Thursday, September
13, 2012, 8:00 a.m. – the Lord woke me this morning with the song “For Our Nation” followed by “Your Heart” playing in my mind.
Your
Heart / An Original Work / October 24, 2011
Tenderly
He speaks, softly so.
Gently
He calls - His will to know.
Won’t
you invite Him in your heart?
Humbly
accept Him now.
Bow
before Him with contrite heart.
May
you obey His will.
Seek
Him with all your heart and soul,
And
your heart, His Spirit fill.
Jesus
died to free you from sin,
Giving
you new life to begin,
Walking
with Him ev’ry hour,
Obeying
His commands.
Won’t
you trust Him to be your Lord?
His
grace you can’t afford.
Freely
He gives you peace within,
When
you turn from all your sin.
Live
for Him ev’ry passing day.
Meet
with Him; read His word and pray.
Serve
Him in the way He leads you,
Doing
all that He says.
Do
unto others as you would
Have
them do unto you.
Love
them with Jesus love within you.
Your
hearts to God be true.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Ephesians 2:1-10 (NIV 1984):
As for you, you were
dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you
followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived
among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and
following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of
wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us
alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you
have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show
the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ
Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For
we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.
Works Vs. Grace
If you can imagine with me a set of scales, not like my
bathroom scales I use today, but like ones they used to use in
Bible times for measuring weight of objects, I would like to illustrate for you
what this passage of scripture is talking about. Imagine with me, if you will,
works-based salvation on the left scale and all-grace on the right scale. If
the scale is tilted one direction or the other, it is not in balance with the
truths of God’s word, which is represented by the scale itself perfectly
balanced.
Many theologians have determined that Paul’s writings mainly
focus on the subject of works-based salvation (following the letter of the law)
vs. God’s grace, and that his writings are in conflict with those of James who
teaches that works are the evidence of genuine conversion. Yet, they are not in
conflict with each other, if properly understood in light of the truths of
scripture. Yes, Paul taught much against trying to earn our salvation by
keeping the letter of the law, and for salvation by grace alone. Yet, he framed
this teaching in a context of the cross of Christ in our lives and spiritual
works in our lives as evidence of genuine faith in Christ, too.
Misunderstandings often come about concerning God’s grace when we take
scriptures out of their proper context and try to make them stand alone.
You were Dead
Paul began this section of his letter to the Ephesian church
by describing our sinful condition outside of faith in Christ. It is vital that
we get this! Faith in Jesus Christ is not just positional sanctification, but
it is progressive sanctification. In other words, when we invite Jesus Christ
into our lives to be Lord and Savior he does not merely give us our ticket into
heaven or to positionally make us right with God. He radically changes and
transforms our lives that we live while we are still on the face of this earth.
The things that describe our lives outside of Christ should not still describe
our lives once we believe in Christ. That should all be gone! We died to sin.
How can we live in it any longer? (Cf. Ro. 6:1-10)
So, if the description Paul gave to what a life is like when
still dead in sin, still describes your life today, and you claim to be in
Christ, then something is seriously wrong! If we are still following the ways
(patterns, theologies, philosophies, thoughts) of this world, then we need a
heart transformation from God. I remember coming to a place in my life,
probably more than once, when I began to ask myself how my life was any different
from those outside of Christ. I worked a job, did Christian ministry, but I
watched the same TV shows and movies that gave either applause to the sins of
men or made them as “no big deal” or allowed me to be entertained by sinful
behavior in mankind. Sure, I had my devotions each day, I prayed, I did
ministry, but other than that, my life was really not any different.
I gave way to sinful thoughts and behavior, often making an
excuse that I needed to “relax” or be “entertained.” I thought I could put up
with a little “poop” in my brownie in order to enjoy the brownie. That is what
we do, you know, when we allow the ways and thinking and behaviors of this
world of evil (sin) to enter into our lives, even a little bit.
Alive with Christ
So, if we have now been made alive with Christ, it should
mean that the way we lived when we were dead in our sins should no longer
describe our lives. We should, instead, pursue righteousness, holiness and seek
after things in heaven instead of things of this earth. Yet, it isn’t something
we do in our flesh to somehow achieve acceptance with God. The change in our
lives is a working of the Holy Spirit, but we must cooperate with God in that
work. We must willingly submit and surrender ourselves to God and to his will
for our lives. We must leave that life of sin, when we were spiritually dead,
behind us, and we must choose daily to die to sin and to live for Christ in the
power and working of his Spirit within us. This is what it means to be truly
alive with Christ. Again, our new lives with Christ are not to be thought of merely
as positionally sanctified but rather as a radical change in direction from
living according to our sinful nature to now living lives pleasing unto God.
Salvation is not about cleaning up our old lives, but it is about death to our
old lives so we can live new lives in Christ Jesus, our Lord (master).
By Grace
Many church leaders today are teaching what I call an
all-grace theology, which is really not God’s grace at all. They are teaching
that God’s grace means God does it all and nothing is required of us, i.e. we
don’t have to turn away from our sins, we don’t have to obey Christ and his
commands, and God will be pleased with us no matter we do. Yet, read this whole
chapter of Ephesians, or the whole book for that matter, and you will see that
God’s grace is not permissive, it is not libertine in nature, and it does not
wink at our sin. Paul makes it quite clear that the working of God’s grace in
our hearts in salvation takes us from death to life, not just positionally, but
in reality in how we live our lives day-to-day. A true understanding of God’s
grace realizes that Christ died for our sins so that we could be free from
slavery to sin and so we could be free to walk in faithful obedience to Christ.
So, acceptance of what Christ did for us on the cross is not mere intellectual
or emotional acknowledgment, but is lived out in reality in our lives through
the working of God’s grace, as we cooperate fully with that work.
Not by Works
We can do nothing to earn salvation or to deserve it or to
earn God’s favor. Works-based salvation is when the scales are tilted to the
left in favor of earning our way into heaven. All-grace salvation is when the
scales are tilted to the right in favor of God does it all and nothing is
required of us in the way of repentance and obedience. Both are out of balance
with God’s word. We neither earn our salvation nor do we accept it through a mere
intellectual or emotional decision. God’s grace at work in our lives means
radical transformation of heart, mind and behavior away from our lives of sin
and toward walking in faithful obedience to Christ. We are not saved by works,
yet salvation is not absent of works. When we are truly in genuine relationship
with Jesus Christ, and our hearts have truly been transformed by the working of
God’s grace in saving us from sin, our lives will bear spiritual fruit
(spiritual works) of the Spirit of God within us that will show that we have
truly come to know Christ as Lord and Savior.
Yet, the works of the Spirit in and through our lives are
not merely evidence of genuine faith, but they are the working out of our faith
in reality in our lives in love for God, love for others, in the working of the
unity of the body of Christ as each part does its work, and in the working of
the Holy Spirit through us in the gifts of the Spirit exercised in our lives
and ministry, as God had planned for us even before the creation of the world;
even before we were born or were even formed in the wombs of our mothers (Cf.
Jer. 1; Ps. 139).
God has a universal plan and purpose for each one of his
children, but he also has very specific and individual plans for us, too. He
created us individually for a specific purpose that is unique only to us (our
part in the body). We each have a God-given role and responsibility he wants to
fulfill in each one of us. I know without a shadow of a doubt that God created
me for the very purpose of what he has me now doing. For such a time as this I
was placed upon the earth. And, he has a specific purpose for you, too. I pray
today that you seek him with all your heart, and that you follow him in all his
ways, surrendering your will to the will of your master (Lord Jesus Christ).
For Our Nation /
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
( ) Indicates descant (Soprano)
Bombs are bursting.
Night is falling.
(Jesus Christ is)
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
(Gently calling)
You to follow Him in
all ways.
(You to follow)
Trust Him with your
life today.
(Him in all ways.)
Make Him your Lord and
your Savior.
(Make Him your Lord)
Turn from your sin.
Follow Jesus.
(And your Savior.)
He will forgive you of
your sin;
(Turn from your sin.)
Cleanse your heart,
made new within.
(Follow Jesus.)
Men betraying: Our
trust fraying.
(On our knees to)
On our knees to God
we’re praying,
(God we’re praying,)
Seeking God to give us
answers
(Seeking God to)
That are only found in
Him.
(Give us answers.)
God is sovereign over all
things.
(God is sovereign)
Nothing from His mind
escaping.
(Over all things.)
He has all things
under His command,
(He will work all
things)
And will work all for
good.
(Out for good.)
Men deceiving: we’re
believing
(We’re believing)
In our Lord, and interceding
(In our Lord , and)
For our nation and its
people
(Interceding)
To obey their God
today.
(For our nation.)
He is our hope for our
future.
(God is our hope)
For our wounds He
offers suture.
(For our future.)
He is all we need for
this life.
(He is all we)
Trust Him with your
life today.
(Need for this life.)
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