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

Matthew 24:36-51 – “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Do you live each day like you’re expecting that Jesus could come at any moment?  The Bible has said that our judgment will come when we do not expect it.  In an instant,  we will be faced with the blinding light of God’s holiness and we will be laid bare before Him.  How does that make you feel?

How do you feel about that day?  Will that be a happy time for you?  Much of your joy in looking forward to that day is rooted in how you’re living today.  For a man who is breaking the law, there is much to fear from police taking him away when he leasts suspects it.  For someone free from the law, finding joy in loving others, there is no fear, only an eager expectation at the future joy to come.

Jesus says that those who do not prepare themselves for His coming will be cut to pieces and put where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  This is not for a moment, but for all eternity.  That is the extent of God’s holiness – The same holiness which demands infinite wrath against sin, is a great treasure to those who are being saved by God, and a great source of fear for those who do not love Him.  There is a healthy amount of fear and trepidation that should accompany our thoughts of God and His judgment even for believers.  We should hold in awe, that every ounce of God’s judgment is due is.  Our joy can only be right and true, in relation to the extent we know what Christ has done on our behalf.  Therefore, know that God is not mocked, whatever one sows, he will reap (Gal 6:7).

Is there a seriousness in your fight for faith each day?  We know that faith is a gift of God, but does that mean He intends for us to be idle?  My exhortation is to make your calling and election sure; reach deep and live hard for Christ today, to push yourself further in your walk with Him – not as someone who is seeking escape from judgment, but out of affection for the one who has suffered our judgment.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Many people’s view of God is based on one aspect of His nature.  Many view God as wrath.  They look at His destroying all of the life on earth with water, and sparing only Noah, or they look at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire, and they see a God that punishes sin.  These people often are constantly in fear of what “God is going to do to them” if their lives don’t measure up to some standard they’ve set up in their mind.  Others view God as a God of love, and they define “love” as his kindness shown towards others, serving the poor, and forgiving sin.  These are the people that tell you to stop talking about the atonement of Christ’s death, that God didn’t really pour out His eternal wrath on His son.  Let’s move past all that Bible business, and just live like Jesus lived, and do what He did, they’ll say.

What these people both do not understand is that there is no difference between God’s love and His wrath.  God is not divided into parts, whereby one part will be present at one time, and another part will be present later. God simply is, as He has always been, is today, and will forever be.  If you cannot see this, ask yourself this question.  Why does a parent punish their child?  Is their motivation simply to assert their wrath over misconduct, or is the punishment also an act of love for the parent to guide their child for their good?  Sometimes a parent also chooses to show mercy.  Why?  Maybe wisdom is also acting in a parent’s decision, so that they can look to see whether punishment would serve the child, or if mercy should be exercised?

If man, being flawed as we are, is capable of having many points of our character acting in unison, and one-ness, how much more is a perfectly holy and just God capable of this, who knows everything past, present, and future?

Look at how Jesus responds to the question of his diety – John 8:57-58 – “So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Jesus’s own description of Himself was to simply state that He is.

Exodus 8:22 (God as provider) – “But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.

Exodus 10:1-3 (God’s Wrath) – “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.“

Exodus 15:26 (God as Healer) – “saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”

Leviticus 11:44 (God’s Holiness) – “For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.”

Leviticus 19:36 (God’s Justice) – “You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”

I could go on, but you see that the foundation of God’s instruction, is that He is all of these things, and it is understood that these are all equal.  Another helpful way I’ve seen this explained is a prism.  A prism is one, yet when light is passed through it, many different hues of color are seen.  God reveals Himself to us such that we may understand all of Who He Is, yet at no point is one aspect of His nature, deficient to another.  God is not Love at the expense of Wrath, God is not Wisdom at the expense of Mercy.  God is all of these, at all times, equally, and perfectly.

My question today is how do you view God?  Do you love one aspect of God, or do you love all of God?  Can you delight in the love of God, even in rebuke?  When a brother or sister in Christ holds you accountable to something going on in your life, how do you respond?

When life get’s difficult, how do you respond?  Has your trust and faith in God reached the depth to delight in suffering as the plan of a perfectly good, and wise God, out of love?

Look to the cross, where every aspect of God’s perfect divine nature, was displayed in magnificent glory at once – Love, Wrath, Mercy, Wisdom, Justice, Healing, and on ad inifinitum.  Search your heart, and ask yourself if you worship the God of the Bible, or only one part of Him?  Unless you all are different from me, you’ll find that there is probably some aspect of God you have neglected over a period of time.  Know that your joy in salvation will be hindered where the delight of God is not found in all of Him.  My hope is that Christ would be fully formed in all of you, to delight and find joy in ALL of Who Christ is, for us.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

My question I want to look at today is how we view the nearness of God.  Do we view Him as this far away force that reaches down from time to time to exert his divine influence, or do we view Him as being active in our day to day, moment to moment lives?

There are some people, who hold to Pantheistic Doctrine, which is to say that God is IN everything.  They basically believe God is in trees, in mountains, in animals, and of course in all of us.  That is not Biblically supported anywhere.  While it may sound good to some eco-people whose best friend is the tree in their front yard, named Bob, it isn’t helpful when you see all the sin present in the world, to say that God is the world, and still find comfort in His goodness.  No, God is altogether different than us, He is our creator, we are His creation, separate from him.

So if Pantheism is a heretical doctrine suggesting God is nearer than he is, the flip side is Deism, which essentially says that God flipped a switch, and put things in motion, but now is actually far away, just waiting for things to play out.   This too, is not Biblically supported.

So what is Biblically supported?  How can we find comfort in the nearness of God amidst struggles, suffering, and joy?

Acts 17:24-29 – “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.  And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.'”

Proverbs 16:9 – “The mind of man plans his way,But the LORD directs his steps.”

God is active in His creation, there is no end to God, therefore we exist within Him, as a separate creation, yet constantly under His sovereign will.  This omnipresent and omniscient God is where we draw strength during trials to know that He is powerful enough to fulfill Rom 8:28, His promise to work all things together for good for those who believe Him.

Joshua 1:9 – “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

For us as believers, the nearness of God is even more amazing.

1 Corinthians 3:16 –  “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”

The God who created the entire universe is well acquainted with every aspect of your life.  He is not far away, for us, He is more than the air we breathe, He dwells in us, guiding us, comforting us, convicting us, leading us to Him.  My encouragement today is to ask yourself what things about your life have you told yourself God is indifferent towards, or God doesn’t understand your circumstances.  Then, with the scripture above as encouragement, press those things back into God, and cast every anxiety and struggle on Him, knowing He cares for you.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Many people misunderstand Christianity.  For one person, Christianity will be about obeying a list of rules.  They view God as this all powerful being like Zeus, who is standing up in heaven just waiting to zap someone who offends Him.  Others misunderstand Christianity to be a “get out of jail free card”.  This person will acknowledge God’s existence, and perhaps that he died and rose again, and not see a need to subject themselves to Him.  They delight in the Savior, but not in the Lord.

In the first person, this manifests usually by a person constantly being stressed out.  They will constantly be viewing God’s love for them in terms of their obedience, and often will be harsh towards the failings of others.  They are so concerned about their level of “success” in terms of their outward obedience, that they become judges themselves; comparing themselves to others.  We’ve all run into someone like this at church at least once, and it probably wasn’t an encouraging experience.

The second person is the one who tells you over and over that he is saved by grace, and rejects any attempts by others to rebuke him, does not submit to church authority, and doesn’t like the idea of being “accountable” to other people.  After all, God’s his judge right, those people are just sinners, and we’re all saved by grace, so what’s the point?  He hides behind poor theology, to justify those sins that he loves to hold onto; that he doesn’t want to put to death.  This is the person that you’re afraid to be friends with in church, because of a fear that he might lead you astray as well.  Usually this person puts up a front that is outwardly happy, but secretly is frustrated, wondering why he doesn’t have the same joy he sees in others.

What do these two people have in common?  Outwardly, one seems very pious, and outwardly the other seems very licentious, so outwardly they would look very different.  Inwardly, however, the greatest love of both these persons is themselves, they do not delight in God.  One wants God to be pleased with him, so that he can go to heaven maybe, or so that he can feel good about himself vs. other people.  The other person, see God as a means to excuse himself from the guilt and shame that accompanies his sinful lifestyle.  He doesn’t love God, he loves his sin.  Neither of these people have any real affection for God Himself, so is God supposed to be pleased with this hypocrisy?

Let’s look at this in the context of a man and wife’s relationship.  Matt and Stephanie are 34, married for 10 years today, and this is a big anniversary.  Matt had planned to order flowers for his wife, and take her our to a nice italian restaurant.  Matt decided to go out to a happy hour after work with his coworkers, and before he knew it, he looked over at the clock, and sees that it’s 8pm, the florist is closed, and he’s missed their reservation.  He gives his wife a call.  He apologizes profusely that he lost track of time again, and tells her that he’ll be home soon.  When his wife starts crying over the phone, Matt compounds the problem, by doing what he always does; making jokes to try to make light of the situation.  He tells his wife that he’s not perfect, everyone makes mistakes, and he’ll do better next time.  When he finally comes home, he doesn’t understand why his wife seems distant from him.

Jeff and Stacey are 36, and also have been married 10 years, today.  Jeff shows up at the house, exactly on time at 7pm for his anniversary date with his wife.  He sends her flowers, takes her out to dinner to a nice italian restaurant, and then promptly comes home.  His wife wants to talk, but he feels comfortable that he’s “done his duty” as a husband, and asks to talk to her tomorrow.  She starts crying, and he feels bitter that “nothing is ever enough” for her.  He doesn’t realize that she knows that his secretary sent the flowers, and made the reservation for dinner, she doesn’t even like italian food.

Is this how you treat God?  Can you see now, how Matthew 7:22 means to speak of the obedient, dutiful person – “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.”

For the person to approaches the cross of Christ as a means to licentiousness, can you see how God is far from this person?  He gives a warning to those people in 1 John 3:9 – “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’sseed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

Chris and Stephanie have been married 10 years, today.  Chris, has been thinking about what he can do for his wife Stephanie on their anniversary for weeks.  He knew what her favorite flowers were a special kind of iris from talking with her over the years, and knew that she’d mentioned wanting to go to a italian restaurant that was opening.  He made reservations a week in advance, and had the nice planned out perfectly.  He left work early to get to the florist before they closed, but had a flat tire.  By the time he got to the florist they were closed.  Chris went to 3 other florists, but they didn’t have the perfect flowers.  Chris called to confirm his reservation, only to find out that the restaurant had been closed due to an electrical problem.  The world seemed to manifestly be against Chris as it started to pour down rain on him while he fumbled for his keys.  He picked up a dozen roses and a card, and came home to his wife.  He told her about his afternoon’s events, and handed her a card with her roses that said, “Each day brings new challenges, but the best part every day was coming home to her, and he loved her more every day.”  Chris and Stephanie didn’t make it to dinner, but needless to say, Stephanie’s response made it known that she loved her husband as well.

Where does this leave us.  If we are honest, each of us has probably fallen into one of the first two categories, at least in some area of our lives.  The good news is that God isn’t like Zeus, waiting around with thunderbolts; God is patient, loving, and genuinely desires for us to be joyful in Him.  We are left with the command and promise from Psalm 37.

Psalm 37:4 – “Delight yourself in the LORD,and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

The mark of a Christian, who is walking with the Lord is his delight in God Himself.  We are commanded to delight ourselves in God, which means our focus as Christians ought to be joyful in God more and more.  We are promised that as our joy is found in God, He will give us more of our desire, Himself.  We must fight the fight of faith each day to look at the cross, as our means of reconciliation to God, and to pursue joy in God, to have God as our portion.  We can approach each day, and look forward to eternity with God in joy and hope from Psalm 16:

Psalm 16:11 – “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father, He is our portion, and in Him we will delight for all eternity.  The joy we have in Him now will be a glimmer, that will burn into brightness for eternity, as we see Him clearly face to face, and our joy in Him is magnified beyond what we possibly could imagine.

So how do we begin?  First we begin by admitting we cannot manufacture true love for God through obedience, and God is not pleased when we mock his love for us on the cross by sinning against Him.  God gave us a new heart, and so our actions must rest there, to ask God to form in us a heart that delights in Him.  God’s answer I believer can be found in John 15:7 and Job 22:21.

John 15:7 – “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

Do you delight in the Word of God, as a means of God revealing Himself to you?  If you do, what you wish, will always be for more of God in your life, and God will always answer yes to that question.  That is because your joy is magnified, and the object of your joy is God, so His glory is magnified as well.

If you want a more step by step application, meditate through Job 22.
Job 22:21 – “Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.  Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.  If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents, if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed, then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.  For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.  You willmake your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.  You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.  For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’; but he saves the lowly.  He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

We begin with the gospel, that we agree that we are without hope apart from Christ, we turn from sin and toward Christ, and in Him we find peace.  It is because we have been reconciled to God, and are at peace with Him that we can receive His instruction to us in His Word, and see it not as directing our outward obedience, but explaining who He is, and who God has made us to be in Christ.  It is because we find joy in God, that we will then remove sin from our life, which would separate us from Him.  As God works this out in us, we will delight in God more and more, because we will have more and more of Him in our life.  Then we will seek God, we will make plans, and can rest assured that whatever the outcome, our plans will be established in such a way to give us more of God in our life.  (x-ref Rom 8:28).

Where do you fall out in all of this?  Do you find your joy in God increasing more and more over time?  If not, are you seeking joy in God as an end, or have you made God a means to pursue joy in sin?  Have you sought joy in obedience as a means to see God clearly and have more of Him in your life, or are you pursuing obedience becuase you want God to accept you, or so that you can Lord your “success” over others who are struggling?  Rest in your weakness at the foot of the cross.  You have nothing to offer, but in Christ are given everything.  Delight yourself in the Jesus you find revealed not just in the gospels, but throughout all of scripture.  Let the Word rest in your heart, and you will find your greatest delight, and God’s pleasure for His glory are not antithetical, but are synonymous.  God is only pleased in those who love Him, and the only people who love God are those who reckognize they are powerless to do so, yet are given that power through belief on Christ as their redeemer.

My encouragement is to find yourself among this scripture, and take a step towards God.  If there is no delight in your heart for God, there is no better prayer to God than to ask, and it is a prayer God will delight in saying “yes” to.  Christians should be the happiest people on Earth, because nothing can diminish the source of our joy, and we live in eager expecation of the fullness of joy to come.

For your joy in Him,
Adam

Have you ever stopped to marvel at the type of people that Jesus loves?  I’m always encouraged by looking at the disciples, the twelve men chosen by Jesus that traveled with Him throughout His ministry?

In Jewish culture during the time, many boys would begin their life with the hope of becoming a great Rabbi.  Many boys would have memorized the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) by the time they were twelve.  If they showed great promise, they might be allowed to study under a Rabbi.  If not, then they would continue on with another profession.  Such was the case with each of the twelve disciples, yet Jesus, goes out, and calls each one to himself.  To understand Jewish culture here, it would be someone who always desired to play baseball, but didn’t get chosen to play for a college team.  Then, the manager of the yankees (insert your baseball team of choice) asking you to play on their team.  Jesus came, to give these men a new identity; undeserved, their identity had to be given to them.

These were not the intellectual elite of their day.  These were not theologians, debating intracacies of theology and the law amongst each other in the temple.  These were simple men.  In the case of Matthew, the tax collector, his profession was literally the most despised position among the jews.  Given the jews were under roman rule, a jew that would become a tax collector, taking money from his own people to give to Rome, was considered a traitor.  These were the men chosen by Jesus.

Let’s look at how Jesus approached another man, the chief tax collector of Jericho:

Luke 19:1-10 – “He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small of stature. ⁴So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

My friends, we are all chief tax collectors, but the Son of Man has come for each of us.  He is salvation.  He is a son of Abraham, not merely physically, but a son of Abraham as Isaac was (Rom 9), meaning he is a son of the promise of God.  Be encouraged, as you walk with God as a Christian, that Jesus did not call you because of your ability, but because you were lost.  He loves you not as a good person caring about another, but as a father to his child, willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING for their good, even His own life.

I honestly believe there is something sacred about the Gospels, even within the Bible.  To see the person of God in Jesus Christ, is an encouragement to me like no other.  This is why I try to read some from the gospels every day.  My encouragement is for you to take some time today to look at the men Jesus loved.  Look in the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, at how He responds to those who come to Him in weakness.  Draw strength from knowing that as a believer, that same Jesus you see in the gospels, dwells in you, loves you, and waits for you.

Grace and Peace,
Adam