Faith

Receiving Grace from Grace Healed Hands

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Oh how I love this short testimony from the Apostle Paul. It speaks of the confidence and humility that ought to characterize ministers of the Gospel. Truth and grace are both continually evident in their words, actions, and in all of their lives – because they too need the gospel. Truth and grace must together shine in him.

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” – 1 Timothy 1:15-16

Paul is convinced beyond all doubt that Jesus saves sinners, even the greatest of sinners. Why? Because Paul, the foremost sinner, has received mercy. Therefore, no one has sinned too much to be forgiven by the grace of God.  Notice the great humility of Paul – he is the foremost sinner! Ministers ought to get the gospel like this and walk in all humility before ‘lesser’ sinners.

I sometimes tell sin-shamed people when I begin to counsel them that I am the greatest sinner in the room. That is not a technique, it is the truth. I need the grace that I am ministering to others. In fact, Paul Tripp says, “Your desire and enthusiasm to minister God’s grace to others is directly related to how much you think you need that same grace yourself.” Once you have been to the well of grace and tasted its sweet refreshment, you can draw water for others – and are eager to do so.

Christians are healed by the grace that they offer to others. But notice also this. Paul, as the foremost sinner, is an encouragement to all other sinners to come and find rest and peace in Jesus Christ.  Why? Because he was the foremost sinner! He is an example to all who would draw from the wells of salvation – God will receive you, accept you, cleanse you. It is all of grace, and it is free even to the worst of sinners.

What a comforting message! And it is a message that you can believe because it is true. And it is easier to believe when this grace is ministered to you by broken hands now healed by the same gospel message.

Come, I have found the Messiah! The one with perfect patience. Let me introduce you to the fountain of grace and divine favor. He will not turn you away.

Dancing with God?

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I don’t dance often nor particularly well. And I only dance when I have something spectacular to celebrate. I dance when I am happy. And also, because I am a fallen self-conscience guy, only when no-one is looking!  Still, dancing at its best is a spontaneous physical response to an internal unconstrained joy. And here is the punchline – God has invited us to dance with Him! To enter into His joy by receiving his undiminished happiness. God has created us out of the fullness of His love.

We are made in the image of an infinitely happy God. God is essentially a community of persons celebrating mutual glorifying love. From eternity past God has existed in a fellowship of love, light, and life. The three persons of the Trinity pour themselves out in love and honor and delight toward the other persons in the Godhead.

What does it mean to glorify someone? When we delight in another and praise them we glorify them.  When we enjoy the other for who they are we glorify them. When we pour ourselves into and for the other in order to see them radiate with joy we glorify them.

God – Father, Son, and Spirit – has always existed in a radiant community of pure, self-giving love. It is this God, this eternally and infinitely happy God, this full to overflowing God, that creates us in His own image. I am straining finite words in an attempt to stretch them around an infinite concept. These words may fail to do it justice, but they do, I trust, entice us.

We are made to be like the infinitely happy God. We are formed and fashioned to glorify another, as He does; to wrap our lives around another in order to make them happy, as He does; and to give others joy, as He does. That is how we bear the image of God well. We were made for community – ‘it is not good for the man to be alone.’ We were made to focus and aim at the joy of another. We are never more at rest than when we sacrifice for the contentment, fulfillment, and joy of other persons. We were made to give ourselves away in other glorifying love because we are made in God’s likeness.

If we have not received this message sooner, God shouts it to us clearly through our grandkids. Typically, grandparents find no greater delight than in their children’s children. They pour themselves into those precious image bearers, they glorify them! Later, I will show you pictures of my grandkids. Oh, what a delight to give myself away to them. We are never more ourselves than when we truly love others. But the main object of our love, the focus of our lives ought to be the God of glory himself!

God created us to know him, to enjoy him, to glorify him. God has invited us to the dance of life. When we give ourselves away to God in other glorifying love, we receive back the same, ten-fold. God has invited us to dance, not merely with other creatures made in His image, but with God himself.  We are called to enter into the community of self-giving love that is God himself. And the dance increases.

So, what is heaven anyway? It is dancing in delight with God and his people, forever. It is living the heavenly life now, and always. It is receiving and then reflecting back, the glory, the love, the fulness of God. Will you dance with me? Won’t you dance with Him?

Have you Learned the Secret?

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It is said of the Lord’s Servant, meaning, Jesus “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. (Isaiah 42:3).

He will bring forth justice, not by breaking or quenching the weak, wounded and overborne; he will nurture them faithfully in truth and justice.

This remarkable power Jesus shares with his followers. “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.” (Isaiah 50:4).

We can speak peace to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  How can we do that? With a kind word. A knowing glance. A timely card. A sincere hug. A lunch date.

Your pastor is on the front lines of spiritual warfare and I do not always win.  I fall prey to discouragement, thoughts of worthlessness, ineffectiveness.  I allow Satan to plant disturbing questions in my mind. How can someone like me serve a holy God?  How can a pastor have so many weaknesses and wrestle with so many sins”  Depression haunts me at times and a downcast soul is my all too frequent companion.

But then it comes. A kind word from a brother. An encouraging thought from a sister.  A card in the mail.  The warm smile of Christian fellowship.  The prayer offered in all sincerity.  It is then that the clouds thin and the sun begins to shine on my weary soul.

We need each other.  The race marked out for us is long and fraught with anxiety. Satan can often hinder our progress.  We need each other.  We need to spend time with those who are taught to “sustain with a word him who is weary.”  

So, learn this secret. And, having learned, speak.  Strengthen your brothers and sisters on their journey.  “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2).

And, on the flip side, allow your brothers and sisters into your cold, dark weariness.  May they be a light to you when all other lights go out.

Finding your Heart’s Home

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My heart is wandering in lonely exile earnestly searching for a way home. We all hunger for quiet rest in this “waste howling wilderness.” After we were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, we were refugees, aimlessly searching for a place of peace – aching for shalom. We read in Deuteronomy 32:9-10 “For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.” The Lord who searches for us is the rest of his people, the home of the heart, and the sanctuary for the refugee. God finding his people is the end of the exile of our hearts. He welcomes us home beside the green pastures and the quiet waters.

Happiness, or heart satisfaction, is like a wet bar of soap. The tighter you squeeze the soap the more it slips through your fingers. Rest of heart and true joy are not found by searching for them directly nor by making them your solitary focus. They are by-products of finding something, actually someone, else. More accurately, that Someone finding you!

We, of all God’s creatures, were made in the image and likeness of God. God is our natural environment – our home – the place where we thrive and find rest! Communion with God is our shalom. We were created to know and love God; to enjoy his presence, wisdom, blessing, and favor. Our hearts belong to him by virtue of creation. But our hearts will not find their rest in him except by virtue of redemption. Paul speaking in Athens said, “they (all mankind) should seek God, and perhaps 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’” (Acts 17:27-28). We were made to know God and dwell with him. He is our home, our peace, and our rest.

In our search for heart rest and soul satisfaction, many aim horizontally and ask created things to bring them contentment. ‘My spouse will make me happy.’  ‘My kids will fulfill my dreams.’  ‘Success will give my heart rest.’ We expect earthly things to do what only God can do; namely, to give true satisfaction of heart. Relationships, good times, fame, riches, even family, and personal accomplishments can only give a temporary sense of peace. These blessings are only a few of the pleasures God gives. True rest is found not in the gifts alone, but in the giver.

Yet, all of creation’s good gifts point to the giver as the true source of rest and peace. “God is the peace that you are looking for…  If you seek God, rest in his presence and grace, and put your heart in his most capable hands, he will satisfy your heart as nothing else can” (Paul David Tripp). 

In every dessert line blessed with Scotch-a-Roos, my personal favorite, I am sorely tempted to take the whole plate instead of grabbing only one treat!  In our search for soul satisfaction and peace of heart we are not to be content merely with the gifts that God can give and to seek our shalom among earthly things, we are to take the whole plate! We are to aim for God and have all these other things thrown in.  Isn’t that what Jesus told us? “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)  ‘There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God.’ Won’t you join him there? Won’t you enter into that rest?

The Enigma of Man

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The conclusion, therefore, is that of Augustine, who said that the heart of man was created for God and that it cannot find rest until it rests in his Father’s heart. Hence all men are really seeking after God, as Augustine also declared, but they do not seek Him in the right way, nor at the right place. They seek Him down below, and He is up above. They seek Him on the earth, and He is in heaven. They seek Him afar, and He is nearby. The seek Him in money, in property, in fame, in power, and in passion; and He is to be found in the high and the holy places, and with him that is of a contrite spirit (Isa. 57:15). But they do seek Him if haply they might feel after Him and find Him (Acts 17:27). They seek Him and at the same time, they flee Him. They feel themselves attracted to God and at the same time repelled by Him…
He longs for truth and is false by nature. He yearns for rest and throws himself from one diversion upon another. He pants for a permanent and eternal bliss and seizes on the pleasures of a moment. He seeks for God and loses himself in the creature. He is born a son of the house and he feeds on the husks of the swine in a strange land. He forsakes the fountain of living waters and hews out broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jer. 2:13)… Man is an enigma whose solution can be found only in God.
Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God, p. 6-7.

Nothing Shall Separate Us …

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“We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

The foundations of our civil order may crumble, but nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The church seems weak, hesitant, confused, divided; but nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My own walk with Christ is wavering, inconsistent; but nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My temptation grow stronger, my faith weaker, but nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am growing old, physically weaker than I have ever been; but nothing shale able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In communion, heaven and earth meet. Time and eternity dwell together.  This communion lifts our heads above the turmoil and discord of this fallen world and can see Christ, high and lifted up, sitting on the throne, unopposed; with our salvation safely in his hands.

Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  That is what communion speaks to us.

A perfect righteousness has been achieved by Jesus, approved by God, and given to us by the Holy Spirit.  

The blood of Christ has already been shed, accepted by the Father, and applied by the Son.

At this table, we look back at a full, and complete salvation – and rejoice!

If God has ever truly singled you out for salvation and given you the gift of faith – this table shouts peace and joy to you.

Communion Meditation March 2021

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We are called to examine ourselves before we come to the table of the Lord.  The Westminster Larger Catechism explains.

Question 171: How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to prepare themselves before they come unto it?

Answer: They that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper are, before they come, to prepare themselves thereunto, 

by examining themselves of their being in Christ, 

Are you in Christ?  United to him by faith. Are you a Christian?

of their sins and wants; 

You are to confess your sins, and your need of the forgiveness that Christ has earned.

of the truth and measure of their knowledge, faith, repentance; 

Do you have true knowledge, faith and repentance?To know Jesus the Christ is to have eternal life.  To rest in the promises of the gospel, to turn from sin and to turn unto God in Christ.

What is the measure, the degree of your knowledge, faith and repentance?  You are to seek a greater degree of each.  You are to long to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

love to God and the brethren, charity to all men, 

Do you love God?  Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ?  Do you live at peace with all men?  Do you stand ready to show charity, kindness to all men?

forgiving those that have done them wrong; 

Have you forgiven those who have sinned against you?  If you will not forgive others, God will not forgive you.

of their desires after Christ, and of their new obedience; 

Do you desire Christ more?  Are you walking in obedience to him?

and by renewing the exercise of these graces, by serious meditation, and fervent prayer.

Are you pursuing Christ as a man, woman or child after his own heart?

If you examine yourself and find that you are not a believer, you don’t confess your sins, your don’t forgive others, you don’t love your brothers and sisters in Christ, you don’t want to grow in grace, then you must not come to this table.

If you examine yourself and find faith, even weak faith is true faith, you confess your need of Christ, you forgive others, you love your brothers and sisters in Christ and you want to grow in the fear and knowledge of God, this table is for you. It is designed for you, and for your benefit.  

Come in faith to Christ, for help, and healing.

What is Faith?

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Christians walk in faith.  We are ‘faith-full’. We live with active, vital faith in God. But what does that mean?  

There are many misunderstandings of faith. Some feel, and I use that word deliberately, that faith is a strong belief in the impossible, or what is against the odds, or not strictly speaking logical. Faith is wishful thinking, a guess that gullible people make. A false crutch to lean upon. Like, I believe my March Madness bracket will be perfect; or this lottery ticket will pay off my debts; or Braves will win the pennant; or Gramma will survive even though she is in hospice.  Faith here is a subjective commitment to the irrational; a leap into the dark.

Others think of faith as strong encouragement intended to prop up the wavering strength or will of someone else. “I know it is the bottom of the ninth and we are down 3 runs, but I have faith in this team.” Faith is hoping against hope. By this understanding, the more intense your faith the better it works.

Still others think that faith is what we believe without facts and contrary to knowledge or science.  The secular mind exclusively sees faith in this way, faith is contrary to truth that can be known.

If those are misunderstandings, what is true faith?  Faith is taking God at his Word. Believing God; his Word, his Character, his promises. It is walking in the knowledge of God and loving the truth about God and his character and will.

Reformation theologians dissected three elements to true faith; knowledge, assent, and trust.  In their thinking, faith involves the whole man – his mind, his heart and his will – knowledge (notitia), assent (assensus), and trust (fiducia). True faith says, “I have heard about God, I believe that it is true, and I will commit myself to acting on it.” “I know what God says, I trust what God says, and I act on what God says.”

The Christian faith does not repudiate knowledge, it is based on knowledge. John Calvin defined faith as “a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Louis Berkof, a follower of Calvin, defines saving faith as “a certain conviction, wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, as to the truth of the gospel, and a hearty reliance (trust) on the promises of God in Christ.”

So, faith starts with the knowledge of God, His Word or His promise. Then faith embraces, or trusts that knowledge, Word, or promise. Finally, knowing and believing that promise to be true, you act on it, commit to it, stand upon it.

What does this look like in my everyday life? You take a Biblical promise from God, you labor to rightly understand that promise, you believe that promise to be true and then, bringing faith to completion, you act on that promise. For example; God says lying is a sin, I believe it, so I tell the truth. God promises he will forgive those who confess their sin, I believe it, so I seek His cleansing through confession. God says that children are a blessing from the Lord, I consent to it, and I receive children as a blessing. God promises eternal life to believers, I believe it, and I don’t fear death.  I could go on and on and on.  In fact, we all should.  This is living in faith. God says that I am made in his image and that I should go forth and multiply that image, subdue the earth and have dominion over it for the glory of God.  So I honor God, I image God, I have a family, and I unearth creation’s potential at work, and even in my garden!

I would like to challenge you to live, self-consciously, by faith. Find the promises of the Word of God, understand them, embrace them, and act upon them.  Mine the Word of God for promises and commands, write them down, and act upon them.  That is the life of faith.