The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
—Psalm 19:1
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
—Psalm 19:1
Photo: Sunset over the Sapelo River. September 4, 2010.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Bringing Every Project Into Captivity
I am 41 years old, and I ask myself on a regular basis how long I am going to have to keep learning the same lessons over and over again. The particular lesson that is on my mind right now relates to my ongoing struggle with legalism. If you are not familiar with what this word means, there is a great explanation here. Number three is the sticker for me: "Attempting to be sanctified by one's own works."
My tendency to default into this mindset has to do with my upbringing in a church that teaches number two: "Attempting to be justified by one's own works." My doctrinal misconceptions in this area were corrected many years ago, but like the Galatians before me (Galatians 3:3), I keep trying to resort to human effort in my sanctification. Paul makes it very clear that the same Spirit who effected our salvation effects our sanctification.
I have been thinking about these things in recent weeks since I recommitted to the Radical Plan and commenced the One Month to Live study. There is a very interesting phenomenon that takes place in me when I am faced with plans or programs such as these. My flesh loves a list of things to do, and I usually embark on such projects with great enthusiasm, but I never completely follow through with them. I usually give up pretty quickly.
It just came to me that this is an act of grace on God's part. The way he drew me to Himself into a real, legitimate relationship was by letting me go through a period of giving up on trying to live the Christian life. I couldn't do it. At that time, the reason why I couldn't do it was that I was in bondage to sin and error, and I had no concept of how the Holy Spirit operates and empowers believers. He allowed me to live for a time in a way that eliminated any question as to whether or not I needed Jesus, and He removed all ingrained misconceptions that there was anything good in me or that I could do anything to save myself.
Likewise, any time I embark on one of my "adventures in the flesh," I am never successful. When I finished reading Radical, I sat down immediately to make out my plan and subsequently shared it here. I knew that I needed to pray about how to carry out certain components of the plan, but I did not take the time to pray about whether God would have me participate at all. I mean, how could he NOT want me to be radically sold out to Jesus?! However, in recent weeks, as I have not lived up to the goals I set for myself, and as I have experienced all of the guilt and disappointment a performance-driven person in whose mind the devil makes his playground is likely to experience, God has lovingly conveyed to me that He is not asking me to follow a plan in a book. I'm already pretty radical. And what makes me radical is not only that I love Jesus, but that my greatest desire is to love Him a whole lot more!
As for One Month to Live, the same thing pretty much goes. I was asked to lead the study because I am a teacher, and I agreed because I love to teach. However, it has been clear in the past week or so that I had no business taking this on right now. (I have discussed this with my group.) I did pray about it, but probably not like I should have. But more importantly, I should know myself well enough by now to realize that this type of thing doesn't work well for me. Because of my background, and despite the tendencies of my flesh, I usually have a knee-jerk reaction to externally imposed guidelines for spiritual conduct. Interesting contradiction, eh? On the one hand I love to make a list, and on the other hand, I can't keep it!
The spiritual endeavors in which I have been successful are ones that have been clearly ordained by God and that I have undertaken with the conviction that I am obeying His will. Teaching our Sunday School class, directing Rachel's House, giving up sugar and improving my eating habits, exercising regularly, and undertaking Dr. Horner's Bible reading program are examples. The following excerpt from the September ninth entry of My Utmost for His Highest relates well to my situation:
My tendency to default into this mindset has to do with my upbringing in a church that teaches number two: "Attempting to be justified by one's own works." My doctrinal misconceptions in this area were corrected many years ago, but like the Galatians before me (Galatians 3:3), I keep trying to resort to human effort in my sanctification. Paul makes it very clear that the same Spirit who effected our salvation effects our sanctification.
I have been thinking about these things in recent weeks since I recommitted to the Radical Plan and commenced the One Month to Live study. There is a very interesting phenomenon that takes place in me when I am faced with plans or programs such as these. My flesh loves a list of things to do, and I usually embark on such projects with great enthusiasm, but I never completely follow through with them. I usually give up pretty quickly.
It just came to me that this is an act of grace on God's part. The way he drew me to Himself into a real, legitimate relationship was by letting me go through a period of giving up on trying to live the Christian life. I couldn't do it. At that time, the reason why I couldn't do it was that I was in bondage to sin and error, and I had no concept of how the Holy Spirit operates and empowers believers. He allowed me to live for a time in a way that eliminated any question as to whether or not I needed Jesus, and He removed all ingrained misconceptions that there was anything good in me or that I could do anything to save myself.
Likewise, any time I embark on one of my "adventures in the flesh," I am never successful. When I finished reading Radical, I sat down immediately to make out my plan and subsequently shared it here. I knew that I needed to pray about how to carry out certain components of the plan, but I did not take the time to pray about whether God would have me participate at all. I mean, how could he NOT want me to be radically sold out to Jesus?! However, in recent weeks, as I have not lived up to the goals I set for myself, and as I have experienced all of the guilt and disappointment a performance-driven person in whose mind the devil makes his playground is likely to experience, God has lovingly conveyed to me that He is not asking me to follow a plan in a book. I'm already pretty radical. And what makes me radical is not only that I love Jesus, but that my greatest desire is to love Him a whole lot more!
As for One Month to Live, the same thing pretty much goes. I was asked to lead the study because I am a teacher, and I agreed because I love to teach. However, it has been clear in the past week or so that I had no business taking this on right now. (I have discussed this with my group.) I did pray about it, but probably not like I should have. But more importantly, I should know myself well enough by now to realize that this type of thing doesn't work well for me. Because of my background, and despite the tendencies of my flesh, I usually have a knee-jerk reaction to externally imposed guidelines for spiritual conduct. Interesting contradiction, eh? On the one hand I love to make a list, and on the other hand, I can't keep it!
The spiritual endeavors in which I have been successful are ones that have been clearly ordained by God and that I have undertaken with the conviction that I am obeying His will. Teaching our Sunday School class, directing Rachel's House, giving up sugar and improving my eating habits, exercising regularly, and undertaking Dr. Horner's Bible reading program are examples. The following excerpt from the September ninth entry of My Utmost for His Highest relates well to my situation:
This is a day when practical work is overemphasized, and the saints who are bringing every project into captivity are criticized and told that they are not in earnest for God or for souls. True earnestness is found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that is born of undisciplined human nature. It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not bringing every project into captivity, but are doing work for God at the instigation of their own human nature which has not been spiritualized by determined discipline.In the future, I hope to bring every project into captivity.
Finding Rest
For several weeks now, I have been asking my Sunday School class and Wednesday night small group to pray for me that I would learn how to abide in Christ (John 15:1-11). Interestingly enough, and as is usually the case, I keep "stumbling upon" resources to help me in my pursuit of abiding. Here is a great related article I found at my favorite blog, Desiring God. It's really short, so don't pass it up!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
You are an Object of God's Delight
Live your daily life in the full consciousness of being righteous in God's sight, an object of delight and pleasure in Christ. Connect every view you have of Christ in His other graces with this first one: of God, He is made to you righteousness. This will keep you in perfect peace. Thus, you will enter into, and dwell in, the rest of God, So will your inmost being be transformed into being righteous and doing righteousness. In your heart and life it will become manifest where you dwell; abiding in Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, you will share His position, His character, His blessedness: "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath annointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows" (Ps. 45:7). Joy and gladness above measure will be your portion.
From Abide in Christ
By Andrew Murray
From Abide in Christ
By Andrew Murray
Sunday, August 29, 2010
On Being Aliens and Strangers
I am currently leading a small group for the One Month to Live (OMTL) program at our church. When we met last Wednesday evening to discuss the week's lesson, one of the series of questions that was posed was as follows:
The fundamental principle for Bible study is for scripture to interpret scripture. Using this principle, another verse that must be included in this discussion is Ephesians 2:19:
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
In this context and in the passages mentioned above, an alien is someone who lives in a place without the rights of citizenship. Practically speaking, what does this mean? If you or I went to say, Paris, and we got into legal troubles there, where would we turn? We would call or go to the American Embassy, the place where our government can provide representation for us in a foreign land.
Likewise, as aliens on earth and citizens of heaven. whom do we ultimately call on for help, and from where are we ultimately governed? God, and heaven! We don't have to rely merely on mortal men to meet our needs. Psalm 33:20 says, "Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield."
Unfortunately, most of us live our daily lives as if our citizenship is right here on earth. We strive and worry and plan and maneuver and manipulate. Citizens of heaven bring their cases before the Lord and have Him mediate and operate on their behalf. In fact, I John 2:1 tells us that Jesus Christ is our advocate. It's as if we had our own personal legal counsel seated at the right hand of God!
Having confidence in our citizenship and understanding who we are in Christ and that His Spirit dwells in us sets us free to live on this earth in a way that only citizens of God's kingdom can live. We can love those who don't love us. We can forgive because we are forgiven. We are able to keep no record of wrongs. We can treat people the way we want to be treated rather than as they treat us. We can repay evil with good. Christians who really live in accordance with the teachings of Christ will stand out and be different and demonstrate that their citizenship is indeed in heaven.
Read Philippians 3:20 and I Peter 2:11. Discuss what these passages say about the true home of all believers. Why are words like "citizenship," "aliens." and "strangers" used? What implications does this have on how we spend our lives here on this earth? In light of our heavenly citizenship, how are we to conduct ourselves as residents on this earth?In my attempt to make the question relevant, I used an illustration that got us off track, and I was ultimately dissatisfied with how I handled the discussion. Therefore, I would like to clarify myself here rather than spend additional time on the topic next week. I think the discussion can be of benefit to those of you who are not in my OMTL group, as well.
The fundamental principle for Bible study is for scripture to interpret scripture. Using this principle, another verse that must be included in this discussion is Ephesians 2:19:
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
In this context and in the passages mentioned above, an alien is someone who lives in a place without the rights of citizenship. Practically speaking, what does this mean? If you or I went to say, Paris, and we got into legal troubles there, where would we turn? We would call or go to the American Embassy, the place where our government can provide representation for us in a foreign land.
Likewise, as aliens on earth and citizens of heaven. whom do we ultimately call on for help, and from where are we ultimately governed? God, and heaven! We don't have to rely merely on mortal men to meet our needs. Psalm 33:20 says, "Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield."
Unfortunately, most of us live our daily lives as if our citizenship is right here on earth. We strive and worry and plan and maneuver and manipulate. Citizens of heaven bring their cases before the Lord and have Him mediate and operate on their behalf. In fact, I John 2:1 tells us that Jesus Christ is our advocate. It's as if we had our own personal legal counsel seated at the right hand of God!
Having confidence in our citizenship and understanding who we are in Christ and that His Spirit dwells in us sets us free to live on this earth in a way that only citizens of God's kingdom can live. We can love those who don't love us. We can forgive because we are forgiven. We are able to keep no record of wrongs. We can treat people the way we want to be treated rather than as they treat us. We can repay evil with good. Christians who really live in accordance with the teachings of Christ will stand out and be different and demonstrate that their citizenship is indeed in heaven.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
New Bible Reading Plan
I was doggedly making my way through the Old Testament, and had gotten through I Samuel, when I discovered a new Bible reading plan last week. I couldn't wait to try it, so I plunged in a few days ago. I planned to share it with you after I had put some more time into it, but I'm so excited about it, I couldn't wait, so here it is.
It is called Professor Grant Horner's Bible Reading System. You can read it here, and you can download it here. There is also a Facebook group here with more than 9,000 members! Horner is a literature professor at The Masters College near Los Angeles. He began reading his Bible daily as a new believer in 1983, and he gradually developed this system. Even if you have a plan you are happy with, you should read his plan for the testimony alone. However, I still encourage you to give it a try. Horner says to try it for thirty days, and he guarantees that you will see that you have been starving yourself for the Word of God.
Don't let the thought of reading ten chapters a day scare you! It takes me less than thirty minutes to read ten chapters, so if you are a slower reader, it shouldn't take you more than 45 minutes or so. Horner says it should take an hour at the most. If any of you care to join me, leave a comment so we can encourage each other in our journey together!
It is called Professor Grant Horner's Bible Reading System. You can read it here, and you can download it here. There is also a Facebook group here with more than 9,000 members! Horner is a literature professor at The Masters College near Los Angeles. He began reading his Bible daily as a new believer in 1983, and he gradually developed this system. Even if you have a plan you are happy with, you should read his plan for the testimony alone. However, I still encourage you to give it a try. Horner says to try it for thirty days, and he guarantees that you will see that you have been starving yourself for the Word of God.
Don't let the thought of reading ten chapters a day scare you! It takes me less than thirty minutes to read ten chapters, so if you are a slower reader, it shouldn't take you more than 45 minutes or so. Horner says it should take an hour at the most. If any of you care to join me, leave a comment so we can encourage each other in our journey together!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Why We Eat the Lord's Supper
This evening, our church is observing the Lord's Supper. This morning in class, we are going to discuss this ordinance, its establishment, its significance, and how to prepare for it. Following are some resources from John Piper you will find helpful.
Why We Eat the Lord's Supper, Part I
Why We Eat the Lord's Supper, Part II
Why We Eat the Lord's Supper, Part III
Why We Eat the Lord's Supper, Part I
Why We Eat the Lord's Supper, Part II
Why We Eat the Lord's Supper, Part III
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