Our Future is Bright

JOB
The book of Job can seem like a sad and dismal read.  Chapter by chapter it seems we become more and more depressed as we read of Job's despair.  The book of Job details the tragedies that he faces and the accusations that he receives because of his misery.  His friends automatically are convinced that it's because of his sin that these tragedies have come to him, when in fact, it was the opposite.  Job suffered because he was righteous before God.  

After 40 chapters of misery, the book  is completed with chapter 42.  After spending over a month reading through Job, I read chapter 42 the other night and truly felt a sense of comfort.  We see Job show humility before God.  We see his "friends" get what's been coming to them.  We see things being set straight!  What a happy ending!  God blessed Job beyond what he previously had.  He had monetary blessing and familial blessings and he lived a long and happy life!  

US
We can be so near-sighted when it comes to our struggles in life.  We can only see the pain that's right in front of us.  We forget that joy is awaiting the believer.  In Job's case it came (in part) in his earthly life.  This will not be the case for all of us.  Some of us suffer and won't see God's outpouring of blessing in this life.  Some suffer in this life endlessly.  

OUR FUTURE IS BRIGHT But the good news of the gospel is that suffering and physical death for the believer actually and eventually brings joy.  It brings us closer to the Lord and the eternal bliss that we will enjoy with HIM forever.  No matter how you look at it, the Christian has a bright future, whether in this life or the next.  We can always hold our heads high knowing that better days are coming.  When struggles come and difficulties seem to choke out our joy, we can ALWAYS look to Christ.  We can look ahead to the future that we have in Christ where we will spend eternity with Him where sin shall be no more!

For those who trust the gospel, the end of this life is entrance into perfection and communion with God.  Death no longer stings because if we trust the gospel death means being with Christ.  Even in the midst of suffering, our minds should be focused on Christ.  Our future is bright and death is no longer scary for those who trust the gospel.  "O death where is your victory.  O death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor 15:55).  

STRUGGLE LIKE PAUL
Paul displays his complete dependence in Christ when he says in Philippians chapter one:  "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain...I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better..."  Paul's future was bright no matter how he looked at it.  He wanted to stay on earth to pursue ministry for the sake of the gospel and those he ministered to, but he also knew that death would bring him to Christ.

Do we ever struggle between these two things - 1) ministry in this life or 2) being with Christ in the next?  I think if we're honest, most of us wouldn't want to do either (not right now anyway...we may want "heaven" in the future, but we're obsessed with the world and our lives right now and wouldn't want to be with Christ now).  Our minds are focused on the next vacation or the next big event going on, our friends, our family, our house, our car, or our "big plans" for the future.  This wouldn't be the case if we truly set our minds on "things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God" (Col 3:1).  

I want to have the mindset of Paul where my joy is Christ - whether through doing ministry in this life, or enjoying Christ forever in the next.  Nothing else can bring true joy.  Let's press on to advance the kingdom until we are with HIM!

Falling in Love

HE PURSUED ME
I'm falling in love with the God who has pursued me.  He has pursued me by calling me to Himself, by redeeming me with His blood, by justifying me by decree, and by sanctifying me through His Spirit.  He pursued me in the ultimate act of sacrificial love called death.  His death and resurrection forever secured my relationship with Him because it is dependent on Him, not me.  And as if that wasn't enough, He pursues me daily, by giving me this life to live with His Holy Spirit residing in me pointing me towards Him daily.
Rom 8:29-30 "and those whom He predestined He also called...justified...glorified" ; Rom 5:9 "we have now been justified by His blood...saved by Him from the wrath of God" ; Gal 2:16 "not justified by works...but through faith in Jesus" ; 2 Thess 2:13 "sanctification through the Spirit" ; Gal 5:16 "walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh"

THE CYCLE
As I've matured in this journey called sanctification, my relationship with Christ has soared in the clouds and sunken into the valley.  He is steadfast, but at times I seek pleasures in the superficial love of my sin.  The sin of my flesh and the sin of my heart are rebellious acts towards a God who loves me.  He has called me, and I have accepted His free gift of salvation; but then I sinned against Him, then fallen in love with Him, then strayed away from him yet again,  then fallen in deeper love with Him, and then again neglected Him with an apathetic heart.  This cycle is repetitive because of my wondering heart ("oh wretched man that I am").
Rom 3:10 "none is righteous, no, not one...no one seeks for God" ; James 1:14 "each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire" ; Rom 1:25 "exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator" ; Ez16:29 "you multiplied your whoring...even with this you were not satisfied"  ; Rom 7:24 "wretched man that I am"

HE IS FAITHFUL
Yet He is still faithfully beside me, keeping me and sustaining me.  He loves me, even when "I play the whore".  When I sin, stray, and neglect Him, He pursues me still.  His love for me is undeniable and unwavering.  He remains faithful to me even when I am unfaithful to Him.  He loves me even when I don't love Him.
Ez 16:26 "you played the whore...to provoke me to anger" ; Hos 11:8-9 "how can I give up on you?...I will not execute my burning anger...for I am God"

HIS LOVE IS EVIDENT 
I have the evidence of His love written in His Word, thus written on my heart.  Forever etched in eternity is the sacrificial love that Jesus Christ has for Rachel Noble (and for all of us who are in Christ).  The cross of Christ solidifies forever the announcement of His love for His people.  Amen!
2 Cor 3:3 "written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" ; Col 2:14-15 "this He set aside, nailing it to the cross.  He disarmed the rulers...by triumphing over them in Him" ; 1 Cor 15:55 "o death where is your victory, o death, where is your sting" ; Col 1:20 :making peace by the blood of the cross"

Blessings of being "IN CHRIST"

Thank you, Trinity College of Florida for putting on this event tonight.  What a blessing to hear from Jerry Bridges tonight.  He was so encouraging.  He talked about the blessings that come from being "IN CHRIST" and how every growth we see in our spiritual life and in our ministry come from our union with Christ - a topic that never grows old.

He talked about the importance of realizing that Jesus Christ did not just DIE for us, He LIVED for us.  He lived perfectly for us.  That means that I lived a perfect life IN CHRIST.  Because I am in Christ, God the Father does not see me for all the sinful rebellious things I've done, He sees me as perfect - perfectly covered by the blood of Christ.

Jesus' intimate relationship with God the Father is MY intimate relationship with God the Father because I am IN CHRIST.  When He died on the cross, I died on the cross.  I am united with Christ!  I have been justified!  I have been adopted!  I am a new creation IN CHRIST!

This news never "gets old."  Jerry's message tonight could never get old because it was saturated with the news that I am IN CHRIST - the best news ever!  I've been a Christian most of my life and it still brings a smile to my face to hear that I am IN CHRIST and that I share in the in inheritance of Christ.  This is why, as Jerry said, we must preach the gospel to ourselves DAILY.  The gospel is not the message we hear in order to become a Christian.  It is the message we hear, live, read, and remind ourselves of everyday.  Jerry ended tonight's talk with saying that we must accurately put obeying the law of God (sanctification) with reminding ourselves of the gracious gospel message (justification).

Let's thank the Lord for the life and ministry of Jerry Bridges.  He's a pretty cool "old" dude, and I'm blessed that I got to hear from him tonight.

Seeing Red - How to Forgive

"Washed by the blood of Jesus?"  This is strange language to many, but to Christ-followers it's our anthem.

The other day, I began thinking about sin.  Not just sin in general, but specific sins of those I know, including myself.  I began to wonder how some people get past certain sins - sins done to them and the guilt of sins committed.  Sin and guilt have the power to completely ruin lives.  We as humans do some unimaginable and grotesque things.  How can a husband forgive a cheating wife?  How can a parent forgive the child who murders his sister?  How can children forgive parents who abandon or abuse them?  How can a church forgive a pastor who betrays them?  How can a friend forgive the one who lies and stabs them in the back?  And how can we forgive ourselves for doing the things we know are wrong, but we do them anyway?

Before I even thought any of those things, I knew the answer.  I began seeing red.  I began to picture all of those terrible things covered in a blanket of red.  Red - because it's the blood of Jesus that covers those sins.  Our sin is covered with the power of Jesus' blood.

This image depicts this and etches in my mind that every sin is forgivable.  Every sin can be covered by the blood of the Lamb.  Whenever guilt begins to creep up, let's see it in red.  Whenever hatred towards those who have sinned against us begins to sink in, let's see it in red.  Let's take that sin and toss it into the ocean of Christ's blood because His blood has the power of forgiveness.  Our sin drowns without hope in His blood.  God forgives us and sees us as covered by the blood of Jesus because He dealt with our sin on the cross.

"this is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins"  Matthew 26:28
"we have now been justified by His blood"  Romans 5:9
"in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses"  Ephesians 1:7
"you..have been brought near by the blood of Christ" Ephesians 2:13
"the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin"  1 John 1:7

The gospel message  should pervade our lives.  Every aspect of life has a gospel answer.  The gospel tells us that we are forgiven when we put our faith in Jesus Christ alone.  The forgiven of God should be the first to forgive.  In Matthew 18 when Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother who sins against him, Jesus says "not seven, but seventy times seven."  Later he describes a parable about the unforgiving servant and gives a command at the end that we are to forgive each other from the heart.  If the forgiveness of God is everlasting in our lives, should not our forgiveness never run out on others?

The answer to how we can forgive even the most grotesque sins is the GOSPEL.  If you're struggling to forgive, find your answer in the gospel.  Jesus died and rose again defeating sin and death.  Sin was taken care of at the cross.  Only by leaning on the cross, only by trusting the gospel, only by being covered by the blood of Jesus, only by "seeing red" can we look at sins (even ones that deeply hurt us) and forgive.  The freedom of forgiveness is found in the cross of Christ where Jesus' blood was spilled and covered a multitude of sins.

"...without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins."  Hebrews 9:22

LISTEN TO:
Kristian Stanfill's Jesus Paid It All:  "What can wash away my sin - nothing but the blood of Jesus"
Chris Tomlin's At the Cross:  "Where Your love ran red and my sin washed white"

The Ministry of the Word

"It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

The early church just fascinates me.   Here in Acts 6 the apostles are working relentlessly for the furthering of the gospel.  However, there arose a complaint about the widows being neglected.  If this complaint happened in today's church I can see a lot of pastors feeling guilty, stopping whatever they are doing, and addressing this personally.  This, of course, would come from a heart of compassion and a desire to make the widows feel loved and valued (which is honorable).  However, this was NOT the response the apostles had.  They were not about to put the preaching and teaching of God's Word and prayer on the back-burner in order to "serve tables".  This may seem strange and perhaps arrogant, but if we look at this text, that's simply what we see.

The apostles do take care of this issue, but in a way that did not neglect their primary duty which was the teaching of the Word.  The apostles call for men of wisdom and good reputation to carry out this task of serving.  The serving ministry is what we call the office of deacon as seen in 1 Timothy 3.

I once knew a pastor who was "faulted" with being "too theological" and perhaps not relevant enough.  This saddens me immensely because it's literally impossible for a pastor to be "too" concerned with studying God and His Word!

Today our culture (even within the church) finds theology boring, preaching irrelevant, and Biblical knowledge for those of some "higher level" of Christianity.  Funny jokes, games, sports, and having coffee together have become more important than the true study of God's Word.  This should horrify us!

I recently spoke with a woman who told me that she had trouble finding a youth group for her children to attend.  Her kids hated and were bored with every youth service they attended.  At first, we would think it was the child's fault, but the reason they hated it was because there was no actual Bible study going on.  It was all fun and games, watching movies, and hanging out.  There was about 5 minutes of Bible study taught by a "youth leader" who had no Biblical knowledge whatsoever.  This should sadden us.

The study of God's Word must be at the forefront of what we do as a local church.  Our pastors (and any person who has a teaching or leading position) should devote themselves to the study of God's Word and to prayer just as the apostles did in the early church.

I'm not saying that pastors shouldn't serve or that various ministries of the church shouldn't have fun and games, but it shouldn't be done at the expense of the teaching and preaching ministry. Deacons were established in the early church with the primary responsibility of serving.   Fun, games, and Christian fellowship are certainly important and should come as an outflow of a community of people who are centered around God's Word and the gospel.  The gospel holds us together. Enjoying the same games, watching the same movies, or having the same friends is not what binds us as Christians.  The gospel binds us.

Let's be the people of God who focus on the Word of God for the glory of God!

I Cannot But Speak

"We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

The apostles did not back down from proclaiming what they had seen and heard.  Peter and John tell us in Acts chapter 4 that they couldn't help but speak about what they had experienced.   What they saw, so radically changed their lives that they took those very lives and dedicated them back to what they saw - Jesus Christ risen from the dead!  They just couldn't help it!

Their dedication to the proclamation of the gospel brought about suffering and imprisonment, but it didn't stop them.   The book of Acts follows the work of the apostles and the expansion of the early church.  The pattern we see the apostles fall into is preaching, being arrested, preaching, being arrested.  They continued to preach even when everyone was against them.  It's as if they just couldn't help it!

In a way, I would suggest that the backlash they received fueled them.  Persecution often fuels a fire.  Their passion for gospel-sharing inspires me and at the same time almost embarrasses me.  It embarrasses me because I'm ashamed that I don't also have this same passion for the miracle that happened on the cross.  It's not just that a Man came back to life; it's the fact that His death bore the wrath of God for me.  I no longer stand guilty before the Father!

The early Christians literally couldn't help themselves.  They shared the gospel even when it meant torture, shame, arrest, and imprisonment!  Today if we feel the slightest embarrassment, we stop talking.  Or if we even have a thought that we might be embarrassed, we stop talking.  For some it isn't embarrassment but sheer laziness.  I'm afraid that Peter and John would be disappointed at how we have lost the awe and wonder of the precious gospel message.  I pray this is not the case in my life.

The good news is that the same Spirit that indwelt those early Christians also indwells us!  We have the same Spirit! My prayer is that I won't be able to help myself!   I won't be able to do anything but speak of the awesome truth that Jesus is alive and my sin is dealt with!  Let's share Jesus with the world!

I'm reminded of the song Mercy by Matt Redman - "may we never loose the wonder of Your mercy!"

Exposition to Exaltation - Passion

Surrounded by thousands of believers with hands raised, singing and praising the name of Jesus, attentive to the Word of God while shedding tears because of the reality of His shed blood - what an experience!

Last weekend I attended the Passion Conference, and I want to share a little bit of my experience.  I got to hear from John Piper, whose ministry has deeply affected my life and theology.  His message, along with the others, is still resonating with me.

Being among believers and singing praises to God is a wonderful experience.  We've all had those times when we are meditating on the beauty of the cross and the power of the gospel and singing our hearts out.  John Piper, in his message last weekend, talked about this cycle that we as Christians do - preaching and singing, preaching and singing....we do it every week.  What does singing have to do with anything?  Why do we talk about the same book every week and then sing?  (When we say it like that it certainly seems odd.)  There is, of course, a reason behind it.  His point was that the exposition of God's Word results in our exaltation of Him.

That statement has powerful implications, and I've seen it in my life.  The times I have felt the most in awe of God is after hearing the preaching and teaching of God's Word.  When I am attentive to the preaching of God's Word, it penetrates my heart and what streams out of it is singing, praise, worship, and sometimes tears.  A pierced heart cannot but gush out a flood of praise.  Praise is what happens when the Spirit of God speaks to the people of God by shining a light on the Word of God.  Let us praise the Lord authentically by being attentive to the His  Word.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for illuminating Your Word to us!  Thank you, Jesus, for being the Word come in the flesh.  And thank you, Father, for having all of this in Your perfect foreknowledge and plan.  You deserve our praise - always!  I can't wait to get to heaven and sing Your praises forever and ever.  (A smile just came across my face thinking about that!)