A lot of times people struggle over the details of Christianity.  At the core people usually just want an answer to the question – “How am I supposed to live, day by day, as a Christian”.  So for those of us who get lost in the “Christianese” language spoken by theological minds, today’s message of encouragement should be helpful.  Let me first give a plug to Peter, the apostle of Christ, part of Christ’s “inner circle” amongst the disciples, consisting of Peter, James, and John.   I love Peter because he speaks simply.  He’s easy to follow, and if you slow down to meditate on what is actually being said, he is actually quite theologically rich.  So whenever I get lost in some discussion over a nuanced question of theology, I like to remind myself of the following message from God to us found in 2 Peter:

 ³His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. ⁵For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I think it’s important to desire to know God deeply from His Word.  I believe that it is importation because our affections for God are only right and good in as much as they conform to what we know of Him in scripture.  Yet, the Bible is not the full revelation of God.  We are told in 1 Corinthians 13:12 – “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”   Just as God Himself is eternal, and neverending, what could be said and known of Him is infinite.  This should not discourage us, however.  What God wants us to see and have a peace about, is that everything that we need to know in this life has been given to us.  God has granted us Himself, as the Holy Spirit, to dwell in us and reveal Himself to us.  Likewise, in His Word, God has revealed enough of Himself for us to live in accordance with His will, in godliness.

So then, how are we to live as Christians?  Peter tells us how.  Your faith is the beginning.  As a believer, you trust that Christ came to reconcile you to God, and by His shed blood on the cross, he purchased for you grace, whereby you are a new creation of God.  On the cross, your sin was put on Christ, His righteousness has been credited to you, and you are now a new creation, holy as He is holy.    For many people, they take this for granted, but let me pause here to pose the question – Does your faith, extend to your own identity?  If your faith is merely in the accomplished work of Christ, but you do not personally trust that through Him, you are a new creation, set apart to reflect the glory of God, every other step from here on will only be works of legalism to you.  If for you, your faith is all head, and not heartfelt love for God rooted in your identity in Christ, prayerfully as God to grant you greater faith, to believe.

For believers, to our faith, we add virtue.  The same moral excellence we see in Christ, is the same virtues of selflessness, love, and righteousness that through faith we believe has been credited to us, and we now hold out as our own.  If you are someone who is at peace with a mindset that is apathetic towards sin, let me assure you – you are not struggling with a sin issue, you are struggling with a faith issue.  If you believe that Christ redeemed you on the cross, you are believing that He died for your sin, has made you a new creation, righteous, to be conformed into His image.  Now we should live in the righteousness and virtues of Christ that we claim belongs to us through our faith in the gospel.  What does your mindset look like?  Do you claim Christ as your own through faith?  Do you seek to see Christ’s righteousness and virtues manifested in your own life?

To our virtue we add knowledge.  God does not call us to be holy-thinkers, merely, but doers.  With applied virtue, comes knowledge.  We grow in our knowledge of God, and learn how best to act, through our earnest attempts to manifest the righteousness of God in our life.  It’s amazing to hear the stories of martyrs and those who have suffered for Christ physically.  Each one of them will tell a story that will be amazing to most of the world, but shouldn’t really surprise us as Christians – they would say of their suffering that if they could do it all again, they would, and even now there is a piece of them that wishes they were back where they were, suffering for Christ, loving those who cause them to suffer.  Why?  Because when they were suffering, they gained a knowledge of Christ, and saw the beauty of the cross, in piercing clarity, in a way they can only be gained through knowledge of actual circumstance.  How is your knowledge of God growing through applied righteousness and virtue?

To our knowledge we add self-control.  Living is more than just living out our righteousness.  We know that we live in a world that is at enmity with God, that we will be tempted with sin.  Some days God is as much glorified in what we do not do, as what we do.  Each of us will struggle as a believer, so how are we seeking to add self-control to our life?  What sin are you struggling with most?  How have you turned that over to God, and sought His strengthening?  Is their a greater level of self-control towards sin in your life today than there was 6 months ago?  What needs to change to help you grow?

To our self-control we add steadfastness.  Admittedly, one of my own struggles as I seemingly “have victory” over a sin, is that I tend to rest up a bit.  There is a measure of pride in considering a sin struggle “conquered”.  Going back to our faith, we know that we are dependent upon the grace of God in everything, thus we should consider all sin in our life to never be “conquered”, but rejoice that in Christ, we are able to live in godliness, and are putting to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit (Rom 8:13).  So then, our efforts at self control, by grace should continue, and even increase over time.  Is there a sin area that you have had a measure of success over for a while, that continually creeps back into your life?  What things contributed to your success originally?  Are you maintaining steadfast vigilance in those things?

To our steadfastness we add godliness.  Christ didn’t die so that we could conquer the sin of gossip, or pornography, or adultery, or any other sin.  God has fully redeemed us, and called us to fully reflect his divine nature.  We don’t merely have Christ’s righteousness in one area, but we have his righteousness fully, Christ Himself dwells in us as the Holy Spirit.  In the same manner then, we ought to continue to pursue a life, in keeping with the image of God we see in Jesus Christ.  When was the last time you looked at your life, and prayerfully sought God to expose sin in your heart/life, so that it would be put to death for His glory?  When was the last time you asked someone else to openly look into your life and see if there is any sinful way about you, that needs to be dealt with?  Do you have good accountability?  Does the idea of being vulnerable scare you?  The heart of a believer trusts that their righteousness is not based on their current sin struggles, but in the righteousness of Christ.  This again, is not a works issue, this is a faith in the gospel issue.  These are things that are meant to encourage someone towards godliness, for their joy.  Accountability is not a means (of the church) to beat someone up over their sin, but a means of grace – ordained by God for us to grow closer to Him.  I know each of us has a back story of a “Christian” that gossiped about your sin struggle, or did not encourage you as you struggled well.  It could be there was a misunderstanding, it could be that the other person is a sinner as well, or very likely it could be that the other person probably wasn’t a Christian themselves.  It really doesn’t matter – what I would say is that if being vulnerable before God and others is an ongoing issue for you today, then my question is – do you really believe the gospel?  Do you believe that you can’t earn God’s favor, but His righteousness must be granted to you first, before you can live it out?  Eagerly pursue those things that will draw you closer to God, no matter the awkwardness, no matter the risk, it’s fruit will far outweigh any temporary uncomfortableness.

To godliness we add brotherly affection.  There are no lone ranger Christians.  Look at how much ground we’ve covered already.  We know that this is a daily, ongoing battle, and God meant for us to be encouraged by other believers.  So as partakers of Christ, we should love those whom Christ loved, we should encourage one another, and earnestly seek to see each other grow closer to God.  God did not ransom individuals (despite popular Christian songs), God ransomed a people unto Himself.  Life is more than just what’s going on in your life, it is about God’s work at redeeming a bride – the body of believers called – the Church.  If someone looked at how you spent a week, would they be able to see how you love your Christian brothers and sisters?  Would they be able to see how you are earnestly desiring that they would grow closer to God?  How do you spend your time and money?  Is it only on yourself, or are there Kingdom building activities that you are actively supporting.  If this is a weak point for you, my encouragement is to ask yourself what you are passionate about, and find a ministry area you can support.  Then support it not just with money, but with your time.  Everyone should have 1 or 2 people at least that they are pouring the knowledge of God into weekly, and loving well, as they pursue God.

To brotherly affection we add love.  Do you know what love is?  Romans 5:8 tells us that Christ demonstrated his love for us in that He died for us while we were yet sinners.  Love isn’t “liking” someone and feeling good when you’re around them.  Love is dying to yourself, so that others would grow close to God.  Do you care more about what someone thinks about you, than about whether they grow closer to God?  That isn’t love, that’s selfish pride.  Are you willing to sacrifice financially so that your Christian brothers and sisters do not have any lack in their lives?  Are you willing to put down the remote, forget your plans, and spend time to encourage your Christian brothers and sisters?  This is the love with which God loved us, who although he despised the shame of the cross, endured it for the joy set before Him.  Part of that joy set before Him, as seeing the glory of God reflected in us who had been redeemed.  Shouldn’t we also have that same joy in us?  Our love for others, must be rooted in dying to ourselves, just as Christ did on the cross.  We should constantly love others, by putting their good ahead of our comfort.  If we do that, we will find ourselves constantly growing, and living life as Christians, within God’s will.

This is about as close to a formula for Christian living  as you can get.  My encouragement then, is to start at the beginning.  What are you doing to grow in your faith?  How are you growing in your knowledge of God from His Word, so that your faith could be strengthened?  I would spend at least half of my time and effort as a Christian on this first step, because it is foundational to everything else.  Then with my remaining time and effort, I would push through this list at some regular interval (weekly, monthly, quarterly), and ask yourself some tough questions.  Know that positionally, we are redeemed by God through the shed blood of Christ, yet God has given us a great calling – to be His ambassadors on earth in a ministry of reconciliation – extending the gospel to others.  This lesson is all about that, how we can have joy in being fruitful workers for God, and life in such a way that when we see Jesus Christ, face to face, we would have no regrets at lost opportunity.  Peter doesn’t care about your eschatology (end times theology), he doesn’t care about paedo/credo baptism (infant baptism or believers baptism), he doesn’t answer the question on the origin of evil, he encourages us to know that we know everything we need for life and godliness through Jesus Christ.  May we all have fruitful joyful ministries through Him.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

You know, I decided today to give some air time to one of the OT’s prophets.  These guys had thankless jobs, usually telling their country that God was about to destroy them for their sin.  Even now in church they are seldom read/spoken of, which is a shame because God has a lot to teach us from them.  The beauty of living in this day and age, on this side of the cross, is that we can look anywhere in the Bible, and find Jesus there.  Every Word of the Bible is an encouragement because it does two things:  It first gives us a picture of who God is for our joy, and secondly instructs us in how we should live, so that we may have peace amidst life’s struggles.  So today, we’re going to jump into the book of Zechariah, to see what God has for us there.

Zechariah 1:3 – “Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.”

Zechariah, a prophet of God, was calling Israel to repent of their sinning against the Lord.  You know often times I find that people who are unrepentantly sinning ultimately do come to a place of remorse, but seldom real repentance.  Alcoholics do not desire to deal with the consequences of their sin, so they “feel bad” and vow not to drink anymore.  Adulterers do not desire to deal with the consequences of their sin, so they “feel bad” and vow not to cheat on their wives or husbands again.  Gossips do not desire to deal with the consequences of their sin, so they “feel bad” and vow to try to do better.  What’s the problem with this?  Turning away from the physical manifestations of sin is not repentance.  God doesn’t care if you stop sinning on the outside, because He still sees what’s in your heart.

God passionately desires for true repentance of those who are far from Him and the difference is all about where you’re running to not where you’re running from.  True repentance involves a turning away from sin, and towards God.  The person who focuses on “stopping sinning”, is the same frustrated person that finds him/herself stumbling over the same sin, over and over and over again.  I see many of these people in church on Sunday, and I have been there myself.  They try their hardest and they come up short.  They come up short because despite their genuine efforts, they have no power to change their heart, only God does.  This is why God doesn’t call us merely to “stop sinning”, He calls us to Himself.

Zechariah 1:12-17 – “¹²Then the angel of the LORD said, ‘O LORD of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?’ ¹³And the LORD answeredgracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. ¹⁴So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. ¹⁵ And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. ¹⁶Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. ¹⁷Cry out again, Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.'”

Look at the character of God here – gracious, comforting, exceedingly jealous for His people, exceedingly angry with those who would harm His children.  He loves you.  God cannot approach us any other way than in grace.  You cannot reach Him with good behavior, He cannot look past your sin.  We have nothing to offer, God must show mercy on us.  God’s promise to us, is that we are the temple of God – His Holy Spirit dwells in us.  In Christ, we have been credited a perfect righteousness, and we overflow with joy, knowing that He has secured for us a neverending future hope.

Have you tried “appeasing God” in your life?  Is there something that you’re waiting on to change before you draw near to God?  Have you tried making promises to yourself about how you’re going to change, but wonder why you’re caught in a neverending cycle?  Repentance is not about behavior change, it is about heart change, and you cannot move the inclination of your heart one degree.

So my exhortation here is this – look at the framework spoken of in Zechariah for reconciliation with God.  We come to God empty handed like children every day.  Draw near to God in prayer, earnestly asking that He would be gracious to you, and change your heart’s desire for Him.  We do not call upon a God that is apathetic, but One who is gracious, loving, comforting, and desirous that we would know Him, and delight in His glory.  With a boldness of faith through Christ’s blood shed for you on the cross, ask and earnestly seek that God would draw you close to Himself, and know that the promise of God through Christ is that He will – to the uttermost.

Hebrews 7:25 – “he (Christ) is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Today I wanted to dig into what is a difficult subject for many people, including myself, which is understanding the implications of an Old Testament man, Melchizadek.  My hope in digging into this some is that you all will be encouraged and refreshed in your delight at what a great savior and salvation we have in our Great High Priest and King.

In Hebrews 7, God is explaining through the author the significance of a seemingly small part of the Old Testament.  Namely, Abraham is greeted by Melchizedek, King of Salem, and Abraham gives him 10% of everything he owns.  Now through Abraham’s descendants came the priestly line of Levites.  The Levites were guardians of the law of Moses, (Think of all the laws/regulations laid out in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Dueteronomy, and Numbers).  These Levites were accordingly in charge of taking the offerings from the people, making sacrifices to God on their behalf, and appealing to God on their behalf.  So what was the significance of Abraham’s meeting and submission/gift to Melchizadek?

Hebrews 7:2-3 – “He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. ³He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.”

This Melchizadek was meant to show two things.  One was that, there was a righteousness that surpassed the righteousness that could be found in adherance to the law of moses.  That is to say, that ones actions and personal “righteousness” alone could never merit their reconciliation to God; each person needed to be credited a righteousness that was not their own.  If the very father of the entire Levitical priesthood needed to submit to another, to have him appeal to God on his behalf, how much more in need are each of us?

Secondly, is that Melchizadek is a picture of Christ to us, as a king and priest that is continually interceding with God on our behalf.  Melchizadek’s very name meant righteousness.  He was the king of peace.  Likewise, our righteous savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, who is completely righteous, shed His blood and bore the wrath of God in our place.  It is because of His sacrifice, that by the faith given to us by God, we are credited with His righteousness.  Only through the righteousness of Christ imputed to us do we now have peace with God.  Further, even now He is at the right hand of God the Father, making appeal to Him on our behalf, that all those who have been blessed by God with Christ’s righteousness should never perish, but dwell eternally with Him.

With such a great hope as this, my encouragement today is to draw near to God.  Marvel at His ways, His beauty, and His love, which compels Him to intercede for us even now.  Rest in what a great savior, high priest, and king we have, and joyously proclaim in boldness His love and reconciliation to all.  I hope this finds each of you well.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Have you ever heard one of the street corner preachers, screaming that the end is near?  Now I don’t personally think this is the most effective approach, but I’ve always had a spot in my heart for these guys; at least they were out there proclaiming the truth (mostly).  After all, I myself, always like to joke about my last ditch evangelism approach – for the most stubborn of persons it includes dousing them with holy water, taking a 30 pound Gutenberg Bible and beating them over the head with it (a true Bible beater), and telling them to TURN or BURN!!!  Well, I probably will never do that (although I’m still holding it out as a possibility for a few select people….) but I haven’t really had a good fire and brimstone message… until today.  So here it is, my toast to the street corner preachers and bible wielding assaulters of the world.

The reality is, that the end is near.  How near, we do not know, only God knows (Matthew 24:36), but we are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 – “²For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Many people go about life, presuming upon the grace of God, saying that they will change their life later, they will be more dedicated to God later, they will be the husband or wife they should be later… these are the people that will be caught up in the judgment of God, when he comes.  These are the “many” that will cry out to the Lord on that day, professing his name, only to be silenced in horror when he says “begone from me, you workers of iniquity… I never knew you”.  What will that day look like?

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 – “⁵This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— ⁶since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, ⁷and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels ⁸ in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, ¹⁰ when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”

Isn’t it interesting how there isn’t a caveat after the claim that Christians will be suffering?  It isn’t, Christians in China will be suffering, or Christians in Afghanistan will be suffering – no, suffering is a mark of all Christians.  If you have gone 5-10 years as a Christian without any mocking, without any persecution at work, without any alienation from supposed friends, without any measure of personal lack due to giving for God’s Kingdom – you are not a Christian.  I can’t say this any clearer.  If you obey the gospel of Jesus, these things will come, because the world is at war with God.  Therefore, if you are at peace with the world in every way, what does that mean?  If you want to test yourself to see if your faith is real, as 2 Corinthians 13:5 calls you to do, ask yourself the question of how you are suffering for God’s Kingdom.

Now God’s righteousness on that day of judgment will include two things – wrath against those who have persecuted Christians, and relief from that affliction for believers.  God will make things right.  Jesus will not come at this time as a meek and lowly, suffering servant, but as a mighty conquering King, in flaming fire, unleashing judgment surrounded by an army of angels.  These will not be, the fluffy angels you see on TV, think about the biggest person you’ve ever met, times two, with unimaginable power, that cannot be defeated because God is with them, and those will be the angels surrounding Jesus.

What is the wrath of God?  It is eternal separation from Himself.  The irony is that God is giving people exactly what they professed to want.  If you don’t believe in God, and don’t trust on the Gospel of Jesus alone for reconciliation to Him, and live for yourself, Jesus will finally say – “ok, you can have exactly what you want.”  The result for that person will be a place of eternal torment – why?  Nothing is good, except God alone (Luke 18:19).  Everything that people have in their life currently that is good, will be removed.  There will be no friends, there will be no family, no good food… despite what books may claim – you will not be toasting your friends with a beer in hell.  There will be no sunrise, there will be no beauty of life, there will be no quiet peace, you will feel the weight of what it means to exist apart from God completely.  Days, will turn into years, will turn into centuries, will turn into eons, and pain and tears will be the only companion to those who rejected God.  This is what these people chose.  Despite the infinite patience of God towards them, despite making His purity and holiness known to them through creation, they rejected God, to pursue a life of their own choosing, and spat in the face of their Creator.  God is infinitely holy, and justice demands the offense against an infinitely holy God, be equally eternal and infinite.

Who is this wrath directed against?  Two groups – those who do not know God, and those who do not obey the Gospel of Jesus.  We know from Romans 1, that everything about God can be clearly seen through creation, so that no one can defend their judgment before God by saying “I never knew about you”.  The second group, however, is clearly a group that understood the gospel of Jesus, but did not obey it.  Isn’t that interesting?  God isn’t going to judge the belief of a person in the gospel, but rather their obedience to it?  That is because many people are deceived to believe a “decision” is going to save them.  It isn’t.  The only thing that will save a person on that day, is a heart that has been changed by God, that produces from authentic faith fruit in keeping with obedience.  This makes sense, if you love football, you will probably watch it when possible.  If you love God, then you will pursue those things which bring more of Him into your life, and tell others about Him.  On that day, people will not be saved by their works, but many will have their “belief” proven false due to their lack.

But for those who believed and obeyed the gospel of Jesus, what remains?  Infinite joy.  God’s judgment will remove all affliction those Christians have been enduring.  The full weight of the glory of God will be put upon those who have believed, so that for all eternity, we will marvel at the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  There will be nothing bad, no disease, no sin, no fear, only infinite, unending, ever-increasing joy in the presence of the glory of God.  Days, will turn into years, will turn into centuries, will turn into eons, and every heart will feel no lack, but only an overflowing fullness of joy in God.

People don’t speak about these things enough.  We need to awaken ourselves to this reality, and push forward in obedience to the Lord.  My hope in expounding this scripture is that no one would find themselves caught up in the wrath of God on that day, and to that end we should all struggle, for the Kingdom of God.  My encouragement amidst this scripture, is to refresh yourself with the gospel.  Fall on your knees in thankfulness to God, that although he is infinitely holy, he still loves and pursues the sinner, like me, and like you.  With thanksgiving in the grace of God through the blood of Jesus, break free from sin, and live hard for the glory of God and His Kingdom.  Grasp each day, as though it may be the last, because we know it will come without warning, like a thief in the night.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

I have a hard time understanding what people are talking about when they complain Christianity is boring.  Now, I definitely understand that a pastor can be boring from time to time, but nothing about Christianity from the Bible isn’t immensely controversial in our society today.  Further, if you are a new creation in Christ as a believer, every aspect of your life should be impacted by the gospel, and God’s Word to you.  So usually I must admit, when someone says that Christianity is boring, I usually assume they have no idea what it means to actually be a Christian.

God means for us to be actively involved in His work here on Earth.  We have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation.  2 Corinthians 5:17-19 – “¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

If you ever played sports, and you had a big game coming up, how did you prepare yourself?  Maybe you ate differently, you practiced more, you scouted out your oponnents, etc.  There definitely was a measure of resolve in yourself that you would push yourself to give everything you had.  That is exactly what God desires for us.

1 Peter 1:13-16 – “¹³Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

also Romans 12:1-2 – “¹I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Both 1 Peter and Romans give us instruction on how to prepare ourselves for daily battle – to renew our minds in the Word of God, and discipline our lives in obedience to His Word.  Does God promise us that this life will be easy if we prepare ourselves this way… no, he actually says this life will be very hard as a Christian.  No, the world, even today is littered with the blood of Christian martyrs, some of which were killed in Afghanistan trying to give medical service to villagers just this week.  This is why God follows by calling us to set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  God is saying, that this life will be hard, therefore we need to earnestly prepare ourselves, but also rest in knowing that the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus is a glory and joy that in an instant will infinitely surpass in worth, any hardships endured to that point.

So how are you preparing yourself for God’s call on your life?  Do you exert similar effort towards renewing your mind and disciplining your life as you do towards work, sports, etc?  My encouragement is to keep pressing hard into the Word of God and discipline your life out of joy knowing that God has uniquely gifted you for a great ministry of reconciliation through Christ.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  I wanted to take a look at the book of Jude because honestly, it’s one of those small hidden books in the Bible that generally doesn’t get much attention.  Also, I think it gives us a profound message and warning related to our belief and actions.  So strap in, Jude doesn’t pull punches, it’s going to be a good Monday morning gut check for us all.

Jude 5-8 – “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality andpursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.  Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.”

Without wanting to go down a theological tangent, or study on the Holiness of God, let me say this – Jesus’s death on the cross was sufficient to save everyone who would believe on Him, yet we know that not everyone is saved.  Christ’s holiness is so great that He absorbed the wrath of God for our sins, and rose again from the grave triumphant.  We know that God will unleash his wrath against those who do not believe on Him, because His holiness cannot be in the presence of sin.  We know that there are many who never profess to believe on Christ, and there are others who profess Christ, but their “belief” is false.

So what does unbelief or false belief look like?  It may look different from what you think.  Unbelief here in Jude is not characterized mentally, but in actions, such as indulging in sexual immorality, pursuing one’s dreams, rejecting authority.  Now most of us could easily see that indulging (not putting to death) sexual sin, would be a characteristic of someone not saved, but what about relying on one’s dreams and rejecting authority?  This kind of creates a problem with those of us in America right?  We were brought up to be “individuals” after all, to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and make our dreams come true.  Jude is saying that line of thought is insane.  Further, Jude is saying that those who want to be individuals, and reject God’s authority, and the authority God has placed over them via the body of believers that make up the Church, are not merely “sinning”, but giving evidence of unbelief in the gospel of Christ.  Jude is giving us a warning, that those who pursue their own will unrepentantly, instead of trusting God to lead them, even if they profess to believe, even if they are sitting in church on sunday, even if they are involved in ministry, don’t believe.  Essentially Jude is saying, there is only one throne in your heart, if you sit on it, you will be destroyed, if by grace God sits on it, you have an eternal treasure and hope in Christ.

My hope for us all is that we would be awakened to see there are not two thrones in your heart, but only one.  You cannot have your life your way and God’s, you must choose who will rule your life.  Having been thus awakened, be encouraged to know two things:  first, that Christ’s mercies are new each morning, whever you have been, Christ is ready to receive you if you turn to Him to have Him lead you, second, wherever Christ would lead you, He does so for your good, with the great love with which He loves us, which was shown gloriously on the cross.  Hope this reaches each of you well, know that you’re prayed for.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

The first gospel within the New Testament is the Gospel according to Matthew.  A quick history lesson about the time this man lived in, and his chosen profession would explain much of God’s love, and His ministry of reconciliation.  You see at this point of history, Israel was under Roman rule.  The Roman government would actually auction off to wealthy Romans the right to tax the various conquered people for a period of about 5 years at a time.  So it makes sense then that those Romans who purchased the right to tax those peoples would in turn try to exact the most taxes possible.  Obviously, these Romans could not themselves manage the task of tax collection from a whole people, so they would hire local persons, called publicans, to be tax collectors on their behalf.  So here you have a conquered people, under the rule of a foreign government, being taxed to extreme measures, by one of their own.  To make things even worse, often the publican would seek to enrich himself by taxing the people even more than his Roman employer required.  Now it makes sense that these people were the most hated persons around.  Their company often included theives, murderers, prostitutes and the like.  Literally they were considered a traitor.

So we come to Matthew.  Now Jesus only chose 12 persons in all of history and time to be unique as disciples.  These were the men that literally walked with God in the flesh, Jesus, for 3 years during His ministry.  Jesus, had obtained a high regard by those around Him as a wise and good teacher by the time that He came across Matthew.  Likely this was not a fact lost on Matthew.  Matthew had a choice when Jesus said to Him “follow me”.  Clearly, abandoning his post as a tax collector would cause him to forfeit his job, and any hope of being enriched in this life, after all, there weren’t a lot of people lining up to give publicans a back up job.  Each of us, if we take seriously the call of God through Jesus would see ourselves through Matthew.  In fact, looking outwardly by the world’s standards of happiness, no one would ever choose to follow God on their own.  It is only the grace of God that gives us eyes to see our need for Him, and His worth above anything the world could offer.  We know that Matthew did follow Christ, and the first thing He did was throw a party, and invite all his murderer, theive, publican, and prostitute friends over to show them His new friend Jesus.

Matthew 9:9-13 – “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.  And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Have you made a similar trade in your own life?  You cannot accept Jesus without giving up something, I assure you.  Do you so value Jesus, that you want to introduce everyone around you to Him?  Each of us is a traitor, not in the way Matthew was to his people, but in that we have rejected the One True King, Jesus, by our sin.  Yet knowing that about us, Jesus, has reconciled us to Himself through His blood.  This death was not the end, however… Jesus has given us the same mission – to trade our lives to begin a ministry of reconciliation with others.  What are you willing to trade from your life today?

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Psalm 15:5-11:
“The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.  The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.  I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.  I haveset the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.  You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

I wonder how many Christians were actually told up front that they were buying into a life of suffering.  My guess is not many, but for those of us who have walked with the Lord for a while, you know that most days it is not easy to be a Christian.  I really wonder how evangelism would work if we sincerely followed Jesus’ guidance from Luke 14, to count the cost of following Him beforehand.  Luke 14:25-27, 33 – “Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple…  So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

Can you imagine!  Jesus definitely wasn’t seeking to be the next megachurch leader and was definitely not telling these people how to have “their best life now”.  Jesus was preparing these people to understand that they had a choice between the world, and Himself.  So when I look at David, when he says that the Lord is his “chosen portion”, I know exactly what that means.  Following Christ isn’t a means to something else, like worldly comfort or riches, following Christ is a daily choice to pursue joy in God instead of the world, and it is hard.  In fact, the only way we are able to choose God is if the grace of God enables us.  Each day we get to decide if we will set Christ before us, or if we will set ourselves before Him.  One way, we are guided by the Word of God through hardship to life, and the other we seek to avoid hardship through sin that leads to death.  David’s comfort flowed from His faith in God.  He may have chosen a harder life, one that put him in danger often, but he trusted that God would lead him, counsel him, and instruct him daily in how he should live, so that his future inheritance was secure.

There is one path of life, and His name is Jesus.  He calls us to lives that the world will call foolish; using money not for ourselves, but to extend His kingdom, spending our time, not selflishly but to honor and serve others as more important than ourselves, to forgive as we have been forgiven, to love even unto death.  What choices has your life been marked by today? in the last month? in the last year? If you are making the choice daily to bear your cross and make the Lord your portion, be encouraged today and daily; the whole world cannot contain the weight of glory that is to be revealed to us in Christ.  He is our hope, the fullness of joy, and our holy inheritance.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Have you ever watched the Southwest commercials where they talk about how much they love your bags?  You know, it’s where the baggage handlers are chasing after the bags as they go onto the plane, hugging them tightly before they leave, and shedding a tear when they fly away.  Right about the time you’re starting to get seriously freaked out by these people’s affection towards inanimate objects, and you’re feeling a little uncomfortable about watching anymore, they finally tell you that your bags fly for free.

I think the hardest part of living as a Christian is grasping the idea of grace and our identity in Christ, so I hit it on all the time, as a reminder mostly to myself and hopefully as an encouragement to everyone else.  I was talking yesterday, about how I seriously wonder about Christians who have never really struggled with sin in their life.  If you’re the perfect Christian, that was quoting scripture as you came out of the womb, this message probably isn’t going to help you much, so for the rest of us… read on.  I like being encouraged by Christians that I know have been beaten up, weathered a storm, and come out stronger, more dependent on God and more rooted in their faith.  These are Christians with baggage, ones that have struggled with every form of sin, yet know that this is not how God views them.

Can you imagine what life would be like if Jesus came up to you and said… I see you’re checking a bag and you have a carry on.  I’m going to need something for that checked baggage?  We could only respond by saying we didn’t bring our wallet, all we brought was baggage.  Now if Jesus just let the bags fly for free without paying for them, that would be merciful, but not just.  Instead Jesus pays for our baggage for us, thereby he is not only merciful, he is just, and he has extended to us grace – unmerited favor.  This shouldn’t surprise us though, this is who Jesus is, this is what He came to do.

Mark 2:16-17 – “And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

1 Peter 3:18 – “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” 

Those sins, that baggage that you’re carrying around, thinking that God can not love you because you’re struggling is the very reason Jesus came to die.  Romans 5:8 – “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  That word “were” is very important and helpful, especially for those of us on this side of time and the cross.  Now many people understand that to mean that Christ died for us to pay for our sins at some past point in our lives, but after that we’re on our own.  No, Romans 5:8 says that we were still sinners, therefore all our sinfulness of our being from birth to death was put on Christ on the cross.  When He died, he didn’t die for some sub-set of our sins, he took all our baggage, everything seen and unseen, and bore the wrath of God in our place, so that we could be reconciled to Him.

No we are free.  We owe nothing for our baggage, and God’s even upgraded our ticket to 1st class.  2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

My encouragement isn’t to ignore sin you’re struggling with.  My encouragement is to be bold in your fight, to give God the glory that all your sin as been paid for.  As a redeemed new creation of God, live each day bold in your weakness, that while you cannot overcome your sin, Jesus did, and in Him you have the righteousness of God.  This is the only stance whereby we can fight sin, and find joy in God.  If you’re carrying a load of baggage with you, my exhortation is to daily, lay it down, press into the cross, let the blood of Christ do your fighting for you, and remember that you are free.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Friends,

I want to look at today how we define Truth.

When Jesus was being questioned by Pilate before his crucifixion; John 18:37-38 – “Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

Earlier in the book of John we see that Jesus further clarified his answer to Pilate’s question:  “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truthwill set you free.”

In western philosophy and thought, the framework by which we understand truth is empiracal, meaning something is said to be true if it gives evidence that it is what it claims to be.  (Ex: an apple is an apple because one can observe the traits of an apple in it)  This is not how the Jews would have understood truth, however.  The Hebrew conception of truth, was more than merely empirical, it was metaphysical.  What this means is that something was true because it is the essence of that thing, and further, there was a measure of unchanging faithfulness to that essence.  Therefore, Jesus was saying that He did not merely come professing truthful things, but that He Himself was the essence of truth, the ever faithful, unchanging, essence of truth.

In 1 Peter 2:22, it is said of Jesus – “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”  Jesus was truthful, not merely because he did not utter deceit (that would be to understand truth as the western greek philosophy does), but he was truthful because he is the essence of truth, therefore only truth would flow from Him.  All other things are only truthful in as much as they conform to the pattern of truthfulness found in Jesus – that is what it means for Jesus to be not merely truthful, but the Truth.

Let’s explain that using our example of an apple above.  If something is said to be truthful merely because it bears the traits of such a thing, how would you identify something correctly if there was no light?  Would you be able to determine in the dark, an apple from an orange with 100% certainty?  No, we need the light to be able to ascertain what is really there.

In John 8:12 Jesus says – “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

What framework of truth guides how you live your life?  For many people, their truth is ever-changing, always being molded based upon what they think will serve them best in the moment.  While we can deceive ourselves into thinking we know best, there is no life to be found there. That pattern of selfish and prideful thought inevitably leads to death and separation from God.  As a Christian, we are blessed to know that Jesus is the ever faithful, never changing, Truth.  We have been given the Bible as a picture of who He is.  In Christ, we are free from the bondange and deceit of sin, to delight in Him and know Him with the eyes of our heart.  In knowing Him, the Truth, we are also shown how we ought to live.  No one’s getting out of today’s message clean – we all have things that need to be put up to the light of God, to submit our lives further to Jesus, the Truth.  My exhortation is to pray about what those things are, and then submit to God’s call on your life – pursue and delight in the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.

Grace and Peace,
Adam