There is a common struggle in most all of us as Christians.  We want to be followers of Jesus, but we want to be comfortable doing so.  A while back, I was driving back from Austin, and listened to a sermon that asked the question – “what things are are closed handed with God about”?  What relationship, what thing in your life, will you say to God – “you can’t touch this” (MC Hammer pants, not required).  Seriously – what is it?  What thing if God asked you to be open handed about, to let Him into, and maybe ask you to give up would you be unwilling to do?  We don’t want to give things up that we find comfort in, we want to be able to pursue, what we want to pursue, and hope that God comes along for the ride.  God doesn’t work that way.  He loves us too much.

When God enters into your life, you are not merely a “better person”, you’re a new creation.  2 Corinthians 5:17 – “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

When God enters your life, He doesn’t come to follow after you as you pursue your old desires, He says “deny yourself and follow Me”.  Matthew 16:24 – “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

When God enters your life, he doesn’t just say acknowledge what I’ve done, He says repent and believe.  Mark 1:15 – “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Here’s the thing.  When God enters your life, He knows the idols, the sin which separates you from Him.  Consider this – every idol of your heart was nailed with Jesus on the cross.  As He bore the wrath of God for your sin, He knows the severity, the brokenness that sin brings intimately – infinitely greater than you or I do.  He also knows it won’t be easy for you to give those things up, it required Him to die to free you from bondage to those things.  What will it take for you to turn over your whole life, not just parts to God.  To say, enough, my life is not my own, I have been bought for a price by the blood of Jesus, and I entrust everything to Him.

When you do that, it will be tough.  When God asks you to let go of the things you have been closed handed about, there is a legitimately cost.  It will hurt.  You will have a void.  You will feel anguish mixed with peace.  All the time and energy you had put into trying to pursue that thing, are now free.  What do you do?  Colossians 3:1-4 – “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”  I would say you use that time to seek the things that are above – seek God with God’s people in the Church.

As a professing Christian who is closed handed about something in their life there is one of two options.  The first, ironically is that you get exactly what you want, and you come to realize that the thing you thought would bring you joy, will lead to misery and separation from God.  This is true of those who only professed to be followers of Christ, but were never truly saved.  The second option, is that God will break you.  A shepherd if He had a sheep that continued to stray away from the flock, would have its leg broken, and the shepherd would carry it with him with the flock until it healed, so that the sheep would learn to stay with the flock (so that it would not get eaten by wolves or die in isolation).  Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  Hebrews 12:6 – “The Lord disciplines the one He loves”  The LORD will plead with you to stay with Him.  He is long-suffering, patient, gentle, and kind, but there will be a point where He sees you going too far, and He will say enough, and He will break your leg.  He’s done it to me.  He’s done it to others.  It will hurt, but it is the mercy of God.  Hebrews 12:11 – “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

My exhortation today is to examine yourselves honestly and answer the question of what thing have you been unwilling to just give over to God?  He is pleading with you today to give it to Him and follow Him, trusting that He has everything in control and He knows what is truly good and best for you.  It will hurt at first, but God will meet you in your hurt and carry you into a closer fellowship with Him, in his presence where a fullness of joy is found (Psalm 16:11).

Grace and Peace,

Adam

John 15:3-7 – “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

God’s been pressing on me lately about what it truly means to abide in Christ, and pragmatically, how can we take steps to do that in our own lives.  The passage above reminds me of Psalm 37:4 – “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Jesus refers to Himself as “the Word” (John 1), He proclaims His disciples are clean because of “the word”, and lastly says if “my words abide in you” one can ask anything of God and it will be done.  Abiding in God is the same as abiding in God’s Word, because the Word reveals who God is.  If you wanted to really get to know someone, you would spend time with them, see what they acted like in different situations, and look at what they say.  If you really want to know Jesus, He has given you His Word to accomplish these things, to know Him.  Sometimes I imagine people praying to God, asking to know His will for their life, and God just points to the Bible sitting right next to them.  Romans 12:1 tells us “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”  2 Corinthians 3:15-18 tells us “Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.  But when one turns to the Lord,the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”  The transformation by “renewal of your mind” and the “being transformed into the same image (of the Lord) from one degree of glory to another” are both from reading the Word.  Look again at 2 Corinthians 3, “whenever Moses is read” is referring to the scripture written by Moses (the Word of God), that was read.

So if you find yourself stagnant as a Christian or rather if you are falling away from God, there is usually a direct correlation to the amount of time you are spending with Him in the Word.  We know that in the presence of God, there is a fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11) so our abiding in Christ, our aligning our desires with God’s, is also a means for our own joy and peace.  Now, all of us are able to read your Bibles easily enough, but so often what we read gets lost soon after in the busyness of life.  My exhortation today is to actually press God’s Word into your heart with a discipline of daily meditation and scripture memorization.  I don’t want to tell you what to memorize, because I think God has everyone at a different place, and I don’t want to take something that should be joy-inducing and make it into a homework assignment.  You know what is on your heart, search God’s Word for something that speaks to you, and use that.

I’ll share one scripture grouping that if you really meditate on it word by word, and press it into your heart, will greatly help to safeguard your affections for Jesus day by day.  Ephesians 2:8-10 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Salvation is a gift from God, so we are humble.  We are made by God, a new creation in Jesus Christ, for good works, good actions, leading a life that is glorifying God.  No matter what happened yesterday, God has us where he wants us, he has works planned for us today to walk in.  One passage of scipture, memorized could press those truths into your heart, day after day after day, and be shared with others to the glory of God.  Consider that, and know that God will always bless your time with Him.

I hope all of you have a great Friday and weekend, and make the most of the time God has given you.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

2 Corinthians 5:17 – “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Today we’re concluding answering the question – “Am I truly a Christian or just deceived?” as we look at the third mark of an authentic Christian, pursuing the growth of the Kingdom of God with other Christians.  This is coming after we have discussed the first mark, maintaining a constant vigilance to put to death sin and increase affections for God and the second mark, being captivated by the Grace of God in Jesus.  I’ve intentionally saved this for last, because in my own experience it is the most challenging and difficult, and therefore essential mark of an authentic Christian.

What are you living for?  Who are you living for?  Are you primarily living for your own comfort, or are you living for God?  What is the driving force behind your decisions?  How many decisions about your job, your relationships, how you spend your money are you taking to God in prayer?  Can you look back and point out decisions that you initially did not want to make, but you did because you were pursuing God’s will above your own desires?  This isn’t a time of judgment, but I would encourage each of you to take a few minutes and really try to answer those questions for yourself.  It may be helpful at revealing where your heart is at currently and where God wants to grow you.  Now, before you give an answer, consider Jesus’s answer in Matthew 9:11-13 – “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.”  My greatest concern isn’t for the people who are sinners, know they are not perfect, and are sincerely pursuing growth in Jesus.  My concern is for the people generally think they’re “fine” and God is “ok” with the sin in their life because they try to justify it somehow.  Those are the people who are spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”  

So with all that said, I want to put forth what I believe Biblically is a third mark of an authentic Christian – someone who pursues 100% transparent, authentic fellowship with believers of the same sex, and seeks to work with those fellow believers to grow the Kingdom of God.  Hebrews 10:23-27 – “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.  For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”   So meeting together with one another is Biblically a mark of a Christian.  The implication of the scripture that follows is that part of what keeps us from doing so is that we desire to sin, and do so deliberately – this is what Christian fellowship should break if we are transparent with one another.  This is a means of grace from God.  James 5:16 – “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”  

What keeps us from these types of relationships?  Fear of judgment?  Laziness?  An unwillingness to die to yourself and your sin?  1 John 4:18-21 – “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.  We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”  If someone judges you for confessing your sin, out of a desire to turn from that sin and towards God – that is their sin, not yours.  You are right with God, they are not.  You know the love of God towards us in Christ Jesus, and that yes, sin is horrible and brings brokenness, but God’s grace has covered your sin.

1 Corinthians 12:14-26 – “For the body does not consist of one member but of many.  If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?  But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.  If all were a single member, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”  If you are not known, and if you are not pursuing knowing others in the body of Christ, the whole body suffers.  You need the people of Christ to know you, and they need you.

I spent a lot of time, trying to lay out scripture for you to consider why it is important to have transparent, Biblical fellowship with someone of the same sex.  Now, I’m basically going to wrap up everything else in a paragraph for brevity’s sake, and maybe circle back at some point.  God ordained men and women differently, and apart from marriage, the Biblical fellowship we’re talking about should remain between someone who will be able to speak directly to your situation (a man to a man, a woman to a woman).  Jesus had the 12 disciples that were men, and even with that had a closer circle of Peter, James, and John.  Paul had Timothy.  Barnabas had Paul, and later Barnabas had John (Called Mark).  Beyond that, these relationships should strive to extend into ministry, as all of the examples above did, and as the natural outworking of the Holy Spirit from 1 Corinthians 12 above.  Just as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have perfect fellowship and have a common purpose for the glory of God, so should our fellowship have a similar purpose.

My exhortation is to ask yourself some of the questions I’ve laid out above, especially in light of the Word of God that has been shared.  If you don’t have these types of relationships currently – ask God for that, and pursue that.  It is the only way you will truly grow as a Christian.  I hope this finds all of you well, know you’re prayed for.

Grace and Peace,

Adam