Tag: Bible

Examples of Grace 01

On By BrianIn Miscellaneous

One of my goals this year is to reflect on God’s grace.  To that end, as I read through the Bible, I am recording examples of grace, and seeking to ponder how those examples relate to my life.  My first week yielded the following examples of grace:

God created the world.  He give us life, our very existence.  He gives us a beautiful world to live in.  He gives us food to eat.  He gives us rest.  He gives us companionship.  None of these things are earned or deserved, they just flow from his grace.

Adam and Eve sinned, messing up this beautiful world God had made.  Yet, though marred, the beauty still often shines through.  God clothed Adam and Eve – a gift of grace, and he clothes us as well – with physical clothes, and even better – with Christ’s righteousness as we believe.

God provided an ark to save Noah and his family from the floodwaters of God’s just judgment.  God provides us with the cross to save us from the fires of God’s just judgment.

God provided animals for food for Noah’s family.  He placed a rainbow in the sky as a promise to never flood the whole earth again.  This provision and promise extends to me.

God showered his grace upon Abraham, promising him land, descendents, and that he would be a blessing to all the nations, and through Christ that blessing extends to me.

God chose Isaac to receive the blessings of Abraham, and for some reason I’ll never understand, he has chosen me to receive the blessings of Christ.

The Scriptures proclaim God’s grace, and it is in that grace that we stand.  All of grace.

(Taken from Genesis 1-17)

All of Grace

On By BrianIn Miscellaneous2 Comments

A couple of posts ago, I noted that our new years resolutions rest on God’s grace in order for us to see them come about.  As we begin this new year, it is a good reminder for me that all of life rests on God’s grace.

Every blessing comes by God’s grace.  Psalm 145:8-9 tells us that God is gracious and good to all.  Every good thing we have is because of God’s goodness and grace.  Food, clothing, shelter, health, breath, presents under the Christmas tree, job, safety – all of this and so much more flows out of God’s incredible grace to us.  This is often called common grace.

None of these things are deserved.  We need to recognize that.  Sometimes we get upset if God refuses or removes a blessing.  We think we deserve it.  It is our right to have it.  But Scripture is clear we don’t deserve anything good.  We are sinners.  We have gone astray.  Even our best deeds are like filthy rags.  We deserve death.  (Isaiah 53:6, 64:6, Romans 3:23, 6:23)

But God not only pours out common grace, he offers us saving grace.  He offers us forgiveness and cleansing from all our sins.  He offers us the hope of heaven and the resurrection.  He offers us a new life.  He offers us adoption as his children.  He offers us his Spirit in our lives.  None of this is deserved.  We can’t earn it, work for it, merit it.  All we can do is receive it by faith.  It is all grace.  (Ephesians 1:3-14, 2:1-10)

But his grace doesn’t end there.  God gives us the grace to be holy – to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives (Titus 2).  He gives us the grace to serve him in various ways (Romans 12:6).  And it is his grace that should motivate us to be holy and to serve (Romans 12:1-2).  THe Christian life is by grace too.

But what about the trials in life?  Where is God’s grace there?  It comes in the form of strength to endure.  In our weakness, God graciously gives us his strength (2 Corinthians 1:9-10).

Maybe you know all of this, and like me just need a reminder.  Maybe these thoughts are new to you.  All of life is by grace.  Every blessing and the strength to endure every trial is grace.  Salvation from beginning to end, including the Christian life, is grace.  All of grace.

This year I am planning to read through the Bible reflecting on God’s grace as I go.  I am also planning to read some good books about God’s grace.  I hope to share what I find with you on this blog throughout the year.  I want to know God’s grace better this year, and I hope you will know it better too.  Life really is all of grace.  Lord, open our eyes.

Give Thanks

On By BrianIn Holidays2 Comments

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!”
– Psalm 92:1-5

God daily shows us his love and faithfulness.  His works are great.  He does great things for us.  Let us give thanks to him!

What is one thing you are especially thankful for today?  Record it in a comment below.

Lukewarm Coffee

On By BrianIn Revival

I have come to like coffee – when it is hot.  Lukewarm coffee makes me want to, well, spew it back out.

Have you ever thought about what happens when someone orders coffee at a restaurant?  The coffee comes hot from the pot.  But it doesn’t take too long for it to start to cool off, to get lukewarm.  So what does the waitress do?  If she is good, she comes by regularly to pour more hot coffee into the cup so the coffee in the cup stays hot.

We are the cup of coffee.  Jesus is the pot.  If we stay away from Jesus too long, we cool off, we get lukewarm.  We need to regularly draw near to him, let him “fill” us, so that we might stay hot.

So how is our cup?  Hot?  Or have we stayed away from the pot too long?  Does Jesus want to, well, spew us out of his mouth?

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”  – Revelation 3:15-16

Sick Church

On By BrianIn Revival1 Comment

In Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus addresses a sick church.  The Creator of the world gives a certain and true diagnosis, and faithful counsel for needed healing.  His words were originally directed at the church of Laodicea.  Might his words describe our churches?  Might his words describe us?

The church is sick because they are lukewarm.  A nearby city was known for its cold water, another for its hot springs.  Laodicea was known for its lukewarm water.  Unwary visitors were known to take a drink only to spit it back out.  Their water was a picture of their spiritual condition.  They had not coldly rejected Christ.  Nor were they fervently serving Christ.  They were lukewarm, indifferent, apathetic, comfortable.  And Christ wants to spew them out.  How well does that describe our churches?  How well does it describe us?

The church is sick because they have a faulty perception of themselves.  Laodicea was a wealthy city and relatively self-sufficient.  The church thought they were rich and needed nothing – but they were deluded.  Christ says they are wretched and pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  Do we see ourselves as rich, or as sinners saved by grace?  Do we think we can manage the Christian life on our own, or do we recognize our need of help?

Christ’s counsel first addresses the second problem.  He calls them to look to him.  They need to acknowledge their spiritual poverty and give up their spiritual self-sufficiency.  Laodicea was a wealthy city, but the church needed to look to Christ for true spiritual wealth – for all the spiritual blessings that flow from Christ. Laodicea had a textile industry specializing in black wool, but the church needed to look to Christ that they might be clothed in white garments – good deeds flowing from God’s grace. Laodicea was known as a medical center with a focus on the eyes, but the church needed to look to Christ that they might see themselves as God sees them.  Are we looking to Christ?

Christ’s counsel continues – moving to the first problem.  They must repent of their lukewarmness.  Though Jesus gags on their lukewarm condition, he still loves them.  He will not allow them to continue living in sin; he will lovingly discipline them.  They must repent – turn from their apathy and be zealous for him.  How?  They cannot do it on their own, they must again look to Christ.  He is knocking at the door of their hearts.  He wants to come in and fellowship with them.  In that fellowship, their hearts will be warmed that they might be zealous for Christ.  Do we need to repent?  Has our relationship with Christ grown distant?  Do we need to open the door again and draw near that we might again be zealous for Christ?

To those who overcome, he promises that we will reign with him.  May we hear what the Spirit says to us in these verses.

The Great Exchange

On By BrianIn All About Love

Imagine that you are a begger dressed in dirty, filthy rags.  You work really hard, and after a long time you are able to buy a shirt.  You proudly put it over your rags, but the rags are still underneath, and you can still see the rags on your legs.  What is more, you note that your new shirt is stained with dirt; it is not as clean as you thought.

Then one day, the son of the king comes through town.  You hide in the crowds, but he picks you out, and tells you to come with him.  He casts your new shirt aside, and takes your rags.  To your surprise, he takes his clean robe and places it on you, as he puts your old rags on himself.  What you could not do by your own effort, he has done for you.  And the king welcomes you to his palace.

Dear reader – are you still in the rags of your sin or have you received the great exchange offered to you by Jesus, the King’s Son?  If you are still in your rags, Jesus offers this great exchange to you – he died to pay for your sins, and he offers you his perfect righteousness. Turn from your sins and trust in Jesus and he will give you a new life. If you have received this great exchange, no matter what you have done, you are pure and clean in his sight.

Have you not read:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” – Titus 3: 5a

“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” – Isaiah 64:6

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:6

“For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” – Romans 3:21-22

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” – John 1:12

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” – Isaiah 1:18

Ready To Go

On By BrianIn Heart1 Comment

Loss, heartaches, sickness, pain, disease, strife, trials, suffering – sometimes I look around and I’m just ready to go.  Ever feel that way?

Paul writes about this desire in II Corinthians 4:16-5:9.  He reminds us that the glory that is to come is so great that our current struggles are only slight in comparison.  That must be some glory!

He goes on to remind us that we will one day have glorified resurrected bodies.  Our current mortal bodies (our outer nature) are wasting away.  In our mortal bodies we groan.  But one day we will have resurrected bodies.  The mortal will be swallowed up by life – bodies that will not waste away, in which we will not groan.

Yet our resurrection awaits Christ’s return, so what about when we die before he returns? We get a clue from the cross.  Before he died, Jesus cries out to his Father – “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”  When Jesus died, his spirit went to be with the Father.  This is confirmed by his words to the thief on the cross next to him – “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  The body of Jesus would be buried, but his spirit would meet the spirit of the thief in paradise – with the Father.

So Paul writes that he wishes to be away from the body so he might be with the Lord.  While death is not good (being a result of sin and the Fall), on the other side of death is the beginning of glory when we will be with the Lord.  Paul is ready to go so he might be with the Lord.

Are we ready to go?  Not just to see the end of trials, but because we long with Paul to be with Jesus?  Are we that excited about Jesus?

Paul concludes by saying it his goal to please the Lord.  Until God calls us home, we should seek to please him, to live for him, to serve him.  Is that our goal in life?

Ready to go, and living for him until he calls us to himself.  May it be so.

Media Madness

On By BrianIn Habit of Stewardship, Idolatry

We are surrounded by media – TV, movies, radio, music, internet, books, magazines, newspapers, mail, the list goes on.  We are bombarded with media.  Its presence and influence is pervasive; it is everywhere.

Jesus died on a cross and rose again that our sins might be forgiven, that we might be reconciled to God, that we might have a new life in Christ, and the hope of heaven and the resurrection.

How does Christ’s salvation relate to the media?  How should what Christ has done for us affect the way we interact with the media that is all around us?  The book of Ephesians gives us the answer.

The first half of the book speaks of Christ’s salvation.  God chose us to be holy and blameless before him (1:4).  Through Christ, our sins are forgiven, and we have a great inheritance (1:7, 11).  We were dead in our sins following the evil tendencies of a world opposed to God, but God has made us alive in Christ to do good works.  All of these blessings come by God’s mercy, grace, and love as we receive this salvation from sins by faith (2:1-10).  And this salvation is available to all of us (2:11-3:13).

This great salvation then ought to affect the way we live (4:1).  It should affect how we interact in the church (chapter 4), in our culture (5:1-20), in our families (5:22-6:4), and in the workplaces (6:5-9).  As media is such a pervasive part of our culture, the words in Ephesians 5:1-20 can easily be applied to how we interact with the media.  So we find four principles:

1. Guard your heart.  Verse 2 tells us to love as Christ loved us and gave himself as a sacrifice to God.  Christ loved God and us, and we should love that way too.  But it is possible for us to come to love the media – to put it before God and the people around us.  In other words it can become a god, an idol.  It can dominate us, control us – we have to have that new book, we have to see that new movie.  We become puppets, and the media pulls our strings.  Guard your heart, don’t let the media become your god.

2. Use discernment.  Verses 3-10 point us here.  Verse 10 tells us to discern what is pleasing to God.  So we need to ask, does this media choice please God.  If not, don’t watch/listen to/read it.  Verse 3 points to the sex issue.  Does this media cause you to lust (impurity)?  Does this media celebrate sexual immorality – that which God will judge (v6)?  If so, turn it off, get rid of it, walk out.  Verse 4 points to the language issue.  Again, does this media engage in that which God will judge, that which we should not even associate with (v7)?  This may rule out most sitcoms, late night shows, and many movies (even kid movies!), but again is our goal to live for media or God?

There is a wonderful phrase in Latin that Craig Cabaniss mentions in his chapter on media in the book Worldliness, edited by C.J. Mahaney.  The phrase is Coram Deo – “before the face of God.”  Everything we do is done in God’s presence.  Is it pleasing to him?  If Jesus walked this earth today, would you invite him to watch that movie, listen to that music, surf that site, read that book?  The fact is, he is with you as you do all those things.  Is it pleasing to him?

In Psalm 101:3, the psalmist says, “”I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.”  Have you made that commitment?  Is your goal to please God?  Use discernment.

Before moving on, we need to consider the message in a particular media choice.  Romans 12:2 warns us not to be conformed to the world – that is, the evil tendencies of a world opposed to God.  Does this media choice conform me to the world’s way of thinking.  Is it teaching truth or lies?  There is a grave danger here.  We are tempted to focus on language, sex, etc., but “clean” movies without those things can teach lies, can oppose God and his Word.  And this includes Christian media.  We need to think critically whenever we come to the media.  What is the message?  Does it agree with Scripture?  Use discernment.

3. Practice good stewardship.  Verses 15-16 tell us to make the best use of our time.  Is this media choice the best use of my time right now?  Am I spending too much time with a particular type of media?  Is there something else I should be doing?  Even if our media passes the discernment test, we can spend too much time in front of the TV, on the internet, etc.  We can neglect family, friends, time with God, outdoor recreation.  Practice good stewardship.

4.  Finally, enjoy gratefully.  Verse 20 calls us to give thanks for everything.  Cabaniss ends his chapter on media with this point, and it is a good one.  If our media choice passes the discernment and stewardship and heart principles, then we can enjoy it gratefully.  The other three principles remind us of the dangers of media; this point reminds us that there is a lot of good media out there that we can enjoy and give thanks to God for.

Christ purchased for us a great salvation that should affect the way we live in our culture, how we interact with the media.  Guard your heart.  Use discernment.  Practice good stewardship.  Enjoy gratefully.

God’s Heart For Us

On By BrianIn God & His Glory, Heart2 Comments

This past Sunday I preached about God’s heart for us.  We looked at Ephesians 2:4-5 which says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved.”  Three words describe God’s heart for us:

Mercy – We deserve judgment and wrath and condemnation because of our sins, but God gives us mercy.  We who were dead, helpless, unworthy rebels have received mercy from almighty God.  And his mercy isn’t stingy or small, but overflowing – God is “rich in mercy.”

Love – How do we account for his mercy?  The answer is his great love.  And how did God show his love?  He showed it by sending his Son for our salvation (John 3:16).  Jesus showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, he suffered and died for us (Romans 5:8).  We didn’t deserve it, but Jesus did it.  He died that we who were dead might have a new life.  That is great love!

Grace – God saves us by his grace – his free undeserved favor.  It is free – you can’t buy it or work for it.  It is undeserved – you can never earn it or do enough good things to merit it.  And it is this  grace alone that saves us. Without his grace we are dead.  By his grace we are made alive.

Mercy.  Love.  Grace.  This is God’s heart for us.  And this is our salvation!

New Heart

On By BrianIn Heart

How can we have a heart for God?  On our own we can’t.  Everyone is born apart from God, dead in their sins, with cold, hard, rebellious, unresponsive hearts.  We follow the sinful ways of our world, the temptations of the devil, and our own sinful desires.  We stand under the judgment of a holy God.  That is the conclusion of Ephesians 2:1-3.  We are dead.

But v4 begins with two glorious words – “But God.”  On our own we are dead…but God!  God, rich in mercy, with great love, and immeasurable grace, makes us alive in Christ.  He does for us what we can’t do for ourselves. As God powerfully raised Jesus physically from the dead, so God powerfully raised us spiritually from the dead.  Other pictures in Scripture for this miracle of being made alive are: born again, new creation, new heart.  God makes us alive and new by giving us a new heart.  And all of it comes by faith alone apart from works.

And yet the works follow.  Once we are made alive with new hearts, we no longer want to live as we did before in sin.  We have new hearts.  Now we want to live for God, doing the good works he gives us opportunities to do.

Have you received this new life?

If so, let us live the new life he has given us!