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Rest for Our Souls

November 14, 2013 / admin

Those who study psychology have long told us that the two basic needs of humans are security and significance. We exhaust ourselves over a lifetime trying to gain these two gems. We sell all—sometimes literally—to make them ours. We drain our bodies, minds, schedules and bank accounts, sacrificing their contents at the altar of security and significance.

It comes as no surprise—or perhaps, for you, it does—that Jesus perfectly addresses both of these fundamental needs. In fact, He created those needs within us. He crafted the glove of our nature to fit the hand of His grace.

We strive for security—or love—through our own efforts. We fail. Every human relationship is sabotaged by the sin and selfishness resident in both parties. Only a Savior who chose not to protect Himself, but give Himself on our behalf can ever provide the safety and security of perfect love. Jesus did this through His crucifixion on our behalf. You and I are secure “in Christ.” “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). God’s grace has been “freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). Our security lies not in what we have done nor in what we are doing, but in who He has made us to be in Christ.

We grasp after significance—or importance—in our own strength. We give ourselves to jobs, careers, hobbies, dreams, etc. in an attempt to make our lives count. We all want to know our lives have mattered, that we have contributed in a meaningful way to something of worth. Jesus has already done this through His call on our lives. We are “those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling” (1 Corinthians 1:2). You and I are significant “in Christ.” Our significance is not wrapped up in what we do for Christ, but in who He has made us to be by calling us to Christ.

Here it is in a simple statement. Ponder this. Pray over this. Ask God to bring the reality of this home to the depths of your soul.

I am loved not because I do, but because I am.

I am significant not because I do, but because I am.

Jesus changes who I am in an instant (by regeneration – being born again). He changes what I do over time (by sanctification – growth in Christ-likeness).

Because Jesus loves me for who I am and not because of what I do, I need not wait to be at rest.

Did you catch that? I need not wait to be at rest!

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:9-10)

I am prayerfully asking God to bring that rest to the deepest core of my heart and life. I’m asking Him to do the same for you.

You Cannot Harm Us!

October 23, 2013 / admin

“Justin Martyr, one of the leaders of the early church, also serves as a portrait of convictional leadership. Leading members of his own congregation to their mutual execution at the hands of the Roman authorities, Justin encouraged his people with these words, written to the Roman emperor Antonius Pius: ‘You can kill us, but you cannot harm us.’“ (empahsis added, Albert Mohler, The Conviction to Lead, pp.23-24)

What Will You Do?

October 7, 2013 / admin

“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?” (Jeremiah 12:5)

“The terrible threat is ‘that we might die earlier than we really do die, before death has become a natural necessity. The real horror lies in just such a premature death, a death after we go on living for many years.’

There is a memorable passage concerning Jeremiah’s life when, worn down by the opposition and absorbed in self-pity, he was about to capitulate to just such a premature death. He was ready to abandon his unique calling in God and settle for being a Jerusalem statistic. At that critical moment he heard the reprimand: ‘If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you fall down, how will you do in the jungle of the Jordan?’ (Jer 12:5). …

Life is difficult, Jeremiah. Are you going to quit at the first wave of opposition? Are you going to retreat when you find that there is more to life than finding three meals a day and a dry place to sleep at night? Are you going to run home the minute you find that the mass of men and women are more interested in keeping their feet warm than in living at risk to the glory of God? Are you going to live cautiously or courageously? I called you to live at your best, to pursue righteousness, to sustain a drive toward excellence. It is easier, I know, to be neurotic. It is easier to be parasitic. It is easier to relax in the embracing arms of The Average. Easier, but not better. Easier, but not more significant. Easier, but not more fulfilling. I called you to a life of purpose far beyond what you think yourself capable of living and promised you adequate strength to fulfill your destiny. Now at the first sight of difficulty you are ready to quit. If you are fatigued by this run-of-the-mill crowd of apathetic mediocrities, what will you do when the real race starts, the race with the swift and determined horses of excellence? What is it you really want, Jeremiah, do you want to shuffle along with this crowd, or run with the horses? …

The euphoric impetus of youthful enthusiasm no longer carried him. He weighed his options. He counted the cost. He tossed and turned in hesitation. The response when it came was not verbal but biographical. His life became his answer, ‘I’ll run with the horses.’” (pp.17-19, Run With the Horses, Eugene H. Peterson)

All in All!

September 21, 2013 / admin

“Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:11)

“The false teacher(s) was preaching a ‘gospel’ that divides – some are ‘in’ and others are ‘out.’ Some are ‘in the know’ and others are not. The gospel of Jesus Christ unites. It overcomes social, racial, religious and cultural distinctions to make all believers stand on the level ground of grace before God ‘in Christ.’ The grace of God coming down to man is given without regard to such distinctions. That grace which operates on a vertical axis from God to man then goes horizontal between the recipients of such grace and those same distinctions fade away in the fellowship of those who make up the ‘new self.’

In strong contrast to such distinctions (ἀλλὰ, “but”) Paul makes the amazing assertion that ‘Christ is all, and in all’ (πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν Χριστός). He closes with a phrase which is void of a verb, but is all the more powerful for its succinctness. Most English translations appropriately add the verb ‘is’ for our understanding. The proper noun (Χριστός, ‘Christ’) is placed at the end of the sentence for emphasis. Christ is said to be ‘all and in all’ (πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν). Just what is meant by saying Christ is ‘all’ (πάντα)? The neuter plural form serves to encompass all things. Robertson says that πάντα is used as a predicate for Χριστός and thus stands ‘for the totality of things.’[1] Christ created all things (1:16a). Christ sustains all things (1:17b). Christ is supreme over all things (1:17a). Christ is ‘all’ (πάντα). This is not a pantheistic statement, but a way of saying that the sum and substance of everything is Christ. He is the singular point of their origin. He is the one necessity for their continuance. All things exist for Him (1:16b). It is then both logical and appropriate to speak of Christ as ‘all.’ In the application of God’s grace, then, Christ engulfs all racial, religious, cultural, and cultural differences with His indiscriminate grace. ‘Christ is all’ anyone needs to become a fully welcomed and functioning participant in the ‘new self.’ Nothing added. Nothing needed. ‘Christ is all.’

Paul speaks here of this as an established fact. Yet he speaks elsewhere of it as a fact (in the universal, all-inclusive sense) yet to be established. ‘When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all [πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν]’ (1 Cor. 15:28). Indeed, even here in Colossians he does so: ‘He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything [ἐν πᾶσιν]’ (1:18). What Christ is now He is by divine and redemptive right. Yet this is not currently seen and acknowledged by all. At His return, however, all will see what has always been true of Him – ‘Christ is all in all’!

As sweeping as is the first part of this statement, this is not all that Paul asserts. He adds (καὶ, ‘and’) that Christ is ‘in all’ (ἐν πᾶσιν). The adjective (πᾶσιν, ‘all’) by form may be either neuter (‘in all things’) or masculine (‘in all [redeemed] people’) plural. The first would be a pantheistic statement, something Paul would not make. Surely then it is the latter and Paul is emphasizing that Christ now indwells His people through His Spirit (John 14:16-18). He has made His people His temple, both individually (1 Cor. 6:19) and corporately (1 Cor. 3:16). Elsewhere Paul speaks of God as the ‘Father of all who is over all and through all and in all [ἐν πᾶσιν]’ (Eph. 4:6). Now the fullness of God (Christ) has come to fill us full of Himself (Col. 2:9-10) and to be in us and to us and for us all that we should be. Indeed, our calling is to be ‘His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all [πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν]’ (Eph. 1:23)! This will not be fulfilled by straining effort to achieve such a standing. It is achieved by Christ as He indwells His people who in restful faith simply find Him to be their all in all. This cannot be restricted by any distinction found among mankind—be it cultural, racial, religious or social. ‘Christ is all and in all’!” (Colossians and Philemon for Pastors, pp.256-257)

[1] Robertson, Grammar, 657.

Which One is Right?

September 11, 2013 / admin

“The first to plead his case seems just, Until another comes and examines him.” (Proverbs 18:17)

“The first evidence always sounds like the only evidence until further investigation takes place. The two lines of this proverb form one continuous sentence. The context appears to be that of a court of law, yet the principle of the proverb applies far more widely. The law demanded that judges impartially hear both sides of a dispute (Deut. 1:16). This is also essential for a parent, counselor or pastor — anyone who deals with people. Listening before forming a fixed opinion is mandatory, if justice is to be done (Prov. 18:2, 13).

The difference between hasty judgement and the right judgment comes when one ‘examines’ that which seems so obvious. The verb means to search, investigate or to examine. It describes an intensive, searching probe for the truth.[i] In relationships, a ponderous question is often more useful than a quick answer.” (p.402, Proverbs: A Mentor Commentary)

[i]. Wolf, Herbert, ‘h~qar,’ Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), 1:318.

Light to Live By