10 Guidelines for Biblical Communication - 5

A FIFTH guideline for Biblical communication:

"If you hear of a conflict between two believers, don't react emotionally or take sides. Rather, remember that there are always TWO sides to each situation. Pray for reconciliation between your brothers and peace and unity within the church." See Proverbs 18:17 and Colossians 3:15.

There ARE always TWO sides to every conflict. Not only do we seldom know or hear both, but even if we do, we hear PART of the stories. It is very difficult not to take sides if one side is our spouse or child or close friend. In those cases, we already have an emotional investment in one side.

WISDOM is knowing that there are two sides and that we are likely to believe and feel for the FIRST to present his/her case to us. We need to KNOW this, even if the first is close to us and even if their case seems so clear and "case closed." HOW OFTEN I have heard the first side's convincing case and then heard the other side only to be even MORE affected and convinced. The truth is each side is likely to see things only as it has affected them. We tend to share through the grid of our own interests.

It will be loving and helpful to us in our own conflicts and to others in theirs to ask certain questions that will help us to consider "the rest of the story":

• Do I want the real truth to be known in this conflict?
• Am I willing to see that I was in the wrong?
• Have I realized that there IS more than one way to view what has happened?
• Am I concerned for my brother or sister's best interest, or only mine?
• Am I willing to be questioned by a third party to help bring reconciliation?
• Am I still reacting emotionally, or have I "cooled down" enough to think clearly?
• Have I been praying for God's will to be done and for Him to receive glory through this?
• Have I been searching the Scriptures so that they can shine their light on my heart's motives and my actions and speech and act as judge?
• Have I asked for help from someone who will love both sides and consider the case for both sides?
• Have I realized that much more is at stake in my conflict than that I be proven right? There is another brother's life. There is the health of the body of Christ. There is God's reputation.

If we are not one of the parties involved in a conflict between believers, God has called us to PRAY for true and lasting reconciliation between them. If we are brought into a conflict, God has called us to CONSIDER both sides as we help bring a solution. A few humbly and well-placed questions can help a brother come to his senses and realize the bigger picture.

May we be peace makers in our conflicts and as we are sovereignly brought into the conflicts of others.

10 Guidelines for Biblical Communication - 4

A FOURTH Biblical Guideline for Communication:

"If you find that YOU HAVE OFFENDED your brother or sister, go to them in privacy, humbly seeking to be reconciled."

Matthew 5:23-24: "So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

This guideline differs from #3 in that HERE the one who goes is the ONE WHO OFFENDED. That is, if I am aware or become aware that I have offended my brother, I must go to them and NOT WAIT FOR THEM TO COME TO ME. I have often had this line of thinking..."Well, they are acting towards me like something is wrong. I wonder if I did something? Well, if I did, they'll come to me and then I will know for sure and make it right. I don't want to create an issue if there is not one!"

God is SO concerned with right, reconciled relationships between His children that whether we OFFENDED or WERE OFFENDED, HE COMMANDS us to go to our brother. Ideally, if there has been an offense and both parties realize it, they will MEET SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE coming to see each other to make things right! The point is, we are to be so concerned with maintaining relationships of peace and love with one another that we'll do WHATEVER IS NECESSARY to make and keep them right.

Often the offended party will not come. Perhaps they are afraid (maybe we are not very approachable!). Perhaps they think the matter too trivial (even though they can't COVER it with love). Perhaps they want to enjoy being angry (risking the heart cancer of bitterness). Or, perhaps they are overwhelmed with life and just haven't had the opportunity. WHATEVER the reason, if we are aware or are made aware of our offense, we are to love our brother enough to DROP ALL ELSE and go to them.

In the Matthew passage above, the one in the ACT OF WORSHIP is to drop the worship and go to be reconciled to his brother first. WHY? Because, as the old saying goes,

"Walls UP, Roof ON,
Walls DOWN, Roof GONE."

That is, if something is between my brother and me (Walls UP) then there WILL be something between God and me (Roof ON). But if I work to be reconciled (Walls DOWN), then the barrier between the Father and me will be gone (Roof GONE).

My relationship with my brother has a DIRECT affect on my relationship with God. Wow.

I remember one time many years ago (I am now old enough to have "many years ago" in my life!), a friend who professed to be a believer came to our church one evening (I was a relatively new believer) to do some special music for worship. He came that night and sang with a young, pretty gal. I had a very difficult time listening to anything that was being sung or said by my friend. What I knew from being his next door neighbor was that he was separated from his wife and had a lot of unrepentant guilt in that separation. How was God going to use him when he was grieving the Spirit in his relationship with his wife? Walls UP, Roof ON.

Is there anyone that comes to mind that perhaps you have offended? If there a relationship with a brother or sister that cooled for some unknown reason? Is there someone you need to stop your worship and go to?

When you go:

• Go HUMBLY. Not, "What's your problem?" Not, "Why didn't you come to me with this?" But, "Is there something I have said or done that has offended you?"
• NEVER think or say, "I didn't do it on purpose!" If our brother or sister is hurt, they are hurt. My girls have said that after they inadvertently smacked their sister. "I didn't mean it!" I asked them, "Did you hurt them?" YES. "Did the fact that you didn't mean to make it hurt less?" NO. "You need to ask them to forgive you for hurting them."
• When you realize what you have done...how you have hurt or offended your brother...ASK FORGIVENESS in specific words. "I hurt you when I made that comment about you. It was wrong of me. Would you please forgive me?"
• When they have forgiven you (IT IS their responsibility to do so, when asked - Luke 17:3), thank them for doing so. It may also be helpful to ask how you could have spoken or acted differently or how you could avoid a similar offense the next time.
• Go and finish your worship! Rejoice in a ROOF DOWN relationship with the Father.

10 Basic Guidelines for Biblical Communication - 3

A THIRD biblical guideline for Communication:

"If your brother or sister offends you (sins against you), go to them in privacy and share with them the offense, seeking in your communication NOT to win or be proven right, but to be RECONCILED to your brother." Matthew 18:15-20

Sinning and being sinned against is a fact of life on this side of heaven. Praise God for His continuing forgiveness and cleansing in Christ (1 John 1:9)! Often when we sin someone else is affected directly. We have all been the offended and harmed by another's sin. The "hit" may come from an enemy of the gospel or it may come from the deepest love in our life. Though being sinned against is painful and can easily turn us inward, licking our wounds and feeling sorry for ourselves and even plotting revenge or desiring a return of pain on their head, Jesus taught that we are rather to TURN TOWARDS OUR OFFENDING BROTHER OR SISTER, not to return evil for evil, but to SEEK THEIR WELFARE and the MENDING OF OUR RELATIONSHIP.

How easy to respond wrongly in fear and cowardice and hate to the offense of another. How easy to refuse to go to our offending brother because the pain of the offense is ruling our choices. What is at stake when one Christian sins against another is the very unity and health and testimony of the Church, the Body of Christ. What is at stake is the SOUL CONDITION of my brother...and MY SOUL. Who can guess the vast number of festering wounds that exist in the hearts of so many members of the Church worldwide.

LOVE will head towards the one who has sinned against me. LOVE will choose, with agreeing emotions or not, to act and SPEAK for the good of my offender. LOVE will say to our heart, "This is my sister in Christ, I will forgive her as God in Christ has forgiven me." And so LOVE will GO TO my brother who has sinned against me and COMMUNICATE for RECONCILIATION. Such communication will include:

• Asking yourself: "Is this a REAL offense? Is it something that was merely an unintentional omission? Am I being too sensitive?" If you can cover it over with love, do it. If the offense is clear and you can't overlook it, then GO to your brother.
• Speaking in privacy. We will not broadcast our hurt to publicize our brother's sin and thus harm his reputation.
• It will STEER CLEAR of camping on "how much pain I have been suffering" (I want you to feel bad for how bad you have made ME feel!). Though there is a place for that admission, the focus of our conversation should first of all be to SHOW OUR BROTHER WHAT HIS OFFENSE IS. "When you said that I felt that it belittled me in front of our friends." We need to make sure there is a REAL offense and not one we are conjuring in our imagination. NEVER accuse someone of a sinful ATTITUDE. We do not know other's hearts. We DO KNOW what we hear and see from their words and actions.
• We must REFUSE to argue our case until we are proven right, but rather state it as clearly and simply as possible.
• We should PRAY that God will give us wise and "hear-able" words and give our brother ears to hear and receive what we say and a repentant heart as needed.
• We should communicate our desire for our relationship to be healed and reconciled and for our sister to be reconciled to Christ.
• We should think long and hard about OUR PART in what happened. Did we INVITE or PROVOKE the offense? Did we REACT in an OFFENDING way to what was done or said? It may be that our repentance FIRST will open a wide door for our brother responding in like kind.
• We should be ready to lovingly PERSIST in seeking reconciliation with our offending brother. Going to them ONCE may not be enough. Perhaps there is the need to go a second or third time, as long as our brother is still open to discuss the issue.
• If and when our sister realizes her sin, confesses and asks our forgiveness, we are to GRANT IT IMMEDIATELY and FULLY, as it has been granted us by God (Ephesians 4:32).
• DON'T WAIT TOO LONG to go to your offending brother. The offense won't just go away and your relationship CANNOT be healed without dealing directly with the offense.

Oh, may our reconciling God increase our love for one another so that NO OFFENSE will remain unaddressed, unconfessed, and unforgiven and no relationship in the Body will remain unreconciled.

10 Basic Guidelines for Biblical Communication - 2

A SECOND Guideline for Biblical Communication: "Say only what builds others up."

Ephesians 4:29 says, "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

This verse is SO clear, isn't it? HOW MUCH corrupting talk can come out of my mouth and my speech still please the Lord? NONE! Ouch! "Corrupting" is a word that was used to describe rotten fish or fruit. Can my words actually have the effect of causing ROT or CORRUPTION in another person's life? Yes. For example: if I slander someone to the person I am speaking with, I can easily cause heart-rot in them if they choose to listen to what I am saying and allow it to affect their attitude towards the slandered person. This happens all too commonly in the church. I have been guilty of this too many times, from both sides. Or, if I repeat a joke that is "off-color" I can cause corruption of heart in my friend by causing past wickedness to pop up in their thoughts. Complaining, gossip, angry words, lying, etc. can cause the same rot in those around me.

A great antidote to words that corrupt is to focus on speaking ONLY words that do the opposite: BUILD UP. Words that are good for building up are words that help my brother or sister GROW IN CHRIST. They are words that cause them to think on the GREATNESS of CHRIST. They are words that hold out the TRUTH of SCRIPTURE. They are words that remind others that GOD IS FAITHFUL. They are words that honor and commend and are thankful. They are words, as the verse says, that "fit the occasion."

It will pretty much always be true that corrupting words flow out of SELFISH motives. But BUILDING UP words flow out of OTHER-CENTERED motivation. To speak words that build up necessitates speaking words that fit the situation my brother or sister OR LOST neighbor is facing. To know what fits the occasion requires that I care enough about my brother or friend to ask questions about what is happening in their life and to LISTEN to their reply (including the "non-verbals" that say so much without sound). It is ASTOUNDING how little true, caring listening goes on in our world. It was said of C.S. Lewis that when you were with him he had a way of making you feel that you were the only person on earth - so carefully and caringly did he listen and respond.

We need to ask ourselves: "When I am in conversations, do I do all the talking? Do I really listen to others? Do I ask questions about THEM? Do I care to hear them or only to be heard? WHOSE WORLD am I focusing on? Am I looking for their needs to be exposed and praying for wisdom to give a BUILDING UP word from the Scriptures to help them?"

Of course, our words have real building up power when they reflect the truth of Scripture. In Acts 20:32, the Apostle Paul spoke of "the word of His grace, which is able to build you up..." The more I know and understand the Word of God, the more I can speak words that truly build others up, whether the SANCTIFICATION of believers or towards the SALVATION of unbelievers.

May God grant us to be more dependently and intentionally communicators of BUILDING UP words for the good of our brothers, and may NO words that cause HEART-ROT come out of our mouths.

10 Basic Guidelines for Biblical Communication -1

James tells us that the tongue is the final frontier of sanctification. That is, "if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body" James 3:2.

The problem we have with our tongue is that it is the direct outlet for our heart. If it is in our hearts, sooner or later in one way or another it will find its way out through our speech. Even though our gracious God has given us new hearts, the reality is that there is what the old theologians called "remaining sin" still resident within us. And there is no place where the remaining sin within shows itself more than in our speech. And so, the Bible tells us to "put off" what remains that is part of our OLD life, the before-Christ life, and "put on" what is characteristic of our NEW risen life with Christ.

And so, in its always "profitable" way (2 Timothy 3:16,17), God's Word gives us guidelines for the taming of the tongue, the changing of our hearts. I will list 10 of these guidelines, beginning with the first one today:

10 Basic Biblical Guidelines for Biblical Communication

1. Speak the truth in love. Ephesians 4:15
It seems the basic problem we have in our speech is either to deceive or to be harsh. We don't want to be seen as we are and we want to be seen as more than we are. We "tweak" the truth so that we can be satisfied we are close enough not to be accused of lying. We hide the truth to disadvantage the other person. Untrue or insincere words are the fig leaves we still wear in our relationships that are evidence there is separation between us. We are afraid of each other. We fear rejection. We fear the judges will give us a mediocre 6.5 for our performance in life. And so we seek to manipulate one another with words that are crafted with evil genius to control the thinking of those around us. "Don't see me as I see me...see me as I WANT you to see me." And in this manipulative thought-shaping we leave the truth far behind and the distance between us intact.

How refreshing and healing, on the other hand is godly communication. Confession of sin. Honest, non-adjusted admitting of wrong. Rebuke when it is needed. Commendation and honoring when it is due. Being who we are before those with whom we live without embellishment.

Only THE TRUTH, the Living Word Jesus and His Written Word the Bible, can set us free to speak truly to one another. This is one of many places where the PRACTICALITY of grace and God's choice of us in Christ can be seen. If indeed we are the BELOVED of God, what have we to fear from one another? If the HOLY GOD knows all our failures and weakness and remaining sin in FULL RELIEF, and STILL cherishes us as children and RECEIVES us as Christ himself, WHY do we need to hide from one another? We don't...but we still do...until and as these truths sink deeper within our souls. Truly the truth of His grace to us in Christ sets us free to be true to one another.

May His love for you set you freer today to speak the truth to those around you.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 33 (Walking in Good Works)

"...Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" Ephesians 2:10

God's saving grace does not produce SPECTATORS, but WORKERS. These works are the product and evidence of God's new life within us, the very life of Christ. We DO NOT work our way to life, life works its way THROUGH US. As the Apostle says in another place, "By the grace of God I am what I am" 1 Corinthians 15:10. Paul worked harder than any other apostle, but his hard work, he says, "...was not I, but the grace of God that is with me" 1 Corinthians 15:10.

The Bible's teaching is clear: SAVING GRACE PRODUCES GOOD WORKS. It is not the WORKER who is saved because he works, but the SAVED who WORKS because he is saved. This is why the great BIRTHMARK of our salvation is our OBEDIENCE to Christ, 1 John 5:2.

We do not all work the same works or work with the same energy but we ALL do GOOD WORKS. GOOD describes works which are godly and beneficial to others and glorifying to God. They are works that are not only OUTWARDLY good but are done with a godly INWARD motivation.

These good works are in utter CONTRAST to how we used to live. Remember Ephesians 2:1,2: we were dead in the TRESPASSES and SINS in which we once WALKED. WALKED refers to our lifestyle. Before Christ our lifestyle was all about slavery and service to sin. Now that grace has transformed us, we are to WALK in GOOD WORKS. Our NEW lifestyle is doing the good that God planned for us from eternity.

When I awake in the morning and ask myself, "What should I do today?" One sure answer must be, "Good!" I must do good because of GRACE. I must do good because this is GOD'S PLAN. My day, no matter what it holds, will be FILLED with opportunities to do good to and for others. This might be intercessory prayer, this might be cleaning the house, this might be doing the bills, this might be studying for Sunday School, this might be preparing a meal. But it is important for us to understand these GOOD WORKS in the context of this Ephesians' letter: Chapters 4-6 are all about the good works God has created us for and planned for us in Christ. They include such things as: living in unity with other believers in the body of Christ, being pure, telling the truth, saying only what will build someone up, being kind and forgiving, submitting in humility to others, loving my wife and children, working hard for my employer, etc.

And those kinds of GOOD WORKS can fill a whole life of days.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 32 (Not BY Works, but FOR Works)

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" Ephesians 2:10.

Though our great salvation is a free gift from God and involves NO MERITORIOUS WORK from us, this great salvation IS a salvation FOR WORKS. That is, we are NOT saved BY works, but FOR works. This fact we must NEVER lose sight of or put in the wrong order.

RELIGION is works FOR salvation. CHRISTIANITY is works resulting FROM salvation. One sees works as the CAUSE, the other sees works as the RESULT. One is LEGALISM, the other is GRACE. One burdens the doer with the impossible, the other lives out Jesus' glorious words, "...My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" Matthew 11:30. One deceives, the other delivers.

Note from this critical verse:

• We are GOD's WORKMANSHIP: The masterpiece we are becoming is God's work, not our own. We are works of GRACE, from start to finish. Our very purpose is to be a display of His handiwork. I have a friend who is an excellent craftsman and furniture maker. His workmanship draws nothing but admiration from me. But when I look at a cabinet he has made, I do not for a moment think that the cabinet made itself. The exquisite workmanship clearly and eloquently advertises the work of a MASTER CRAFTSMAN. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven" Matthew 5:16. When someone understands the utter helplessness and hopelessness of humans apart from Christ, ALL GODLINESS of LIFE GLORIFIES GOD.
• God CREATED us in Christ Jesus: He did not reform or rebuild. When I was a little guy, my parents sent me and my siblings to Vacation Bible School for 2 weeks in the summer. During one VBS, the guys' big project was to build a birdhouse. For the life of me I could not nail a single nail in straight. By the end of the 2 weeks my birdhouse was hopeless. Problem: the final night we had a parent's night where they could view our projects. I was NOT looking forward to my dad seeing the mess that was supposed to be my birdhouse. Surely he would think some vandals had gotten ahold of it and beaten it to death with a crowbar. HOWEVER, when we arrived at my class, my birdhouse was...NORMAL! I was so proud...ah, RELIEVED! Seems that my compassionate leader had taken the thing apart that day and rebuilt it so that it would resemble a real birdhouse by the time my dad would lay eyes on it. GOD did NOT do this with us. We were MORE than messes. We were DEAD. There was no life in us to revive. There was no raw spiritual material in us to rearrange. God CREATED us in Christ Jesus. Created means he made out of nothing. Where there was NO life, He gave life. We were afterwards what we were not before. It was GOD's doing.
• God created us IN CHRIST JESUS: never tire of this phrase "in Christ Jesus." The life God gave us is Christ's life, through the Spirit. "...I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me" Galatians 2:20. We HAVE nothing, we ARE nothing APART from Christ. He is our life.

We'll pick up here tomorrow, the Lord willing. Let us live out what He has graciously created in us today so that those around us will ask, "Who's the CRAFTSMAN responsible for THIS work of art?"

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 31 (Saved by Grace)

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" Ephesians 2:8-9.

Why are these 2 verses some of the most precious in the entire Bible to believers?

• They tell us that our salvation is by God's GRACE. We get the OPPOSITE of what we deserved because God is the God who punished His Son for our sin: Jesus getting what WE deserved...WRATH, and we getting what JESUS deserved...life and blessing and favor (2 Corinthians 5:21).
• They tell us that we HAVE BEEN SAVED. "It is finished" was our Savior's cry after He drank to the dregs the cup of God's wrath. The RESCUE has been affected. We ARE saved from sin and death and hell and Satan and hopelessness and alienation. Our eternal future is not uncertain or up for grabs NOR is it dependent on some future action or decision of ours. HE HAS DONE IT...we are saved by GRACE.
• They tell us that OUR PART in this salvation is FAITH. Faith is NOT a WORK in the sense that it merits or deserves anything from us. Faith is merely the RECEIVING of what is offered freely. There is required no moving towards God in dogged determination nor is there any swimming of oceans of religious requirements nor is there reliance on any earthly family ties or blessing from priests or pastors or bishops required for this salvation. We can only humbly receive it as the NEEDY ones from the WEALTHY and GRACIOUS ONE. Only hands EMPTY of self effort can receive this gift.
• These verses tell us that this salvation by Grace through Faith is a GIFT OF GOD, NOT OF WORKS. This has already been referred to...but this additional thought is important: even the ability to open empty hands as a beggar to receive our gracious God's gift is a GIFT from Him. Remember: we were DEAD spiritually, with no life to make movement towards God, even RECEIVING effort.
• These verses tell us there is no room for BOASTING in ourselves in this great, gracious salvation. There is only room for BOASTING in God: 1 Corinthians 1:31.

May today be spent in "I don't care who hears or knows" and "I want everyone to hear and know" boasting in our Great God who has saved us by PURE SOVEREIGN GRACE.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 30 (Risen, Seated)

God made us alive with Christ..."and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" Ephesians 2:6.

When God made us alive together with Christ He gave us a CERTAIN KIND of LIFE. It is a RAISED UP and SEATED life.

RAISED UP here refers to Christ's ASCENSION to heaven and SEATED refers to Christ's being seated at the Father's right hand, the position of ultimate power and authority and favor.

NEVER lose sight of the little phrase "with Him," occurring twice in this verse. The "Him" of course is Christ. Once again the Apostle Paul emphasizes our UNION with Christ and its results. Christ ascended FOR US and He is seated by the Father FOR US. His victory over death and hell and sin is OUR victory. That is, we share in Christ's victory and it's results because the Father has united us to Him by the Spirit. Hallelujah!

But we are NOT in heaven yet, even though we ARE raised and seated with Christ in heaven. We are on earth. Oh, HOW we are on earth!

How then, do we share in His victorious resurrection, ascension, and session (being seated in power and authority and favor) at the Father's right hand?

We are now, in Christ, the partakers of a HEAVENLY LIFE. The Spirit of God has given us a new heart with a new BENT towards God and the things of God. These "things of God" are things like an appetite for the WORD of God, a love for the PEOPLE of God, a desire to be and do what is righteous, a desire for FELLOWSHIP with God and Christ, a compassion for the LOST, etc. The VALUES of Heaven are now our values...at least in measure...an INCREASING measure. NOW we pray "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). NOW we "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). NOW we say NO to sin and YES to Christ (see Colossians 3). NOW we engage in spiritual warfare and STAND (Ephesians 6:10ff). We have a NEW RULER with NEW POWER. We are truly tasting and experiencing and living out SOMETHING of Heaven here on earth.

Why? Because Jesus ascended to heaven and there was seated at the Father's right hand FOR US. We are there IN HIM. It is a DONE DEAL. We could not be MORE raised and seated than we are. We could not be MORE in the place to receive the power and authority and favor of heaven than RIGHT WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW...IN CHRIST.

DON'T MOVE! If you are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, you are EXACTLY where you need to be. However, DO MOVE towards Christ every moment of every day to receive the life of heaven that you need to live out His kingdom in your little sphere today.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 29 (Who IS this God who makes dead rebels alive?)

God made us ALIVE with Christ even when we were DEAD in our trespasses (Ephesians 2:4-5). God gave us His life WHEN we were rejecting it. God gave us His life WHEN we were shaking our puny, helpless rebel fists in His Almighty face. God gave us His life AS we were pursuing the world and Satan and hell at breakneck speed.

WHY? What kind of God would do this?

The Apostle Paul tells us.

• He is "rich in mercy." MERCY is NOT giving us what we deserve: judgment. Mercy is a desire to rescue someone from misery. That God is merciful tells us that He is CONCERNED for sinners in their dead slavery. God FEELS for the wretched condition of those without His life and hope. We WERE under God's WRATH in our sin. His settled and unchanging opposition to sin was against us. But God was not unfeeling towards our plight. And He was not just somewhat merciful, He was RICH, abundant, in mercy. There is a vast and infinite storehouse of rescuing mercy in the heart of God. And we were the recipients of that mercy when He made us alive at the very time we were spiritually dead.
• He has a "great love with which He has loved us." Love is sacrificing for another's good. God's MERCY caused Him to move toward us in our misery and God's LOVE caused Him to DO WHATEVER IT TOOK TO RESCUE US FROM OUR MISERY. "For God so loved the world that He GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life" John 3:16. What it COST God to rescue us rebels from our rebellion was HIS OWN LIFE. But God is great in sacrificial love...and He paid it. God purchased us, the Church, with His OWN BLOOD (Acts 20:28).
• This God is a God who saves by "grace." JUSTICE is getting what we deserve. MERCY is NOT getting what we deserve. GRACE is getting the OPPOSITE of what we deserve. Life instead of death, heaven instead of hell, love instead of wrath, sonship instead of eternal alienation, forgiveness instead of eternal punishment, peace instead of war, meaning instead of meaninglessness, a future and a hope instead of despair. GRACE always flows down from above, because ONLY GOD could sovereignly plan and implement a plan that would allow Him to justify guilty sinners and condemn His sinless Son. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound..."!

Once again, it should be clear that our salvation, this gift of life when we were dead, is ALL OF GOD. Why? Because He is Rich in Mercy, Great in Love, and the Sole Giver of Amazing Grace.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 28 (But GOD!)

There was a radical pivot point in the life of every one of us who has bowed the knees of our hearts to the saving lordship of Jesus Christ. We shared the same biography BEFORE Christ: we were spiritually DEAD, we were SLAVES to sin, and we were facing certain judgment under the wrath of God (Ephesians 2:1-2).

Then came the the glorious and blessed intervention of God. HE is the pivot point of our biography so that there is an AFTER.

Ephesians 2:4 introduces this radical change from death to life and from slavery to son ship and from hell to heaven with the most wonderful phrase in all of the Bible: "But God..."

We would STILL be laying in our spiritual coffin, alienated from God and His life, helpless and hopeless..."But God..."

We would STILL be shackled by sin and pulled ever deeper into sin and destruction by the world and Satan..."But God..."

We would STILL be hovering precariously over the dreadful dark and consuming flames of hell and God's unquenchable wrath..."But God..."

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ..." Ephesians 2:4-5

We were dead, enslaved, facing judgment...BUT GOD...made us ALIVE.

WHEN did God make us alive? "...Even when we were dead in our trespasses..." Not when anything had changed God ward. Not when we decided we had had enough of the world and Satan. Not when we decided to become a "seeker." Not when the long latent virtue that was buried in our hearts found its way to the surface. But it was WHEN we were dead that God made us alive.

What does this teach us?

• OUR SALVATION IS ALL OF GOD.

"But God..."

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 27 (Me, B.C. - 3)

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience..." Ephesians 1:1-2

Before Christ our LIFESTYLE was one of SLAVERY TO SIN. This slavery showed itself as we followed, like a chained man, the course of this world. The COURSE OF THIS WORLD or world of opposition to God is described in 1 John 2:15-17 as pursuing pleasure, seeking stuff, and building our reputation. But what we are told in the above verses is that there was another power BEHIND, IN, and WORKING THROUGH the world. This power, of course, is PERSONAL. It is Satan (see John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 1 John 5:19; Revelation 12:9). Look at how Satan is described here:

• Satan is a PRINCE: he is a ruler. He rules over other evil and wicked forces (Revelation 12:9; Ephesians 6:12). HE is not alone in His manipulation of the world system. He rules over the "power of the air." The "air" is where evil spirits were thought to abide...and indeed they do. And Satan and his minions are POWERFUL. Here we have the picture of a highly organized system of evil RULED by a mighty PRINCE. It seems it is Satan's great and effective tactic to HIDE HIMSELF behind the often prettily packaged bait of this world system so that, e.g., from behind lust he is pulling the chains of tens of millions shackled by pornography.
• Satan is also described as the "spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience." Satan is NOW AT WORK. He is busy. He is strategic. He is influencing our lost family and friends and neighbors TOWARDS DISOBEDIENCE. He is taking advantage of the spiritually dead state of the lost to pull their chain AWAY from GOD and towards hell. This is why it is so important to see the lost around us as SLAVES not only of their sin and this world, but of SATAN himself. Satan pulls our neighbors' heart chains in a way that they are oblivious to. They still think they are free when they are in reality the devil's pawns. However, though Satan pulls the chain, they also willingly follow. They are willing slaves.

A few thoughts to close:

• Our ENEMY is real. He is powerful. He is wily. He is not working alone. He aims to pull the chains of the lost away from God and towards disobedience. He wants company in hell.
• This scenario is TRUE of every lost person...no matter how nice they are. They ARE slaves to sin and they are following a world system that is ruled by the master strategist of wickedness and they are marching after the pied piper of lust, stuff, and reputation towards a godless hell.
• WE who own Christ are NO LONGER bound by a willing slavery to Satan or this world system. We are FREE to say "NO" to sin and satan and "YES" to our Lord Jesus. And we have that freedom so that we will wage war with our former master in seeking to win the souls of his present pawns. LET US PRAY for one another that we will not use our freedom to seek a "SANCTIFIED" system of pleasure and stuff and reputation. Let us PRAY that we will count it all RUBBISH in order to gain Christ and follow Him into the fray of a world over which HE has ultimate authority and has commissioned us to win and disciple.
• The ENEMY won't like it...but then, WHO CARES? JESUS RULES.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 26 (Me, B.C. - 2)

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world..." Ephesians 2:1,2

Our biography BEFORE Christ could be described in 3 ways: We were DEAD, We were SLAVES, and We were UNDER WRATH. Here we have the trinity of helpless hopelessness that described our life before the Savior. We have already considered what it meant to be SPIRITUALLY DEAD. What did it mean to be SLAVES to SIN?

There has always been discussion and debate in the church regarding whether or not people are FREE, and if so, what does "FREE" mean? The Bible teaches that man IS FREE to do what his heart is bent by nature to do...SIN. But he is NOT FREE to truly and by nature turn away from sin and to pursue God (see Romans 3:10-12; 8:5-9). In another sense, man is NOT FREE, even in his sinning. He sins because his sin bent nature is being pushed and pulled by 3 primary influences: the WORLD, the DEVIL, and the FLESH. Before Christ every man is a SLAVE to sin. We do not all sin in the same ways or to the same extent or with the same passion or suffering the same consequences. But we all sin from natures that are CORRUPT in the sense that sin AFFECTS all we do and think and say.

Let's consider what Paul says in v.2 about this slavery. Not only did our spiritual DEADNESS demonstrate itself by a lifestyle of TRESPASSES and SINS, but we committed those trespasses and sins as we FOLLOWED the "course of this world." That is, there was an influence drawing us, dragging us towards sin, an influence that we FOLLOWED, like a handcuffed man being dragged onward by a chain hooked to a wench. ONE WENCH pulling our chain was THE WORLD. What is the WORLD and what is the "course of this world"?

WORLD does NOT speak of this physical planet. Here it speaks of a SYSTEM, a way of thinking, feeling, acting, valuing, and speaking that is opposed to God. Perhaps no clearer passage can be found that defines this system than 1 John 2:15-17:

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. "

Here the WORLD is opposed to GOD and all that the world is about originates in it and not in God. The WORLD is about: seeking PLEASURE, getting STUFF, and building a REPUTATION. And these things, John writes, are PASSING AWAY. That is, THEY WON'T LAST. Pursuing them is ULTIMATE LOSS...period.

However, it was this world system of seeking pleasure, getting stuff, and building a reputation that used to pull the chain of our slavery before Christ. We STILL struggle with these things, to be sure. But they no long DOMINATE our lives nor do they have "chain pulling" power over us (see Romans 6!).

I used to live for the next cheeseburger, the next king sized Snickers bar. I used to live for the next stylish piece of clothing or cool shoes that I could buy and then have the look that would draw the looks. I wanted so desperately as a high schooler to break records in track and field with the ultimate goal of being somebody in everybody else's eyes. WHY? I was BORN SPIRITUALLY DEAD and I lived that deadness out as I disregarded and rebelled against God's laws in order to PURSUE the WORLD'S AGENDA. Pleasure, stuff, reputation...that was my life. And...it was YOURS too, BEFORE CHRIST.

Let us PRAISE HIM that now we do have bonifide FREEDOM in the Spirit to love the Father and others and to live self-controlled, contented, God and other-centered lives. What a transformation by grace.

Birthday Thanks to a Gracious God

Today I am 55 years old. That makes me eligible for SENIOR discounts at a fair number of restaurants and it gives me a number that "sounds" old enough for respect. But this day is not for celebrating what I might GET, but to GIVE thanks to my God for 55 linear years of mercy and grace in space and time.

I give HIM THANKS for my mom and dad who in love came together about 55 years and 9 months ago and from that union God allowed conception.

I give HIM THANKS for sparing me from death in the womb when a car hit my mom as she was carrying me and yet we were both spared from permanent harm.

I give HIM THANKS that my parents did not ABORT me because I was another mouth to feed and another whiny baby to absorb their waking moments and an added pressure on my dad to earn enough from his meager living to support us all.

I give HIM THANKS that my parents, though they did NOT go to church themselves, religiously took us to Sunday School year after year and providentially to a Sunday School where we could hear about Jesus.

I give HIM THANKS for a heart; the blood-pumping wonder machine, that has now beat in my chest approximately TWO and a THIRD BILLION times and shows no significant signs of wearing out.

I give HIM THANKS for giving me a sensitive heart and mind to sin and judgment and heaven and hell while still a boy.

I give HIM THANKS for drawing my oldest sister to Christ as the Jesus Movement of the 70's was waning. God used late night conversations about Christianity and the Bible and salvation to ready my heart for His irresistible call that came in late 1972.

I give HIM THANKS for an in-your-face gospel booklet entitled "Will the World End in 1972?" that was left on a small table in the back of the church where I was sitting one Sunday morning. I was so far back that only the termites were further away from the preaching that morning. I do not remember what Pastor Joiner was preaching, but I picked up the booklet and read and was absorbed by stories and Scriptures about Heaven and Hell and hard-hearted rejecters of the gospel. As I read I was becoming strangely HOT UNDER THE COLLAR, literally! I believe the biblical term is "conviction." It was not long before that conviction and those conversations with my sister and sermons I DID listen to and fears about death and the simple Word of God led, in God's mercy, to my conversion on Christmas Eve, 1972.

I give HIM THANKS for Mr Harold Davenport, who took me under his wing and made me his partner for hospital visits, always accompanied with opportunities to share the gospel and leave literature for folks to read (he was the fellow who had left the booklet on the table at church mentioned earlier).

I give HIM THANKS for people along the way who encouraged me in service to Christ and opened doors of opportunities for me to do so: Gilbert Page, Ricky James, Dean Shaffer, and many others.

I give HIM THANKS for churches I have served vocationally: South Norfolk Christian, Clear Lake Bible, Quail Valley Community, Piedmont Community, and Fellowship Bible Church. In each of these places there have been saints who put up with my sin and weaknesses and have encouraged me with assurances that my labor was not in vain in the Lord.

I give HIM THANKS for my life partner, my wife, who has been a means of grace in my life like no other human being. She, more than any other, knows me. She knows what is real and what is only words. She has weathered the storms and doldrums of marriage to a sinner saved by grace. She has loved me enough to admonish me for my sin and then to point me to a Savior who transforms sinners. I have experienced the highs and lows of life with my precious spouse...and it just keeps getting BETTER!

I give HIM THANKS for my daughters. To witness the miracle of a genuine human being moving from a watery cradle to the harsh lights and sounds and DRYNESS of extra-womb life is an evidence of the handiwork of the Almighty like no other. To be forced to learn what the cry of an infant means, to be on call 24/7, to have the weight of concern for the health and safety and soul of a little person is also a mighty means of grace. I have loved being a dad to girls. It has made me much more fully human and developed the image of One who created me in me. And I have loved parenting with my wife - a tag-team affair that has caused us to be on our knees both in repentance and in cries for wisdom and the filling of the Holy Spirit.

I give Him THANKS for HIMSELF! What a God is my Father. How faithful, how loving-kind, how forgiving, how wise. I am thankful for my Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for my sins, the Just for the unjust, to bring me to God. I am thankful for the Holy Spirit, who daily imparts the very life of Christ into my soul as enablement for all things.

I am, on this 55th birthday, THANKFUL to my God for all things.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 25 (Me, B.C.)

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. (John Newton)

John Newton was that truly wretched sea-captain and slave trader whose sin took him to such a depth of depravity that he ended up a destitute slave himself before God mercifully saved him by Amazing Grace.

He said of himself: "I was capable of anything, I had not the least fear of God before my eyes, nor (so far as I remember) the least sensibility of conscience." He wrote for his last will and testament: "I commit my soul to my gracious God and Savior, who mercifully spared and preserved me, when I was an apostate, a blasphemer, and an infidel, and delivered me from the state of misery on the coast of Africa into which my obstinate wickedness had plunged me; and who has been pleased to admit me (though most unworthy) to preach His glorious gospel."

Was Newton alone in his wretched condition before God? Did it take a MORE amazing grace to save him out of his sin than it did to save you and me? Can WE sing Amazing Grace with as much passion and fervor as our good brother John?

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked..." Ephesians 2:1,2a. In this opening line of Ephesians 2 the Apostle Paul reminds us of the SPIRITUAL BIOGRAPHY of ALL of us BEFORE CHRIST. We were SPRITUALLY DEAD.

What does this mean?

• To be SPIRITUALLY DEAD means that we have NO spiritual life. It means there is nothing of the life of God in us. It means we are separated from God. There is no relationship or receptivity between us and God. NONE. There is NO ability or interest in moving towards God. To be spiritually dead means that we are HELPLESS and HOPELESS. See Ephesians 2:12 and 4:18.
• To be SPIRITUALLY DEAD does NOT mean: that we are WELL but ignorant and just need more information, i.e. the Gospel. It does NOT mean that we are SICK and need a vitamin shot of truth or grace to push us over the top and to enable us to make a weak but real motion towards God from the heart. It does NOT mean that we are MOSTLY DEAD, but with just enough spiritual ability to slide the coffin lid over and croak a cry for mercy to God. DEAD means DEAD.

How did this deadness DEMONSTRATE itself? We were dead "in our trespasses and sins..." The idea here seems to be that our spiritual deadness showed itself in our REBELLION against God's commands (trespasses) and our general FALLING SHORT of God's standards (sins). If God said "DON'T" we did. If God said "Do" we didn't. Theologians call these sins of COMMISSION and OMMISSION. NOTE: we did not BECOME spiritually dead because we sinned, we sinned because we were spiritually dead. The root produced the fruit. The nature produced the lifestyle. An apple tree bears apples BECAUSE it is an apple tree by nature and NOT vice versa.

NOTE ALSO: This rebellion and falling short was not an OCCASIONAL "mistake" or "lapse." It was our LIFESTYLE. "...In which you once walked." "Walk" is a word that indicates not moving one foot in front of the other but the way we live, LIFESTYLE. Rebellion and sin was our lifestyle before Christ. It was our lifestyle because we were spiritually DEAD.

You, me, John Newton, Grandma, our 1st grade teachers, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham...we ALL share the same spiritual biography from birth...DEAD in trespasses and sins.

And...all of us who have entered into new life in Christ can sing with our long departed brother, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like ME..."

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 24 (Power Beyond Measure)

"...And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe..." Ephesians 1:19

You and I can WANT to obey God and please Him in our passionate pursuit of holiness, but without POWER to do so...join the long line of "tried that but it didn't work" folks who line the highways and byways of short-lived, embittered religionists.

God wants us to know Him. The Apostle Paul prays for God to give us His revealing, illuminating Spirit to open the eyes of our hearts to who our God is. God wants us to know that HE does not command and then withhold what is needed to obey. God wants us to know that HE is the God who does NOT keep His power to Himself, but shares it with His family. And He does not just share trickles of His power with His blood-bought sons and daughters, He POURS IT OUT abundantly. It is not only a GREAT power, but it is an IMMEASURABLY GREAT power with which our Father works in us and around us.

We have human measurements for power. For example, we measure ELECTRIC power by watts, kilowatts, megawatts, gigawatts, and terawatts (1 trillion watts). The single reactor nulear plant in Monticello, MN can produce enough electric power each year to power approximately 471,000 homes. But this is a PHYSICAL measurement of power. A gigawatt of power will not give me the slightest ability to resist temptation or to be kind to an arrogant person. Electric, nuclear, solar or any other physical measurement of power is the WRONG CATEGORY for this discussion.

This immeasurably great power of God toward us is SPIRITUAL POWER. And since human power categories and measurements are useless here, Paul mentions 3 ways that God's spiritual power has been demonstrated in history and in Christ.

• RESURRECTION POWER: "...according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead..." vv.19-20. God gives life to the dead...He raises the dead to life. This is ULTIMATE POWER. The power that raised Christ to life over death and hell and sin is the SAME POWER that is available to you and me when we face temptation or wake up with a bad taste for personal disicpline in our mouth or experience unexpected suffering. In other words, the power that God makes constantly available to us to live life is FAR BEYOND WHAT COULD EVER BE NEEDED. So much for "I can't."
• ASCENSION POWER and RULING POWER: "...and seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named..." vv.20,21. Christ was not only raised from the dead, He was raised from EARTH to HEAVEN. And He was raised to a place at the Father's right hand where ALL AUTHORITY is exercised. All the hellish powers that are exercised in the unseen realms and through evil, wicked, elitist rulers on earth are UNDER THE FEET OF CHRIST. This is where the Father seated Him and this same power over powers and this power over the gravity of this present world is the power that our Father offers to us for the using every moment of every day of this life.

Do you know God as the God of IMMEASURABLY GREAT POWER TOWARDS YOU? May the Spirit open our eyes increasingly to know Him in this way.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 23 (God's Glorious Treasure: You and Me)

"...That you may know...what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints..." Ephesians 1:18

Paul prays that the saints may know God more deeply as the God who has made them His eternal inheritance. This inheritance is GLORIOUS. It is GREAT, it shines with the GLORY OF GOD'S GRACE. It was His choice to make us His treasure. See Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6-8. It had nothing to do with us in terms of merit or worthiness or desirable beauty...there was NONE. But God awaits the day, under His sovereign timing, when He will get what He has assigned as His own portion for all eternity...you and me.

I frankly would have chosen something or someone better. But this choice of inheritance displays HIS GLORY, NOT OURS. It will put on display throughout the endless ages of eternity the gracious, merciful nature of our God to redeem the hopeless and give them a place in His house. It is ALL about HIM. We will not spend billions and billions of years wondering at the TREASURE, but at the TREASURING God! It will all be to "show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (2:7).

In John 5 Jesus went to the Pool of Bethesda, a place that was like a cross between an outdoor nursing home and an open hospital ward...with no doctors or nurses. This was a place where invalids - blind, lame, and paralyzed folks lay hoping for the water of the pool to be stirred by an angel (?) so that the first person in the water could experience divine healing. That day Jesus healed ONE MAN, a man who had been an invalid for 38 years and had little to no hope that he would ever experience the gracious healing of the pool. Jesus simply said, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk" (v.8). At once the man did! WHY did Jesus, who was full of compassion, heal only this one man? WHY did Jesus, on the day of YOUR SALVATION, walk into the graveyard of humanity that was all around you and speak to you, like to this hopeless, helpless invalid, and raise you from the dead to new life? Why did He choose YOU that day to become His fellow heir of the Father's riches in glory? Why did He not also choose all of those around you? The ANSWER IS IN HIM! Mysterious, overflowing, sovereign grace is the answer. From spiritual graveyard to heavenly treasure. Who EVER had a greater rags to riches tale than YOU and ME?

God can be to us a Policeman, watching our every move for infractions. God can be to us a Nagging Mom, relentless in correction in the pursuit of perfection. God can be to us a Distant Judge, touching us only with the letter of a compassion-less law. God can be to us a Cold Neighbor, only seen as He goes about His necessary duties but with never a smile or personal acknowledgment. OR God can be seen as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who in mercy and love and grace that dwarfs the oceans came to us while we were dead in our transgressions and made us alive together with Christ and raised us up to be HIS ETERNAL TREASURE.

"O Spirit of God, do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Open our eyes to see the TREASURING GOD who is our Father and open our hearts to love and worship Him more fully forever. Amen"

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 22 (The God Who Has Called Us to Hope)

"...Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you many know what is the hope to which He has called you..." Ephesians 1:18

The Apostle Paul's great prayer for the Ephesian saints (and us!) in the first chapter of that letter centers around the request that they might KNOW Him better (v.17). But what does it mean to know Him better but to know WHAT HE IS LIKE and WHAT HE DESIRES and DELIGHTS TO DO? In Paul's prayer, there are 3 things He asks God to illumine the hearts of the saints to. The first of these is "to know the HOPE to which He has called you" v.18.

Note:

• CALL refers to an INVITATION. The word is used in the NT of an invitation to God's Kingdom and its privileges. Who in their right mind, apart from Scriptural revelation, could envision the Sovereign God who rules the universe in infinite holiness issuing THEM an invitation to be part of His blessed Kingdom? But He has done it. God has issued Kingdom invitations to His ENEMIES! And not after long observation to determine their suitableness for His Kingdom; God has sovereignly (and irresistibly) issued invitations to His Kingdom to rebels who were actively and passionately REJECTING His Kingdom...to subjects of Satan. Such is our King and such is His glorious invitation.
• The particular Kingdom invitation God has issued to us in Paul's prayer is the invitation to HOPE. Again, this is God-founded, biblical HOPE...CONFIDENT EXPECTATION that God will come through and that our future holds ultimate GOOD. In Ephesians 2:12 Paul writes that before Christ we "had no hope and were without God in the world." The expectation we had before Christ was of fearful judgment, lonely dark torment, and a life here without ultimate meaning or purpose. DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE DAYS? Perhaps like me you lived to drown out thoughts of the future because they were so dark and empty and foreboding. Satan calls to destruction and despair. His is the downward call to the convulsive wretching of a ever-dying soul. We were all at one time headed down that hellish hallway. BUT GOD...
• This particular HOPE that we have been called to is nothing less than HEAVEN and eternal life with the Father and the Son. It is final possessing of our promised inheritance (Ephesians 1:5,11,14). God will get us and we will get God. What grace has done for us is stranger than fiction. But there is no fiction here. How precious are thoughts of Heaven to you? Does the HOPE of HEAVEN have motivating and drawing power on your soul? The power of heavenly expectation is dependent on the depth of our KNOWLEDGE of God now. If HE is not precious to me, if HE is not my increasing joy, if HE is not what I want more than anyone or anything else then Heaven will not be a joyful, empowering HOPE (1 John 3:1,2).

One primary way to deepen my joy in God and my HOPE of Heaven is to meditate on the fact that my Father in Heaven is the God who has INVITED me to share HEAVEN with Him, through Christ, for all eternity. This is what Paul prays here. That we may know God more deeply as the God who has called us to HOPE, and what that hope is. It is astonishing. HE is astonishing. May God grant us today the help of the Holy Spirit to SEE God as the God who has invited us to share all eternity with Him, when we deserve Hell, and all because He is the gracious God.

HE is the RESURRECTION!

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies, and he who lives and believes in Me will never die." John 11:25,26

I think the main truth that has stood out to me in the MANY past Easters of my life is this: "Jesus has risen from the grave and He is alive! Therefore He is WITH ME, helping me. He will never leave me." THAT, however, is NOT the main point of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It IS true, and it is a precious truth. But it is more ME centered than Christ-centered.

WHY is Jesus' resurrection so important? There could be many reasons listed, but the GRAND reason His resurrection is important is that it demonstrated HE IS THE RESURRECTION. Not just the One who was resurrected and not just the One who resurrects, but the RESURRECTION itself! Jesus is LORD over the resurrection and He is JUDGE of the resurrection.

"God...has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." Acts 17:30,31

Being resurrected and exalted as Lord of the resurrection, Jesus POURED OUT RESURRECTION LIFE on His church: Acts 2. He sent the Spirit to bring resurrection life into His people. This is RESURRECTION NOW: spiritually. He will complete the RESURRECTION THEN of His people at the last day when He raises up our decayed bodies and gives us glorious, made-for-heaven and eternity bodies: 1 Corinthians 15.

Therefore, since Jesus is Lord and Judge of the Resurrection and is THE RESURRECTION Himself and has given us NOW resurrection life in our souls: how are we to live this resurrection life on earth in ways that will glorify Him who is the Resurrection and in ways that look forward to our final, bodily resurrection?

Here are 4 ways:

• We are to live HOLY LIVES, victorious over sin. See Romans 6:5-13. We have been raised with Christ and therefore the ruling power of sin in our lives is BROKEN. We can say NO to sin and YES to our Resurrected Lord.
• We can face the future with UNSHAKABLE CERTAINTY. See 1 Peter 1:3-5. Our future in Heaven with the Father and Son is absolutely guaranteed because Jesus is Lord of the Resurrection, of the last days, of the final judgment. When life is full of disappointment and even suffering, we can authentically say, "This is NOT my home. Heaven is. I am on my journey there. I will live while I am here by Christ's resurrection power, but I will not forget that THIS IS NOT HEAVEN. The absence of tears and evil and temptation and aches and pains and failure and sin IS NOT FOR THIS LIFE. But it WILL BE for Heaven. And HEAVEN IS MY HOME. And my RESURRECTED LORD WILL take me there."
• We are to give ourselves to RADICAL SERVICE TO CHRIST. See 1 Corinthians 15:58; 2 Corinthians 5:9,10. Because Jesus is the Resurrection there will be REWARD for our service to Him. That investment of our lives in faithful stewardship will reap rewards ALL OUT OF PROPORTION to what we have done. AND...those rewards will last forever. There will be no taxes, no recession, no inflation. If your bank were to guarantee you that for every $1 you invested you would received a return of $1,000,000.00, how would that affect your savings strategy? You'd watch every dime closely and invest every dollar you didn't use for absolute necessities! You'd be a fool not to. The NT gives us a similar guarantee, but the return is even greater. Our labor is NOT IN VAIN in the Lord. It will reap reward. See Luke 6:35; 1 Corinthians 3:14.
• We are to WAGE WAR FOR LOST SOULS. See Daniel 12:2,3. There WILL be a resurrection of the wicked and the righteous. Jesus will be LORD over that resurrection and He will be JUDGE over that resurrection. Those apart from Christ will be resurrected to shame and everlasting contempt. But there will be some who are WISE, who TURN many to righteousness, and who will shine like stars in Heaven. Don't you want to be one of those WISE EVANGELISTS who is resurrected to life and has the joy and REWARD of seeing many in Heaven because God used your stammering words and "weak" prayers to bring MANY to righteousness? May God give us ALL that kind of wisdom.

Jesus IS the RESURRECTION and the LIFE. And because of that we have resurrection life NOW and can live for HEAVEN in our personal pursuit of holiness, our facing the future with unshakable HOPE, our tireless labor, and our evangelism. This WILL glorify Him now and it will store up rewards that we will enjoy FOREVER in our Heavenly inheritance. HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 21 (Knowing Through the Word)

Paul prays in Ephesians 1:17 that God would give the Ephesian believers (and us!) "...the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." We have written previously about the Holy Spirit as the One who gives revelation of God. He teaches us and shows us what we could never know apart from His ministry. He opens blind eyes to SEE CHRIST and the GOSPEL.

It is important when we speak of the Holy Spirit's work of revelation (or ILLUMINATION, once we are believers and know Christ) to remind ourselves that He does His revealing work THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES. So...we can PRAY for Him to open our eyes to know Christ and to know our spiritual blessings in Christ, but if we do not ALSO devote ourselves to reading and meditating in the Scriptures, we do not put ourselves in the PLACE OF REVELATION.

If I am a beggar and do not put myself in a place where people with money pass by, I won't receive much financial compassion. I can and should and MUST cry to the Spirit to make me know my Savior, but if I do not put myself regularly WHERE THE SPIRIT GIVES REVELATION, my prayer has no environment for being answered.

Of course this means that not only should I regularly read and meditate on the Scriptures, but also:

• I should read and meditate in portions of the Scriptures that most specifically focus on the object of my prayers. For example, if I want to see Christ more clearly, I can go to Colossians 1 or the Gospels or the book of Revelation. Of course Christ is revealed in ALL of Scripture (Luke 24:27), but some portions focus more specifically on His attributes or deity or passion. If I am asking for insight into God's will re: finances, there are weighty passages in Proverbs or 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.
• I should also regularly put myself under the PREACHING and TEACHING of the Scriptures. How MANY times the Spirit has opened my eyes to some needed truth as I sat and listened to a brother open the Word. This is why "...He gave some...pastors and teachers" Ephesians 4:11. If God has planted you in a local church body ( and I PRAY HE has!) then it is important to trust that HE will feed you, His sheep, THROUGH the shepherds in YOUR CHURCH.
• Another wonderful place for the Holy Spirit's revealing/illumining ministry to reach us is in books written by godly, scholarly, devotional-hearted saints. I have loved reading the Puritans (though at times the conviction was painful) or Martyn Lloyd-Jones or J.C. Ryle or present day authors such as John Piper or Iain Murray.
• Today there are wonderful and FREE sites for downloading biblical, Christ-centered sermons and teaching onto MP3 players. www. biblicaltraining.org features Bible-college and Seminary levels courses in most subjects (like preaching, OT Survey, NT Survey, Systematic Theology, etc.) at no cost. DesiringGod.org offers many hundreds of messages by John Piper and others, including some MP4 video sermons. Many larger churches offer downloads of their pastor's sermons. Use these to SUPPLEMENT your church's teaching, not to REPLACE it!
• MEMORIZING the Word is critically important as it allows you to MEDITATE on a portion of Scripture that you are learning from or studying. I have been meditating on Colossians 3 lately and from past study and meditation have memorized much of it. It is a valuable thing when asking the Spirit to teach you to have a critical passage in memory so that you can mentally "chew" on it during spare moments during the day.

Fellow beggars, let us park ourselves everyday in the Word where the Spirit will meet us and "turn on the lights" of our souls to SEE JESUS.

How the Lamb Has Conquered

After the SLAIN but LIVING LAMB takes the scroll from the One on the throne in Revelation 5, there erupts from Heaven to the far corners of the universe a praise service such as has never been seen or heard before.

It begins with the cherubim and the mysterious 24 elders. From a prostrate position (Revelation 5:8) and with golden harps (the instruments of praise) and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (are these the long, patient prayers for God to bring His justice and finish His redemptive plan and bring all things to their promised end?) they sing a new song:

• NEW SONG is a song that is sung to celebrate a divine act of blessing and deliverance. What act of deliverance does this song celebrate?
• WORTHY ARE YOU to take the scroll: again, WHY? HOW has He become worthy? How has He conquered?

Here's HOW the Lamb has CONQUERED:

• FOR YOU WERE SLAIN. The Cross is the Sovereign God's weapon for conquering death and hell and sin and Satan. The crucifixion of God very God the Son, the violent spilling of His own life blood is the STRATEGIC PLAN for utter and complete and eternal victory.
• AND BY YOUR BLOOD you RANSOMED people for God. The Cross conquered because on it the price was paid to RANSOM us for God. The price of our infinite guilt against the INFINITE ONE was nothing less than HIS own INFINITELY VALUABLE LIFE. The Lamb slain was the price paid. On the cross HE "disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame..." Colossians 2:15. Now we are not only forgiven but we also BELONG to God. We are His possession. We are not our own, we have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
• FROM EVERY TRIBE AND LANGUAGE AND PEOPLE AND NATION: The victory is utter and complete because from EVERY people group on earth men have been ransomed to God. ALL are represented. Not one is lacking. Satan succeeded in destroying NO people group on earth. Sin could not keep every individual in any remote jungle tribe from the sovereign, saving power of the CROSS. The heavenly choir will be complete with tenors in Swahili and bass singers in the language of Taliabo and sopranos from Kazakhstan and altos from the Eskimos.
• And YOU HAVE MADE THEM A KINGDOM AND PRIESTS TO OUR GOD: Rebels have been won to willing submission to the King of Heaven by the Cross. Multiplied millions of men and women who lived life utterly committed to serving their lusts now joyfully and with deepest soul satisfaction serve God as His priests. The CONQUERING of the CROSS goes to the deepest recesses of the human heart. Full redemption.
• AND THEY SHALL REIGN ON EARTH: We will reign with King Jesus. The reign that was man's created purpose will be restored. How? The SLAIN LAMB on the CROSS.

Let us join the cherubim and elders in prostrate praise.

The Lion Has Conquered as the Lamb

The glorious picture of Jesus as the Lamb of God in the New Testament is found primarily in the book of Revelation. As the aged Apostle John is given the visions recorded there he sees symbolic pictures of what is happening and will happen in Heaven.

The picture of all pictures in Revelation is of the Lamb. Of all the pictures of the Lamb, chapter 5 is most amazing and graphic. But it does not open with the Lamb...it opens with the LION! John sees the exalted God on His throne with a SCROLL in His right hand. This is the scroll that will be progressively opened throughout Revelation. It is the scroll that contains God's plan for the finalizing of human history - to bring history to an end - with judgment for the wicked and eternal salvation for God's people. But NO ONE is found worthy to open the scroll. John begins to weep loudly. The suffering, hopeful people of God, including John here in exile on Patmos, have been praying and longing for this time of God's justice and reward. No one is worthy to open the scroll and put the final, decisive movements of God's glorious plan into motion?

But stop weeping, John. The LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH (see Genesis 49:9,10)...has CONQUERED. HE is worthy to open the scroll (v.5). This LION is none other than the promised MESSIAH, the long-awaited conquering King of God's people. And WHAT/WHO does John see? NOT a conquering LION, the King of beasts, the VICTORIOUS GENERAL of the Hosts of the Lord, but "...a Lamb standing as though it had been slain" v.6. A LAMB! But not just ANY Lamb, this Lamb is "standing as though it had been slain." Here is the RESURRECTION and CRUCIFIXION of the Lamb, Jesus, in one phrase. He WAS slain, but now He stands, because He rose from the grave and ascended to the Father.

And note:

• "...with SEVEN HORNS": Horns represent POWER. SEVEN is the number used to indicate fullness or perfection. This Lamb is ALL POWERFUL, OMNIPOTENT! This Lamb is God very God! He is no common member of the weakest and most vulnerable of livestock, this Lamb is DIVINE. HE could die because He was indeed a Lamb (a man who could be sacrificed for men). His death could have INFINITE worth because this Lamb is God.
• "...with SEVEN EYES": Eyes represent KNOWLEDGE. This Lamb is also ALL-KNOWING, OMNISCIENT! Not a dumb sheep, but He who possesses infinite awareness of all things in one comprehensive knowing.

This slain but standing, all-powerful, all-knowing Lamb goes to the One on the throne and takes the scroll...and the most amazing scene of cosmic worship ever recorded commences. We will look more at the increasing intensity of this worship and its content tomorrow, but for now let us note this one, great truth portrayed in the Lion/Lamb in these verses:

The LION is worthy and has conquered BECAUSE He is also the LAMB! It was the DEATH of Christ that totally destroyed the legions of wickedness, death, and hell. The greatest display of POWER that the universe has ever witnessed was THE CROSS. Let us praise and worship our WORTHY Lion/Lamb today as He who has conquered for eternity on our behalf.

I can't wait to look at the rest of Revelation 5!

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 20 (The Spirit of Revelation and Relationship)

"I keep asking that...God...may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better" Ephesians 1:17 (NIV)

The Apostle Paul's prayer for the Ephesian saints begins with a request to God to give them THE HOLY SPIRIT. The ESV translates this "a spirit of wisdom and revelation." Which is it, capital "S" or a little "s"? There are no capitals in the Greek. The determination regarding "Spirit" or "spirit" has to be made from the context or from the teaching of Scripture taken all together.

We know that believers are graciously given the Holy Spirit at conversion (Ephesians 1:13; Romans 8:9) to INDWELL them. So Paul could NOT be asking for the Spirit to be given to indwell the Ephesian saints. But the Scriptures DO speak of the Spirit being given for special tasks (e.g. Acts 4:8; 4:31) and Jesus did teach His disciples that the Father would give the Holy Spirit to those (those CHILDREN of His) who ask (Luke 11:13). In this sense, being "given" the Holy Spirit would mean to be given His HELP, to RECEIVE HIS MINISTRY.

The Holy Spirit is the One whose ministry is to TEACH believers and to make them KNOW TRUTH (John 14:26; 16:13; 1 John 2:27). HE it is who opens our eyes to see God as the One who calls us to hope, makes us His inheritance, and works in and for us with immeasurable power (Ephesians 1:18-19). And so...Paul constantly asks for God to give the "Spirit of WISDOM and REVELATION" to the saints.

Note:

• REVELATION: means to make known what could not otherwise be known. What is revealed in this sense could never be known by human investigation. A picture of this would be a pot cooking on the stove with the lid on. You wonder what is in the pot, but you will never know UNTIL the lid is taken off. The Holy Spirit TAKES THE LID OFF so that we may see and know WHO God is, WHAT He has done for us in Christ, HOW much He loves us, and HOW to reciprocate. If the Holy Spirit does not "take the lid off" for us, we will NEVER know these things. This is why if we GRIEVE the Holy Spirit by our sin, all of a sudden we stop SEEING like we used to. The Word of God becomes dry and new insights stop. Even what we DO know shrivels. We are absolutely dependent on the Holy Spirit to KNOW God. We must, as Paul did, for ourselves and others...keep asking for the Spirit to be given us to minister His revealing and teaching in our lives through the Word.
• WISDOM: Wisdom deals with PRACTICAL knowing. Without REVELATION, we cannot know God truly. Without WISDOM we do not know HOW to respond to our knowledge of God. That is, how is knowing God supposed to affect my life? How do I respond to Him? How do I live out a relationship to Him?
• KNOWING HIM: This word for KNOW deals with DEEP, CLEAR, FULL, INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE. This knowing is personal and relational knowing. It is knowing UP CLOSE. It is glorious to know that this kind of knowing is not only POSSIBLE for us, but PROMISED to us, if we seek to know Him and have the Spirit's help. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ and the FIRST and FOREMOST of them is knowing HIM!

Nothing is more important than personally, intimately, life-changingly knowing our Father and His Son. This has been provided for through the redeeming death of the Son and the indwelling, revealing presence of the Holy Spirit. And so, as the prophet wrote:

"Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth." Hosea 6:3

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 19 (Our Greatest Prayer: To Know Him)

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better." Ephesians 1:17

Prayer is not a magic activity. Prayer is not powerful nor answered simply BECAUSE we ask. Prayer is to be wise and insightful and ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD (1 John 5:14). WHAT we ask is very important in relation to our prayers being answered.

This glorious prayer of the Apostle Paul's in Ephesians 1:17-19 is FIRST of all a prayer that believers may KNOW GOD BETTER. It is NOT primarily that they will know more ABOUT God nor that they will know more about His BLESSINGS, but that they will know HIM AS THE BLESSER.

Note the first two things Paul says about this God:

• He is "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ." This phrase seems to note the SUBMISSION of the Son to the Father, doing the will of the Father in all things, especially our salvation. This phrase also seems to highlight the Father's role in planning our salvation and sending the Son to secure these spiritual blessings cataloged in 1:3-14.
• He is also, "the glorious Father." GLORIOUS means GREAT...VISIBLY, MAJESTICALLY GREAT. God's glory is His greatness shining forth for others to see. God is the Father whose greatness sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. His great and glorious LOVE CHOSE hell-bound sinners like you and me to be heaven-dwelling sons for all eternity. The Father is so great that ANYTHING we ask according to His will...will be done. The potential or raw material for what we ask does NOT need to be present for God to answer prayer. He is the God who CREATES out of NOTHING (see Romans 4:17). He is also the gracious Father who delights to answer, especially to glorify His name (Psalm 50:15).

The more we KNOW this God of our Lord Jesus Christ, this glorious Father...the greater, more full of faith, more consistent, and more ANSWERED will our prayers be. A great answer to pitiful prayer lives is a clearer, greater KNOWLEDGE of God.

When I really KNOW and BELIEVE that my Father is ready to answer, able to answer, wanting to answer...I will pray. So let us pray, pray, pray, pray, and...pray that He would open our eyes to KNOW HIM BETTER as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sent Him to save us and the glorious Father, who gives good things to those who ask.