Shining Lights - Sacrifice of Faith

Final Musings on Gospel Servanthood

Philippians 2:14-18

Working out your salvation entails cultivating by faith in Christ a life of Christ-like humility and maturity.   Such Christ-like humility and maturity will enable you to consider others to be more important than yourself so you can put their interests before your own.   This is what it means to have in you the mind of Christ.  This is the mark of genuine servanthood.  It is this Christ-like maturity that fosters real unity in the church and in our relationships as believers.  Working out your salvation entails cultivating the mind of Christ, the mindset of one who in love seeks to serve others for the sake of the Gospel and to the glory of God.  Now this not only will promote the unity of the church it will also strengthen and advance the witness of the church.

 

Not only are you to obey the Lord by cultivating the mind of Christ, you also are to obey the Lord in living out what having the mind of Christ means.  You are to obey the Lord in all things from this mindset and frame of heart.  Such Christ-like humility leads you to obey the Lord in all things without grumbling and complaining. 

Why is Paul concerned that you obey in all things without grumbling and complaining?  This is a concern because the spirit of true obedience is killed when we grumble and complain as we obey.  Paul has in mind the experience of the first generation of Israelites who were delivered from Egyptian bondage.  Here they were following the Lord who delivered them from bondage and was bringing them to freedom while murmuring and complaining at the first sign of inconvenience or trouble.  Such a carping spirit killed their faith and obedience.  You do not possess the mind of Christ when you grumble and complain.  This is contrary to the nature of Christ-like humility and maturity. 

The second reason that Paul is concerned about the matter of rendering obedience to the Lord with grumbling and complaining is the effect this has on your witness.  Grumbling and complaining is the language of the world – of the crooked and twisted generation.  Christ-like humility and maturity are demonstrated in speech that is gracious and filled with thanksgiving and praise to God.  The reason that Paul admonishes you not to grumble and complain is so that you might present a real overt contrast to the crooked and twisted generation that demonstrates their rebellion to God in speech marked by grumbling and complaining.

If you do all things without grumbling and complaining then in the eyes of the world you will be blameless and innocent.  You will be known as children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.  This is how Christ was seen by the generation to which he ministered.  Not all of them liked this about him.  Many hated him because of his humility and holiness.  Yet he offered a clear and overt contrast to his generation. 

To claim to be a follower of Christ at work, at your school, in your neighborhood or among your peers, yet complain and grumble about perceived hardships, setbacks, mistreatment by others or even inclement weather discredits your claim.  It is as you demonstrate Christ-like humility and maturity in your speech and conversation that people will take note of the contrast and will see you as children of God without blemish.  This is further described in terms of you shining as lights in the world.  This is the substance of your witness.  You in your own life, manner, conduct and especially your speech offer a stark yet bright contrast in the midst of the crooked and twisted generation.  By doing this you are doing what Jesus taught when he said, “You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house”  (Matthew 5:14-15). 

It is only as you work out your salvation by cultivating the mind of Christ, which includes gracious and God-glorifying speech that you become blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish.  Of course in your person there is still much darkness and need for growth but here you are offering a clear contrast to the men and women of this world.  In this way your life, which includes your responses, attitudes, behavior and speech means that you shine like lights in the world.  Being blameless and innocent, children without blemish parallels shining as lights in the world. 

Now it is as you do this that you give support and credence to the message and promises of the word of life, which is the Gospel.  It is as you shine as lights in the world due to having the mind of Christ within you that exhibits speech that is gracious and God-honoring that your holding out the word of life becomes effective.   If you hold out the word of life without cultivating the mind of Christ including doing all things without grumbling and complaining then your life and speech discredit the Gospel. 

Working out your salvation therefore by cultivating genuine Christ-like humility and maturity enhances the unity and witness of the church.  Yet the service that you render as you seek to follow Jesus Christ in this way is also likened to a sacrifice of faith.  Paul saw the suffering and hardship he endured in order to present all believers as mature or complete in Christ to be a drink offering poured out on the sacrifice and service coming from their faith.  In this sense having the mind of Christ and imitating Christ in your behavior will mean that your life and work are to be seen as a sacrifice coming from your faith.  It is not meritorious because it comes from your faith in Christ. Nor is it dreary and morbid.  Rather Paul encourages you that as you pour out your life in ministering from the mind and heart of Jesus Christ then there is real and lasting joy to be found.  So Paul reminds you that working out your salvation by cultivating Christ-like humility and maturity is for the purpose of shining as lights and offering your life as a sacrifice of faith.  This is what it means to be a Christ-like servant of others for the glory of God. 

Work Out Your Own Salvation

"Work" by Photomath

Even More Musings on Gospel Servanthood

Philippians 2:12-13

The main emphasis in this section of Philippians 2:1-18 is found in verses 3 and 4.  Here is a call to humility.  It is a call to be obedient by becoming humble before God in your dealings with one another.  It is a call to self-denial.  It is a call to consider others to be more important than you are and therefore to put their interests before your own.  Now this is not something that we naturally want to do.  We also do not have the capacity to do this.  We resist and come up with all kinds of objections.   Paul knew this and therefore he gives us three powerful incentives that help us to obey in this matter.  Here are our resources to take up and put on the servant’s garments.  The first is the impact the gospel should be having on our hearts (verse 1).  The second is the great two-fold example of Christ’s humble self-denial and his subsequent exaltation.  The third incentive comes from the fact that God is working in you.  This should promote within your heart a sense of godly fear and awe so that you will soberly and with determination be sure that you are in faith obeying this call.

The first question that may come to mind is what does Paul mean when he says that you are to work out your salvation?  There are two points that must be stressed.  First this salvation is something that you already possess.  You cannot work out what you do not already have.  Second, you are to work out your salvation not work for your salvation.  Paul is not teaching that justification, reconciliation or adoption, which are necessary gifts of salvation that come from Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, are to be worked for or earned.    Nor can you work or earn the gift of the new birth that produces by the presence of the Holy Spirit saving faith in your heart so that you trust in Jesus Christ for your forgiveness and justification.   What he is saying is that when it comes to your maturity, growth, endurance in faith and sanctification you have a part to play. 

You work out your salvation as you in faith press toward obeying God.  You work out your salvation by putting on a heart of humility and seeking to serve others for their good.  You work out your salvation by being sure you cultivate your faith in Christ and obey him.  You are justified by faith in Christ alone but true faith never remains alone but expresses itself through love.  You are justified by faith alone but you mature in personal holiness (you are sanctified) by faith in Christ, which leads to obedience.   You are sanctified as you in faith work out your salvation.  

There is a connection then between humility and obedience here.  In fact Paul is calling you to be obedient by cultivating humility.  There can be no humility (and hence obedience) apart from maturing in Christ.  You have a relationship with Christ but are you maturing in that relationship?  

The manner or frame of heart by which you are to do this includes the following responses and motives.

1.      You are not to do this with a concern to please or impress other people.  This is especially the case with your leaders.  God gives you elders and teachers to help you grow and to whom you are to be accountable but you are not to obey only or simply when you are with them.  

2.      You are to seek to cultivate humility and obedience in working out your salvation with fear and trembling because God is working in you.   Fear and trembling are not due to craven fear of condemnation but a holy love for the august majesty and glory of God.  If you have such fear due to you knowing that God is actually working in your life then this is a strong incentive to a life of humble self-denial and obedience as a servant for Jesus’ sake.

3.      You are to work out your salvation knowing that God is working in you to give you two gifts.  He works in you so that you have the desire and inclination to obey him and he works in you so that you have the ability to obey him.  Both are necessary if you are to work out your salvation.  You would not be able to work out your salvation if he were not working in you to will and to do!

4.      Finally, you are to work out your salvation with the heart’s desire to honor and promote the pleasure of God.  God works in you for his good pleasure.  He takes pleasure in the process of this work and it its final completion.  You are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works and as such you are called to work under him and for his pleasure.

Your personal maturity in Christ is cultivated as you work out your own salvation.  This produces in your heart a growing humility toward others and before God.  This leads to greater unity in your relationships and in the church and with this a more significant impact on the world in which we find ourselves as a colony of heaven’s citizens.  Pray that the Lord will speak to your heart and encourage you to pour everything that you can into doing your part in working out your own salvation, which is seen in the lifestyle of a humble and loving servant of the Gospel.

Sharing in the Exalted Glory of Christ

The Cross Exalted by Lawrence OP

Still More Musings on Gospel Servanthood

Philippians 2:9-11

As we continue our journey into what it really means to be a servant to one another for Christ’s sake we have seen that there are tremendous incentives and glorious reasons to obey the call to consider others to be more important than you are.  There is not a command or call of God that you are able to do without the Gospel of God’s grace working within your heart.  There are no easy commands!   Each one requires God’s grace to do.  In fact all of Christ’s commands center on the issue of genuine love.  We are to love God and to love our brothers and sisters in Christ and even to love our enemies.  If you love then you are serving.  You are serving with the right motivation of heart. 

We object to serve and hesitate to show concern for one another (and especially for those difficult people) because we know that it will cost us something.  We will risk being hurt, rejected, shunned or at least not appreciated and thanked.  It also requires humility to serve this way.  Paul says, “in humility consider others to be more important than yourself.”  This call to serve exposes how self-centered we naturally are.  We are not more inclined toward genuine humility than we are to genuine servant love. 

It is for this reason that Paul reminds us and points us to the incentives of grace.  In verse one he reminds us of the impact that the Gospel should have on our hearts – our outlook and yes even on our affections and emotions.  In verses 5-11 he points us to the example of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This example has two parts to it.  First we see the self-denial and willing humility and obedience of the Son of God given for our sakes.  In his coming, taking on human nature as a servant and his death on the cross he was putting our interests before his own.   How can we who have personally benefited from his sacrificial service refuse to serve one another?   He, who was and is infinitely superior to us in every way, nevertheless considered us to be more important than himself.   It is inconsistent for us who say we trust in Christ and his cross work to object and refuse to follow in our Master’s steps here. 

Now we look at the second part to Christ’s example for us.  It is the reality of his glorious exaltation. Here, as we see, is contained the truth that we find expressed in Romans 8:17 where Paul says that you are heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ, provided that you suffer with him in order that you may also be glorified with him.   As Sinclair Ferguson says “only what goes down will go up.”  The path to glory is the same one traveled by our Lord Jesus.  The cross comes before the crown but here is the promise to you who take up the servant’s towel – the crown will come!    What goes down will go up because God the Father will see to it.  So we need to look to the reality of Christ’s exaltation as what we have to look forward to and find the hope to endure the hard, painful and lonely path of the servant.  Here we find reason to hope.  We need to believe that the path of humility if walked with faith in Christ and love for him is the safest of all paths to walk because it is the only one that leads to glory.  

 So we find two realities here.  First if we are to share in his glory we must be willing to share in his suffering.  This also means that being glorified together with him is where we are to set our gaze.  Second, that God’s way is that humility precedes glory. Yet for the humble of heart and mind glory is a certainty.  Only what goes down will go up!  So what about you?  Does the fact that Christ’s suffering led to his glory and ultimate relief and that it is presented to you in this text as a pattern of what you may expect from the Father encourage you to endure in serving others?  If this doesn’t what will!

Having the Mind of Christ

More Musings on Gospel Servanthood

Philippians 2:5-8

Before you can really follow the example of Jesus Christ as a model for your life and relationships you must first have a saving relationship with him.  I was once talking with a member of the Hari Krishna sect who told me that he was a Christian too because he sought to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.  I tried to point out to him that he had the cart before the horse.  He first needed to truly bow in faith before the Lord Jesus Christ and personally trust in Him as savior by looking to what he did on the cross for sinners.  He responded that all he needed to do to be both a Hari Krishna and a Christian is to follow Jesus as his example and that is what he was doing.   You cannot follow Jesus’ example in anything that he taught or did if you do not know him as your savior and Lord.  

However, if you do know him as your Savior and Lord then you must look to his example.   In fact what Paul is calling you to do in Philippians 2:2-4 is to walk in Jesus’ footsteps.  Before he brings you there he first reminds you of the Gospel.  This is what was stressed in the previous post on Philippians 2:1-4.  It is the impact that the Gospel should have on your heart and life, which is the first incentive to put off the garments of pride, self-importance and self-interest and take up the servant’s robe and towel of humility and obedience.  It takes real humility of heart and mind to consider others to be more important than you are.  It takes grace to put their interests before your own.  It takes obedience to do this because it is after all what you as a follower of Jesus Christ are called by him to do.

The second incentive that motivates you to be a servant to others is the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.  His example entails two realities that can really help you to overcome your objections to serve others and your fear in doing so – in taking the risk that serving others brings.  The first is the example of Jesus’ great humility and obedience.  The second is the example of his great deliverance and exaltation.   We will look at the first in this post. 

Paul says to us that we are to have the same mind as Christ.  This means that we are to continue to have the mind or frame of heart that Jesus had.   What he is referring to his the willingness of the pre-incarnate Son of God to deny himself and for our good become a human being for the purpose of being a servant and offering his life on the cross as the ultimate and sufficient atoning sacrifice for our sins.   We are to value the way the Son of God placed the interests of his people before his own.   He in essence did for us what Paul is calling us to do for one another in verses 2-4.

First he really considered or counted us to be more important than himself.  This is astounding.  Here the infinitely worthy and glorious Son of God who is inherently pure, holy and good and who shares in all the attributes of God considered those for whom he died to be more important than himself.  Who can fathom this!  On one level we certainly are not more important than the Son.  This is also true in terms of those we are often called to serve.  We are called to humble ourselves like Christ and in fact to consider others more important than ourselves.  Where this should take us is in putting the interests of others before our own.

This is indeed what Jesus did by humbling himself he put your interests before his own.  This is what Paul means when he says, “He who is in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but emptied himself taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men.”  This does not mean that by virtue of his incarnation he ceased to be fully God or that he emptied himself of some of his divine attributes or glory.  His incarnation was not a subtraction but an addition.  The glorious person of the Son of God who possesses all the nature of God took on a new nature – a human nature.  In doing so he denied himself.  The phrase “he emptied himself” is a metaphor describing his self-denial.  He denied himself his rights and divine prerogatives.   He considered you to be more important that himself and placed your interests before his own.  His human nature was the servant’s garment that he wore to accomplish our salvation.  He possessed a servant’s attributes of humility and obedience.  This frame of mind took him to the shameless death on the cross. 

Now the point should be obvious.   If this is what your Lord and Savior did for you then how can you in faith and with a clear conscience object to doing this for one another?  He is inherently superior to you as the glorious Son of God and yet he considered you to be more important than himself.  He did not hold onto his divine rights but put them aside and humbled himself placing your interests before his own.  This was the frame of mind that he possessed which led him to the cross for you.  So, how can you who have benefited from his great self-sacrifice refuse to serve those who are equal to you as fellow human beings and fellow believers?    

Here is further perspective from Charles Spurgeon.

Jesus is the great teacher of lowliness of heart. We need daily to learn of Him. See the Master taking a towel and washing His disciples' feet! Follower of Christ, wilt thou not humble thyself? See Him as the Servant of servants, and surely thou canst not be proud! Is not this sentence the compendium of His biography, "He humbled Himself"? Was He not on earth always stripping off first one robe of honour and then another, till, naked, He was fastened to the cross, and there did He not empty out His inmost self, pouring out His life-blood, giving up for all of us, till they laid Him penniless in a borrowed grave? How low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud? Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed; see the thorn-crown; mark His scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see hands and feet given up to the rough iron, and His whole self to mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes of inward grief, showing themselves in His outward frame; hear the thrilling shriek, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it: if you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus, you do not know Him. You were so lost that nothing could save you but the sacrifice of God's only begotten. Think of that, and as Jesus stooped for you, bow yourself in lowliness at His feet. A sense of Christ's amazing love to us has a greater tendency to humble us than even a consciousness of our own guilt. May the Lord bring us in contemplation to Calvary, then our position will no longer be that of the pompous man of pride, but we shall take the humble place of one who loves much because much has been forgiven him. Pride cannot live beneath the cross. Let us sit there and learn our lesson, and then rise and carry it into practice. 

Having the mind of Christ simply means that we like him consider others more important than ourselves and thereby put there interests before our own.   The pressure we feel against doing this is simply, "who will take care of our interests?"  For the Lord Jesus the answer was his Father.  For us the answer is that God in Christ has already done this for us in the Gospel.  Christ shepherds his sheep and through him we have the Father's love and the Spirit's fellowship.  The second incentive to take the basin and the towel of the Gospel servant is found in the fact that Christ had this very frame of heart and mind toward us when he became incarnate.  His willing humility for the sake of sacrifice remains a huge motivation to Gospel servanthood for the Gospel saturated heart! 

The Gospel's Impact on Your Heart for the Servant's Life

Musings on Gospel Servanthood

Philippians 2:1-4

The New Testament describes your status as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ in several ways.  Through faith in Jesus Christ you have received the grace of adoption as a firstborn son of God (Galatians 3:26-4:5).   You are also a citizen of God’s kingdom.  You are part of the kingdom of priests (1 Peter 2:9 and Philippians 3:20).  You are also under the rule of God.  You are no longer a slave to sin because you have been set free and are now a slave to God (Romans 6:1-10).  Closely connected with this reality you are also to see yourself as called to be a servant of other believers for the sake of Christ.  This is what Paul is teaching in Philippians 2:2-4.   He is telling you that you are to see yourself as a servant of other believers.   As we really seek to put this into practice in our relationships we will be working toward cultivating unity.  

Yet being a servant is hard.  To really consider others to be more important than you are is not natural.  To look not only to your own interests but also to the interest of others is contrary to our latent self-centeredness.  There is also a great deal of risk involved in doing this.  If you take this to heart and really view others as more important – as VIP’s – and you put their interests before your own who is going to look out for your interests?   Being a servant is a menial, hard and thankless vocation.  It is lowly work.  This is why you are told to put off selfish ambition and vain conceit and put on a humble mind – a humble view of yourself.  It requires humility to be a servant of others.  In fact the only way you are to view other people is in terms of how you might serve them.  This is God’s way for our relationships, especially in our families and in the church.   It is as each of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ serve in this way that we will see godly unity in our relationships. 

Now there are three incentives that Paul gives us that should motivate us and enable us to obey this call to serve one another.   We will look at the first in this post and the others in following posts. The first incentive toward being a servant is the reality of the Gospel’s impact on your heart and life.  Has the Gospel impacted your life?  Is your outlook toward life (your circumstances, possessions and people) shaped by the realities of the Gospel?  Is your heart encouraged, filled with hope and strengthened by the fact that you are savingly united to the Lord Jesus Christ?  Does this fact have weight in your thinking?  The Gospel sets us free to be radical in our thinking and in our relationships.  The Gospel gives us the power to take up the servant’s towel and really consider others to be more important than we are.  The Gospel changes our hearts and gives us the desire to really put the interests of others before our own. 

In Philippians 2:1 Paul points you to the impact that the Gospel should be having on your life.  He does this to show you how deep and abundant your resources really are.  You are indeed richly blessed in Christ and this fact should impact your view of your situation.  Paul describes this impact and effect the Gospel should be having on your life by calling your attention to the following realities.  He uses an “if” “then” argument.  It goes like this.

“If you have any encouragement from being united to Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any partnership with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion…then take up the servant’s towel and view one another as VIP’s, whom you are called to serve.”

The Christian life is a call to really love other people, yet you do this not from a hole in the ground but from a mountaintop of grace.  The sad truth is that for many who profess faith in Jesus Christ the thought of really doing what Paul describes here is just plain scary or at least inconvenient.   We hold our life more precious than the Gospel, our time more precious than the Gospel, our property more precious than the Gospel, our dignity more precious than the Gospel, our money more precious than the Gospel.  This leaves us with all kinds of excuses and objections against really serving others with selfless love.   Paul knew this about us.  He knew that we would naturally object to his appeal, so he calls our attention to the riches of the Gospel and the impact those riches should be having on our hearts.   

He first reminds us of our union with the risen Christ.  Our relationship with Jesus should give us tremendous encouragement to overcome the hardships and difficulties of being a servant.  He then reminds us of Christ’s love for us – a love that is shared by God the Father.  The love of Christ should bring great comfort into our hearts to heal the hurts and wounds that serving others can and do cause.  He further reminds us of the fact that we are in partnership with the Holy Spirit.  We have fellowship with the Spirit and this means that we are not alone in serving others.  Serving others can be a lonely and risky business.  Yet because of the Gospel we have a unique partnership with the Holy Spirit, who helps us serve.  Finally, he reminds us that there should be within our hearts true tenderness of feeling and genuine compassion for the cares and grief of others.  This tenderness and compassion is there due to the fact that it is the tenderness and compassion of God that moved him to love us in our sin and send his Son to serve us and hence save us.  It is in the Gospel that we meet the tenderness and compassion of God.  This fact transforms us and will not leave us unmoved by the burdens and troubles of others.  You cannot really believe the Gospel and remain hardened toward the problems of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

This is the first of three incentives that should motivate you to obey the call to serve others.  The Gospel’s impact on your heart and mind should be a reality to you even now.  Its implications are very practical.  It is meant not only to bring you to glory but move you toward others in selfless love and joyful service.  Well, is it? 

Effectual "Mountain Moving" Prayer

Rocciamalone by Roby Ferrari

Musings on Mark 11:20-25

Jesus teaches that as his followers you through prayer in a similar way will be able to realize the effectual power of God in your lives and in your service for his kingdom.  We can be as effective in our prayers as Jesus was in cursing the fig tree.  He promises us that as we meet these two conditions of faith and forgiveness we too can know the power of God in, over, around and through our lives. 

This is what He means when in response to Peter He says – “Truly I say to you that whoever should say to this mountain ‘be lifted up and be thrown into the sea’, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will come to pass it will be done for him.  Therefore I say to you whatever you ask in prayer believe that you have received it and it will be yours.”

Jesus is teaching in metaphor and we must not take his words literally.  Praying that a mountain would be lifted up and cast into the sea is a figure of speech for difficulties that exceed our strength and ability to meet. 

I would argue that we are to understand the mountain analogy as not just representing the troubles and challenges that inconvenience or even threaten our lives and welfare.  Rather these mountains are anything that would impede us from following Jesus as his obedient disciples.  They are not physical objects per se but the difficulties, trails, and temptations we face that would overwhelm us and negatively impact our walk as Christians. 

I. The first condition for “effectual mountain moving prayer” is faith in God.    

Jesus commands us to have faith in God.  Faith in God is not just bare confidence in God or the certainty that God will do for you whatever you want or fancy.  Faith in God entails knowledge of God.  Faith in God entails a growing communion and intimacy with God. 

How well do you really know God – the Triune God?  How familiar are you with God.  Knowing God entails knowing his character and will as both are revealed to us in the Scriptures. 

I would say that this is the mountain that most of us need to wrestle in prayer with God to cast from us – unfamiliarity with God in a deep and intimate sense.  It was for just such “knowledge” that Paul prays for his readers.

I have not stopped making mention of you in my prayers – I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, might give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him; having the eyes of your heart illumined so that you might know what is the hope of his calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and his overflowing great power for us who believe according to the working of the might of his strength.  Ephesians 1:16-19

This is where we need to begin to pray – for this kind of intimacy so that we will be so much in touch with God that we will know better what to pray for and will have increasing confidence that since our prayer comports with God’s will then we already have what we have asked him for. 

This is reflected in Paul’s prayer for the Colossians where he asks “that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in your knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy.” Colossians 1:9-11

What kind of impact would such intimate experiential knowledge of God have on your confidence in God?  Such knowledge would mean that you would know God in such a way that your perspective would be shaped by his character.  You would have deeper insight into his ways; so that you would have a better sense of how to pray when you face those mountains. 

Prayer is more than a shopping list because true prayer enters into the very heart of God.  Prayer entails humble cooperation with the purposes of God in the world. Prayer enables us to see God’s purposes more clearly and so enables us to pray “mountain moving prayers” because we really are connecting with the mind of God – the eyes of our hearts are becoming opened.  

II. The second condition we must realize if we are to experience ‘mountain moving prayer” is forgiving those who have sinned against us. 

Alan Cole wrote: “We have no inherent right to be heard by God, all is His grace and undeserved favor. But unless we forgive our fellows freely, it shows that we have no consciousness of the grace that we ourselves have received and need, and so it shows that we are expecting to be heard on our own merits, which we cannot.”

To embrace the gospel of free forgiveness and acceptance with God means that we recognize our huge need for forgiveness and that we have no basis in ourselves to stand before God.  This opens grace to us and becomes and operative perspective in our dealings with others.

We cannot expect God to answer our prayers if we do not forgive those who have sinned against us.  Such unwillingness shows that we fail to see our need for forgiveness.  We fail to see our transgressions against God to be more severe that anyone's transgressions against us. 

Donald English writes: The culture of prayer is the forgiving spirit.  Since God’s forgiveness of us is the essential ground over which we approach him in prayer, a lack of a forgiving spirit on our part destroys the atmosphere in which prayer is offered and answered.”

So it behooves us to truly forgive those who have offended us and sinned against us.  Lack of forgiveness gravely impacts our communion with our Father.  We cannot expect answers to prayer if we are unwilling to forgive others since the whole basis of our approach to and relationship with God is His gracious forgiveness of us through the offering up of his Son as the sacrifice of atonement for our sins.

We can only meet these conditions by God’s grace.  If we find ourselves failing in these two areas the solution is not despair but a turning to God in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.  God alone can give us faith and the humble capacity to forgive others.  Yet we must have faith in God and forgiveness toward others if we are to pray effectually and find his power to face the mountains that stand in the way of our following Christ’ faithfully and serving him obediently for his honor and glory. 

To Live Is Christ and To Die Is Gain

Calm Waters II by Rob Surreal

Musings on Philippians 1:21-26

This is an amazing and convicting claim.  Is it true of you?  Does life for you mean Christ and is the prospect of death seen as gain?   Again we need to be reminded that these words are Apostolic.  We are not only to follow the particular instructions or commands that we read in the New Testament, we are also to pay careful attention to the personal examples that the Holy Spirit saw fit to include in its pages.  This is indeed Paul’s testimony, yet we are at least to make it our aim that it becomes our testimony too. 

This affirmation rises out of the previous statement that Paul made in verse 20.  “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”   He says that he is being pressed between two prospects or choices (not that these were really his to make or to bring about).  He was being pressed between what was good and what was better by far.  It was good that he be released from prison to return to his ministry.  This would mean fruitful labor for him in the Lord.  He could once again return to the Philippians to aid in the progress and joy in the faith.   This would give them more opportunity to glory in Christ Jesus through the ministry that he would have among them.   This was indeed good.  Yet, there was something that was far better.  He is pressed (“hard pressed”) between the good and the better.  What could be better than continuing in this life to live from and for Christ?  “It is better by far,” he says, “to depart and be with Christ.” 

The major focus in the passage is on how death for the believer is gain.  Yet we do not want to overlook the other claim.  “For me to live is Christ.”   In fact death is only gain for those who in this age find Christ to be their life.  Death is in no way gain for those who have no relationship with Christ by faith.  In fact death for the unbeliever is permanent and irredeemable loss.  The writer of Hebrews says, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).  The Scriptures teach that death is the result of sin.  “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  Jesus Christ has conquered death through his resurrection and only as we are united to him by faith will he not only be with us in death but will bring us through death.  This is so because Jesus also paid the penalty for sin and only by faith in him are our sins forgiven and are we reconciled to God and have hope of eternal life.

So in what way is death for the believer gain? 

1.      It may be gain for the cause of Christ.  Paul desires that Christ be magnified in his body whether by life or by death.  When believers live for Christ and suffer Christ is magnified.  When their suffering leads to martyrdom Christ is magnified.  So Paul saw the prospect of dying for Christ to be gain for the cause of Jesus Christ.  In this way Christ would be magnified in his body by death.

2.      Yet Paul was also thinking in personal terms.  He is hard pressed between two prospects.  For him death, which is to depart and be with Christ, would be gain.  He is speaking as a seasoned soldier of the Cross.  He is battle worn and weary.  Death is gain for the believer in that he is evacuated from the fight for faith.  Paul spoke of this when he wrote his final letter.  He is back in Rome and in prison but he knows that his outcome will be different.  He will die there.  He writes to Timothy, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure (same word used in Philippians 1:23) has come.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”   The struggle is now over and season of rest and waiting begins.  Martin Luther pointed out numerous times that for the believer death is gain “in that the pilgrimage is ended, the process of sanctification is completed, the struggle to do right is over.”  (quoted from Freeman Barton’s book “Heaven, Hell and Hades,” page 78).

3.      It is gain because the believer is with Christ.  Believers are those who die in the Lord and who rest form their labors (Revelation 14:13).  Death is not able to separate you from Christ.  You are at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-9).  Those who die in Christ have fallen asleep in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20, 51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). 

Now for these reasons death for the believer is indeed gain.  Death is gain but it is not yet full and complete glory.  The Bible’s picture of the nature of physical death is really opaque and not as clear as many think it is.  Another problem that occurs is that many confuse the Bible’s description of the state of eternal glory, when we will be raised with glorious resurrection bodies, with what occurs at physical death.  Now while Paul saw death as gain, he makes it clear in other places that it is not glory (2 Corinthians 5:1-10) and that it is not our ultimate hope or source of comfort.  In fact when the Scriptures speak of what our true hope is in the face of death they speak of the resurrection at the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).  What we need to understand from this text is that Christ is central for you and it is because of his centrality that you can live differently in this life and face death knowing that he will take you through death to eventual glory and resurrection.  We can think of it this way.  To live in this age with faith in Jesus Christ and to seek to promote his kingdom is good.  It is good even when it is hard and pressing.  It is good even when in faith we hold fast to Jesus and he holds fast to us, yet we endure affliction and trial.  It is good to know and live for Christ and endure the consequences of what a vital faith means in this fallen world that hates Christ, than not to know Christ and enjoy all the benefits and accolades of the world.  

Yet it is better to see this pilgrimage end and end well, like Paul could say has his death approached, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”   It is better to lay the armor down and take up the white robe and fall asleep in Jesus’ arms. (Revelation 6:11).  It is better.  Yet it is not the best!  There is more to come.  Your redemption will not reach its final and complete goal until your resurrection from death occurs and with this the curse is ended and a new heavens and new earth appear.  This is what is best.  This is our grand and glorious destiny.  This is our ultimate hope.   (Revelation 21 and 1 Corinthians 15 see also Job 14:10-15). 

To live is Christ and to die gain means that knowing Christ is the path through the obstacles of this fallen world.  Christ who is the believer’s life is the one who will also bring you safely through death to the dawning of that eternal day.  Faith in Christ for this life and hope in Christ for the life to come carry the saint and are his both our joy and stability.  So is it true for you?  Can you say “for me to live is Christ and to die gain?”  Ask the Lord to help you at least want this to be true and functional in your life.

The Holy Spirit and the Believer's Sonship

White Dove by Today is a Good Day

Heard Any Good News Lately?

The good news of God's grace is that through faith in Jesus Christ you are reconciled to God.  What does this really mean?  How relevant does this fact seem to you?  Is it something that fills your mind and heart daily?  Are you comforted by the good news of reconciliation?  Does it lift your spirits and motivate you to obedience when you otherwise feel apathetic and listless?  It is hard for us to really believe this good news.  That is why we need to hear it over and over and over again.  To be reconciled to God means that your are no longer condemned but are accepted by Him, as His child.  Let me put it another way.  God looks at you and says: "you are my dearly loved child and I am well pleased with you."  Or God says, "I am your Father and you are acceptable to me."

I may be stepping out on a limb but it seems to me that we can be that bold in proclaiming God's favor to us.  In fact I find a parallel between the statements Paul and John make in their letters concerning our being God's children or sons and what occurred when Jesus was baptized by John.  Remember John was hesitant to baptize Jesus.   He knew that Jesus was the Messiah and as such should be the one that baptized him.  Jesus' response to John's objection is interesting.  "But John tried to deter him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?' Jesus replied, 'Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.'  Then John consented."  Jesus had to identify with us and in so doing fulfill all righteousness.  In other words Jesus came to obey His Father.  He was righteous by virtue of His Deity, but as a man he had to "learn obedience through what he suffered” and fulfill all righteousness.  It is on the basis of who He inherently is and the righteousness he actually fulfilled that He was given the mark and seal of approval, the Holy Spirit.  "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.  At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him."

It is the same Holy Spirit who the Father gives to you.  As the Spirit marked the reality of the special relationship between God the Father and His unique eternal Son, so the Holy Spirit marks and affirms your adoption as God's child.  "Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father'" (Galatians 4:6).  "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (Romans 8:16).

Your righteousness before God is real but it is not something you accomplished.  The good news is that the righteousness which Jesus accomplished that was pleasing to God is now yours.  You too are his beloved child in whom (through the merits of Jesus) He is well pleased.  When similar words were uttered from heaven they confirmed the relationship that Jesus as the unique mediator had with His Father.  In a sense they were words of justification.  God the Father was proclaiming the truth that Jesus was His righteous Son.  The good news means that the gift of the Holy Spirit that marked Jesus as the Son (this is my beloved Son) and the declaration of God's complete acceptance of Him (in whom I am well pleased) are also yours. 

This should cause you to sing and rejoice with great delight.  Again it needs to be believed.  You are a son of God, dearly loved.  Do you hear this as good news?  Is it relevant to you?  Think and consider what this means.  He is your Father.  He cares for your.  You are not an orphan who is all alone.  You don't face your problems by yourself.  Call out to Him, Abba, Father!  Pour out your soul to Him.  He hears you and has great compassion.  Jesus, your elder brother and great High Priest, encourages you to go to the Father.  You are welcomed and God the Father delights in you as His child.  What good news this is! Father!

The Precious Intercession of the Holy Spirit



by Kyle Reed

John Owen in his treatise on the Trinity speaks of how believers may have intimate communion with the persons of the Godhead.   I have often pondered this and have appreciate his insights.  Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit's intercession for the believer "with groanings too deep for words"  Romans 8:26.  During one of my dark nights of the soul, when I felt I was drowning in the overwhelming flood of my sin, I wrote this prayer to the Holy Spirit who not only affirms our being sons of the Father but leads us to life as sons and this means he aids us in our fight against indwelling sin as he affirms the glory of the Gospel in our beleaguered and weary hearts.  

 

 

 

Pray for me O’ Holy Spirit.

I am weary of my sin.

Yet, its lure is so attractive

That I am very torn within

Pulled by sin’s magnet promise

Held by its deceptive power.

Pray for me O’ Holy Spirit,

In this long and wayward hour.

Pray for me O’ Holy Spirit

You who look upon Christ’s face.

Open more my heart to savor

The greater promises of grace.

Pray for me O’ Holy Spirit

In groans that words cannot express.

Hold me near to my dear Savior.

Press his grace into my breast.

Pray for me O’ Holy Spirit

You who share full Deity

With the Son and with the Father

From and to all eternity.

Pray for me O’ Holy Spirit

The power of sin is breaking fast.

Yet I dare not trust this moment

But look to Christ, whose grace alone lasts

Pray for me O’ Holy Spirit

Give me holy fire within

And the obedience of faith,

Which alone breaks the power of sin.

Father fill me now with Your Spirit

And pull me from self’s mire

Grant me a contrite and willing spirit

So I’ll submit to the Ardent Fire!

An amazing Gap In The Hymn Amazing Grace???

Who am I to be even suggesting that this beloved hymn by John Newton is lacking or deficient in any way.  I must be nuts!  Don't get me wrong everything that these lyrics proclaim is true and indeed wonderful.  God's grace reflected in Newton's words is indeed amazing and the lyrics themselves capture this.  Yet I have been mildly bothered by what is not said or what appears to me to be missing.  I don't think it is a minor matter either.  Of course all that is said is Biblical but more can be and I think must be said to really capture why God's grace is so amazing.  So what is missing?  The work of Christ is missing.  The subjective work of God's grace is captured that enables us to spiritually see, the preserving grace of God is captured that keeps us and the wonder of this grace that will be our eternal song is captured too.  Yet not a stanza about the work of Christ. 

I am not sure why Newton did not include at least a stanza about the gracious, objective finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ in this great hymn (and it is a great hymn).  For the work of Christ is the very cornerstone of God's Amazing Grace.  Now by Christ's work I mean both his active and passive obedience.  Paul writes of Christ's active obedience when he contrasts Christ's obedience that secured the believer's justification and Adam's disobedience which brought upon the condemnation of the entire human race.  This aspect of Christ's work is based entirely upon grace or what Paul calls God's free gift:  "But the free gift is not like the trespass.  For if many died through the one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for the many...For as by one man's disobedience the many were made (constituted) sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many were made (constituted) righteous"  (Romans 5:15, 19).    Christ's redeeming work is described under the rubric of obedience.  Indeed he came not to do his will but the will of the one who sent him (John 6:38).  He came to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15).   Jesus unlike Adam obeyed God and secured the right standing of his people before God.  He obeyed the Law and secured a righteous life not for himself but for all who would come to believe on him.  He entered our world as an innocent babe but left as a perfectly virtuous man.  

Christ's saving work also includes his passive obedience.  He accomplished our redemption from sin by his once for all sacrifice that secured propitiation with God.  This was also by God's grace.  Paul again writes: "But now a righteousness from God has been manifested apart from the law...the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.  For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith"  (Romans 3:21-26).   Grace is the reason for a sinners justification and thus the reason for that work of Christ that secured justification from sins, which is his penal sacrificial death.  Grace is the source of Christ saving death whereby he died as the sinner's substitute and paid in full the penalty of our disobedience to God's law.  In doing this God's law is satisfied and his wrath removed.  What undeserved favor is this!  It is truly amazing. 

The late John Stott wrote in his commentary on Galatians about how the grace of God and the work of Christ are inextricably linked.  "The two foundation planks of the Christian religion are the grace of God and the death of Christ.  The Christian gospel is the gospel of the grace of God.  The Christian faith is faith in Christ crucified."  

I am sure John Newton knew this and believed it.  I am just not sure why he did not write a stanza about Christ's finished work.  Again, who am I to criticize an otherwise great and widely received and loved hymn?  What may appear even more cheek is my suggestion of an additional stanza for the hymn but since it is not under copyright and I don't think brother Newton would mind I humbly offer it.

Amazing Grace

John Newton
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

`Twas by Christ’s blood my sins were paid

Redemption full and free

The sacrifice that once was made

Was made by grace for me!

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.

The Need for Perseverance

Some musings on grace from Hebrews 3:1-4:11

God’s saving grace is sovereign grace.  God is free in giving his grace to those he chooses.  Yet his grace is also his power to overcome the effects of sin and rebellion that rise from our hearts and lead us always away from God and his glory.  Those who come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ do so because in his grace God called them to Christ and by the agency of the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel caused them to be born again so as to respond to that call by faith in Christ. 

Yet from our vantage point all we can determine is that a person who has heard the Gospel (maybe a person for whom we have been praying) is now definitely interested in Jesus Christ and confesses faith in Him as their savior and Lord.  We cannot see into that person’s heart and observe the operation of God’s grace.  All we can see are its effects or what seems to be the effect of a deeper work of grace in the heart of that person who is now responding. 

Yet whether or not this response to Christ is that of saving faith can only truly be made clear by the grace of persevering faith.  Those who God calls to Christ and grants by the Spirit life from above will indeed be kept by God to the end.   God’s keeping grace over the life of a true believer is worked out through a persevering faith coming out of the life of the believer.  God works to keep those who are in Christ by giving them His grace to work out their salvation with fear and trembling through persevering and enduring faith. 

So the New Testament is filled with texts that call the church, the people of God, professing believers and saints to be sure that they are vigilant and diligent in holding fast to the Gospel.  The Gospel that Christians believe is the promise not only of being reconciled to God now but of one day entering his presence with our senses and not merely by faith.  The Gospel is the promise that those who God has redeemed from the bondage of sin will enter his eternal rest in the new heavens and the new earth. 

The church’s place in redemptive history parallels that of the Children of Israel between the Exodus from Egyptian bondage and their entrance into the Promised Land.  In today’s Hebrews 3:1-4:11 the writer presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the true or new Moses.  As believers in Christ we have been brought out of slavery to sin by his once for all sacrifice.  He is now leading us through the present wilderness of this fallen age toward God’s promised rest.  Salvation therefore entails not only the initial rescue but also the hope of entering that promised rest and thus the need for perseverance for the journey.  Just like the Children of Israel, we will only truly enter that rest if we hold fast our confidence and the boasting of our hope, hold our original confidence to the end, strive to enter that rest, pay closer attention to what we have heard and hold fast our confession.  In other words we need to persevere. 

Hebrews 3:1-4:11 calls us to persevere and warns against not doing so.  Those warnings are issued by God’s grace to those of God’s house – the church, professing believers.  Here are the reasons that you need to persevere:

You need to persevere because you have not yet reached the promised rest.

You need to persevere because the journey to that promised rest is filled with challenges to your faith.  Faith needs to push back against the press that the journey presents to us.

You need to persevere because it is only through persevering faith that you will enter the promised rest.

You need to persevere because such perseverance is the truest evidence for the validity of your faith. 

Why was it that those who came out with Moses in the Exodus failed to reach the promised rest?  It was due to their unbelief and their disobedience.  They did not pay attention to what they heard, they did not listen to God’s voice, the message of the Gospel they heard but it was not truly believed.  They allowed an evil heart of unbelief to blind them and harden them so that rather than follow the living God from Egypt all the way to the promised rest they turned away from him.  They possessed only a temporary faith at best. They did not endure by faith.  

It wasn’t as though they had no experience with God’s grace and power.  They were beneficiaries of the miracles that redeemed them from slavery, yet their hearts were never truly changed.  They did not ever set their hearts on entering the promised rest.  They were too preoccupied with the struggles and trials on the way to set their hearts on where God was bringing them.  Rather than hold fast the means of grace God had given them of his presence, they kept their eyes only on their circumstances.  Rather than strive against their own sin, they strove against the Lord and thus never entered the promised rest.  This is why the writer here urges us:  “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” Hebrews 4:11.

Saving faith is a striving faith.  It strives against ingratitude.  It strives against idolatry.  It strives against immorality.  It strives against unbelief and indwelling sin.  It strives to enter that rest by cultivating endurance and this comes by looking always to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. 
 

It is clear that if we indeed believe we will also heed the calls to persevere and the warnings against failing to do so.  We will make sure that we do not have evil unbelieving hearts that are deceived by sin, which lead us to turn away from the living God.  We will welcome the exhortations to self-examination.  We will seek the aid of the Lord Jesus Christ our great High Priest and take in that powerful penetrating exposing word of God so that we will not be fooled or lulled into a presumptuous attitude about the Gospel and our hold on it.   We will take heed if we think we stand lest we fall.  Such heart and life vigilant stewardship is not contrary to assurance and confidence of God’s grace but rather is the fruit of such assurance and confidence.  

There is a sense in which those who truly possess saving faith will also fear while the promise of entering his rests still stands lest they should seem to fail to reach it (Hebrews 4:1).   This frame of heart is not contrary to the peace and encouragement that you can have in believing the Gospel.  Yet persevering faith is not only rooted in the Gospel’s exodus of justification.  It also keeps its eye on the Gospel’s promised rest of glorification and it is this future perspective of saving faith that aids you in the work of persevering faith as you follow Jesus Christ your redeemer and present guide.  Remember the Exodus, no matter how glorious, needs to be secured by entering into the promised rest of Canaan.  For this you need perseverance on the journey of the Christian life.  As you continue to look the Jesus he will give you what you need to persevere.  Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.  Hebrews 7:25