Suffering or Sanctification

Image via Wikipedia

SANCTIFICATION

We believe that sanctification is the process by which, according to the will of God, we are made partakers of His holiness; that it is a progressive work; that is begun in regeneration; and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use of the appointed means, especially the Word of God, self examination, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer.

References: 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Proverbs 4:18; 1 John 2:29

Easton’s Bible Dictionary

Involves more than a mere moral reformation of character, brought about by the power of the truth: it is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the whole nature more and more under the influences of the new gracious principles implanted in the soul in regeneration. In other words, sanctification is the carrying on to perfection the work begun in regeneration, and it extends to the whole man (Romans 6:13; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Colossians 3:10; 1 John 4:7; 1 Corinthians 6:19). It is the special office of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption to carry on this work (1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). Faith is instrumental in securing sanctification, inasmuch as it (1) secures union to Christ (Galatians 2:20), and (2) brings the believer into living contact with the truth, whereby he is led to yield obedience “to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come.”

Perfect sanctification is not attainable in this life (1 Kings 8:46; Proverbs 20:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20; James 3:2; 1 John 1:8). See Paul’s account of himself in Romans 7:14-25; Philippians 3:12-14; and 1 Timothy 1:15; also the confessions of David (Psalm 19:12, 13; 51), of Moses (90:8), of Job (42:5, 6), and of Daniel (9:3-20). “The more holy a man is, the more humble, self-renouncing, self-abhorring, and the more sensitive to every sin he becomes, and the more closely he clings to Christ. The moral imperfections which cling to him he feels to be sins, which he laments and strives to overcome. Believers find that their life is a constant warfare, and they need to take the kingdom of heaven by storm, and watch while they pray. They are always subject to the constant chastisement of their Father’s loving hand, which can only be designed to correct their imperfections and to confirm their graces. And it has been notoriously the fact that the best Christians have been those who have been the least prone to claim the attainment of perfection for themselves.”, Hodge’s Outlines.

Noah Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) The act of sanctifying or making holy; the state of being sanctified or made holy;

2. (n.) the act of God’s grace by which the affections of men are purified, or alienated from sin and the world, and exalted to a supreme love to God; also, the state of being thus purified or sanctified.

3. (n.) The act of consecrating, or of setting apart for a sacred purpose; consecration.

I listed above the article of faith which pertain to “Sanctification” as well as a Biblical definition for the term.  Now lets look and some scriptures which discribes our different states before and after coming to Christ.

Ephesians 2:1-3

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

2 Peter 1:4-11

⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

⁵For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

¹⁰Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, ¹¹and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:1-17

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,^{[a] 2}because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,^[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.^[c] And so he condemned sin in sinful man,^{[d] 4}in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.⁵Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶The mind of sinful man^[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; ⁷the sinful mind^[f] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

⁹You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

¹²Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. ¹³For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, ¹⁴because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.^[g] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[h] Father.” ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Hebrews 12

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.⁴In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
⁶because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”^[a]

⁷Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! ¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

¹²Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ¹³“Make level paths for your feet,”^[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

So how do we go from a sinful nature to a nature that is divine as stated by Peter?  Sanctification of course but what does that have to do with suffering?  Have you ever told a child to not touch the stove?  Have you ever notice how your tone changes during this shaping of the child’s thinking?  You first start off nice and claim but the child still goes near the stove.  You try to tell them that is hot but they don’t listen.  Next you pick them up and show them while you are hold them that its hot.  That still doesn’t work.  Finally you yell but its useless they continue to got in the kitchen.  They don’t stop until they actually burn their hands.  Now they will never go near the stove again.  Or think of the progressive steps taken to prepare a athlete for a actual game.  Some don’t learn how to properly catch a ball until it hits them in the face.  Some don’t learn how important it is to drink water until they get the worse cramp they have ever experienced.  We usually don’t lose the taste or desire to do something until it hurts us.  Unfortunately, we respond better to pain rather than kindness.  Just like life sometimes seems sweeter after we have lost a love one.  The suffering that goes on during our sanctification builds a relationship with God in which the foundation is not mere blessings or prayer opportunities.  P.S. the “God if you fix this I will do that” prayers really don’t work.  Of course God would much rather not have to go through all of that pruning (John 15) to get you to bear the fruits of the Spirit.  Yes it is sad that some have to be put in prison before they will listen and follow Christ.  It is sad that some will have to lose everything before they turn to Christ.

Romans2:⁴Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

There is really not more that I can add the scriptures say it all.  We tend to look for more because its too simple and its to plain. God is not the God of confusion.  There isn’t some secret reason why we suffer or why we go through so much pain.  If we were all obedient children of God then He wouldn’t have to do it.  Point is that we are not as good and holy as we make of to be.  We are not that innocent and God is leading us to that point; that point of looking just like our Savior Jesus Christ(Romans 8:28-39).  We are in the Master’s hand and we will never stand against anything alone because He is always with us.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Why Christians Must be Holy (anointedplace.wordpress.com)
• It is not the Healthy (anointedplace.wordpress.com)

The Tabernacle: Altar of Incense

Image via Wikipedia

God commanded the priests to burn incense on the golden altar every morning and evening, the same time that the daily burnt offerings were made. The incense was to be left burning continually throughout the day and night as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It was made of an equal part of four precious spices (stacte, onycha, galbanum and frankincense) and was considered holy. God commanded the Israelites not to use the same formula outside the tabernacle to make perfume for their own consumption; otherwise, they were to be cut off from their people (Exodus 30:34-38).

The incense was a symbol of the prayers and intercession of the people going up to God as a sweet fragrance. God wanted His dwelling to be a place where people could approach Him and pray to Him.

“…for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7)

The picture of prayers wafting up to heaven like incense is captured in David’s psalm and also in John’s vision in Revelations:

“May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” (Psalm 141:2)

“Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand.” (Revelations 8:3-4)

The golden altar, furthermore, is a representation of Christ, who is our intercessor before God the Father. During His days on earth, Jesus prayed for the believers. He was like the high priest of the tabernacle, who bore the names of each of the Israelite tribes on his breastplate before God. Just before He was betrayed and sentenced to death, Jesus interceded for His disciples and all believers, asking God to guard them from evil and sanctify them by His Word, and that they may see God’s glory and be a witness to the world (John 17:1-26). Today, Jesus still is our high priest at the Father’s side, interceding for God’s people:

“Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34)

Since we have been forgiven of our sins through the blood of Christ, we also come boldly in prayer in Jesus’ name. When we pray in Jesus’ name, we are praying based on the work He has done and not on our own merit. It is in His powerful name that we are saved and baptized, and in His name we live, speak and act.

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)

The horns of the golden altar were sprinkled with blood from the animal sacrifice to cleanse and purify it from the sins of the Israelites (Leviticus 4:7, 16:18). Just as the horns on the brazen altar represent the power of Christ’s blood to forgive sins, the horns on golden altar signify the power of His blood in prayer as we confess our sins and ask for His forgiveness.

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (James 5:15-16)

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Tabernacle: Menorah (anointedplace.wordpress.com)
• The Tabernacle: The Gate (anointedplace.wordpress.com)

The Tabernacle: Table of Shewbread

Image via Wikipedia

The priests baked the bread with fine flour and it remained on the table before the Lord for a week; every Sabbath day the priests would remove it and eat it in the Holy Place, then put fresh bread on the table. Only priests could eat the bread, and it could only be eaten in the Holy Place, because it was holy.

“Showbread” also was called “bread of the presence” because it was to be always in the Lord’s presence. The table and the bread were a picture of God’s willingness to fellowship and communion (literally speaking, sharing something in common) with man. It was like an invitation to share a meal, an extension of friendship. Eating together often is an act of fellowship. God was willing for man to enter into His presence to fellowship with Him, and this invitation was always open.

Jesus exemplified this when He ate with tax collectors, prostitutes and the sinners of Jewish society. But this was more than just a gesture of friendship on earth. Jesus came to call sinners to Him, make them right with God, so that they could enjoy everlasting fellowship with God.

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. … Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.” (John 6:35, 49-50)

God so desires our fellowship that He was willing to come to earth from heaven as our “bread of life” to give eternal life to all those who would partake in it. At Jesus’ last Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus described Himself as bread again:

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’” (Matthew 26:26)

Jesus’ broken body is our only access to fellowship with God. Today, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, or communion, to remember this important truth. And today, as in the day of Moses’ tabernacle, God still desires to have fellowship and sit down for a feast with His people.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelations 3:20)

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Tabernacle: Menorah (anointedplace.wordpress.com)
• The Tabernacle: The Laver (anointedplace.wordpress.com)

What Gives?

Image via Wikipedia

Have you ever been in church and the pastor is delivering the message for that morning; and the church is a blaze.  The minister is getting “Amens” from every corner of the sanctuary.  People are jumping up and applauding his every word.  The minister is well prepared and speaks with passion and conviction.  You can look at the pulpit and just see and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.  When its all said and done, there are even a few people join as well come up to be baptized.  A month down the road things still seem just as they were before the spirit stirring sermon… What happen? What gives?

First thing people would say is that it’s the minister but that’s not always the case.  Now, this is not about finger pointing but awareness and self examination. What I’m about to say is not something I made up but things that I have done myself.  In most situations, the change to people’s lifestyle after such a moving sermon are merely habit changes.  The changes people make after hearing a message that is full of energy or changes to our behavior.  The things we clean up in our lives and how we make choices are all accomplished without the help of the Holy Spirit.  Meaning, we do these things without prayer, without guidance and without regard to God.  It is all done with our will and not with the power of the Holy Spirit.  We don’t seek the Lord nor do we turn to the Holy Scriptures.  This always lead to rule keeping or legalism.  We lay out a set of rules for ourselves and go about keeping the rules that we have added to our faith.  Since they seem to be good rules we assume God’s will is behind us but we never consult with Him.  One or two things will happen, 1) we fall back into our old ways and maybe even deeper because we now see ourselves as failures and 2) we keep the rules and become self righteous as well as “good”.  Following the path of number 2, it also leads us to push our rules onto other people since we have a “new doctrine” that will make us holy.

1.We don’t let the sermon go any further than our emotions.  Its like the story of the foolish and wise builder or the parable of the sower.  We at times go into church needing a emotional lift and use the time to worship as well as to fellowship  as a therapy session instead.

Luke 6:46-49

The Wise and Foolish Builders

⁴⁶“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. ⁴⁸He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Matthew 13:18-23

¹⁸“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. ²²The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. ²³But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

2. We have allowed the culture to tell us that our faith is a personal religion, meaning don’t push our lifestyle onto others.  We have thus removed community from Christianity as well as neglected the Great Commission.  This new attention to individual growth, which is not bad but it makes fellowship distant and the church has no transforming affect in our workplace, communities, schools, and thus we can’t truly love our neighbor as it relates to Christ.

Matthew 28:16-20

¹⁶Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

John 13:34-35

³⁴“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Romans 10:14

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

1 Peter 2:4-12

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

⁴As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”^{[a] 7}Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone,^[b]“^{[c] 8}and,
“A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”^[d] They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ¹²Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

As long as we allow the culture to tell us how we worship God, we will never get anything out of church.  As we sit there thinking to ourselves that he is not talking about me or I don’t have that problem and I don’t do that cause I live right and I’m good.  Our self righteousness and our will blocks God using us because we are not being humble.  We are not being servants to God like our ultimate blueprint which is Jesus Christ.  If we are good then Christ need not die for us then right?  If we are good and righteous as well as our own rules to life are so good; why we need the bible? Why God even bother?  What we say, do and believe reflect directly on the Purpose of God’s plan and the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit.  If we can’t stand correction than we are doomed to die in sin.  If we can’t spread the Gospel then we are being disobedient to Christ and therefore to the Creator.  If you can’t share Christ with your neighbor because its their life and they can live it how ever they want then you are not showing love to them.  When we say lets keep Christ to ourselves, we say I don’t care if you go to hell and the love of God is not in you.  Hey, if they reject you after you share the message just shake the dust of your feet and its on to the next one.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Why Did You Walk to the Front? (anointedplace.wordpress.com)

Are We There Yet?

I spend a lot of time praying for the Church and not just the local church but the Body of Christ.  I look out into the world from a isolated vantage point.  I see a lot of people wearing their Christian badges and proclaiming to be a child of God.  I see us saying one thing and doing another.  I prayer to God asking why are things the way that they are.  A theology instructor once told me that there needs to be more teaching going on.  But at times it seems the more we learn the more that our theology takes center stage.  I recently heard a sermon by R. C. Sproul; which is apart of a sermon series called “fear and trembling”.  He said something that just turned on the lights for me.

Today’s church is so focused on fixing our lives, improving our lives and our relationships with each other.  You can go just about anywhere and hear the same thing over and over again.  How to line up your life so you can have peace, joy, happiness, and wealth.  They teach us to have faith in our faith and to not speak doubt into our lives.  They talk about the “next level” as if Christianity is a pyramid scheme.  On top of the church doing this,  on our own we search high and low trying to find ourselves.  We turn to television shows, other people, books, movies, and anything we can get our hands on in order to define ourselves.  Some churches tell us to turn to God but we really don’t know what that means, do we?  They tell us to keep God first and we think we know what it means to keep God first but we are clueless.  The problem is deeper than just taking God out of our lives or not keeping Him first in our little worlds.  The problem is that He was never in our lives.  Some of us have never really meet Jesus Christ; yet alone made Him Lord over our lives.  We just simply repeat some words and think that’s good enough.  We don’t even bother to read the bible during the week.  There is little or no change in how we live our lives.  No I’m not saying that works save you.  What I’m saying is that what good does it to tell your spouse that you love them and never show it?  Love simply becomes something you say without thinking about it because it means nothing to you.

The world is this way because “Christians” don’t know God and neither do they know themselves.  We have to be honest with ourselves to even approach Christ.  We have to first admit that we are not good and don’t deserve heaven.  If we look at Isaiah and his encounter with God, you will see what I’m talking about.

Isaiah 6:1-10

Isaiah’s Commission

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

⁹ He said, “Go and tell this people:
” ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’

¹⁰ Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes. ^[a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”

Even the angels that God created were not holy enough to stand in God’s glory without covering themselves and yet we call ourselves good.  When Isaiah saw this, he cursed his own self saying woe is me I am ruined.  Isaiah was no angel but a man, a man who was born a sinner.  Isaiah finds himself standing before God and all of His glory.  God revealed Himself to Isaiah and at that moment Isaiah realized who God was and how far he was from what God demanded… holiness.  The seraphs placed the coal on his lips and God forgave him of his sins.  If Isaiah had to be honest with himself before he was made whole, what on earth makes us think that we are different.  I doubt anyone has approached the cross like that.  The priest couldn’t enter into the holy of holies but once a year and if so without offering a sacrifice they would die on the spot.  We have no fear of God, we do not understand that God is holy, holy, holy…  Until we realize that we will never know who we are.  Once we arrive at that point we will then see God and know without a shadow of a doubt how badly we need a Savior.  If you read on, it is after this does Isaiah readily says send me LORD!  So we don’t have that desire to spread the Gospel because we still don’t understand what Christ saved us from.  And even still hell is not Isaiah’s focal point for obeying God.  His reasons for obeying God is out of love, respect and the sheer holiness  and glory of God.  Do you realize that if one law of God is broken you have broken them all?  Do you realize sin equals death?  And yet we still live? Not because we are so good but because God loves us.  Yes we should all fear the Lord but to look at His grace and mercy; and not let that encourage you to serve Him is crazy.  So are we there yet?  Only we can answer that individually but only if we are first honest about our lives as Christians.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Why You Asking? (anointedplace.wordpress.com)
• Real Men are Christians (anointedplace.wordpress.com)

Why You Asking?

Image by Loci Lenar via Flickr

John 7:16-19 NIV

¹⁶Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. ¹⁷If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. ¹⁹Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

Luke 6:46-49 NIV

⁴⁶“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. ⁴⁸He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Commentary: The major issue in the life of a disciple is faithfulness. So Jesus issues a challenge in verse 46: “Why do you call me, `Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” The rhetorical question raises the issue of faithfulness. A good heart is faithful, while a hypocritical one is not. Obedience is not a matter of rule keeping but of faithfulness. How can one recognize Jesus’ authority and call him Lord and then not follow through on the commitment to walk with him?

With this question Jesus turns to the issue of his authority. He is not formulating some ethic that we could follow independent of relationship to him. Having a relationship with him is at the base of faithfulness. This is why the parallel to this verse in Matthew 7:21 makes knowing him the key. Luke does not emphasize the end-time judgment as Matthew does, but for both consistency and faithfulness are central. Jesus says, If you wish to be wise, you will love as I have taught, follow me as Teacher and Lord, and walk in my way with faithfulness. The implication emerges more clearly in light of the parable that follows.

~InterVarsity Press

Have you ever heard someone ask or say “how do I know what God’s will is for me life?” or “why I can’t hear God speaking to me?” Here we see Jesus speaking about these types of people.  If you were to be honest with yourself; you already know where this is leading to.  I will pose this question, if you knew that someone will not complete a certain job on time or even do it at all would you even bother telling them about it?  Even on my job, I know that certain people in my office do not follow my instructions so I don’t bother.  There are times when talking with my kids, some things I don’t tell them to do unless I know that they have a willingness to do it.  So why do we ask God to show us His will for our lives or ask Him what it is that He has for us, when He already knows we will not do it?  It’s like when you really need something and you tell God, “if you do this one thing for me I promise I will do…”  God already knows that you have no intention on being faithful to the task or even do it.  There are times when we do shy away from offering ourselves completely to God because of the sin in our lives.  See we for get that Christ died for us while we were yet still sinners.  Its one thing to ask a to be hesitated because you desire to give God the best of you and asking with no intent to do what He will ask of you.  Some will never know what God wants of them because they do not recognize His voice because they don’t have a relationship with Him.  They do not delight in His word, they don’t study His word and they don’t love His word.  How can you love Jesus Christ who is the word made flesh (John 1:1-14) and have no desire to read the Holy Scripture?  So why are we asking when we either don’t know Jesus and if we don’t know Jesus we can’t know the Father or we have no desire to do God’s will anyway.  When we are more concerned about ourselves, when we are more concerned about loving ourselves it shows that our god is us and not the Lord.  A spirit like that will not submit itself to the Lordship of Christ.  A spirit like that is built on external things and is unstable because it depends on tangible things.  As soon as the storm come the truth is revealed in that person’s life, just like the wise and foolish builders.

But a person who truly desires to do the will of God is first honest about their sins.  He realizes that there is no good in him and that without God he is nothing.  This person is humble and broken.  For them, when God calls on them and justifies them, it is a honor.  When you finally see God and understand what He has done for you, then you are not just ready but begging to do the Father’s will.

Isaiah 6:5-8

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Real Men are Christians

Awhile back there was a rap song by Ice Cube that had a chorus that really shocked me.  Of course some well see this as a Christian taking things to serious.  Some will say that I’m reading to much into what was said.  But of course people feel that they say anything and never have to take responsibility.  The thing is that it reflects a certain attitude or view of Christians, especially Christian men.

From the song “Go to Church“

[Chorus 2X: Ice Cube + (Lil Jon)]
If you a scared mother@$%# go to church (GO TO CHURCH)
If you a gutter mother@$%# do your dirt (A DO YOUR DIRT)
If you a down mother@$%# put in work (A PUT IN WORK)
IF you a crazy mother@$%# go berzerk (A GO BERZERK!)

Well it’s very obvious of how he feels about cowardice men, that they all belong in church.  Today in most churches the men are out numbered and a lot of them are brought to church by their wives or girlfriends as well as mothers.  Rarely do you see men bring their families to church.  But the notion that scared people belong in church is unsettling.  I think that I feel so disturbed by such statements because they are so very far from the truth.  I could talk about the Christians that were hunted like animals and tortured or talk about how even today Christians are killed and churches destroyed.  In the past and now in some areas of the world going to church can cost you your life.  The weakest man in the world can be brave when he is drunk, high and holding a gun.  The weakest man is the one who is brave when he is drunk, high and holding a gun.  The weakest man is the one who is strong when he is amongst the clones.  They all stand brave against God.  But a man who stand against what everyone else says to do is braver.  Do you know how much courage it took for Roman citizens to become Christians and go to church?  In Roman the emperor was god and to openly declare Christ as God meant death!  When a Christian says that there is only one way to God and that is Christ; the entire world turns on them.  Our culture speaks of “keeping it real” and yet the culture encourages us to be like someone else.  Or it tells you that you have to look like them to be happy.  Better yet you have to behave, speak, walk, and anything they can think of to be accepted as well as to be happy.  Regardless of what you may feel inside or think; you are not allowed to do that.  The culture tells you that you are free and then turn around and try to control what you buy, where you go, what you think, how you love etc.  We are in a prison of sin and are told that if you go to church that you’re less of a man.  You are scared and unless so go ahead to  church little boy…. Don’t believe the lie! To know who you are, you must know your Father.  But to know the Father you need to be able to approach Him but to do that you have to submit yourselves to Christ.  To submit yourself to Christ, you must cast off your rebellious will and admit your sins and repent of them.  A man that thinks he is good will never accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ; thus have no hope of redemption and justification.  Men of the world are slaves to sin with a long chain around their necks.  They are truly trapped inside the Matrix.  Think about that…. Some of them think that they are such men, cause you can get drunk, high, hold a gun (can’t shoot straight), have sex with many women, drive a car, pee standing up and etc.  All of that makes you a fool but you laugh at the men who go to church.  They laughed at Noah, remember that?  Just looking at Peter, James, John and Paul as well as many other Apostles; how dare they say Christian men are scared?

There is a show called the “First 48″ and its about cops in different cities trying to solve murders or get leads within the first 48 hours.  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen these “real men”, “thugs”, “gangstas” or whatever they wish to be called; start crying like babies when faced with life in prison.  It sickens me to see young men throw their lives anyway for people who could care less if they lived or died.  I hurts to see men just throw it anyway to be accepted by a person who would kill you without thinking twice.  Satan sees you and laughs at your foolishness; cause you will die a death with Satan and you don’t have to if you would accept Christ.  But you rather be a pawn and do as the world do instead of keeping it real and doing what God created you to do.

To Blind to See and To Good to Glorify God

Luke 7:36-50

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

³⁶Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, ³⁸and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

⁴¹“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,^[d] and the other fifty. ⁴²Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

⁴³Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

⁴⁸Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

We serve a Great God who sent His Son to atone for the sins of the world; to crush the serpent’s head as stated in Genesis 3.  Isaiah told us of this man of sorrows ( Isaiah 53)  who was “pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed”.  We make some many plans(James 4:13-17) and we have some much time invested (Matthew 6:19-24) in a earthly life .  We never stop to think that it is God that keeps us alive.  We have children and have the audacity to think that it is us that gives that baby life.  I know for a fact that a woman can do everything the doctor tell her to do and still have a miscarriage.  Who breaths life into that baby?  Yet we continue to act as just God is not there because “we” don’t love our neighbors as ourselves.  We are the reasons for why things are the way that they are.  We don’t want to take responsibility for anything and then we do not want anyone to correct us.  We don’t realize that God’s mercy keeps our hearts pumping.  Just the thought that a mass of  tissue and muscle just pumps without batteries or nothing externally does not bring us to glorify God as He desires.  There are so many Christians who are born into this thing and never have counted the cost of following Christ.  No of us have really counted the cost.  We don’t really understand that we have already been judged and sentenced.  Those without Christ’s atonement are already in line for hell.  Those that continue to live and life against God; already have their wages of death for their sin.  The cross in itself judges you.  The cross says that humanity will not seek to do right nor will people seek God and deny himself.  The cross says that you can’t atone for your own sins.  It says that a trillion lambs, bulls, and goats can’t make up for all the sins in a man’s heart (Genesis 6:5-8, 11-21, Romans 1).  We are born sinners and those that truly understand and are honest about their heart are just like the woman who washed Jesus’ feet.  Those with the greatest debit who then have them washed away then the Father draws them(John 6:44-51) out of that life of sin; they understand.  It’s like a man on death row being freed because the judge choose to do so.  When God’s election, His grace falls on you; your heart becomes filled with joy and love.  At that point you can worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.  This is what it means by “being poor in spirit” or brokenness.  Even if you don’t have that many sins but just the thought that you may have 4o years of living to do and God has shown you mercy, grace and love to forgive those sins to come.  Does that do anything to you?  People stop lying to yourself; we are not good at all.  None of us are good and our level of goodness will never be enough to please God.  To say that you are good and to start to measure the seriousness of your sin; is to say you don’t need God and that Christ wasted His time on the cross.  If you think you are good or not that bad; you will never experience Christ properly nor will you ever submit to God.  Especially since your pride in yourself hinders your vision. I have sat in the seat at altar call saying to myself that he isn’t talking about me then I measure my sins.  I was once like that but no more.  People like that are not Christians; they are religious and don’t worship God but worship what they have done with their lives. They are blind and don’t glorify God.  They glorify what they have done with God’s mercy and long-suffering.  They glorify the use of blessings to glorify themselves.  They do this so others can say how righteous and good they are.

Romans 3

No One is Righteous

⁹What shall we conclude then? Are we any better^[b]? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. ¹⁰As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
¹¹there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
¹²All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”^[c]
13“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”^[d]
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”^[e]
14“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”^[f]
15“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶ruin and misery mark their ways,
¹⁷and the way of peace they do not know.”^[g]
18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”^[h]

Related articles by Zemanta

• Do Not Judge Others (anointedplace.wordpress.com)
• Follow Me (anointedplace.wordpress.com)
• Elect of God (anointedplace.wordpress.com)

Blessed are Poor in Spirit

Beatitude 1 : Poor In Spirit

• ‘Poor in Spirit’ is a quite difficult phrase to understand. The word for ‘poor’ in Greek (’Ptochos‘) literally means having nothing, reduced to begging, like a beggar, totally broke. (Luke 6:20 uses only ‘poor’ in his version of sermon!)
• While monetary poverty can also be inferred from these verses, what Jesus really meant was spiritual poverty.
• You can be really poor and yet be arrogant and prideful, or you can be rich and still be poor in the spirit. (King David in Old Testament is great example of this, in spite of being King, he had a humble and contrite heart.)
• ‘Spiritual poor’ is exactly what it sounds like. It is a state when you realize that you have nothing and need constant help.
• We have to be careful here not to compare outward modesty with this characteristics. I strongly believe that it is a picture of a man with humble and broken heart who constantly need help from God for his very existence.
• This image is a stark contrast to the self-contained, self-sufficient spirit which world long for. But in the Kingdom of Heaven, this is the most important qualification, you can have.
• Isaiah 66:1-2: “Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
• Isaiah 57:15: “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”
• Psalms 51 is a great example of a man who is craving for God’s spirit. (This Psalm is King David’s confession and repentance after he committed adultery with Bathsheba.)
  • Ps 51:10 : “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
  • Ps 51:12 : “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.”
  • Ps 51:17 : “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
• The opposite of ‘Poor in Spirit’ is ‘proud in spirit’. The Pride of life is one of the three roots of sin and independence from God. (1 John 2:16)
• Poverty of spirit is the root of all virtues. It is the state of heart; it is how you view yourself in light of God. In this regard, this first beatitude is the root from which all other beatitudes grows.

The Promise: Kingdom of Heaven

• ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ is a peculiar title only found in the gospel of Matthew. This term is used interchangeably with ‘Kingdom of God’ in other gospels. Kingdom of Heaven is the messianic kingdom promised in old testament, to be established by Messiah. (Daniel 2:44) Matthew represents Jesus as the savior and king prophesied in old testament.
• Kingdom of God (Heaven) is in twofold:
  • Already Here: Luke 17:20-21: “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”
  • Yet to Come: Kingdom of Heaven will be fully realized and established when Christ will come as a King and Ruler over all earth. (Daniel 7: 13,14,27)
• What a blessed hope and promise, Jesus offers to those who are poor in the spirit. “Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”

Can be found on http://bibleseo.com/

The Goal of God’s Love May Not Be What You Think It Is

John Piper

Do people go to the Grand Canyon to increase their self-esteem? Probably not. This is, at least, a hint that the deepest joys in life come not from savoring the self, but from seeing splendor. And in the end even the Grand Canyon will not do. We were made to enjoy God.

We are all bent to believe that we are central in the universe. How shall we be cured of this joy-destroying disease? Perhaps by hearing afresh how radically God-centered reality is according to the Bible.

Both the Old and New Testament tell us that God’s loving us is a means to our glorifying him. “Christ became a servant … in order that the nations might glorify God for his mercy” (Romans 15:8-9). God has been merciful to us so that we would magnify him. We see it again in the words, “In love [God] destined us to adoption … to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Ephesians 1:4-6). In other words, the goal of God’s loving us is that we might praise him. One more illustration from Psalm 86:12-13: “I will glorify your name forever. For your lovingkindness toward me is great.” God’s love is the ground. His glory is the goal.

This is shocking. The love of God is not God’s making much of us, but God’s saving us from self-centeredness so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. And our love to others is not our making much of them, but helping them to find satisfaction in making much of God. True love aims at satisfying people in the glory of God. Any love that terminates on man is eventually destructive. It does not lead people to the only lasting joy, namely, God. Love must be God-centered, or it is not true love; it leaves people without their final hope of joy.

Take the cross of Christ, for example. The death of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of divine love: “God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Yet the Bible also says that the aim of the death of Christ was “to demonstrate righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed” (Romans 3:25). Passing over sins creates a huge problem for the righteousness of God. It makes him look like a judge who lets criminals go free without punishment. In other words, the mercy of God puts the justice of God in jeopardy.

So to vindicate his justice he does the unthinkable – he puts his Son to death as the substitute penalty for our sins. The cross makes it plain to everyone that God does not sweep evil under the rug of the universe. He punishes it in Jesus for those who believe.

But notice that this ultimately loving act has at the center of it the vindication of the righteousness of God. Good Friday love is God-glorifying love. God exalts God at the cross. If he didn’t, he could not be just and rescue us from sin. But it is a mistake to say, “Well, if the aim was to rescue us, then we were the ultimate goal of the cross.” No, we were rescued from sin in order that we might see and savor the glory of God. This is the ultimately loving aim of Christ’s death. He did not die to make much of us, but to free us to enjoy making much of God forever.

It is profoundly wrong to turn the cross into a proof that self-esteem is the root of mental health. If I stand before the love of God and do not feel a healthy, satisfying, freeing joy unless I turn that love into an echo of my self-esteem, then I am like a man who stands before the Grand Canyon and feels no satisfying wonder until he translates the canyon into a case for his own significance. That is not the presence of mental health, but bondage to self.

The cure for this bondage is to see that God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the most loving act. In exalting himself – Grand Canyon-like – he gets the glory and we get the joy. The greatest news in all the world is that there is no final conflict between my passion for joy and God’s passion for his glory. The knot that ties these together is the truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Jesus Christ died and rose again to forgive the treason of our souls, which have turned from savoring God to savoring self. In the cross of Christ, God rescues us from the house of mirrors and leads us out to the mountains and canyons of his majesty. Nothing satisfies us – or magnifies him – more.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.