The Son of God had Stones

Young David knew what was at stake. He heard Goliath and knew what Goliath said was a reproach on the men of Israel (1 Samuel 17:26). The men fled as if the army of Lord depended on them. They feared Goliath because they did not fear the LORD.  David knew that it was not the honor of men at stake. Goliath “defied the armies of the living God,” (1 Samuel 17:36) and David knew that God would defend His name, if there were only a servant to clothe Himself in the strength of the Lord, a man with the stones to face Goliath. The Israelites fled because their strength was nothing to Goliath’s. David stood up because the strength of the Lord was greater than Goliath’s; “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this philistine,” (1 Samuel 17:37).

David had the stones (1 Samuel 17:40). More, in fact than were needed, because his faith was great enough to move mountains, to slay giants, to stand for the whole nation in battle. David didn’t ask for permission, David didn’t care about the Philistine’s feelings. David wasn’t PC and didn’t kowtow to the idols of God’s enemies. David stood up, marched out and challenged the enemies of God. David needed five stones, but God only needed one thrown in faith.

The Son of God had stones.

John the Baptizer declared that the mighty man of God is here (Mark 1:7). The greater David feared the Father more than Rome, more than Satan, more than the powerful scribes and priests who sold out to the idol of the Roman Imperial cult (John 19:15).  Jesus said to Peter “on this Rock I will build my church,” (Matthew 16:18) and Jesus didn’t ask for permission. He didn’t bow to the self-made God-emperor of Rome. Jesus declared Himself Lord (Mark 1:14-15) and faced the consequences (Mark 15).

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Go and Walk on Water

Matthew 14:28-29 “And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.”

Jesus doesn’t command Peter to walk on water. He commands Peter to “come.” To obey the command Peter must walk on water. But Peter doesn’t hesitate. Peter knows that Jesus provides the necessary ability to obey His commands, no matter how impossible they seem.

All of God’s commands involve doing things that are impossible for us to do – in ourselves. What makes God’s commands look so easy are the circumstances. Tithing is easy when you have your budget under control. Loving your neighbor is easy when they are lovely. Respecting your husband is a cinch, those times he’s actually acting respectable.

But how hard is tithing when what’s going out is more than what’s coming in? How hard is respecting your husband when he won’t get off the couch?

Often, we have the command from God. There He is. Right there, just a few yards off the port side and all we have to do is walk over to Him….right across the top of water. That’s all. God puts all of us in a position where obeying Him defies reason, logic and even physics. God wants us to know our weakness. Just ask one of the mom’s present about obedience and a lack of sleep.

But all of God’s commands are this way. For a season, we’ll think we can do it ourselves. That we are capable, wise, have the resources and fortitude. Inevitably we’re on the boat and obedience requires us to step onto the water and hope that it will hold us up.

But there are so many times when we never take a step. We argue thus; “look, man, what you’re asking is impossible. I can’t tithe because I can add – there isn’t enough money. Our family can’t afford Christian education. I can’t invite people over; I don’t have the resources or energy. I can’t get involved in that person’s life; I have no idea how to help them. What do you mean we’re pregnant again?”

God commands us to do things we can only do if He provides the ability to obey. All His commands are this way.

A relationship with Jesus requires obedience. Obedience requires dependence. We don’t like obeying and we don’t like dependence. We like to oversee our own lives. We like to be strong. We like to be capable. We like to be our own masters.

So, we see the impossible task and we avoid it because of the idols of our hearts. Listen to some of the things the Apostles came to know and love about Jesus, which strengthened them in their faith and thereby, strengthened their obedience.

Mark 10:27 “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 “But God said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Ephesians 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

1 Timothy 1:12 “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service”

Don’t focus on the command. Don’t focus on the circumstances. He gave us the Spirit. He strengthens us. He appoints us to His service and provides what we need to serve Him faithfully. If we love Him. If we depend on Him. If we walk as He walked; humbly submitting ourselves to the Father’s will, trusting him, following Him, then He comes to us just as He came to the disciples on the boat. He commands us to follow Him and just like Peter he provides what’s necessary to follow.

Even if it requires the impossible.

Using Your Eyes Correctly

 Proverbs 11:12 “Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.”

The one who sees the circumstances and character of his neighbor as fodder for criticism, instead of prayer, lacks sense. To be wise is to see as Christ sees. To minimize the worth of your neighbor; to belittle them, is to say something profound about yourself, not something meaningful about your neighbor. Self-righteousness, arrogance and unwarranted spiritual pride are all tied up in the belittling of neighbors. 

A proper judgment of your neighbor – understanding that your neighbor is created in God’s image, is a being in the process of sanctification, is a blessing to be received, served, built up, thought well of – is true wisdom.

Say the Same Thing

1 John 1:9 reads “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The word ‘confess’ literally means to “speak the same thing.” To confess your sin is to call your sin what God calls it. We so often like to add adjectives and qualifiers to our sins. We rationalize our sins. We cover our disobedience with leaves and hide from God behind trees of self-justification like Adam in the Garden.

But physically hiding from God in a well-manicured garden is as ineffective as hiding our sins behind well-manicured excuses. We convince ourselves that we only told a white lie or a half-truth. We convince ourselves that we’re OK so long as we look but don’t touch.

We have “respectable” or “character-flaw” sins. The “everybody does it,” sins. The “I just am the way I am,” sins. We tell ourselves that we don’t gossip, we just “share” our concerns with anyone who will listen. We don’t covet; we saddle ourselves with thousands of dollars of debt to acquire the stuff we want. We excuse our anger and belittle others, we brow beat our wives and lord over people calling it ‘tough’ love. We despise others and feel justified in despising them because of how terribly they have sinned or how foolishly they’ve acted. We convince ourselves that our jobs, hobbies and entertainments aren’t idols. And yet we’re too ‘busy’ to play with our kids, to pursue our wives or clean the house. We’re so busy we don’t have time to read our bibles, to pray, to sing, to fellowship or serve the community.

Vessels Cleansed, Filled and Shattered

We were all captive to the power of Satan; in sin we walked and in death, we lived. We were captives in Adam and God appeared in the flesh, fighting our captors that enslaved us. As it says in Eph 4:8, Jesus led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.

God so loved the world he gave. And when God gives, the vessel in which he pours his blessing is always overwhelmed. That is how we became the friends of God, believers. That is how we came to be here today, we were overwhelmed by God’s grace. It was stronger than our sin. God’s mercy was more potent and powerful than our selfishness. God’s compassion was stronger than our feeble shield of self-righteousness. Our resistance of empty darkness was no match for God’s infinite light. And with joy and loving-kindness we were overpowered, disarmed, ruined – remade.  

Say the Same Thing

1 John 1:9 reads “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The word ‘confess’ literally means to “speak the same thing.” To confess your sin is to call your sin what God calls it. We so often like to add adjectives and qualifiers to our sins. We rationalize our sins. We cover our disobedience with leaves and hide from God behind trees of self-justification like Adam in the Garden.But physically hiding from God in a well-manicured garden is as ineffective as hiding our sins behind well-manicured excuses.

Born To Trouble

Do you ever feel persecuted by your circumstances? Like trouble finds you, when all you are trying to do is be good and do good?  Marriage trouble, money trouble, tax trouble, mortgage trouble, family trouble. Trouble with your car or the fridge or a neighbor? Have you have wondered why?

It’s what I imagine David asked himself at the beginning of  2nd Samuel 10. I’m sure it’s what Joab, the commander of Israel’s forces, asked himself once he was trapped by two armies far greater in number then his own. And I’m sure its what Eve asked herself the day she was walking in the garden and heard a strange serpentine voice.

The Christian Life

The Christian life is a life lived by the grace of God, under Christ’s law, in God’s world, in the presence of God himself. We love because God first loved us (1^st John 4:19). The Triune God instigated a relationship with us. He created us, redeemed us, sustains us and gives us hope for a future life with him without sin, pain or death (Romans 8:30). This is the work of the Father, Son and Spirit who are a community of love creating a community of love, on earth, to share in their eternal glory.

This self-revealing, instigating love of God shapes our lives. It shapes ethics, behavior, schedules, faith, science, study, vocation, the arts; our very understanding of the world and our place in it.

Our first Trimester will be focus on this amazing reality. You Are God’s children (John 1:12-13) and heirs of the promises of God (Eph. 2:12) who are called to devote yourselves to the glory of God in all you do (Matthew 22:36-40).

The Westminster shorter Catechism begins with this question;

Question. 1. What is the chief end of man?
Answer. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Living by the grace of God

Conversion (Titus 3:5)

Living under Christ’s law.

The Law of Christ (John 13:34) 

Repentance (Luke 13:3, 5:32)

Forgiveness (Luke 17:3, Col. 3:13)

The fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:25)

Living in God’s world.

Walking by the spirit (Gal 15:16-17)

Bible reading (1st Tim. 3:15, Rom. 15:4)

Living in the presence of God Himself.

Worship (Heb. 13:15)

Christian Fellowship (Rom. 12:5, Acts 2:42)

Prayer (Luke 11:1)

The Lord has Spied out the Land

Father

We are gathered in. The Lord himself has spied out the land, tasted of its plenty and declared the promises fulfilled. He has declared the year of the Lord. We huddle in the upper room of heaven gripped in fear. Fear that leads to wisdom that frees us from ourselves, fear that leads us here, to worship for it is the fear of awe.

We are gathered in and the scarlet cord hangs form our window. The house that belongs to the Lord shall stand, even as the wall of humanity falls in destruction. We shall be passed over as you march from the river to the sea and subdue it all. It is finished. Even now we feast at the banquet set amidst our enemies. Let our joy be an example, may your spirit be theirs; those at home now lost in their worldly pursuits, may they know this elation secured by Christ, that they too might stand with us and look upon you in Spirit and truth. We are gathered in. Hear us. Not because we are righteous, but because of your son, the Christ, the Emperor of the cosmos, who gave this right to us, to ask in his name…

Amen

5-1-2011

God Vowed to Walk There With Them

Zampieri – Adam et Ève (détail) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Adam stood outside the Garden, with God, in the valley of death; ashamed and defeated. God cursed the ground on Adam’s behalf, increased the pain of labor for Eve and spilled the blood of a substitute to make a covering for His wayward and fallen children. In the midst of the first evil, God promised a son to restore the lost and broken relationship that God had  enjoyed with man.

In the pain of that moment, betrayed, accused and hated by His own children whom He had given the world, God knew something profound. That all the sons of Adam and Eve would be unable to bear the burden, were too weak and broken to fight back against the dragon. God knew that the Son that was promised would be ravaged and that the battle would cost that Son his life. And God knew, God promised in that moment, at the very beginning, with the tears of betrayal fresh on His cheeks, that the Son whose blood would be spilled for mankind, would be His own Son; His only Son.