11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him
A crystal football is raised, thousands of pounds of confetti is dropped as 50,000 fans cheer as the band plays. Auburn had just won its first title in 53 years and the awards ceremony was a rather large public spectacle. Next week there is another celebration at the stadium, and just like last year when Auburn's rival Alabama won, the trophy will be on tour so that you can go and get your picture taking with it. The trophy which is a crystal football is physical proof that there is only one champion and so it alone draws people to it as everyone wants to be identified with a winner.
Read what Paul says in the verses above. God planned the Cross to make a once and for all victorious public spectacle over sin and death by nailing it to the Cross. The Cross is unlike any other spectacle since as it has eternal staying power and requires no previous affiliation, but only eternal allegiance to Christ. The joy we feel for a football championship should be infinitely multiplied as we look at the Cross and Christ.
Why can we get so fired up about games and trophies yet at times remain so blase about Christ and His cross? Unlike football teams, in which we have to worry about next season, the cross is the only spectacle that has eternal and lasting meaning. It is an eternal public spectacle over all creation that even angels admire. Christ on the Cross was a planned victory by the Father. Jesus has been raised on high and is now at the right hand of the Father in His Glory. he desires that we all follow Him to the father, but the biggest challenge to that is our idols here on Earth that satisfy us instead of His love. We all need to be careful over which public spectacles hold our admiration, thoughts and affections.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Rich Towards God
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
As you read this, what is your focus of the day? Is your focus on acquiring more stuff through hard work? Have you been tempted out of contentment by the allure of the things of this world, and not dialed into God?
Those are hard questions to answer if we are honest. The fool that spent his life building bigger barns, only to see it scattered to others as he met death would probably give us council not to do the same thing. But yet we can find ourselves on the same path at times, at least mentally.
How do we overcome this? Learning how to be rich toward God. What does that mean? I believe it means joyfully having our thoughts, actions, words, money and time captivated by the Cross. I believe that it means finding intense satisfaction in God alone so that the value of bigger and better worldly things diminish in value. We must shift our focus away from the things of this world and towards God. Even if self denial of the things of this world is the focus, it will control us without the grace of God captivating our hearts.
Let me give you an example. If your true focus is on trying not to eat that brownie that you want, it will dominate your thoughts and eventually overcome you. You may avoid it for some time, but since it owns your thoughts you will eventually give in. If your true focus is on the health that you desire as a result of not eating the brownie, then you are able to overcome the desire to eat that brownie as your desire is on health, not brownies. The change in desires drives a different lifestyle.
It is the same with our spiritual health. We need to ask God to direct our lives, souls and actions to being rich towards God. We need to be captivated by Him and His grace. Yes we need to sprint away from the allure of this world, but the only staying power available in that process is that our heart's desire finds it ultimate satisfaction in Christ alone. All other efforts may yield temporary victories, but will ultimately revert back to serve our desires.
So where are your desires held at this moment? Your life will be driven by them so be careful.
As you read this, what is your focus of the day? Is your focus on acquiring more stuff through hard work? Have you been tempted out of contentment by the allure of the things of this world, and not dialed into God?
Those are hard questions to answer if we are honest. The fool that spent his life building bigger barns, only to see it scattered to others as he met death would probably give us council not to do the same thing. But yet we can find ourselves on the same path at times, at least mentally.
How do we overcome this? Learning how to be rich toward God. What does that mean? I believe it means joyfully having our thoughts, actions, words, money and time captivated by the Cross. I believe that it means finding intense satisfaction in God alone so that the value of bigger and better worldly things diminish in value. We must shift our focus away from the things of this world and towards God. Even if self denial of the things of this world is the focus, it will control us without the grace of God captivating our hearts.
Let me give you an example. If your true focus is on trying not to eat that brownie that you want, it will dominate your thoughts and eventually overcome you. You may avoid it for some time, but since it owns your thoughts you will eventually give in. If your true focus is on the health that you desire as a result of not eating the brownie, then you are able to overcome the desire to eat that brownie as your desire is on health, not brownies. The change in desires drives a different lifestyle.
It is the same with our spiritual health. We need to ask God to direct our lives, souls and actions to being rich towards God. We need to be captivated by Him and His grace. Yes we need to sprint away from the allure of this world, but the only staying power available in that process is that our heart's desire finds it ultimate satisfaction in Christ alone. All other efforts may yield temporary victories, but will ultimately revert back to serve our desires.
So where are your desires held at this moment? Your life will be driven by them so be careful.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Pop tarts and Self Justification
Luke 16:14 The pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of these things and they ridiculed him (Jesus). 15 And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted in the sight of men is an abomination in the sight of God.
"Dad I want a bag of goldfish. I ate half of the pop tart." The words of Eli my four year old as he tries to justify his actions and desires. He knows that he can not have a snack until he eats his breakfast and so he does his best to work the system.
Self Justification is something we are born with and it can lead us astray. We all want to feel as though as long as we are better than the next guy, then we are doing great. The problem with the process of self justification is that it points to our own acts, but only a select set of actions. We want people to know the good stuff that we do so that the bad stuff kind of gets forgotten about.
I know that I have tried to justify many of my thoughts, words, purchases and decisions. It ain't a good thing. Look at what Jesus says about men that love money and justify themselves. He says that they exalt their own actions in an attempt to justify themselves and that is an abomination to God. We are to exalt God so that He may justify our actions, not exalt our actions so that we can hopefully be justified before God.
That stings a little if we are honest. As Jesus said, God knows our hearts and He knows why we do what we do. Examine your heart and ask, "What am I doing that I think justifies me?". " What is it that I think makes me more worthy to God than other people?" Then quickly realize that any action aside form worship of Christ is stealing the Glory from the only one who can Justify, Jesus Christ.
"Dad I want a bag of goldfish. I ate half of the pop tart." The words of Eli my four year old as he tries to justify his actions and desires. He knows that he can not have a snack until he eats his breakfast and so he does his best to work the system.
Self Justification is something we are born with and it can lead us astray. We all want to feel as though as long as we are better than the next guy, then we are doing great. The problem with the process of self justification is that it points to our own acts, but only a select set of actions. We want people to know the good stuff that we do so that the bad stuff kind of gets forgotten about.
I know that I have tried to justify many of my thoughts, words, purchases and decisions. It ain't a good thing. Look at what Jesus says about men that love money and justify themselves. He says that they exalt their own actions in an attempt to justify themselves and that is an abomination to God. We are to exalt God so that He may justify our actions, not exalt our actions so that we can hopefully be justified before God.
That stings a little if we are honest. As Jesus said, God knows our hearts and He knows why we do what we do. Examine your heart and ask, "What am I doing that I think justifies me?". " What is it that I think makes me more worthy to God than other people?" Then quickly realize that any action aside form worship of Christ is stealing the Glory from the only one who can Justify, Jesus Christ.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Understanding the Options, but refusing Faith
Jude 1:5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
When I think about these strong words of Christ's half brother Jude, it really impresses upon me a huge thought. I see it all through scripture and in the world I live in day to day. That large thought is that God has expressed Himself very clearly, yet many are quite content to ignore His Will and Desire.
Think about the Jews being freed out of Egypt. Everyone of them had seen the 10 plagues highlighted with a passover celebration/slaughter. They had been led through the red sea as it parted. They were eye witnesses to the greatest military power known to the World at that time be conquered by God Himself in a way that no person could claim credit for and He plundered the Egyptian captors to bless the Jews to boot. They were led by God as a pillar of fire at night, and as a cloud of smoke during the day. They were fed and watered by Christ Himself as manna and living water. If there ever was a group that had encountered the physical presence of Yahweh, these folks were it. Before you skim on through this, stop and really think through all of what they had seen, and the Good and Blessings that God wanted to impart to His people. Understand that He had shown Himself strong and also made Himself clear about His power and their need of faith in Him. No one in their right mind with all of that understanding would choose to go back and make bricks in the desert. No one would think, "I don't want the promise land". Yet that is exactly what they did (except 2, Joshua and Caleb). To improve upon our own understanding, we must ask why?
The answer was fear. The reason for the fear is that they were still trusting in themselves, and not God even after His exhaustive efforts (even though nothing exhausts God) to show His great worthiness. They saw with man made vision a race of Giants and rightly deduced their inability to conquer the land. Caleb and Joshua were the only two who used a faith fueled -kingdom vision to see the promises of God waiting for them.
Faith involves risk. Faith involves letting go of every crazy idea of self control. Faith is slitting the throat of pride in you, as you come to the end of your self. Faith involves celebrating the greatness of God and son ship with Him. Faith is initiated by grace and allows us to process our opportunities with a kingdom vision.
Make no mistake about it though, faith is imparted as we walk through walls of fear for His glory. That may look different for all of us, but there is no story of faith in the Bible in which God does not squeeze out faith in self by putting Giants, Armies, Floods, Firestorms, the opportunity to carry God's baby in a womb, Sacrifices, Journeys into unknown lands, impregnable fortresses, swords, murderers, thieves and other hurdles directly in the path of those who He wants to draw to Himself.
Faith conquers fear. It is an active link to the overflow of God. It is not an idea or concept, but a power that is only available after you submit to Christ as king.
Ask yourself this, "Is my Faith simply an understanding of the availability of God's power, or is it an active agent in your life that is being increased as you serve the Living God?" Remember that the Egyptians had a much clearer physial understanding of God's power, will and desire, yet mistakenly would not give themselves to be God's servants. They were to busy looking at themselves and not God. Are you?
When I think about these strong words of Christ's half brother Jude, it really impresses upon me a huge thought. I see it all through scripture and in the world I live in day to day. That large thought is that God has expressed Himself very clearly, yet many are quite content to ignore His Will and Desire.
Think about the Jews being freed out of Egypt. Everyone of them had seen the 10 plagues highlighted with a passover celebration/slaughter. They had been led through the red sea as it parted. They were eye witnesses to the greatest military power known to the World at that time be conquered by God Himself in a way that no person could claim credit for and He plundered the Egyptian captors to bless the Jews to boot. They were led by God as a pillar of fire at night, and as a cloud of smoke during the day. They were fed and watered by Christ Himself as manna and living water. If there ever was a group that had encountered the physical presence of Yahweh, these folks were it. Before you skim on through this, stop and really think through all of what they had seen, and the Good and Blessings that God wanted to impart to His people. Understand that He had shown Himself strong and also made Himself clear about His power and their need of faith in Him. No one in their right mind with all of that understanding would choose to go back and make bricks in the desert. No one would think, "I don't want the promise land". Yet that is exactly what they did (except 2, Joshua and Caleb). To improve upon our own understanding, we must ask why?
The answer was fear. The reason for the fear is that they were still trusting in themselves, and not God even after His exhaustive efforts (even though nothing exhausts God) to show His great worthiness. They saw with man made vision a race of Giants and rightly deduced their inability to conquer the land. Caleb and Joshua were the only two who used a faith fueled -kingdom vision to see the promises of God waiting for them.
Faith involves risk. Faith involves letting go of every crazy idea of self control. Faith is slitting the throat of pride in you, as you come to the end of your self. Faith involves celebrating the greatness of God and son ship with Him. Faith is initiated by grace and allows us to process our opportunities with a kingdom vision.
Make no mistake about it though, faith is imparted as we walk through walls of fear for His glory. That may look different for all of us, but there is no story of faith in the Bible in which God does not squeeze out faith in self by putting Giants, Armies, Floods, Firestorms, the opportunity to carry God's baby in a womb, Sacrifices, Journeys into unknown lands, impregnable fortresses, swords, murderers, thieves and other hurdles directly in the path of those who He wants to draw to Himself.
Faith conquers fear. It is an active link to the overflow of God. It is not an idea or concept, but a power that is only available after you submit to Christ as king.
Ask yourself this, "Is my Faith simply an understanding of the availability of God's power, or is it an active agent in your life that is being increased as you serve the Living God?" Remember that the Egyptians had a much clearer physial understanding of God's power, will and desire, yet mistakenly would not give themselves to be God's servants. They were to busy looking at themselves and not God. Are you?
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Rejection of Purpose
Luke 7:30 but the pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves
Pupose is defined as being the reason that something exists, or is done, made or used.
One of the saddest commentaries available for any human is Luke's commentary of the lawyers and pharisees. John the baptist was preparing the way for Christ by preaching repentance and submission through baptism and they saw themselves righteouss in their own eyes. They thought their purpose was to earn God's favor by being strictly religious and to manage other peoples sin as well. They were unable to see their own sins as self pride and self righteousness had blinded them from the truth. When John came calling saying "get ready, the King and the Kingdom are coming, repent and prepare yoruselves to receive Him", they didn't see any need for him or his charge, as they viewed themselves as righteous already.
Whether we say it out loud or not, this same battle of self justification is the war that must be fought in the soul of every human being. That includes me and you. Quite clearly Jesus rejects those who see themselves as worthy to commune with him, and He heals, restores and communes those that do not see themselves as worthy to look at His face or be in His presence. We all need to look deep into the window of our soul and ask, "whose righteousness are we counting on, Jesus or mine?" And I am not talking about our rehearsed lines in Church. I am talking about what is going on in our soul, heart, brain and life 24/7/365. This is critical as it forms the foundation of our faith, purpose, life and actions.
It is only when we are 100% reliant on Christ, that our lives radiate the glory of God to the world. This is what we were created for, and this is His purpose for us all. Be careful to not reject the purposes of God for your life and soul.
It is only through Christ that we can fulfill our purpose of existing, to give glory to God. Is this what drives you and is it your purpose?
Pupose is defined as being the reason that something exists, or is done, made or used.
One of the saddest commentaries available for any human is Luke's commentary of the lawyers and pharisees. John the baptist was preparing the way for Christ by preaching repentance and submission through baptism and they saw themselves righteouss in their own eyes. They thought their purpose was to earn God's favor by being strictly religious and to manage other peoples sin as well. They were unable to see their own sins as self pride and self righteousness had blinded them from the truth. When John came calling saying "get ready, the King and the Kingdom are coming, repent and prepare yoruselves to receive Him", they didn't see any need for him or his charge, as they viewed themselves as righteous already.
Whether we say it out loud or not, this same battle of self justification is the war that must be fought in the soul of every human being. That includes me and you. Quite clearly Jesus rejects those who see themselves as worthy to commune with him, and He heals, restores and communes those that do not see themselves as worthy to look at His face or be in His presence. We all need to look deep into the window of our soul and ask, "whose righteousness are we counting on, Jesus or mine?" And I am not talking about our rehearsed lines in Church. I am talking about what is going on in our soul, heart, brain and life 24/7/365. This is critical as it forms the foundation of our faith, purpose, life and actions.
It is only when we are 100% reliant on Christ, that our lives radiate the glory of God to the world. This is what we were created for, and this is His purpose for us all. Be careful to not reject the purposes of God for your life and soul.
It is only through Christ that we can fulfill our purpose of existing, to give glory to God. Is this what drives you and is it your purpose?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
A Hatred of Sin
Jude 1:23 save others by a snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
My two year old Luke, loves chocolate, spaghetti, ketchup, syrup and just about anything else that can make a nasty stain on his clothes. There are times when I would swear that he is more intent on messing up his clothes than actually feeding himself, but his big tummy lets me know he is doing both quite well. One of Evie's least favorite things to do is laundry as it never seems to end with four kids. She does it everyday though. The reason why she launders away is because she cares enough for her children to know that they shouldn't be walking around with stains all over them. She respects them enough to keep them cleaned up and presentable.
Why is Jude so concerned with stains in the verse above? I believe that hating the garment stained by the flesh refers to a hatred of sin, its power and its effects or stains that it leaves on people, who God crested to bear His image. Believers are to absolutely have a severe passionate hatred of sin. God does. He should. Our sin taints his recreated glory in his kids and he doesn't like it one bit. Our goal as we extend mercy is to fearfully tell of the Works of Christ that delivered us from sin. We haven't earned it or deserved it, He just mercifully chose us. It seems like we have missed that a bit in our church culture. We should all ask the question do I love the Holiness of Christ to the extent that I hate sin as He does? If we are not careful we can invent a supposed middle ground, where we offer a synthetic Gospel that does not tear down idols or free people from sin, but instead offers a routine of modeling nice and pleasant behaviors. That type of Gospel is really no Gospel at all, but a man made attempt to justify one's self.
So where do you stand? Do you see the need for Christ's holiness to remove them for m you? Do you hate sin? Do you believe Jesus came to free people from sin, or enable them in it? Do you hate your own sin or do you just suppress it some and keep it close enough to pull out when no one is looking or you need immediate satisfaction?
Some of the hardest love to give is when we care enough about people to help them see the Light of Christ and their own sin and idols, and ask them to truly make a decision on which they will worship. It is exactly what Jesus did and what Jude is charging the first century believers to do. I pray that we will all be able to see God's holy hatred of sin and his Holy desire to free us from it by the blood of Christ.
My two year old Luke, loves chocolate, spaghetti, ketchup, syrup and just about anything else that can make a nasty stain on his clothes. There are times when I would swear that he is more intent on messing up his clothes than actually feeding himself, but his big tummy lets me know he is doing both quite well. One of Evie's least favorite things to do is laundry as it never seems to end with four kids. She does it everyday though. The reason why she launders away is because she cares enough for her children to know that they shouldn't be walking around with stains all over them. She respects them enough to keep them cleaned up and presentable.
Why is Jude so concerned with stains in the verse above? I believe that hating the garment stained by the flesh refers to a hatred of sin, its power and its effects or stains that it leaves on people, who God crested to bear His image. Believers are to absolutely have a severe passionate hatred of sin. God does. He should. Our sin taints his recreated glory in his kids and he doesn't like it one bit. Our goal as we extend mercy is to fearfully tell of the Works of Christ that delivered us from sin. We haven't earned it or deserved it, He just mercifully chose us. It seems like we have missed that a bit in our church culture. We should all ask the question do I love the Holiness of Christ to the extent that I hate sin as He does? If we are not careful we can invent a supposed middle ground, where we offer a synthetic Gospel that does not tear down idols or free people from sin, but instead offers a routine of modeling nice and pleasant behaviors. That type of Gospel is really no Gospel at all, but a man made attempt to justify one's self.
So where do you stand? Do you see the need for Christ's holiness to remove them for m you? Do you hate sin? Do you believe Jesus came to free people from sin, or enable them in it? Do you hate your own sin or do you just suppress it some and keep it close enough to pull out when no one is looking or you need immediate satisfaction?
Some of the hardest love to give is when we care enough about people to help them see the Light of Christ and their own sin and idols, and ask them to truly make a decision on which they will worship. It is exactly what Jesus did and what Jude is charging the first century believers to do. I pray that we will all be able to see God's holy hatred of sin and his Holy desire to free us from it by the blood of Christ.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Who made you the Boss?
Luke 20: 1 One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” 3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
It is amazing to watch my kids assume authority. This morning it was Eli trying to direct us in what he was going to eat for breakfast. Apparently he not only thought he knew what was best for him to eat, but he also thought had the power and authority to eat what he wanted. He is 0 for 2. I've got a feeling that this day will not pass without some hard-love from dad as the rebel in him is quite strong today.
We are all born with a rebellious heart and a desire to be our own authority. The Pharisees looked at Jesus, and all of His love and miracles dead in the face and and asked Him "Who made you the Authority?". Jesus is long and love, and patience, in His response to the power hungry rebels. He in turn says " From where was the power of the baptism of John?" Jesus knew that John's ministry was revealed through the Prophets long ago and it pointed to Christ's coming. The pharisees find them selves trapped because the people knew that John was a prophet so they could not say from man, but if they said from God then Jesus would say, 'Why didn't you believe him -and in turn God and in turn -ME! they would of had to answer their own question His way! So here we find the pharisees trapped in their own power grab. They decide the best route is to back out and turn away from Christ and His authority over them, their lives and death.
We sometimes can't sense it, but this encounter really defines us individually, and collectively as a Church, and in turn our society. The question is what do we do with Jesus and His authority over our lives? Do we ignore His hard words like "deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me", "If you love me you will obey my commandments" (John 14), "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt 28), and "these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me (Luke 19:27 -a parable about His reign). Do we ignore His authority over our lives and question the Bible as His word and just replace it with a bunch of well schooled fine sounding arguments? The bible warns against all of these activities. It also warns that wolves in sheep clothing will introduce all of these lies in to the Church, so beware.
We must all be aware that our nature is to reject authority over us just as Eve did in Genesis 3. If we believe that we have the right to question God, as He has chosen to reveal Himself in Christ and His word let's all be aware that we are simply in the same trap as the pharisees. Ignorant of the God in front of us, slithering away from Love so that we can remain "in charge".
So where do you find yourself? Aware of Christ's desires for yoru life or aware of your own?
It is amazing to watch my kids assume authority. This morning it was Eli trying to direct us in what he was going to eat for breakfast. Apparently he not only thought he knew what was best for him to eat, but he also thought had the power and authority to eat what he wanted. He is 0 for 2. I've got a feeling that this day will not pass without some hard-love from dad as the rebel in him is quite strong today.
We are all born with a rebellious heart and a desire to be our own authority. The Pharisees looked at Jesus, and all of His love and miracles dead in the face and and asked Him "Who made you the Authority?". Jesus is long and love, and patience, in His response to the power hungry rebels. He in turn says " From where was the power of the baptism of John?" Jesus knew that John's ministry was revealed through the Prophets long ago and it pointed to Christ's coming. The pharisees find them selves trapped because the people knew that John was a prophet so they could not say from man, but if they said from God then Jesus would say, 'Why didn't you believe him -and in turn God and in turn -ME! they would of had to answer their own question His way! So here we find the pharisees trapped in their own power grab. They decide the best route is to back out and turn away from Christ and His authority over them, their lives and death.
We sometimes can't sense it, but this encounter really defines us individually, and collectively as a Church, and in turn our society. The question is what do we do with Jesus and His authority over our lives? Do we ignore His hard words like "deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me", "If you love me you will obey my commandments" (John 14), "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt 28), and "these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me (Luke 19:27 -a parable about His reign). Do we ignore His authority over our lives and question the Bible as His word and just replace it with a bunch of well schooled fine sounding arguments? The bible warns against all of these activities. It also warns that wolves in sheep clothing will introduce all of these lies in to the Church, so beware.
We must all be aware that our nature is to reject authority over us just as Eve did in Genesis 3. If we believe that we have the right to question God, as He has chosen to reveal Himself in Christ and His word let's all be aware that we are simply in the same trap as the pharisees. Ignorant of the God in front of us, slithering away from Love so that we can remain "in charge".
So where do you find yourself? Aware of Christ's desires for yoru life or aware of your own?
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