Today we had the sword-tag group at and we had one new person visit, the friend of my oldest son. We had a great time although I am now truly starting to feel my advanced age and am quickly defeated by everyone. Still, not only do I get a good work-out, I also enjoy time spent with a bunch of rambunctious teen boys! AND I get to teach! ;-)
Here is the lesson for today:
Read 1 John 4:7-11
Here we see the concern with which John writes...he says to the beloved, to the elect, that we are to love one another. Why are we to do so? Because love comes from God (see Galatians 5:22)! We are not speaking here of what is commonly referred to as love, the infatuation of men towards women and vice versa. No, the love referred to here is that perfect love of God (see 1 Corinthians 13).
Note how verse 7 goes on to say that everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Then in vese 8 we read that if somebody does not love then they don't truly know who God is because God IS love. Here we see why this does not speak of a merely emotional type of love, for everyone alive can claim that and the Bible is very clear that not all people know God nor will all people know God. What we are to understand here is that if there is one among us who does not have love for the saints, then He does not truly know God. God loves His elect! How can one claim to love God and then hate His people? You would be hating yourself!
But look again at verse 8....God IS love.
Not God loves, but God IS love. What does this mean? Well it means that His very nature is love. He is not merely loving, He is love itself. All that He gives to us, His very special people, is out of a manifestation of His very character.
Many people take this verse and say, "see there can be no hell for God is love". The problem with this is that they take this attribute of God and make it all that He is. But God is not some Greek deity like Aphrodite the goddess of love. He is the God of Israel. We are told by John that God is also light (1 John 1:5) and that He is Spirit (John 4:24). He is also holy. Let us never forget that God cannot be boxed into one thing we read in some random verse we can then use as a proof text for whatever thing we want to teach. No. Taken all together, and in context, we see that the love of God is manifest in His love for His people. The holiness of God demands that sin be punished, but His love and His mercy permit us to receive forgiveness!
We see this so clearly in verse 9, where we read that the love of God, the outflow of His character, is manifested towards us. Towards His chosen people. So the focus of His love is clearly defined here. Remember this is the same John who wrote John 3:16! So we can see so much more clearly what he is writing when we read this verse...the love of God, the mercy of God, has an intended target, and it is us! God, being love, made known this love by sending Jesus into the world, that we might live through Him. Jesus came into the world for His lost sheep. In dying on the cross He attained their salvation by atoning for the sins of His people. Truly He was abe to say on the cross that He had accomplished His work, declaring "It is finished!" (John 19:30) Do you see this? The Father sent the Son for a purpose! This purpose is explained here by John. But we also read in Luke 19:10 that Jesus Himself said that He came to "seek and save that which was lost"!
What, then, is the clearest expression of the love of God? The death of Christ on the cross! Such a horrible event, the second Person of the Trinity suffering and dying for a sinful people. What a travesty! And yet, it was the eternal decree of God that this should happen. It was necessary for the Shepherd to die in order for the sheep to be redeemed. This is love, not just that He died for us, but that such a Perfect Being died for such filthy creatures as us. The Creator of the universe died for that which He created! This is love!
And to understand even better what an amazing thing this is, we read in verse 10 that the picture of love is NOT that we loved God...but that He loved us enough to send His Son to pay the penalty for us! This is exactly what Paul teaches in Romans 5:8 where he says that "God demonstrates His love own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
You see, in our fallen state, we do not love God. And even though the Lord could see the evil of our hearts, He chose to die for us. He loved us even though we were in rebellion against Him...He loved us even though we were unworthy of Him. Can you imagine that? Our natural inclination is to turn away from those who dislike us, let alone those who hate us! But God died for those who hated Him. Truly John will later declare that "we love Him because He first loved us"! (1 John 4:19)
Ask: What do you think of this kind of love? (discuss)
This is a type of love so immense that it can only come from God. And do you know what? There is a reason why John tells us these things...we read it in verse 11 where John now concludes this passage with the following: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Wow.
Can we live up to this? If God loves us so much that since eternity past He decreed the death of Jesus on the cross, how can we measure up? Is it possible? Well it must be because we are commanded to love one another in the same manner!
How can this type of love be manifested by the saints towards one another? (discuss)
Think about this: God's love was not prompted by anything praiseworthy in us.
In fact, read the following:
-Deuteronomy 7:6-7
-2 Timothy 1:8-9
Nothing in us deserved the love of God. He gave it for His own reasons, because it pleased Him to shower us with it. It is undeserved.
With this in mind, I ask again, how can we manifest this type of love towards one another?
We are to love the people of God even when they are unloveable. We are to forgive the people of God when they offend us, even if they don't ask us for that forgiveness. We are to bless His people even when they sinfully curse us. And, yes, we are to die for them if need be.
I dare not say that any of this is easy, but it is commanded of us. The best way to cultivate this love is to seek Him first. To be so focused on Him and His love that this world means nothing by comparison. When we are in constant awareness of His love for us, of the immensity of the love of God, then exhibiting such a love towards others will come more naturally. I pray we all desire this.
Close in prayer.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
"Counsel From the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ" by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Dennis E. Johnson
ISBN: 9781433503177
This is the first book I've read on biblical counseling and I have come away from this experience with a deep appreciation for the authors and their devotion to the Word of God as the only true remedy for people who are struggling. Their attidude is best summed up in the preface, where they write that "[w]e believe that when God the Creator provides a cure-all, it really cures all, and that when He sent His eternal Son as Redeemer, He set in motion a new creation power that will eventually eradicate both the sin-twisted self-centeredness of our hearts and the sin-infected wounds that we have inflicted on one another." (page 13)
The cure-all, of course, is the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ...and this is the thrust of the book. The book is helpful in many ways, including the examples included and the study questions at the end of each chapter. In addition to this, there are three appendices included, one of them a very helpful list of issues and the Scripture one might use when counseling people dealing with it. Ultimately, what I loved most about this book is that the authors take the issue down to its basic element of sin. Why do people commit adultery? Why do they abuse family members? Because they are sinners in need of the Gospel! And why do Believers engage in such behaviors? Because they have forgotten the gopel! Personally, I think that it is also because too many who profess Christ are not truly saved!
There are many excellent examples throughout the book of how to counsel people, but my favorite one characterizes how this book uses the Word of God as its foundation. In the chapter entitled "The Gospel and our relationships" we find the following:
"If we forget that we are sinful and flawed, it will be easy to become self-righteous and harsh with our spouses; [p]arents who forget that they are law breakers expect their children to keep the law and to make them look good; Even children can forget the gospel. If they forget that they are sinful and flawed, they are quick to judge their parents' inconsistencies and failures." (page 158-159)
I cannot recommend this book enough! I think that for the layperson like myself it can serve as a useful tool not only in relating to our brothers and sisters but in ministering to the lost. So buy this book and read it over and over. This is the book you will want close at hand for easy access, the kind that will soon need to be replaced from excessive use!
This is the first book I've read on biblical counseling and I have come away from this experience with a deep appreciation for the authors and their devotion to the Word of God as the only true remedy for people who are struggling. Their attidude is best summed up in the preface, where they write that "[w]e believe that when God the Creator provides a cure-all, it really cures all, and that when He sent His eternal Son as Redeemer, He set in motion a new creation power that will eventually eradicate both the sin-twisted self-centeredness of our hearts and the sin-infected wounds that we have inflicted on one another." (page 13)
The cure-all, of course, is the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ...and this is the thrust of the book. The book is helpful in many ways, including the examples included and the study questions at the end of each chapter. In addition to this, there are three appendices included, one of them a very helpful list of issues and the Scripture one might use when counseling people dealing with it. Ultimately, what I loved most about this book is that the authors take the issue down to its basic element of sin. Why do people commit adultery? Why do they abuse family members? Because they are sinners in need of the Gospel! And why do Believers engage in such behaviors? Because they have forgotten the gopel! Personally, I think that it is also because too many who profess Christ are not truly saved!
There are many excellent examples throughout the book of how to counsel people, but my favorite one characterizes how this book uses the Word of God as its foundation. In the chapter entitled "The Gospel and our relationships" we find the following:
"If we forget that we are sinful and flawed, it will be easy to become self-righteous and harsh with our spouses; [p]arents who forget that they are law breakers expect their children to keep the law and to make them look good; Even children can forget the gospel. If they forget that they are sinful and flawed, they are quick to judge their parents' inconsistencies and failures." (page 158-159)
I cannot recommend this book enough! I think that for the layperson like myself it can serve as a useful tool not only in relating to our brothers and sisters but in ministering to the lost. So buy this book and read it over and over. This is the book you will want close at hand for easy access, the kind that will soon need to be replaced from excessive use!
Teen Studies
Today we are having the sword-tagging group over and as I'm getting a study ready for it I realized I did not post the last two studies we did! Here for now are those two, and later tonight I will post the one from today.
This first one is from June 30th of this year:
This first one is from June 30th of this year:
Read Hebrews 2:1-4
The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were converts to the faith during a time of intense persecution. From the text, it appears that there were some who thought it might be easier to return to the Jewish faith rather than remain Christians (comment on the irony of this). So the author of this letter, some think Paul, is providing exhortation and even chastisement for these people. We know, of course, that ulimately the Author is God.
So keeping this thought in mind, let us quickly discuss what has come in the 1st chapter of this letter:
1) God speaks to His people in diff. ways
2) The Son is higher than all created creatures, indeed, the Son is the express image of the Father, and is called by God by the Psalmist (herein we see the teaching of the Triunity of God).
3) The Son is He through and for whom all things have been made.
We see also that He is worshipped by the angles themselves! Notice Hebrews 1:14 "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" Who is that? The elect of God, all those who are saved by the blood of Christ!
So all these verses focus on what?
On Christ!
He is the object of chapter 1...it is to His awesomeness that the author is pointing. Why do you think this is? (discuss how if Christ if whom He says He is then why go elsewhere?)
Having learned all this, we can look again at the 4 verses in chapter 2.
"Therefore..."
The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were converts to the faith during a time of intense persecution. From the text, it appears that there were some who thought it might be easier to return to the Jewish faith rather than remain Christians (comment on the irony of this). So the author of this letter, some think Paul, is providing exhortation and even chastisement for these people. We know, of course, that ulimately the Author is God.
So keeping this thought in mind, let us quickly discuss what has come in the 1st chapter of this letter:
1) God speaks to His people in diff. ways
2) The Son is higher than all created creatures, indeed, the Son is the express image of the Father, and is called by God by the Psalmist (herein we see the teaching of the Triunity of God).
3) The Son is He through and for whom all things have been made.
We see also that He is worshipped by the angles themselves! Notice Hebrews 1:14 "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" Who is that? The elect of God, all those who are saved by the blood of Christ!
So all these verses focus on what?
On Christ!
He is the object of chapter 1...it is to His awesomeness that the author is pointing. Why do you think this is? (discuss how if Christ if whom He says He is then why go elsewhere?)
Having learned all this, we can look again at the 4 verses in chapter 2.
"Therefore..."
because of all that has been discussed!
"we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard"
"we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard"
pay close attention to because it is worth paying attention!
"lest we drift away"
"lest we drift away"
What does this mean?
the KJV renders this as "to let them slip" and this is a correct reading of the Greek, which is the word pararrhueo, which literally means to flow by.
So unless we pay careful attention to the Word of God, we stand in danger of letting it slip away, of drifting away from that which is true!
How does this work out in the life of a Believer? (discuss lack of Bible reading, lack of church attendance, lack of a consistent prayer life)
But the warning is much stricter here too...
Note verses 2-3
What do these refer to?
The Word of God, the gospel of our salvation, came to us from Christ Himself! He IS the living Word! Not only this, verse 4 tells us that the miracles of the day, the wonders and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, were done as testimony to these truths!
And guess what? Every sin, every transgression of the law will be justly punished by God! All those who live their lives apart from Christ will stand under condemnation. So the warning is here. We have all heard the gospel...the question is how will we respond to it. Human accountability and responsibility stand here exposed to the call of the gospel.
One final thing...Note that verse 4 says all the miracles and signs were done as testament, but according to the will of God. It is never for us to test God by demanding a miracle in exchange for faith. He grants miracles and gifts and healings according to His own will, nothing else.
Read and briefly discuss Hebrews 11:32-40, then close in prayer..
This next study is from July 7th:
Acts 15
The Law & Grace
Read Acts 15:1-5
What's going on here?
There were those men who were saying in order to be saved you must be circumcised right? That, in essence, you had to become a Jew! Here we have the gospel coming to the Gentiles and immediately there are those who would add something to the Gospel. Note that in Romans 10:9 we read that "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
But these men from Judea were adding to this...and adding what is not in the Scripture! In Jude 3 we are told to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." So obviously there are various biblical doctrines to which a true Believer will hold, but in this passage we are seeing true Christians (the brethren) being unfairly judged and held to a false standard by other Christians.
Note that Paul and Barnabas both rightly engage in probably very heated discussion with these men...and so it was decided that the church should hold a council and decide this matter.
Read Acts 15:6-29
We see that the elders and apostles rule in favor of what? Freedom in Christ!
Note verse 10)
Strict adherence and obedience to the law was something impossible to do! The Law itself could save nobody because not one person except the Lord Jesus could actually keep it! And so the Jerusalem council decreed that circumcision was NOT necessary in order to be saved.
What does this mean for us?
If we are no longer bound by the law does this mean we can do anything we want? Of course NOT! (discuss the heresy of antinomianism)
Look with me at Acts 16:1-5
What in the world is going on here?
Paul had Timothy circumcised!
Why?
For the sake of the gospel, but NOT for the sake of salvation (discuss)
Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
How do these verses relate to what we've been looking at in the book of Acts?
(Discuss)
Realize this brothers:
Whatever the Bible tells us to do, we must do
Whatever the Bible tells us not to do, we must not do
Aside from this, we are free in Christ to do as we feel right, keeping in mind always to be loving towards those among us who are weaker. But we dare not add to the Scripture and become legalists when the Bible has remained silent on the issue.
Remember that the faith has been delivered once and for all. We have our Scriptures, let us live lives of obedience without adding to the perfect revelation of what God has given us!
Close in prayer
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Be Transformed by the Word Rather Than the World
Most of you will immediately recognize that the title of this post is a paraphrase of Romans 12:1-2.
Even so, my plan here is not so much to present my dear readers with a study of these verses as to use them as a foundation to some thoughts I wish to share. Since I cannot resist, I will say that I am allowed to do this because I am not one of those fortunate ones who have the opportunity of presenting the Word of God from the pulpit! Those of you who know me will no doubt share my feelings, for the rest I should explain that what I mean by this is that the one who is called to be a minister of the Word of God has a duty and an obligation to exposit the text for the people in his church (and yes, I unabashedly maintain that it must always be a “he”). The minister who takes verses and uses them as a spring board for his own opinions fails in his duty.
I, however, am neither a minister nor am I expounding from the pulpit, so I am at liberty to confess to you that the inspiration for this post is the aforementioned verses; yet this post is not an exposition of those verses.
I should also mention that this post has been on my mind for a very long time but it has not been until now that I have had a chance to sit and contemplate how to put into words the thoughts that have been filling my mind. Before I discuss what is on my mind, however, let us read the relevant verses as they appear in the ESV:
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
–Romans 12:1-2
When I read these verses I cannot help but wonder how we measure up to them. The words are pretty straightforward: in light of the truth that we are saved by the grace of God, in light of the fact that we profess to be Christians, in light of all of this, therefore our bodies are to be presented upon the altar as a sacrifice to God. A living sacrifice!
What does this mean?
Well think about it: a poor animal laid on the altar soon had its throat slit and was dead. Whatever effectiveness God attributed to its shed blood was temporary. We, however, are purchased by the blood of Christ! The blood that atones for our sins is eternal and able to cover all sins. What is more, because a sacrificed animal by necessity perished on the altar, the one who offered it did so without any reservation. You could not change your mind once the sacrifice had been made! The animal could not be resurrected and returned to you! It was dead! And so a sacrifice, whether of atonement or thanksgiving, was given up completely. There was nothing to hold back was there? The sacrifice was set aside and given over to God.
Do you see the connection?
As living sacrifices, we are set aside for God! We are no longer our own, we have been offered up completely and without reservation! What claim do we have on self when we are the purchased possession (Ephesians 1:14)? Brothers and sisters, we belong to Him!
And so this is what Paul beseeches us to do…to present our bodies as living sacrifices totally set aside for His service. And what is more, we are to be holy. We are to be set apart for Him, we are to strive to be without blemish. Just as the sacrificial system demanded a perfect animal, so we are to be perfect for Him…so that we might be acceptable. Now you may well ask how it can be that we need to be perfect and without blemish in order to be acceptable to God when we have been told over and over that we come to Him as we are! That we do not perfect ourselves! How can this be? Well, all I can say is that you should take it easy and not forget that we are not speaking of salvation here but of sanctification. If you take the time to read the context of this passage you will quickly see this. For now, all I say is that we are speaking here of one who is redeemed…we are speaking of bearing fruit.
Let’s get back to this being acceptable to God issue though. Do you remember what Samuel told Saul?
“And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” – 1 Samuel 15:22
Sacrifice all you want buddy…but if all it is to you is meaningless ritual then God rejects your offering! A living sacrifice, an acceptable sacrifice, is that one that is motivated by a love of God which is made evident through the desire to be obedient! Lose sight of this and you miss the mark! Your sacrifice will be no more acceptable than that of Cain, than that of Saul! And so look again at what Paul is telling us…THIS is the way to be acceptable!
I love the way the NKJV ends verse 1, it says that all of this is your “reasonable service.” I love it. Not that “your spiritual worship” is wrong of course! Don’t get me wrong! To be living sacrifices, to be holy and acceptable is an act of worship, no doubt about it! But the NKJV translation satisfies my soul…our “reasonable service.” God is not asking something of us that is unreasonable! It is only right that this be the manner that the redeemed live! As living sacrifices!
But okay, now we come to the nitty gritty!
“do not be conformed to this world.”
Wow.
Allow me a rabbit trail here please. For my beloved Arminian brethren, how do you reconcile the use of the word “world” here with your dogmatic interpretation of John 3:16? I mean, if in the gospel the word MUST mean every man, woman and child, why must it not mean the same here? Simply put, the word can mean what you take it to mean in the gospel, or it can mean this rock upon which we live, it can mean what it does in Revelation 5:9, or it can mean what it clearly means here: the secular mindset, that which stands in opposition to the Word of God.
End of rant.
Okay, on not being conformed to this world. Wow. This is what has been most on my mind…primarily because it saddens me so much to be among people who call themselves Christians and live no differently than the world. How is this possible? I know of people who don’t go to church and feel no remorse over this! I know of people who deny that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and profess to love the Lord! I know people who listen to voices in their heads that tell them things contrary to the Word and they attribute this to God! Sadly, I am speaking of people who say they are Christians. What transformation do we see? None.
In fact, these people look exactly like the world in every respect except that they say they are Christians! And for those who outwardly conform to some semblance of what they think is a “Christian” lifestyle, they go to extremes as well!
Do you send your children to public school? Then, to them, you are obviously some evolutionist wolf in sheep’s clothing!
You see? We are surrounded by libertines or by legalists everywhere we turn! Both the antinomians and the legalists are the same in that they ignore the law of Christ! The antinomian takes grace to an extreme that shows they don’t understand the Scriptures (how can they when they usually don’t even believe them to actually be the inerrant Word of God?); the legalist offers up his unacceptable sacrifices full of blemishes out of a desire to keep the law…not out of love. If the legalist offered up the sacrifice in love he would take the time to actually understand the Word also and apply it out of a desire to please the Master! This last Sunday our pastor rightly pointed out that all of these “righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” –Isaiah 64:6
Guess what the words are that are translated as “polluted garment”? Let’s just say it refers to a woman’s menstrual cycle. T he righteous deeds of the one who does them out of ritual rather than love are dirty and polluted indeed, wouldn’t you say?
And this is exactly what I see all around me…and it makes me so sad.
Now, don’t think I am sitting here in judgment and asking you to look upon me as a holy acceptable sacrifice upon which to model yourself. Far from it! The only example we should look to when trying to figure out how to be holy and acceptable is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I am not saying I am “there.” I fail miserably all the time! What makes me sad, however, is that the ones I refer to boast in their acts! There is no repentance! There is no “oops, I’m sorry” involved.
Brothers and sisters, will you join me in committing to renewing our minds and being transformed from within? We must be living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God! We must do it because we love our Bridegroom! Let us long for Him, let us go to His Word in order to know Him. Let us prepare ourselves to welcome Him when He comes to claim us!
“…choose this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
–Joshua 24:15
Even so, my plan here is not so much to present my dear readers with a study of these verses as to use them as a foundation to some thoughts I wish to share. Since I cannot resist, I will say that I am allowed to do this because I am not one of those fortunate ones who have the opportunity of presenting the Word of God from the pulpit! Those of you who know me will no doubt share my feelings, for the rest I should explain that what I mean by this is that the one who is called to be a minister of the Word of God has a duty and an obligation to exposit the text for the people in his church (and yes, I unabashedly maintain that it must always be a “he”). The minister who takes verses and uses them as a spring board for his own opinions fails in his duty.
I, however, am neither a minister nor am I expounding from the pulpit, so I am at liberty to confess to you that the inspiration for this post is the aforementioned verses; yet this post is not an exposition of those verses.
I should also mention that this post has been on my mind for a very long time but it has not been until now that I have had a chance to sit and contemplate how to put into words the thoughts that have been filling my mind. Before I discuss what is on my mind, however, let us read the relevant verses as they appear in the ESV:
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
–Romans 12:1-2
When I read these verses I cannot help but wonder how we measure up to them. The words are pretty straightforward: in light of the truth that we are saved by the grace of God, in light of the fact that we profess to be Christians, in light of all of this, therefore our bodies are to be presented upon the altar as a sacrifice to God. A living sacrifice!
What does this mean?
Well think about it: a poor animal laid on the altar soon had its throat slit and was dead. Whatever effectiveness God attributed to its shed blood was temporary. We, however, are purchased by the blood of Christ! The blood that atones for our sins is eternal and able to cover all sins. What is more, because a sacrificed animal by necessity perished on the altar, the one who offered it did so without any reservation. You could not change your mind once the sacrifice had been made! The animal could not be resurrected and returned to you! It was dead! And so a sacrifice, whether of atonement or thanksgiving, was given up completely. There was nothing to hold back was there? The sacrifice was set aside and given over to God.
Do you see the connection?
As living sacrifices, we are set aside for God! We are no longer our own, we have been offered up completely and without reservation! What claim do we have on self when we are the purchased possession (Ephesians 1:14)? Brothers and sisters, we belong to Him!
And so this is what Paul beseeches us to do…to present our bodies as living sacrifices totally set aside for His service. And what is more, we are to be holy. We are to be set apart for Him, we are to strive to be without blemish. Just as the sacrificial system demanded a perfect animal, so we are to be perfect for Him…so that we might be acceptable. Now you may well ask how it can be that we need to be perfect and without blemish in order to be acceptable to God when we have been told over and over that we come to Him as we are! That we do not perfect ourselves! How can this be? Well, all I can say is that you should take it easy and not forget that we are not speaking of salvation here but of sanctification. If you take the time to read the context of this passage you will quickly see this. For now, all I say is that we are speaking here of one who is redeemed…we are speaking of bearing fruit.
Let’s get back to this being acceptable to God issue though. Do you remember what Samuel told Saul?
“And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” – 1 Samuel 15:22
Sacrifice all you want buddy…but if all it is to you is meaningless ritual then God rejects your offering! A living sacrifice, an acceptable sacrifice, is that one that is motivated by a love of God which is made evident through the desire to be obedient! Lose sight of this and you miss the mark! Your sacrifice will be no more acceptable than that of Cain, than that of Saul! And so look again at what Paul is telling us…THIS is the way to be acceptable!
I love the way the NKJV ends verse 1, it says that all of this is your “reasonable service.” I love it. Not that “your spiritual worship” is wrong of course! Don’t get me wrong! To be living sacrifices, to be holy and acceptable is an act of worship, no doubt about it! But the NKJV translation satisfies my soul…our “reasonable service.” God is not asking something of us that is unreasonable! It is only right that this be the manner that the redeemed live! As living sacrifices!
But okay, now we come to the nitty gritty!
“do not be conformed to this world.”
Wow.
Allow me a rabbit trail here please. For my beloved Arminian brethren, how do you reconcile the use of the word “world” here with your dogmatic interpretation of John 3:16? I mean, if in the gospel the word MUST mean every man, woman and child, why must it not mean the same here? Simply put, the word can mean what you take it to mean in the gospel, or it can mean this rock upon which we live, it can mean what it does in Revelation 5:9, or it can mean what it clearly means here: the secular mindset, that which stands in opposition to the Word of God.
End of rant.
Okay, on not being conformed to this world. Wow. This is what has been most on my mind…primarily because it saddens me so much to be among people who call themselves Christians and live no differently than the world. How is this possible? I know of people who don’t go to church and feel no remorse over this! I know of people who deny that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and profess to love the Lord! I know people who listen to voices in their heads that tell them things contrary to the Word and they attribute this to God! Sadly, I am speaking of people who say they are Christians. What transformation do we see? None.
In fact, these people look exactly like the world in every respect except that they say they are Christians! And for those who outwardly conform to some semblance of what they think is a “Christian” lifestyle, they go to extremes as well!
Do you send your children to public school? Then, to them, you are obviously some evolutionist wolf in sheep’s clothing!
You see? We are surrounded by libertines or by legalists everywhere we turn! Both the antinomians and the legalists are the same in that they ignore the law of Christ! The antinomian takes grace to an extreme that shows they don’t understand the Scriptures (how can they when they usually don’t even believe them to actually be the inerrant Word of God?); the legalist offers up his unacceptable sacrifices full of blemishes out of a desire to keep the law…not out of love. If the legalist offered up the sacrifice in love he would take the time to actually understand the Word also and apply it out of a desire to please the Master! This last Sunday our pastor rightly pointed out that all of these “righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” –Isaiah 64:6
Guess what the words are that are translated as “polluted garment”? Let’s just say it refers to a woman’s menstrual cycle. T he righteous deeds of the one who does them out of ritual rather than love are dirty and polluted indeed, wouldn’t you say?
And this is exactly what I see all around me…and it makes me so sad.
Now, don’t think I am sitting here in judgment and asking you to look upon me as a holy acceptable sacrifice upon which to model yourself. Far from it! The only example we should look to when trying to figure out how to be holy and acceptable is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I am not saying I am “there.” I fail miserably all the time! What makes me sad, however, is that the ones I refer to boast in their acts! There is no repentance! There is no “oops, I’m sorry” involved.
Brothers and sisters, will you join me in committing to renewing our minds and being transformed from within? We must be living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God! We must do it because we love our Bridegroom! Let us long for Him, let us go to His Word in order to know Him. Let us prepare ourselves to welcome Him when He comes to claim us!
“…choose this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
–Joshua 24:15
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Personal Update
Well I wanted to write this quick post to let you all know I'm still alive! I have been a tad overwhelmed lately and by the time I get on the computer at night all I want to do is veg out and read other blogs instead of writing on my own!
I do, however, want to do this quick post and give you all some good news. I am down to a weight of 273 lbs., which means I lost 11 lbs. in 13 days! :-) It is so nice to be wearing clothes again that I'd been avoiding in quite some time because of how tight they were! Anyhow, I have messed up a bit in the last few days by eating some things I should not have and by easing up on my exercise, but tonight I started my work out again and though I dreaded doing it I can honestly say it felt GOOD once I did it. Please continue to pray for me as I seek to lose more weight...though I may never be thin (I never have been), I want to get to a weight where I'm comfortable. Some people may find this hard to believe, but my cholesterol and blood pressure are pretty good.
In case I have not mentioned it before, I have set myself a personal goal of being down to 250 lbs. by my birthday so that's why I need so much prayer!
On the posting issue, I'll get on that tomorrow...I have a couple of studies I'm ready to post and one book review I hope to finish tomorrow.
Good night and God bless!
I do, however, want to do this quick post and give you all some good news. I am down to a weight of 273 lbs., which means I lost 11 lbs. in 13 days! :-) It is so nice to be wearing clothes again that I'd been avoiding in quite some time because of how tight they were! Anyhow, I have messed up a bit in the last few days by eating some things I should not have and by easing up on my exercise, but tonight I started my work out again and though I dreaded doing it I can honestly say it felt GOOD once I did it. Please continue to pray for me as I seek to lose more weight...though I may never be thin (I never have been), I want to get to a weight where I'm comfortable. Some people may find this hard to believe, but my cholesterol and blood pressure are pretty good.
In case I have not mentioned it before, I have set myself a personal goal of being down to 250 lbs. by my birthday so that's why I need so much prayer!
On the posting issue, I'll get on that tomorrow...I have a couple of studies I'm ready to post and one book review I hope to finish tomorrow.
Good night and God bless!
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