Fear has been a part of the human existence since the fall of man in Genesis 3:8-10. Everyone, regardless of how brave they seem, is afraid of something (Snakes, Spiders, Disease, Financial Setbacks, Old Age, Gray Hair, Rejection, Disappointment, Exposure, Being Forgotten, Even fearing fear!
I, personally, am afraid of becoming useless, of being poor in my old age, and of heights. Not so much afraid of being of there, because the views are incredible. Not afraid of the fall, because free fall is an exhilarating experience. If I had to define my fear, I would have to say that my fear of heights is really a fear of the sudden stop that awaits me at the bottom of my fall.
Even in the Bible, we can see where men were stalked by their fears:
-Abraham lied about Sarah out of fear - Genesis 12:11-13
-Jacob displayed fear of Esau - Genesis 32:6-8
-Moses feared Pharaoh - Exodus 2:14
-Moses feared Rejection - Exodus 4:1
-The Disciples feared the storm - Matthew 8:24-26
Nothing has changed! People are still caught in the grip of their fears, and this is even true during the Christmas Season. A time that should be joyous, happy and totally Christ-centered. We fear not having enough money, of not meeting everyone's expectations, we worry over meals, over who will be there and who will not. We just seem to fear everything.
Three times God sent angelic messengers to the earth with messages connected to the birth of His Son, the Lord Jesus. Each time, they brought big news, news which troubled the hearts of their hearers. However, they also came with a message of peace. Three times angels appeared. Three times they spoke the words, "
I. Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy- the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God." 38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
II. Matthew 1:18-25
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”
III. Luke 2:8-20
“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”
Three times the angels came and three times there was a reaction based in fear. However, when the fear had been dealt with and the Lord's message was allowed to come through, the message was seen for what it really was, a promise of grace. So it is this Christmas season. There may be those things around you that you fear, but if you can learn the lesson that Mary, Joseph and the shepherds learned, and that is to trust the Lord whatever the cost, then you will find that He can turn fear to peace this season for you.
Is there fear in your heart today? Bring it to Jesus! Is there sadness? Bring it to Jesus! Is there fear over sin and hell? Bring it to Jesus! Is there disappointment and disillusionment over the trials of life? Bring it to Jesus! Are there burdens too heavy to bear? Bring it to Jesus! Is there brokenness and despair? Bring it to Jesus! Is there failure and defeat? Bring it to Jesus! Whatever it is that is causing you to fear, bring it to Jesus!
Merry Christmas!
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
CHRISTMAS AND GOD'S TIMING
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,” Galatians 4:4 ESV
Have you ever played “what if” in your head? One of my favorite sci-fi movies is called The Final Countdown in which a US Navy nuclear carrier is taken back in time to the South Pacific on December 6, 1941. The upshot of the movie is that it presents the hypothetical dilemma of “what if a nuclear powered carrier of the United States Navy with all of its firepower had a chance to stop the Japanese fleet and their attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941?” Should they do it? Do they dare attempt to change the course of history? What would happen if they did?
As you could imagine all sorts of “what if” questions were raised by the film. Well that was fantasy, but in John 15:22 Jesus says, “If I had not come”. Jesus invites us to consider a real possibility. What if Jesus Christ had not come to earth? What if he had not been born in Bethlehem? What if he had not walked the dusty roads of Judea? What if he had not uttered those wonderful words we call the Sermon on the Mount? What if he had not walked on water? What if he had not made the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk? What if he had never raised the dead? What if we did not have his words to comfort us, to challenge us, to teach us, and to lead us to God? What if he never died on the cross? What if he never rose from the dead? What if he never sent his disciples out into the world? Where would we be? And what kind of world would this be? How would things be different if he had not come?
I have good news. Though Jesus said, "If I had not come", there is no “what if” speculation in God. Because the fact is that Jesus did come! The angel said “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Luke 2:10-11; John 1:14) And history itself has been changed forever. That’s what matters. For a little over 30 years the Son of God walked on this earth and nothing has been the same since. All history is framed around this Person who came in the fullness of time and whose coming gives definition to all of time.
Christmas is about God’s wonderful timing in our lives. Christmas reminds us of the fact that Jesus came to this Earth at just the right time. All the events of His arrival were perfectly planned. Jesus came no sooner nor no later than it was planned. Christmas means that God is never late. He never misses a deadline. He sent His Son into the world right on time. God’s timetable is always perfect.
The Apostle Paul in Galatians 4;4 invites us to consider God’s timing of the coming of His Son. There are two kinds of time the Bible speaks of: there is chronos time and there is kairos time, there is clock time and there is God's time. Cynics might even say there is our time and there is God's time, as in, "God give me patience, and give it to me right now"! The Bible speaks clearly about how God operates in time; both in chronos and kairos, and nowhere does it speak more clearly than in the stories of Jesus' birth.
The word "time" occurs 658 times in the Bible, 179 of those in the New Testament, 73 of those in the Gospels, and the overwhelming majority of those occurrences are in Matthew and Luke, the two who tell the stories of Jesus' birth. Sometimes the Gospels speak in chronos, in clock time, in our time, saying things like, "...in the time of King Herod..." and "...at the time of the incense offering..." and "...time to circumcise the child." Sometimes the Gospels speak in kairos, in God's time, as in "...the time came for her to deliver a child..." and "...the time is fulfilled" and "the kingdom of God has come near."
Other New Testament writers pick up the Gospel time theme: the writer of the Letter to the Ephesians says, "making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (tou pleromatos ton kairon: literally the fullness of the times)." (Ephesians 1:9-10).
Of all the kairos moments, of all the moments that God had worked and acted in history, this was the ultimate moment. Now in Galatians 4;4, "... but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son..." Now here the Greek is to pleroma tou chronou, literally the fullness of the time. That phrase is also a very picturesque Greek expression. It speaks of something that is complete and fully developed, like a ripe apple ready to be picked. Or like a pregnant woman feeling labor pains, ready to deliver her baby. A fullness that is absolute and has reached its bursting point. When we fill a glass of water to drink, we do not fill it to the rim. A small empty space is left so that we don’t spill its contents when we lift the glass to drink. . (Unless you are a klutz like me!) The fullness of pleroma is more like what happens when we put the water under a spigot and turn on and let it run. The glass fills up and then begins to spill over on the side. In this case there is no more room left in the glass for any more water.
The “fullness of time means that history was ripe for the birth of Christ. All of the chronos of the past and all of the kairoi that had gone before converged in this moment. Jesus was born at the precise second and in the precise place that God had ordained from the foundation of the world. Luke records it with these words, “While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger...” (Luke 2:6-7) But it was not only the days of Mary’s pregnancy, the normal period of gestation that was completed. It was the years, the centuries, and the millennia that had been completed. It was in "the fullness of the time.
Why was Jesus born when He was born? He was born when he was born because it was time. God does not do things early. God does not do things late. God does things in a perfect, timely fashion, just when those things are called for. And nothing in human history has been more important, or was accomplished in such a timely fashion, as the birth of the Son of God. He is the center of history. History is really His Story, planned and told by God. Secular history gives us dates and times and places and people, but only God can give meaning to history and to your history.
God has come into the world through Jesus. He’s working right now to prepare for His second coming. Some of us need to hear this because we wonder (and secretly fear) that God has forgotten us. Perhaps you come to the end of this year with a sense of unfulfillment and perhaps a sense of dread about what 2010 will bring. Fear not, child of God. God's timing is perfect. When the time had fully come, God sent his Son. And when the time is fully come, he will keep all his promises to you. Just as God’s timing was perfect in the coming of Jesus, His timing is perfect in your life. Look at the wisdom of God in sending Jesus just at the right time. If God would do that for the world, He would certainly do that for you. He will work in your life at just the right time. Trust Him in your situation. Rest in His timing. Know that He does all things well. Just as the people of Jesus’ day did not understand God’s timing then, you may not understand it now, nonetheless, it’s perfect. Maybe today is the perfect time in your life for God to move in a special way. Almost 2,000 years ago, there came a night when “the fullness of the time” had come. Today may be the time God directs your path, answers a dilemma, comforts you, strengthens you, or encourages you.
Merry Christmas,
Pastor Bill
Have you ever played “what if” in your head? One of my favorite sci-fi movies is called The Final Countdown in which a US Navy nuclear carrier is taken back in time to the South Pacific on December 6, 1941. The upshot of the movie is that it presents the hypothetical dilemma of “what if a nuclear powered carrier of the United States Navy with all of its firepower had a chance to stop the Japanese fleet and their attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941?” Should they do it? Do they dare attempt to change the course of history? What would happen if they did?
As you could imagine all sorts of “what if” questions were raised by the film. Well that was fantasy, but in John 15:22 Jesus says, “If I had not come”. Jesus invites us to consider a real possibility. What if Jesus Christ had not come to earth? What if he had not been born in Bethlehem? What if he had not walked the dusty roads of Judea? What if he had not uttered those wonderful words we call the Sermon on the Mount? What if he had not walked on water? What if he had not made the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk? What if he had never raised the dead? What if we did not have his words to comfort us, to challenge us, to teach us, and to lead us to God? What if he never died on the cross? What if he never rose from the dead? What if he never sent his disciples out into the world? Where would we be? And what kind of world would this be? How would things be different if he had not come?
I have good news. Though Jesus said, "If I had not come", there is no “what if” speculation in God. Because the fact is that Jesus did come! The angel said “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Luke 2:10-11; John 1:14) And history itself has been changed forever. That’s what matters. For a little over 30 years the Son of God walked on this earth and nothing has been the same since. All history is framed around this Person who came in the fullness of time and whose coming gives definition to all of time.
Christmas is about God’s wonderful timing in our lives. Christmas reminds us of the fact that Jesus came to this Earth at just the right time. All the events of His arrival were perfectly planned. Jesus came no sooner nor no later than it was planned. Christmas means that God is never late. He never misses a deadline. He sent His Son into the world right on time. God’s timetable is always perfect.
The Apostle Paul in Galatians 4;4 invites us to consider God’s timing of the coming of His Son. There are two kinds of time the Bible speaks of: there is chronos time and there is kairos time, there is clock time and there is God's time. Cynics might even say there is our time and there is God's time, as in, "God give me patience, and give it to me right now"! The Bible speaks clearly about how God operates in time; both in chronos and kairos, and nowhere does it speak more clearly than in the stories of Jesus' birth.
The word "time" occurs 658 times in the Bible, 179 of those in the New Testament, 73 of those in the Gospels, and the overwhelming majority of those occurrences are in Matthew and Luke, the two who tell the stories of Jesus' birth. Sometimes the Gospels speak in chronos, in clock time, in our time, saying things like, "...in the time of King Herod..." and "...at the time of the incense offering..." and "...time to circumcise the child." Sometimes the Gospels speak in kairos, in God's time, as in "...the time came for her to deliver a child..." and "...the time is fulfilled" and "the kingdom of God has come near."
Other New Testament writers pick up the Gospel time theme: the writer of the Letter to the Ephesians says, "making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (tou pleromatos ton kairon: literally the fullness of the times)." (Ephesians 1:9-10).
Of all the kairos moments, of all the moments that God had worked and acted in history, this was the ultimate moment. Now in Galatians 4;4, "... but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son..." Now here the Greek is to pleroma tou chronou, literally the fullness of the time. That phrase is also a very picturesque Greek expression. It speaks of something that is complete and fully developed, like a ripe apple ready to be picked. Or like a pregnant woman feeling labor pains, ready to deliver her baby. A fullness that is absolute and has reached its bursting point. When we fill a glass of water to drink, we do not fill it to the rim. A small empty space is left so that we don’t spill its contents when we lift the glass to drink. . (Unless you are a klutz like me!) The fullness of pleroma is more like what happens when we put the water under a spigot and turn on and let it run. The glass fills up and then begins to spill over on the side. In this case there is no more room left in the glass for any more water.
The “fullness of time means that history was ripe for the birth of Christ. All of the chronos of the past and all of the kairoi that had gone before converged in this moment. Jesus was born at the precise second and in the precise place that God had ordained from the foundation of the world. Luke records it with these words, “While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger...” (Luke 2:6-7) But it was not only the days of Mary’s pregnancy, the normal period of gestation that was completed. It was the years, the centuries, and the millennia that had been completed. It was in "the fullness of the time.
Why was Jesus born when He was born? He was born when he was born because it was time. God does not do things early. God does not do things late. God does things in a perfect, timely fashion, just when those things are called for. And nothing in human history has been more important, or was accomplished in such a timely fashion, as the birth of the Son of God. He is the center of history. History is really His Story, planned and told by God. Secular history gives us dates and times and places and people, but only God can give meaning to history and to your history.
God has come into the world through Jesus. He’s working right now to prepare for His second coming. Some of us need to hear this because we wonder (and secretly fear) that God has forgotten us. Perhaps you come to the end of this year with a sense of unfulfillment and perhaps a sense of dread about what 2010 will bring. Fear not, child of God. God's timing is perfect. When the time had fully come, God sent his Son. And when the time is fully come, he will keep all his promises to you. Just as God’s timing was perfect in the coming of Jesus, His timing is perfect in your life. Look at the wisdom of God in sending Jesus just at the right time. If God would do that for the world, He would certainly do that for you. He will work in your life at just the right time. Trust Him in your situation. Rest in His timing. Know that He does all things well. Just as the people of Jesus’ day did not understand God’s timing then, you may not understand it now, nonetheless, it’s perfect. Maybe today is the perfect time in your life for God to move in a special way. Almost 2,000 years ago, there came a night when “the fullness of the time” had come. Today may be the time God directs your path, answers a dilemma, comforts you, strengthens you, or encourages you.
Merry Christmas,
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN!
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) ESV
Who owns you? Who do you belong to? Who rules you life? Your decisions? Your plans? Your goals? Your passions and desires? Your priorities? For those that are not Christians, the mantra of their life is “I am the Captain of my ship, the master of my soul.” But what about those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ? Do you desire to only do God’s will in your life? Do you want a life blessed by God or do want an agenda of yours blessed by God.? Are you willing to humbly submit yourself to the will of God in all things? Do you believe that God’s will is “good, acceptable, and perfect” (Romans 12:2)? I ask these questions because they are the very questions that I am asking of myself.
One of the hardest two words to say are: “I surrender.” Even more so, surrendering is not an easy thing to do. It sure is not for me. By nature I am a high achiever, self disciplined, success driven striver. Call me to sacrifice for Jesus, no problem. Call on me to serve the Lord, piece of cake. Ask me to risk for Jesus, I’m ready, able, and willing. But ask me to surrender? No thanks. I don’t do surrender well. It has taken me thirty five years of being a Christian to learn that the real test of faith is not how successful we are, but how surrendered we are.
When Jesus taught us to pray fundamental on the front end of prayer was an attitude of surrender. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”(Matthew 6:10) The most Christian prayer we can ever pray is the prayer Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42).
The apostle Paul has taught me the key to surrender. One of the great truths that the apostle Paul teaches about being a Christian is that a Christians belongs to Christ. Paul s says in 1Corinthians 6:9, "But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." So the reverse is true too: If you do have the Spirit of Christ, you do belong to him. So as Christians we should think of ourselves as belonging to Christ, as Christ´s possession; wonderfully owned by Him for stupendous purposes!
In what sense are we Christ´s possession? Paul connects the ideas of indwelling and possession in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 in a way that explains: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" In what sense? He explains in verse 20: "For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." Paul describes two ways that Christ makes us his own: purchase and habitation.
John Piper illustrates this:
There was a time in this country when you could lay claim to a piece of land in the west by simply going there and living on it, homesteading it. And of course there is the more traditional ways of obtaining land, paying for it. Christ did both in order to possess a people for himself: he bought us, and he homesteaded us. "You are not your own. For you have been bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) - that´s the purchase. "You are the temple of the Holy Spirit . . . You are not your own" . . . "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 8:9) - that´s the homesteading. He bought us with his blood, and he moves in by his Spirit. If you are a Christian, you are not your own. You belong to Christ. Your body is His home, His dwelling place working out His will and purposes.
So what that means very simply is that surrender means that we are to use our body which has been purchased and is now owned by God in ways that will show that God is more satisfying, more precious, more to be desired, more glorious than anything the body craves.
Paul puts it another way in Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Another time Paul prayed, his own testimony of desire: “It is my eager expectation and hope that . . . Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20). Oh to be dedicated and surrendered to a vibrant, fruitful, consecrated life on earth for God and His glory.
One of the most surrendered and consecrated Christians was Jonathan Edwards. He describes his consecration and surrender to God in a prayer dated Saturday January 12, 1723:
In the morning 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 myself, I can challenge no right in this understanding, this will, these affections that are in me; neither have I any right to this body, or any of its members: no right to this tongue, these hands, nor feet: no right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this smell or taste. I have given myself clear away, and have not retained anything as my own. I have been to God this morning, and told him that I gave myself wholly to him. I have given every power to him; so that for the future I will challenge no right in myself, in any respect. I have expressly promised him, and 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, looking on nothing else as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and 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 did believe in Jesus Christ, and receive him as a prince and a savior; and would adhere to the faith and obedience of the gospel, how hazardous and difficult whatsoever the profession and practice of it may be. 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 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 any thing that is not to the glory of God, and do not make the glorifying him my whole and entire business; if I murmur in the least at afflictions; if I grieve at the prosperity of others; if I am any way uncharitable; if I am angry because of injuries; if I revenge; if I do anything, purely to please myself, or if I avoid any thing for the sake of my ease, if I omit anything because it is great self-denial; if I trust to myself; if I take any of the praise of any good that I do, or rather God does by me; or if I am any way proud.
Edwards clearly realized that his life was not his own, but that he belonged entirely to God and , therefore, must live in surrender to Him. Oh for humble submission and dedication to God like Edwards, for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ. If we are going to impact the world for Jesus Christ, we must live with extraordinary purpose and firm dedication. God is looking for individuals who will say, “God I am completely Yours!”
Have you come to realize that dear reader? Would you surrender and declare to God and to yourself: “God, I want to be on your side. Who God is, that’s who I want to live on and for. Wherever God is, I want to be. If God is in riches or poverty, sickness and health, at home or far away, I want to be there! Whatever God is doing, that’s what I want to be doing. Nothing else matters. I say “uncle”. “I give up, I give in.” “I surrender.”
May you present your body to Him as a living sacrifice and my you preach to yourself like I do, “Bill, you are not your own, you have been bought with a price, So glorify God in your body.
Pastor Bill
Who owns you? Who do you belong to? Who rules you life? Your decisions? Your plans? Your goals? Your passions and desires? Your priorities? For those that are not Christians, the mantra of their life is “I am the Captain of my ship, the master of my soul.” But what about those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ? Do you desire to only do God’s will in your life? Do you want a life blessed by God or do want an agenda of yours blessed by God.? Are you willing to humbly submit yourself to the will of God in all things? Do you believe that God’s will is “good, acceptable, and perfect” (Romans 12:2)? I ask these questions because they are the very questions that I am asking of myself.
One of the hardest two words to say are: “I surrender.” Even more so, surrendering is not an easy thing to do. It sure is not for me. By nature I am a high achiever, self disciplined, success driven striver. Call me to sacrifice for Jesus, no problem. Call on me to serve the Lord, piece of cake. Ask me to risk for Jesus, I’m ready, able, and willing. But ask me to surrender? No thanks. I don’t do surrender well. It has taken me thirty five years of being a Christian to learn that the real test of faith is not how successful we are, but how surrendered we are.
When Jesus taught us to pray fundamental on the front end of prayer was an attitude of surrender. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”(Matthew 6:10) The most Christian prayer we can ever pray is the prayer Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42).
The apostle Paul has taught me the key to surrender. One of the great truths that the apostle Paul teaches about being a Christian is that a Christians belongs to Christ. Paul s says in 1Corinthians 6:9, "But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." So the reverse is true too: If you do have the Spirit of Christ, you do belong to him. So as Christians we should think of ourselves as belonging to Christ, as Christ´s possession; wonderfully owned by Him for stupendous purposes!
In what sense are we Christ´s possession? Paul connects the ideas of indwelling and possession in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 in a way that explains: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" In what sense? He explains in verse 20: "For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." Paul describes two ways that Christ makes us his own: purchase and habitation.
John Piper illustrates this:
There was a time in this country when you could lay claim to a piece of land in the west by simply going there and living on it, homesteading it. And of course there is the more traditional ways of obtaining land, paying for it. Christ did both in order to possess a people for himself: he bought us, and he homesteaded us. "You are not your own. For you have been bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) - that´s the purchase. "You are the temple of the Holy Spirit . . . You are not your own" . . . "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 8:9) - that´s the homesteading. He bought us with his blood, and he moves in by his Spirit. If you are a Christian, you are not your own. You belong to Christ. Your body is His home, His dwelling place working out His will and purposes.
So what that means very simply is that surrender means that we are to use our body which has been purchased and is now owned by God in ways that will show that God is more satisfying, more precious, more to be desired, more glorious than anything the body craves.
Paul puts it another way in Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Another time Paul prayed, his own testimony of desire: “It is my eager expectation and hope that . . . Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20). Oh to be dedicated and surrendered to a vibrant, fruitful, consecrated life on earth for God and His glory.
One of the most surrendered and consecrated Christians was Jonathan Edwards. He describes his consecration and surrender to God in a prayer dated Saturday January 12, 1723:
In the morning 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 myself, I can challenge no right in this understanding, this will, these affections that are in me; neither have I any right to this body, or any of its members: no right to this tongue, these hands, nor feet: no right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this smell or taste. I have given myself clear away, and have not retained anything as my own. I have been to God this morning, and told him that I gave myself wholly to him. I have given every power to him; so that for the future I will challenge no right in myself, in any respect. I have expressly promised him, and 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, looking on nothing else as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and 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 did believe in Jesus Christ, and receive him as a prince and a savior; and would adhere to the faith and obedience of the gospel, how hazardous and difficult whatsoever the profession and practice of it may be. 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 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 any thing that is not to the glory of God, and do not make the glorifying him my whole and entire business; if I murmur in the least at afflictions; if I grieve at the prosperity of others; if I am any way uncharitable; if I am angry because of injuries; if I revenge; if I do anything, purely to please myself, or if I avoid any thing for the sake of my ease, if I omit anything because it is great self-denial; if I trust to myself; if I take any of the praise of any good that I do, or rather God does by me; or if I am any way proud.
Edwards clearly realized that his life was not his own, but that he belonged entirely to God and , therefore, must live in surrender to Him. Oh for humble submission and dedication to God like Edwards, for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ. If we are going to impact the world for Jesus Christ, we must live with extraordinary purpose and firm dedication. God is looking for individuals who will say, “God I am completely Yours!”
Have you come to realize that dear reader? Would you surrender and declare to God and to yourself: “God, I want to be on your side. Who God is, that’s who I want to live on and for. Wherever God is, I want to be. If God is in riches or poverty, sickness and health, at home or far away, I want to be there! Whatever God is doing, that’s what I want to be doing. Nothing else matters. I say “uncle”. “I give up, I give in.” “I surrender.”
May you present your body to Him as a living sacrifice and my you preach to yourself like I do, “Bill, you are not your own, you have been bought with a price, So glorify God in your body.
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
JESUS IS PRECIOUS!
"As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling,and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:4-9 ESV
Who or what is precious to you? To call something precious according to Webster’s Dictionary is to say that it is of great value or highly esteemed and cherished. There are many things that are very precious to me: My wife; my four children; my two grandchildren; San Clemente, my hometown; my church that I pastor, the Lighthouse; my favorite surfing break, upper Trestles; The National Parks, especially Yosemite; the Hawaiian Islands, especially Kauai; and the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.
Is Jesus precious to you? He was to the apostle Peter. Last week we saw the Apostle Peter share two things about the preciousness of Jesus. The first was His intrinsic worth: “Jesus is precious” (1 Peter 2:4, 6). The second was His worth to those who believe: "To you who believe Jesus Christ is precious" (1 Peter 2:7). Now this week we will discuss the third aspect of His preciousness which is the gladness of those to proclaim His worth.
TELLING OTHERS ABOUT THE PRECIOUSNESS OF JESUS
In verse 9 we read, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light". Your power to give a compassionate witness about Jesus to unbelievers will grow in direct proportion to how precious Jesus is to you. Another good translation would be, "that we might declare his excellencies." The text explicitly says that God chose us and made us his new people for the purpose of telling people about his excellencies, about how precious Jesus is to us.
Jesus says in Matthew 5:14-16, "You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Jesus shows us that our purpose on this earth is to make known God's identity, to show and tell the world how precious Jesus is! Peter describes it as “declaring His excellencies”.
Is Christ excellent to you? Do you know and understand and see His excellencies? Our power to make that declaration will increase in direct proportion to how precious Jesus really is to us. Evangelism, missions, worship, ministry, and living for His glory will increase in direct proportion that Jesus is to us. As John Piper says, “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied with Him.” You cannot bear a credible witness to the value of anything if you do not sense or feel its value. Therefore the most important question we can ask ourselves if is: How much is Jesus worth? Jonathan Edwards so profoundly wrote:
“The excellency of Christ is such, that the discovery of it is exceedingly contenting and satisfying to the soul. The carnal soul imagines that earthly things are excellent-one thinks riches most excellent, another has the highest esteem of honor, and to another carnal pleasure appears the most excellent. But the soul cannot find contentment in any of these things, because it soon finds an end to their excellency. Worldly men imagine that there is true excellency and true happiness in those things which they are pursuing. They think that if they could but obtain them, they would be happy. But when they obtain them, and cannot find happiness, they look for happiness in something else, and are still upon the pursuit. But Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so great excellency, that when they come to see him they look no further, but the mind rests there. It sees a transcendent glory and an ineffable sweetness in Jesus! It sees that until now it has been pursuing shadows, but that now it has found the substance. It sees that before it had been seeking happiness in the stream, but that now it has found the ocean!”
If you ponder how much Jesus is worth to you and why, you will have your own personal authentic testimony. That's what the world needs to hear: Why is Jesus so precious?
Does Christ have that most wonderful place in your life where you see him as altogether lovely, your Beloved and your Friend? If not, listen to what the Puritan John Flavel said, “Away with those empty nothings, away with this vain deceitful world, which deserves not the thousandth part of the love you give it. Let all stand aside and give way to Christ. Oh if only you knew his worth and excellency, what he is in himself, what he has done for you, and deserved from you; you would need no arguments to persuade you to love him!”
Jesus is precious. He is the Father’s delight. He is so precious that many have suffered the loss of all things for His sake. He has called us to live our lives on this earth in a way that shows He is precious and that proclaims to the world how precious He is. This Christmas season is a great time to tell someone of the preciousness of Jesus to you.
Pastor Bill
Who or what is precious to you? To call something precious according to Webster’s Dictionary is to say that it is of great value or highly esteemed and cherished. There are many things that are very precious to me: My wife; my four children; my two grandchildren; San Clemente, my hometown; my church that I pastor, the Lighthouse; my favorite surfing break, upper Trestles; The National Parks, especially Yosemite; the Hawaiian Islands, especially Kauai; and the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.
Is Jesus precious to you? He was to the apostle Peter. Last week we saw the Apostle Peter share two things about the preciousness of Jesus. The first was His intrinsic worth: “Jesus is precious” (1 Peter 2:4, 6). The second was His worth to those who believe: "To you who believe Jesus Christ is precious" (1 Peter 2:7). Now this week we will discuss the third aspect of His preciousness which is the gladness of those to proclaim His worth.
TELLING OTHERS ABOUT THE PRECIOUSNESS OF JESUS
In verse 9 we read, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light". Your power to give a compassionate witness about Jesus to unbelievers will grow in direct proportion to how precious Jesus is to you. Another good translation would be, "that we might declare his excellencies." The text explicitly says that God chose us and made us his new people for the purpose of telling people about his excellencies, about how precious Jesus is to us.
Jesus says in Matthew 5:14-16, "You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Jesus shows us that our purpose on this earth is to make known God's identity, to show and tell the world how precious Jesus is! Peter describes it as “declaring His excellencies”.
Is Christ excellent to you? Do you know and understand and see His excellencies? Our power to make that declaration will increase in direct proportion to how precious Jesus really is to us. Evangelism, missions, worship, ministry, and living for His glory will increase in direct proportion that Jesus is to us. As John Piper says, “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied with Him.” You cannot bear a credible witness to the value of anything if you do not sense or feel its value. Therefore the most important question we can ask ourselves if is: How much is Jesus worth? Jonathan Edwards so profoundly wrote:
“The excellency of Christ is such, that the discovery of it is exceedingly contenting and satisfying to the soul. The carnal soul imagines that earthly things are excellent-one thinks riches most excellent, another has the highest esteem of honor, and to another carnal pleasure appears the most excellent. But the soul cannot find contentment in any of these things, because it soon finds an end to their excellency. Worldly men imagine that there is true excellency and true happiness in those things which they are pursuing. They think that if they could but obtain them, they would be happy. But when they obtain them, and cannot find happiness, they look for happiness in something else, and are still upon the pursuit. But Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so great excellency, that when they come to see him they look no further, but the mind rests there. It sees a transcendent glory and an ineffable sweetness in Jesus! It sees that until now it has been pursuing shadows, but that now it has found the substance. It sees that before it had been seeking happiness in the stream, but that now it has found the ocean!”
If you ponder how much Jesus is worth to you and why, you will have your own personal authentic testimony. That's what the world needs to hear: Why is Jesus so precious?
Does Christ have that most wonderful place in your life where you see him as altogether lovely, your Beloved and your Friend? If not, listen to what the Puritan John Flavel said, “Away with those empty nothings, away with this vain deceitful world, which deserves not the thousandth part of the love you give it. Let all stand aside and give way to Christ. Oh if only you knew his worth and excellency, what he is in himself, what he has done for you, and deserved from you; you would need no arguments to persuade you to love him!”
Jesus is precious. He is the Father’s delight. He is so precious that many have suffered the loss of all things for His sake. He has called us to live our lives on this earth in a way that shows He is precious and that proclaims to the world how precious He is. This Christmas season is a great time to tell someone of the preciousness of Jesus to you.
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
THE VALUE AND WORTH OF JESUS CHRIST!
"As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling,and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."1 Peter 2:4-9
I am a reformed member of the dog haters club of America South Orange County Chapter. It all started when my son Kai wanted a dog for Christmas. Then my neighbors invited me over to introduce me to their little Bijon puppy because they wanted my family to have her. Of course my initial reaction was an obstinate “No way!” All I could think of was whining, barking, destroying my home, dog doo, hyperactivity, slobber, having to walk it, having to spend money in order to feed it, veterinary bills, etc. But soon with a little of my wife’s unique persuasive skills, coupled with my son Kai’s begging and pleading, I reluctantly agreed to go over and see the dog. Of course, I already decided that there was no way in the world that we would own a dog. That is until I saw her, this little white puppy named Maggie with big brown eyes, long floppy ears, eager to love and please, looking like a living white shag carpet, and having this seeming perpetual wagging tail and big grin on her face. What can I say; I melted at the sight of that little bowser. So, I gave in, the dog moved in, and in the days that followed spending time with little Maggie: watching her, walking her, playing with her, snuggling with her caused her to become very precious to me. I guess you could say I fell in love with that little dog.
To call something precious according to Webster’s Dictionary is to say that it is of great value or highly esteemed and cherished. Who is the most precious above all? To God the Father, to the Apostle Peter, and to a band of Christ lovers (including myself!) for over 2000 years, Jesus is precious! There is nothing in this world more precious to me than Jesus Christ! My life is a continuing and insatiable quest for Jesus to become more precious to me day by day. It is my purpose, my passion, my longing, my battle cry, my compass, and the central theme of my ministry to spread a passion for the preciousness of Christ to all the nations.
Is Jesus precious to you?
The Apostle Peter shares three things about the preciousness of Jesus. The first is His intrinsic worth: “Jesus is precious” (1 Peter 2:4, 6). The second is His worth to those who believe: "To you who believe Jesus Christ is precious" (1 Peter 2:7). The third is the gladness of those to proclaim His worth:"that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him..." (1 Peter 2:9). Because Jesus is precious we are to tell the world about his preciousness. Your power to give a passionate witness about Jesus to unbelievers will grow in direct proportion to how precious Jesus is to you .
JESUS IS PRECIOUS
In verses 4,6 Jesus is likened to a precious stone. The word Peter uses (Greek: entimon), means worthy of honor, esteemed, and of the highest value. Jesus preciousness is spoken of in terms of the Father’s heart towards Him (verse 4) as well as His intrinsic value in Himself (verse 6). How is Jesus precious? Peter does not tell us how precious Jesus is. No wonder. How we even begin to comprehend the infinite worth and value of Jesus. Words cannot begin to communicate Jesus' preciousness. Never the less, we can try. How is Jesus precious? Let me give you a few thoughts to consider.
1. Jesus is precious because He is of Infinite and Ultimate Value Paul calls Him the indescribable gift. (2 Corinthians 9:15)His worth is far greater than all earthly treasures put together. He is precious because of who He is. "For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9)
2. Jesus is precious because He is One of a Kind
There are many “gods” in the world, but there is only one Jesus. Yes, there are many “Jesus’” being preached in the world, but there is only one true Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who “came to save His people from their sins.” In all of Heaven there was only one Jesus Christ, who was able to be the Lamb of God and take away the sins of the world. There was not another in all Heaven, who was qualified to be our savior. Jesus is unique- He is the only Savior; the only door and the only way into Heaven; the only hope of salvation. His Name is the only Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved! (Acts 4:12). Spurgeon says, Jesus is so precious that He cannot be matched! There is none like Him! The fairest of the fair are unlovely and deformed when compared with Him! You shall find none that can be compared to Him, even if you ransack time and space... If you search eternity, and ransack immensity, there shall never be found one fit to be second to Him, He is so precious.
3. Jesus is precious because He is so Glorious
He far excels all of His creation for holiness, and power, and wisdom, and beauty. He is perfect in every way. There is not the least flaw in His Person, or in all of His marvelous works. In fact, Jesus is the standard of excellence and splendor in all of Heaven and earth. The brightness of His glory is above the brightness of the sun when shining is his strength (Acts 26:13). His glory lights every man that comes into the world (John 1:9). His glory was seem by the apostles (John 1:14) and shines into the hearts of His people (2 Corinthians 4:4), and enlightens them to the way of repentance, and faith in His work of redemption. And His glory will lighten New Jerusalem in the eternal age (Revelation 21:23), so that there shall be no need for the light of the sun! Jesus is most glorious.
4. Jesus is precious because of His Impact and Influence
There has never been a man that has influenced more people, and more nations, throughout the past 2,000 years than the Lord Jesus Christ! Jesus is the most influential man ever born into this world. He has touched the lives of millions, and brought millions of men and women, and boys and girls, out of their bondage of sin and death, and has given them forgiveness of their sins, and new lives of true love, true holiness, true peace, and true happiness and joy. And more importantly, He gave them eternal life with Him in glory! Yes, He is influential in the salvation of all of His people.
TO YOU WHO BELIEVE JESUS IS PRECIOUS
Notice what happens when we connect verses 4, 6, and 7. In verses 4 and 6 Christ is chosen and precious in the sight of God. Now in verse 7, he is therefore precious to us who believe. Jesus is not precious because we make Him precious. Hed is precious and the Spirit of God graces us to see how precious He really is. Thus, believers are chips off the Old Block as it were. We choose what our Father chooses. We feel to be precious what our Father feels to be precious. The personal attractions of Jesus are all inviting and irresistible! His love wins us. His glory charms us. His beauty attracts us. His sympathy soothes us. His gentleness subdues us. His faithfulness inspires us. He is the "altogether lovely One!" says Octavius Winslow. He becomes to us, as Jonathan Edwards puts it, "an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies."
Jesus prayed for us in John 17:26 that “the love the Father has for Jesus may be in us.” As Jesus is precious in Himself, as Jesus is precious to the Father, Jesus is meant to be precious to us. When you see Him in all of His excellencies how could He not be anything else but precious to you? Do you see Him? Do you really see Him?
Peter speaks of this experience of seeing Jesus in a way that goes beyond physical seeing to spiritual seeing and its wonderful effect upon all who see Him. “Though you have not seen Him (Physically), you love Him (He is precious to you), and though you do not see Him now (Physically), but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” (1 Peter 1:8). Seeing the preciousness of Jesus causes us for inexpressable joy to beleive Him, trust Him, and love Him. How precious is Jesus to you? Where does he come in your scale of desires?
Jesus once told a parable that describes how precious it really is to inherit the Kingdom of heaven. And since he himself is the King of that Kingdom and the One who makes it valuable, the parable applies to Him also. He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it" (Matthew 13:44-46).
Notice well: the man does not sell all that he has begrudgingly; he does it joyfully. The reason is because he sees how precious the treasure is. He knows that, whatever he pays for that field or that pearl it's a steal. Jesus is worth so much more than anything else in all the world, which every loss endured to have more of him, can be endured with joy. Is Jesus your treasure?
Dear Christian what would life be like without Jesus? How essential is Jesus to our satisfaction and happiness? What would this world be like to live in without Jesus? What if Jesus hid Himself from us? What would we do in this world without Jesus? How would you face your days? How would you handle life’s difficulties? What if there was no door of fellowship, friendship, and companionship between you and Jesus? I pray it can be said of you dear reader:
TO YOU, JESUS IS PRECIOUS!
To be continued...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
REMEMBERING THE PAST AND LOOKING AHEAD TO THE FUTURE
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
Psalm 103:1-5 ESV
Every moment in our life is both an ending and a beginning. It is the end of your past and the beginning of your future. If you see your life in a God-centered way like the writers of scripture, you will be able to seize that moment and look through the lens of God and stand inside that world in great humility before Him.
Each moment is a moment where, through the lens of God, all of His works in the past are reasons for us to look back and be grateful. At the same time this moment points us to the future with an opportunity to look ahead with faith in God’s future grace. I really believe that if we learn to “be here now”, to “seize the moment”, and “to be still and know that He is God” that looking back and looking ahead are two great God given means of spiritual growth in our lives.
The Psalmist exhorts himself to look back and to remember what God has done for him in verse 1, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” How often do we forget all of God’s benefits, workings, blessings, providence's, deliverance's, provisions, protections, forgiveness, mercies, kindnesses, and miracles that the Lord has done in our lives? How often because we have forgotten all of His past mercies do we face the present with fear, doubt, anxiety, and unbelief?
When I look back at my own life I see that I have often failed to remember the big things that God has done and made them seem small in my forgetfulness while making the little thing that I faced in my present seem large in my unbelief.
I find it very helpful to see that the Psalmist is preaching to himself to remember all the preciousness of past grace that God has given Him. God in the past had “forgiven all of his iniquity, healed all his diseases, redeemed his life from the pit, crowned him with steadfast love and mercy, and satisfied him with good so that his youth was renewed like the eagle's.”
Preaching to ourselves is very important.
In his book Spiritual Depression Martin Lloyd Jones says,
I say that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing 'ourselves' to talk to us! Do you realize what that means? I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you.
This is what the Psalmist does to counter this. Instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. So he stands up and says: 'Self, listen for a moment, I have something to say to you: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”
Jones says,
The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.
So we must learn to speak to ourselves and exhort ourselves: ‘Self, remember what God has done for you. The same God who has done for you in the past will work for you in the future, so bless the Lord, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name!”
That is exactly what we must do. Jones asks, "Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?"
Let me ask you: Have you realized? Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to this reality, this fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? See, what we have each day is an internal conversation that never ends. It is ceaseless. It continues always within us. And so each day, throughout the day, we have two simple choices: We can either spend the day listening to ourselves, listening to ourselves in our constantly changing feelings and circumstantial interpretations, or we can spend each day talking to ourselves. We can talk truth to ourselves. We can seize each ending to be a moment for gratitude and each beginning to be a moment for faith.
Other characters in the bible did this. Joseph looking back on the past providence of God spoke to his brothers: "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). The Proverb writer looked forward on the future providence of God: "The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). David could look ahead and say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:6).
Gratitude causes us to see God’s past grace aimed at helping us. When we remember what God has done we can transfer that past working into present faith for God’s future promises aimed at helping us as well. Since every moment is the beginning of the rest of your life, and every moment is the end of the past, every moment should be governed by gratitude and faith. If you see the world in this biblical way - and if you stand inside that biblical world and preach this past grace and future grace to yourself - then every moment will be a point of gratitude toward the past and faith toward the future.
The practical implications of this are great. It will make you humble and bold! Humble, in feeling the preciousness of past grace and an honest memory of mercy; humbly remembering that “every good gift comes from above”; living in deep, dependent, gratitude and worship; knowing that it is the Lord who provided, sustained, protected, healed, delivered, and intervened in the past.
It will also awaken boldness by transferring the benefits of your God governed past into your future! At this moment are you confidently looking ahead to this God continuing to work, bless, provide, deliver, protect, forgive, show mercy, and work miracles in the future? Do you trust His rock solid promises for your future? Oh that we would agree with George Mueller that “The living God has been, is, and will always be the living God!”
At this moment your past and your future are meeting together. May you look back this day with the look of gratitude and may you look continually forward with the look of faith! Remember: Endings are for gratitude and Beginnings are for faith!
Pastor Bill
Psalm 103:1-5 ESV
Every moment in our life is both an ending and a beginning. It is the end of your past and the beginning of your future. If you see your life in a God-centered way like the writers of scripture, you will be able to seize that moment and look through the lens of God and stand inside that world in great humility before Him.
Each moment is a moment where, through the lens of God, all of His works in the past are reasons for us to look back and be grateful. At the same time this moment points us to the future with an opportunity to look ahead with faith in God’s future grace. I really believe that if we learn to “be here now”, to “seize the moment”, and “to be still and know that He is God” that looking back and looking ahead are two great God given means of spiritual growth in our lives.
The Psalmist exhorts himself to look back and to remember what God has done for him in verse 1, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” How often do we forget all of God’s benefits, workings, blessings, providence's, deliverance's, provisions, protections, forgiveness, mercies, kindnesses, and miracles that the Lord has done in our lives? How often because we have forgotten all of His past mercies do we face the present with fear, doubt, anxiety, and unbelief?
When I look back at my own life I see that I have often failed to remember the big things that God has done and made them seem small in my forgetfulness while making the little thing that I faced in my present seem large in my unbelief.
I find it very helpful to see that the Psalmist is preaching to himself to remember all the preciousness of past grace that God has given Him. God in the past had “forgiven all of his iniquity, healed all his diseases, redeemed his life from the pit, crowned him with steadfast love and mercy, and satisfied him with good so that his youth was renewed like the eagle's.”
Preaching to ourselves is very important.
In his book Spiritual Depression Martin Lloyd Jones says,
I say that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing 'ourselves' to talk to us! Do you realize what that means? I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you.
This is what the Psalmist does to counter this. Instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. So he stands up and says: 'Self, listen for a moment, I have something to say to you: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”
Jones says,
The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.
So we must learn to speak to ourselves and exhort ourselves: ‘Self, remember what God has done for you. The same God who has done for you in the past will work for you in the future, so bless the Lord, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name!”
That is exactly what we must do. Jones asks, "Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?"
Let me ask you: Have you realized? Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to this reality, this fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? See, what we have each day is an internal conversation that never ends. It is ceaseless. It continues always within us. And so each day, throughout the day, we have two simple choices: We can either spend the day listening to ourselves, listening to ourselves in our constantly changing feelings and circumstantial interpretations, or we can spend each day talking to ourselves. We can talk truth to ourselves. We can seize each ending to be a moment for gratitude and each beginning to be a moment for faith.
Other characters in the bible did this. Joseph looking back on the past providence of God spoke to his brothers: "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). The Proverb writer looked forward on the future providence of God: "The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). David could look ahead and say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:6).
Gratitude causes us to see God’s past grace aimed at helping us. When we remember what God has done we can transfer that past working into present faith for God’s future promises aimed at helping us as well. Since every moment is the beginning of the rest of your life, and every moment is the end of the past, every moment should be governed by gratitude and faith. If you see the world in this biblical way - and if you stand inside that biblical world and preach this past grace and future grace to yourself - then every moment will be a point of gratitude toward the past and faith toward the future.
The practical implications of this are great. It will make you humble and bold! Humble, in feeling the preciousness of past grace and an honest memory of mercy; humbly remembering that “every good gift comes from above”; living in deep, dependent, gratitude and worship; knowing that it is the Lord who provided, sustained, protected, healed, delivered, and intervened in the past.
It will also awaken boldness by transferring the benefits of your God governed past into your future! At this moment are you confidently looking ahead to this God continuing to work, bless, provide, deliver, protect, forgive, show mercy, and work miracles in the future? Do you trust His rock solid promises for your future? Oh that we would agree with George Mueller that “The living God has been, is, and will always be the living God!”
At this moment your past and your future are meeting together. May you look back this day with the look of gratitude and may you look continually forward with the look of faith! Remember: Endings are for gratitude and Beginnings are for faith!
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
READING AND SAVORING GOD'S VOLUME OF CREATION
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.” Psalm 19:1-6 ESV
On Sunday night I was sitting on a blanket on my Crazy Creek chair watching the sunset in Joshua Tree National Park. My wife and I were eating dinner and looking out the horizon as the sun slowly set and the full moon steadily rose. It was truly a sacred moment for me. You could see the alpine glow on the peaks of the distant mountains as the sunlight gradually faded away. If you looked at the sky you would see an amazing pallet of ever changing colors. The upper half of it in clear blue color and the lower half a light violet. My chair was placed in such a way that in front of me was a Joshua Tree, to the right was a hill covered with big smooth round rocks (unique to this national park) and in the middle between them was a huge rising Harvest moon. At that moment I felt so alive and at peace. Here I was in the presence of such beauty of God's creation, savoring each moment with the woman that I love, and feeling a profound sense of my Creator’s presence and His amazing grace. Here and now nothing else mattered to me in the whole world, it was well with my soul.
As I was basking in the glory of my Maker’s creation my heart began welling up with a deep sense of gratitude to God both for the moment and for the fact that the moon, the sky, the mountains, the rocks, the Joshua trees, and the desert were just there. I was blessed and privileged to drink in of their beauty and glory. I thought of how many moments like this have taken place throughout the created world where no one was there to see and enjoy it but God Himself.
While gazing at the splender and beauty of the moment, wonder and gratitude began welling up inside and out of my lips came deep, heartfelt praise. I exulted in the beauty and wonder of God, His workmanship in the created world, and His creating and sustaining grace over the world that He made. It was simply amazing to me that God is God.
At that moment I realized that God had surprised me with the gift of another gift. He gave me anew the gift of amazement at what I see. He gave me the gift of sight that awakened me to the reality that every day, every moment, if I open my eyes and look, that there is always more to see in what I see.
The Psalmist tells us that Creation is telling us stupendous things about God! “The heavens are telling the glory of God and the firmament declares his handiwork" (Verse 1). Creation is a gift from God (and by creation, I mean all that God has made, not just mountains, birds, and trees). It is meant to display and communicate his glory. The voiceless, visual, universally available knowledge is that behind it all is a glorious God as maker of the world. The world is his handiwork, and he is glorious.
I love what Spurgeon says about the revelation of God in nature,
The Great Master Author has sent forth several volumes; among the rest is one called the "Book of Revelation," and another styled the "Volume of Creation." We have been reading the Word-volume and expounding it for years, we are now perusing the Work-volume, and are engrossed in some of its most glowing pages. Our love for the sacred book of letters and words has not diminished but increased our admiration for the hieroglyphics of the flood and field. That man perversely mistakes folly for wisdom who persists in undervaluing one glorious poem by a famous author, in order to show his zeal for a second epic from the same fertile pen. It is the mark of a feeble mind to despise the wonders of nature because we prize the treasures of salvation. He who built the lofty skies is as much our Father as he who hath spoken to us by his own Son, and we should reverently adore HIM who in creation decketh himself with majesty and excellency, even as in revelation HE arrayeth himself in glory and beauty.
Modern fanatics who profess to be so absorbed in heavenly things that they are blind to the most marvelous of Jehovah's handiwork, should go to school, with David as the schoolmaster, and learn to "consider the heavens," and should sit with Job upon the dunghill of their pride, while the Lord rehearses the thundering stanzas of creation's greatness, until they cry with the patriarch, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." For our part, we feel that what was worth the Lord's making, richly deserves the attention of the most cultivated and purified intellect; and we think it blasphemy against God himself to speak slightingly of his universe, as if, forsooth, we poor puny mortals were too spiritual to be interested in that matchless architecture which made the morning stars sing together and caused the sons of God to shout for joy.
John Piper, one who has taught me much about reading the Volume of Creation says,
God means for us to be stunned and awed by his work of creation, but not for its own sake. He means for us always to look at his creation and say: If the work of his hands is so full of wisdom and power and grandeur and majesty and beauty, what must this God be like in himself! These are but the backside of his glory seen through a glass darkly. What will it be to see the Creator himself! Not his works! Not even a billion galaxies will satisfy the human soul. God and God alone is the soul's end.
I think I can say that I the experience of delighting in some awesome natural phenomena—the moon rise at Joshua tree, a night sky in the clear pollution free Zion National Park, the astonishing Yosemite Falls, or a sunrise over the hills of San Clemente, where I live-is as Piper says, “the prep-school of our affections, readying them to delight in God.”
Christians ought to have better eyes than people in general for seeing the knowledge that every day and night pours forth. We ought to be the kind of people who walk out of the house in the morning with the same sense of suspense and expectancy.
John Piper mentions often the influence of the late Wheaton College professor Clyde Kilby. He says that Professor Kilby “pled with us to stop seeking mental health in the mirror of self-analysis, but instead to drink in the remedies of God in nature.”
I agree. Oh how nature is God’s great gift to our mental health! The moment on that evening in Joshua Tree I can honestly say that I had virtually no thoughts about myself and my problems because I was drinking in the remedy of God’s presence, His greatness, His glory, His power, His majesty, His beauty, and His peace.
In order to glimpse the glory of God in creation we actually have to engage with creation. It means to intentionally, “BE HERE NOW”. That is in obedience to “Be still and know that I am God.” When I practice “BEING HERE NOW”, I consciously stop, look, and listen to God speaking to me though His Volume of Creation, and quietly become alive to nature, being alive to life, and being alive to Him at that moment. At that moment I experience what is called “Transcendence” where I rise above myself, my life, my problems, my little thoughts, and enter into a world so wonderful, so vast, and so much bigger than little me that God has graced me to be an active part of.
Jonathan Edwards describes one of his experiences communing with God in nature:
As I was walking there, and looking up on the sky and clouds, there came into my mind so sweet a sense of the glorious majesty and grace of God, that I know not how to express.... The appearance of everything was altered; there seemed to be, as it were, a sweet calm cast, or appearance of divine glory, in almost everything. God's excellency, his wisdom, his purity and love, seemed to appear in everything; in the sun, moon and stars; in the cloud, and blue sky; in the grass, flowers, trees; in the water and all nature.
Clyde Kilby recommends that we consider nature simply because it is. That is, simply because God has made it. His plea was that we stop being unamazed by the strange glory of ordinary things.
"I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence."
I invite you, with Clyde Kilby and myself, to open your eyes and ears, to BE HERE NOW” and to look and listen to the “heavens declaring the glory of God.
Amazed at God again!
Pastor Bill
On Sunday night I was sitting on a blanket on my Crazy Creek chair watching the sunset in Joshua Tree National Park. My wife and I were eating dinner and looking out the horizon as the sun slowly set and the full moon steadily rose. It was truly a sacred moment for me. You could see the alpine glow on the peaks of the distant mountains as the sunlight gradually faded away. If you looked at the sky you would see an amazing pallet of ever changing colors. The upper half of it in clear blue color and the lower half a light violet. My chair was placed in such a way that in front of me was a Joshua Tree, to the right was a hill covered with big smooth round rocks (unique to this national park) and in the middle between them was a huge rising Harvest moon. At that moment I felt so alive and at peace. Here I was in the presence of such beauty of God's creation, savoring each moment with the woman that I love, and feeling a profound sense of my Creator’s presence and His amazing grace. Here and now nothing else mattered to me in the whole world, it was well with my soul.
As I was basking in the glory of my Maker’s creation my heart began welling up with a deep sense of gratitude to God both for the moment and for the fact that the moon, the sky, the mountains, the rocks, the Joshua trees, and the desert were just there. I was blessed and privileged to drink in of their beauty and glory. I thought of how many moments like this have taken place throughout the created world where no one was there to see and enjoy it but God Himself.
While gazing at the splender and beauty of the moment, wonder and gratitude began welling up inside and out of my lips came deep, heartfelt praise. I exulted in the beauty and wonder of God, His workmanship in the created world, and His creating and sustaining grace over the world that He made. It was simply amazing to me that God is God.
At that moment I realized that God had surprised me with the gift of another gift. He gave me anew the gift of amazement at what I see. He gave me the gift of sight that awakened me to the reality that every day, every moment, if I open my eyes and look, that there is always more to see in what I see.
The Psalmist tells us that Creation is telling us stupendous things about God! “The heavens are telling the glory of God and the firmament declares his handiwork" (Verse 1). Creation is a gift from God (and by creation, I mean all that God has made, not just mountains, birds, and trees). It is meant to display and communicate his glory. The voiceless, visual, universally available knowledge is that behind it all is a glorious God as maker of the world. The world is his handiwork, and he is glorious.
I love what Spurgeon says about the revelation of God in nature,
The Great Master Author has sent forth several volumes; among the rest is one called the "Book of Revelation," and another styled the "Volume of Creation." We have been reading the Word-volume and expounding it for years, we are now perusing the Work-volume, and are engrossed in some of its most glowing pages. Our love for the sacred book of letters and words has not diminished but increased our admiration for the hieroglyphics of the flood and field. That man perversely mistakes folly for wisdom who persists in undervaluing one glorious poem by a famous author, in order to show his zeal for a second epic from the same fertile pen. It is the mark of a feeble mind to despise the wonders of nature because we prize the treasures of salvation. He who built the lofty skies is as much our Father as he who hath spoken to us by his own Son, and we should reverently adore HIM who in creation decketh himself with majesty and excellency, even as in revelation HE arrayeth himself in glory and beauty.
Modern fanatics who profess to be so absorbed in heavenly things that they are blind to the most marvelous of Jehovah's handiwork, should go to school, with David as the schoolmaster, and learn to "consider the heavens," and should sit with Job upon the dunghill of their pride, while the Lord rehearses the thundering stanzas of creation's greatness, until they cry with the patriarch, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." For our part, we feel that what was worth the Lord's making, richly deserves the attention of the most cultivated and purified intellect; and we think it blasphemy against God himself to speak slightingly of his universe, as if, forsooth, we poor puny mortals were too spiritual to be interested in that matchless architecture which made the morning stars sing together and caused the sons of God to shout for joy.
John Piper, one who has taught me much about reading the Volume of Creation says,
God means for us to be stunned and awed by his work of creation, but not for its own sake. He means for us always to look at his creation and say: If the work of his hands is so full of wisdom and power and grandeur and majesty and beauty, what must this God be like in himself! These are but the backside of his glory seen through a glass darkly. What will it be to see the Creator himself! Not his works! Not even a billion galaxies will satisfy the human soul. God and God alone is the soul's end.
I think I can say that I the experience of delighting in some awesome natural phenomena—the moon rise at Joshua tree, a night sky in the clear pollution free Zion National Park, the astonishing Yosemite Falls, or a sunrise over the hills of San Clemente, where I live-is as Piper says, “the prep-school of our affections, readying them to delight in God.”
Christians ought to have better eyes than people in general for seeing the knowledge that every day and night pours forth. We ought to be the kind of people who walk out of the house in the morning with the same sense of suspense and expectancy.
John Piper mentions often the influence of the late Wheaton College professor Clyde Kilby. He says that Professor Kilby “pled with us to stop seeking mental health in the mirror of self-analysis, but instead to drink in the remedies of God in nature.”
I agree. Oh how nature is God’s great gift to our mental health! The moment on that evening in Joshua Tree I can honestly say that I had virtually no thoughts about myself and my problems because I was drinking in the remedy of God’s presence, His greatness, His glory, His power, His majesty, His beauty, and His peace.
In order to glimpse the glory of God in creation we actually have to engage with creation. It means to intentionally, “BE HERE NOW”. That is in obedience to “Be still and know that I am God.” When I practice “BEING HERE NOW”, I consciously stop, look, and listen to God speaking to me though His Volume of Creation, and quietly become alive to nature, being alive to life, and being alive to Him at that moment. At that moment I experience what is called “Transcendence” where I rise above myself, my life, my problems, my little thoughts, and enter into a world so wonderful, so vast, and so much bigger than little me that God has graced me to be an active part of.
Jonathan Edwards describes one of his experiences communing with God in nature:
As I was walking there, and looking up on the sky and clouds, there came into my mind so sweet a sense of the glorious majesty and grace of God, that I know not how to express.... The appearance of everything was altered; there seemed to be, as it were, a sweet calm cast, or appearance of divine glory, in almost everything. God's excellency, his wisdom, his purity and love, seemed to appear in everything; in the sun, moon and stars; in the cloud, and blue sky; in the grass, flowers, trees; in the water and all nature.
Clyde Kilby recommends that we consider nature simply because it is. That is, simply because God has made it. His plea was that we stop being unamazed by the strange glory of ordinary things.
"I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence."
I invite you, with Clyde Kilby and myself, to open your eyes and ears, to BE HERE NOW” and to look and listen to the “heavens declaring the glory of God.
Amazed at God again!
Pastor Bill
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