I will never forget the summer of 1968 and I was body surfing Sandy Beach on the South Shore of Oahu. Sandy Beach is one of the premier body surfing beaches in the world. The waves that day were probably 15 foot on the faces. I considered myself a strong swimmer and a very competent bodysurfer. So I enthusiastically swam on out and rode the waves for about a half an hour. I was having a great session until a bodysurfer’s worst nightmare happened to me. I got caught in a severe rip current. It was one like I had never experienced before. What was really frightening was that it was drifting west and pulling me towards the famous blowhole. A blowhole is an underwater cave that has an opening on the surface that sprouts out (blows out) the surging water from the ocean. It is a spectacular sight. But you don’t want to drift into a blowhole if you catch my drift. So here I was caught in a rip tide, being pulled closer and closer to the blowhole and I could not get out of it. I cried out for help but no one could hear me and fought and fought frantically until I reached sheer exhaustion. At that point I resigned myself to my imminent drowning. Then suddenly I was grabbed by a lifeguard who had seen my peril and swam out to rescue me. He told me to relax and I held on to him for dear life. I trembled for what had almost and most certainly would have happened to me. I was elated. I was overjoyed and so very thankful. That is the way I feel this Passion Week about being rescued from God’s wrath against sin in hell.
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones was a great preacher at the Westminster Chapel in London for 40 years. The year before his death when he was 81 years old in 1981 Christianity Today asked him, "Do you have any final word for our generation?" He answered simply by quoting, “Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). The wrath of God is eternal, terrible, deserved, and escapable, because of the death and resurrection of Christ. Let the apostle John remind us of how terrible and eternal the wrath of God is with just one of his most dreadful images.
Revelation 19:15, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.”
Notice the four parts of this terrible picture of God’s judgment on those who do not repent.
First, God is “almighty.” We are dealing here not with a mere world ruler, like the president of the United States or the Chinese Premier. They are as nothing compared to the power of the Creator of the Universe. “Almighty” means that God has all the power in the universe. All atomic power. All electromagnetic power. All gravitational power. All the power in the greatest explosions that are or ever have been among the greatest stars of space.
Second, this almighty God will pour out his wrath. He is not only a God of love, but of holiness and justice and wrath.
Third, his wrath is full of fury. John speaks of “the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” The wrath is not cool opposition. It is furiously angry opposition.
And fourth, and perhaps most terrible, Jesus himself is pictured as treading the winepress of this fury. That means that those who rebelled and did not repent are like grapes under the feet of the fury of Christ, and are crushed until their blood runs like wine from the press.
On the cross God punished His Son in our place; we are saved from our greatest peril, the wrath of God. I would like to bear witness to the truth that, before he saved me, his terrible wrath rested upon me. Jesus said, ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey . . . the wrath of God remains on him’ (John 3:36). Wrath remains on us as long as there is no faith in Jesus.
Paul puts it like this: We ‘were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind’ (Ephesians 2:3). “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” ( Romans 1:18). ""Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God …to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness God will render wrath and indignation." (Romans 2:5-8).
Our very nature made us worthy of wrath. Our destiny was to endure ‘flaming fire’ and ‘vengeance on those . . . who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus . . . [and who] suffer the punishment of eternal destruction’ (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). We were not sons of God. God was not our Father. He was our judge and executioner. I was ‘dead in . . . trespasses and sins’, one of the ‘sons of disobedience’ (Ephesians 2:1-2). And the sentence of our Judge was clear and terrifying: ‘because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience’ (Ephesians 5:5).
The Holy wrath of God is a horrible destiny. The judgment and damnation of unrepentant sinners is the loud shout from heaven that God is infinitely holy, and sin is infinitely offensive, and wrath is infinitely just. This is our problem. God is indignant and wrathful toward us in our unrighteousness and our untruthfulness. If you ask the Bible, what we need to be saved from, the answer comes back – yes, from sin; and yes, from guilt; and yes, from shame; and yes, from disunity and bad relationships; and yes, from destructive habits and harmful ways; but ultimately the answer is: We need to be saved and rescued from God's wrath.
There was only one hope for us – that the infinite wisdom of God might make a way for the love of God to satisfy the wrath of God so that we might become sons and daughters of God.
This is exactly what happened. After saying that we were by nature a child of wrath, Paul says, ‘But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ’ (Ephesians 2:4-5). This is the very triumph of the love of God. This is the love of God – the ‘great love with which he loved us’. It rescued us from His wrath and adopted us into sonship.
‘But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son . . . to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons’ (Galatians 4:4). God sent his Son to rescue us from His wrath and make us His children.
How did he do it? God’s Son bore God’s curse in our place. ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”’ (Galatians 3:13). If people in the twenty-first century find this greatest act of love ‘morally dubious and a huge barrier to faith’, it was not different in Paul’s day. ‘We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles’ (I Corinthians 1:23).
But for those who are called by God and believe in Jesus, this is ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God’ (I Corinthians 1:24). This is my life. This is the only way God could become our Father. Now that his wrath no longer rests on us (John 3:36), he has sent the Spirit of sonship flooding into our hearts crying Abba, Father (Romans 8:15).
Who qualifies to enjoy the liberating power of the death of Christ? Sinners who need to be saved from God’s wrath. Paul was overjoyed that the Lord from heaven is “Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). But he warned that “for those who…don’t obey the truth…there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:8). There are only two things I ever receive from God: justice or mercy. Eternal life or God's wrath and fury - these are the two alternatives. Which one are you receiving? This moment you are either a sinner condemned or rescued; under wrath or grace. Jesus came to rescue you from the wrath to come! If He has not rescued you, then you are in imminent danger of that wrath! God’s wrath is escapable right now. No one has to spend eternity under the wrath of God if they will receive God’s Son as Savior and Lord and Treasure.
Romans 3:25 says that God put Jesus Christ “forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” My prayer is that this would be clear to each one of you readers—that the death of Jesus Christ is the only way that any of us can escape the wrath of God and find right standing and peace with God. Lay down the arms of your rebellion and receive His blood bought amnesty, and embrace God’s Son Jesus as your savior and deliver from His wrath and as your Lord and treasure. I urge you right now in the name of Jesus Christ, to run to the cross and take refuge in the rescuing arms of Jesus!
A PRAYER:
I thank you, heavenly Father, with all my heart that you saved me from your wrath. I rejoice to measure your love for me by the magnitude of the wrath I deserved and the wonder of your mercy by putting Christ in my place.
Pastor Bill
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
A VISION OF A GOD WHO IS SO HAPPY THAT HE SMILES AND SINGS OVER YOU!
"On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion;let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach." Zephaniah 3:16-18
Did you know that God is the happiest being in the universe? Did you know that God is happy when He thinks about you and the work He is doing in, to, through, and over your life? Do you believe this? Perhaps if you did, it might launch your life into dimensions and levels of joy and delight previously unknown in your experience. Do you know that God loves you so much that He actually sings when He thinks of you?
We desperately need a sharpened biblical focus of whom God is and what He is really like. Because, when we know the truth, the truth sets us free! One of the reasons our witness to God’s reality is minimal is because our understanding of God’s reality is minimal. Like J.B. Phillips said earlier this century,” Your God is to small.” Oh how diminished God can often be by our little or ignorant understanding of Him! What we need is a big picture of a great God who is utterly committed to happily demonstrating His greatness in doing us good.
"I will never stop doing good to them…I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul." (Jeremiah 32:40-41)
"Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32)
Oh dear reader, do you see the majesty of God and the splendor of God overflowing with enthusiastic, joyful, omnipotence over you? J.I. Packer writes, "The people who know God, think great thoughts about God." He desires you to experience this magnificence as the explosion of God’s joy, happiness, and pleasure towards you.
This week I desire simply to lift up God’s singing voice over you and magnify His supreme beauty, majesty, goodness, greatness, and happiness!
Let me give you a little background to this stupendous statement that the prophet Zephaniah makes from God to you.
According to Zephaniah 1:1, "The word of the Lord came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi . . . in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah."
Josiah had begun to reign in Judah about 80 years after the northern kingdom of Israel had been swept away by the Assyrian invaders. During those 80 years the southern kingdom of Judah had not learned the lesson of the northern kingdom, and sank deeper and deeper into sin and rebellion against the law of God. In the 18th year of Josiah's reign Hellish the priest found in the Temple a copy of the book of the law that had been ignored for decades. When he read it to the king, Josiah was broken. He humbled himself before the Lord and rent his clothes and wept (2 Kings 22:19).
Over the next thirteen years Josiah led an amazing reformation in Judah based on the law of God. He renewed the covenant between God and his people (2 Kings 23:3). He took all the vessels of Baal and Asherah out of the Temple and burned them in the fields of Kidron (23:4). He deposed the idolatrous priests (23:5). He broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes (23:7). He removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun (23:11). And he re-instituted the Passover that had been ignored since the days of the judges (23:22).
These were the days of Zephaniah according to 1:1. So when we read this little book we can picture it as part of the call for reformation that Josiah was pursuing. No doubt the prophet and the king teamed up to try to draw the people back to God. most of the book is a warning and a prediction of the coming judgment in wrath upon the nations. . Why was God's wrath so kindled? Because God had ceased to be a practical reality in their lives. At the end of the book a great ray of hope bursts through. It seems that in spite of the worldwide outpouring of his wrath God is going to do two great acts of mercy described in Zephaniah 3:9-20.
1.God is going to cause a global awakening so that people from all the nations turn to him. In verses 9-20, a global awakening with people from all the nations calling on the Lord and serving him.
2. The other act of mercy in these verses is the revival and purification of his people Israel. He is going to remove the proud and leave only a people who are humble and lowly, who trust in the name of the Lord. (Verses 11-12). The last word is the promise of a worldwide turning to God and a revival of true faith among his people Israel. "At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes," says the LORD" (verse.20).
So when when we read Zephaniah 3:17, " The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.", we know that it refers not only to all believing Jews but also to all of Gentiles who have become heirs of the promise through faith in Christ, the seed of Abraham.
From this amazing verse I want to give you a new, fresh way of seeing your God as the singing, happy God. God does not do you good out of some constraint or coercion. He is free, and in his freedom he overflows in joy to do you infinite, inimitable, incomparable, good. He rejoices over you with loud singing.
I was thinking about this. When I am happiest in my life I sing. What is in my heart, the joy, the delight, must be expressed. And there is no more completion of my joy than to sing it out! Sometimes a give a live performance of my joy when I get into the shower and sing my heart out because I am so happy. When I am driving my car with the windows up and I end up at a stop light, people can see me with a big grin on my face, singing in my joy. When I think of the girl I love, I love to sing songs to her. Most of all, when I gather together with other Christians, I love to stand, lift my hands, and sing my heart out to God. I cannot think of anything that expresses when I am happy inside more than singing.
Now imagine that magnified many more times and think of what Zephaniah says of the happiness that God has over you that causes Him to sing! Please slowly, openly, prayerfully read this verse again and apply it to your life at this moment. Put your name in it.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over _______(Put your name there to make this a personal promise to you) with gladness; he will quiet _______(Put your name there to make this a personal promise to you) by his love; he will rejoice over _______(Put your name there to make this a personal promise to you) with loud singing.
Can you imagine what it would be like if you could hear God singing? The truth is that God smiles and His heart sings with delight over you.
When I hear this singing I stand dumbfounded, staggered, and speechless that he is singing over me- one who has dishonored Him so many times and in so many ways. He is rejoicing over my good with all his heart and with all his soul (Jeremiah 32:41)! He virtually breaks forth in song when He thinks about us!
God’s unbridled joy in this passage reminds me of a good musical. I’ve watched enough to know how you get this feeling when a song is about to break out? The interaction builds, the characters look into each other’s eyes, and you just know somebody is going to start singing. And sure enough, somebody does!
That is the feeling I get in this text. God is looking over His people (You!) and He can’t help but break into song. He doesn’t closet Himself away in a shower or in His car like I do, however. In full view of the angels, or anyone who is watching, God lets out a praise-filled chorus.
Can you feel the wonder of this today? That God is rejoicing over you with loud singing?
In your guilt
"No," you say, "I can't, because I am too guilty that God should rejoice over me." But will you not believe verse 15: "The Lord has taken away the judgments against you!" Can you not then feel the wonder that the Lord exults over you with loud singing today, even though you have sinned? Can you not feel that guilt and condemnation has been lifted because He bruised His own Son in your place, if you would only believe?
In the midst of your trials
"No," you say, "I can't because I am surrounded by enemies, and obstacles beset me on every side. There are people who never let me believe this. There are people at work who make me miserable if I make God my treasure. There are people in my family who reject me. I have friends who want to drag me down. " But will you not believe Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord is a mighty one who will save" and verse 19: "Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors;" and verse 15, "He has cleared away your enemies"? Can you not then feel the wonder that the Lord is doing everything He needs to do for you to enjoy Him and love Him? Can you see that no enemies are too strong for God? That nothing can stop Him who exults over you with loud singing?
When God seems distant
"No," you say, "Still I can't because he is a great a holy God and I feel like he is far away from me." I am small and insignificant, a nobody. But will you not believe verse 15: "The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;" and verse 17: "The Lord, your God, is in your midst"?
He is not far from you. God is personally present to all who come to Him and believe in Him. HE IS GOD! Say it to yourself, HE IS GOD! What shall stop God from being close to me if He wants to be? HE IS GOD! The very greatness that makes Him seem too far to be near, is the very greatness that enables Him to do whatever He pleases, including being near and close to me.
Has he not said for that very reason in Isaiah 57:15, “For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Has he not said in Rom 8:35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Can you not then feel the wonder that the Lord exults over you with loud singing?
When you feel shame
Still do you say, "No, because I am enslaved to shame. I have been scoffed at and threatened and manipulated and slandered. Inside this cocoon of shame even the singing of God sounds faint and far away and indecipherable." But again I ask dear reader, do you not know that God Himself promises at the end of verse 19: " I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth"? Can you not then feel the wonder that the Lord rejoices over you with loud singing? And let yourself awaken to the wonder that the Lord, the King of kings, rejoices over you with gladness and exults over you with loud singing.
Oh what a singing, happy God you have! Listen to these words:
Isaiah. 62:5, “as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”
Psalm 35:27, "The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant."
Psalm 149:4, For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. ”
Psalm 147: 10-11, "His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love."
God is singing over you right now! Can you hear Him? oh do not let the discordant cacophonies of the world, your flesh, and the devil drown out the sweet ineffable melody that God is singing over you! Do you love hearing this sweet sound? Oh that we might believe it and savor it and bring it to our minds again and again until it is our very nature to feel its truth and thus do what the prophet Zephaniah encourages us to do in verse 14,
Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
What an appropriate response to this blog today! Because God allows Himself to be moved, we have the opportunity to move Him. Yes, in a way we can make Him happy, joyful, and bring out a song from His lips. We can bring this out of God when we delight in Him, treasure Him, believe in Him, love Him and are happy in Him.
A prayer
Oh God, my hope, my heavenly rest, my all of happiness below, Grant my importunate request, To me, to me, Thy goodness show; Thy beatific face display, The brightness of eternal day. Before my faith’s enlightened eyes, Make all Thy goodness pass; thy goodness is the sight I prize; Oh might I see Thy smiling face; Thy nature in my soul proclaim, Reveal Thy love, Thy glorious name.” Charles Wesley
Singing in joy over His joy over me,
Pastor Bill
Saturday, March 17, 2012
GODLY SORROW, THE WAY TO BE HAPPY, EVEN WHEN WE ARE SAD
One of the most meaningful sermons that I have ever read is Jonathan Edwards sermon titled The Pleasantness of Religion . I love that sermon! I wrote a blog on you can read from March 6, 2007 called JONATHAN EDWARDS AND THE PLEASANTNESS OF RELIGION where I discuss in detail the lessons from his sermon. There was something particularly Edwards stated that has had a profound effect upon my understanding of joy and sorrow in the Christian life. He said that there were three necessary sorrows in the Christian life:
1. The sorrow of repentance over sin
2. The sorrow of self denial from sin
3. The sorrow of bearing reproach for the name of Christ because of righteousness
I need to hear this because there has been much sorrow in my life these past few years and I know many of you have had sorrow in your life as well. Edwards reminds us that there are actually sorrows in our life that are both a necessary part of being a Christian and the doorway to true lasting joy.
The bible speaks of godly sorrow. Paul writes to the Corinthians:
"For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." (2 Corinthians 7:8-10).
The apostle Paul says that there two kinds of grief, worldly grief, and godly grief. What makes for a kind of grief that is pleasing and good to God.? At least two things govern what makes sorrow good in our experience. One is the cause, the other is the outcome. There is godly sorrow that arises out of sin. The cause of godly sorrow for our own sin is the spiritual perception of its moral ugliness, of its rebellion against God and all that is good, not just its negative consequences. Oh how often have I been sorry for the consequences of my action rather than sorry over my actions, or even deeper, sorry over the motives of my actions. But Godly sorrow sees sin as morally repulsive. This disgust is owing to our spiritual preference for the things of God and our hunger for the truth and beauty of God. Therefore our sorrow for sin is rooted in our utter love of God. So sorrow over sin this is a signal, a sign that we delight in God, love Him, and cherish Him. That is what makes the sorrow good.
Paul says that the default response and outcome of good godly sorrow for sin is repentance. Repentance is simply a change of mind about sin and God and a change of direction away from sin and back to Him, and by returning back to Him "in his presence is the fullness of joy!" (Psalm 16:11). True repentance includes sorrow for sin and extends it to a deeper experience of salvation which invariably leads to inexpressible joy (1 Peter 1:8). This causes us to pursue a life that delights in God above all sin. Therefore enjoying God is the outcome of what makes the sorrow and repentance good.
But what about sorrow that is not for our own sin, but for the way we are sinned against or the way we are hurt by calamity and loss? that kind of sorrow is also a part of life. Jesus sorrowed like this. For example, when he saw the Pharisees murmuring about his healing on the Sabbath, “He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:5). And in the garden of Gethsemane, he said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch” (Mark 14:34).
Jesus’ sorrow was not owing to his own sin, but to the sins of others. This is the way it is with the Holy Spirit as well. Paul calls us to put sin out of our lives so that we do not grieve the Spirit: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:29-30).
In the same way, believers embrace godly grief not only for our own sins but for the sins of others and for the pain that loss brings us. For example, Jesus says in regard to those in the kingdom who grieve over the sins of others, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:7).Peter speaks of our grieving over trials: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). Paul speaks of our grieving over lost loved ones: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). And Paul refers to his own grief over the lostness of his kinsmen: “My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart" (Romans 9:1).
Nevertheless Paul makes the astonishing statement in 2 Corinthians 6:10 that what marks his life and should mark ours as “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” Perhaps there are those of you reading this right now who resonate in your own experience what the apostle Paul was speaking of. Only a Christian can actually be happy and sad at the same time. I call it happy sadness or sad happiness. It seems so paradoxical, but oh what a precious experience for the believer!
This is what makes our sorrow godly. I do not glibly claim that this experience is simple or that we can even put it into adequate words, what it means to be joyful in sorrow; but in our experience we know it can ring true. Much like the Macedonian Christians, who in loss of property, persecution, extreme hardship and poverty, "their abundance of joy...overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part"(2 Corinthians 8:9-10).
I think we all who are believers understand and have experienced this. When I lost all that mattered to me and weeping with sobs of inconsolable grief with all the loss I can certainly tell you that did not look like joy. Indeed was not joy in its complete fullness, as we will know it when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
But, the joy that has manifest and endured through my sorrow is the foretaste of a future joy in God which I hope. Jesus Himself, who suffered incomparable grief and loss, was sustained by “the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). This does not mean that he felt in the garden or on the cross all that he would feel in the resurrection. But it does mean that He hoped in it and that this hope was an experienced foretaste of that joy.
I have learned that true joy does not come in the experience of sorrow in itself . Is it no wonder why so many of us have a huge disconnect when some preacher or Christian glibly tells us to rejoice when we are so sad, hurt, broken, lonely, grief stricken, and depressed. They expect us to put on a happy face and find joy somehow in the sorrow itself. At least for me, it always has been unrealistic, shallow, it has never worked, nor is it helpful. But I have learned a secret; joy in sorrow can only come in the anticipation of future joy.
When I am suffering I have many times looked to Jesus and my future hope in Him and His promises and His grace to lift me with joy out of and above my present sorrows and it constantly has for brought joy to me.
The best example I can give is when my father went to war twice in Vietnam when I was a little boy. He was gone for over a year each time. Whenever I would get sad, scared about him getting killed, or lonely about his absence, I would think about his future return, and the thought of his return would bring me present joy in my sorrow. So I was able to be sorrowful but rejoicing at the same time.
The fact is that we groan here in this life and in this world, waiting for the redemption of our bodies and for the removal of all our sins (Romans 8:23). This groaning and grieving is godly if it is molded by our joy in hope of future glory (Romans 5:2-3). The delight is subdued by all the pain, but it is there in seed form. It will one day grow into a great vine that yields wine of undiluted delight.
So let us learn to embrace whatever sorrow God appoints for us with joy.
Let us not be ashamed of tears. After all, God says that He keeps our tears in a bottle "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.Are they not in your book? " (Psalm 56:8).
Let us sow our seeds in tears and do our work in tears.
"Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping,bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy,bringing his sheaves with him."(Psalm 16:6-8).
Let the promise encourage you in your present sorrows that joy will come with the morning "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5).
Let us learn to be looking not only at our sorrows, but looking to Jesus and remembering his kind, merciful, and loving nature and promises in order to be,
“sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” (2 Corinthians 6:10)
Let us through our tears, the comfort, and joy God brings us, serve others in their sorrow by giving them comfort and joyful hope. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
May God help you to sustain and shape your grief with His joy, His power, and His goodness this day and every day in your present sorrows.
Sorrowful but always rejoicing,
Pastor Bill
1. The sorrow of repentance over sin
2. The sorrow of self denial from sin
3. The sorrow of bearing reproach for the name of Christ because of righteousness
I need to hear this because there has been much sorrow in my life these past few years and I know many of you have had sorrow in your life as well. Edwards reminds us that there are actually sorrows in our life that are both a necessary part of being a Christian and the doorway to true lasting joy.
The bible speaks of godly sorrow. Paul writes to the Corinthians:
"For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." (2 Corinthians 7:8-10).
The apostle Paul says that there two kinds of grief, worldly grief, and godly grief. What makes for a kind of grief that is pleasing and good to God.? At least two things govern what makes sorrow good in our experience. One is the cause, the other is the outcome. There is godly sorrow that arises out of sin. The cause of godly sorrow for our own sin is the spiritual perception of its moral ugliness, of its rebellion against God and all that is good, not just its negative consequences. Oh how often have I been sorry for the consequences of my action rather than sorry over my actions, or even deeper, sorry over the motives of my actions. But Godly sorrow sees sin as morally repulsive. This disgust is owing to our spiritual preference for the things of God and our hunger for the truth and beauty of God. Therefore our sorrow for sin is rooted in our utter love of God. So sorrow over sin this is a signal, a sign that we delight in God, love Him, and cherish Him. That is what makes the sorrow good.
Paul says that the default response and outcome of good godly sorrow for sin is repentance. Repentance is simply a change of mind about sin and God and a change of direction away from sin and back to Him, and by returning back to Him "in his presence is the fullness of joy!" (Psalm 16:11). True repentance includes sorrow for sin and extends it to a deeper experience of salvation which invariably leads to inexpressible joy (1 Peter 1:8). This causes us to pursue a life that delights in God above all sin. Therefore enjoying God is the outcome of what makes the sorrow and repentance good.
But what about sorrow that is not for our own sin, but for the way we are sinned against or the way we are hurt by calamity and loss? that kind of sorrow is also a part of life. Jesus sorrowed like this. For example, when he saw the Pharisees murmuring about his healing on the Sabbath, “He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:5). And in the garden of Gethsemane, he said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch” (Mark 14:34).
Jesus’ sorrow was not owing to his own sin, but to the sins of others. This is the way it is with the Holy Spirit as well. Paul calls us to put sin out of our lives so that we do not grieve the Spirit: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:29-30).
In the same way, believers embrace godly grief not only for our own sins but for the sins of others and for the pain that loss brings us. For example, Jesus says in regard to those in the kingdom who grieve over the sins of others, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:7).Peter speaks of our grieving over trials: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). Paul speaks of our grieving over lost loved ones: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). And Paul refers to his own grief over the lostness of his kinsmen: “My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart" (Romans 9:1).
Nevertheless Paul makes the astonishing statement in 2 Corinthians 6:10 that what marks his life and should mark ours as “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” Perhaps there are those of you reading this right now who resonate in your own experience what the apostle Paul was speaking of. Only a Christian can actually be happy and sad at the same time. I call it happy sadness or sad happiness. It seems so paradoxical, but oh what a precious experience for the believer!
This is what makes our sorrow godly. I do not glibly claim that this experience is simple or that we can even put it into adequate words, what it means to be joyful in sorrow; but in our experience we know it can ring true. Much like the Macedonian Christians, who in loss of property, persecution, extreme hardship and poverty, "their abundance of joy...overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part"(2 Corinthians 8:9-10).
I think we all who are believers understand and have experienced this. When I lost all that mattered to me and weeping with sobs of inconsolable grief with all the loss I can certainly tell you that did not look like joy. Indeed was not joy in its complete fullness, as we will know it when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
But, the joy that has manifest and endured through my sorrow is the foretaste of a future joy in God which I hope. Jesus Himself, who suffered incomparable grief and loss, was sustained by “the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). This does not mean that he felt in the garden or on the cross all that he would feel in the resurrection. But it does mean that He hoped in it and that this hope was an experienced foretaste of that joy.
I have learned that true joy does not come in the experience of sorrow in itself . Is it no wonder why so many of us have a huge disconnect when some preacher or Christian glibly tells us to rejoice when we are so sad, hurt, broken, lonely, grief stricken, and depressed. They expect us to put on a happy face and find joy somehow in the sorrow itself. At least for me, it always has been unrealistic, shallow, it has never worked, nor is it helpful. But I have learned a secret; joy in sorrow can only come in the anticipation of future joy.
When I am suffering I have many times looked to Jesus and my future hope in Him and His promises and His grace to lift me with joy out of and above my present sorrows and it constantly has for brought joy to me.
The best example I can give is when my father went to war twice in Vietnam when I was a little boy. He was gone for over a year each time. Whenever I would get sad, scared about him getting killed, or lonely about his absence, I would think about his future return, and the thought of his return would bring me present joy in my sorrow. So I was able to be sorrowful but rejoicing at the same time.
The fact is that we groan here in this life and in this world, waiting for the redemption of our bodies and for the removal of all our sins (Romans 8:23). This groaning and grieving is godly if it is molded by our joy in hope of future glory (Romans 5:2-3). The delight is subdued by all the pain, but it is there in seed form. It will one day grow into a great vine that yields wine of undiluted delight.
So let us learn to embrace whatever sorrow God appoints for us with joy.
Let us not be ashamed of tears. After all, God says that He keeps our tears in a bottle "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.Are they not in your book? " (Psalm 56:8).
Let us sow our seeds in tears and do our work in tears.
"Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping,bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy,bringing his sheaves with him."(Psalm 16:6-8).
Let the promise encourage you in your present sorrows that joy will come with the morning "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5).
Let us learn to be looking not only at our sorrows, but looking to Jesus and remembering his kind, merciful, and loving nature and promises in order to be,
“sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” (2 Corinthians 6:10)
Let us through our tears, the comfort, and joy God brings us, serve others in their sorrow by giving them comfort and joyful hope. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
May God help you to sustain and shape your grief with His joy, His power, and His goodness this day and every day in your present sorrows.
Sorrowful but always rejoicing,
Pastor Bill
Saturday, March 10, 2012
MERCY AND THE RELIEF OF HUMAN MISERY
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4 ESV
This past week over 58 million views have taken place of Jason Russell's video about the murderous African warlord Joseph Kony, whose Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted thousands of children for exploitation as soldiers and sex slaves
There is so much suffering in the world today. My heart aches when I think about Germans killing Jews during World War II (6 million); Turks killing Armenians, 1914-1915 (1.5 million); the Khmer Rouge killing Cambodians, 1975-1979 (2 million); Saddam Hussein's troops killing Iraqi Kurds, 1987-1988 (100,000); Serbs killing Bosnian Muslims, 1992-1995 (200,000); Hutus killing Tutsis, 1994 (800,000); Americans killing unborn children, 1973-present (40 million). Not to mention the 60 million people killed by the Communist regime mainly under Stalin. There were others.
Add to this the suffering owing to natural disasters like the tropical storm in November, 1970 that killed about 400,000 people in Bangladesh, or the earthquake of Gujarat, India in January, 2001 that killed 15,000, or the AIDS epidemic in Africa that has taken the lives of 2.5 million people or the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in December 2004 that killed 165,708 in Indonesia alone, probably 250,000 worldwide or the massive earthquake and Tsunami in Japan last year that so far has reported over 19,000 deaths.
Add to this the one billion people do not have safe water to drink. Sixteen thousand children die every day from hunger related illnesses. Almost eighteen million children are orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa.
Then add the sadness and pain of molestation, abuse, abandonment, hate crimes, unemployment, injuries that cause permanent disabilities, divorce, broken dreams and hearts, hopelessness, homelessness, poverty, and death of those close to you and the eventual death of your own family.
I have deeply contemplated the massive amount of great, global, local, and personal suffering that there is in this world. When I think on these things, it makes me tremble at the prospect of living a trivial, self-serving, comfortable, ordinary, shallow, untroubled American life.
I am thankful for the promises of eternity like Revelation 21:4,"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." But in the mean time I believe the church and myself need to magnify the mercy of God by doing all that we can to relieve human misery!
For example, it says in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”
How does that work? He says that there are people that we should care about who are imprison and mistreated. We tend to forget them. So he says, “Remember!” And he says: “As though with them” and “since you have a body.” So how does it work? It works like this: You have a body and sometimes it hurts. When it hurts, remember that there are people right now who are being mistreated, who are hurting much more than you. Imagine yourself in their shoes, and treat them the way you would want to be treated
Galatians 6:10 puts it like this: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” The “especially” is because there is the added delight of affirming in them what God has already done in saving them. So in the massive suffering that goes on all around us we are carried by two motives: on the one hand, the desire to confirm and honor the Christ-exalting faith of a brother or sister who is suffering by giving them relief and help; and on the other hand, the desire to waken Christ-exalting faith in suffering unbelievers by giving them relief and help in Jesus’ name and with Jesus’ gospel.
Consider two teachings of Jesus. First, the teaching of Matthew 25:31-46, the great judgment when Jesus comes and separates the sheep and the goats and sends one group of people to hell and the other to heaven. Verse 46: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
What’s the difference between these two groups? The difference Jesus focuses on is how they treated his brothers, that is his disciples. And the issue is alleviating the suffering of others in the world: Verse 35ff: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger [refugee] and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then in verse Jesus explains how they were touching him: “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,you did it to me.’”
We see the very same teaching in Mathew 10:42, “Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” In other words, Jesus says that true Christians try to alleviate suffering of other Christians because they are Christians, and that’s one of the main ways that your Christianity is shown to be real.
James explains how this fits with faith as the way of salvation: James 2:15-17, “If a brother or sister [a disciple!] is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Jesus point is that if we don’t ever bear the fruit of practical love toward brothers and sisters, the least of them, our faith is dead and we are not saved.
Unbelievers should get our mercy to alleviate their suffering as well. In fact Jesus was very strong on this matter. He said that if we only love those who love us, if we only do good to those who do good to us, we are no different than unbelievers. So yes, show mercy to your brothers and sisters when they suffer; this is what true families do. But if you only love your family, if you only sacrifice to relieve the suffering of your family, you are no better than an unbeliever.
Listen to Luke 6:27-28,31-36 where Jesus says,
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. . . . And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. . . . But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."
I am praying that we will reflect and ask God to show us ways that our lives can count for the relief of suffering in our churches, communities, and the world. Seeing suffering and experiencing suffering has a way of making us wake up to the endless suffering of people all around us.
There are three dimensions to ministering mercy and compassion to others suffering:
1.We see distress
2.We respond internally with a heart of compassion or pity toward a person in distress
3.We respond externally with a practical effort to relieve the distress
Do you see how they all fit together in sequence? It does not do any good to see suffering, feel compassion towards thse who suffer, and not do anything about what you see and feel, if it is within your ability and means.
Oh reader, you have one life. One very short life. "Only one life, will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last." Does not the suffering in this world seem inexplicable to you? Does it not break your heart and grieve you? Is not the great global, local, and intensely personal suffering a call to magnify the mercy of Christ by how we respond? Shall we not then live our lives,and prepare for heaven, by opening our eyes, our hearts, our lives, our time, our money, our energy, and our resources to relieve suffering (now and forever) for the glory of Jesus?
I pray that we may receive the grace to cause us to love and live our lives open, aware, and willing to relieve suffering for the glory of Jesus.
Pastor Bill
This past week over 58 million views have taken place of Jason Russell's video about the murderous African warlord Joseph Kony, whose Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted thousands of children for exploitation as soldiers and sex slaves
There is so much suffering in the world today. My heart aches when I think about Germans killing Jews during World War II (6 million); Turks killing Armenians, 1914-1915 (1.5 million); the Khmer Rouge killing Cambodians, 1975-1979 (2 million); Saddam Hussein's troops killing Iraqi Kurds, 1987-1988 (100,000); Serbs killing Bosnian Muslims, 1992-1995 (200,000); Hutus killing Tutsis, 1994 (800,000); Americans killing unborn children, 1973-present (40 million). Not to mention the 60 million people killed by the Communist regime mainly under Stalin. There were others.
Add to this the suffering owing to natural disasters like the tropical storm in November, 1970 that killed about 400,000 people in Bangladesh, or the earthquake of Gujarat, India in January, 2001 that killed 15,000, or the AIDS epidemic in Africa that has taken the lives of 2.5 million people or the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in December 2004 that killed 165,708 in Indonesia alone, probably 250,000 worldwide or the massive earthquake and Tsunami in Japan last year that so far has reported over 19,000 deaths.
Add to this the one billion people do not have safe water to drink. Sixteen thousand children die every day from hunger related illnesses. Almost eighteen million children are orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa.
Then add the sadness and pain of molestation, abuse, abandonment, hate crimes, unemployment, injuries that cause permanent disabilities, divorce, broken dreams and hearts, hopelessness, homelessness, poverty, and death of those close to you and the eventual death of your own family.
I have deeply contemplated the massive amount of great, global, local, and personal suffering that there is in this world. When I think on these things, it makes me tremble at the prospect of living a trivial, self-serving, comfortable, ordinary, shallow, untroubled American life.
I am thankful for the promises of eternity like Revelation 21:4,"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." But in the mean time I believe the church and myself need to magnify the mercy of God by doing all that we can to relieve human misery!
For example, it says in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”
How does that work? He says that there are people that we should care about who are imprison and mistreated. We tend to forget them. So he says, “Remember!” And he says: “As though with them” and “since you have a body.” So how does it work? It works like this: You have a body and sometimes it hurts. When it hurts, remember that there are people right now who are being mistreated, who are hurting much more than you. Imagine yourself in their shoes, and treat them the way you would want to be treated
Galatians 6:10 puts it like this: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” The “especially” is because there is the added delight of affirming in them what God has already done in saving them. So in the massive suffering that goes on all around us we are carried by two motives: on the one hand, the desire to confirm and honor the Christ-exalting faith of a brother or sister who is suffering by giving them relief and help; and on the other hand, the desire to waken Christ-exalting faith in suffering unbelievers by giving them relief and help in Jesus’ name and with Jesus’ gospel.
Consider two teachings of Jesus. First, the teaching of Matthew 25:31-46, the great judgment when Jesus comes and separates the sheep and the goats and sends one group of people to hell and the other to heaven. Verse 46: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
What’s the difference between these two groups? The difference Jesus focuses on is how they treated his brothers, that is his disciples. And the issue is alleviating the suffering of others in the world: Verse 35ff: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger [refugee] and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then in verse Jesus explains how they were touching him: “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,you did it to me.’”
We see the very same teaching in Mathew 10:42, “Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” In other words, Jesus says that true Christians try to alleviate suffering of other Christians because they are Christians, and that’s one of the main ways that your Christianity is shown to be real.
James explains how this fits with faith as the way of salvation: James 2:15-17, “If a brother or sister [a disciple!] is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Jesus point is that if we don’t ever bear the fruit of practical love toward brothers and sisters, the least of them, our faith is dead and we are not saved.
Unbelievers should get our mercy to alleviate their suffering as well. In fact Jesus was very strong on this matter. He said that if we only love those who love us, if we only do good to those who do good to us, we are no different than unbelievers. So yes, show mercy to your brothers and sisters when they suffer; this is what true families do. But if you only love your family, if you only sacrifice to relieve the suffering of your family, you are no better than an unbeliever.
Listen to Luke 6:27-28,31-36 where Jesus says,
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. . . . And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. . . . But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."
I am praying that we will reflect and ask God to show us ways that our lives can count for the relief of suffering in our churches, communities, and the world. Seeing suffering and experiencing suffering has a way of making us wake up to the endless suffering of people all around us.
There are three dimensions to ministering mercy and compassion to others suffering:
1.We see distress
2.We respond internally with a heart of compassion or pity toward a person in distress
3.We respond externally with a practical effort to relieve the distress
Do you see how they all fit together in sequence? It does not do any good to see suffering, feel compassion towards thse who suffer, and not do anything about what you see and feel, if it is within your ability and means.
Oh reader, you have one life. One very short life. "Only one life, will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last." Does not the suffering in this world seem inexplicable to you? Does it not break your heart and grieve you? Is not the great global, local, and intensely personal suffering a call to magnify the mercy of Christ by how we respond? Shall we not then live our lives,and prepare for heaven, by opening our eyes, our hearts, our lives, our time, our money, our energy, and our resources to relieve suffering (now and forever) for the glory of Jesus?
I pray that we may receive the grace to cause us to love and live our lives open, aware, and willing to relieve suffering for the glory of Jesus.
Pastor Bill
Saturday, March 3, 2012
THE PURSUIT OF AN UNWAVERING RESOLVE
Last week I looked for the first time at DVD's of my family and marriage from the late 80's and early 90's. They brought many smiles to my face as well as inconsolable tears. These films were over 20-23 years old. I am 23 years older now, my wife is gone, my kids have all grown up and have their own lives and families, and a big chunk of my life as I once knew it is over, never to return. I looked at my present life and how strange and different it all is now. I realized that if the Lord tarries or He grants me more years that 23 years from now I will be 83. Wow! No wonder why James tells us that our "life is but a vapor"(James 4:14).
So what do I want to do with the remaining days that I have on this earth? How do I live in the reality that my time on this earth will end sooner rather than later? What if today is the last day I have? I found myself going back to the night of April 11, 2009 when the Lord spoke to me about my life and in sober reflection and deep earnestness I made decisions on the my purpose, direction, lifestyle, and to not waste my life. They are called My Resolves.
I wanted to give you an encouragement and a challenge for you to do something this week that I believe can give you a real sense of purpose and a compass for how you spend your days on this earth. The writers of scripture frequently encourage us to be resolved, to be determined to live with uncompromising faithfulness, to have our eye be singular, our soul steadfast, and our will to be strong.
I am so thankful for the influence of godly men and women in my life. I am especially grateful for Jonathan Edwards. When Edwards had only been a Christian for a year, at the age of eighteen he began to write the Seventy Resolutions of His Life. These would set the course of Edwards for the rest of his life. He strove to follow these till the day of his death on March 22, 1758 at fifty-five years old.
John Piper says of Edwards that "there was a single-mindedness that governed his life and enabled him to accomplish amazing things." He firmly resolved himself to love and serve Jesus Christ with all his ability and all of God's help. Jonathan Edwards started at the front end of his life with a these resolutions that were designed to direct his life journey as a Christian and remained with him till the day he died. These were a set of guidelines, a system of checks and balances that he would use to chart out his life-his relationships, his conversations, his desires, and his activities. I would strongly encourage you to read them and gain inspiration. you can read them broken down into themes here at http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards
The apostle Paul speaks much about being resolved in his life:
“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2)
“It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death." (Philippians 1:20)
“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24)
He also regularly exhorted others about being resolved:
“When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast resolve” (Acts 11:23).
“Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way” (Romans 14:13)
The Greek word translated "resolved" means to plan or will or purpose to do something; in these cases, something that is of eternal value. I think it is so important to have a compass that points the way for your life like Daniel. "But Daniel resolved in his heart not to eat the king’s food…" (Daniel 1:8).
Every Christian who is going to really grow, progress in their sanctification, and not waste their life needs to be resolved. To be resolved is to strive for and pursue a God-centered, God-ward; God-intoxicated; God-centered, God-driven; God-exalting; God-entranced life. To be resolved teaches me the importance of keeping myself regularly accountable to God, to others, and to myself in this so noble pursuit. Finally, to be resolved makes me prayerfully dependent upon my Lord Jesus Christ to help me by His grace to live out and fulfill my resolves. Otherwise I know in my corruption and weakness they will never happen for me.
The apostle Paul himself prayed for God's help to enable the Church of Thessalonica to fulfill every good resolve. “To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. “(2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)
You will not be able to be complacent and stay the same in your life if you write down a series of resolves. In the light of scripture and Edward’s resolutions I prayerfully came up with some resolutions for own my life on April 11, 2009. I would like to give them to you to inspire you to write down your own. I read these regularly to set my course and to keep myself accountable. May they bless and inspire you.
I, Bill Robison, RESOLVE:
1. To pursue and promote the glory of the Lord in my words, deeds, thoughts, desires, and all of my decisions.
2. To forsake all sin in thought, motive, and deed and to live a holy and godly life·
3. To pursue my supreme happiness in God.
4. To not waste my life but make the most of every precious moment of my God given time
5. To live passionately for God with all my might,.
6. To pursue humility before God and man
7. To be ever growing deeper in my love for God and for my fellow man
8. To make frequent and careful inquiry into the condition of my thoughts, heart, and my life.
These I am resolved to do wholeheartedly, and yet aware of my sinful weakness, I humbly ask my God for His merciful grace to enable me to keep these resolves from this night forward until the day of my entry into eternity with my Savior Jesus Christ.
No matter where any of you are in your lives, none of us has arrived. There is so much more spiritual maturity yet to be realized. There is so much more that God can do in and through us. I pray that what I have shared would serve as a strong motivation for each of you to live not for self but for the glory of God.
Would you be intentional to write down your own resolves? I use the word intentional because I believe that it is a discipline that we must practice in order to become a regular practice in our lives. I challenge every one of you to make an effort to incorporate this into your life this week. Watch what begins happening in the kind of person you become. This week I pray that you would take the time to ask yourself before God:
Pastor Bill
So what do I want to do with the remaining days that I have on this earth? How do I live in the reality that my time on this earth will end sooner rather than later? What if today is the last day I have? I found myself going back to the night of April 11, 2009 when the Lord spoke to me about my life and in sober reflection and deep earnestness I made decisions on the my purpose, direction, lifestyle, and to not waste my life. They are called My Resolves.
I wanted to give you an encouragement and a challenge for you to do something this week that I believe can give you a real sense of purpose and a compass for how you spend your days on this earth. The writers of scripture frequently encourage us to be resolved, to be determined to live with uncompromising faithfulness, to have our eye be singular, our soul steadfast, and our will to be strong.
I am so thankful for the influence of godly men and women in my life. I am especially grateful for Jonathan Edwards. When Edwards had only been a Christian for a year, at the age of eighteen he began to write the Seventy Resolutions of His Life. These would set the course of Edwards for the rest of his life. He strove to follow these till the day of his death on March 22, 1758 at fifty-five years old.
John Piper says of Edwards that "there was a single-mindedness that governed his life and enabled him to accomplish amazing things." He firmly resolved himself to love and serve Jesus Christ with all his ability and all of God's help. Jonathan Edwards started at the front end of his life with a these resolutions that were designed to direct his life journey as a Christian and remained with him till the day he died. These were a set of guidelines, a system of checks and balances that he would use to chart out his life-his relationships, his conversations, his desires, and his activities. I would strongly encourage you to read them and gain inspiration. you can read them broken down into themes here at http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards
The apostle Paul speaks much about being resolved in his life:
“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2)
“It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death." (Philippians 1:20)
“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24)
He also regularly exhorted others about being resolved:
“When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast resolve” (Acts 11:23).
“Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way” (Romans 14:13)
The Greek word translated "resolved" means to plan or will or purpose to do something; in these cases, something that is of eternal value. I think it is so important to have a compass that points the way for your life like Daniel. "But Daniel resolved in his heart not to eat the king’s food…" (Daniel 1:8).
Every Christian who is going to really grow, progress in their sanctification, and not waste their life needs to be resolved. To be resolved is to strive for and pursue a God-centered, God-ward; God-intoxicated; God-centered, God-driven; God-exalting; God-entranced life. To be resolved teaches me the importance of keeping myself regularly accountable to God, to others, and to myself in this so noble pursuit. Finally, to be resolved makes me prayerfully dependent upon my Lord Jesus Christ to help me by His grace to live out and fulfill my resolves. Otherwise I know in my corruption and weakness they will never happen for me.
The apostle Paul himself prayed for God's help to enable the Church of Thessalonica to fulfill every good resolve. “To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. “(2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)
You will not be able to be complacent and stay the same in your life if you write down a series of resolves. In the light of scripture and Edward’s resolutions I prayerfully came up with some resolutions for own my life on April 11, 2009. I would like to give them to you to inspire you to write down your own. I read these regularly to set my course and to keep myself accountable. May they bless and inspire you.
I, Bill Robison, RESOLVE:
1. To pursue and promote the glory of the Lord in my words, deeds, thoughts, desires, and all of my decisions.
2. To forsake all sin in thought, motive, and deed and to live a holy and godly life·
3. To pursue my supreme happiness in God.
4. To not waste my life but make the most of every precious moment of my God given time
5. To live passionately for God with all my might,.
6. To pursue humility before God and man
7. To be ever growing deeper in my love for God and for my fellow man
8. To make frequent and careful inquiry into the condition of my thoughts, heart, and my life.
These I am resolved to do wholeheartedly, and yet aware of my sinful weakness, I humbly ask my God for His merciful grace to enable me to keep these resolves from this night forward until the day of my entry into eternity with my Savior Jesus Christ.
No matter where any of you are in your lives, none of us has arrived. There is so much more spiritual maturity yet to be realized. There is so much more that God can do in and through us. I pray that what I have shared would serve as a strong motivation for each of you to live not for self but for the glory of God.
Would you be intentional to write down your own resolves? I use the word intentional because I believe that it is a discipline that we must practice in order to become a regular practice in our lives. I challenge every one of you to make an effort to incorporate this into your life this week. Watch what begins happening in the kind of person you become. This week I pray that you would take the time to ask yourself before God:
- How do I want to live?
- What is my purpose in life?
- What kind of person do I want to be?
Ask God to help you follow Paul’s example. Ask for God for the grace to give you a desire to grow, to give you a set of resolves for your own life, and for the power to live out these resolves every day.
Resolved to not waste one more moment of my life but to live firmly resolved for His glory, others benefit, and my joy,Pastor Bill
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