Sowing Generously

Friday, August 31, 2012, 5:20 a.m. – the song “Blessed Are You” was playing in my mind when I awoke this morning. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 2 Corinthians 8-9 (quoting selected verses from the NIV 1984):

And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

…For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

…Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.”

…Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:

“He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;

    his righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Grace of Giving

Paul wanted the Corinthian churches to know about the grace of giving that God had given the Macedonian churches. This is a significant first sentence on this subject. He was letting the Corinthian Christians know, first of all, that the ability to give so generously out of severe trial and extreme poverty did not come from the people themselves, but God gave them that ability to do so, and they chose to accept and to exercise that gift, apparently without any prompting from anyone. This kind of giving does not come from having an abundance of material wealth, but comes from hearts willing to obey God in doing what is right to help others in need, often stretching our faith in the process. 

They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to help those in need, in keeping with God’s will. This is also significant. Some people may interpret this as giving a tithe to the Lord first and then giving above and beyond the tithe to help the needy. I can’t say for certain that was what was intended here, and I don’t believe the New Testament requires the tithe. Yet, what it requires is actually more, for we are to give everything we have to the Lord, for all we have came from him anyway, and we are to let him decide how to use what he has so generously given to us. In this way, we give to the Lord first by committing our lives to him in full surrender, and then we let him direct our paths, including our giving of our money, resources, time, energies, talents, gifts, love, and mercy, etc.

Needed Encouragement

Paul used the Macedonian Christians as an example of this gift of generosity in action to inspire and to encourage the Corinthians to do likewise. He also used the testament of how they were excelling in other areas of their Christian walks to encourage them to go the extra mile in this grace of giving. He did not command them to do so, but he certainly strongly urged them and hoped they would be encouraged to do so.

Likewise, these historical references in Scripture to this gift of giving should help convict, inspire and encourage us to also give ourselves completely to the Lord and then to the ministry of meeting the needs of others. This fits, too, with the two greatest commandments, through which Jesus summarized all the law and the prophets. If we love God with all our hearts, minds and souls and we love our neighbors as we truly love ourselves, then no one should have to encourage us to give of ourselves to meet others’ needs. Obviously we can’t meet all the needs in the world, so we need to pray for wisdom to know which ones God wants us to meet.

Christ as our Example

If the example of the Macedonian Christians, and even the testament of how they were doing in other areas of their Christian lives, was not enough to inspire the Corinthians to give generously, the example Paul gave of Jesus Christ giving up all he had in heaven to come to earth, to take on human flesh, to suffer as we suffer, to be tempted as we are tempted, and yet without sin, and then to die on a cross, taking upon himself the sins of the entire world so we could go free from sin, should have inspired them to want to give of themselves to meet the needs of others, just as Jesus Christ did for us when he died for our sins.

The Corinthian Christians were not wanting entirely in this gift of giving, though, as they had been the first to give the year before. So, Paul urged Titus to go to the Corinthian churches to bring to completion this “act of grace” on their part. Perhaps they were just being slow about responding, and needs were not being met, but whatever the reason, Paul felt it necessary to encourage them to complete (finish) the work they had begun.

Doesn’t this sound just like us sometimes, though? We get a good start, and we mean well, and we begin with much enthusiasm and earnestness, but somewhere along the way we get distracted, forgetful, sidetracked, busy with our own lives, preoccupied, or just slack. So, we need to be given that encouragement to do what is right in order to meet the needs of others. We need to be reminded that there are those who are truly in need, and we need to pray how we can best meet those needs.

Equality

This may sound like socialism to some, but it is volunteer, not forced equality. The encouragement here was that we should not sacrifice our own needs or our family’s real needs in order to give to others beyond what they really need. This is a very important principle here in many respects. The Bible teaches that we should take care of the needs of our own family, so this type of giving should never be at the sacrifice of our own family’s legitimate needs, especially if it is to make others see that we are being “generous.” Wisdom should always be exercised here. We should not do without so that others can live beyond what they really need. We just shouldn’t live beyond what we really need if we are capable of helping those to whom God has impressed it upon our hearts to give generously.

So, with that being said, that also raises the question as to what are legitimate needs. Jesus Christ died for our legitimate need of salvation, not to fulfill our fleshly wants or desires. So, we need to be discerning about what are real needs and what are not real needs, too. For instance, we can give and give and give fish to those who need food, or we can teach them how to fish. Paul is not encouraging a welfare state. In fact, Scripture teaches that if a man does not work, he should not eat. Handouts to those who are capable of working are not helping people and handouts may not be meeting the real need, which could be for work. Some people can’t find work, but we can put them to work, if they are able, so they are earning what we give them, to a certain degree.

I don’t know what the needs were in the time of Paul’s day or why people needed to have gifts given to them. They could have been farmers and had a bad year, or they could have been sheep herders and the sheep got diseased. Sometimes we will experience situations beyond our control and we’ll need help, but in helping others, we need to first of all show mercy, and perhaps meet the most urgent needs, but then anything long term, we should determine what the real needs are, and what can be done to best meet those needs. I think a lot of times we get wants and needs confused and so we don’t really help people if we are not discerning about the real needs and willing to give of ourselves to help meet the real needs.

The Blessing of Giving

“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” This is not speaking merely of this grace of giving to meet financial needs. People have all kinds of needs – for salvation, encouragement, hope, healing, comfort, exhortation (strong encouragement), counsel, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, practical helps in how to do stuff, an extra hand, a hug, urging and spurring on to good works, money, work, etc. And, God has gifted us all in many ways in meeting those needs, too. The thing for us to do is to pray for wisdom, and then to act upon what God shows us, and to reach out and meet the legitimate needs of those to whom God leads us. And, God will supply us with all we need to do his will.

Not only will he supply all we need, but we will be blessed richly in so many ways because we obeyed God in giving of ourselves to meet the legitimate needs of others. Then we can continue to be generous with our time, talents, energies, knowledge, wisdom, money, etc. And, God will enlarge our harvest of righteousness, i.e. he will grow us spiritually through it, and he will impact other lives for Jesus Christ because of our willingness to give of ourselves to meet the legitimate needs of others, following the example of Jesus Christ.

Blessed Are You / An Original Work / August 29, 2012

Based off Luke 6:20-49 NIV 1984

“Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who are poor

For God’s kingdom is yours.

(Kingdom is yours)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who are hungry,

You’ll be satisfied.

(Be satisfied)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who weep now,

For you will laugh with joy.

(Will laugh with joy)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you when men hate

And reject you because of Christ.”

(Because of Christ)

“Rejoice in that;

Rejoice in that day and

Leap for joy; great your reward.

(Great your reward)

But I tell you;

But I tell you to love those

Who hate you; do them good.

(Do good to them)

Pray for those who;

Pray for those who treat you wrong

And say kind things of them.

(Kind things of them)

Do to others;

Do to others as you would have

Them do; have them do to you.”

(Them do to you)

“If you love those;

If you love those who love you,

What praise is there for you?

(What praise for you?)

Because Christ is;

Because Christ is kind,

Be merciful, just like He is.

(Just like He is)

Forgive others;

Forgive others their offense

Against you; be ye kind.

(Be kind to them)

Hear My words and;

Hear My words and put them

Into practice, then you’ll be fulfilled.”

(You’ll be fulfilled)

http://youtu.be/y31ouWaLdSU

Exemplary Lives

Thursday, August 30, 2012, 6:06 a.m. – the Lord woke me with the song “Blessed Are You.” Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 2 Corinthians 6:3-10; 7:10 (NIV 1984):

We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything…

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

We Commend Ourselves

Paul said that he and his fellow ministers of the gospel made it their goal to live exemplary lives (above reproach) so that their ministry would not be discredited in any way, in order that no one would be hindered from receiving Christ because of how they acted. Wow! I wish every minister of the gospel today would have that same attitude about ministry.

In fact, as servants of God, they made it their goal and practice to live in such a way as to demonstrate that they were true servants of the Lord Jesus. They endured patiently many troubles, hardships, beatings, imprisonments, hard work, sleepless nights, hunger, poverty, dishonor, misrepresentation, and persecution for their testimonies for Jesus Christ.

In all this, they exemplified purity, patience, kindness, sincere love, truthful speech and Christ’s righteousness. They did so in the fullness of the Holy Spirit within them and in the power of God. Whether they were treated justly, as they deserved, or unjustly, they endured all for the sake of Jesus Christ and his gospel of salvation, and for the salvation of human lives. Even in times of sorrow, they found cause for rejoicing. Even in poverty, they recognized that true riches are spiritual, not of this world, and they, through their witness for Christ made many rich in salvation. Amen! Even though they had little in the way of worldly possessions, yet they recognized that they possessed everything of eternal value. What a great attitude to have! I pray that I would have this same kind of attitude under similar circumstances as theirs and for the same reasons. What a great example to follow!

We Are Blessed

We are blessed (favored; cared for; provided for; protected; and/or gifted) of God when we are poor (humble; contrite; and repentant) in spirit, as were the apostles, and when we hunger and thirst after righteousness, as they did; when we have sorrow and have anguish in our hearts over lost sinners or wandering Christians, and when we are hated and rejected because of our faith in and our testimony for Jesus Christ. We are to rejoice, as did the apostles, that we are counted worthy to suffer for the sake of the gospel. Yet, we must be careful to love those who hate us by praying for them, by doing good (what is beneficial) for them, and by saying kind things about them. We should always treat others the way in which we want to be treated. And, it is of no credit to us if we love only those who love us. We must show the love and mercy of Christ even to those who despise and mistreat us.

Blessed Are You / An Original Work / August 29, 2012

Based off Luke 6:20-49 NIV 1984

“Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who are poor

For God’s kingdom is yours.

(Kingdom is yours)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who are hungry,

You’ll be satisfied.

(Be satisfied)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who weep now,

For you will laugh with joy.

(Will laugh with joy)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you when men hate

And reject you because of Christ.”

(Because of Christ)

“Rejoice in that;

Rejoice in that day and

Leap for joy; great your reward.

(Great your reward)

But I tell you;

But I tell you to love those

Who hate you; do them good.

(Do good to them)

Pray for those who;

Pray for those who treat you wrong

And say kind things of them.

(Kind things of them)

Do to others;

Do to others as you would have

Them do; have them do to you.”

(Them do to you)

“If you love those;

If you love those who love you,

What praise is there for you?

(What praise for you?)

Because Christ is;

Because Christ is kind,

Be merciful, just like He is.

(Just like He is)

Forgive others;

Forgive others their offense

Against you; be ye kind.

(Be kind to them)

Hear My words and;

Hear My words and put them

Into practice, then you’ll be fulfilled.”

(You’ll be fulfilled)

http://youtu.be/y31ouWaLdSU

Blessed Are You

We are blessed (favored; cared for; provided for; protected; and/or gifted) of God when we are poor (humble) in spirit, when we hunger and thirst after righteousness, when we have sorrow and anguish in our hearts over lost sinners or wandering Christians, and when we are hated and rejected because of our faith in and our testimony for Jesus Christ. We are to rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for the sake of the gospel. Yet, we must be careful to love those who hate us by praying for them, doing good (what is beneficial) for them, and by saying kind things about them. We should always treat others the way in which we want to be treated. And, it is of no credit to us if we love only those who love us. We must show the love and mercy of Christ even to those who despise and mistreat us.

Blessed Are You / An Original Work / August 29, 2012

Based off Luke 6:20-49 NIV 1984

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who are poor

For God’s kingdom is yours.

(Kingdom is yours)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who are hungry,

You’ll be satisfied.

(Be satisfied)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you who weep now,

For you will laugh with joy.

(Will laugh with joy)

Blessed are you;

Blessed are you when men hate

And reject you because of Christ.

(Because of Christ)

Rejoice in that;

Rejoice in that day and

Leap for joy; great your reward.

(Great your reward)

But I tell you;

But I tell you to love those

Who hate you; do them good.

(Do good to them)

Pray for those who;

Pray for those who treat you wrong

And say kind things of them.

(Kind things of them)

Do to others;

Do to others as you would have

Them do; have them do to you.

(Them do to you)

If you love those;

If you love those who love you,

What praise is there for you?

(What praise for you?)

Because Christ is;

Because Christ is kind,

Be merciful, just like He is.

(Just like He is)

Forgive others;

Forgive others their offense

Against you; be ye kind.

(Be kind to them)

Hear my words and;

Hear my words and put them

Into practice, then you’ll be fulfilled.

(You’ll be fulfilled)

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Song lyrics and sheet music (free):

https://sites.google.com/site/psalmshymnssongs2/home/songs/blessed-are-you

Song on video:

http://youtu.be/y31ouWaLdSU

The Time of God's Favor

Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 7:44 a.m. – the Lord woke me once with the song “He Keeps Me Singing,” and then again with the song “Trust Him.” When I finished reading the passage of scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:1-6:2, the song “When We All Get To Heaven” began playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.

He Keeps Me Singing / Luther B. Bridgers

There’s within my heart a melody

Jesus whispers sweet and low,

“Fear not, I am with thee, peace be still,”

In all of life’s ebb and flow.

Though sometimes He leads through waters deep,

Trials fall across the way,

Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep

See His foot-prints all the way.

Soon He’s coming back to welcome me

Far beyond the starry sky;

I shall wing my flight to world’s unknown,

I shall reign with Him on high.

2 Corinthians 5:1-6:2 (NIV 1984): Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men… For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says,

“In the time of my favor I heard you,

    and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

The Earthly Tent

Although our Bible is divided up into chapters and verses, these “books” of the New Testament are, in many cases, one complete letter, so, oftentimes the thoughts are continuous from one chapter to another. The thoughts expressed at the beginning of chapter five, in this case, thus, are a continuation of the thoughts in chapter four.

At the end of chapter four we read that we should not lose heart. Even though we go through heartaches, troubles, hardships, persecutions, and rejections for the sake of the gospel, or although we may even suffer physically for our testimony for Jesus Christ, or we may face the reality of death for our faith, the Lord Jesus is there to inwardly renew us day by day, so we have hope. What suffering we may have to endure in this life for our witness for Jesus Christ pales by comparison to the glory that will be ours in heaven one day. So, we keep focused on what is eternal (unseen) and not on what is of this earth (seen).

The earthly tent we live in is our human fleshly bodies. If our bodies are destroyed through the natural process of death and decay, or through our lives being taken unnaturally, perhaps even because of our testimony for Jesus Christ, we have the hope of an eternal house in heaven; a spiritual house, not a physical one. When this happens, we will no longer be troubled with pain, suffering, decay, or sin. So, we, who believe in Jesus Christ, should never fear death. In fact, we should long for the day when we will be with our Lord forever in glory! Amen!

We Groan

We groan and are burdened in this life, because we wish to not be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, Paul said, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. I believe Paul is speaking here metaphorically, and not just about earthly bodies versus heavenly bodies. We groan and are burdened in these earthly bodies because of pain, sorrow, weakness, persecutions, rejections and sin, and we long to no longer be in these bodies of flesh and to suffer physically or emotionally, or to be tempted of Satan or by our own fleshly desires to sin.

What is mortal (earthly; worldly; human; sinful) is swallowed up by life, not just at our death, at the coming of Jesus, and/or at the time when our physical bodies will be resurrected and we will be given spiritual (glorified) bodies. What is mortal was swallowed up by life when Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins so that we would be spared the ultimate penalty of sin (spiritual death; eternal punishment) and so we would be free of slavery to (the control of) sin day-to-day.

When we invite Jesus Christ into our lives to be Lord and Savior of our lives, we enter into relationship with him via death to our old way of living to please ourselves (in sin), and we are resurrected spiritually to new lives in Jesus Christ. But, the Christian life is a process of salvation (we are saved; we are being saved; we will be saved) that will not be completed until Jesus Christ returns to earth for his bride and to judge the earth and its inhabitants. So, the Christian life is also a process of the mortal (worldly; sinful) being swallowed up by life (spiritual life in Jesus Christ). And, this process can be very painful. So, we long for the day when our salvation will be completed and we will be with our Lord forever and will no longer live in these earthly tents (bodies), but we will be clothed in our heavenly dwelling!

God’ Purpose

God made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. What purpose? – Not just so that one day we can go to heaven to be with Jesus/God forever, but so that the mortal (worldly; sinful) can be swallowed up by life (spiritual in Christ) while we are still here on the face of this earth. He made us to be holy. He made us to worship him, to love him, to honor him and to obey him. Sin separated us from God and that perfect fellowship with him, but thanks be to God, Jesus Christ bridged that gap that sin created so that we can have restored fellowship with God through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. And, the mortal can be swallowed up by our new lives in Christ!

The Spirit was given to us as a deposit (security) guaranteeing what is to come. When we believe in Jesus Christ via turning from our lives of sin and turning to God in faith and obedience, which is the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, as we cooperate with that work, he fills and empowers us with His Holy Spirit to be able to live holy lives pleasing to God. We cannot do this in our own flesh. I know! The Spirit within us enables us to put off the misdeeds of the body (sin) and to put on our new lives in Christ Jesus, created to be like Christ in true holiness and righteousness. He is the one who works in us this process of salvation (or sanctification), as we cooperate fully with that work, through to its completion.

Christ’s Love Compels Us

Because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross in dying for our sins and in being resurrected in conquering death, hell, Satan and sin, we are able to live new lives in Jesus Christ free from the fear of damnation, free from the control of sin over our daily lives, and free to love, worship, honor and obey our Lord with joy. I know what it is like to be in slavery to sin, and I know what it is like to be liberated from that bondage, and I don’t want to ever go back, nor do I want to see anyone else continue in slavery to sin, but would that all would come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (master). His love for me and his saving grace are what compel me to want to share that same love and truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ with others so that they, too, can be set free, and can come to know my wonderful Lord, and to know the blessings of obedience, forgiveness and daily fellowship with him.

Jesus Christ died, not just so that we could have our “ticket” into heaven, but so that we would forsake our lives of sin, and of living to please ourselves, and so we would now live to please our commanding officer, Jesus Christ, in all that we do and say. I know this is my goal to please him in every way. If we are truly in Christ Jesus by God’s grace, through genuine faith, we are new creatures in Christ Jesus. We do not just clean up the old man. We don’t put Christ over top our bodies of flesh. We don’t grow into choosing to obey him, even though the Christian life is a process of sanctification. Yet, true belief in Christ understands that it means that our old lives of sin (living to please ourselves) are now done away with, and our new lives in Christ (living to please Him) have now come into being! Again, all of this is from God and is a working of the Spirit of God, as we cooperate fully with that work. This is a gift of God, not of human works, lest anyone should boast.

Be Reconciled to God

So, we implore you on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled (made right) with God. Jesus Christ died and took upon himself the sins of the entire world (the worst pain of all) so that we would be free of the control of sin and so we would be free to live righteous lives in God, no longer to please ourselves, but to please our Lord (master; boss) and Savior. If someone is telling you a gospel other than this, they are selling you a bill of goods, i.e. they are trying to make you believe something is true that is not true.

Salvation requires that we die to our old lives of sin so that we can be resurrected (spiritually) to live new lives in Christ. You don’t want to find out in the end that you received God’s grace in vain (unsuccessfully) because you trusted in a false gospel that does not tell you that faith in Christ means death to your old way of life. So, if you have not done so, I encourage you today to turn from your life of sin (living to please yourself) and turn to follow Jesus Christ in obedience and full surrender and submission to his will for your life, making it your goal to please him in every way, too. Now is the time. You don’t know if you have tomorrow. Make that choice today.

Trust Him / An Original Work / August 15, 2012

Based off Psalm 27:14

Wait for the Lord; be of courage;

Be strong and take heart today.

Do not fear when foes attack you.

Trust in God always.

He will rescue you in times

Of trouble and distress,

He’ll comfort you in all ways

As you trust Him with your life today.

Trust in Him always.

God is with you; He’ll not leave you.

You can always count on Him.

He will fulfill all He promised

Before you began.

His word teaches you

All that you need for this life.

Let Him lead you. Open your heart;

Let his truth envelope you today.

Listen and obey.

Love your Lord God; follow Jesus.

Repent of your sins today.

Make Him your Lord and your master;

Trust Him and obey.

Follow Him where’er He leads you

In His service; be His witness,

Telling others about Jesus’

Price that He did pay

For your sins always.

http://youtu.be/ZMz-qAqocQM

When we all get to heaven,

What a day of rejoicing that will be!

When we all see Jesus,

We’ll sing and shout the victory!

http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/When_We_All_Get_to_Heaven/

Tell Them the Truth

Monday, August 27, 2012, 9:00 a.m. – the Lord woke me this morning with the song “Hear my Voice” (based off Psalm 27) playing in my mind - http://youtu.be/r1YYnNNE2NM. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 2 Corinthians 4 (NIV 1984):

Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you…

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Setting forth the truth plainly

All of us who are followers of Jesus Christ have been given the ministry of sharing the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are Christ’s witnesses, and we are all commissioned of Jesus Christ to make disciples (of Christ) of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey everything Christ commanded his disciples. Paul and the other apostles set the example here for us in how we are to conduct ourselves as ministers of the gospel.

We are to renounce secret and shameful ways, we are not to use deception or distort the truth of the gospel, i.e. the word of God, but we are to set forth the truth plainly in all integrity, sincerity and honesty. We are not to veil the gospel in any way, i.e. we are not to cover up any parts of it or mask it in order to conceal, disguise or obscure certain parts of it from our listeners in order to make it more palatable and acceptable to the listener, so that he or she will readily accept its message. The message of the cross should be an offense to the unsaved.

If the truth of the gospel is veiled (concealed) at all, it should not be us doing it. It should be because the “god of this age,” i.e. Satan has blinded men and women’s hearts from hearing and understanding the truth (light) of the gospel, either for the purpose of deception in order to produce false converts who have been given a false hope of eternity with God, or else to turn people away from the gospel altogether. I believe Satan’s greatest weapon against us is deception, and his goal is not so much to get us to not buy into Christianity at all but to get us to accept a fake version of Christianity that will fill us with false hope so that we will not be saved in the end, but will believe we are saved.

So, in what ways is the gospel being “veiled” today? And, what does it mean to set forth the truth plainly?

The Concealment Vs. Plain Truth

Many ministers of the gospel in today’s church in America have bought into what I believe is a watered-down (veiled) gospel message that purposefully leaves out parts of the truth that are necessary for salvation. I believe many of these ministers know the truth, and I have even heard some preach the truth at previous periods of time in their ministry, but they have since changed their presentation of the gospel to what I call “Gospel Lite”. It gets them greater numbers of conversions and baptisms, for sure. I don’t know if this is their motivation or not, but it is questionable as to how many of those conversions are genuine, since they were not given the whole truth of what it means to come to Christ.

The main components left out (removed) from the gospel in this “Gospel Lite” are the necessity of repentance (a complete change of heart, mind and action away from sin), and the requirement of obedience to Christ and to his commands for salvation. Although these preachers may use scripture having to do with salvation, they will take the scriptures out of context to make them say what they want them to say.

For instance, an example of what I refer to as “Gospel Lite” is a presentation of the gospel that says that all one has to do is to invite Jesus Christ into his heart and then he is saved, he has his hope of eternal life in heaven sealed, and no one can take it away.

With regard to the asking of Jesus into our hearts, a passage that some have used out of context is Romans 10:9-10: “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Paul, at the beginning of Rom. 10, expressed his heart’s desire for the salvation of his fellow Israelites (the Jews). They did not submit to God’s righteousness but sought to establish their own. They wanted to gain merit with God by following the law, yet Christ was the fulfillment of the law and salvation came through faith in him alone. The word of faith the apostles were proclaiming was: (scripture quoted above). So, what would that have meant to a Jew at that period of time? Jesus Christ was rejected of the Jews as their Messiah, though there were Jews who believed. They did not accept that he had risen from the dead and that he was their hope of salvation. So, for a Jew back then to confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord, he was making a public statement that he accepted that Jesus Christ – despised, hated and crucified – was indeed God, and was their promised seed (Messiah), that he did rise from the dead, ascend to heaven, and that he did atone for our sins once for all. This was a BIGGIE! No Jew would have done that unless he was totally committed to the cross of Christ in his life, because making such a public statement could get him killed.

Yet, to use this scripture as the totality of the gospel when giving the gospel presentation to people today so that they might be saved, especially here in America, can leave the listener with a much different understanding, I believe. For us to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord can be nothing more than just words we say, or our understanding of the word “Lord” may be merely a title given to Jesus Christ which holds no real significance for us like it would have for a Jew of that period of time. How often do we say “Lord” and not even think about the meaning of the word? It means we are saying Jesus is now boss of our lives and our lives are now given over to him in submission and surrender to his will for our lives. For us to believe in our hearts that Christ was raised from the dead also does not hold the significance that it did for a Jew of that time, and it can be merely just an intellectual acknowledgement that Jesus Christ did indeed exist, die, and that he was resurrected.

Yet, what is true here for us is that coming to Christ not only means believing in him with our hearts (via turning from sin and turning to obey God), but it means we must acknowledge before men with our mouths that we love him and that he is truly the boss of our lives, but mostly we do this with our lives, because our actions speak louder than words. True faith will let others know how they, too, can be saved. And, true faith will tell the truth about the gospel and will not veil it on purpose to make it more acceptable. All we have to do is go back two chapters in Romans to see the truth that Paul and his companions set forth plainly. He said, “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

With regard to this teaching about no one being able to snatch believers in Jesus out of God’s hand, the context of this, found in John 10, speaks of those who do not enter the sheep pen (the kingdom of heaven) by the gate (Jesus; the way to salvation), but come in through another way (a false gospel; deception). They are thieves and liars (false teachers of the gospel). Yet, Jesus Christ is our true shepherd, as well as he is the gate, and whoever enters through him is saved. The mark of true sheep (true followers of Christ) is that they know Jesus, he knows them, they know his voice, they listen to him and they follow him (obey him). So, only those who are truly listening to Jesus (spending time at his feet each day in his word and in prayer) and who are following the Lord in obedience are those who cannot be snatched out of the Father’s and Jesus’ hand. They will not follow the voice of a stranger (a false teacher of the gospel). A stranger (false teacher) will not be able to snatch them away from their pure devotion to Jesus Christ because they will recognize what is God’s voice and what is the voice of the stranger, and they will follow Jesus.

It may be taught that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, that he rose again, that he ascended into heaven, and that when we follow Christ in baptism that we are identifying with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection, which means our sins were crucified, buried and that Jesus rose triumphant over our sins so we can go to heaven one day. Yet, what is left out (is veiled) is that when we come to Christ we not only identify ourselves with him in what he did for us on the cross, but we appropriate what he did for us to our daily lives.

In other words, coming to Christ means we die to our old way of living in sin, and we are given new lives in Christ, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (see Eph. 4:17-24). Jesus said that if anyone wants to come after him, he must deny (die to) himself, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow him (obey him and his commandments). If we want to hold on to our old lives of sin, we will lose them for eternity, but if we lose our lives (die to our old lives of sin) for Christ, we will gain eternal life with God forever (see Luke 9). Jesus also said that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood we have no life (eternal) in us (see John 6). To eat his flesh and drink his blood means to partake, experience, consume, participate in and/or to involve ourselves in his death, not just in acknowledging what he did for us on the cross, and not just in receiving (accepting) what he did for us in dying for our sins, but to undergo death ourselves to our old lives of sin so that we can live victoriously in Jesus Christ over the control of sin day-to-day.

Seek the Lord - http://youtu.be/Ny56wgNs4UQ

Do Not Lose Heart

To teach the “plain truth” of the gospel may get us rejected, persecuted, abandoned, falsely accused, and hated. Jesus said we would be hated as he was hated. He was hated because he testified that what the world did was evil (see John 7:7), i.e. he confronted people with their sins. When we tell the truth of the gospel, which confronts sin and calls for repentance and obedience, we, too, will be hated. Yet, we should not lose heart, because through our suffering, Jesus Christ may be revealed in us. Though we may be going through hardships or persecutions, God is at work in renewing our spirits within us, if we will let him. The Lord allows us to go through hardship to remind us, I believe, that we cannot do this ourselves, but we are completely dependent upon him, so that if anyone gets the glory, it is God. Whatever persecutions, rejections or difficulties we may face in this life for “setting forth the truth plainly,” they pale by comparison with our eternity with God forever. So, we fix our eyes on eternity and what we know God can accomplish through our lives in the lives of others, though we may not yet see those results (the unseen). And we keep on keeping on.

A Believer’s Prayer / An Original Work / July 31, 2012

With my whole heart,

Lord, I pray to be Yours,

And Yours always.

Lead me in Your truth today.

May I love You, and obey.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

When I sin, may I confess;

Bow before You when I pray;

Live for You and You always.

Love You, Jesus,

You’re my friend.

Life with You will never end.

You are with me through each day,

Giving love and peace always.

You will ne’er abandon me.

From my sin You set me free.

You died on that cruel tree,

So I’d live eternally.

Soon You’re coming back for me;

From this world to set me free;

Live with You eternally.

Oh, what joy that brings to me.

I will walk with You in white;

A pure bride,

I’ve been made right

By the blood of Jesus Christ;

Pardoned by His sacrifice.

http://youtu.be/js4BRWuTRSI

The Fragrance of Life

Sunday, August 26, 2012, 7:28 a.m. – the Lord woke me with the song “Love Never Fails.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 2 Corinthians 2:14-3:18 (NIV 1984):

 
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
 
Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant —not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

 
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
 
Sweet Aroma
 
Paul said that Christ spreads through us, his followers, the fragrance of the knowledge of him. We are the aroma (smell) of Christ to those outside of faith in Christ who are perishing in their sins, and the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved, i.e. to those who have accepted Jesus Christ by faith and are walking in daily fellowship with him. To the unsaved we are the smell of death, but to those who are being saved, we are the fragrance of life. This “aroma” comes through our testimony and witness for Christ, and through our sharing of the gospel, but most of all it comes through our lives as Christ is seen through us. Yet, is this the message we are getting in most evangelical churches today?
 
I find so many of today’s churches are trying to make the gospel a sweet smell to the unsaved, i.e. they try to make it appealing to the flesh of men and they don’t tell them that faith in Jesus Christ means they have to die to their old way of life of sin and that they have to walk in obedience to Christ. If they did, then we would be to the unsaved the smell of death and to those being saved the aroma of life. Yet, I often find this backwards, and thus the unsaved find the “gospel” appealing because they see it as a free ticket to heaven without any cost (no change necessary) to their lives. Yet, if we teach the true gospel, it is often an offense, even to those who claim they are being saved, because it confronts them with their sin and it calls them to repent of sin and to walk in obedience to Christ. Yet, the cross is an offense. If we are not offending unsaved people (or even professing believers) with the gospel, then maybe we are not preaching the real gospel.
 
So, when Paul stated here that the letter (of the law) kills but the Spirit gives life, he was not at all meaning that teaching repentance and obedience kills the spirit of men or the freedom of the Spirit we have in Christ, or that teaching grace absent of such requirements is what truly gives people life in the Spirit.
 
The letter of the law demands that we keep the law or we die (spiritually), yet Jesus Christ died for our sins, taking the punishment of our sins upon himself, so that through faith in Jesus Christ we are set free from the law of sin and death, which is when the Spirit then gives us life. We will never be good enough. We cannot do enough to earn or to deserve our salvation. It is by God’s grace alone that we are saved, through faith, yet faith must prove itself to be genuine by our actions. Abraham was considered righteous before God because of his faith, yet his faith was proved by what he did. James talked about this much, and so did Paul. Freedom in Christ is not freedom to live however we want. We are free from the control of (slavery to) sin so that we no longer obey its lustful desires, and we are free to worship our Lord in spirit and in truth. In Christ Jesus, we reflect the Lord’s glory, and we are being transformed into his likeness day-by-day.
 
Law and Grace
 
I think this subject of law and grace can be very confusing and is often misunderstood and misinterpreted. Paul talked much in his writings about law and grace because he was in that transitional period of time between the old and the new covenants, and between law and grace when Jewish believers in Jesus Christ were struggling to understand how this all worked practically in their lives on a day-to-day basis. They had grown up believing in the one true God and had followed his commandments. Now they believed in Jesus Christ, the one true God, i.e. God’s Son, i.e. God the Son, the second person of our triune God who had been promised by God to Abraham and to his descendants. So, they had to transition from following the old way of the written code to the new way of grace and of the Spirit. Their God had not changed, but their way of relating to him had changed to some extent.
 
So, in the letter to the Galatians Paul explained that the purpose of the law was that it was added because of transgressions until the Seed (Jesus Christ) to whom the promise referred had come (see Gal. 3:19). So, Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the law. The law brought conviction of sin and it brought spiritual death. No one could be saved by following the law, because no one could keep it perfectly. Jesus had that discussion with Nicodemus who felt as though he kept the law pretty well. Yet, Jesus told him he had to be born spiritually from above. He had already been born physically, but he needed a spiritual birth. Jesus told the woman at the well that he could give her living water that would be like a spring welling up into her unto eternal life so that she would never thirst spiritually again. In both cases he was talking about spiritual life through himself, and he was letting them know that he was the fulfillment of the promise and that salvation and eternal life came through faith in him.
 
The law brought with it spiritual death, because it made us conscious of sin and it condemned us to die. So, Jesus Christ took on our punishment by taking our sins upon himself when he died on the cross. He crucified our sins with him, buried them with him, and then he rose from the dead triumphant over death, hell, Satan and sin so that we could go free from the ultimate penalty of sin (eternal damnation), and so we could be free of the control of sin on a day-to-day basis. So, by Jesus Christ dying for our sins, through faith in him we are set free of the curse of the law, which is spiritual death (eternity without God and eternal punishment). Yet, Paul makes it quite clear in his writings that now that we are under grace it does not mean we are free from the requirement to obey Christ’s commandments. Grace does not equal lawlessness. Grace requires repentance and obedience to Christ and his commands. The difference now is that the law of God is written in our hearts so that we want to obey it out of love for God, and that we are no longer, if we are in Christ, under the condemnation of the law, for Jesus set us free.
 
So, what does this mean for us in all practicality? It means, for one, that we are not required to follow all the Old Testament ceremonial and purification laws. Jesus Christ summed up the law for us in two commandments: 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength, and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. We learn in Romans 13 that love is the fulfillment of the law, and in Galatians 6 that if we carry each other’s burdens that we fulfill the law of Christ. As well, we learn in Romans 3 that, although we are not justified (saved) by observing the law, that does not mean we nullify the law by our faith, but rather we uphold the law. What this means is that faith and grace are not equal to lawlessness. Under grace we still have to die to our lives of sin and we still have to obey Christ’s commandments. We learn in scripture that we must run the race of this Christian life by following the rules, but the rules are not based in external rituals and rites, but are based in love, faith and a desire to want to please God and to demonstrate his love to others. God still has standards by which we must live our lives. And, that is love.
 
Love Never Fails / An Original Work / August 20, 2012

Based off 1 Corinthians 13 NIV
 
If I speak
With tongues of men and angels,
But do not have love,
My speech is but noise;
It sounds like thunder from above.
If I have the gift of preaching,
Knowledge, faith and prophecy,
But I do not love my brothers,
Oh, what vanity!
If I give all I possess
To help a neighbor who’s in need,
But I do not love my sisters,
I gain not a thing.
 
Love is patient; love is kind;
It does not envy; is not proud.
It is not rude; not self-seeking;
Selflessly gives out.
Love does not delight in evil,
But rejoices with the truth;
Protects always; hopes and trusts,
And always perseveres.
Love is not easily angered;
Keeps no record of the wrongs.
It forgives when wrong’s intended;
Returns hate with love.
 
Love will never fail when it is
God’s love reaching out through us,
Selfless in its care for others;
Yielding to the cross.
Prophecies and tongues
And knowledge,
Wisdom, teaching, miracles,
Gifts of healing, helping others –
These will all be stilled.
When perfection comes
The imperfect will surely disappear.
Faith and hope and love remain;
The greatest of these, love.
 
http://youtu.be/wNi1-ZSy2Q0