This morning I was reading in my quiet time in the book of Psalms. Today’s chapter was Psalm 101. As I read this psalm of David, I was so blessed because this Psalm deals with how a father should walk within his own home. David begins the psalm with a statement of commitment to the Lord. He says, “I will give heed to the blameless way.” Here he is declaring that his life is dedicated to living before God blamelessly and holy. Then he makes his second declaration as he says, “I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.” The two words “integrity” and “blameless” are interchangeable in Hebrew. Thus, as David makes his commitment before God, it is one that states that he wants to walk blameless and in the highest integrity possible. But how does one do this? The rest of this Psalm explains this to us as we see the other commitments that come with a desire to walk in one’s house in integrity and blamelessness. What I’d like to do for a few weeks is to look at the commitments that are necessary for a man of God to be what God desires for him to be within his home.
The first commitment is what I mentioned above. A man of God needs to commit to a life of integrity within the home. He needs to come to God and ask the Lord to work in his heart so that he is blameless before the Lord and before his wife and children. But who defines this “walk of integrity?“ That is answered by David in the statement he makes immediately after making this commitment. After he says that he will give heed to the blameless way he makes a request. That request is this, “When will You come to me?” In saying this, David is saying two things. First, he is committing to “giving heed” to the blameless way. The word here speaks of discernment that is gained from listening to another. Therefore what David commits to is to listen to someone. This one he listens to will help him discern how to walk in life—blamelessly. Who is this person? David makes that clear to us when he says, “When will You come to me?” The “You” in this verse is Jehovah God.
To be a man of integrity and blamelessness is to be a man who daily listens to God. To be the godly man of integrity in your home, you will need to meet with God regularly. As you fellowship with God you will be taught how to discern between what is good and what is evil. You will know the right way to walk—and be warned against paths that will hinder you. They are the paths filled with roots and stumbling blocks that trip you up. Men, spend time with God each day—seeking Him—reading His Word—talking with Him so that you begin to learn the way of integrity. This will help you be the man of integrity your family needs within your home. As you face the trials, temptations, and difficult decisions to be that man—may your request each day be this, “Lord, when will You come to me, teach me, strengthen me, guide me, and enable me to be a blameless man?”
God led Paul to write to Timothy the following statement, “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-3, NASB) It is one that we need to heed—especially in light of the current problems that we are facing as a nation—and the way that our leadership is choosing to lead us in the midst of them.
As a nation, we are facing difficult times. It is during those times that a leader has the greatest opportunity to lead. It was during such times that we watched great leaders like Winston Churchill rise to lead in extraordinary ways. It was in those times that the greatest leaders led their people to pull together and face the problems they faced with a unified front. Unfortunately for us—our current leadership is not following their lead. Instead of pulling our nation together—they are pitting one group against another for their own selfish interests. What I am referring to is our current president’s practice of encouraging class warfare in light of the crises we face. Jesus told us that a house divided against itself will not stand. I can only hope that our current administration will read these words and cease fanning the flames of social conflict in our land.
There is a conscious effort by President Obama to pit the rich against the poor. In the midst of growing unrest, he and others in the Democrat party are encouraging protests that are attempting to further increase this growing rift in our nation. Whether or not you agree with his economics—one thing is certain—this will not turn out well in the end.
There were two revolutions in the 1700’s that radically changed the politics of our world. One was the American Revolution. It’s purpose was to spread freedom. The other was the French Revolution, which was supposed to be about freedom, but which degenerated into class warfare in the end. One led to what is arguably the greatest spread of freedom in history—while the other wound up shedding copious amounts of blood as well as precipitating a period of chaos ending in a totalitarian state that severely limited freedom.
Why do we need to pray? Because if we continue on this path of pitting one against another “within” our society economically, it will only be a matter of time and political desperation until the next step will be pitting one race against another. The leaders who today want to divide us on financial lines—will in the near future step up their rhetoric to divide us on racial lines. If you think things are problematic now with the encouragement of class warfare—wait until they begin encouraging racial conflict as well. We need to pray for wisdom to prevail—and—we need to do all we can as the church to heal these divides—not further encourage them. This is why I urge you to follow the admonition of Paul to young Timothy. It is a time for us to pray—and pray diligently for cooler, wiser heads to prevail in the halls of leadership.
May God give you the gift of knowing that every day He gives you may be your last to live for His glory. What I wrote may not seem to you like that great of a gift, but whether you realize it or not, it is a wonderful gift. Too often we think we have decades left—years and years to live—and unfortunately that often makes us take for granted something as wonderful as today. I cannot even number the times I’ve been bored during a day—and spent the majority of that precious day saying over and over again how bored I am. In the process I’ve wasted a day that God gave me for His purposes and for His glory.
The Scriptures tell me that each day is from the Lord. Psalm 118:24 tells us that every day we see another sunrise we can say, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” We can also learn a few other things about our lives as a result of this verse. If God made this day He has purposes for giving it to us. We also learn from Matthew 6:33-34 that in this day we are to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all the other things (food and clothing specifically) will be added to us. We are not to worry about tomorrow, for each day itself has enough trouble of its own. James adds to this by reminding us in chapter 4:5 of his letter that we should say, “If the Lord wills, we will do this or that.” Now, seeing what the Scripture says, let’s draw a few conclusions.
First, we need to see every day as a gift from God. If you are alive—God has a reason for you to be. If you are alive—be thankful. If you are alive—live purposefully. Rejoice and be glad in the gift of this day and let the whole world know that you receive it as a marvelous gift from God Himself! Second, we need to spend every day seeking God’s kingdom and glory. Actually Scripture says these are the two things we should seek FIRST every day. Ask yourself whether you are submitted to God as King and His Kingdom as your primary focus. Ask yourself whether this day is for “your glory” or “His.” Third, we need to view every day as God’s. God gave us this day—therefore what we do in it should be a matter of knowing what He wills. If the Lord wills, we will do what we planned this day—making certain that what we plan has been planned in His presence and in submission to His Spirit and His Word.
Every new day we receive is a gift. An honest appraisal of this would tell us that all we can really guarantee is how we live today. Oh, dear saints—spend every day this week well—for God’s glory!
May God bless you this week and continue to show you the extremities of His grace—and its true effects on your standing before God. Last week I began to deal with the subject of the “extremities of the grace of God.” This week I want to continue commenting on this topic by addressing what exactly happened to us the moment that we received the grace of God when God revealed Himself through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What happened in that moment is so important in helping us grasp what our relationship is to God and what God is seeking to do in our lives after we receive His grace.
One of the clearest passages that describe for us what happened when we received God’s grace is found in Romans chapter 3. It reads, “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 3:21-24 —NASB) Here is what this passage is telling us. Note the section of this verse I’ve highlighted. This section speaks of us being “JUSTIFIED” as a gift by His grace . . .”
It is vitally important that we understand what this word “justified” actually means. The reason for this is that some of the current preaching of today does not accurately define this word. The word “justified” is the Greek word “dikaioo” and it means, “to declare righteous.” This means when God did a “justifying” work at the point where He saved us. So what does that mean? It means that God, as an act of pure grace, declared us righteous in His sight.
According to 2 Corinthians 5:21 the “amount” of righteousness we receive is equal to the total righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself. This passage says that He made Him who knew no sin (only Jesus fits that bill) was made sin on our behalf—so that we might become the righteousness of Christ in Him. This is astounding—because what it says is that God in a single historical act (at the moment of us receiving His grace) gave to us the very righteousness of Christ—so that in His sight we are just as righteous as Jesus Himself.
Some might argue that this verse says that we might “become” as righteous as Jesus—meaning this is a process (requiring growth and continued obedience). Nothing could be further from the truth. The word “become” here (ginoami) is a punctiliar aorist Greek verb. This speaks of a single act in the past. Thus we see here that Scripture tells us that in a single moment—the very moment of our salvation—we were declared just as righteous as Jesus by a gift of God’s grace. Truly this is an astounding thing—the extreme of God revealed to us is that by grace—we stand in God’s sight—just as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself. None of this is due to our performance—but is a gift given to us by God Himself—pure, unadulterated, undeserved grace poured out on the most unworthy of creatures by its Creator, Who alone paid the full price for sin by the death of His Son on the cross. This, dear ones of God, is given to us at our salvation—in a moment when we repent and put our faith in what Jesus accomplished by His death, burial, and resurrection. Marvel saints . . . marvel at the extremities of God’s grace—and the glorious results in your standing before a Holy God!
Ours is a world of compromise. That is because ours is a world in which no human being (outside of the God-man Jesus Christ) can claim absolute authority, absolute knowledge, or to be honest—any kind of absolute anything. Thus we have to compromise with one another on things—trying to not take an extreme position—but finding “middle ground” upon which to work. The interesting thing though is that with God and the issues of salvation and grace—there is no middle ground—only extremes. Let me explain this statement further this week.
Charles Simeon, a preacher from the 1800’s wrote the following. “The truth is not in the middle and not in one extreme, but in both extremes.” In making this comment he was referring to Romans 11:22. This verse says, “Behold then, the kindness and the severity of God. . . .”
When it comes to the matters of salvation—sin and its consequences—grace and the manifestation of God’s grace—God’s response is extreme wrath and extreme kindness. His response to our sin is not something somewhere between wrath and kindness. His response to sin is wrath. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. That is not a compromised position—it is an extreme one. This is not to say God is acting wrongly—for He is not—truly we deserve the fullness of His wrath. But when God grants to us salvation through Jesus Christ—again there is not a managed compromise—He offers complete forgiveness and grants to us the very righteousness of His Son. When He had to remedy sin, He did not make any compromise. He had to have His Son bear the full punishment for sin—and had to pour out the full measure of His wrath.
Grace is not about compromise—it is about the extremes of what HAD to happen for God’s wrath to be satisfied—and for us to be made righteous. It is about understanding the very nature of salvation itself. We infinitely cheapen grace when we do not note and grasp these extremes. We try to make God infinitely less than Who He truly is when we try to take the “edges” off of the gospel. The gospel, dear saints, is an extreme thing. It was an extreme act by an infinite God to redeem absolutely ruined mankind from an infinite fall into ultimate rebellion. It is love without bounds reaching down wickedness without measure and choosing to absolutely redeem it by paying a price beyond our imagination. Oh saints of God, do not cheapen grace by compromising the extremes of this magnificent act of God that brings us the glory of our salvation!
It does not take long living in this world to realize the need for forgiveness. God has placed within each of us a conscience that accuses us of having done something wrong. For the vast majority of us that moment took place when we were very young. A choice was made—and action was initiated—which then led to us having the sense in our minds that something was wrong. An awareness of guilt arose in our minds and hearts that gave us a sinking feeling in the pit of our stomachs. After this moment we were never the same. There was a very real sense in which that moment convinced us that at some point we needed to be forgiven. But that raised additional questions for us—questions that demanded answers.
Our first question is this—Who has said that we did something wrong? If forgiveness is needed—just who needs to forgive us? Who is it that has such a sovereign reach over all mankind? Who is this who has established in every heart a sense that a wrong has been committed? Philosophers have tried for centuries to remove this sense of guilt from mankind with philosophies making man responsible to no one greater than himself—but to no avail. Conscience continues to be a universal phenomenon—bringing all under a sense of guilt as well as a need to be forgiven.
Our next question dove tails with the first. If there is a wrong that has been done, how can we be forgiven that wrong? What is it that needs to happen in order for us to be forgiven? Much of this depends on the answer that we give to the first question. For most of history mankind has answered the first question by stating that there is a god and that this god is the one who has been offended by our actions. Once man conceives of divine displeasure his actions are fairly predictable. There must be some kind of payment—a way of appeasing the god or gods who are offended. In history the religious nature of man has attempted a myriad of cures to this divine offence, but one thing is certain—man senses the need of obtaining forgiveness in some way—through some kind of payment. Unfortunately for man—he has to rely for the most part on the religious gurus to tell him what to do—and if we were to be honest—they really are not in any better position to answer that he is. If only we could know the mind and heart of God—through some kind of revelation given to us by Him. Then we would know how to get forgiveness.
That is where the Bible comes into our picture. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. It is the sure guide to the definitive answers on forgiveness. It gives us answers to the questions that we have. It answers the question concerning Whom we have sinned against. Our consciences bother us because we've disobeyed God and His Law. It also shows us the way sin has been paid for—as well as how God offers to us that forgiveness. We learn from Scripture that God Himself has paid that price. And the most amazing thing we learn is that after paying the price for sin through the crucifixion of Jesus, He now offers to us forgiveness for every single one of our sins as a gift of His grace. It seems too good to be true—that forgiveness requires no payment on our part—because God Himself has paid the penalty for sin Himself through Jesus Christ. But that, dear saints, is His grace. It is God acting on the issue of sin and a compromised conscience—and solving them through the death, burial, and resurrection of His own Son, Jesus Christ.
May God truly establish you this day—this week—this year—the rest of your life on His grace and only His grace.
Understanding and knowing God’s grace will change everything in your life. It is this one truth that is more misunderstood yet is more needed than just about anything else in our lives. God’s grace centers around the issue of our sin, our acceptability to God, and how we get there. For the next couple of articles I want to begin to camp out on the grace of God. Truly if we can “get” this doctrine—this truth active in our lives—it will indeed change everything for us.
Let me begin with what we will have to grasp in order to understand God’s grace—and that is our sinfulness and inability to stand before God in anything but His grace. This may seem like a strange place to begin our journey together, yet it is often because of misunderstandings here that we wind up with misunderstandings about the grace of God later. A wrong view of our sinfulness will lead to a wrong view of God’s grace as well. Our sinfulness before a holy God is absolute. There is no other way out of our sin than the grace of God. We do not have any alternative if we want to be in a right relationship with God and out from under His wrath that will be poured out upon sin as punishment for it. Either it is His grace—freely given through the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did to pay for sin on the cross . . . or . . . It is the horrifying specter of one day facing that wrath on the day of judgment. There is not a time in our lives, nor will there ever be one, when our relationship with God is not entirely dependent upon His grace. It is grace for our rescue from sin’s penalty, grace for our daily rescue from sin’s power, and grace from our ultimate rescue from the wrath of God on the day when all men will give an account to God for their lives.
Too many view sinfulness and the ruin that comes with it as something other than our absolute inability to be in a right relationship with God. They see it as a problem—but it is one “they” can work on in their own strength. Christians see sin as a problem solved by getting saved—but then it is up to them to “keep-up” salvation by their own obedient actions. The truth from the Word though is that we do not need better behavior, we need perfect righteousness at all times to stand before God. Even if we got this initially at our salvation—we could never maintain it. We would surely blow it—and that in short order. The fact is that we daily depend (actually we depend on God’s grace every millisecond of every day) on God’s grace. It is His gift of “declaring us righteous” as an act of His grace that EVER allows us to stand. And it is that glorious grace that allows us to walk daily (millisecond-ly if you will) in God’s peace—knowing His acceptance of us based solely and completely out of the wonderful grace that is ours in Jesus Christ.
After watching last week’s coverage of Osama bin Laden’s death as a result of our brave armed forces and the ensuing celebrations that happened in our streets, I’ve spent some time thinking about these things. What is to be our response to such things as Christians? I remember watching Muslims in the streets of several countries dancing with joy when the Twin Towers were attacked in New York City and thinking to myself, “Why would anyone dance in the streets at the terrorist attack on innocent people? How could ANYONE, ANYWHERE, after watching people jumping to their death from the burning carcass of these skyscrapers, dance and rejoice? I have to wonder if some in the Muslim community thought the same thing when they watched demonstrations erupt in the streets of America when they learned that Osama bin Laden had been killed. Could these people be thinking that this is Christianity – and be confused by what they were watching?
Please understand that as a citizen of the United States, I am glad that this man was brought to justice and had to pay for the 3000+ deaths he conspired to take. Knowing that his actions and plots cost even more innocent lives than this, I am relieved that he is no longer able to give direct input and inspiration to those in Al Qaeda who desire to do the same. But when I read the newspaper headline, “Rot in Hell” that ran in one of our largest cities, I knew that such a response was going to do much to hinder evangelism among those in the Middle East.
The Scriptures are clear about the role of civil government in punishing wrong doers in Romans 13:4. It is the responsibility of our governing officials to act in the best interests of our population and punish and even remove elements that are dangerous to the rest of society. I support the civil government’s use of the death penalty for murder and I also support our military hunting down those who do heinous things like what was done on 9-11. But with that being said, I would also like to offer some additional counsel from the Scriptures concerning our response to our enemies.
Proverbs 24:17-18 has some interesting counsel for us in light of the fact that our enemy has fallen. We are told the following: “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; or the LORD will see it and be displeased, and turn His anger away from him.” The reason we are told this is because God Himself has enemies – and He shows them mercy. You may not know this, but if you have sinned – you were His enemy. We read in Romans 5:10 that “. . . if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” This refers to who we were before Jesus Christ saved us. We were enemies of God, yet God in His mercy saved us. Even more sobering is James 4:4 which tells us, “. . . whoever therefore is a friend of the world is an enemy of God.” This is told to us as a warning against worldliness – after we are saved! Yet, God shows mercy, even to His enemies. The reason we are not to rejoice when our enemy falls is because God wants us to be those who can show mercy. Therefore dancing in the streets over the death of our enemy is not fitting for believers.
Having said this, I want to offer one more word to those of us who are believers. I pastor a congregation that has an active outreach into the Muslim community in our city and on a college campus that is nearby. As we have befriended these men and women from the Middle East, they often tell us that it seems as if Americans fundamentally distrust them – and are very unfriendly to them. How are we going to reach them for Christ if their only taste of American Christianity is a lack of hospitality and headlines like, “Rot in Hell” in our newspapers when a radical Muslim enemy of our state is brought to justice? Please do not see these comments as a lack of concern for the radical Muslim agenda in our nation – or as a call to just “turn the other cheek” when we are attacked like we were on 9-11. The civil government needs to hunt down terrorists and bring them to justice – even if justice means killing them so that they will not commit another atrocity in our land. But individually we are called to love the Muslims around us – and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. We are to show them the love of Jesus Christ in our actions – and by doing this help them grasp what Jesus Christ truly came to do for them. The Muslims that we love, hug, and even share meals with in our area are shocked at our kindness and the love that they are experiencing. It takes a long time for them to grasp the gospel – but the most effective weapon we have in our arsenal is the love of Christ flowing through us to them.
To sum up what has been said in this article, there are two responses that we embrace biblically in light of the events of recent days. We can be grateful to our military and civil government for acting in the best interests of our country. They did this by hunting down the terrorist mastermind of the 9-11 attacks. Osama bin Laden perpetrated a horrendous evil when he hatched such an evil plot against innocent citizens of our nation. It was right and it was even good that he was made to pay a price for what he did. Our other response is more individual – and is embraced for the purpose of advancing the gospel to those who are Muslims in our society, as well as to those Muslims around the world. That response is measured – and does not rejoice over this man’s death, especially not with dancing in the streets and with epithets dispatching him to hell with our blessing and cheering. A wicked man has fallen – and those terrorists who embrace his twisted ideology will continue to be hunted down and dealt with from a civil government standpoint. But our role is to take the gospel to them – not just across the street, but across the globe! Our responsibility is to love them individually – share with them individually – and hopefully win them to Christ individually. May God give us understanding, grace, and strength to apply ourselves to this monumental task!
For the past several articles we have been looking at what it means to struggle with times when you feel and are “out of season” spiritually. As Paul finishes exhorting young Timothy about the need to be ready whether we are in season or out of season, he offers this charge to him, But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:5, NASB)
It is good for us to know the things we need to be doing regardless of our current emotional state or feelings. These things are powerful sign posts that help us to stay on the road when we would rather pull off and quit—or take an extended vacation from walking with God and fulfilling our ministry in life. Paul lays out for young Timothy some very good sign posts for him. If we will learn from these things and make them a part of our life, we will find ourselves greatly aided in staying focused in those times when we are struggling with being out of season.
The first of these sign posts is to be sober in all things. The word sober means to be sober-minded—or watchful in all things. We are to watch God’s Word, watch for God’s Spirit as He leads and teaches us—and watch for the dangers of temptation when we might otherwise be distracted by struggling with our emotions. If we do not watch and pray—we will find ourselves led by our emotions rather than by God’s Spirit.
The second sign post is to endure hardship. We are all going to face hardships. This may not be popular among some theological circles—but it is quite popular with Jesus. When these times come we need to endure them. The word “endure” here is pretty awesome. It is the Greek word, kakopatheo—which means to endure evil or difficulty and the emotions that come with it. The second word “patheo” means emotions or passions. God knows that we will face difficult feelings and emotions when these times come—but we must endure them knowing He will give us grace to endure and stand fast.
The last two sign posts are to do the work of an evangelist (keep working to lead people to Christ) and to fulfill our ministry. We have to keep keeping on in these things—no matter what we face in out of season times. These sign posts will help us keep going—and to not get turned down a wrong road. May God give both you and I grace to read the sign posts—and follow them—especially when we are “out of season.”
We’ve been looking at serving God while we are spiritually dry—or during times which Paul refers to as being “out of season.” When these times come it is wise to remember the fact of the ultimate judgment and just Who it is that we will give an account to in that day.
Paul says to young Timothy that there is a solemn charge he gives him—but he gives it to him not with Paul as his judge. There is One before Whom Timothy shall stand Who is far greater than any human being we know—or ever will know. Paul says this, “I charge you in the presence of God.” The phrase, “in the presence” is a legal term. It was used to speak of a court case where one would come before a judge. If you judge were named Bill Jones, your summons would read something like this, “You are commanded to appear in the presence of Bill Jones this Friday.” When someone received something like this, they would know that they were going to be standing in judgment for whatever case they faced. What the judge said in that instance would be final. In much the way that this happened, Paul is trying to impress upon us the seriousness of our own day before God.
What if you just didn’t feel like appearing before the judge that day? You would appear any way—because the option not to appear wasn’t given to you. You WILL show up on that day—and you WILL be judged according to the law. What Paul is saying to Timothy is that he needs to remember Who is going to be judging him in the end. Knowing this Timothy will be motivated to walk in God’s will regardless of whether he was in season or out of season.
Paul also makes it clear that this is no human courtroom. We are to appear “in the presence of God and Jesus Christ—WHO IS TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD!” There is no one who will not stand before God and give account. That accounting will be based upon the clear commandments of His Word—which are NOT contingent on whether we felt like we were having a good day or a bad one. Living in light of this should motivate us to love and serve God—if not out of a feeling of love—out of a choice based on godly wisdom and very real accountability. Sure, it would be great if we did all we do out of strong good feelings, but that is not always guaranteed. Therefore when we have those “out of season moments” we obey out of clear obligation and accountability to God for our actions.
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