A Faith We Can Live By - Part 2

The faith of Abraham through which he was justified by God and lived before God was a faith that trusted in the One who "gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist" Romans 4:17. This is our faith as his children of faith. We, too, trust in a God who can create in us clean hearts and godly desires and sacrificial love and wisdom from above WHERE NONE EXISTS.

But there is MORE to this faith we live by. It is also a faith that believes "in hope against hope" v.18. There are two hopes here. The first hope has its source in GOD. The second hope has its source in human ability. Remember that BIBLICAL HOPE is "confident expectation." It is a confident expectation that God will do good to me and for me and in me all the days of my life and unto eternity. This hope rests in the unchangable character of God and the completed work of Christ and the expressed PROMISES of God in His Word.

Human hope, however, has its limits. Abraham's hope of a human heir (a son) through whom the promise of God would be fulfilled was beyond its limit when he was nearly 100 and his wife nearly 90. They were beyond child-bearing age. Human hope was nil.

But against all human hope Abraham still believed because he looked away from his old body and Sarah's old body and found hope in the PROMISE of God ("I will make of you a great nation..." Genesis 12) and the GOD of promise. He was "fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised" v.21. And so he had hope for a future that humanly COULD NOT be and in the present BELIEVED.

Is your faith failing because you are searching in frustration to find a source of HUMAN HOPE? Perhaps you are looking:

• To find love within your cold, self-absorbed heart, or
• To become successful in ministry by your efforts or slick strategies, or
• To overcome a habit that has successfully resisted years of prayer and discipline, or
• To find the determination to obey in an area where you've always put it off until next week, or
• For some reason, any reason, to believe that your life will be different next month or next year.

What do you need? You need to LOOK AWAY from yourself and your resources and your track record and your emotions and the evaluations of others and find HOPE in the PROMISES OF GOD and the GOD OF PROMISES.

With HIM there are the infinite resources of the Almighty, All-Knowing, Everywhere-present, Giving-His-Only-Son-Loving God. And when HE says:

• I will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19), or
• I will give you an abundance of needed wisdom (James 1:5), or
• I will give you power, love, and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7), or
• I will give you My Spirit so that you can overcome sinful habits (Luke 11:13), or
• I will clear the way before you so that you can always know and do My will (Proverbs 3:6), or
• I will pursue you with unfailing love all the days of your life (Psalm 23:6)...

HE MEANS IT. Rise in the God-given HOPE expressed in His promises and TRUST HIM for RIGHT NOW.

I cannot trust God now if I don't believe that He has guaranteed a good future for me. He HAS promised that (Jeremiah 29:11)...so, in the strength of that HOPE, TRUST HIM today for every humanly impossible situation and problem.

A Faith we can LIVE by: Part 1

The faith that we are justified by we live by. In Romans 4 we are given a wonderful description of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all who believe.

FIRST of all, the faith we are justified by and subsequently LIVE by...

• BELIEVES in the God who "gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist" v.18.

Faith is not looking into ourselves, taking stock of what gifts or determination or faith in ourselves we have, and then asking God to increase these things so that we can meet the demands of the day. Faith is rather looking AWAY from ourselves, knowing that IN ourselves we are EMPTY of all that is good and spiritual and strong and loving and wise and TRUSTING in the God who "calls into existence the things that do not exist." God doesn't need a slightly loving heart to work with. God doesn't need a somewhat strong mind to be able to increase its strength. God can CREATE a loving heart, a compassionate heart, a willing spirit, a disciplined will OUT OF NOTHING, just like He does when He saves us.

Our Father can CREATE from nothing in us passions like His. He can give wisdom to us when there is NONE in our minds to draw from.

He simply wants us to BELIEVE in Him to be this kind of God for us. And when He creates in us what was not there, He gets the glory.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God..." Psalm 51:10

Want a Revelation of God?

In 1 Samuel 3:21 we are told, "And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD."

This was at the beginning of the prophet Samuel's ministry, while he was still a young boy serving in the tabernacle under the compromising Eli. God spoke to him, apparently sometimes verbally. The Lord spoke to Samuel and then Samuel spoke to others on His behalf. People knew that God had raised up a prophet among them because Samuel's "words from the Lord" came true (v.19).

However, the point I want to call attention to is that the way the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel was by His "word." He spoke to him personally, directly, and in detail.

God STILL speaks to His servants, His children, personally, directly, and in detail. It is not primarily VERBAL words that He uses in our day (though we won't argue that this is impossible. Rather I will say that if God chooses to speak to someone verbally, it will be words that are in total agreement with the written Word, that add no new revelation, and that glorify Christ). God speaks to us in our day through His written Word. He REVEALS Himself to us in our day through His written Word.

Where do you learn that our God is the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Where do you find that our God "keeps covenant and steadfast love" (Deuteronomy 7:9)? Where else do you learn that God is a holy God who declares rebellious sinners "not guilty" through the sufficient substitutionary sacrifice of His Son? How can you know that God loves YOU and has a place prepared for you in His eternal presence? Where can you hear God tell you that His mission in this world is YOUR mission in this world and that it involves the search and rescue of Satan-held sinners into the Kingdom of Christ? Where can you find God's will for who you should marry? ALL, and ONLY ALL these revelations from God come via His written, finished, inerrant, sufficient WORD!

My point is that if you are really hungry for a deeper, fresh revelation of God from God...your need is not to find the next conference with "anointed prophets" or the latest spin-master's best-selling How-to book, or to fast your way into a "higher-life" experience...your need and my need is to go to the book, GOD'S BOOK, the Bible. Open it in faith, depending on God the Spirit who inspired its writing, and begin with hungry heart to read. In these never-changing words God's speaks, He REVEALS Himself. He WILL reveal Himself to you: personally, directly, and in detail.

Ask Him to: "Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from Your law" Psalm 119:18.

"Lord, may we seek fresh revelations of You in the place where you have promised it...Your glorious Word."

How to Avoid Being a Plastic Saint

In Mark 12:38-40 Jesus warns his disciples to "beware" the scribes. They like to DRESS like religious leaders (long robes), they like the TITLES of religious leaders (greetings in the market place), and they like the POSITION of the religious elite (best seats in the synagogues and feasts). But under the robes and behind the titles and in spite of the position they were in bondage to GREED (devour widow's houses) and the IMPRESSIVE PRAYER SYNDROME (for a pretense make long prayers).

This deeply entrenched religious play-acting (HYPOCRISY) was COSTLY: "They will receive the greater condemnation" v.40. God hates those who play the part of PLASTIC SAINT and in the process teach others to do the same. One day they will hear His fearful, "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23).

How can we AVOID becoming PLASTIC SAINTS?

• CHOOSE our MODELS wisely. Jesus is the real thing. "For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many" Mark 10:45. When choosing who we will model our lives after as disciples, we must use the "JESUS RULER." He alone is the measurement of real spirituality. This is why the leaders of the church are to be tested by character qualities that measure up to Jesus (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1). Many run after the eloquent or the charismatic or the handsome when they should be looking not for gifts but the FRUIT of the Spirit, the Jesus Ruler measurement: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc.
• Live for an AUDIENCE of ONE. The scribes and pharisees did what they did to be seen of men (Matthew 23:5). Who am I living to PLEASE? If it is others, the plastic is thickening. Colossians 3:23: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men."
• LABOR hard to be WHO YOU ARE. Be honest and open before the Lord and before others, EVEN in church. Am I struggling? "Fine" is a plastic answer. Is temptation winning the battle over me? To be with my fellow church members and not to share my battle and to ask for specific prayer is plastic. Am I struggling with someone who has offended me? "That's ok" will pile up the plastic. Make it easy for others to be honest and vulnerable around you and one way to do that is by being that way with them...even if they don't know how to handle it. But in the honesty and vulnerability don't infect others with unbelief and a critical spirit or with gossip.

May the Lord of the saints who are perfect in their standing and IMPERFECT in their walk grant you and me to be the real thing, knowing that we are accepted in the Beloved One now and forever.

The Giving that Pleases Jesus

It was Tuesday before the crucifixion. Jesus is in the Temple. He has been responding to the Scribal challenges in a way that has left them devastated. He has just warned His disciples to beware of or avoid the Scribes due to their hypocrisy. They try to look the part of authentic religious leaders with their long lily-white robes and their show-stopping prayers, but Jesus says they "devour widows houses" and "for a pretense make long prayers" (Mark 12:40). Jesus wants His disciples to be the REAL thing, not to follow in the Scribe's waxy steps.

At this point Mark writes that Jesus sat down in the Court of the Women where the offering boxes were (Mark 12:41). This is where the daily "giving show" took place. 13 inverted trumpet shaped offering receptacles lined the wall (?), each marked for the particular type of offering to be collected there (6 of them were marked for "freewill" offerings).

Mark tells us that Jesus saw "many rich people put in large sums" (v.41). These were the stars of the "giving show." You can just hear the dozens of denarius coins clank into the trumpets. Wow! do these guys LOVE God! Look at how much they give. However, we tend to be easily impressed when it comes to giving. Many clanks = much love, right? Wrong.

Jesus wasn't impressed. He didn't CONDEMN the rich givers. They were rich, they SHOULD give large sums. The giver, however, that caught Jesus' eye was a poor widow. Apparently widows could be spotted by their clothing just like the rich. This widow probably made her way to the trumpets under the radar of everyone present...but Jesus. Her offering? A totally UNIMPRESSIVE 2 lepta (2 small copper coins). Their worth? No one seems to know for sure...perhaps a few cents in modern equivalence. They were small and they were thin and someone has written that this amount was the SMALLEST legal offering accepted.

With this in mind, the comment of Jesus to His disciples is mind-boggling. "This poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box" v.43. Wait a minute! We HEARD the clanking of the rich offerings. We couldn't even hear the slightest tinkle of this old ladies coins.

Jesus then tells them why this poor widow's offering was more than all the clanking coins of the rich. "For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in everything she had, all she had to live on" (v.44).

This is why the widow's giving caught Jesus' eye. She gave it all. She had nothing left. She had 2 coins...could have kept one for herself...that's still an eye-popping 50% offering! But no...in they BOTH went. She had nothing left to trust in but God Himself. When she prayed later on, "Lord, give me my daily bread today" SHE MEANT IT!

The rich? They had plenty left over to trust in and lean on and feel confident over. If you have a million denarii and give 200, you still have 999,980 left! That's alot of daily bread!

Do you give like the rich or the widow?

• It's not how much you begin with but how much you have left.
• It's not the amount given but whether there is SACRIFICE involved.
• It's not giving by FEAR: fear that if I give too much I may not have enough left to cover unforseen emergencies.
• It's giving by LOVE: for Him who gave everything He had on the cross for ME.
• It's giving by FAITH: faith that my Father in Heaven really means to supply my daily bread regardless of how much is left in the checking account.

God makes great use out of small sacrifices. This widow's two small copper coins were immortalized in this gospel as an encouragement for all the disciples of Jesus to be sacrificial givers, like the widow, like Jesus...leaving it all in the offering box, leaving it all on the cross...

What are YOU leaving?

He Had it All and Lost it All, Part 1

The rich young man of Mark 10:17-22 is the subject of one of the saddest stories in the Bible. Just think of what this fellow had going FOR him:

• He was EARNEST: he RAN up to Jesus in his zeal for eternal life, v.17
• He was RESPECTFUL: he knelt before Jesus in humble respect, v.17. Remember that at this time the religious leaders HATED Jesus and wanted to kill him.
• He led an EXEMPLARY MORAL LIFE (outwardly): "all these (commands) I have kept from my youth" v.20

There are many like him today, who are serious about things religious, who greatly respect Jesus, and who are outwardly excellent moral examples.

However, there were several fatal flaws in this young man. Perhaps the first we notice is: He believed he could SAVE HIMSELF. Listen to his words to Jesus in v.17: "What must I DO to inherit eternal life?" What does this tells us about this young man?

• He saw his relationship to God and God's favor in terms of EARNING. He saw eternal life as a REWARD for his keeping of the commandments. He apparently believed that he COULD earn it if only he knew the missing commands or requirements.
• He had a totally OUTWARD view of the law. He seemed to have no understanding that God looks on the heart and not just external actions and words. In reality, the law had not yet accomplished its work in him, to show him his mouth-shutting sinfulness (Romans 3:19).

Many today also see eternal life as within the grasp of their religious deeds. They believe they can do what God requires to earn life. The only problem MIGHT be that they need to know ALL that God requires. To this young man Jesus was indeed a Teacher worthy of respect. But he seemed to see Jesus ONLY as the teacher who could inform him of the missing parts of God's will which he was to obey for life and not the ONE who could and would earn life FOR him.

This is deadly ignorance. How many are like him today. Jesus is the one who supplies the missing dos to their check list for eternal life. He is not the only Savior of lost men. Thinking he could DO enough himself to earn life blinded this rich young man to his need for Another to Do for him.

Have you come to the place where you are absolutely clear that there is NOTHING you can do in and of yourself to EARN eternal life? Have you tossed your list of DOS for LIFE and instead thrown yourself onto Christ the Savior for life? Have you seen that Jesus is the ONLY ONE who has done what it takes for eternal life? Have you reached out the empty, needy hands of your heart to take hold of Christ's perfect life, sufficient death on the cross, and victorious resurrection from the dead?

What must I DO to inherit eternal life? Stop trying to do, trust the One who has DONE.

Jesus, Children, and Kingdom Hearts

In Mark 10:13-16 we have the familiar gospel story of folks bringing their children for Jesus to bless. It was a common practice for a respected adult to lay their hands on a child's head and to pronounce a blessing over them. Jacob did this to the 2 sons of Joseph in Genesis 48:14. Having heard of the wonderful teaching of Jesus and the many works of power He had been doing around Israel, it is no wonder that caring parents wanted Jesus to lay His hands on their kids.

But the disciples did not like it one bit. Mark writes, "the disciples rebuked them" v.13. Why? It would seem that the disciples saw the persistent parents and their kids as bothers. Didn't these folks know how busy Jesus was? Did they have any idea what it was like to deal with crowds all the time? How would they like living in a human vise day in and day out? "Take your kids and go away. The Teacher can't be bothered." Besides, they were ONLY children.

I guess the disciples had already forgotten Jesus' earlier teaching about receiving children in His name (Mark 9:37) and how receiving a child in His name is receiving Him. How soon we ALL forget!

Jesus, on the other hand, did not like the disciple's attitude one bit. He was indignant, or "greatly grieved" v.14. Children were not a bother to Jesus. He had time and He had blessings for them. Jesus WANTED to take them in His arms and pronounce a blessing over them. And He DID. v.16

Jesus saw in these children kingdom-ready hearts, "to such belongs the kingdom of God" v.14. This does NOT mean, of course, that these children were sinless NOR that they were automatically members of His kingdom. They were descendants of Adam and sinful from birth (Romans 5:12ff). They were selfish and self-centered. However, it seems that Jesus is speaking about the characteristic of a child's heart that makes them aware of their weakness and need, that allows them to be trusting and to receive help simply and gratefully. This seems confirmed in His words in v.15: "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

A child's heart is generally more humble and trusting and ready to receive help than those who are older. The older we get, the more the heart TENDS to become proud and untrusting. Therefore, we must be careful to teach and train our children in God's Word and God's ways from their earliest days. This teaching of spiritual truth will find receptive hearts in the young. Let's plow the fertile ground of their hearts with truth and plant it with spiritual seed (James 1:21).

But Jesus extends His teaching beyond children in v.15. He says "WHOEVER does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." Here He teaches that the attitude of heart of a child is necessary for one to enter the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? In most general terms, the kingdom of God is the realm over which God rules. It is the hearts of those over whom God rules in Christ. Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He is the KING of that kingdom. To receive the kingdom is to receive the rule of the KING in your life...OVER your life. Jesus says that it takes the heart attitude of a child to enter the kingdom. This is because the rule of King Jesus over one's life is only received by a humble, trusting heart. It is the person who KNOWS their weakness, their need of help, and who is willing to trust the King who will enter the kingdom.

How child-like is YOUR heart? Are you aware of your need of King Jesus? Are you willing for Him to rule your life as supreme KING? Will you trust His promises of forgiveness and grace and peace and all that is necessary for life and godliness (2Peter 1:3)? If so...you either ARE or will be a citizen of the kingdom of God, a heart over which King Jesus rules in sovereign and loving power. If NOT...this King also uses His power to CHANGE the HEART of those who know their un-childlikeness and who CRY for a new heart, a humble, trusting heart.