The Sovereign God

A Primer on Obedience (Part 7): Obedience to God and Ministry in the Church

2012-03-26T18:29:00.001-07:00

The Church is Commanded to Make Disciples, Teaching Them to Observe All That Christ Commanded

Broadening our view now to the corporate church, the command to it by our Lord mirrors and facilitates God's purpose in individuals with regards to obedience to His commandments. Whatever the church is doing, it must do this:

Train disciples to obey the commandments of Christ.

This is seen in the Great Commission as follows:

"And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

It is not a coincidence that Jesus begins the Great Commission with a statement of His authority - meaning that He has both the right and authority to charge us to do what He desires. He has all authority in heaven and on earth to commission us (command us really) to make and train disciples to obey Him. This is a non-negotiable duty of the church of Jesus Christ. If it is not training disciples to obey God's commandments, it is failing in one of the main duties and responsibilities it has in Christ.

And the thing that we are to train disciples to do is to obey the commandments of God. The phrase that Matthew uses is "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you..." The word, "observe" is a Greek word which is like unto a sentry, standing on a guard tower watching over it to make sure nothing escapes.

The church should train disciples (believers in its midst) to watch over their lives so that their lives do not go beyond what God has commanded. In other words, the church should be training disciples to do exactly what God commands in His word.

What our Lord is talking about here is not just doctrine, but behavior. Observation of God's commandments means doing them, not just knowing what they are in His word. It is not enough to know what we are supposed to do. We are to be trained to actually do what it says.

Now I should define what I mean by "church" in this context. I am not referring to the institution of the church, with all its structure and format. Rather, I am referring to its members. The duty is not laid upon the structure or institution of the church, or even solely upon its pastors. It is the duty of the living, breathing church itself - its members.

Jesus may have taught the multitudes (which is analogous to sermons preached by pastors) but that is not how He trained disciples. Similarly, the duty to train disciples to obey Christ cannot be met by a few elders in a congregation. This will be evident as we examine this further.

We, meaning we as individual believers, should desire two things with regards to our Lord's command in Matthew 28. First, we should desire to observe the commandments of God ourselves. If God wants the church to train disciples to obey Him, then as a disciple, I should desire to obey Him too. If I don't know what or how to obey Christ in a given area, I should be seeking out someone who can train me.

Second, we should desire to train others to obey Him. This is an essential part of the Great Commission. I should desire to see God glorified in others via their obedience to His word. And I should do whatever I can to help them to do it. My training of them is not only teaching them what God commands, but showing them how to obey it.

There is a very simple formula in the Bible, which if understood and applied, would set the church on a course intended by God. It is this:

God commanded us in the church to train others to obey His commandments. If God commands a disciple to do "x," than we should train that disciple to do "x." It really is that simple. Train the disciple to obey what God commands him to do.

If we are not purposefully training that disciple to do "x" (whatever it is God commanded him to do) then we are not obeying the Great Commission regardless of how many activities we have in the church. Training disciples to do exactly what God commands is the highest of priorities in God's eyes (or He would not have commanded us to do so). It must be ours as well.

Here is an example. God commands husbands to love their wives. "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." (Ephesians 5:25) That is one "x" that disciples who are husbands are commanded to do. Since we are called to train disciples to obey God's commandments and God commands husbands to love their wives, then the church should be training husbands to love their wives. See how this works?

Here is another example. Concerning the worship of Christ, we are commanded in God's word to enter into that prepared in heart, mind and action. "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!" (Psalm 100:4) Now this isn't a suggestion by our Lord. It is the way that we should enter into the worship of Christ. We should arrive already filled with the word of God, so much so that we are ready to express out (like an orange filled with juice) our praise and thanksgiving to God. As disciples are commanded by God to do this, the church should be training disciples, not only that they should be doing it, but how to do it as well.

We can look to an example of this formula applied in Scripture. In Titus 2:3, Paul writes, "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." (Titus 2:3-5)

What does God command disciples (who are women) to do? They are to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled etc... What is the church to teach (and train) them to do? The answer is, "Love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled etc... What God commands disciples to do, we (meaning members of the church) should be training them to do.

Now disciples of Christ are not going to learn how to obey Christ on their own. If this were God's plan, He would not have commanded us to train others ourselves. God intends on using the older women in the church to train the younger ones to obey Him.

Notice that the instruction comes from those who are "older women," which not only means in age but in maturity as well. Hardly could an older woman, who is an infant in Christ, be the trainer of others.

We see in this the biblical formula put into practice. Those who are mature, and who know WHAT and HOW to do God's commandments, are to train those who are immature and don't know what and how to them.

It is amazing frankly that the world already understands this principle in abundance. Consider any field of labor that requires any amount of knowledge. Law, carpentry, plumbing, flight, medicine, and more all put this principle into practice. The apprentice might learn doctrine in the classroom, but he learns how to do the job in practice, in their residency. No good law firm, for instance, would ever think of putting a brand new lawyer into trial. There is too much for him to learn to do. Instead, he is trained over a period of years until he is ready to do what the law firm requires. So it is with the church of God. It's disciples (which literally means "pupils") must learn to do the commandments of God.

A Primer on Obedience (Part 6): The Gracious Desire for Obedience

2012-03-25T08:00:00.002-07:00

Since it is God's Priority and Purpose to Make Us Walk in His Commandments, It Should be Ours as Well

We've seen that God intends on putting His laws in our hearts and causing us to walk in them. As this is true, our response should be to desire to walk in them ourselves.

If you examine the whole of Scripture on this topic, you will find one theme - the believer in Christ wants to obey Christ. Nowhere is this truth more openly stated than in Psalm 119. In this Psalm, (176 verses in all) the psalmist declares the rightness of God's commandments and his desire to walk in them. Verse after glorious verse extol the greatness of His laws and statutes and His prayer to God that he have the delight of doing them. This chapter, the longest one in Scripture, stands as a bulwark against those who would claim that obedience to God's laws are not necessary to the believer.

Consider just a few verses from this Psalm as evidence of the desire of the psalmist to obey God by grace.

"With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments." (Psalm 119:10)

"Blessed art thou, O Lord : teach me thy statutes." (Psalm 119:12)

"Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word." (Psalm 119:17)

"Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously." (Psalm 119:29)

If we want to be mature in our thinking in this area, we should head to this psalm and pray to God that He lay these same desires upon our hearts.

"Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!" (Psalm 119:1-8)

Many today have a very muddy understanding of the relationship between the commandments of God and believers. You will often hear the expression, "I am under grace and am not under the Law," meaning that the commandments of God do not apply to them.

This undoubtedly is true as Paul teaches this in Galatians and Romans. "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." (Galatians 2:19) But Paul is referring to the Law as it pertains to "righteousness," or the means of being and becoming righteous in God's eyes. He is not referring to how we should live as those who are already righteous by faith in Christ. He continues in Galatians, "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:21)

We are dead to the law of God, with regards to righteousness, but not in terms of how we ought to live as those made righteous by faith.

We rest upon the completed work of Christ for righteousness, justification and salvation, and we pray for the grace of God to walk in His commandments. This is the will of God in us, namely that we believe in Him and obey Him. "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

As believers, we want to be in agreement with God from the heart. We want to have God's priorities as our priorities. Since it is His priority that we, as His children, obey Him, let us have that priority as well.

Let us agree with the psalmist, who wrote, "I will run in the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart." (Psalm 119:32)

In Part 7 of the series, "A Primer on Obedience" we examine the effect these truths should have on ministry in the church. Where should our priorities be with regards to obeying God and training others to do so. The word of God is not unclear on this. Visit again tomorrow to see what God says about what our priorities should be with regards to His commandments.

A Primer on Obedience (Part 5): Obedience to God's Commandments is Evidence of Genuine Faith in Christ

2012-03-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, in Part 4 of this series, we examined the truth that it is better to obey than to sacrifice. (1 Samuel 15:22) It is better to do what God's word says over what we may prefer doing. Today, we examine the truth that faith in Christ will manifest itself in obedience to the commandments of God. The same grace that saved us will produce obedience to God's word in us. Read on to find out why this is so and why obedience to God should be a priority in our lives.

Obedience to God's Commandments is Evidence of Genuine Faith in Christ

If we truly believe in Christ, this is a good thing that will result in our salvation. But the same faith that saves us will produce in us obedience to God's commands - not perfectly, but definitely.

Jesus taught this plainly. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 13:14) If we say that we love Jesus, our love for Him will be proven by our obedience to Him. Obedience to God's word is evidence of our love for Him. Genuine love for our Lord will manifest itself in a genuinie love to do what He commands us to do in His word.

Now why would our Lord say this? Why would He make the connection between love and obedience? Simply because the same grace of God that was employed the moment we came to faith in Christ, is employed when we walk according to His commandments. In both cases it is God who is at work in us, both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13) We have already seen in this short series how it was God's plan to put His laws into our hearts and cause us to walk in them (Please see Part 2). "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." (Ezekiel 36:27) [As an aside, the point here is not that we become "obedience cops," making sure others obey our Lord, but rather that we seek obedience in our own lives.]

The apostle John was a little more direct, but no less truthful. Obedience to Christ is the evidence that we believe in Him, and proves the genuineness of our faith. "And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." (1 John 2:3-6)

Faith in Christ and obedience to Christ are so closely connected that they appear to be inseparable. This is the point James is making when he writes that Abraham was justified (made not guilty) by works. He wasn't refuting Paul's teaching on justification by faith alone in Galatians and Romans, but rather that it is so certain that faith will produce obedience to God that the works themselves prove the faith that justifies.

"But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"-and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as teh body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." (James 2:18-26)

The reality of the relationship between faith and obedience being so closely connected ought to give us pause in our walk with Christ. If God's grace produced faith in us, it should be producing a heart that longs to obey God, to obey what He actually says in His word. We should see God's gracious work in us with regards to obedience too.

The Psalmist knew this and prayed thusly, "Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules." (Psalm 119:5-7)

He knows that obedience should be in His life. And he also knows from whom it will come - God Himself! He is not about to (and we are not about to) begin obeying God in the flesh, by his own strength apart from the grace of God. He knows that he should be seeking the grace of God in his life to do this. We should too!

Knowing the relationship between faith and obedience, knowing their inseparable bond, knowing the grace of God produces both, we should imitate the psalmist above by fixing our eyes on all God's commandments, with an earnest desire to walk in them, hoping for and seeking the grace and power of God to do so.

Tomorrow, in Part 6 of the series, A Primer on Obedience, we will examine the truth that since walking in obedience to God's commandments is God's priority and purpose in us, it should be a priority and purpose in us as well. Please visit tomorrow as we continue this series on a very important aspect of our relationship with God.

A Primer on Obedience (Part 4): It is Better to Obey Than Sacrifice

2012-03-23T14:18:00.003-07:00

It is Better to Obey than to Sacrifice

Before we examine today's topic, I would like to make one more reference to yesterday's. Yesterday, we addressed the fact that what God wants us to do is what He expressly states in His word. His commandments to us as given in His word, must be a higher priority than anything else we might do in the name of our Lord.

Evidently, this is not a new issue. Thomas Watson, in his work, "The Ten Commandments," had this to say,

"What is the rule of obedience?
The written word. That is proper obedience which the word requires. Our obedience must correspond to what the word requires, as a copy to the original. To seem to be zealous, if it be not according to the word, is not obedience, but will-worship."

It is in our nature to do our own thing, to go our own way. But this is not God's way. God's way is for us to go His way, to do what He wants and to deny ourselves. This is especially true in the area of obedience.

Now on to today's topic, which is the principle that it is better to obey than to sacrifice. As we will see, it relates very much to yesterday's topic.

Very similar to the above principle is this one. God desires obedience over sacrifice. In this context He is not referring to obedience over worship. Rather, He is speaking of obedience over doing something else we'd rather do, obedience to what He commands over some other activity, even though that may be good in our own eyes.

One of the best examples in Scripture of this principle is found in Saul. In 1 Samuel 15, God commands Saul to attack and kill the Amalekites. "Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." (1 Samuel 15:3)

Instead of doing that, Saul spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites and the choicest of animals. When he returned with the king and the animals, he made this starling statement, "And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD." (1 Samuel 15:13)

When challenged by Samuel (who heard the bleating of the sheep), Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction." (1 Samuel 15:15) In other words, what they were doing was good (in their view) because they were doing a good thing (sacrificing to the Lord).

Being very displeased, Samuel responded thusly, "And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams." (1 Samuel 15:22) The only possible answer to Samuel's question above is "no." God delights in obedience to His commandments, even over other things we could be doing which may be good in and of themselves.

David repeats this truth in Psalm 40:7-9 as follows:

"In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, "Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

God takes delight in us, when we take delight in doing His will. And the expression of His will is found for us in the Scriptures, via His commandments, His statutes, His righteous laws. When we delight in them and in doing them, God delights in us.

Solomon also understood this, writing in Proverbs, "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:3)

Now we will address the fact that obedience is a grace of God, but for today's topic, we should understand that Israel was rebuked for not obeying the Lord and for following after their own desires. Notice that they "... walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts," and not according to the commandments of God.

"For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.' But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward." (Jeremiah 7:22-24)

The scribe who answered Jesus, saying, "And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." was heralded by Christ as one who was "not far from the kingdom of God." (Mark 12:33)

We must be careful to make sure that what we are doing as Christians adheres to what God commandeds us to do in His word, not necessarily what we may prefer doing. There are many good things we can be doing, but they must never be in place of what He commands us to do.

And the priority for God, with regards to how we should live our lives as believers, is to obey His commandments. This we do, not to be righteous, to be justified or to be saved (as we have all those by our faith in Christ alone). Rather, obedience to His word, what He specifically commands, is evidence of our faith and love for Him.

Our priority in life as believers should be His priority - namely doing what He commands, not through grumbling or complaining, but joyfully as His loving children. Consider your own life and ask this question, "Am I concerned about doing what God specifically commands me to do in His word, or am I about doing what I would rather do in His kingdom, whether His word calls for it or not?"

Prayerfully consider this in light of the priority God places upon His commandments.

Tomorrow, in Part 5, we will examine the truth that obedience to God's commands is evidence that our faith in Him is genuine. Come back tomorrow for this interesting and necessary look at this topic. You will be surprised at how closely these two (faith and obedience) are from God's perspective.

A Primer on Obedience (Part 3): What God Really Wants Us to Obey

2012-03-22T09:18:00.004-07:00

What God Wants Us to Obey is What He Commands Us to Do in His Word

I will not address what is meant by the "Law" of God in this series. It needs to be addressed and Lord-willing I will do that in a future series. For now, I am focusing on the relationship of obedience to God's commandments in His word to the believer generally.

I mention this because of today's topic. This seems to be an obvious truth, namely that we should obey what God's word actually says, but that is not always the case. Allow me to provide an example, which should be helpful.

Given you have a man in the church who serves in the following ways, which one is the priority from God's point of view:

A. Singing in the choir

B. Loving his wife

C. Leading a men's prayer breakfast

D. Serving as a deacon

What do you think?

The answer is B. Loving his wife. While nothing is necessarily wrong with any of the other activities, only one is specifically commanded in His word. He may be called to serve as a deacon, but never at the expense of what He commands the man to do.

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..." (Ephesians 5:25)

You see, what God actually says in His word is more important (and should be a higher priority) than what He does not say or what we may have liberty to do.

This is a subtle but necessary truth in this matter, which must be understood in the church today. The things that God purposed in us and desires that we do is what He actually says in His word. These should be our priority. These are more important than anything else we might be doing for God. There are many things we can be doing as Christians, but the things that God actually tells us to do in His word are the things that need to be our priority and the things we must actually be doing.

Another example from life will help us understand this principle. Let's say a Mom tells her son Timmy to clean his room. Timmy, instead of cleaning his room, goes out and sweeps the porch, because that is what he would rather do. And after that, he grabs some cookies and milk and gives them to his Mom. Has he obeyed his mother? The answer is "no." While the things he did were good in and of themselves, they were not the things she told him to do.

We must be careful to obey what God's word actually says, in place of what we would prefer doing. Notice that in stating His purpose in us, God repeats the same phrase in both Ezekiel 36 and 37, namely that He will cause us "to be careful to obey His rules."

"I will ^(AO)put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." (Ezek 36:27)

Being careful to obey Gods rules (what He actually says in His word) is a theme that runs throughout the Scriptures as well. And the phrase indicates that obedience to God's stated commandments is the priority and preference of the believer.

Jesus taught this principle to chief priests and elders in Israel. "What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you." (Matthew 21:28-31)

The chief priests and elders said "yes" to God, but did not do what God wanted. By contrast, those deemed sinners by others (tax collectors and prostitutes) seemingly said "no" to God by their sin, but in the end did the will of the Lord in repentance, faith in Christ and actual obedience to His word. It is not what "we say" with regards to obedience to God but rather what "we do" that matters. And what we do must conform to what God commands us to do in His word.

This is not a small issue in the church today. When you look at the Great Commission, you see that Jesus commanded us to "make disciples...teaching them to observe all that He commanded..." In other words, if He commands a given disciple to do "x," then "x" is what we should be training that disciple to do.

And yet church after church after church in America is filled with one activity after another, none of which are specifically designed (or even have the stated goal) of training disciples to do what God's word actually says. They may say that the goal is to train disciples to obey God, but is that really happening?

Churches have one bible-study group after another, and yet is there ever any real training of behavior going on there? Folks can sit in Bible studies for years and never lift a finger to do what God's word actually says they should be doing. It is a serious question that we all should be asking.

Are the activities we engage in, on a regular basis in the church, actually producing disciples who are obeying what God has commanded them in His word?

Pastors better had be asking the question, because they will all give an account for what goes on in the church. It would be a shame to have our Lord ask us (pastors) what we did when we led His flock, only to answer that we did this activity and that one, none of which actually trained disciples to do anything, let alone obey His word.

The Psalmist wrote, "You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently." (Psalm 119:4) Are we concerned with obeying our Lord "diligently?" We should be.

What God wants us to do more than anything else as believers, is exactly what He tells us to do in His word. And He has given the church, the body of Christ, the responsibility of training itself to do just that.

May God grant us obedience in this way - that we overtly train His disciples to obey His commandments, thus fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

In Part 4 we will address the issue of Obedience and Sacrifice. How do we define them and which is more important to God. Come back tomorrow to take a look at this very interesting aspect of the role of obedience in the life of the believer.

A Primer on Obedience (Part 2): God's Purpose in Us

2012-03-21T08:45:00.002-07:00

It is God's Stated Purpose that We Walk in His Commandments
Long before you were born and long before you were saved by God through faith in Christ, God stated His purpose in your life. As long as God has been God it has been His purpose to save you and then cause you to walk in obedience to Him. Consider now the words of Ezekiel on this subject:

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

And again in Ezekiel 37:24 "My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes."

There simply is no such thing in the kingdom of God as one who is saved by God, but not called to obey the commandments of God. Obedience to Christ, just like salvation in Christ, are part and parcel of God's work in us. Knowing that He saved us, in part, to make us "obey His rules," should move us to desire to walk in them. God's purpose in us should be our purpose as well.

This desire to now walk in the commandments of God is none other than an expression of our love for God. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15) Obedience to God is the evidence that we believe in and love God. Again, Jesus said, "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." (John 14:21)

Now our love for God, which is expressed in our obedience to God, is the evidence of God working in us. God planned from the beginning what He would do in us, namely, to mold us into the image of Christ. He would make us Christlike. What did Christ do? He loved and obeyed His Father perfectly, even unto death. There was no separation between what His Father commanded Him to do and what He did. God has the same purpose in us, to mirror Christ by obeying His commandments.

It was God's purpose from the beginning to make us into law keepers, who desire to and then walk in His commandments. And the two evidences in our lives that He is working in us is our faith in Christ and our obedience to Christ. As this is God's purpose in us, we should make our purpose too, by going to the throne of Grace and seeking help from God that we be doers of His word and not hearers only.

Tomorrow we will examine what exactly God wants us to do with regards to obedience. We could be doing many things in the church, all of which are good and fine in and of themselves, meanwhile not doing the things He specifically commanded us to do.

A Primer on Obedience to God (Part 1): Introduction

2012-03-20T08:12:00.001-07:00

"Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:19)

What is the relationship of the Law of God, His commandments and obedience to them and the believer in Jesus Christ? Should Christians be concerned about obedience to God? What role does the church play in this relationship? Most importantly, where does obedience to God stand with God? What level of priority does He place upon it?

This article will address all these questions and more. In answering them, we will see the following:

* Obedience, like believing the gospel of Christ (one example of obedience really) is by grace alone
* God gave us His commandments that we obey them diligently
* Not only does God want us to walk in His commandments, but it is His stated purpose to cause us to do so
* The desire of the believer should be to obey the commandments of God
* What God wants us to do is exactly what He says in His word
* Those who walk in His commandments and train others to do so are considered "great in the kingdom of heaven"
* The command to the church is to train believers to observe the commandments of God in their lives
* Mirroring the church, parents are called to train their children to keep the commandments of God
* It is better to obey God than to sacrifice to God
* Just as God uses His saints to share the gospel to impart faith to an another, God uses His saints to impart obedience to another

This is an important road we travel today. Simply put, failing to understanding the relationship of the Law of God and obedience to it leads to disobedience and diminishes the work and glory of God in believers. It denies the very work of God and purpose of God in saving us. It fails to put into practice the very thing we were called to do as believers, namely to obey God and train others to do so.

The Role of Obedience to God and Righteousness, Justification and Salvation

Before we begin, we must clear the muddy waters that exist with regards to the relationship of the law of God and obedience to righteousness, justification and salvation. None of these are acquired through obedience to God. No one is made righteous, is justified or is saved by obedience to God's commandments. Further, the commandments of God were never intended to be a means of acquiring these.

Righteousness, justification and salvation are only obtained (and were always only meant to be obtained) through faith in Jesus Christ. "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law." (Romans 3:28)

The only way any person can become right with God, be declared "not guilty" by God and can be saved by God, is by believing in Jesus Christ. The instant God grants faith to a person (Philippians 1:29) they are once and forever made right, justified and saved. Any attempt to add anything to this truth is error. We are righteous, justified and saved by faith alone in Christ alone and by grace alone.

Now, another error occurs which must also be cleared up. Just because God never intended the law of God and obedience to it to be the means of salvation, this does not mean that anything is wrong with the law itself or that obedience to God is not important in the life of the believer. To believe that obedience to God's commandments is neither necessary nor important in the life of the believer is equally erroneous.

We Should Throw the Law and Obedience to God Away, Right?

Wrong! Once saved by God, the Christian is called to obedience to God. And just as God works in a person to grant them the faith which saves them, so too He works in them to cause them to obey Him. This is the teaching of the word of God from Genesis to Revelation.

Abraham, who "... believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness," (Romans 4:3) was heralded for obedience to God's commandments. God, in speaking to Isaac, made this declaration "I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." (Genesis 26:4)

Obedience to Christ, by those who believe in Christ, must be paramount in their lives. The remainder of this article will prove why this is so. So let us now begin the primer on the relationship between the law and obedience to God and the believer.

Tomorrow: Part 2 - God's Stated Purpose in the Believer

New Series: A Primer on Obedience and God's Law

2012-03-20T08:04:00.001-07:00

A brief series begins today covering the relationship between the Law of God and obedience to the believer. This is a murky topic in most circles but it need not be so. The Bible is not unclear about the role obedience has in the life of the believer. The series will last four to five days. I hope that you are blessed by it and that the Lord uses it to mold you more into the image of Christ.

Al

My Apologies

2012-03-18T17:04:00.001-07:00

Please forgive me for not posting over the past few days. I have not been well and have had much to do.

I hope to have something posted either later tonight or tomorrow. It will be fairly substantial in terms of length and I will likely not post the entire article.

It will cover the relationship of the law of God and obedience to believers and will provide a biblical approach to ministry in the church.

Lord willing, it will be posted soon. In the meantime, may the Lord richly bless you in Christ,

Al

The Biblical Formula for Ministry

2012-03-14T19:31:00.001-07:00

"...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:20)

The Bible provides a very simple plan for ministry, which if followed by a given church will make it great in the kingdom of heaven. And it has to do with what we are supposed to do with disciples of Christ.

In the very familiar passage above, God commands us to "make disciples." Clearly this includes evangelism. We are to go out into the world with the gospel. But what are we supposed to do when someone actually gets saved and becomes a disciple of Christ?

The answer was there all along, sitting right in front of our eyes. We are to train them to obey the commandments of Christ. The phrase "teaching them to observe..." means training them to keep close eye upon (like a sentry at a tower) the commandments of God so that his life does not go beyond them. It is not only the knowledge of God's commandments, but the practice of them as well.

This is the first piece of biblical ministry. The next piece involves what Christ has commanded disciples in His word. The disciple of Christ must not only learn all of the things Christ commanded, but he must learn how to do them as well.

Knowledge, by itself is as the gong going "boom." It makes a lot of noise but amounts to nothing. It is not enough merely to know what the Bible says. We must, as disciples of Christ, learn to do what the Bible says.

We will call this second piece "x." And "x" stands for anything in the word of God, Christ has commanded us to do. The Biblical model then looks like this:

Christ commanded us to teach (or train) disciples to obey all that He commanded.

He commanded a disciple to do "x."

Guess what it is we should be training that disciple to do? That's right! "x" If we are obeying our Lord, we will be training that disciple to do "x." Not just to know that the Bible teaches "x" but that he should do "x" and how to do "x."

An example might be helpful. God commands us to teach disciples to observe all that He commanded. He commanded disciples, who also happen to be husbands, to love their wives. Here is the command. "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." (Ephesians 5:25)

OK, so let's put it together now. Christ commanded us to train disciples to observe what He commanded. He commanded this particular disciple, who is a husband to love His wife. Take a wild guess as to what we should be training that disciple to do?

Correct! We should be training Him to love His wife.

Let's look at another example, this one a bit broader. God commands us to come into worship with praise and thanksgiving in our hearts. Here is the command: "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!" (Psalm 100:4)

OK. So Christ commands us to teach disciples to observe all that He commanded. (I am repeating myself for a reason.) And in this case, the disciple is commanded to enter His gates with thanksgiving and praise. Guess what we are commanded to train the disciple to do?

Right again! We are to train a disciple THAT he should come into the worship of Christ with praise and thanksgiving and HOW to do that.

See how this works?

Now, training disciples to obey Christ is not easy. If you think any of the above examples are achieved in a 45 minute bible study or some class, think again.

The biblical analogy to training disciples is parenting. Just as God commands the church to train disciples to obey His commandments, He commands parents to do likewise with their children. (See Psalm 78:6-9)

How important is it that churches follow this formula? It is paramount. It is the highest priority.

Consider the priority Christ gives it. Not only does He command us to do this specifically, He tells us how those who obey Him in this are seen in the kingdom of God.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-19)

The bottom line is this. If we are not training disciples to obey what God specifically says in His word they are doing, then we need to repent. It is God's priority that His people obey Him. It is His purpose in us that we obey Him (See Ezekiel 36). It needs to be ours as well.

There is much more to be said about this, and Lord-willing, I will write on it again. But for now, remember that God wants His people to train His people how to obey His word.

How to Have Peace with God

2012-03-12T19:20:00.001-07:00

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1)

When we are born into this world, we do not come in on neutral ground. We are sons of Adam and we bear the influence of His fall. The Psalmist wrote, "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies." (Psalm 58:3)

This means several things practically. First, it means that our hearts are at enmity with God. We are at a state of hostility with God. Paul wrote in Romans that "...the carnal mind is enmity towards God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7) Now this hostility towards God, in which we all lived at some point in our lives, does not mean that we outwardly demonstrated this hostility. It meant that we would not be and could not be aligned with what the word of God said. We were hostile towards it.

Second, it means that our allegiance spiritually was with the God of this world, the devil himself. Once again, this allegiance was not necessarily outward or even understood by us. But spiritually speaking, this was the case. Again, Paul writes, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience...." (Ephesians 2:1-2) We may not have sworn allegiance to the prince of the power of the air outwardly, but in belief, we were aligned with his position - namely that Jesus is not the Christ.

Third, we were at war with the gospel itself. Living in the flesh, meaning we did not have the Holy Spirit, we only and always thought the gospel was one thing - foolishness. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14) In other words, since we are in the flesh, we do not receive the word of God (the things of the Spirit) and neither are we able to do so. We lack both the will and the ability to embrace spiritual truth from God's word.

Now the end of this war is judgment. For apart from faith in Christ, the only possible outcome is separation from God and judgment for our sins. Jesus said, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:18) Given our condition in the flesh, it is impossible that we could come to faith in Christ on our own.

Enter God Himself - the great peacemaker!

He intervenes into our state of war, overrules our desires against Him and pierces through the darkness in which we dwell and causes the light of the gospel to shine upon us. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6)

In short, we heard the word, the gospel of peace and in our hearing, God granted us faith in Christ. And the moment He did this for us, any and all hostility towards God was removed forever. God established peace with us Himself by granting us faith.

The reason faith is necessary is because it is by faith alone that we are justified. "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law." (Romans 3:28) To be "justified" means to be "not guilty" before God. And the moment God grants us faith, that same faith makes us "not guilty" or "justified" before God.

Now this glorious truth needs its own post, but not for today. What being justified does, what being declared perfectly and permanently "not guilty" before God, means that there is now no longer anything that can be laid against us which a holy God would have to act. Having been justified by faith, our hostility towards God removed, our guilt in sin which would have caused God to judge been erased, peace with God is now established.

Listen to this truth and rejoice, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1) What great news this is for us who believe. Having been granted faith in Christ, we now have peace with God, perfect and permanent peace. And where there is peace, there is no judgment, no destruction, no banishment to Hell. We are free now to roam in the presence of our Lord and Savior, who purchased peace for us on the cross and perfected it in us by granting us faith (Philippians 1:29).

War is over. Peace is established. And God did it all in and through Christ. Let us rejoice in this reality and sing praises to our God forevermore. Amen.

[If you would like to know more about the peace that you have with God by virtue of your faith in Him, I have written a book entitled, "Faith: What Happened to You the Moment You First Believed." This book addresses peace and many of the other wonderful and permanent changes that occurred in you the moment you first believed. To find out more, head over to www.thesovereigngod.net. ]

Hallowed Be Thy Name

2012-03-11T18:02:00.001-07:00

"Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." (Matthew 6:9)

Today at church, Pastor Ray Bromley taught on this verse as part of the Lord's Prayer. It was wonderful teaching which caused me no small meditation on the subject.

He rightly pointed out that the phrase, "hallowed be your name," is not necessarily a statement of God's hallowed nature, but rather a prayer which literally means, "make Your Name to be made sanctified." And it carries with it a sense of urgency.

How often do we pray this way? Not often and certainly not often enough. Sadly, our prayers are often lined with requests which we are making of the Lord. Not that these are wrong in and of themselves, but the priority seen in the Lord's prayer is to see God glorified here on earth.

Anyway, as I considered the meaning of this phrase more, I realized that it is akin to the Third Commandment, which reads, ""You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." (Exodus 20:7)

To take something in vain is to take something in a manner that makes nothing out of it. It is seeing and using something as inconsequential. It is casual and even demeaning work of something else, to take it in vain.

Few things should be taken this way, frivolously, but particularly the name of the Lord. His name, which is the representation of who He is, as the one and only true God, should always be represented, when spoken of by man, as "hallowed," as honored, as revered. His name should only be used in a manner to bring glory due to Him.

John Calvin, in his commentary on the Third Commandment, said this, "The aim and object of this Commandment is different, i.e., that the honor due to God may be unsullied; that we should only speak of Him religiously; that becoming veneration of Him should be maintained among us." God's name should not be sullied by man in treating Him in too casual and earthy a manner.

God is holy and any mention of Him by us should be in a holy manner. This is the intent, not only of the Third Commandment, but also the Lord's Prayer, when we seek that God's name be hallowed. The word "hallowed" comes from the Greek word, ἁγιάζω (hagiázō), which means "to make holy" or "to sanctify."

The use of the name of the Lord by any creature made by the Lord should only and always be in a holy manner, which means it should be set apart for the glory of God. Using the Lord's name in a common or casual way (not to mention as part of an improper phrase) demeans God and indicates that we have approached Him in an unacceptable manner.

In the command, we see the rightness of God in making sure that we revere Him, even in the use of his name. In the prayer, we see the desire of the supplicant as matching the rightness of the command. His desire in praying with urgency that God's name be hallowed mirrors God's desire and command for His people to hallow Him.

This is a lovely and gracious work of God in a person when they earnestly desire the same as God Himself, namely, that God's name would be made holy in the earth.

We see a principle in all of this too, one which should encourage us to pursue God all the more in our lives. We know when God is at work in us, when our desires match His. And when we pray, "Hallowed by thy name," with sincerity, we can be confident of this thing - God is being gracious to us. For not only are we seeking the glory of God in the mention of His name, we are desiring to obey His commandment, evidence of our love for Him.

Our contemplation, both of the Third Commandment and of the desire seen in the Lord's Prayer, that God's name be hallowed, should inure to our benefit, as we will be considering something glorious from both sides of the coin. From God's point of view, we are commanded to use His name for glorious purposes only and from ours that we desire the same. What a lovely, lovely act of grace it would be for God to work this in us for His glory.

And may God do just that in us, that we would begin by treating His name in a sanctified manner, one consistent with His nature. Amen.

[Speaking of something being "sanctified," you can find Pastor Ray's blog, "Made Holy" at www.madeholy.com. Head on over there for more encouraging words from God's word.]

The Gospel Never Changes

2012-03-10T11:19:00.002-07:00

[To listen to the podcast, go to this link: Podcast: The Gospel Message Never Changes

"I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain." (Galatians 2:2)

In our text today we see that Paul sought to have the message he had proclaimed to the Gentiles affirmed by the Apostles and particularly those "who seemed influential." His concern was not to gain the approval of those men, but rather to prove the veracity and unchanging nature of the gospel message. He was affirmed in proclaiming it to the Gentiles.

This leads us to the conclusion that that gospel message, to anyone, in any culture and at any time is always the same. Notice that even in Paul's own ministry the message did not change. He was seeking affirmation that he "had not run in vain" in the past and that he "was not running in vain" in the present. In other words, the gospel he proclaimed previously is the same gospel he was now proclaiming.

When Paul ventured into Corinth, a region filled with many cultural influences, he only wanted them to know one thing. "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2:)

The reality of the unchanging gospel should give us courage to proclaim it all the more ourselves. The audience does not matter. If God opens a door for us, we should take liberties to go through it. And the message we bring in those instances is the same one proclaimed by Paul long ago.

The gospel itself is the message containing several facts, which are pertinent to anyone, anywhere. God is holy (which means "set apart"). He has given us His commandments, which all men are to obey. All men have broken those commandments and are guilty before Him. He will one day judge all men according to their deeds. Those who are found guilty will be punished eternally. He sent Jesus Christ, who is God, to become flesh. He was born, lived a sinless life and went to the cross to pay the price for sin. He rose again on the third day and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. Everyone is called to repent and believe in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sin. Those who do believe in Him have eternal life.

Everyone, everywhere is called to believe the gospel. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:31)

Shouldn't we modify the gospel to fit the present culture? Shouldn't we add to it things that are relevant to people and so that they become more attracted to it? The answer is "no."

Why doesn't the gospel message change? There are several reasons for this.

First, the gospel is not an invention of man. It came directly from God. We didn't think it up or create it from our imaginations. We didn't fashion it after our understanding of God or anything else. Paul tells us in Galatians 1, "For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel." (Galatians 1:11)

Second, God is unchanging. He is immutable. This is one of His glorious attributes. "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed." (Malachi 3:6) The psalmist wrote, "but you are the same, and your years have no end." (Psalm 102:27) Since He declared salvation to be in Christ alone, and since He never changes, it is impossible that the gospel message could change. It is as immutable as the God who gave it to us.

Third, salvation is of the Lord. It is God who saves and not we ourselves. When someone hears the gospel, believes it and is saved, it is because God alone did the saving. Salvation is not a synergistic event, meaning it is not the result of two independent agencies working together to produce the result. Rather, it is monergistic, which means that God is the only agent working to bring about salvation of a soul. Jonah declared, "Salvation belongs to the Lord." (Jonah 2:9) Since God gave us the gospel and since He alone acts in saving someone with it and since He never changes, the gospel itself never changes or needs to change.

Finally, the gospel never changes because the process of salvation never changes. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing the words of Christ." (Romans 10:17) It is the only tool God will use to impart faith. And someone comes to faith in hearing the gospel when and only when God grants it to them. "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake." (Philippians 1:29) And again in Acts 18:28, Luke, speaking of Apollos tells us "...he greatly helped those who through grace had believed."

God, who never changes, gave us the gospel message, which never changes. And He saves the elect when that same message is faithfully proclaimed and in its proclamation, God graciously grants faith to the hearer. Since God is the acting agent, using His gospel, in His instruments (that's us) to save His people (the elect of God), there is no need to ever change the message.

The unchangeableness of the gospel and the fact that it is God who brings about salvation should embolden us to share it all the more as opportunity presents itself. Since it doesn't change, it is easy for us remember. And since it is not up to us to get someone to believe it, all we need do is be ready to share it and then share it as God grants us opportunity.

Knowing these things, let us then be prepared to give the reason for the hope that we have and then give it to everyone we have opportunity to do so, trusting not in ourselves or in those to whom we are sharing the gospel with, but in God, who saves His people by that message and by His power alone. Amen.

The Lord's Day: Rest from a Weary World

2012-03-09T18:15:00.003-07:00

[To listen to the podcast, go to this link: Podcast: The Lord's Day: Rest from a Weary World

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight." (Acts 20:7)

We live in a weary world, a world filled with trials and temptations, a world which presents to us numerous exhaustive activities each week. It is a world which requires our focus and attention every day.

There are many ways that this is so. Consider all the worldly responsibilities we have each day. We have to work, something that presents myriads of issues in and of itself. We have bills to pay, groceries to purchase, maintenance issues in our homes, food to prepare, homes to clean. If we are ill or in need of something, we must venture out to address it in some fashion. In short, all week long we are bombarded with responsibilities and issues which we must address.

Add to that our desire to be entertained. Trying to fit in some diversion, something to add a little spice to our lives can be challenging. Sometimes, even these activities can be wearying because of the frenetic pace of our lives.

This is not to say that these things are necessarily bad in and of themselves. Many are very good and necessary and even enjoyable. We may derive satisfaction and fulfillment on some level from many of them. But the net effect of these over time can have quite an impact on us. Add it all up and what you have is a dizzying week full of activity, challenges and responsibilities, all of which serve to sap us of strength and encouragement.

Thank God He gave us sleep. Can you imagine what our world would be like without it? Try going several days on 4 -5 hours of sleep and watch what happens to your personality and outlook. Someone once said that the difference between hope and despair is one more hour of sleep. Sleep, or rest, gives us a break in the action, restores our bodies, minds and outlooks and prepares us for the next day. Neglect this and you will soon have difficulty completing the tasks that are required of you.

Enter the Lord's Day.

The Lord's Day is meant to be a day of rest - rest from the weary world, rest from our many responsibilities, rest from the worries of life, rest from worldly distractions.

In our text we see several things happening which are meant to be restorative in nature. First, the saints are gathered together. This is to reflect the unity or oneness of God's church. Although coming from different backgrounds, different cultures and having different spiritual gifts, each member makes up part of a whole.

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and all were made to drink of one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

Nowhere is this unity demonstrated and applied more than when the body comes together in one place on the Lord's Day. Although 1 Corinthians 12 does not address the Lord's Day in particular, you can see the obvious application as Paul discusses the makeup of the body of Christ into one.

"But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." (1 Corinthians 12:24-26)

And when that whole gathers together, it is to do so in order to encourage, strengthen and even motivate one another to godliness and love.

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25)

The next thing you see is that they came together to break bread, which is a reference to the Lord's Table. They came together to remember Christ's death and what it meant to all of them as believers, to recall that their sins, although many, were forgiven. They remembered the cost that was required in blood for this to occur and who paid that cost - Jesus Christ Himself.

This too brings rest from a weary week, as we undoubtedly all suffer sin in many forms throughout. And our sin, although washed away and forgiven, can bear down on us greatly. What a lovely thing it is then to come together with all the saints, who have likewise suffered the ill-effects of sin themselves, to be reminded that they are sufficiently and permanently purged by the blood of Christ? This can have a greatly restorative effect upon a person's soul.

Finally, we see the preaching of God's word by the Apostle Paul. Now the text doesn't say this outright, but we know from Paul's own teaching that the word of God is to be preached. (2 Timothy 4:2) The idea that he spoke to them about something other than Christ from the word of God is absurd.

On this particular occasion, the preaching went on until mid-night and lasted so long that one young man fell asleep, fell out of a window. The reader should observe that spiritual rest took priority over physical rest and is needed, even if at the expense of physical rest, in order for us to be properly nourished and encouraged in the Lord.

The whole affair continued throughout the night. On the morrow Paul departed. But in departing, Luke made this observation. "And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted." (Acts 20:12) The gracious work of God in saving this young man, no doubt coupled with the encouraging words spoken by Paul the evening before left them in a state of great comfort.

The Lord's Day is meant to do that for us. It is meant to give us rest from a weary world, to calm our fears, to comfort our distresses, to encourage and strengthen our hearts, to cause us to gaze upon Christ, our Lord and Savior. Let this be its purpose in you, to set your hearts affections upon Christ and be comforted by Him on the day, that you may rest from a weary world, lie down in green pastures and drink from living waters. Amen.

Sent with Writer.

What Life and Death Mean to Christians

2012-03-08T17:02:00.001-07:00

[To listen to the podcast, go to this link: Podcast: What Life and Death Mean to Christians

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)
Death is a very frightening thing to most people upon the earth. In fact, the Bible teaches us that people are in bondage to the fear of death all their lives. And this fear is the power the devil has over them.

"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." (Hebrews 2:14-15)

But the moment God grants faith in Christ to us, the power that the fear of death had over us, which kept us in slavery, was defeated.

It really is as simple as this. For those of us who believe, death, not only is something not to be feared, but it is something that will be an improvement in our lives. And it will be an improvement because it will usher us into the presence of Christ, something nothing else can top.

The moment we close our eyes on this world, the moment our faith becomes sight. We will be in the presence of Christ. We will no longer only know of His excellencies, we will see them for ourselves. And in seeing them, we will discover that He is far, far lovelier than we ever could have imagined.

Our response to His presence will likely be to bow down before Him, proclaiming His excellencies and thanking Him for His mighty works.

Not only this, but gone will be the sin that we struggled with so much here on earth. No more violation of God's commandments, no more temptation, no more flesh to wrestle with constantly, no more failure, no more shame. Our struggle with sin will be over - forever!

Gone too will be any hint of pain or sorrow. No physical pain, no emotional pain, no defect in our being, physically or psychologically. Truly, whatever would have or could have caused us pain and suffering, will be removed from us forever. He will wipe every tear from our eyes.

Read these two verses now and try if you can to believe that death in this world will bring a major improvement to our existence:

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4)

Here's a fact. Our last day as believers on this earth, in the end, will be our best day here on earth - because it will be the day that our mortality was overcome with immortality. And on that day, our eyes will behold for the very first time, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now, we need to keep a proper perspective on this. While death will be a wonderful thing to us, as it ushers us into the presence of Christ, it is not something we should seek. If we are still alive by the grace of God, we should continue to pursue Christ and serve others.

Another fact to consider. If we are still here as believers, it is not for us that are. Consider what Paul continues the above verse thusly, "If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account." (Philippians 1:22-24)

Paul knows that it would be better for him to die and be with Christ. But he knew something else too, something we should understand. The reason why Paul had not departed at that point was because God wanted him to serve others. "But to remain is necessary on your account." (Philippians 1:24) Paul remained so that he could serve others. It's an important lesson for us.

We haven't gone home yet because there are good works, which God planned from the beginning, that we should walk in yet. And our mindset should be this - that we long to be with our Lord, because that is much better, but we remain that we may glorify God by serving others. Interestingly, we aren't in the equation.

We stay for others. We leave for Christ.

Have this perspective and watch your life and your priorities change. May God write this truth on our hearts, that to depart is much better, but to stay is necessary for others. Amen.

The Best Hope in the World

2012-03-07T16:41:00.001-07:00

"Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love..." (Psalm 33:18)

Hope. It's something everyone wants. Without it, what do we have? Can anything that we deem good in this world be of any value if we have no hope?

The world has many hopes, and most of them are fleeting. They hope for health and jobs and money and children and success. And they hope for things that are trivial, like having their team win a game or the chance to get to travel somewhere.

In any event, all of these have the same common denominators. They are all transient. They are all fleeting. And even if they come to pass, they will all fade away.

The reason for this is time. Time, time time - the reality of time. It waits for no one and it keeps moving along. And we go along with it.

As time goes by, the many hopes that we have come and go. And when they are all gone, what will we have?

You can think of people who have had everything in life that this world can offer. Money, fame, looks, intelligence, popularity, material prosperity. But when something tragic happens in their life, what do all those things mean? Where is their hope then?

To have hope in something, the something that you are hoping for must be obtainable. Otherwise, it's foolish to hope in it. Who hopes in something that they know they can't have?

When it comes to the world, there is no hope at the end of life. Oh, there may be some vague notion that life will go on, or that they will be in "a better place," but nothing with certainty. And most avoid the topic altogether for most of their lives until they are forced to address it. What hope could they have then? It can't be turned on like a light switch.

God did not intend for us to live this way and He wants to make sure we know it. In God's terms, hope isn't something that we long for that "might" happen. No, that's not good enough. The only hope God gives to His people, is the one that is certain!

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Paul makes a distinction between those who have hope and those who don't. And his purpose in writing them is to assure them that they should be hopeful with certainty.

Here is what he says,

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope."

He doesn't want them (or us) grieving about those who have already died. Can there be a more important issue in life in which to have hope? But notice how he differentiates believers (to whom the letter was written) and those who do not believe. They are described as "others do who have no hope."

And therein lies the difference. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you have a hope that is certain. You don't have the worldly hope that something "might" happen. Rather, God is telling you that the hope that you have in Christ is that something "will" happen.

Listen to what Paul wrote to Titus regarding this. "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,
in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began..." (Titus 1:1-2)

The God we believe in "cannot lie." And so the hope that we have of eternal life is not something in question. It is not in question because it is guaranteed by the very character of God.

Over and over again we have the promise of eternal life. Here's one from our Lord. "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live..." (John 11:25)

Not only does God want us to rest in and hope in these certainties, but He wants us to increase in hope in Him in every area of our lives. In the verse above, he tells us that His eyes are upon us who fear Him (which means us who believe in and revere Him).

And we are described further as those who "hope in His steadfast love." This can also be translated as "mercy."

In other words, God wants us to put our hope in Him, that He will be good to us, kind to us, loving to us. He wants us to rest in His many promises to us, not just at the end of life, but every moment leading up to it.

And here's the thing. The hope that we have in eternal life, which is certain, we can have in every single other promise He makes to us, like supplying us with every need that we have (Phil 4:19), never leaving or forsaking us (Hebrews 13:5), making sure that all things work for our good (Romans 8:28), and on and on it goes.

The many, the very many hopes that we have in Christ, by virtue of our faith, are certainties. Every single one of them. They are more sure than anything in this life, even the sun rising every day. What a blessed encouragement this is for us in Christ.

Let us hope in God. Let us hope in Him with certainty. His eyes are upon us. Rejoice, for our hope in Him and in all His promises, is assured. Amen.

[If you would like to know more about the hope that we have in Christ, consider the text "FAITH, What Happened to You the Moment You First Believed." It describes our hope in detail.]

Have Faith? Have Justification!

2012-03-06T17:45:00.001-07:00

[To listen to the podcast, go to this link: Podcast: Have Faith Have Justification

"Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified." (Galatians 2:16)

The doctrine of justification is an enormous truth, which applies to all believers in Jesus Christ. The goodness and implication of this truth is beyond measure.

The doctrine basically teaches us that anyone and everyone who believes in Jesus Christ is justified. And the word used by God for "justified" is the Greek word, δικαιόω (dikaióō), which means "to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous..." (Strong's Concordance)

Functionally, this is how it works. An unbeliever hears the gospel, the words of Christ, and God powerfully grants faith to that person (Philippians 1:29). In that same instant, in that same twinkling of an eye, the same person to whom faith is granted, is once and forever justified.

Once faith is imparted to the formally unbelieving person, justification is imparted. In fact, the two are so united that there is no such thing as a person who has faith in Christ and who is not justified. There also is no such thing as a person who is justified, but who does not have faith.

Now what does it mean to be justified? It means that the believer in Jesus Christ is once and forever righteous before God.

How righteous is that person? They are perfectly righteous in God's eyes. In fact, they are as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself. They must be for the declaration of their justification comes not from man, but from God. It is God who justifies and it is God who declares one just. And His standard is perfection.

Think on this for a moment. If you believe in Jesus Christ, then God sees you as perfectly righteous in position. This does not mean that you no longer sin are are no longer sinful. What it means is that by virtue of your faith, your standing before God is as one who never sinned at all.

All of your sin, no matter how awful, how disobedient, how scandalous, how hurtful to others, how premeditated, how mean-spirited or how great, is completely and sufficiently removed by God so that not a trace remains upon your soul.

So effective is God's justification of a believer, that He now refers to us as "saints," which means "holy ones."

One more thing should be said about our justification in Christ (as if enough hasn't been said already). Nothing, absolutely nothing beyond the faith that God granted to us is needed to justify us. Faith in Christ does it all. And any attempt by anyone to add anything to justification by faith alone, sins against God and tramples upon His grace.

God justifies believers the moment they believe, before they've done a single thing in the name of the Lord.

The simple equation is this: Have faith in Christ = Have justification in Christ

Any teaching that changes this equation has its source in Hell itself and should be quickly discarded as being demonic in origin.

We are righteous before God because of our faith in Christ. We are no longer guilty before God because of our faith in Christ. We are just before God because of our faith in Christ.

Thanks be to God who justifies the ungodly by faith in Jesus Christ alone. May God write this truth on our hearts, stirring our passions and zeal and love for Him. Amen.

There Needs to Be More Training in the Church

2012-03-05T17:08:00.001-07:00

[To listen to the podcast, go to this link: Podcast: There Needs to Be More Training in the Church

"And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)

There needs to be more training going on in the church.

Before I explain, I should point out that I am making a distinction between "teaching" and "training." For purposes of this post, "teaching" refers to instruction in doctrine - things like bible studies, small group studies, classroom studies and so on. The goal of "teaching" is being sound (or mature) in doctrine.

By "training," I am referring to the demonstration and instruction of godly behavior, or obedience to the commandments of God. This includes modeling, coaching, correcting, rebuking, encouraging, exhorting and so on.
The goal of "training" is godly (or mature) behavior.

The church needs to spend more effort "training" then it presently is culturally.

From a teaching standpoint, there is no shortage of that anywhere. From books to formal classes, to small group studies to women's' studies, mens' groups and so on, there are probably more teaching materials and classes going on in some form or another than at any time in the church.

This is all well and good. The problem is that by itself, it will not and cannot make mature disciples.

The reason for this is that the command to make disciples is more than just doctrinal. It is behavioral. Jesus commanded us to make disciples, teaching them to observe all that He commanded. (Matthew 28:20) This observation of His commands is behavioral. It is not enough to know what He commanded. We must also do what He commanded.

When we understand this, we will see why we need to spend more time training disciples.

The best example of this that we have is our Lord. He selected those He was going to disciple and then He discipled them, teaching them to observe all that He commanded. (Do you suppose He did anything other than what He commanded the church to do?)

How did He do that? He spent a lot of time with them, not only teaching them, but training them in godly behavior. He modeled it for them. He was with them when they practiced it. He corrected them, coached them, rebuked them, encouraged them, exhorted them, commanded them - and loved them.

From Matthew 4, where He called them to follow Him, until the end of the gospel of Matthew, He discipled them by teaching sound doctrine and training sound behavior. Then, when He was done with them, He commanded them to do likewise. (Matthew 28:18-20)

This is the model for the church to follow if it wants to produce mature disciples, something it is called to do. (See Ephesians 4, Colossians 1:28-29)

Disciples of Christ, if they are ever to grow up in the faith, must be trained as much as taught. Consider a new believer for a moment. In what ways does God want them to become mature?

In every way.

"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Back to the new believer. He knows nothing about how to be a mature Christian. Consider the areas where in behavior, he must mature:

Finances, relationships, his role in the family as the spiritual leader, his role in the church, his role as an employee, his role as a citizen, sex, fatherhood, brotherhood, denial of self, being disciplined in the faith, his relationship to his pastor, loving others, and on and on it goes.

How in the world is this new believer supposed to become mature in all these areas and more unless he is trained to do so? If you think he will learn HOW to do these things sitting in a classroom, think again. These things involve training.

For the church to become more like Christ, it must begin taking the training of disciples more seriously. it cannot default to the classroom or small group bible studies. Christians can camp out in them for years, never changing in behavior, never maturing in the application of their faith, never growing in obedience to Christ's commands.

There needs to be more training going on in the church - for the good of individual disciples, for the good of churches, for the glory of God.

When It Comes to Evangelism, We Need the Faith of Jonah

2012-03-04T19:51:00.002-07:00

"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster." (Jonah 4:1-2)

When we evangelize, we need the faith of Jonah. Jonah? Isn't he the guy who was told to go to Nineveh, disobeyed the Lord and went in the opposite direction? Yes! The very one. We need the faith of Jonah when we evangelize.

Why is this you ask? To answer this, we must understand why he went in the opposite direction. It wasn't because He was afraid. He didn't suddenly have cold feet as a prophet.

And it wasn't because he thought the mission to Nineveh was useless. Despite the fact that inhabitants of Nineveh were enemies of Israel, and despite the fact that their sin was so awful that the Scriptures say that it got the attention of the Lord. (Jonah 1:2)

Quite the contrary. Jonah fled to Tarshish (the opposite direction of Nineveh), not because the mission he received from God would fail. Hardly. It was because he knew the mission to Nineveh would succeed. That is why he did not want to go.

He tells us this plainly. When he went into Nineveh, he had one word to the Ninevites. "Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jonah 3:4)

And the response? The inhabitants of Nineveh repented. "And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them." (Jonah 3:5) It is one of the greatest works of God in granting repentance found in all of Scripture.

And it is exactly for this reason that Jonah disobeyed God. You see, Jonah understood something that we must all understand as Christians. "Salvation belongs to the Lord."

In fact, the above quote comes from Jonah himself, as he was in the belly of the fish. It is from there that he declares that salvation is of God. It is completely of God. God determines when and where His word will fall with power and conviction. He determines who will be saved by it.

When the word of the Lord reached Jonah, he told people that he would not go because He knew what God was up to in sending him to Nineveh. He knew that God was a merciful God and that He grants faith and repentance and salvation to whomever He wants - including the wicked enemies of Israel.

When God granted Jonah repentance for his disobedience, Jonah went to Nineveh preaching the message God gave him to preach. Sure enough, he preached and God granted repentance.

Hear now Jonah's response to this wonderful act of grace by God.

"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster." (Jonah 4:1-2)

This is almost comical. "Lord, isn't this what I said would happen? That you would grant faith and repentance to the Ninevites? I knew that you were going to do this, but I did't want the Ninevites to repent. I wanted them to feel your judgment."

The reason why Jonah acted the way he did, is because he knew that coming to faith in God and genuine repentance is not of man at all. It has nothing to do with man's will, man's sin or anything else related to man. It is all of grace and it is all of God.

The Jews in the book of Acts noted this as well. They marveled that the outcast Gentiles had indeed come to faith in Christ, repenting of their sin and unbelief. What was their conclusion when they saw this (almost in disbelief)?

"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life." (Acts 11:15-18)

Salvation belongs to the Lord, every part of it, from the proclamation of the gospel, to who hears the gospel, to who believes the gospel.

We need to remember this when we evangelize, that we trust and hope in the Lord to grant faith. Our hope is not in the spiritually dead sinner to do something or decide something or anything else. Our hope is in God, who as Jonah said, is "a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster."

We need the faith of Jonah when we evangelize the lost, hoping and trusting in God to do what He is going to do, save sinners from their lost condition. The faith that Jonah had, not in the power of the will of the Ninevites, but in the saving power of God to accomplish all of His holy will, in saving those He chose from the foundations for salvation, and in bringing His word to these same lost souls with power and conviction.

And as we go out into the world, we can do so knowing that the hardest of hearts may be reached by the grace and power of our God, in whom belongs salvation. Amen.

The Purpose of Worship is Worship

2012-03-01T09:33:00.001-07:00

"You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:5)

There is a very simple principle, which if applied will protect the corporate church and individual believers from offering up worship which is unacceptable to God. It is this. The main reason for gathering together is to worship Christ. The purpose of worship is worship!

As we see in our verse above, we (as individual believers) are being built up as a spiritual house. Each one of us is necessary stones of this building. Each one of us is hand-crafted by our Savior to fit the building properly.

And each one of us has a specific purpose. That purpose is to be priests to the living God. That is the role we are being built for by Christ.

Not only are we priests, but we are "holy" priests, which means set apart. Think of it this way. God has a standard, a quality that must be met in order for someone to offer up acceptable worship. It is a perfect standard governed by His perfect nature. Nothing short of perfection will do.

We cannot fully comprehend what that standard is like here on earth. We will have to wait for Heaven for that one. But whatever the standard is that must be met, whatever that perfection looks like, we meet it perfectly in Christ. That is what it means when God says that we are a "holy priesthood."

And apart from being a "holy priesthood," which means a perfectly set apart priesthood, we cannot worship God acceptably.

Now, having been made perfect for the role of priests, God has decreed a holy purpose for us as well. It is "to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Although not limited to the Lord's Day worship, that, Brothers and Sisters is the primary reason we gather together with the rest of God's House on His day. We gather together to offer up sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving and to declare His excellencies. He alone must be our focus, attention and purpose.

A secondary reason for gathering together is found in Hebrews 10:24-25 as follows:

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

This second reason for gathering does not supplant the first. Rather it results from the first. When we come together as priests to proclaim Christ, to praise Christ, to thank Christ, we are producing the second purpose - which is to stir one another up to love and good works. The worship of Christ will do that, when it is done properly.

How is it done improperly?

Anytime any of the byproducts or fruit of worship become the main reason for our gathering, the train has gone off the tracks. For example:

Learning occurs during worship, but it is not the primary reason for worship. If learning becomes the primary focus and that focus impacts our behavior, then we have lost the reason why God made us to be priest.

The same is true for evangelism. Evangelism occurs because the word of God is preached and God grants faith in the hearing of His word. We should invite unbelievers to church for this purpose and we should hope and pray that God is merciful and gracious unto them. But under no circumstances should the worship of Christ be prepared for and undertaken with unbelievers in mind. Our audience is Christ, not the unbelieving world.

Likewise, music is not the purpose of worship. It is part of worship, should be Christ-centered, Christ-exalting, instructional and conforming to the word of God. It occurs in worship but should not be the reason why we gather.

God made us to be priests in His spiritual house, to offer up acceptable sacrifice to Him. It is an undeserved honor beyond measure. The more we see ourselves as priests, the more we will behave as ones, keeping our eyes fixed on Christ, the object and focus of our worship.

What The Word Says Takes Priority Over What it Does Not Say

2012-02-28T17:57:00.001-07:00

"My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times." (Psalm 119:20)

What the word of God says takes priority over what it doesn't say. This is a very important principle, which must be applied, not only in the lives of individual believers, but in the corporate church as well.

If you read through Psalm 119, you will find a singular message. The Psalmist desires to live within the boundaries of what God's word commands, teaches and proclaims. To him, the word is a boundary, against which he must not pass. He knows what it says and he longs to do what it says.

You see that he watches the word closely. He observes it. He meditates upon it. He remembers it. He does all these things that he might live acceptably to God. "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." (Psalm 119:11)

In families, the contents of God's word are a priority as well. Consider Psalm 78 for a moment. Notice what goal is at stake in the training up of children.

"He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments..." (Psalm 78:5-7)

In this text we see that parents are to teach their children about God so that they believe in Him, worship Him and "keep His commandments." In other words, what God says in His word about what they should believe and how they should behave is the priority. Parents can do many things in training up their children, but if it does not lead to adherence to God's word, then they have missed the mark.

Similarly, the church is commanded to make disciples. And the emphasis of the training is that they know, understand and do what God commanded them to do in His word. Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

Here is the point. We can be doing many things as individuals, as parents and as churches, but the priority in doing these things is what God's word says. His commands should be our focus and attention over other things that might be done in liberty. That's one reason why He gave us His word. "You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently." (Psalm 119:4)

We must be careful not to emphasize what we have liberty to do over what His word actually says to do. A husband who does many things in the church, but does not love his wife (Ephesians 5:25), wives may do many things, but not submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22), a child who does many things but does not obey his parents (Ephesians 6:1), an employee who does many things but does not serve His master well (1 Peter 2:18), a Christian who does many things, but does not love his Brothers and Sisters in Christ (John 13:34) are all examples of this.

In each of the cases above, the "many things" may be good things in and of themselves, but are not necessarily things commanded in God's word. But in doing them, they failed to do what God's word commanded them to do in particular. This happens when God's word and what it says is not our priority. This ought not to be.

We should do what the Psalmist does in Psalm 119. He observes what God says closely so as to obey it. Consider the following carefully:

"Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments." (Psalm 119:4)

"I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways." (Psalm 119:15)

"My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times." (Psalm 119:20)

"I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me." (Psalm 119:30)

"Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it." (Psalm 119:35)

Do you see the care and concern the Psalmist has for what God actually says? Do you see how what God actually says in His word was the priority of the Psalmist?

Liberty allows us to do much, but it does not give us license to forego what God commands. And what God commands ought to be our priority. What God emphasizes we should emphasize. Let us do those things first. Then, having done them, we may do the things liberty affords.

The principle is simple. What God says to do takes priority over what He says nothing about in His word. May God grant us wisdom in this area, that we be like the Psalmist, who wrote,

"When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments." (Psalm 119:59-60)

What God says is a priority to Him. It should be for us as well. Amen.

The Greatest Miracle in Your Life

2012-02-27T16:56:00.001-07:00

[To listen to the podcast, go to this link: Podcast: The Greatest Miracle in Your Life

[To download a pdf copy of this post, go to this link: The Greatest Miracle in Your Life pdf

"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-" (Ephesians 2:4-5)

This week our church begins a series on the book of Jonah. And whenever we think of that book, we cannot help but think of the miracle that God performed by keeping Jonah alive in the belly of the fish for three days.

It's funny how many (some even in the church of Christ) try to rationalize the event away scientifically. As if God needed help from us.

It was a supernatural event wherein God demonstrated His awesome power. It might be hard for some to believe but it was not hard for God to do.

This contemplation led to another regarding miracles in general. The world loves to see them. They love to see something unexplainable. They love to see something that goes beyond the natural laws we operate in every day.

Many pastors (I am using the term loosely) understand this too and dupe many wishful and unsuspecting souls by claiming to perform miracles themselves. They know what people want to see and they know what people want to put their hope in - so that's what they give them.

Only they're not miracles at all. They are suggestions, proclamations and side-shows - but not miracles.

Miracles in the Bible occurred during very specific periods in the history of redemption and for very specific reasons. The Apostles, for instance, were able to perform real miracles so that others would know that they were sent from God and that they had authority in the Church. Consider Mark 16:20, which says, "And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs."

The accompanying signs (or miracles) were needed because the word of God was not completed, the church was just being founded, and Jew and Gentile were coming together for the first time having equal access to God. These were earthquakes in God's kingdom. Someone had to have authority to navigate the changing waters. The Apostles were chosen and empowered for this purpose.

And the miracles they performed were consistent with what the gospel did spiritually. The blind received their sight, the deaf received hearing, the lame (or paralyzed) walked and men were raised from the dead. All of these were natural demonstrations of what God was doing spiritually in His people. And you don't see any of them today. Someone says they were gifted to perform miracles, have them show you examples of the above. Otherwise, move on to a more faithful pastor.

The sad thing about all of this is what the natural miracles were pointing to and how it has been so diminished in the eyes of many in the church today. Each one mentioned above pointed to the miraculous work of God in individual unbelievers, moving them from unbelief to belief, from spiritual deadness to spiritual life, from the wrath of God to salvation.

Because so many pastors falsely teach that God offers salvation and leaves it up to the decision-making ability of fallen, fleshly, spiritually dead, spiritually blind, spiritually deaf individuals whose only natural response to the gospel is hostility and the belief that it is foolishness, the miracle of salvation is lost. I forgot to mention that these same individuals (of which every believer was one) were under the domain of darkness and ruled by his power. (See Ephesians 2:1-3)

Paul knew exactly what the moment of belief and salvation was; it was nothing short of the miraculous power of God. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)

This is exactly what we see in today's text. Observe if you will that the condition in which Ephesians 2:4 happens is Ephesians 2:1-3. Here is what they say about our condition in sin and unbelief:

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."

Verse 4 begins the miracle-working.

"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-" (Ephesians 2:4-5)

God! You see, without God, verse 4 and 5 don't occur. There is no being made alive without God, no grace without God, no being saved without God. God is the difference-maker in every individual being saved.

God, who is rich in mercy - meaning He is not about to give the spiritually dead individual what he deserves, but also out of His great and particular love for that individual, does something. He performs a miracle. He supersedes the condition of the fallen man. He overrules it for good. He drives out what was there and replaces it with something far, far better.

And love is the motivator. Paul tells us that "because of the great love with which he loved us..." Now the use refers to all believers as that is who the letter is written to in the first place (see Eph 1:1-3). In every single case where God intervened, He intervened because of His eternal, effectual love for that individual.

And what did God do? What miracle did He perform? Something far greater than any many receiving sight, any man receiving hearing, any many receiving the ability to walk, any man receiving natural life back into his body. Why? Because while all of those are wonderful benefits to the individual who received them, they are all temporary and they all point to something greater - the work of the gospel in a spiritually dead person.

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead physically. This was a glorious miracle indeed. But one day Lazarus died again. (That must have been strange.)

It is the work in Ephesians 2:4-5, which is the greater miracle. God, out of mercy and love and because of His awesome power, produced life where there was none. The life that was produced was spiritual in nature.

And it was a permanent raising from the dead which occurred. Once God raises someone from the dead spiritually, He seals them with the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 1:13-14), who is given as a pledge of that person's eternal inheritance. There's no going back.

He does this through the preaching of the gospel. A person hears the gospel in their deadness in sin, in their hostility to God, in their thinking what they are hearing is foolishness. And He brings His word to them with power and conviction of the Holy Spirit. He performs a miracle in them.

In their hearing they are granted faith in Christ (Philippians 1:29) and are given spiritual life via the Holy Spirit. This is a supernatural act that only God can perform. Only if He acts can a person go from death to life spiritually.

Paul understood this completely. And that is why his trust was not in men and their decision-making ability, not even in the gospel by itself. Rather, he preached the gospel hoping for God to perform a miracle, the greatest miracle that can happen in anyone's life.

Listen to what he said to the Corinthians,

"And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

He waited for the greatest miracle to occur - the one where God raises someone from the dead spiritually. And he used the only tool God would use to do that - the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Brothers and sisters, if you want to see miracles, look to your own lives. Your faith in Christ and your belief in His word are evidences of God's miraculous power having worked in you. And if you want to see more miracles, share the gospel faithfully, hoping and praying for God to demonstrate His awesome power.

We who believed were raised from the dead - and it took the very power of God to do it. It was the greatest miracle in our lives. Let us remember Him because of it and let us look to Him to do more of it in the people we know and love. For if He doesn't act, no miracles occur. Let us look to Him then to do His life-giving work by sharing the words of Christ. Amen.

We Should Keep the Commandments of God

2012-02-25T11:16:00.001-07:00

[To listen to the podcast, go to this link: Podcast: We Should Keep the Commandments of God

[To download a pdf copy of this post, go to this link: We Should Keep the Commandments of God pdf

"You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!" (Psalm 119:4-5)

The commandments of God are not the means to salvation. No one can find their way to forgiveness or to justification by obedience to God. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:16 "yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ..."

Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone. And if anyone adds anything to this truth, they have preached a false gospel. If you believe in Jesus Christ truly, then you are saved truly, before you've done a single thing in His name.

This truth, that we are saved by faith alone, does not remove a second truth, which will be the focus of today's post. The second truth is this: God gave us His commandments that we keep them.

Having been saved by the free grace of God alone, we are now to walk in the commandments of God. The psalmist acknowledges this in today's verse. Speaking of the Lord, he proclaims, "You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently."

God commanded His word to us that we would keep it. It is a priority of God. The psalmist tells us this. The reason why God gave us His commandments, is that they be "kept diligently."

We see this truth throughout the Scriptures. Consider the following as evidence:

The entirety of Psalm 119 (the longest chapter in the Bible) is centered on the keeping of God's commandments. Verse after verse after verse, 176 in all, proclaim this truth.

Solomon described the meaning of life in this fashion: "The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) Life can be summed up this way. Believe in God and obey God.

Parents are called to train up their children that they believe, worship and obey God. Consider Psalm 78:5-7, which says, "He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments."

In similar fashion, the church is to train up disciples to do exactly the same thing (the parallel is not coincidental). "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." What parents do with their children, we are to be doing in the church.

Jesus proclaimed that it is impossible for one to love Him, but not obey Him. ""If you love me, you will keep my commandments." In other words, the evidence that we love Jesus is that we obey Jesus.

The Apostle John used more direct language, telling us "And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:3-4) There is no such thing as a believer who does not obey the commandments of God. (Now this obedience will never be perfect, but will be definite.)

James teaches this truth also, but in different form. He says that "But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?" (James 2:18-20) He goes on to ask,"Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?" By this he meant that Abraham's faith (which saved him) was proven by His obedience to God.

This is a common message throughout the word of God. It is His commandments, which He gave us, that we should obey and nothing else. We are not called to obey tradition, our culture or anything else. It is His commandments, which He gave us, that we are to obey.

Since His commandments are a priority to God, then they should be a priority for us who believe. We should read and know and understand what God's word says so that we keep it.

It should be a priority in the church as well. How we function (what we are to be doing) and how we relate to one another should be governed by God's word alone.

Now, we are not quite done with this meditation. Observe the verse which immediately follows the one that tells us that God commanded His precepts to be kept diligently. The psalmist writes, "Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!" (Psalm 119:5)

We should take note of two things. First, the psalmist is praying. He is proclaiming his desire to God that his life would conform to the precepts of God. It is a plea, a cry out to God that He would be steadfast in keeping God's statutes, consistent in walking in them.

This plea is important because it reflects the desire of the psalmist. He knows that God wants him to keep His commandments. And because knows that, he wants to keep them too. It is his desire.

The second thing we should take note of is that obedience is a grace of God. The psalmist, desiring to obey God, knows that he is dependent upon God to do that. This is also seen throughout the psalm. Consider:

"With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!" (Psalm 119:10)

"Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!" (Psalm 119:12)

"Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word." (Psalm 119:17)

We could no more lift a finger to God than we could jump to the moon apart from God's help. It is He who causes us to obey His commandments. In fact, He decreed that He would do just that in us. In Ezekiel 36:27, he declares, "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."

So let's put this together now. God saves us by granting us faith in the hearing of His word. (Philippians 1:29) When He saves us, He puts His Spirit in us and causes us to obey His commandments. He gave us His commandments that we keep them diligently. Our desire then should be to obey them with all that is in us. Knowing our dependency upon God to obey them, we should cry out to God that He would be gracious and merciful to us, that we obey them.

God commanded His precepts that we should keep them diligently. It is a priority of God seen throughout the entirety of Scripture. It should take priority in our lives as believers. It should take priority in the church, in training disciples to obey them. It should take priority in parents in teaching their children to obey them.

May God write these precepts on our hearts and cause us to walk in them diligently. That is why He gave us His commandments. Amen.

One Reason God Forgave Us and Justified Us

2012-02-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

[To listen to the podcast, go to this link: Podcast: One Reason God Forgave Us and Justified Us

[To download a pdf copy of this post, go to this link: One Reason God Forgave Us and Justified Us pdf

"For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it." (Galatians 1:13)

In the verse above, Paul relates his past, awful as it was. And it was pretty awful. He persecuted the church of God "violently." He sought to do it harm. He tried to destroy it.

Do you have that on your resume? Probably not.

But we all have something, and probably some things. Many things. Things that would have resulted in our judgment and being sent to Hell. No doubt about it.

But the moment God granted faith in Christ in the hearing of His word, any chance of going to Hell was removed forever. The faith God gave us justified us. It made is once and forever "not guilty" before God.

"Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified." (Galatians 2:16)

This is undoubtedly great news for those of us who believe. The the blood of Christ and pure grace of God does this. Having charged our Lord with our sins and having laid the penalty upon Him, it is now impossible that He could lay any charge against us. He would be unjust if He did. But He didn't.

Now what this means is that like Paul, we have been freed from the penalty of our sins. We now can safely graze in the pastures of our Lord, with no fear of retribution, no fear of judgment, no fear of any penalty whatsoever for our sins, past, present and future.

Now this is undoubtedly great news for us, but we must follow the example of Paul. What did he do with His freedom? What did he do with his being justified in Christ?

Well, by the grace of God, one thing he didn't do was to throw it away on worldly living. He didn't use his freedom as an opportunity to sin. Indeed, in this same letter to the Galatians he exhorts them, "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13)

And this is one big reason we have been forgiven, that we might serve God, serve His Kingdom and serve one another. We should seriously consider this. It is a crime that we waddle around in indifference, in worldliness, in sin for many years as believers. Brothers and sisters this ought not to be.

God saved Paul, who ravaged the church of God, and then set Him on a course of great, selfless and God-glorifying service. By God's grace Paul understood that he little deserved forgiveness and justification. And then he went to work.

We are forgiven and we are justified that we would be instruments through which God would be glorified, through which God would cause us to serve His Kingdom, through which God would make us to serve one another.

Where do you stand on this? How has you life gone as a believer? Where does it stand up, not to our culture, not even to our Christian culture, but to the word of God?

May God cause us to imitate Paul (1 Corinthians 11:1) and use the freedom we now have in Christ to serve Him zealously. Amen.

An Opportunity in Kenya

2012-02-23T17:31:00.001-07:00

"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." (Galatians 6:10)

Several days ago I wrote a post, which addressed the precept that we should do good to everyone, particularly the household of God when we are given opportunity.

Today, I would like to provide a tangible example.

Lord willing, my church will be sending me and at least one other Brother to Kenya next fall to minister to several hundred pastors there. Many of these pastors are poor, both in material goods and in doctrine. Many do not have Bibles. And they have asked us for help.

By the grace of God I am delighted to say that even though we are a very small church ourselves, we are going to begin planning on attending the conference and providing other support as well. I am overjoyed, not only in consideration of what God might do in Kenya, but what He is going to do in our little congregation.

The decision to help was easy for me, thankfully. It essentially boiled down to this: They came to us for help and the help they were seeking was to provide instruction for a 5 day conference. Amazingly, the area where they would like instruction (and by the testimony of several witnesses need the instruction the most), is in biblical disciple making.

This, by itself is not necessarily amazing. But when you add to it the fact that one year ago, almost exactly, Pastor Ray and I determined that out of obedience to Christ's command (Matthew 28:18-20) we were going to move in a more decidedly biblical direction with regards to making disciples in our church, that we had meditated and taught on this indirectly for nearly two years prior, and since have produced hundreds of hours of lessons from the Bible on this terribly important subject, and that the Bishop in Kenya sought our help (but who did not know what God had done in our congregation), it becomes very, very amazing indeed.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on here. God had prepared us by laying upon our hearts the desire to overtly obey His command to make disciples the way Jesus did - by relationship, demonstration, teaching and preaching. (Read some of the posts under the description "Making Disciples" to get a sense of what we saw and taught from God's word.)

God, in His infinite mercy and wisdom, may have had more in mind than our small congregation. I only say "may" because we are warned not to assume that we will leave this city and spend time in another. Rather, we are to say, "if the Lord wills," we will go to this city and do such and such. (James 4:15) I am not about to forget that He truly is The Sovereign God. His will may be that we simply be willing to demonstrate love in tangible ways to our Brothers and Sisters in Christ in Kenya. We will know for certain when we land in Kenya and begin teaching.

But should the Lord permit us to go, He will have done so having prepared our hearts and minds, in both doctrine and behavior, to provide sound teaching to many hundreds of pastors in Kenya.

Last Sunday our church took a very important step in this process. Another member and I are ready to go. If the Lord allows we will go. But going to train pastors is the work of the church, not free agents. So we wanted the church to support this and want to do it themselves. If God is at work, their desire to do this should be present. It was and so now we begin planning and praying.

The "whys" to do this are evident. First, we have been asked for help. Second, we confirmed that the help being sought is being sought by real pastors of real churches in Kenya. Third, the desire to help is present. We have at least two who want to go and maybe several more. Fourth, the means to help is present. Not only are we prepared from a teaching (doctrinal) standpoint, but we have the means to get there materially. All that needs to happen now is for the Lord to permit us to go.

All of these reasons fit perfectly with our verse above (Galatians 6:10), which tells us in plain language that when we have opportunity, we are to do good, especially to the household of God. (Ironically, when presenting this to the congregation, we referred to it as "An Opportunity in Kenya" but we did not cite this verse for support.)

In this case, we don't have opportunity just to do good, but to do GREAT GOOD! Hundreds of pastors will receive, by the grace of God, sound teaching with regards to the Scriptures, their role as pastors, the command to make disciples and what that actually entails. If God is merciful and we have the ability to influence for good even a small percentage of pastors, who in turn take their knowledge back to their congregations and then apply that knowledge, what good can come from that? It is mind-boggling to consider what God might do.

But that is not all. It is not for Kenya alone that we want to go. What will God do in our little congregation if we joyfully, lovingly esteem our Kenyan Brothers and Sisters more highly than ourselves? What if we have opportunity to do good and do it? What if we truly love them in deed and not in word? What if we give abundantly out of our limited means? The good that God might do, not because we've earned it, not because we are seeking it, but only because our going to Kenya is simply what God is doing in us, is wonderful to consider.

I hope and pray that we do get to go. I hope and pray that love, joy, humility, service and the desire to glorify God will drive our hearts and actions. I hope and pray that many Kenyans will hear sound doctrine and practical lessons on disciple-making and take it back to their congregations, that they might obey the Lord. I hope and pray that God will be so glorified in all of this, that even those outside the church will marvel.

For now, we are going to Kenya. By the grace of God He placed this opportunity at our feet. May He see it through to the end for His glory alone. Amen.