctification of my life, but I can submit to it as I submit each day to the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart.

   The spirit is willing.....

 

 

 

Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com

  

 

The Big Bang Theory, The Yankees vs the Tigers, and How can 3=1?

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! (Deut 6:4 NKJV)

    When I was first exposed to physics in the 1960’s, science ridiculed the idea of an initial point of creation by a Creator. Science now settles solidly on the “Big Bang Theory” which actually aligns itself with the biblical account (but still ridicules it). In an interesting choice of words, physicists had to define the "infinite energy source" they say had to exist to explode into all matter that exists in the universe at the moment of the Big Bang. They call this infinite source a singularity. I agree. I call the Infinite Source of Energy that created everything a singularity named God. Today’s verse reminds me –The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

  Is it possible for 3=1? Not in math, and not in last nights MLB playoff game where the Yankees learned that 2 is greater then 1 as they lost to the Tigers 2-1, but maybe in Hebrew. In Genesis 22:2, God instructed Abram to take his only son to the mountain and sacrifice him. The one son spoken of is described by the Hebrew word yacheed, meaning absolutely the only one (a singularity).  Abram had one son given by God, and the Hebrew is screaming, Isaac is the only son. From the singularity of Abram’s one son God has kept and continues to keep His promises that (the now renamed by God) Abraham would be the father of many nations and his progeny would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Of course his son Isaac was a type for Jesus, Gods (1=1) only son. Oops…. if Jesus(1) is God and the Father(1) is God and Holy Spirit(1)is God too, how can the scripture be true – the Lord is one?

   These verses appear alike in English, but they are not at all alike in Hebrew. Many Christians have struggled trying to understand the mystery of the Trinity. How can we avoid confusion with typical explanations telling us – one God in three persons….. What?....  Who really understands that explanation? Today’s verse, in its original Hebrew, brings perfect clarity. This verse does not say the Lord is yacheed, (an absolute singularity), but says the Lord is echad  In Hebrew this word describes a compound unity, one thing comprised of more than one thing that still results in one thing.  Trinity = a compound Unity - The Lord your God is One (3=1, echad). In Genesis 1:5 we read – God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the (echad) first day, a single day made up of multiple parts.

   The word used as God in today’s verse is Elohim. It always speaks to a singular God, yet it is written in Hebrew in a plural form and all adverbs and verbs which attend it are also plural.  One God, multiple parts.   

  God didn’t leave us searching the Old Testament alone for this explanation. It is clearly declared in 1 Corinthians 8 -- ⁴Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. ⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), ⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

  The Lord our God (Elohim, plural), the Lord is One (echad - one compound God made of multiple parts –Father, Son and Holy Spirit).


Copywrite 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc.  May be quoted in whole or in part as long as a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com .
 

 

 

Are You Stuck Spiritual Puberty?

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (1 Peter 2:2 NKJV)

    When we’ve submitted our hearts to Christ, it seems at first like a final step, but we soon

find we are confronted with an astonishing array of new biblical information. Peter here speaks of this time metaphorically, comparing the recently born again to – new born babes…. Who need the pure milk of the word… Strong’s defines the Greek word translated as milk as a metaphor for the less difficult Christian truths. I recalled today when I read this verse how difficult it seemed when I was a new Christian to even identify those less difficult truths on my own.

    I also can recall taking Peter’s metaphor as an insult, insinuating that I was a baby Christian. I asked, but the mature Christians around me seemed quite unsure how long my Christian infancy would last. Eventually I realized that I had been totally focused on the wrong thing. Babies have parents. My spiritual rebirth was from above (John 3, You must be born again) and that meant that I had a new Father. I had become a child of God. Even children have a sense of place. Children of the slums have less opportunity than the children of billionaires. Born again baby Christians are children of the Most High Creator of the Universe. The spiritual inheritance and opportunity of God’s babies is limitless.

 

    Babies know instinctively that they need to cry out for their needs, (ask and it will be given to you… Matthew 7:7) and every need will be addressed by their parents. They learn quickly the reliability of those who care for them. Our  heavenly Father is unfailingly reliable  when we cry out to Him. Young Christians must make a habit of prayer. 

 

    Babies get hungry and must be fed. If a newborn cries and we respond by placing a bottle near them, we’ve done nothing. As Christians we often do this by simply handing a bible to a new believer. Providing the Word is good, but there are many spiritually starving people holding bibles. Feed young Christians the Word. If you are a young Christian, find someone who will feed you God’s Word. Everything a baby needs to grow and prosper is contained in breast milk. Everything a baby Christian needs to grow and prosper is contained in the Word. We often settle for spiritual supplements, authored by human hands when the precise formula necessary is available in the bible.

 

    Finally, babies choke on meat. New born Christians who dive into Revelation or explore deep theologies usually choke and whither. We are all at different points along the path of Christian growth. Once we’ve ingested the less difficult Christian truths, we need to feed them to God’s hungry babies. Once they understand the more basic principles, we need to feed them the increasingly solid Bread of Life, and when they are ready, the solid meat of solid scripture. Spiritual growth relies on proper spiritual nutrition. It would be ridiculous to feed a baby steak, and equally ridiculous to feed an adult a baby bottle.

 

 

 

 Does your small group sometimes feel like this?

  

   Our faith walk is a process of continuous improvement, always moving toward a deeper relationship with Jesus. William Bryan wrote --

 

"Christian civilization is the greatest that the world has ever known because it rests on a conception of life that makes life one unending progress toward higher things, with no limit to advancement or development."

 

   Don’t allow yourself to remain stuck in spiritual infancy or puberty. Find a spiritual mentor. Find a small group that challenges you. Take an online bible study course. If you are not attending a biblical church, find one. If you choose to remain in the spiritual nursery, don't expect to be fed meat.

 

Copywrite 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted or used without prior written consent if a link is provided to www.wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com