The duty of delight (repost)

I am again reposting this from a previous year’s post.  I think I might have to revisit this for myself yearly.  I find it interesting to see where I’ve come from and how far I still have to go.  While I think that I have been making strides in my devotion to the Lord, I know that I still fall short.  Part of my struggle is busyness.  I get busy with life, busy with responsibilities, busy with various other distractions, let alone my own selfishness and slothfulness.  I get busy and forget the effort that I must put into pursuing a deeper communion with the Lord.  No one every climbed Everest from an armchair.  No one ever sailed solo around the world who was content with “good enough.”  And no one ever reached the stars who was satisfied with the way of the world around them.  And yet those who do these things are held in the highest regard as pursuing those things that are most valuable with the greatest effort.

And yet where are the men and women who see a deeper and growing communion with the true and living God as that which is most valuable?  Where are those who would say with the Apostle that “all other things are garbage in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord?”

Jesus Himself endured the cross, despised the shame and has been highly exalted for His faithful service.  We celebrate the effect of His faithful service as we reflect upon His death, burial and resurrection at Easter.  And yet it is not merely the effect of His faithful service that should cause us to awe, but also His endurance to the end of that service.  It is this endurance that I need to be reminded of in my own life.  That I am not here for myself and my own desires.  I am not here to do whatever my heart desires.  But rather I am here to serve my Risen Savior, to pursue a deeper communion with Him, to see and savor the true and living God through Him and to glorify Him forever.

Father “give me the grace [and the delight] to do what you command and command me to do your will.”

December 21, 2002:

“In reading Piper’s ‘Gods Passion for His Glory,’ Edwards’ life is told and his book is included…on page 74 it talks about the difference between believing that God is holy and merciful and ‘sensing’ God’s holiness and mercy.  He says that we must have a ‘true taste’ and delight in God’s mercy and holiness.  I think that is what is lacking in my life…a true passion for God.  What does it mean to truly hunger for and delight in God’s Glory?  To sense God’s grace, mercy and holiness.  I think to sense God’s holiness means to abstain from sin.  Much more of it to abhor sin.  [The one who] utterly despises sin is the one who truly senses God’s holiness.  To sense God’s holiness I imagine is to feel the suns warm rays on a clear sunny day at the beach.  To [taste the sweetness of] and feel the liquid of your favorite drink going down your esophagus.  I think to sense God’s holiness is to have the hairs on the back of your neck stand on edge at the thought that though you are lone, someone is very much there with you.  But not just anyone.  This someone is the one whom the prophet of old spoke of as lofty and exalted.  This one is the one who’s train utterly fills the temple.  The one whom both the heavens and earth flee before.  This one is encircled by burning lights who cry out day and night that He is holy, holy, holy.  That someone who resides inside of those called by His name.  To sense God’s holiness is not only to abstain from but to shudder at the thought of sin.  To sense God’s holiness is to wish oneself accursed, yea even utterly destroyed due to one’s complete destitution before Him.  To sense God’s holiness in totality would be to cease to exist.  To be done away with.  Yet to sense God’s holiness is to be flooded with more than abundant grace and mercy at the recognition of a life saved.  Herein is our delight.  That a holy God would be entertained by wretched, worthless sinners such as we.  That a holy God would extend Himself to those wretched, worthless creatures to give them access to Himself.  That a holy God would give the best that could ever be given, Himself, to worthless wretched creatures in spite of themselves.  Oh the depths of the riches of the glorious grace and mercy of God in His unfathomable lovingkindness toward men!!!”

Oh for that sort of delight.  For that sort of passion.  I think that this is a life long pursuit.  Many would probably give up in pursuing a delight in God for the difficulty of it.  It is climbing the highest mountain.  It is walking the longest road.  And yet it holds the satisfaction of reaching its peak, or of finding your destination.  It is the refreshment of a cool breeze on a hot and humid day.  More than that, it is a warm blanket and a cup of cocoa (coffee for me) on a cold winters evening.  More than that…it is your last – first kiss…it is the groom seeing his bride for the first time at the altar…it is the enjoyment of seeing your child for the very first time, when they take their first breath in this world…it is a good nights rest.  And it is greater than that still.  What is your greatest, longest lasting pleasure and delight?  It is that, except infinitely more enjoyable, infinitely more holy, infinitely more glorious.  To delight in God, who is the greatest good…it is unspeakable.

I long for that delight.  I desire that sort of delight.  The journey toward such a delight is long, and it is difficult.  But it is good.  It is good because that which is its aim is infinitely delightful.  The pursuit of worldly gain and other such possessions is empty and shallow.  It is temporary.  It is flawed and soiled by sin’s stain.  But God is Holy and Righteous and Good, Perfect, Glorious, Gracious, Loving, Merciful…to write the love of God is a futile endeavor.  But to pursue the love of God, will never leave one ashamed.

I titled this the duty of delight, because it is a task.  It is a difficult, labor some task.  I could have just as well titled it the “pursuit of delight in God” or something like that.  As much as I would pursue prayer for the sake of communion with God, I would more pursue delight in God.  Delight in God would make all of my pursuits in God infinitely more enjoyable.

You are Gracious and Compassionate…slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.  I pray for each of my dear friends who would read this…I pray for us all, that you would create in us a heart that finds its highest joy, its greatest good in You and You alone.  May our hearts be sick, as David wrote, may our hearts pant after You as a deer for water.  May our souls thirst for You, the Living God, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in an unapproachable light and yet who has made Yourself known to us through Your Son, the Man Jesus Christ.  May we not grow tired, may we not grow weary in seeking this.   Burn His light into our hearts….burn it so that we can desire no one or no thing besides You.  Let us fall in love with the thought of His appearing.  Even so, Come Lord Jesus! Amen.

“O taste and see that the LORD is good, how blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”  Psalm 34:8

“You will make known to me the path of life, in your presence is the fullness of joy, in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

A prayer and charge for your children to start the New Year

From King David to his son Solomon:

“Know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind.  For the LORD searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts.  If you seek Him, He will let you find Him, but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” I Chronicles 28:9

Successful Christian Service

Titus 1:1-3

“Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,  2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,  3 but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,”

Paul saw himself as a “bond servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God…”  Part of what made Paul successful in Christian service (which I might add is not success as the World sees it  in terms of riches, fame, fortune, a life of ease – but I’ll save that for another post) is the understanding that he was made a bond servant not for his own sake but for the sake of others.

“For the sake of those chosen of God.”  God set Paul apart for the sake of those chosen.  He was set apart for other believers.  In other words, he saw his Christian life, the gifts that he was given as “for” someone/thing other than himself.  He saw these things as given to him for others. Thus it did not matter how difficult ministry became, it did not matter how inconvenient ministry was, it did not matter if he fulfilled all of his earthly dreams and wishes in this life, because his life was not for himself.  It was for others.

What would the Church look like if we all saw our calling, our gifts, our lives as being for one another and not for ourselves alone?  It might completely revolutionize the way that Church was done.  It wouldn’t be about what we looked like, how people saw us, if serving fit into our schedule, if we had enough left over to give financially, etc.  Serving would not be an option for us.  We couldn’t go a day, much less a moment without serving the body of Christ.  All of our daily schedule, the plans that we had for life would be centered around serving one another in the body of Christ.   We would give up all that we had in service for one another.  We would be willing to die for the sake of those who had not heard so that they could have their share in the family of God beside us.  We would see every non-believing person as a possibly “elect of God” and make every effort to ensure that they heard so that they could believe.

How different would life be for our children?  What a difference would it make if they saw the Church as our greatest priority and not the family name?  What difference would it be if they saw the Word of God, the glory of Christ and His return as our greatest hope and the basis for our encouragement of one another in the body?  What if they saw us praying fervently for one another in the body of Christ, giving to one another of our own resources and serving one another with every free moment that we had?  What if they saw the body of Christ as their “family” more than their physical earthly family?  What difference would those things make for them in painting a realistic, livable, honest, godly picture of Christianity?

What about for unbelievers?   How might unbelievers view Christianity if they saw a community instead of a religious group?  What if they saw a loving, inseparable organism instead of a program based, organizational, glorified frat?  What if they saw people fervent in love for one another in the midst of adversity?  What if they saw people unfettered by worldly standards of beauty, class, financial status or race?  What if they saw “the household of God, the pillar and support of the truth” as Paul envisioned to Timothy in another letter?

How about you?  What difference does your calling in Christ make in your life?  What difference does the fact that you were called into a body of other believers who have need of your service or else they will not grow make to you?  How have you so set your life to be used as greatly as possible for the Church of Jesus Christ?  How have you made His Church your priority?

I believe.

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,  by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,  and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.”

This is the testimony of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian Church.  This is what he believed.  This is what he taught.  I am no different than him, who spoke nearly 2000 years ago concerning the fact of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection attested by the Scriptures and the other Apostles.

I have written previously concerning certain thoughts that I had around Easter.  Somehow I feel that this Easter has crept up on me.  It is certainly one of the most important celebrations in the Christian faith.  Much of what Paul mentions in the rest of I Corinthians 15 has to do with the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  His point in a nutshell is that if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead then our whole faith is in vain.  Thus Easter is greatly celebrated among those who believe.  It is a time to reflect upon the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf, the heinousness of our own sin that drove Him to the cross, the great love that kept Him there in the midst of such hostility and mockery at the hand of sinners like you and I, and His victory over sin, death and the grave when He rose triumphantly just three days later.  Appropriate words fail me now to describe the joy that I ought to feel as I reflect upon my own weakness, tendency to rebel against my Wonderful, Merciful Savior.

There ought to be much jubilation.  There ought to be great celebration.  Sadly many who believe approach Easter as if its just any old holiday.  Perhaps there is dressing up, perhaps there is the purposeful endurance of hours in a hot church before a dispassionate preacher droning on about the significance of how many Angels were at the tomb or that women received the message of the resurrection first (among other things).  And once they’ve made it to church on Easter, they check this spot off their list and return to their usual sporadic church attendance.

My point here is not to down anyone.  My point here, as I check my own heart, is to remember that at the heart of my faith is a set of truths.  It is not the celebration of a “holiday” or a the warm and fuzzy feeling associated with the spectacle that many make of Easter (bunny rabbits, chocolate and such).  It is the recognition and heart affirmation of a set of truths that all who claim to be a part of my faith ought to hold to.  And those same set of truths dictate (some more directly than others) how we approach these holy days,  who we ought to be toward one another and toward all men.  And more than that, these set of truths point to a Man.  The only Man in whom there is true life.  And the only Man under heaven of whom it may be said that believing in His name leads to salvation.

Paul said it first and best here in the above passage “the gospel which I preached to you, which you also believed, in which you stand, by which you are saved…[is] that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that He appeared to [many].”

I am a Christian.  As a Christian I affirm that…

I believe that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is a real person.

I believe all of the Bible to be fully trustworthy, authentic and truly the Word of God to man.  As the Word of Creator God, it is fully capable and does predict the future and accurately record historic events.

I believe that Jesus died for my sins according to the Scriptures (the Old Testament in the Bible).

I believe that Jesus was buried in a tomb because He was genuinely dead.

I believe that Jesus rose again on the third day according to those same Scriptures.

I believe that Jesus appeared to over 500 people including the Apostles ( who walked with Him during His life, and would have known Him intimately), and that they accurately recorded their testimony about Him in the New Testament of the Scriptures.

And I believe that my faith in Jesus Christ of Nazareth will not be in vain because He has risen from the dead and will literally return to the Earth, as sure as He came the first time, and that He will finally make me fit for His Glorious Kingdom.

There is much more that I could say.  For now I will conclude with this.  I believe because He lives.  Had He not risen from the dead, there would be no hope in Christianity.  There would be no power to change us from being dead in sin to have life before God, thus saving us from His Wrath.  And there would be no confidence in the Word of God to accurately predict the future on the basis of God’s Almighty control of all things.  But again, because He lives, all of these things are yes and Amen.

Romans 10:9-11

“if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” “

I have put my complete faith in this man, the LORD Jesus Christ.  I invite you to do the same.

Even so, Come LORD Jesus!

Parenting, 3 reasons why we must not give up!

Reason #1 why we must not give up. It is the will of God.  God has destined us for this purpose.  He brought both husband and wife together in marriage.  He enabled their bodies to conceive.  He appointed each child to the family.  If it is thus God’s will that we are the parents and they are the children and if God has thus called children to parent; then we must parent, and we must not give up.

Parenting is at times discouraging, frustrating and down right disheartening.  But God has appointed us to this.  He has appointed us as parents, weak, lacking wisdom, easily frustrated and tired as we are.  And He has appointed these children to us, foolish, stubborn, sinful and childish as they are.  And God never errs.  He never makes mistakes.  He did not forget that you were weak.  He did not forget that you too would struggle with sinful inclinations and responses.  He did not forget that you might be tired or that it might be hard.  He also did not forget or fail to realize how difficult this child would be.  Nor did not overlook that you would have many sleepless, teary eyed nights over this unrepentant, sometimes belligerent soul.  In fact He planned it all.  He planned it all first for His glory and next for the good of the two of you.  Yes, He gave you two to each other for the sanctification of each of you.  And perhaps if your child is yet to believe, then He has planned them first for your sanctification.

Furthermore in His mercy, in His plan, with His call, He provides greater grace.  For God always gives grace to the humble and He always gives grace sufficient for the weaknesses of those whom He calls to service.

Reason #2 why we must not give up. This is why children need parents.  Children are born sinners.  Thus their intellect, their capacity for “reason,” their ability to know their limitations and to discern right from wrong is all corrupt.  It is tainted with sin.  Thus children need guidance.  They need wisdom.  It is not inherent in them.  What is inherent is to sin.  What is inherent is to choose what is most pleasing to them alone, whether it is wise or right for them to do.  Children are never taught to sin.  They never need to be taught to cry for something that they want.  They know instinctively how to become angry when a perceived need is not met.  However they do need to be taught to delay gratification.  They need to be taught discipline.  They need to be taught that food is for the belly and not the belly for food.  They need to be taught that fun isn’t always safe.  They need to be taught the nature of action and consequence.   They need to be taught boundaries.  If parents do not teach them these things then their folly will ensnare them.  Their desires will overwhelm them until they become utter slaves to their lusts, whatever those lusts may be.  They need to be taught these things or else they will perceive no boundaries, either human or divine; thus incurring both the judgment of man and eventually the judgment of God.

Reason #3 why we must not give up. The Lord is patient with us.  If we would but count the times of our stubbornness, the times when we’ve scorned the reproof of the Lord, the times when we’ve ignored His chastening and rebuke, the times when we’ve returned to the vomit of our sin even in light of His discipline, the times when we’ve shaken our fists at God’s law in pursuit of our own passions…we would be ashamed at our lack of patience with our children.  For the Lord God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness towards us…and that so beautifully and bountifully displayed on a wooden cross on which He hung His Son to suffer, bleed and die for our sins while we were sinners and His enemies.  He did that for us.  And He rose Him from the dead and gave Him glory and the promise of new life and glory to us as well, though we were His enemies.  If God has thus done so for us, how can we not do so for our dear (sometimes wicked) sweet children, the fruit of the womb, the blessing from the Lord?

Certainly there are more reasons.  These have been the most outstanding in my own heart recently as I’ve considered this stewardship of parenthood which the Lord has thus given us.  May they be a blessing to your soul as well.  Remember these principles when you are at your last, remember that the Lord is Sovereign, even over the course of their young, seemingly uncontrolled lives, and often seek the Fountain of Grace whenever your cup runs empty.

Maranatha!

Coram Deo – God’s choice, God’s glory

Strange what being sick will do…I missed church this past Sunday for being sick.  I’ve missed church before, being out of town or else having some other specific thing to do…but I don’t remember missing for being sick…at least not much.  I did get to listen to a few MacArthur messages on Ephesians so that was time well spent.  Ephesians is such a beautiful book.  A staple of sorts for the Church.  Anytime you want to think back and meditate on the church and what it is, pick up Ephesians and drink deeply.

Ephesians is packed full of doctrine in almost every paragraph.  Least of which is the doctrine of election which the book of Ephesians so eloquently teaches.  I’m not really sure how anyone can walk away from Ephesians and not come to the conclusion that God has determined that some should be saved solely based upon His free will.  Particularly in Ephesians 1.  Paul reiterates time and again the truth of God’s choosing, predestining, His will – which was that all things be summed up in Christ, and the like.  Furthermore that His free will, His predestining had nothing to do with anything of us, whether work or faith.  It matters not what works we do/did, and it matters not what faith we have/had.  God’s plans, His purposes, His counsel was amongst Himself, for His own glory and pleasure.

This does two things for us.  First it humbles us.  It helps us to see that we are all on the same level playing field.  There is nothing of which it can be said “I had this or that and therefore God chose me.”  It doesn’t matter if it be a work or faith.  There is no thing within man of which God was obligated to choose to save Him.  Salvation is God’s grace which necessarily must be free and without obligation or else it is no longer grace but payment for what is due.  And may it never be said that the Church of Jesus Christ teaches that God the Almighty is in anyway obligated to respond and save anyone apart from by His own free, unmerited (whether by work or faith) grace.

Second it must cause us to rejoice.  This whole sentence which Paul writes in chapter 1 is an expression of thanksgiving and praise to God for what He has done for us in salvation, the least of which is that this salvation is His predetermined plan from before the world was made.  What joy should that afford us!  That God Almighty set His affections on us before time began.  He could have set His affection upon any of His created beings and yet He has chosen to do so for us.  If ever there were a thing for someone to have confidence in, if ever there were a thing for a man to boast it, it must be this…that the Lord has done great things!  And that the Lord has done great things for us in Christ!

God chose us.  God determined that we would be united with Christ.  God called us.  God justified us.  And God has glorified us.  And now we may be certain that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!”

To God be the Glory!

Coram Deo – Reckon the Reward

Sin is a lack of faith.  It is short sightedness.  It is an affront against the goodness of God.  It is the choice to partake in the passing pleasures associated with this world above that which is eternal and infinitely more enjoyable in God.  Consider what is said of Moses in Hebrews as he is praised for his faith in the God who is a rewarder of those who seek Him, “Moses when he became of age refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter, choosing rather o suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.”

In this description we notice 4 things, not in any particular order:

1)  Sin is pleasurable.  The alternative for Moses were the “treasures of Egypt.”  What pleasures would have been available for the son of Pharoah’s daughter?  It was not a small thing for Moses to simply choose not to partake in these things.  They were treasures.  They were glorious.  He probably would have had any number of pleasurable things at his disposal.  And so for us, in our “Egypt.”  Though we are not sons of Pharoah’s daughter, we have so many “treasures” and “pleasures” available at our very finger tips.  It does the believer no good to attempt to deny the desirability of sin.  James says that temptation is temptation precisely because it caters to a desire within the person who is tempted. Sin is desirable, just as the fruit was desirable to the eyes of our first father and mother in the garden, such that they sinned against their God.

2)  Sin must be deal with. Sin cannot be ignored.  Temptation cannot be ignored.  And it cannot be fought.  A person cannot man-up and struggle their way through a temptation as to overcome it.  We are told, in Timothy to “flee” from immorality.  Peter told us to “abstain” from fleshly lusts because they wage war against our souls.  Abstain – hold back from, keep away from anything that pertains to the lusts of the flesh.  We must flee from it, we cannot simply ignore it.  The problem is that most of the time, that which tempts us is not the wife of Potipher.  In those situations, many of us who have the spirit of God would turn in run.  But it is often not those situations in which we find ourselves.  We find ourselves in situations where we have to make a thousand little choices every single day in order to flee.  And every one of those thousand little choices can either bring us closer to sin or closer to the Lord.  Perhaps you’ll never have to decide whether to stay in Egypt or not.  But each day you must sit in front of your desk at work and decide to waste time or be productive.  Each day you must sit at your computer and decide to spend time looking at worthless things or to spend you time wisely in the Lord.  Each moment you must decide to complain and gripe about a situation that is difficult for you or to accept it as the Lord’s will for this season.  Each moment you decide how to respond to an arrogant, ignorant, hostile or demanding person in your life, whether you will continue to pursue righteousness or respond to them in the flesh. The point is that fleeing is not often a one time event, but rather a conscious decision that must be made daily, yea even each moment of your day.

3)  Often association with God brings affliction. This is clear and obvious from the text in Hebrews as well as it says plainly that Moses’ choice was to suffer affliction with the people of God.  Paul said to Timothy that “all who desire to live godly will face persecution.”   And that in the greater context of 2 Timothy where affliction and hardship is a major theme that Paul sought to convey to Timothy.  The man of God will face persecution from those who are crooked and perverse in his generation.  It must happen.  This world is anti-God and anti-Christ.  Those who are called by His name will receive just what He received.  Turning from sin to serve God is not an easy thing.  It is not a turning to “your best life now.”  It is a turning from the pleasures of this world to the cross of Christ, and it is taking up our own cross and making that same journey of death with Him…though it is a death to eternal life. If it were not for the cross, the world would be flocking in droves to the call of Christ.  But that is not the case because the call of Christ, a crucified and slain Christ, is foolishness to them.

4)  That brings us to our last point.  Pursuing holiness leads to the reward. Holiness is the opposite of sin.  Sin seeks its own apart from God.  Holiness seeks the pleasure of God in doing what is pleasing to Him.  While sin’s reward of pleasure is indeed enjoyable for a moment it is in reality only an illusion.  The one who is deluded may find great pleasure in his psychotic episode.  He may run free with reckless abandon in a secluded wood.  He may spend endless hours feasting upon his favorite meal.  But when he awakens from his slumber his belly will still be empty.  And if he were in his  delusion for long, the hunger pains may well lead him to starve himself to death.  There is no true reward with sin.  Only the image of a reward and an empty belly.  The reward of God is a reward indeed.  It is the reward of a better country.  Though a spiritual reality, a reality indeed.  Though unseen, its substance is what yields eternal pleasure and everlasting joy.  The reward of God is as real and eternal as God Himself, for He is the reward.  And the Christ of God is the reward giver who gives to all who both believe God and believe that He does reward those who diligently seek Him.

Reckon the reward.  Know that no matter how scintillating or how pleasurable the sin may be, beneath its surface lies a whirlpool which drags its captive down to the abyss of death.  But beyond the treacherous roads of Holiness mountain lies greater reward.  “In His face is the fullness of joy and in His right hand are pleasures forevermore!”

Coram Deo thought: The death of pride

The Christian life is full of a thousand little deaths.  The death of pride in one’s heart is probably one of the most frequent…or at least should be.  “This I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Paul wrote this in the context of a discussion of God’s mercy towards the Church.  He has been merciful to us, in abundance in Christ; and therefore we should present our bodies to Him as a sacrifice.  He goes on to say that this sacrifice entails offering up our bodies to His body through the gifts which He has given us in the Spirit.  This Paul says is a service that we ought to render with humility.  The spirit of humility then is a necessary response to the contemplation of God’s mercy in salvation.  As we recognize that our salvation is truly the mercy of God, our minds are being transformed and as our minds are transformed our lives will reflect a greater awareness of our dependence upon Him, gratitude towards Him and humble service to our brethren who are also recipients of God’s mercy.  Mercy serves to place us all on the same level playing field.  None of us have earned God’s mercy, mercy itself being what is undeserved.  And all of us in Christ and even apart from Christ are recipients of God’s mercy at all times.  All that we have and all that we are is as a result of God’s mercy towards us.  this one doctrinal truth I believe should revolutionize our lives.  Paul viewed it as that which should produce a complete transformation of life for new believers.  Here are just a few ways in which mercy should transform our lives.

Our life should be sacrificial.  There ought to be a true and lasting pursuit towards sacrifice.  So often in life we pursue that which is our right.  We pursue that which leads to comfort for us.  Our society is extremely comfort oriented.  But the mercies of God should impel us to sacrifice.  None of what we have is our own.  None of what we have and what we are is given to us for our own sakes.  Therefore it should all be freely offered back as a sacrifice to God.  Furthermore we ought to look for opportunities to sacrifice what we have for the sake of others.  We should not be quick to hold on to what we have.  We should be quick to give because what has been given to us is not for us alone.  And all who are around us = our brothers sand sisters in Christ – regardless of what they have or have not worked for (materially speaking) are recipients of God’s mercy as we are.  And therefore we ought to be quick to share and to give whatever it is that we have for the glory of God.  My family has received great benefit from many who have understood this principle.  And we endeavor to exemplify the same to others and before our children.  “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Our life should be service oriented.  God has given us a measure of grace.  That measure of grace is to be used for the sake of His body which is still on earth.  That measure of grace has been left to us for the sake of building up His body and therefore we must make every effort to determine what grace the Lord has left for us and to use that grace with fervency “not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” v 10.  To do any less would be disobedience to the Lord who called us by His grace to serve.  A servant should do nothing less than that which is reasonable for a servant to do.  That is to serve.  A servant should not just serve when they know that they will reap in return.  A servant does not just serve when it will be easy for him to do so.  A servant does not expect gratitude or appreciation.  A servant serves because it is his lot in life and because he is a servant.  A servant serves because he has a master whom he desires to please.  Because when the master is pleased the servant will be blessed.  It is not the joy of the servant which is in the mind of the master but his own joy.  And his joy means good for the servant.  His displeasure means wrath.  A servant’s life is unremarkable.  It is not full of pleasure and extra luxuries.  Our society scoffs at the terminology “servant.”  Man desires to be servant to no one.  Our society declares that it is not the one who serves who is greater but the one who is served by others.  Jesus said on the contrary that the one who would be great in His Kingdom must be a servant to all.  Jesus said of Himself that he came to “serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”  Are the subjects of the Kingdom greater than the King?  If the King had to spend His earthly life as a service to the will of His Father in Heaven, how much more should we who are infinitely less in honor than He?  It is not wrong for a person to have luxuries or to be entertained by them.  However the true believer who is rich in this world is commanded to hold loosely to what he has and to always be ready to give to others who are in need (I Tim 6:17-19).  Furthermore why would one who has true riches in Christ desire or pursue that which is fleeting and temporary?  It would behoove one to question the motives of their own heart in pursuing or actively striving to maintain these things for any other sake than to impart them to the body as needed.

Our life should be sober. Again, the gospel is the great equalizer.  The mercy of God in salvation is His withholding what we truly deserve which is only death for our rebellion from Him.  One who understands the gospel doesn’t see themselves as deserving anything good.  Perhaps we understand and fall back on the assurance that God is working for our good in this life.  However we don’t expect for God to give us any good as if there has ever been a time in which we actually deserve it for our own sake.  We are children of God.  We are children of the King.  We are His beloved.  However that is all by His mercy and not because He is obliged to give us anything. A sober life is seen in three ways.  1)  Our thoughts towards outsiders, unbelievers, obstinate ought to always be that of mercy.  Even for those who are harsh, unbearable, obstinate and even hostile towards us or the cross.  We are to consider the mercy of God to us who were just as they dead in our sin toward God.  “But God,” as the scripture says “on account of his great mercy” made us alive together with Christ.  And so He may for them according to His time and His will.  2)  Our thoughts towards one another in the body of Christ should be that of mercy.  We ought to consider one another, regardless of faults, in light of God’s mercy.  There is no room for complaining about anothers fault as if we deserve only good.  Again, the one who has truly understood God’s mercy knows that it is not the bad that we should marvel at for that is what we deserve.  But it is the good things which also come from above, that we should marvel at.  When we are treated as servants by a bother or sister, that should not shock us.  However when we are blessed above and beyond that of a servant, when we are given the King’s ransom; then we should marvel, then we should stand in awe.  Even to be treated as a servant is God’s mercy to us.  God is sovereign over all, thus we know that even the foolish decisions of others which may hinder us are all under God’s providential gaze.  Thus it is not to others that we should turn but to God in calamity, not so as to find fault but to reaffirm our dependence upon Him and to thank Him for the mercy which He shows us with our very existence and much more in those times of trial.  Furthermore, He has mercifully granted us that we should have gifts to give to one another for the good of the body.  And when we do not serve the body with those gifts we are spurning the mercy of God and showing disdain for it.  3)  Our thoughts about ourselves ought to be lowly.  We are what we are by God’s mercy.  We have nothing with which to boast in ourselves.  God has been merciful to us and continues to be merciful to us by upholding His creation and His own integrity in faithfulness towards those whom He has wed to His Son.  Any good that we have or that we are is not as a result of our work but God’s work in us (Phil 2:13, Eph 2:10).  Furthermore, possibly the greatest mercy which God has shown to us is that He enables us to glorify Him.  What joy does the standard bearer have in raising the banner of his country or king?  What joy is there on the lips of the bride at the praise of her groom on their engagement?  What joy does a parent have to announce the birth of their firstborn?  We who are recipients of the salvation of the Lord may have great joy in announcing the glory of our King who has overlooked our transgressions and paid our infinite debt by His own grace and the life of His Son.  Paul said that by our transformed minds,” by our sober thoughts of God’s mercy in our lives…we may “prove that which is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  What a blessing we have by God’s mercy to proclaim to this deaf and dead world the good and acceptable and perfect will of God?!

We pray “thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”  Our heavenly Father’s response to our prayer is to show us mercy that we may in turn proclaim His excellencies to others that they all may behold the glory of the Lord and to know His will (I Peter 2:9).

Coram Deo – “Before the face of God”

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer”

The LORD, to whom David prays, is both his strength and his redeemer. He is the One who enables by His strength within, the believer to speak and think in a manner that is acceptable. And He is the One who has and must sanctify because we do not often speak or think what is acceptable to Him. By nature we speak and think from our fleshly inclinations. By nature we speak and think from our own desire and our own will. We speak and think according to what is acceptable to us. Thus it is necessary for the believer, who fears the Lord – knowing that he is ever before the face of the Almighty, to seek His grace in order to do what is pleasing to Him.

David’s request is both confident and realistic. It is confident because he knows that the One to whom He prays is Supreme and Sovereign over all, even the will of man. And it is realistic because he understands that his own nature is contrary to this request, he himself being but dust. Thus, if God wills - which we know that He does – then the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart will be acceptable in His sight, because God will both give strength and redeem us for that purpose.

May we all have that same confidence.  May we all believe that we are ever “before the face of God” that we may make this same request.

Our Strength and our Redeemer
What wondrous love You give
Our wretched hearts condemn us
But by Your grace we live

Each day we must seek You
If ever You we’ll please
Each day You must redeem us
Till us Your grace receives