I have learned so much from men like John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, and lately, Sam Storms. All three of these men treasure the nature of a God who is utterly self-sufficient in Himself that He is in need of nothing, but instead pours out of His infinite, measureless, abundant, incalculable grace towards those in need like an overflowing fountain, a self replenishing mountain stream, or as Jonathan Edwards describes it to say that "God is an infinite fountain of divine glory and sweetness." Since God is all this and more, the one requirement He has for us is thirst; desperate, insatiable, poverty stricken, Death Valley barren, desert scorching, dry mouthed parched, weak, unable to be satisfied by anything in this world, desperate, earnest, longing, THIRST!
Listen to God's invitation to us:
"Come, everyone who thirsts...Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live."
Isaiah 55:1,3
"If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." John 7:37
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
Sam Storms, in his book Signs of the Spirit writes a wonderful series of bible based invitations that I quote in it's entirety. Read it, pray it, call out to God, bring your thirst to the well and drink freely and deeply and unashamedly to your soul and heart's delight and satisfaction!
Here, then, is how we must come to God, whether to serve him or worship him or enjoy all that he is for us in Jesus:
Come, confessing your utter inability to do or offer anything that will empower God or enrich, enhance, or expand God.
Come, with heartfelt gratitude to God for the fact that whatever you own, whatever you are, whatever you have accomplished or hope to accomplish, is all from him, a gift of grace.
Come, declaring in your heart and aloud that if you serve, it is in the strength that God supplies (1 Pet. 4:10); if you give money, it is from the wealth God has enabled you to earn; if it is praise of who he is, it is from the salvation and knowledge of God that he himself has provided for you in Christ Jesus.
Come, declaring the all-sufficiency of God in meeting your every need. Praise his love, because if he were not loving, you would be justly and eternally condemned. Praise his power, because if he were weak, you would have no hope that what he has promised he will fulfill. Praise his forgiving mercy, because apart from his gracious determination to wash you clean in the blood of Christ, you would still be in your sin and hopelessly lost. So, too, with every attribute, praise him!
Come, with an empty cup, happily pleading: "God, glorify yourself by filling it to overflowing!"
Come, with a weak and wandering heart, joyfully beseeching: "God, glorify yourself by strengthening me to do your will and remain faithful to your ways!"
Come, helpless, expectantly praying: "God, glorify yourself by delivering me from my enemies and troubles!"
Come, with your sin, gratefully asking: "God, glorify yourself by setting me free from bondage to my flesh and breaking the grip of lust and envy and greed in my life!"
Come, with your hunger for pleasure and joy, desperately crying: "God, glorify yourself by filling me with the fullness of joy! God, glorify yourself by granting me pleasures that never end! God, glorify yourself by satisfying my heart with yourself! God, glorify yourself by enthralling me with your beauty . . . by overwhelming me with your majesty . . . by taking my breath away with fresh insights into your incomparable and infinite grandeur! God, glorify yourself by shining into my mind the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ!"
More than ready and eager to COME,
Pastor Bill
Friday, August 31, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
PRECIOUS LESSONS LEARNED IN MY BACK PAIN
During the past few months the Lord has taught me some wonderful lessons. I am so thankful for a sovereign God who truly "works all things for the good in those He loves"(Romans 8:28). These are some of the things that I have learned.:
1. The promises of God are unaffected by human trial and suffering I have found it to be the opposite. It seems as though the promises of God are often fufilled in the experience of suffering.
2. God's grace is sufficient I have discovered that God uses trials to cause us to live in utter dependence and trust in his sovereign and sufficient grace.
3. Trials have helped me to discover the true source of everlasting happiness I read of the 17th century Scottish pastor Samuel Rutherford who was imprisoned by the Anglicans for non-conformnity. In prison he made a great discovery that he expresses in these words. (I have read them over and over and have memorized them becasue they mean so much to me).
If God had told me some time ago that He was about to make me as happy as I can be in this world, and then He told me that He should begin by crippling me in all my limbs, and removing me from all of my usual sources of enjoyment. I should have thought it a very strange mode of accomplishing His purpose. And yet, how is His wisdom manifest even in this! For if you should see a man shut up in a closed room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowong out all of his lamps; and then throw open the shutters to let in the light of heaven."
As my back injury has prolonged, I have had to completely change the way I do things. I discovered that I had a lifestyle and routine that in its own way made me happy. When I began suffering the loss of it, I found myself praying for God to give me back my life. When God began to blow out my lamps, I began asking God to give me my lamps back. When He didn't, I found myself angry, depressed, and sorrowful about the wind that had blown out my lamps. But then, reading Rutherford, I began to see what God was doing, blowing out my lamps in order to throw open the shutters and let in the light of heaven!
4. I am beginning to learn in a deeper way that great joy does not and cannot come from hope in hope, hope in health, hope in healing, but as Jonathan Edwards writes "in a direct view of the glorious things of the gospel." He writes, "When I enjoy this sweetness, it seems to carry me above the thoughts of my own estate." Edwards is saying that his happiness wasn't taken away because he lost the things that would make him happy, i.e. his own estate. So often our lives are defined on the basis of the condition of our own estate. That is our physical health, our financial prosperity, our work success, our circumstances, and so we respond accordingly. When Edwards was fired by his church, the biographer George Marsden said that Edward's cheerful countenance was unchanged and unaffected because his happiness was out of reach of his enemies.
5. Trials help me to gain a deeper satisfaction in God than when I find satisfaction both in Him and something else Psalm 73:25-26 says,
"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Oh how glibly we can recite that Psalm until the things on earth we just declared that we don't desire are taken away, stolen, disappear, or elude us. That's when we get honest and say, "God I like You, but i like you more when the things I said that I didn't desire are easy to come by, available for me, and part of my life. What a lie to believe that our capacity to enjoy God is enhanced on the improvement or the maintenance of "own good estate".
Edward's said that "When I enjoy this sweetness, it seems to carry me above my thoughts of my own estate." I have found that the enjoyment of God at times in my "light affliction" (2 Corinthians 4:8) causes me to leave the thoughts of my own estate far behind. All my fears about loss and the future are trumped by the joy and sweetness and pleasure that I find in God's presence (Psalm 16:11).
6. The power to live unaffected by trials, pain, and suffering comes not from denying the desire for ease, comfort, painless living, and happiness but in finding the fulfilment of all such desires in the glory and the beauty and the fellowship of God's presence.
Hebrews 10:32-34, But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property...(Here is the key to this lesson) since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one." Better and abiding, better and abiding! that is what I see and that is the knowledge that i pray would go deep in my soul. I don't just want relief, I want God!
7. I don't have to live my life in denial of my pain, suffering, sorrow, and discouragement but neither do I have to be enslaved by it. I can live supernaturally with the paradox like Paul of being "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing"(2 Corinthians 6:10)
I can live with the perspective of Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:16 -18, "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
Longing to live my life in such a way that the only unbearable loss that I can conceive of is the loss of seeing and savoring the glory of God,
Pastor Bill
1. The promises of God are unaffected by human trial and suffering I have found it to be the opposite. It seems as though the promises of God are often fufilled in the experience of suffering.
2. God's grace is sufficient I have discovered that God uses trials to cause us to live in utter dependence and trust in his sovereign and sufficient grace.
- God gives us timely grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. " - God gives whatever grace that we might need in order to accomplish His purposes and glorify His name. Trials are the perfect place for help and grace to be given, depended upon and lived on. I have been amazed at how God has manifested His grace in the tasks that He has called me to perform in totla pain and weakness.
1 Peter 4:10-11, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies- in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." Spurgeon said, "We give God much glory, when we receive from Him much grace." - God may not give us the grace that we want, but He will always give the grace that we need. The apostle Paul write in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, "To keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. " I call this a "Grace disguised" because God has not given me the grace that I asked for (healing of my back) but has not left me without grace. Instead He has given me strength in my weakness with His sufficient grace!
3. Trials have helped me to discover the true source of everlasting happiness I read of the 17th century Scottish pastor Samuel Rutherford who was imprisoned by the Anglicans for non-conformnity. In prison he made a great discovery that he expresses in these words. (I have read them over and over and have memorized them becasue they mean so much to me).
If God had told me some time ago that He was about to make me as happy as I can be in this world, and then He told me that He should begin by crippling me in all my limbs, and removing me from all of my usual sources of enjoyment. I should have thought it a very strange mode of accomplishing His purpose. And yet, how is His wisdom manifest even in this! For if you should see a man shut up in a closed room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowong out all of his lamps; and then throw open the shutters to let in the light of heaven."
As my back injury has prolonged, I have had to completely change the way I do things. I discovered that I had a lifestyle and routine that in its own way made me happy. When I began suffering the loss of it, I found myself praying for God to give me back my life. When God began to blow out my lamps, I began asking God to give me my lamps back. When He didn't, I found myself angry, depressed, and sorrowful about the wind that had blown out my lamps. But then, reading Rutherford, I began to see what God was doing, blowing out my lamps in order to throw open the shutters and let in the light of heaven!
4. I am beginning to learn in a deeper way that great joy does not and cannot come from hope in hope, hope in health, hope in healing, but as Jonathan Edwards writes "in a direct view of the glorious things of the gospel." He writes, "When I enjoy this sweetness, it seems to carry me above the thoughts of my own estate." Edwards is saying that his happiness wasn't taken away because he lost the things that would make him happy, i.e. his own estate. So often our lives are defined on the basis of the condition of our own estate. That is our physical health, our financial prosperity, our work success, our circumstances, and so we respond accordingly. When Edwards was fired by his church, the biographer George Marsden said that Edward's cheerful countenance was unchanged and unaffected because his happiness was out of reach of his enemies.
5. Trials help me to gain a deeper satisfaction in God than when I find satisfaction both in Him and something else Psalm 73:25-26 says,
"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Oh how glibly we can recite that Psalm until the things on earth we just declared that we don't desire are taken away, stolen, disappear, or elude us. That's when we get honest and say, "God I like You, but i like you more when the things I said that I didn't desire are easy to come by, available for me, and part of my life. What a lie to believe that our capacity to enjoy God is enhanced on the improvement or the maintenance of "own good estate".
Edward's said that "When I enjoy this sweetness, it seems to carry me above my thoughts of my own estate." I have found that the enjoyment of God at times in my "light affliction" (2 Corinthians 4:8) causes me to leave the thoughts of my own estate far behind. All my fears about loss and the future are trumped by the joy and sweetness and pleasure that I find in God's presence (Psalm 16:11).
6. The power to live unaffected by trials, pain, and suffering comes not from denying the desire for ease, comfort, painless living, and happiness but in finding the fulfilment of all such desires in the glory and the beauty and the fellowship of God's presence.
Hebrews 10:32-34, But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property...(Here is the key to this lesson) since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one." Better and abiding, better and abiding! that is what I see and that is the knowledge that i pray would go deep in my soul. I don't just want relief, I want God!
7. I don't have to live my life in denial of my pain, suffering, sorrow, and discouragement but neither do I have to be enslaved by it. I can live supernaturally with the paradox like Paul of being "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing"(2 Corinthians 6:10)
I can live with the perspective of Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:16 -18, "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
Longing to live my life in such a way that the only unbearable loss that I can conceive of is the loss of seeing and savoring the glory of God,
Pastor Bill
Thursday, August 23, 2007
GOD CAN CHANGE YOU!
"You'll never change!" Have you heard others say that about you before? Has the devil incessantly spoken those lies to you? Well, I have good news. Christianity means that change is possible; amazing, lasting, and powerful change. It is possible to be tender hearted where once you were calloused and insensitive. It is possible to stop being dominated by bitterness or anger. It is possible to become a loving and caring person. It is possible to be a forgiving instead of a vengeful person. Why? Because the Bible tells us that God is the decisive factor in making us who we should be and doing what we should do!
Oh beloved of God, this is so wonderfully freeing. It frees us from unbelief, pessimism, fatalism and tyrannized by the lies that keep us living as six foot high jumpers when God has promised we can jump ten feet. (Read the past two previous blogs). I want to flood you with hope, the sovereign grace of God. The New Covenant promise of God is that He will transform your heart to do what it cannot do, namely, to want what it ought to want. As a result, He will change your life to do what you ought to do but cannot do! Only God can make you ten foot high jumpers! Jesus told His disciples “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God"” (Mark 10:27). Paul said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
That is why the commands of God “are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). His commands always come with freeing, life-changing truth to believe and power to perform. You have a situation come where God wants you to love somebody that to you is a very difficult person to love. In modern language, a jerk. You might hear a voice inside say, “I can’t stand that person” or “I’m not a loving person”, but then you say, “Christ loves me right now and His love for me makes me a new kind of person. I can obey the command to love that person with the love that God has for me and the He is pouring in me. Therefore, I can and will love this person”.
God commands us to love Him and we cannot love God. But God can change our hearts want to love Him when we don’t and then by His grace God will change our hearts in order to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Obedience is a gift. Augustine understood it in a profound way when he prayed, “Give me the grace oh Lord to do as You command, and command me to do what you will...Oh holy God…when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them.” That is a Biblical prayer. That is the cry of one who lives on God.
So to live on God is God’s doing in our doing. Christianity is a supernatural life that we are called to actively live and participate each and every moment of our lives total dependence upon God. We live, serve, love, work, speak, obey in a supernatural way. In short, we begin to do things that we cannot do. Fruit like love grows in our lives by His doing in our doing. Somehow he makes it happen. It won't happen without him.
Here is how it works. God has called me to preach. I come here Sunday tired, and I am anxious that I will not do a good job. I worry that nobody will listen and that nothing will happen. But I pray, Lord, I trust you, not me and not my preaching. I trust your enabling grace. In fact, I trust you even to help me trust you because you said that faith is your gift. And I go to my ministry today in the strength that you supply so that in everything you might get the glory." Then I do it. But it’s not me, it’s Christ in me (Gal. 2:20). I know what is really happening and I am exceedingly grateful to God the great giver and to Him be all of the glory! That's the point of 1 Peter 4:11, "Whoever renders service, [let him do so] as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies; in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ." (Read Hebrews 13:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Colossians 1:28-29)
Oh reader, this is the life that God has for you, which He has told you to live. This is the greatest life, the abundant life. We exist to do things that we cannot do without the special, supernatural grace of God. We exist mainly to do the humanly impossible. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing...nothing is impossible with God”
This is good news, not bad news. It is good news because God himself, known to us in Jesus Christ, is more valuable and more satisfying than anything we could ever be or do in our own power. The most loving thing that God can do for us is to make Himself indispensable to us. Do you agree with Jesus? Are you willing to begin your day with a declaration of dependence? Are you ready to begin living on God alone? Do you hear His command to raise the bar to ten feet and run and jump? Do you hear His promise that you can? Will you trust Him and with faith and courage begin jumping? William Carey said it best, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God”.
A Prayer
Oh God of life, in You is life. I long to live and to experience the peculiar life that is offered to me through Your precious Son Jesus Christ. I want to stop living within the confines of my weaknesses and limitations. I hear you telling me that I can do extraordinary and supernatural and inexplicable things. I receive your enabling power at this moment to and in obedience to your commands I will do them. I am resolved to do them. I want to jump ten feet! So in faith in your promises and trust in your power I will get up from this book and I will run and jump and behold your glory. IN JESUS NAME, AMEN!
Oh beloved of God, this is so wonderfully freeing. It frees us from unbelief, pessimism, fatalism and tyrannized by the lies that keep us living as six foot high jumpers when God has promised we can jump ten feet. (Read the past two previous blogs). I want to flood you with hope, the sovereign grace of God. The New Covenant promise of God is that He will transform your heart to do what it cannot do, namely, to want what it ought to want. As a result, He will change your life to do what you ought to do but cannot do! Only God can make you ten foot high jumpers! Jesus told His disciples “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God"” (Mark 10:27). Paul said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
That is why the commands of God “are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). His commands always come with freeing, life-changing truth to believe and power to perform. You have a situation come where God wants you to love somebody that to you is a very difficult person to love. In modern language, a jerk. You might hear a voice inside say, “I can’t stand that person” or “I’m not a loving person”, but then you say, “Christ loves me right now and His love for me makes me a new kind of person. I can obey the command to love that person with the love that God has for me and the He is pouring in me. Therefore, I can and will love this person”.
God commands us to love Him and we cannot love God. But God can change our hearts want to love Him when we don’t and then by His grace God will change our hearts in order to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Obedience is a gift. Augustine understood it in a profound way when he prayed, “Give me the grace oh Lord to do as You command, and command me to do what you will...Oh holy God…when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them.” That is a Biblical prayer. That is the cry of one who lives on God.
So to live on God is God’s doing in our doing. Christianity is a supernatural life that we are called to actively live and participate each and every moment of our lives total dependence upon God. We live, serve, love, work, speak, obey in a supernatural way. In short, we begin to do things that we cannot do. Fruit like love grows in our lives by His doing in our doing. Somehow he makes it happen. It won't happen without him.
Here is how it works. God has called me to preach. I come here Sunday tired, and I am anxious that I will not do a good job. I worry that nobody will listen and that nothing will happen. But I pray, Lord, I trust you, not me and not my preaching. I trust your enabling grace. In fact, I trust you even to help me trust you because you said that faith is your gift. And I go to my ministry today in the strength that you supply so that in everything you might get the glory." Then I do it. But it’s not me, it’s Christ in me (Gal. 2:20). I know what is really happening and I am exceedingly grateful to God the great giver and to Him be all of the glory! That's the point of 1 Peter 4:11, "Whoever renders service, [let him do so] as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies; in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ." (Read Hebrews 13:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Colossians 1:28-29)
Oh reader, this is the life that God has for you, which He has told you to live. This is the greatest life, the abundant life. We exist to do things that we cannot do without the special, supernatural grace of God. We exist mainly to do the humanly impossible. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing...nothing is impossible with God”
This is good news, not bad news. It is good news because God himself, known to us in Jesus Christ, is more valuable and more satisfying than anything we could ever be or do in our own power. The most loving thing that God can do for us is to make Himself indispensable to us. Do you agree with Jesus? Are you willing to begin your day with a declaration of dependence? Are you ready to begin living on God alone? Do you hear His command to raise the bar to ten feet and run and jump? Do you hear His promise that you can? Will you trust Him and with faith and courage begin jumping? William Carey said it best, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God”.
A Prayer
Oh God of life, in You is life. I long to live and to experience the peculiar life that is offered to me through Your precious Son Jesus Christ. I want to stop living within the confines of my weaknesses and limitations. I hear you telling me that I can do extraordinary and supernatural and inexplicable things. I receive your enabling power at this moment to and in obedience to your commands I will do them. I am resolved to do them. I want to jump ten feet! So in faith in your promises and trust in your power I will get up from this book and I will run and jump and behold your glory. IN JESUS NAME, AMEN!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Supernatural Religion verses "Can do" Religion
Jesus describes the Christian life in these terms:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" John 13:34-35
“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 5:20
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments” John 14:15
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”John 14:12-14
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing… By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” John 15:4-8
What is this fruit that Jesus says that His disciples will bear? “But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence).”
Galatians 5:22-23 Amplified Bible
The nature of the Christian life is that God raises the bar to make impossible demands upon us with wonderful promises to us along with a supernatural enablement for us. He commands us to love like He loves, to do the things that He did, to speak his word, to live a moral standard of life exceeding that of the most moral and religious and virtuous men of the time, to obey His commandments, and to bear fruit that lasts and glorifies Him.
Jesus is trying to overwhelm us to show us the utter impossibility of the Christian life on our own. He does this in order to show us that true Christianity is supernatural or it is nothing. It is either extraordinarily high jumping ten feet according to the promises and by the power of God or it is living on your own strength and limitations jumping at no more than six feet.
The Christian life is a supernatural life. It is not produced by merely human forces. It takes resources that we do not have. It is bad news to all those who chose to attempt to be a Christian and live the Christian life on their own strength. It refuses to believe the words of Christ who says “for apart from me you can do nothing.” But it is good news to the sinful, the weak, the limited, and helpless. It liberates and frees us to face our sinfulness, our weaknesses, and our limitations, and let them become a launching pad for the power and glory of God! But it makes a particular demand upon us all. It demands that we live on God alone. It demands a daily declaration of dependence!
There is a false view of Christianity that has all the appearances of Christianity but is not Biblical Christianity. The apostle Paul warns that this kind of religion will characterize the Last Days.
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”
2 Timothy 3:1-4
Notice the key component of End Times religion: “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power”. It is a kind of religion that is manageable, duty-defined, decision oriented, willpower based, and only limited to what I can do on my own strength without God’s help. I call it “can-do” religion. While the apostle Paul cried “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), the attitude of "can do" religion is “I can do all things”.
How does "can do" religion manifest itself in daily living? You do well as long as you never have to jump higher than six feet! As soon as the bar goes over six feet you either quit jumping, rest content to jump no more than six feet, and play it safe. How many of you are living your life like that? I find that many people are satisfied living a religious life within the confines of their own weaknesses, inabilities, limitations and who deny that God would want them to jump ten feet.
They reason like this: Even though the Bible says, “love your enemies”, “I cannot love my enemies, therefore I am not required by God to love my enemies. So I don’t and that is okay or it’s not okay but there is nothing that I can do about it so it’s still okay. The irony of this belief is that in part it is true. In the end, loving your enemy is a gift from God, not something you can do yourself. But it is not Biblical to say that the only things that God can require of you are things that you are good enough and able to perform. That kind of Christianity is easy and doable.
But true Christianity doesn't lower the bar, it raises it. Every single thing God requires is beyond my reach. Biblical Christianity is impossible! Do you know why? Because the Christian life is supernatural! The mystery of the Christian life is that God commands us to jump ten feet we and we cannot. Then He offers us the promise of that we can and will jump ten feet and that He will give us a new desire to jump ten feet and will grace us with an enablement to do it!
When God promised the New Covenant He made these wonderful promises:
“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live… But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people…. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.(Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:27)
John Piper says about these promises: “All of these covenant promises have been secured for us by Christ who said at the last supper, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20) The blood of Jesus Christ obtained for us all of the promises of the New Covenant. What distinguishes them from the Old Covenant is that they are promises for enablement. They are promises that God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves."
We need a new heart to desire God and to delight in God. We need the Spirit who’s fruit is love and joy in God and who gives us a new power to obey God, so that when we are called to fulfill the two commandments “love God and love others” (Luke 10:27), the Spirit and the Word of God produce these wonderful realities within us.
To be continued...
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" John 13:34-35
“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 5:20
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments” John 14:15
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”John 14:12-14
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing… By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” John 15:4-8
What is this fruit that Jesus says that His disciples will bear? “But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence).”
Galatians 5:22-23 Amplified Bible
The nature of the Christian life is that God raises the bar to make impossible demands upon us with wonderful promises to us along with a supernatural enablement for us. He commands us to love like He loves, to do the things that He did, to speak his word, to live a moral standard of life exceeding that of the most moral and religious and virtuous men of the time, to obey His commandments, and to bear fruit that lasts and glorifies Him.
Jesus is trying to overwhelm us to show us the utter impossibility of the Christian life on our own. He does this in order to show us that true Christianity is supernatural or it is nothing. It is either extraordinarily high jumping ten feet according to the promises and by the power of God or it is living on your own strength and limitations jumping at no more than six feet.
The Christian life is a supernatural life. It is not produced by merely human forces. It takes resources that we do not have. It is bad news to all those who chose to attempt to be a Christian and live the Christian life on their own strength. It refuses to believe the words of Christ who says “for apart from me you can do nothing.” But it is good news to the sinful, the weak, the limited, and helpless. It liberates and frees us to face our sinfulness, our weaknesses, and our limitations, and let them become a launching pad for the power and glory of God! But it makes a particular demand upon us all. It demands that we live on God alone. It demands a daily declaration of dependence!
There is a false view of Christianity that has all the appearances of Christianity but is not Biblical Christianity. The apostle Paul warns that this kind of religion will characterize the Last Days.
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”
2 Timothy 3:1-4
Notice the key component of End Times religion: “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power”. It is a kind of religion that is manageable, duty-defined, decision oriented, willpower based, and only limited to what I can do on my own strength without God’s help. I call it “can-do” religion. While the apostle Paul cried “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), the attitude of "can do" religion is “I can do all things”.
How does "can do" religion manifest itself in daily living? You do well as long as you never have to jump higher than six feet! As soon as the bar goes over six feet you either quit jumping, rest content to jump no more than six feet, and play it safe. How many of you are living your life like that? I find that many people are satisfied living a religious life within the confines of their own weaknesses, inabilities, limitations and who deny that God would want them to jump ten feet.
They reason like this: Even though the Bible says, “love your enemies”, “I cannot love my enemies, therefore I am not required by God to love my enemies. So I don’t and that is okay or it’s not okay but there is nothing that I can do about it so it’s still okay. The irony of this belief is that in part it is true. In the end, loving your enemy is a gift from God, not something you can do yourself. But it is not Biblical to say that the only things that God can require of you are things that you are good enough and able to perform. That kind of Christianity is easy and doable.
But true Christianity doesn't lower the bar, it raises it. Every single thing God requires is beyond my reach. Biblical Christianity is impossible! Do you know why? Because the Christian life is supernatural! The mystery of the Christian life is that God commands us to jump ten feet we and we cannot. Then He offers us the promise of that we can and will jump ten feet and that He will give us a new desire to jump ten feet and will grace us with an enablement to do it!
When God promised the New Covenant He made these wonderful promises:
“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live… But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people…. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.(Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:27)
John Piper says about these promises: “All of these covenant promises have been secured for us by Christ who said at the last supper, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20) The blood of Jesus Christ obtained for us all of the promises of the New Covenant. What distinguishes them from the Old Covenant is that they are promises for enablement. They are promises that God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves."
We need a new heart to desire God and to delight in God. We need the Spirit who’s fruit is love and joy in God and who gives us a new power to obey God, so that when we are called to fulfill the two commandments “love God and love others” (Luke 10:27), the Spirit and the Word of God produce these wonderful realities within us.
To be continued...
Thursday, August 16, 2007
LIVING SUPERNATURALLY
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
2 Peter 1:3-4
“To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:12-13
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
“True religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation in the divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul.” Henry Scougal
The 17th century in England was a very difficult time to be a bible beleiving Christian and have the kind of freedom that we have in regards to where we go to church and what kind of church we attend. In the later part of the 17th Century, England was ruled by King Charles II. He was determined to rid England of its Puritan influences and persecuted intensely all non Anglicans, especially their Pastors. They were called in a maligning way Non-conformists, seperatists, or Puritans. One of the best known of these Puritans was John Bunyan. You have probably heard of him for his most famous work The Pilgrims Progress.
In 1672 about 50 miles northwest of London in Bedford, Pastor John Bunyan was released from twelve years of imprisonment for preaching without a license. He was 44 years old. Just before his release he updated his spiritual autobiography called Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. He looked back over the hardships of the last 12 years and wrote about how he was enabled by God to survive and even thrive in the Bedford jail. One of his comments was on what sustained him over the course of his most difficult life. His quotes from 2 Corinthians 1:9 where Paul says, "Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead" Then he says, “By this scripture I was made to see that if ever I would suffer rightly, I must first pass a sentence of death upon every thing that can be properly called a thing of this life, even to reckon myself, my wife, my children, my health, my enjoyment, and all, as dead to me, and myself as dead to them. The second was, to live upon God who raises the dead.”
God's first great design for our life is that we might let go of self-confidence and to rely on God and not ourselves. That was how John Bunyan lived and it is how all Christians must live. Either we live on God or we don’t really live. As the saying goes, “Just because you’re breathing doesn’t mean that you are living.” A Christian life is a “peculiar life”. It is an inexplicable, extraordinary, life. It is as Henry Scougal defines it in the title of his book as “The Life of God in the Soul of Man.”
The natural man lives on food, water, sleep, oxygen, etc.; but the spiritual man lives on God alone. He exists to do things that can't be done without God's special, supernatural grace. Henry Scougal contrasts what he calls the natural or wicked man with the religious or spiritual man in his profound book The Life of God in the Soul of Man: “The difference between a religious and a wicked man is, that in the one, Divine life bears sway, in the other, the animal life doth prevail.” So there is human life, natural life, fleshly life, or soulish life common to all mankind. But there is a peculiar life, the divine life, the life of God in the soul of man that is only common to those who are born again.
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.”
1 John 5:1-4
Let me illustrate with a picture. I want you to imagine with me that you are at a track meet held by Jesus Christ and you are in the high jump. He sets bar to begin at 3 feet. So you run up to the bar and easily jump over it. He keeps raising the bar three inches and you keep successfully jumping and clearing over each height. But then Jesus raises the bar to a height that you have never cleared: six feet. So you focus all of your energy, run as fast as you can, you jump, graze the bar, and you fail. You try a second time and you fail again. Finally, you go for the last time giving it your all. You jump, get a good lift into the air, and all of your body clears, except the edge of your heal grazes the bar. As you land you see the bar wobble and wobble and then it falls. You have failed and are out of the meet. You are discouraged because you realize that you are only able to jump under six feet at your best.
But then Jesus raises the bar to ten feet and surprisingly says “I want you to jump again and clear the bar.” You are thinking, “Lord Jesus, ten feet, why I can’t even jump six feet. As a matter of fact, nobody in the world can jump over 8’5”. Jesus knows that you are having a hard time with this so He says, “My child, I promise you that you will clear the bar. I will be with you every step of the way and I will be in You to empower you and enable you to clear the bar, I promise. I will make sure that you clear the bar. As a matter of fact I am writing this all down in a book telling everyone that you must do this, you can do this, and that I am going to enable you to do this, so that if you fail, I will look bad, not just you. I will look like a liar who doesn’t keep His promises, I will look unreasonable in my demands upon you, I will look powerless in my ability to help you, and one will try to jump any higher than their own natural abilities. Now do as I say and jump.”
How would you respond? Some would say, “Sorry Lord, I will just play it safe and stick to doing what I’m capable of jumping under six feet on my own. I’m content with jumping six feet, that’s good enough for me. I mean, hey, I jump higher than lots of other people! I think I’m a pretty good jumper”. Others will say, “Well Jesus never really meant ten feet... Hew meant the ten feet of possibilities. He is encouraging to jump to my full six foot potential.” Others will say, “Lord, I know you said ten feet, but I’ve tried that before and it didn’t happen and I can’t take another failure so I think I’ll pass. Then Jesus says to them, “I’m telling you all, if you want to be in my track meet you must jump ten feet.”
But others will get excited and scared at the same time. They would look at Jesus with courage, they would think about what He said against what they think, and they would risk and run and jump and clear the bar at ten feet just like Jesus commanded and promise. When they clear the bar and land with overwhelming joy they cry out, “Lord, I did it just like you promised. I can clear ten foot high jumps through Christ who strengthens me”. And everyone watching is aware that they have done something extraordinary that didn’t come naturally to them. They have done the impossible, all because of the motivating promise and the enabling power of Jesus Christ.
How many of you are jumping ten feet? How many of you are doing things in your life that can only be explained by the power of God? John Piper says, "Christianity is supernatural or it is nothing." How many of you feel that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, promising you, commanding you, and challenging you to raise the bar in your life and begin to jump higher than ever?
Perhaps God is calling for you to sacrifice something or surrender something. Perhaps God is asking you to step out in faith. Perhaps God is asking you to step out or get involved in ministry. Perhaps there are habits that need changing. Perhaps God has prompted you to begin daily Bible reading. Perhaps God is calling you to walk in a deeper obedience than ever. Perhaps God is calling you to persevere and serve Him in the midst of great trials. Perhaps God is calling you to reach out to the needy. Perhaps God is challenging you to evangelize a neighbor or friend. Perhaps He is asking you to give more of your money or time.
To be continued...
2 Peter 1:3-4
“To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:12-13
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
“True religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation in the divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul.” Henry Scougal
The 17th century in England was a very difficult time to be a bible beleiving Christian and have the kind of freedom that we have in regards to where we go to church and what kind of church we attend. In the later part of the 17th Century, England was ruled by King Charles II. He was determined to rid England of its Puritan influences and persecuted intensely all non Anglicans, especially their Pastors. They were called in a maligning way Non-conformists, seperatists, or Puritans. One of the best known of these Puritans was John Bunyan. You have probably heard of him for his most famous work The Pilgrims Progress.
In 1672 about 50 miles northwest of London in Bedford, Pastor John Bunyan was released from twelve years of imprisonment for preaching without a license. He was 44 years old. Just before his release he updated his spiritual autobiography called Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. He looked back over the hardships of the last 12 years and wrote about how he was enabled by God to survive and even thrive in the Bedford jail. One of his comments was on what sustained him over the course of his most difficult life. His quotes from 2 Corinthians 1:9 where Paul says, "Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead" Then he says, “By this scripture I was made to see that if ever I would suffer rightly, I must first pass a sentence of death upon every thing that can be properly called a thing of this life, even to reckon myself, my wife, my children, my health, my enjoyment, and all, as dead to me, and myself as dead to them. The second was, to live upon God who raises the dead.”
God's first great design for our life is that we might let go of self-confidence and to rely on God and not ourselves. That was how John Bunyan lived and it is how all Christians must live. Either we live on God or we don’t really live. As the saying goes, “Just because you’re breathing doesn’t mean that you are living.” A Christian life is a “peculiar life”. It is an inexplicable, extraordinary, life. It is as Henry Scougal defines it in the title of his book as “The Life of God in the Soul of Man.”
The natural man lives on food, water, sleep, oxygen, etc.; but the spiritual man lives on God alone. He exists to do things that can't be done without God's special, supernatural grace. Henry Scougal contrasts what he calls the natural or wicked man with the religious or spiritual man in his profound book The Life of God in the Soul of Man: “The difference between a religious and a wicked man is, that in the one, Divine life bears sway, in the other, the animal life doth prevail.” So there is human life, natural life, fleshly life, or soulish life common to all mankind. But there is a peculiar life, the divine life, the life of God in the soul of man that is only common to those who are born again.
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.”
1 John 5:1-4
Let me illustrate with a picture. I want you to imagine with me that you are at a track meet held by Jesus Christ and you are in the high jump. He sets bar to begin at 3 feet. So you run up to the bar and easily jump over it. He keeps raising the bar three inches and you keep successfully jumping and clearing over each height. But then Jesus raises the bar to a height that you have never cleared: six feet. So you focus all of your energy, run as fast as you can, you jump, graze the bar, and you fail. You try a second time and you fail again. Finally, you go for the last time giving it your all. You jump, get a good lift into the air, and all of your body clears, except the edge of your heal grazes the bar. As you land you see the bar wobble and wobble and then it falls. You have failed and are out of the meet. You are discouraged because you realize that you are only able to jump under six feet at your best.
But then Jesus raises the bar to ten feet and surprisingly says “I want you to jump again and clear the bar.” You are thinking, “Lord Jesus, ten feet, why I can’t even jump six feet. As a matter of fact, nobody in the world can jump over 8’5”. Jesus knows that you are having a hard time with this so He says, “My child, I promise you that you will clear the bar. I will be with you every step of the way and I will be in You to empower you and enable you to clear the bar, I promise. I will make sure that you clear the bar. As a matter of fact I am writing this all down in a book telling everyone that you must do this, you can do this, and that I am going to enable you to do this, so that if you fail, I will look bad, not just you. I will look like a liar who doesn’t keep His promises, I will look unreasonable in my demands upon you, I will look powerless in my ability to help you, and one will try to jump any higher than their own natural abilities. Now do as I say and jump.”
How would you respond? Some would say, “Sorry Lord, I will just play it safe and stick to doing what I’m capable of jumping under six feet on my own. I’m content with jumping six feet, that’s good enough for me. I mean, hey, I jump higher than lots of other people! I think I’m a pretty good jumper”. Others will say, “Well Jesus never really meant ten feet... Hew meant the ten feet of possibilities. He is encouraging to jump to my full six foot potential.” Others will say, “Lord, I know you said ten feet, but I’ve tried that before and it didn’t happen and I can’t take another failure so I think I’ll pass. Then Jesus says to them, “I’m telling you all, if you want to be in my track meet you must jump ten feet.”
But others will get excited and scared at the same time. They would look at Jesus with courage, they would think about what He said against what they think, and they would risk and run and jump and clear the bar at ten feet just like Jesus commanded and promise. When they clear the bar and land with overwhelming joy they cry out, “Lord, I did it just like you promised. I can clear ten foot high jumps through Christ who strengthens me”. And everyone watching is aware that they have done something extraordinary that didn’t come naturally to them. They have done the impossible, all because of the motivating promise and the enabling power of Jesus Christ.
How many of you are jumping ten feet? How many of you are doing things in your life that can only be explained by the power of God? John Piper says, "Christianity is supernatural or it is nothing." How many of you feel that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, promising you, commanding you, and challenging you to raise the bar in your life and begin to jump higher than ever?
Perhaps God is calling for you to sacrifice something or surrender something. Perhaps God is asking you to step out in faith. Perhaps God is asking you to step out or get involved in ministry. Perhaps there are habits that need changing. Perhaps God has prompted you to begin daily Bible reading. Perhaps God is calling you to walk in a deeper obedience than ever. Perhaps God is calling you to persevere and serve Him in the midst of great trials. Perhaps God is calling you to reach out to the needy. Perhaps God is challenging you to evangelize a neighbor or friend. Perhaps He is asking you to give more of your money or time.
To be continued...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
A MORNING PRAYER OF CONSECRATION FROM A DEVOUT MAN
I just finished reading Sam Storms wonderful interpretation of Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections and Edwards' Personal Narrative titled Signs of the Spirit. I am so thankful for Storms' love for Edwards and his way of helping make Edwards understandable to modern ears and eyes. Edwards truly is one of the giants of understanding, piety, and devotion.
Here is a declaration of personal resolve that is found in the entry to his diary, recorded on Saturday, January 12, 1723. Read it closely, prayerfully, and make it your own (I myself have been praying it every day) :
In the morning. I have this day, solemnly renewed my baptismal covenant and self-dedication, which I renewed, when I was taken into the communion of the church. I have been before God, and have given myself, all that I am and have, to God; so that I am not, in any respect, my own.
I can challenge no right in this understanding, this will, these affections, which are in me. Neither have I any right to this body, or any of its members: no right to this tongue, these hands, these feet; no right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this smell, or this taste. I have given myself clear away, and have not retained anything, as my own.
I gave myself to God, in my baptism, and I have been this morning to him, and told him, that I gave myself wholly to him. I have given every power to him, so that for the future, I'll challenge no right in myself, in no respect whatever. I have expressly promised him, and I do now promise Almighty God, that by his grace, I will not.
I have this morning told him, that I did take him for my whole portion and felicity (happiness and joy), looking on nothing else, as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and [I did take] his Law, for the constant rule of my obedience; and would fight, with all my might, against the world, the flesh and the devil, to the end of my life; and that I did believe in Jesus Christ, and did receive him as a Prince and Savior; and that I would adhere to the faith and obedience of the Gospel, however hazardous and difficult the confession and practice of it may be; and that I did receive the blessed Spirit, as my Teacher, Sanctifier, and only Comforter, and cherish all his motions to enlighten, purify, confirm, comfort and assist me.
This, I have done; and I pray God, for the sake of Christ, to look upon it as a self-dedication, and to receive me now, as entirely his own, and to deal with me, in all respects, as such, whether he afflicts me, or prospers me, or whatever he pleases to do with me, who am his.
Now, henceforth, I am not to act, in any respect, as my own. I shall act as my own if I ever make use of any of my powers to anything that is not to the glory of God, and do not make the glorifying of him my whole and entire business: [I shall act as my own] if I murmur in the least at affliction; if I grieve at the prosperity of others; if I am in any way uncharitable; if I am angry because of injuries; if I revenge them; if I do anything purely to please myself, or if I avoid any thing for the sake of my own ease; [I shall act as my own) if I omit anything, because it is great self-denial; if I trust myself. if I take any of this praise of any good that I do, or that God doth by me; or if I am in any way proud.”
Longing for this pray of consecration to be my own,
Pastor Bill
Here is a declaration of personal resolve that is found in the entry to his diary, recorded on Saturday, January 12, 1723. Read it closely, prayerfully, and make it your own (I myself have been praying it every day) :
In the morning. I have this day, solemnly renewed my baptismal covenant and self-dedication, which I renewed, when I was taken into the communion of the church. I have been before God, and have given myself, all that I am and have, to God; so that I am not, in any respect, my own.
I can challenge no right in this understanding, this will, these affections, which are in me. Neither have I any right to this body, or any of its members: no right to this tongue, these hands, these feet; no right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this smell, or this taste. I have given myself clear away, and have not retained anything, as my own.
I gave myself to God, in my baptism, and I have been this morning to him, and told him, that I gave myself wholly to him. I have given every power to him, so that for the future, I'll challenge no right in myself, in no respect whatever. I have expressly promised him, and I do now promise Almighty God, that by his grace, I will not.
I have this morning told him, that I did take him for my whole portion and felicity (happiness and joy), looking on nothing else, as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and [I did take] his Law, for the constant rule of my obedience; and would fight, with all my might, against the world, the flesh and the devil, to the end of my life; and that I did believe in Jesus Christ, and did receive him as a Prince and Savior; and that I would adhere to the faith and obedience of the Gospel, however hazardous and difficult the confession and practice of it may be; and that I did receive the blessed Spirit, as my Teacher, Sanctifier, and only Comforter, and cherish all his motions to enlighten, purify, confirm, comfort and assist me.
This, I have done; and I pray God, for the sake of Christ, to look upon it as a self-dedication, and to receive me now, as entirely his own, and to deal with me, in all respects, as such, whether he afflicts me, or prospers me, or whatever he pleases to do with me, who am his.
Now, henceforth, I am not to act, in any respect, as my own. I shall act as my own if I ever make use of any of my powers to anything that is not to the glory of God, and do not make the glorifying of him my whole and entire business: [I shall act as my own] if I murmur in the least at affliction; if I grieve at the prosperity of others; if I am in any way uncharitable; if I am angry because of injuries; if I revenge them; if I do anything purely to please myself, or if I avoid any thing for the sake of my own ease; [I shall act as my own) if I omit anything, because it is great self-denial; if I trust myself. if I take any of this praise of any good that I do, or that God doth by me; or if I am in any way proud.”
Longing for this pray of consecration to be my own,
Pastor Bill
Thursday, August 9, 2007
HONORING CHRIST IN LIFE AND DEATH
Paul and every martyr said: it is better to be cut off in the midst of my dreams, goals, plans, if I might gain Christ! For the martyrs and Paul and true followers of Christ, Christ was their dream, goal, and plan in life and in death. Christ was the life, the beginning, the middle, and the destination. David writes in Psalm 63:3, “Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.” It is better to die for the love of God than to live without it. You cannot separate the way death honors Christ from the way life honors Christ. There is a sense that every day in life we die. Paul said “I die every day” (1 Corinthians 15:31). Our Lord said, “If anyone would come after me let him take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Therefore, the life of a Christian is a life of daily dying. This dying is the death of trying to find life in the things that this world offers us and tells us is the sources and means of life: comfort, security, happiness, wealth, friends, family, reputation, etc. In following Jesus we embrace the loss of life in this world for Christ’s sake in order to gain the life of God. As the great missionary martyr Jim Elliot once said “He is no fool to give what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose”.
So a peculiar death is a death that honors Christ by treasuring Christ above the gift of life in the same way that we treasure Him while living above life’s gifts. Revelation 12:11 says, “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Satan’s mouth is constantly saying that the people of God only serve him because of health, wealth, ease, felt needs being met, and prosperity. For over 2000 years men and women who did not love their lives to the point of shrinking from death have shut Satan’s mouth allowing death to be the supreme weapon of conquest and glory.
There is a special grace given to dying Christians. The Spirit that enables us to glorify God in whatsoever we do in life (1 Cor. 10:31) will enable you to glorify God in your death as well. We often wonder: “could I endure suffering for Christ in the hour of persecution or even in the hour of ordinary death?” The answer is, no, I couldn't, not in myself. But we will not be left to ourselves. There will be extraordinary grace for the extraordinary trial of death. When God comes in the hour of our death He makes the enemy, death, into the servant of His beloved saints.
For example, in the martyrdom of Stephen as the enemy death draws near and opens its jaws to consume us, the Holy Spirit in Stephen turns the jaws of death into a window of heaven. Instead of seeing the stomach of hell and the face of Satan, or the hostility and hatred of his accusers, Stephen looks for Jesus and doesn’t look in vain. He sees the glory of God and Jesus alive standing at the right hand of God. “When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:54-56
Do you see how death is stripped of its power here and made the servant of God's servant? I don't mean that every believer will get the same vision of glory that Stephen received. But I do mean that this is the way the Holy Spirit comforts us when we are dying, and robs death of its power. One way or another he makes death a window to the glory of God and to Jesus. And for those who love Jesus more than anyone and long for the glory of God more than anything, the sting of death is gone and the power of death is broken.
John Wesley died full of counsel, exhortations, and praise for God. His final words were, "The best of all is, God is with us. The best of all is, God is with us. The best of all is, God is with us. Farewell!” Adoniram Judson, the great American missionary to Burma, suffering immensely at death, said to those around, “I go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school, I feel so strong in Christ.” Jonathan Edwards, dying from smallpox, gave some final directions, bid his daughter good-bye, and expired saying, “Where is Jesus, my never-failing friend?”
The Spirit also enabled Stephen to see through death a place of fellowship in the presence of Jesus. “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:59-60). Not only did the Holy Spirit turn the hour of death into a revelation of the glory of God and of Jesus, He also showed Stephen that the reason Jesus was standing, and not sitting (as it says in verse 55), was to welcome His servant home. Death served the dying saint not only as a window to see glory, but also as a doorway to enter glory, not only a window to see Jesus, but also a doorway to join Him.
The triumph of the saint over death is the calm and confident prayer, “Jesus, receive my spirit,” echoing the same words as his master (Luke 23:46). In an instant, Stephen was home. Maligned and mistreated on earth, he was eagerly embraced by the Lord of heaven. This same welcome awaits all who bear His name, who stand beneath the Cross, who wait beside the tomb, and who follow Stephen's path. This begs the question: Do you love Jesus more than life? David gave his answer in Psalm 63:1,3, “God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water…Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.” The love of God is better than life! It is better to die for the love of God than to live without it. Raymond Lull martyred in 1315 said, “He who loves not, lives not; he who lives by the love shall never die.”
What the Holy Spirit did for Paul and Stephen in their view of death is also the way to live in the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. First, the Holy Spirit desires to opens your eyes as He did Stephen, to behold and to love the glory of God and to help you see and know that Jesus is alive and triumphant at God's right hand. Second, the Holy Spirit wants to give you the will to say as Paul did, "Jesus there is no place I would rather be than with you, receive me, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain." Which leaves us a great question: Will we say with the apostle Paul that our heart's desire is that Christ be exalted in our bodies, whether by life or by death? For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Do I love Christ more than life? May God cause us to make the answer, YES. Will you show God great in the way you die? Will you say, "To live is Christ and to die is gain"? Will you call this ugly, defeated, torturing enemy sweet names? Will the loss of all your earthly family, friends, and possessions fade at the prospect of seeing and being with Christ? Thomas Kempis wrote, “Before night; and when evening comes, dare not to promise thyself the next morning. Be thou therefore always in a readiness, and so lead thy life that death may never take thee unprepared." A hymn writer wrote, “What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see. I will look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace. He will take me by the hand and lead me to the Promised Land and what a day, a glorious day that will be.”
A Prayer
Oh Father in heaven, giver of life and ordainer of our death. Give us a view of life that would change our view of death. Teach us to number our days aright so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Cause us like Paul to be able to say and believe from the depths of our heart, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Cause us to live each day in remembrance of our death. Make us ready to die well by helping us to live well. Let us never forget how precious life is. Whether we live long lives or short lives, help us to live with all our might while we live. We long, oh Lord, that on the day of our death to be able to face you with joy and hear the words from Your lips to us, “Well done, My good and My faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.” Oh what gain that will be! In Jesus name. AMEN
So a peculiar death is a death that honors Christ by treasuring Christ above the gift of life in the same way that we treasure Him while living above life’s gifts. Revelation 12:11 says, “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Satan’s mouth is constantly saying that the people of God only serve him because of health, wealth, ease, felt needs being met, and prosperity. For over 2000 years men and women who did not love their lives to the point of shrinking from death have shut Satan’s mouth allowing death to be the supreme weapon of conquest and glory.
There is a special grace given to dying Christians. The Spirit that enables us to glorify God in whatsoever we do in life (1 Cor. 10:31) will enable you to glorify God in your death as well. We often wonder: “could I endure suffering for Christ in the hour of persecution or even in the hour of ordinary death?” The answer is, no, I couldn't, not in myself. But we will not be left to ourselves. There will be extraordinary grace for the extraordinary trial of death. When God comes in the hour of our death He makes the enemy, death, into the servant of His beloved saints.
For example, in the martyrdom of Stephen as the enemy death draws near and opens its jaws to consume us, the Holy Spirit in Stephen turns the jaws of death into a window of heaven. Instead of seeing the stomach of hell and the face of Satan, or the hostility and hatred of his accusers, Stephen looks for Jesus and doesn’t look in vain. He sees the glory of God and Jesus alive standing at the right hand of God. “When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:54-56
Do you see how death is stripped of its power here and made the servant of God's servant? I don't mean that every believer will get the same vision of glory that Stephen received. But I do mean that this is the way the Holy Spirit comforts us when we are dying, and robs death of its power. One way or another he makes death a window to the glory of God and to Jesus. And for those who love Jesus more than anyone and long for the glory of God more than anything, the sting of death is gone and the power of death is broken.
John Wesley died full of counsel, exhortations, and praise for God. His final words were, "The best of all is, God is with us. The best of all is, God is with us. The best of all is, God is with us. Farewell!” Adoniram Judson, the great American missionary to Burma, suffering immensely at death, said to those around, “I go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school, I feel so strong in Christ.” Jonathan Edwards, dying from smallpox, gave some final directions, bid his daughter good-bye, and expired saying, “Where is Jesus, my never-failing friend?”
The Spirit also enabled Stephen to see through death a place of fellowship in the presence of Jesus. “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:59-60). Not only did the Holy Spirit turn the hour of death into a revelation of the glory of God and of Jesus, He also showed Stephen that the reason Jesus was standing, and not sitting (as it says in verse 55), was to welcome His servant home. Death served the dying saint not only as a window to see glory, but also as a doorway to enter glory, not only a window to see Jesus, but also a doorway to join Him.
The triumph of the saint over death is the calm and confident prayer, “Jesus, receive my spirit,” echoing the same words as his master (Luke 23:46). In an instant, Stephen was home. Maligned and mistreated on earth, he was eagerly embraced by the Lord of heaven. This same welcome awaits all who bear His name, who stand beneath the Cross, who wait beside the tomb, and who follow Stephen's path. This begs the question: Do you love Jesus more than life? David gave his answer in Psalm 63:1,3, “God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water…Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.” The love of God is better than life! It is better to die for the love of God than to live without it. Raymond Lull martyred in 1315 said, “He who loves not, lives not; he who lives by the love shall never die.”
What the Holy Spirit did for Paul and Stephen in their view of death is also the way to live in the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. First, the Holy Spirit desires to opens your eyes as He did Stephen, to behold and to love the glory of God and to help you see and know that Jesus is alive and triumphant at God's right hand. Second, the Holy Spirit wants to give you the will to say as Paul did, "Jesus there is no place I would rather be than with you, receive me, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain." Which leaves us a great question: Will we say with the apostle Paul that our heart's desire is that Christ be exalted in our bodies, whether by life or by death? For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Do I love Christ more than life? May God cause us to make the answer, YES. Will you show God great in the way you die? Will you say, "To live is Christ and to die is gain"? Will you call this ugly, defeated, torturing enemy sweet names? Will the loss of all your earthly family, friends, and possessions fade at the prospect of seeing and being with Christ? Thomas Kempis wrote, “Before night; and when evening comes, dare not to promise thyself the next morning. Be thou therefore always in a readiness, and so lead thy life that death may never take thee unprepared." A hymn writer wrote, “What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see. I will look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace. He will take me by the hand and lead me to the Promised Land and what a day, a glorious day that will be.”
A Prayer
Oh Father in heaven, giver of life and ordainer of our death. Give us a view of life that would change our view of death. Teach us to number our days aright so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Cause us like Paul to be able to say and believe from the depths of our heart, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Cause us to live each day in remembrance of our death. Make us ready to die well by helping us to live well. Let us never forget how precious life is. Whether we live long lives or short lives, help us to live with all our might while we live. We long, oh Lord, that on the day of our death to be able to face you with joy and hear the words from Your lips to us, “Well done, My good and My faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.” Oh what gain that will be! In Jesus name. AMEN
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
TO LIVE IS CHRSIT, TO DIE IS GREAT GAIN!
Today could very well be the last day of your life. The reality is that there will be one today that will be your last. It is this unexpectedness of death that should encourage us to take a second look, to reconsider our pleasant denial, to admit that, yes, death might visit us as early as this week.
Jesus tells a story that illustrates this in Luke 12:15-21:“Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ And he told them this parable: ‘The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
General William Nelson, a Union general in the Civil War, was consumed with the hostilities in Kentucky when a brawl ended in his being shot in the chest. He had faced many battles, but the fatal blow came while he was relaxing with his men. As such, he was caught fully unprepared. As men ran up the stairs to help, the general had just one request: "Send for a clergyman; I wish to be baptized."He never made time as an adolescent or a young man and he was too busy as a general, with too many pressing concerns. In half a second, the general's priorities had been turned upside down. The war raged on, but suddenly his interest had been captivated by another world. Who cared about the war now? And it was too late to bother with a doctor. Get me a clergyman! With only minutes left before he died, the one thing he cared about was preparing for eternity. He wanted to be baptized. Thirty minutes later he was dead.
How was this general served by the remembrance of death? Hardly at all, because he remembered it too late.To help us avoid such a gross oversight, Jonathan Edwards at the age of nineteen wrote 70 resolutions, several of which dealt with remembering his death.
#7 Resolved, never to do anything which I would be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
#9 Resolved, To think much, on all occasions, of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.
#17 Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
#19 Resolved, Never to do anything which I would be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour before I should hear the last trump.
An entry in his diary reads: Monday, Feb 24, 1724. Let everything have the value now which it will have on a sick bed; and frequently, in my pursuits, of whatever kind, let this question come into my mind, How shall I value this on my deathbed? “ Jonathan Edwards lived with an awareness of his death.
What ways will I wish that I had taken when I am leave this world?When we find out we have only thirty minutes left to live, as General Nelson did, we can't do much more than prepare our own souls. Even worse, the moment of death could prove that our whole life has been a lie. The thought of death came too late for the fool and the general. Will it come too late for us?
When confronted with the reality of death, it is amazing how we begin to see what is really important in life. That is why young people give little thought to the significance of their lives, while the elderly think about it all the time. In the face of the end of life, questions about its significance loom large. There comes a time when we stop denying our death and start numbering our days. Do you?
No wonder the Apostle Paul’s great passion was “That in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:20-22)We exist to make Jesus Christ appear to the world as He really is in our lives and in our deaths: glorious, great, and magnificent. That is why Paul said his aim was that in life or death that Christ be magnified. But how can death be a glory? How can we not say that all of these short lives were not wasted? Because death is a threat only to the degree it frustrates ones main goals. Death is to be feared if it threatens to rob you of what you treasure or value the most. Paul saw death not as a threat to his goals, but as an occasion for the fulfillment of his goals.
Life and death outside of God’s world seem like complete opposites at war with one another. But for the Christian-there is great harmony because God’s passion and purpose is fulfilled in both-Christ being magnified in our bodies both in living and in dying. Jesus spoke to the Apostle Peter about this subject after He rose from the dead. Jesus said,“Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish." This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me." (John 21:18-19)
Jesus told Peter that he would die in His service. Tradition says that Peter was crucified upside down in Rome during one of Nero's persecutions in the mid-sixties. Jesus was telling Peter the implications of what it would mean for Peter to cherish Christ and follow Him in this life. For Peter it would inevitably lead to suffering and martyrdom. Yet Jesus spoke of Peter’s death in the most precious of terms. John adds this explanation: “This He (Jesus) spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God.” Jesus had decreed that Peter would glorify God in his dying. Jesus seems to say that He considers all our deaths as appointed for the glory of God. The difference is: with what kind of death will we glorify God?
Paul burned with a holy passion to magnify Christ not only in life, but in death.This is why I speak of how God's grace produces a peculiar death for the Christian. A peculiar death is a death that makes visible the surpassing value of Christ and the magnitude of His exceeding worth.
Let's listen carefully to the Apostle Paul. Christ has called us to live for His glory and to die for His glory because to live is Christ and to die is gain. “My expectation and hope is that Christ will be exalted in my body…by death… for to me death is gain” (Philippians 1:20-21). Do you believe that death is gain? Where is the value of Christ in death? How does death help you to make much of Christ? Won't that rob you of the very life that can magnify Him? Death is a threat to the degree that it frustrates your main goals. Death is fearful to the degree that it threatens to rob you of what you treasure most. But Paul stored for himself treasures in heaven; he treasured Christ most, and his goal was to magnify Christ. And he saw death not as a frustration of that goal but as an occasion for its fulfillment.
Life and death! They seem like complete opposites-at great enmity with each other. But for Paul-and for all who share his faith-there is a unity, because the same great passion is fulfilled in both-namely, that Christ be magnified in our bodies whether by life or by death.But how are we to magnify Christ in death? Or to put it another way: How can we die so that in our dying the surpassing value of Christ, the magnitude of His worth, becomes visible? Paul's answer here in Philippians 1 is found first in the connection between verse 20 and verse 21. These verses are connected by the word "for" or "because." Boil it down to the words about death: "My eager expectation is that Christ be honored in my body by death, for to me to die is gain." Gain! Gain! This is the goal of life and suffering.
In other words, if you experience death as gain, you magnify Christ in death.How is dying gain? Why is that? Verse 23 shows why dying is gain for Paul: “My desire is to depart [that is, to die] and be with Christ, for that is far better.” Far better is not a platitude. Paul saw death far better because it would bring the deepest and most lasting satisfaction to his life, namely, being with Christ in glory. “We are always of good courage because we KNOW that to be absent in the body is to be at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).
Do you love Jesus that much? Do you love Him so much that you believe that losing everything, even your life, is gain? That is what death does: It takes us into more intimacy with Christ. We depart, and we are with Christ, and that, Paul says, is gain. No wonder why the Psalmist writes in Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints”. And when you experience death this way, Paul says, you exalt Christ. Experiencing Christ as gain in your dying glorifies Christ. It is "far better" than living here. Really? Better than all the friends at school? Better than failing in love? Better than hugging your children? Better than professional success? Better than retirement and grandchildren? Better than your dream house and dream trip. Yes. A thousand times better. Death gain? What a colossal understatement. We only scratch the surface of wonder. There is more, so much more! That’s what everyone who has ever suffered loss for the cause of Christ believed and what every martyr believed:CHRIST IS WORTH MORE THAN LIFE!
To be continued...
Jesus tells a story that illustrates this in Luke 12:15-21:“Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ And he told them this parable: ‘The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
General William Nelson, a Union general in the Civil War, was consumed with the hostilities in Kentucky when a brawl ended in his being shot in the chest. He had faced many battles, but the fatal blow came while he was relaxing with his men. As such, he was caught fully unprepared. As men ran up the stairs to help, the general had just one request: "Send for a clergyman; I wish to be baptized."He never made time as an adolescent or a young man and he was too busy as a general, with too many pressing concerns. In half a second, the general's priorities had been turned upside down. The war raged on, but suddenly his interest had been captivated by another world. Who cared about the war now? And it was too late to bother with a doctor. Get me a clergyman! With only minutes left before he died, the one thing he cared about was preparing for eternity. He wanted to be baptized. Thirty minutes later he was dead.
How was this general served by the remembrance of death? Hardly at all, because he remembered it too late.To help us avoid such a gross oversight, Jonathan Edwards at the age of nineteen wrote 70 resolutions, several of which dealt with remembering his death.
#7 Resolved, never to do anything which I would be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
#9 Resolved, To think much, on all occasions, of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.
#17 Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
#19 Resolved, Never to do anything which I would be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour before I should hear the last trump.
An entry in his diary reads: Monday, Feb 24, 1724. Let everything have the value now which it will have on a sick bed; and frequently, in my pursuits, of whatever kind, let this question come into my mind, How shall I value this on my deathbed? “ Jonathan Edwards lived with an awareness of his death.
What ways will I wish that I had taken when I am leave this world?When we find out we have only thirty minutes left to live, as General Nelson did, we can't do much more than prepare our own souls. Even worse, the moment of death could prove that our whole life has been a lie. The thought of death came too late for the fool and the general. Will it come too late for us?
When confronted with the reality of death, it is amazing how we begin to see what is really important in life. That is why young people give little thought to the significance of their lives, while the elderly think about it all the time. In the face of the end of life, questions about its significance loom large. There comes a time when we stop denying our death and start numbering our days. Do you?
No wonder the Apostle Paul’s great passion was “That in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:20-22)We exist to make Jesus Christ appear to the world as He really is in our lives and in our deaths: glorious, great, and magnificent. That is why Paul said his aim was that in life or death that Christ be magnified. But how can death be a glory? How can we not say that all of these short lives were not wasted? Because death is a threat only to the degree it frustrates ones main goals. Death is to be feared if it threatens to rob you of what you treasure or value the most. Paul saw death not as a threat to his goals, but as an occasion for the fulfillment of his goals.
Life and death outside of God’s world seem like complete opposites at war with one another. But for the Christian-there is great harmony because God’s passion and purpose is fulfilled in both-Christ being magnified in our bodies both in living and in dying. Jesus spoke to the Apostle Peter about this subject after He rose from the dead. Jesus said,“Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish." This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me." (John 21:18-19)
Jesus told Peter that he would die in His service. Tradition says that Peter was crucified upside down in Rome during one of Nero's persecutions in the mid-sixties. Jesus was telling Peter the implications of what it would mean for Peter to cherish Christ and follow Him in this life. For Peter it would inevitably lead to suffering and martyrdom. Yet Jesus spoke of Peter’s death in the most precious of terms. John adds this explanation: “This He (Jesus) spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God.” Jesus had decreed that Peter would glorify God in his dying. Jesus seems to say that He considers all our deaths as appointed for the glory of God. The difference is: with what kind of death will we glorify God?
Paul burned with a holy passion to magnify Christ not only in life, but in death.This is why I speak of how God's grace produces a peculiar death for the Christian. A peculiar death is a death that makes visible the surpassing value of Christ and the magnitude of His exceeding worth.
Let's listen carefully to the Apostle Paul. Christ has called us to live for His glory and to die for His glory because to live is Christ and to die is gain. “My expectation and hope is that Christ will be exalted in my body…by death… for to me death is gain” (Philippians 1:20-21). Do you believe that death is gain? Where is the value of Christ in death? How does death help you to make much of Christ? Won't that rob you of the very life that can magnify Him? Death is a threat to the degree that it frustrates your main goals. Death is fearful to the degree that it threatens to rob you of what you treasure most. But Paul stored for himself treasures in heaven; he treasured Christ most, and his goal was to magnify Christ. And he saw death not as a frustration of that goal but as an occasion for its fulfillment.
Life and death! They seem like complete opposites-at great enmity with each other. But for Paul-and for all who share his faith-there is a unity, because the same great passion is fulfilled in both-namely, that Christ be magnified in our bodies whether by life or by death.But how are we to magnify Christ in death? Or to put it another way: How can we die so that in our dying the surpassing value of Christ, the magnitude of His worth, becomes visible? Paul's answer here in Philippians 1 is found first in the connection between verse 20 and verse 21. These verses are connected by the word "for" or "because." Boil it down to the words about death: "My eager expectation is that Christ be honored in my body by death, for to me to die is gain." Gain! Gain! This is the goal of life and suffering.
In other words, if you experience death as gain, you magnify Christ in death.How is dying gain? Why is that? Verse 23 shows why dying is gain for Paul: “My desire is to depart [that is, to die] and be with Christ, for that is far better.” Far better is not a platitude. Paul saw death far better because it would bring the deepest and most lasting satisfaction to his life, namely, being with Christ in glory. “We are always of good courage because we KNOW that to be absent in the body is to be at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).
Do you love Jesus that much? Do you love Him so much that you believe that losing everything, even your life, is gain? That is what death does: It takes us into more intimacy with Christ. We depart, and we are with Christ, and that, Paul says, is gain. No wonder why the Psalmist writes in Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints”. And when you experience death this way, Paul says, you exalt Christ. Experiencing Christ as gain in your dying glorifies Christ. It is "far better" than living here. Really? Better than all the friends at school? Better than failing in love? Better than hugging your children? Better than professional success? Better than retirement and grandchildren? Better than your dream house and dream trip. Yes. A thousand times better. Death gain? What a colossal understatement. We only scratch the surface of wonder. There is more, so much more! That’s what everyone who has ever suffered loss for the cause of Christ believed and what every martyr believed:CHRIST IS WORTH MORE THAN LIFE!
To be continued...
Friday, August 3, 2007
REMEMBERING OUR DEATH
“Death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart"
Ecclesiastes 7:2.
“Precious in the sight of the LORD
Is the death of His saints.”
Psalm 116:15
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Philippians 1:21
"Resolved that I will live so, as I wish I'd done when I come to die. "
Jonathan Edwards
“My remnant of days I spend to his praise who died the whole world to redeem; be they many or few, my days are his due, and they all are devoted to him.”
John Wesley-Journal-June 28, 1787
His name was William Borden. Born into a well-known and prominent wealthy family, he attended Princeton Seminary and graduated from Yale. From childhood he had prayed that the will of God be done in his life. He wrote as a child “I want to be an honest man when I grow up, a true, loving, kind, and faithful man.” As a young teenager his travels around the world challenged him with the needs of men for Jesus Christ, especially the Muslim people in Kansu, China. So he purposed his life to make his choices count towards that goal. While training for a life of serving Christ in China, his heart and labor went out in practical ways to serve the poor, widows, orphans, and cripples in the back streets of where he was living in Chicago.
Borden constantly sought to win his classmates at Yale for Christ and His service. In 1913 he arrived in Egypt in order to hone his skills at Arabic and to continue studying Mandarin Chinese. While there he continued loving people, helping those in need, and sharing Christ. Tragically, after only being in Cairo for a few months he contracted cerebral meningitis. While suffering, he reflected the doctor missionary Adam McCall who was the first missionary to die in Central Africa and who had suffered from a similar fate as William had. Borden prayed, “Thou knowest the circumstances, Lord. Do as Thou pleasest, I have nothing to say. I am not dissatisfied that you are about to take me away. Why should I be? I gave myself body, mind, and spirit to Thee-consecrated my whole life and being to Thy service. And now if it pleases Thee to take me instead of the work I would have done for Thee, what is that to me? Thy will be done. ”
Fifteen days after contracting that terrible disease, William Borden died at the age of twenty five, before ever arriving to the place of his calling, Kansu. A few weeks before he died his mother wrote him this poem that was found in his possession on his deathbed:
“Just as I am, Thine own to be, Friend of the young, who lovest me, to consecrate myself to Thee, Oh Jesus Christ, I come. In the glad morning of my day, my life to give, and my vows to pay, with no reserve and no delay, with all my heart I come. I would live forever in the light, I would work forever for the right, I would serve Thee with all my might. Therefore to thee I come. Just as I am, young, strong, and free, to be the best that I can be for truth and righteousness and Thee. Lord of my life, I come.”
Was William Borden’s death a tragedy? Should a life driven by one great passion, namely, to be spent in service for Jesus Christ, be considered a waste? What about the seemingly premature deaths of David Brainerd (29 years.), Keith Green (28 years.), Robert Murray McCheyne (29 years.), Henry Martyn (31 years.), Henry Scougal (26years.), or Jim Elliot (25 years.)? Were these tragedies? No, these were not tragedies, these were a glory!
There is a kind of death that has no glory to it, only tragedy. My dear little brother Kip, died in a motorcycle accident while under the influence of alcohol. There was no glory to my poor young brother's death, only sorrow and grief for my family and for me a deep sense of a wasted life. Death is always a tragedy when we live this life without honoring Christ. But a life that honors Christ will lead to a glorious death.
Recently Christianity Today reported that in Muslim Turkey on April 18th German missionary Tilmann Geske, Pastor Necati Aydin, a convert from Islam, and and convert Ugur Yuksel were tortured and brutally murdered by having their throats slit by their Muslim captors. Was that a tragedy or a glory?
In your mind's eye, see yourself going to the funeral of a loved one. Picture yourself driving to the funeral parlor or chapel, parking the car, and getting out. As you walk inside the building, you notice the flowers, the soft organ music. You see the faces of friends and family you pass along the way; you feel the shared sorrow of losing, the joy of having known, that radiates from the hearts of the people there.
As you walk down to the front of the room and look inside the casket, you suddenly come face to face with yourself. This is your funeral, three years from today and these people have come to honor you, to express feelings of love and appreciation for your life.
As you take a seat and wait for the services to begin, you look at the program in your hand. There are to be four speakers. The first 'is from your family, immediate and also extended-children, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents who have come from all over the country to attend. The second speaker is one of your friends, someone who can give a sense of what you were as a person. The third speaker is from your work or profession. And the fourth is from your church or some community organization where you've been involved in service. The fifth is from your Pastor. Now think deeply. What would you like each of these speakers to say about you and your life? What kind of husband, wife, father, or mother would you like their words to reflect? What kind of son or daughter or cousin? What kind of friend? What kind of working associate?
What character would you like them to have seen in you? What contributions, what achievements would you want them to remember? Look carefully at the people around you. What difference would you like to have made in their lives? Then I want to have you imagine you are in the presence of God in heaven. What would He have to say about you?
Listen to the insight God gave to Moses. Standing on the shores of the Jordan River, Moses looks over the Promised Land and cries “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.” Psalm 39:4 says, “Lord teach us to number our days!” “Let me be aware of the limitations of my life. Let me have a outlook on my death and my life.
Moses paints a picture of life being like a book. Each day is a new page. Each night another page is turned. We don’t know when the final page will be turned.
“You turn men back to dust,saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men." For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by,or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. ..The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,for they quickly pass, and we fly away. ..Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
Psalm 90:3-6,10,12
In spite of the prevalence of death, we prefer not to talk about it. Most of us recognize that we will eventually die, but this recognition is reserved for a distant event decades from now, not today, not this week, not this month, not this year. Death is a foreigner, not a close neighbor.
William Law wrote that the living world's brilliance blinds us from eternity and the reality of death. “The health of our bodies, the passions of our minds, the noise and hurry and pleasures and business of the world, lead us on with eyes that see not and ears that hear not.”
To be continued...
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