Think long, drink deeply, rejoice!

Paul prays “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.  He demonstrated this power in raising Christ from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens far above every ruler and authority and power and dominion, and every title given not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And He put everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church which is His body the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.” (HCSB)

Paul here unlocks the key to one of the greatest needs in the Church of our day…and really of any age.  We need to know the grace of God better.  He just finished exhorting the believers to praise the God of our Lord Jesus Christ because of all of the spiritual blessings that He has bestowed on those whom He chose from before the foundations of the world.  Praise Him!  Rejoice in Him!  Praise the glory of His grace!

Often our praise is dull and lifeless.  It is ordinary, feigned, lip-service to our God and benefactor.   Why?  How does our praise become dull and lifeless?  How is it possible that a Christian could engage in empty praise, vain worship? Paul answers in the prayer that he offers up on our behalf.  “That God would grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him so that our hearts may be enlightened to know the hope of His calling, the glorious riches of His inheritance…and the surpassing greatness of His power toward us”…which is the same power that He used in raising Christ to His exalted position above all created things.

My exhortation is very simple.  Pray that God would grant that the eyes of your heart be enlightened to know the glories of His grace and power within you.  If you are a Christian, this is true of you.  God has given you immeasurable grace, has and continues to work His immeasurable power in your life to conform you to the image of His Son and to bring you to glory.

May He fill our hearts with joy in reflecting upon His grace.  May He fill our hearts with wonder at the vast chasm that once separated us from Him and the bridge of His love and grace that now exists because of Christ.   May He fill our hearts with peace and rest as we ponder how He is continually working His great power in us, how great that power truly is – that He also working in raising Christ from the dead and exalting Him.  Think long, drink deeply, rejoice!

May He be glorified as we are not only satisfied but overflowing with joy in rejoicing over His abundant grace to us!  Happy rejoicing today dear brothers and sisters

Psalm 17 – 150 Days of Purposeful Meditation (Day 17) Part 1

God is Just. Why should we cry out to the Lord in our distress?  Because God is a God of justice.  His eyes are upon the righteous and righteousness.  And His ears attend to their cry.  God desires justice from His creation because He is just.  Justness is a  part of His essential character.  There is no falsehood with God.  There is no partiality.  There is no turning of the eye to oppression.  God is just.  And because He is essentially just in His character the righteous have great reason to come to Him for justice.  This is in fact the great confidence that the righteous have, that their righteousness has not fallen on deaf ears and blind eyes.  That in the end they will be repaid for their righteousness even as the wicked are repaid for their wickedness.  Of course the righteousness of the righteous is not their own for they would have no reason to cry out to God for vindication.  But it is His righteous standard that they uphold.  It cannot be their own righteousness for why would God then fight on their behalf?  Where then would be His glory?  What then would be His praise?  He would be nothing more than a body guard.  One whose job is to protect the glory of another.  Neigh but the righteousness by which the righteous is called is God’s righteousness.  It is His name, it is His glory.  And that is also their confidence and their hope.  that His righteousness shall be in the end vindicated.  That He will pursue the vindication of His own righteous standard.

God’s justness shall prevail and His righteousness shall be vindicated.  This He has made clear in many other ways.  The glory of His name and His holiness is His great passion.  Thus to pursue His glory in our own lives is the wisest course of action.  And it is an action which again will yield great reward.  The righteous may unashamedly pursue God’s righteous standard because He will vindicate it Himself.  And in vindicating His righteous standard, they will be vindicated.

The folly of the wicked is in assuming that their own glory is necessary.  It is assuming that their own standard of righteousness is enough.  However their own standard of righteousness is as transient as their own lives.  It will in the end be cast aside.  God will bring it to nothing.  It cannot stand in comparison to His own holy and righteous Word.  They may have their “portion in this life” but in the next their portion will be to drink the cup of God’s wrath and indignation against those who have scorned His righteousness and His righteous ones.  Thus the wicked are short sighted.  They fail to see past the reality of the moment to the reality of the next.  Consequence has become an illusion to the wicked.  It has dropped out of their vocabulary along with absolute and even God.  For them there is only the moment of pleasure without the thought of consequence.  If there were no consequence, the righteous might fail in heart however the righteousness of God reminds us that it is only His great mercy which has thus with held the flood of His wrath upon this earth.  It is His mercy which has stayed His hand this long in the condemnation of the wicked.  It is not for their glory.  It is not for their cunning or wisdom which has wrought them success.  It is the merciful hand of their creator which ought to lead them to repentance, but which because of their hard hearts has led many to both mock His very existence – by whose mercy they stand – and to mock His holy and righteous ones.

What then is the final hope of the righteous?  The punishment of evildoers?  No.  It is our expectation but it is not our hope that they should meet what demise they are sure to who mock the Almighty.  Do we seek the vindication of our own name or righteousness?  No.  Before God, there are none who have reason to boast in any righteousness of their own doing because before His standard we are all guilty.  What then is our final hope?  Our final hope is that the pursuit of God’s righteousness in this life will not be for naught.  Our final hope is that because of His righteousness, “we shall see His face…[and] we shall be satisfied when we awake in His likeness.”

A Few More Messages

I am grateful to my Lord and my Father to be able to serve Him in this way.  I am thankful for the opportunity to serve Him, to serve His Church, to be developed as His servant and steward over the mysteries of His Word and His Gospel and to be able to preach that same Word for His glory.  I pray that He would continue to strengthen me to that end and to sharpen this gift that He has given me for His pleasure.

Paul’s High Priestly Prayer for the Church

Gratitude is the Attitude of a True Disciple

Why we Preach the Gospel

Suffering and difficulty

I won’t claim to have experienced the greatest suffering and difficulty that life may bring.  I know that I am far from it.  Sure I have had difficulty and frustration in life but I know that there are many others who experience daily physical, emotional and spiritual pain and even persecution for the cause of Christ.

But the more I think about it, I am becoming convinced that God intends for pain to act as a cleansing agent for those who are His.  We are not of this world.  We are aliens and sojourners.  But sometimes we forget this.  Sometimes we are persuaded to think of this life as our sole reason for existence.  We think of this world as our home and its joys as the greatest or best that there is…

But, beloved, God has promised us so much more than that.  He has promised us an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, unfading and which is reserved for us in Heaven, an inheritance which He has promised to keep us safe in order to receive, according to 1 Peter.  That is what we have to look forward to.   That is our hope.  We do not hope like the rest of the world that things will “just turn out okay.”  We do not hope against hope or hope in hope…whatever that means.  We hope in the eternal rest and blessing that is promised to those of us who are in the Son whom the Father has given all things.  We hope in Christ and His return.  We hope in the day that He ushers in Peace, Justice, Righteousness, Prosperity; the time where there will be no more wars, no more turmoil, no more uncertainty, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more sickness and no more death.  That time will not happen until after our Lord returns for us.  Therefore that is what we hope for.  We hope for His return and we look forward to it.  We have no other hope.   We have no greater thing to look forward to.

When suffering and difficulty come…do not fret…be not anxious, nor be afraid.  Think of it as the Lord’s way of continuing to prepare you for His rest.  If you are sick or dying, do not fear.  Think of it as the Lord’s way of shedding you of your earthly tent so that you may finally put on your heavenly one.  If you are without…fill in the blank…in this life; think of it as the Lord preparing your heart to desire more the riches that are imperishable, not defiled by sin and everlasting.

Maranatha!

Psalm 6 – 150 Days of Purposeful Meditation (Day 6)

God is salvation to His godly ones.  To whom do you turn when you are distressed?  To whom do you turn when you are dismayed?  Where do you go for guidance when you lack direction?

Many in the world today seek rest in pleasure.  They drown their sorrows in alcohol, drugs and sex.  They stimulate themselves to death with these things in hopes that their pleasure will, in the end, outweigh their sorrows.  Or that perhaps by enjoying some momentary excitement, their sorrows will disappear.  How incredibly deceitful is their sin.  And it becomes painfully obvious to them, as soon as the moment passes, that their enjoyment is not sustainable.  So it is necessary for them to continue to indulge themselves in it over and over again in order, they feel, to make that temporary excitement last.  Their lives become as futile and profitable as the dog which chases its tail in circles.

To whom do you go for refuge?  Who is your comfort?  What is your hope?  The Psalmist describes his heavily burdened spirit.  You may think that God does not understand your plight.  You may think that God does not understand your pain, your misery, your suffering.  But He does.  It is spoken of right here in His word.  He has not allowed His godly ones to travel through this life without suffering the plight of all who are under the sun.  He describes his pain “I am pining away…my bones are dismayed…I am weary with my sighing, every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears, My eye has wasted away with grief…”  Do you suppose that you are alone in your rejection?  Do you suppose  that no one else has encountered the same grief and feelings of dispair that you have?  Do you suppose that God does not care for you because you have encountered such dejection and depression?

God knows, for He has seen it in His godly ones.  Even His Son was called “a man of sorrows.”  There is no special hedge of protection around those who know God such that they never encounter heartache, sorrow, or grief.  If someone told you that true religion or Christianity was about living a pain-free, trial-free life; then they have lied to you.  It has been said once, something to the effect that “God will not use a man greatly whom He has not greatly humbled with suffering.”  Why?  Why would God allow His godly ones to suffer?  Why would God allow His godly ones to hurt?

Listen to the voice of the Psalmist.  He does not answer why, so neither will I attempt to here.  He responds with what he knows.  God is for His godly ones.  He pleads God’s salvation on the basis of God’s disposition towards His people.  “Return O Lord, rescue my soul, save me because of Your lovingkindness.”  What else is there that we need to know?  God loves His people.

It must be said that there is a clear distinction made in the Psalms between those who are truly His people and those who are not.  It is the difference between those who are referred to as “righteous, godly, His people” as opposed to those who are “enemies, foes, wicked men, unrighteous.”  Those who are His godly ones may always expect His disposition toward them to be love and salvation.  But those who love wickedness and who are against His godly ones may only expect retribution and judgment from God.

Hear again his confidence “depart from me all you who do iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping, the Lord has heard my supplication, the Lord receives my prayer.  All of my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed, they shall turn back and will be suddenly ashamed.”  He knows that God’s disposition towards him is love.  Though he hurts, though he is greatly saddened and dismayed.  Though his tears drench the pillows of his bed by night; he knows and is confident that the Lord is his salvation and does hear his prayer.

What is your confidence?  What is your hope?  To who or what do you turn when you are down hearted?  Hope in the Lord.  Call upon the Lord, He is faithful to His godly ones.  They shall never be ashamed.  He will not abandon His godly ones to death.

Grief and the loss of a brother

Grieving takes on many different forms.  I don’t need a psychologist to tell me that.  You experience shock, anger, disbelief, denial, depression and perhaps some others.  It lasts for different lengths of time for different people.  Depending on how close you are to the situation, the pain can remain for years, perhaps never to completely go away.

How should we respond to grief as believers?  How should we respond to tragedy?  The quick godly (and correct) answer is to understand that God has a purpose for tragedy and that we should trust in His wisdom.  But we won’t all feel that way.  And we certainly won’t all think that way.  And that is not always  the answer that you should give to someone grieving.  While you “know” what is biblical and what is right, those who are grieving will not always feel that way.  And they need to know that its okay.  Grieving is never condemned in scripture.  It is never looked down upon.  Jesus wept for Lazurus.  He was saddened for Jerusalem and its disbelief.  We are often told to weep with those who weep.

Grieving is natural and must happen.  In fact it should happen, especially for us Christians.  Particularly because we are the Body of Christ.  And as the Body of Christ, we all loose when one of us is injured.  When one of us is hurt…and when one of us goes to be with the Lord.  We all should grieve.  And grieving must take its course.  And in time we must all be reminded that death is not the end for Christians.

Its interesting, I shared the loss of my friend with unbelievers and they were totally at a loss for words.  They had nothing to add.  I knew that they would not.  I didn’t expect prayer or and encouraging word or a scripture quoted for comfort.  But I was quickly reminded from that of the verse that one of my brothers recently quoted that we do not grieve “as those who have no hope.”  For those who have no hope, grief is terrifying.  It is stifling.  It is heartwrenching and often it is permanent without the “hope” of relief.

But Christians have Christ.  And Christ is our life.  And because He is our life, and because He lives, we know that we truly live, though we may die.  Though our bodies may decay, though they may wear down, though they may suddenly stop, for not apparent reason…we know that we truly live.

Christ is our life.  We grieve…but not as those who don’t have hope.  We weep.  But only for a season.  Even if that season lasts throughout the rest of our lives…it will come to an end.  Because we will be reunited.  And in the meanwhile, we have that hope as an anchor of our souls.  Namely that God’s word is sure and that we are approaching the time of our rest, in Christ, with all of the saints of God.

“But we would not have you ignorant brethren concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.  For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with the cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words.“  I Thess 4:13-18

Pray for my brother’s family.  And pray for my sister who is left behind but who is not alone.  And pray for our family, God’s family which has suffered the loss of one of her good soldiers.