Obtaining Perfection

God has called us to perfection and to be holy (beauty and joy). Fortunately, perfection and holiness has been fully accomplished in Jesus and not in our own works or efforts. Through Jesus, we have the freedom to pursue what He has obtained, perfection (beauty and joy), without fear of reprisal when we fail.

We don't owe God

I cannot live a life of "Christ died for me, so what will I do for God". We don't owe God anything, Christ paid it all.

God will give us more than we can handle

There is a saying, "God will not give you more than we can handle". This is not true. The fact is He will. But God will not give us anything He can't handle.

Shaken bottle

You have heard the saying comparing trials to a container filled with liquid that states that when we are shaken who we truly are comes out. This is true . . . but I am finding out that who I truly am is not so great. And when I am shaken, sin is right there with me. I am so thankful that this life we live is not about who I am, but it is about who He is. And as I trust in His grace, He glorifies Himself in my life, because He is bigger than all my faults and sins. He is God and I am not.

May God enable others to see my weakness

This may sound strange. But hope others see me as weak. Not in a pitiful sense, but in the sense that what ever strength is seen in me is credited to Christ, and not to me. If my words are strong, it is because Christ is strong. If my actions are strong, it is because Christ is strong. This gives God the glory.

Also I don't want to be seen as strong, because it gives way for people believing that if they just do this, or have this much quiet time, or read this much, that that is what it takes to live the Christian walk. No, it is by grace and grace alone. By seeking the face of Christ. By falling in love with Christ and wanting to know Him. The sick were healed when they came to Christ. We are sanctified when we come to Christ.

So I hope others see me as weak, but also see the power of Christ in me and know that He is faithful, strong, and loving.

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled upright, and godly lives in this present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." --Titus 2:11-14

"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest in me." -- 2 Corinthians 12:9

One more time - Disciple

Christians are not morally superior than non-Christians

"The Gospel is the only faith system I know that leads you to expect that people who don't believe like you believe will be better than you. What!? Yes! Because the Gospel says your not saved because your wise; your not saved because your good; your not saved because your virtuous; your not saved because your performing the truth. You are saved because Jesus performs the truth. And you can't get a salvation unless you admit that you are not any better than anyone else, that you are a sinner and that you need grace. And therefore the Gospel leads you to expect that the people who don't agree with you could easily be and usually are better people than you, wiser, nicer, more disciplined, more self controlled, kinder, less likely to fly off the handle; and they are. Every other system of thought leads you to believe that you will be better than the people who do not believe the right things, but the Gospel says if you believe the Gospel you are likely to see other people who don't believe the Gospel better than you. In other words, the Gospel humbles you before the people who don't agree with you. Humbles you! I don't know of any other system that would do that."

--Timothy Keller
Exclusivity of Christianity

Lord, come and find me

My pastor was told a story about lady who for years prayed "Lord, help me find You." She was frustrated because she never felt any closer to the Lord. One day she was talking to the pastor about the struggle and he told that she was praying the wrong pray. He said pray this, "Lord, come and find me." She did, and the Lord did find her.

heroes

My sister is fighting for her marriage. Her husband told her that he wants a divorce. What do you tell those women who choose to fight for a marriage even when they are being mistreated. Do you tell them, "God will make things better? Just have faith, things will be great." Or do you tell them, "I don't know what will happen, things may not be great, but God promises that He is with you, and even in the suffering He will be faithful, and in this you are so dear to Him. Press into Him."

There are stories of women, who have faithfully endured hard marriages for decades and continued to honor their husbands according to 1 Peter 3. There are not only wives in hard marriages, but many men and women in different situations who have chosen to suffer for the gospel's sake. Who are your heroes? I put these men and women, who did not pursue a better life, but instead one of a lifetime of suffering and faithfulness because they trusted God at His word, on my list of heroes.

1 Peter 2:18 says, "Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if , when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you and example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. Likewise, wives . . ."

I don't know what will happen to my sister or how strong she will be (I don't know if I would be strong enough, myself) and I definitely press into prayer that God will bless her and restore her; but more importantly I pray that God will uphold her to stand on His word. And I pray that instead of running away from the pain, that God will allow me to help her carry it however long it takes.

the kind intention of His will

10And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER." 13Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED." 14What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." 16So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

“16So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”

Paul associates this verse and concept with God’s name. Paul refers to Exodus 33:19 which says, “And He said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion’." Whatever we think about this verse, when Paul associates this with God’s name, it forces us to take this scripture seriously. I hear more people saying what they think or feel, instead of taking this scripture seriously and trying to come to grips with what it is saying. We can’t shy away from it because we are afraid. Paul won’t let us. Maybe you can show me, through the scriptures that it means something different than what I think, but you can’t come to this scripture and tell me that you do not believe it because of how you feel or what you think. And one of the things we surely cannot do is accuse God of being unjust or “making robots”. Paul is very clear about that. Paul writes, “19You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’ 20On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it?”

We can ignore scripture or we can face it like men, believing and trusting God like a child, knowing that what He has to say is good for us. And His purposes in this passage are kind, gentle and good. Read with me, Ephesians 1:3-8; “3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight”

My concern here is not to convince us of a doctrine, but to urge us to have trust in God’s word which is faithful. Instead of running from these scriptures or avoiding it because we do not like it, we must become like children who are not afraid to come close and hear the heart of God. Let the scriptures challenge you and reveal who God is and believe.

Security

sanctification

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
----------------------Ephesians 5:25-27

It can be fustrating, not having obtained perfection, to still fail and let God down. Our walk on this earth is not one of perfection, but of being perfected -sanctification. When we become saved, God doesn't take a huge fire hose and blast us with water. No, instead He comes close and gently washes us with the word. I don't understand why God does this, why we aren't made perfect. I hate the fact that I still sin. But I do know that this is romance, and somehow in all this, the romantic, gentle, loving character of God comes through. So in this walk where I am not perfect there is beauty and intimacy; and I am falling more in love with my Beloved.

Safe

“Aslan’s on the move…”

“Is – is he a man?” asked Lucy.

“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly, “certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the king of Beasts? Aslan is a lion, the great Lion.”

“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake.” Said Mrs. Beaver, “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he is good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

-------------C.S. Lewis

This weekend I listened to a song that talked about how God never grows weary. Thats good to know when have no strength. God is the one who enables you to run, in all situations. And He does not grow weary.

Written Sunday, October 28, 2007

When we base our Christian walk on how well we do, we become actors trying to fit the image of what this is thought to be. But when we come to God by grace and grace alone, we are free to be real.

It is not about impressing men or God, for God does not need to be impressed. Our greatest righteousness is like filthy rags.

Written Sunday, October 28, 2007 and Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Christian life is not "now that we are kings and princes, we walk out in our strength and work to see God's Kingdome come." It is Grace from first to last. We are not kings and priests of our own strength our righteousness and we never will be. We stand and press into the kingdom not by our works, but by His word that makes it so.

revival

A leter written to my sister seeral years ago

----True revival is a sovereign act of God in which He moves and acts in the hearts of His people to renew them and bring them closer to Himself. The work of the Holy Spirit is intensified in the lives of believers, both individually and corporately. It is God initiated and God controlled. It is not brought about by man or his desires, or works. It is God moving as He pleases.

---- In 1734, God brought about a revival under the preaching of a man named, Jonathan Edwards, a man of sound doctrine and whose preaching focused on the glory of God and not man. Lives were changed and many came to know Christ. Those in the church became passionate about God. Their praising became intense. Their emotions were intense and they freely expressed these emotions in church. They hungered for God and desired to live lives to His honor. The community was changed. And the Gospel was preached everywhere. This was called the Great Awakening.

----Yet there were some who were opposed to this in the church. They said an act of God would not make people so emotional. To this Jonathan Edwards wrote Religious Affections to explain the difference between true and false revival, and to show that it is right to have emotions in a true revival.

----There were other revivals in America in 1727, 1798, 1857, and 1905. After 1800, though a false revival began to be forming. Many began to believe that revival could come about at any time; you just had to have the right “formula”. These preachers believed that if they could bring about the emotional intensity that was marked in the Great Awakening and the other revivals and mass decisions for Christ, that surely this was revival. This came to be known as New School or New Measures. Preachers sought to bring about revival through methodology and techniques that would incite the emotions and “convince men to make a decision for Christ”. They would have a “revival meeting” or a “tent meetings”, in which they would prey on the emotions of men. Charles Finney was one of the leaders in this movement. There came to be an orientation toward the person instead of God. Where as Jonathan Edwards preached about the character and glory of God and sound doctrine, this new methodology focused on convincing man to make a decision and to have an emotional experience. And so many “mass decisions” were made. Yet the community was not affected, it was still as worldly as before and many who made “decisions” turned away from Christ, very few changed their lives, and very few had any discipleship. Evangelism came to mean decisions and numbers, rather than an act of God in some ones life, where they accept Him as Lord and Savior in a radical way.

----And so today, some continue to try to convince men to come to Christ by focusing on man rather than proclaiming God. And now we are in a state of decline where it is hard to tell the difference between a believer and a non-believer. In doing this we have become friends with the world, something the Bible says ought not to be done.

----Now that I have said this, I do believe that some who preach in revival do sincerely desire to obey God. And I would fight side by side with them. And they are truly my brothers and joy. God is bigger than our foolishness. And I do believe that God does work at these “revival meetings”. I also believe that there are some who truly follow sound doctrine and focus on God and not men, yet I would not call this “revival” but merely witnessing. And so you ask if “revivals” are ok. Well, if they are witnessing and discipling and preaching sound doctrine with a focus on the glory of God, then, yes, they are ok, yet this is actually merely witnessing as God has called us to witness. But if they compromise the character of God as many of these “revivals” do, than it is very evil. We are not God and should not presume to be.


P.S.
Yes, like Paul. We plead with men and strive that they might know Christ, but we plead as ambassadors of a King, not as ones who move the King or gives way to men.


Also about the Holy Spirit. Much of it is focussed on emotionalism rather than maturity. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are real and true and good, but it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that makes one mature. The gifts will pass away, but love will always remain. It is a matter of people focusing on the wrong thing.

effectual calling

Some will question God's effectual calling of men, saying that we must uphold the "responsibility of man". Man does have free will and responsibilty to choose God, but our free will is enslaved by our desires. We are born in sin and our desires are evil, we do not desire God. Man by his free will has rejected God, suppressing the truth and has made himself an enemy of God. This is where the "responsibility of man" takes us. We by our own free will reject God and all have become guilty and under the wrath of God. But then God who has determined to have a people for Himself, has also determined to save them through Christ. We are sinners by nature and therefore must be saved by God's grace.

"I have no hope at all but in thy great mercy. Grant what thou commandest and command what thou dost desire." --Augustine