I read something by John Piper that stirred my soul. I think it really speaks to the fragile, weak, overly sensitive, and PC times that we live in.
"But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Hebrews 6:9-12
I have been keenly aware recently that we live in a day when people's feelings are the chief measure of how to love. If feelings are vulnerable and might be hurt by a certain action, then we say, "This is probably not the loving thing to do." Which means that we can easily be held hostage by people's sensitivities. Good and loving acts will be rejected because the bottom line of love is not truth or principle or even what's best for the person, but how they will feel. So if they can communicate that they will feel really bad, they can protect themselves from many good things.
What makes me think of this is the word "beloved" in verse 9. It means simply "loved ones"—"you whom I love." It's the only place in the whole book of Hebrews where the writer says it this way—where he calls them "loved ones." The reason this stands out is that he has just said some of the hardest words in the book.
He has said that they are dull of hearing even though by this time they ought to be teachers (5:11-12). He says that they are like babes stuck on milk (5:13-14). And he holds out the possibility that some of them have had great blessings and high religious experiences but are not saved, and are like a field that drinks rain for months and never brings forth fruit (6:4-8).
And then he says, "I do love you." Now I point this out because we need to let the Bible shape our worldview. We are a nation of victims and whiners and pouters to a large degree. That is, if someone says something negative about us—no matter how constructive they may try to be—we either slump into a fit of self-justifying woundedness, or we file a harassment suit. We are a very thin-skinned people in America these days. Easily offended and easily provoked.
This is not good. And followers of Jesus Christ should be different. We don't need to be thin-skinned and vulnerable. We are chosen by God, loved by God, forgiven by God, accepted by God, indwelt by God, guided by God, protected by God, strengthened by God—and God is more important than anyone else in the universe. We do not have to feel vulnerable or insecure. We do not have to be self-justifying or self-defensive or self-pitying. We can be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, as James says (James 1:19). We can be like Paul who said, "When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate" (1 Corinthians 4:12-13).
And if we can relate to our enemies that way, how much more can we handle the tough love of those who come to us with hard words for our good. The writer to the Hebrews says, "beloved"—"loved ones"—I have spoken to you this way because I love you.
A few times over the last five years or so I have taken loved ones out to lunch with the express purpose of asking some hard questions about their spiritual lives. This is very risky and very hard to do. You know that your actions could so easily be misinterpreted. They could accuse you of nosiness, butting in where you don't belong. They could accuse you of judgmentalism, pointing a finger toward the imperfections in your own life. They could accuse you of distrust, assuming the worst instead of hoping for the best. And so on. The possibilities of misunderstanding and false accusation are many.
And because of this, we do not do this as often as we should. The writer to the Hebrews is calling us by his example to grow up and to take the risks of love. He is also calling us to be less easily offended. And less easily hurt.
We have a massive foundation for our salvation in the death of the Son of God and we have an advocate in heaven more powerful and more compelling than any accuser on earth. We should be the freest of all people to listen to criticism and take it into account and not be wounded or self-pitying or resentful.
So let us learn how to love and be loved when heaven and hell are at stake and hard questions are in order.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
GRACE TO YOU AND WITH YOU
“Grace to you…from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. (Philippians 1:2 ESV)
When we look at Paul’s greetings at the beginning of his epistles, we are tempted to read right past it and miss the significance of what he is saying. One of the reasons we ignore certain statements in Scripture is our misguided belief that they simply don't apply to us. But what he says here is significant. If you examine this opening phrases you will find that it is not a meaningless pleasantries. Instead, even here Paul is teaching the one’s he is writing to.
Someone has said, rightly so, that whatever Paul touches it turns into the Gospel. Paul profoundly touches this normal greeting of the day and it turns into the Gospel. He can't help it, because the Gospel is just welling up in his heart.
In ancient Greek letters the writer would first identify himself and the recipients of the letter, then he would say Chairein, which means "rejoice," but in a letter “Greetings!” Paul altered chairein to read charis or "grace!" This slight change of letters denotes a significant shift because Paul isn’t just offering cheery pleasantries; he is imparting grace to his hearers.
There is great and glorious encouragement in the fact that Paul begins his letters by blessing his readers with the grace of God. It is as if before Paul can say anything else, he desires God to impart grace to them. It is a sincere prayer for the release of divine favor and power into the lives of those to whom he writes.
Paul wrote 13 letters in our New Testament. He begins and ends each of them with a blessing of grace upon the Christian readers. Nothing else in Paul’s letters comes close to this kind of unbroken focus on grace at the beginning and ending of each letter. I think the Lord has some important things he wants to say to us through this blessing of grace. As Paul blesses his readers he blesses us as well!
This blessing focus’s upon who God is speaking to: You and I, and an appeal to God to do something: Give grace. At the beginning of Paul's letters he says, -Grace [be] to you," while the blessings at the end say, "Grace [be] with you.” Why? Because at the beginning of his letters Paul has in mind that the letter itself is a channel of God's grace to the readers. Grace is about to flow "from God" through Paul's writing to the Christians. So he says, "Grace to you." That is, grace is now active and is about to flow from God through my inspired writing to you as you read—"grace [be] to you." But as the end of the letter approaches, Paul realizes that the reading is almost finished and the question rises, "What becomes of the grace that has been flowing to the readers through the reading of the inspired letter?" He answers with a blessing at the end of every letter: "Grace [be] with you" (Philippians 4:23). May grace be with you as you put the letter away and leave the church. With you as you go home, to work , and your daily life
Paul tells us the divine grace is ready to flow to us every time we take up the inspired Scriptures to read them. And we learn that grace will abide with us when we lay the Bible down and go about our daily living. This as a bracing trumpet call to the centrality of grace in Christianity. You could say the Christian life begins with grace, it is sustained by grace, and it will end with grace. Keep it central in your thinking about life and more specifically, your life.
Paul says that grace is something that comes from God. What makes grace, grace is that it starts "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. The single preposition “from” governs both names, and has the effect of hyphenating them together into one single source of blessing. All the divine greatness of our Lord, all the divine love and saving efficacy of the Father and the Son come together in divine union to pour out upon the sinful saints like you and me whatever grace we need in our life freely, without being merited or earned.
Saying that God is a God of grace is a way of saying that God is God -- that He is the infinite, all-sufficient, self-existent, complete, source and sustainer and owner of all being and all value and all worth in the universe. This grace, however, is not only the divine act by which God initiates our spiritual life, but also the very power by which we are sustained and nourished in, and proceed through, that life. The sanctifying, sin-killing, Christ-exalting, soul-satisfying presence of the Holy Spirit is given to us by grace of God via the instrumentality of Holy Scripture and its inspired truths.
There can be little if any expectation of triumphant Christian living apart from the grace that is mediated to us and diffused throughout our hearts and minds preeminently through the means of grace that God has given to us. Grace comes to us through means, primarily reading, preaching, teaching, and hearing of the Word of God. So Paul is saying : “May God do something gracious now. May God go on being gracious to you, starting now. May God give grace to you through the Word of God and may that grace be with you as you leave after receiving the grace from the Word: Saving grace, sanctifying grace, sustaining grace, serving grace, strengthening grace, enabling grace, empowering grace, healing grace, amazing grace!
Pastor Bill
When we look at Paul’s greetings at the beginning of his epistles, we are tempted to read right past it and miss the significance of what he is saying. One of the reasons we ignore certain statements in Scripture is our misguided belief that they simply don't apply to us. But what he says here is significant. If you examine this opening phrases you will find that it is not a meaningless pleasantries. Instead, even here Paul is teaching the one’s he is writing to.
Someone has said, rightly so, that whatever Paul touches it turns into the Gospel. Paul profoundly touches this normal greeting of the day and it turns into the Gospel. He can't help it, because the Gospel is just welling up in his heart.
In ancient Greek letters the writer would first identify himself and the recipients of the letter, then he would say Chairein, which means "rejoice," but in a letter “Greetings!” Paul altered chairein to read charis or "grace!" This slight change of letters denotes a significant shift because Paul isn’t just offering cheery pleasantries; he is imparting grace to his hearers.
There is great and glorious encouragement in the fact that Paul begins his letters by blessing his readers with the grace of God. It is as if before Paul can say anything else, he desires God to impart grace to them. It is a sincere prayer for the release of divine favor and power into the lives of those to whom he writes.
Paul wrote 13 letters in our New Testament. He begins and ends each of them with a blessing of grace upon the Christian readers. Nothing else in Paul’s letters comes close to this kind of unbroken focus on grace at the beginning and ending of each letter. I think the Lord has some important things he wants to say to us through this blessing of grace. As Paul blesses his readers he blesses us as well!
This blessing focus’s upon who God is speaking to: You and I, and an appeal to God to do something: Give grace. At the beginning of Paul's letters he says, -Grace [be] to you," while the blessings at the end say, "Grace [be] with you.” Why? Because at the beginning of his letters Paul has in mind that the letter itself is a channel of God's grace to the readers. Grace is about to flow "from God" through Paul's writing to the Christians. So he says, "Grace to you." That is, grace is now active and is about to flow from God through my inspired writing to you as you read—"grace [be] to you." But as the end of the letter approaches, Paul realizes that the reading is almost finished and the question rises, "What becomes of the grace that has been flowing to the readers through the reading of the inspired letter?" He answers with a blessing at the end of every letter: "Grace [be] with you" (Philippians 4:23). May grace be with you as you put the letter away and leave the church. With you as you go home, to work , and your daily life
Paul tells us the divine grace is ready to flow to us every time we take up the inspired Scriptures to read them. And we learn that grace will abide with us when we lay the Bible down and go about our daily living. This as a bracing trumpet call to the centrality of grace in Christianity. You could say the Christian life begins with grace, it is sustained by grace, and it will end with grace. Keep it central in your thinking about life and more specifically, your life.
Paul says that grace is something that comes from God. What makes grace, grace is that it starts "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. The single preposition “from” governs both names, and has the effect of hyphenating them together into one single source of blessing. All the divine greatness of our Lord, all the divine love and saving efficacy of the Father and the Son come together in divine union to pour out upon the sinful saints like you and me whatever grace we need in our life freely, without being merited or earned.
Saying that God is a God of grace is a way of saying that God is God -- that He is the infinite, all-sufficient, self-existent, complete, source and sustainer and owner of all being and all value and all worth in the universe. This grace, however, is not only the divine act by which God initiates our spiritual life, but also the very power by which we are sustained and nourished in, and proceed through, that life. The sanctifying, sin-killing, Christ-exalting, soul-satisfying presence of the Holy Spirit is given to us by grace of God via the instrumentality of Holy Scripture and its inspired truths.
There can be little if any expectation of triumphant Christian living apart from the grace that is mediated to us and diffused throughout our hearts and minds preeminently through the means of grace that God has given to us. Grace comes to us through means, primarily reading, preaching, teaching, and hearing of the Word of God. So Paul is saying : “May God do something gracious now. May God go on being gracious to you, starting now. May God give grace to you through the Word of God and may that grace be with you as you leave after receiving the grace from the Word: Saving grace, sanctifying grace, sustaining grace, serving grace, strengthening grace, enabling grace, empowering grace, healing grace, amazing grace!
Pastor Bill
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