“God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.  They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” – Psalm 53:2-3 {ESV}

Amy opened Landon’s school folder yesterday and, for the third day in a row, saw a handwritten note from his kindergarten teacher.  The words of Ms. Foster read, “Landon, please stop grading your own work!”  It seems that for the last three school days my five-year-old had taken it upon himself to write “100” across the top of his work - a perfect score!  Apparently quite impressed with his scholastic progress he felt compelled to alleviate the teacher of the formality of grading his paper.  How thoughtful was my boy as he wrote in chicken-scratch penmanship the highest possible grade afforded to students.  School is easier than he thought after learning this new technique.  Ladnon Lyle is one of a kind.

Don’t we wish that we could grade ourselves before God?  It would be an awesome experience to look up into His holy gaze and declare that we have passed His examination with 100% perfection.  We would have no sin, no guilt, no blemish, no misguided thought, no deed of transgression, no self-oriented attitudes!  What an amazing thought to ponder that we would be allowed to write “100” across the crown of our own proud heads.  Interestingly, God’s Word declares the exact opposite;  the Bible teaches that there is not a single person on Earth who has ever passed the test.  There is no curve upon which we can be graded – we either score a 100 or a 0.  Bad news, folks:  we are all spiritual zeroes on our own.

My personality is an all-or-nothing type.  When pondering this issue of our standing before God I find that this type of personality works well.  Others will want to compare themselves to their fellow earthlings and come off feeling smugly secure due to the fact that there is someone else down here faring worse than they.  The issue there is that God has already set the standard of comparison and it’s not the local sinner down the street; it’s His perfect, immaculately holy Son against whom we must stand compared.  Needless to say, we’ve just scored the 0.  If that were the end of the story we’d likely be in a state of panic, but remember, I said I’m an all or nothing guy and I’ve got some great news along those lines.  As Jesus lived a perfect life, doing always those things which pleased the Father, He scored a 100 on behalf of Adam’s ruined race.  He then, by His immeasurable grace, extended that perfect score to us zeroes.  In effect, He said that He would write our names upon the exam that He aced and that His grade would become eternally ours if we would trust that He would do so.  He passed my test for me.  He doesn’t even want me to help out.  He just commands me to believe that His perfect score suffices the Father and that I will graduate alongside all others who trust Him.  I went from the zero to the zenith in one fell swoop. 

I would really encourage all of you go-getters to give up on trying to establish on your own what Christ has already provided for.  Quit trusting in your baptism, your pedigree, your morality, your religious zeal, your training, your denominational accolades.  Your knuckles are going to be permanently white if you continue straining to hold on to things.  Look, it IS an all or nothing deal.  You either trust solely in Christ and gain all, or you continue to refuse to humble yourself and receive nothing.  You can’t meet Him halfway – dead people cannot even move, much less go 50/50 with God for eternity.  Even if you could work at it, what grade would you give yourself?  Maybe you are 88% holy.  Perhaps a handful rise to the 96% range while a meager few approach the upper echelon of 99.9%.  Let me boldly declare that the .1% that you lack will damn you for eternity.  You better turn loose of that proud desire to participate in your justification and fling yourself down before Christ who lacks nary a thing.  Give it up…and get it all.  That, dear friend, is true grace.

Landon will learn soon enough the folly of giving yourself your own passing grade.  He could have engraved it in stone with all the might of his five year old frame and it still wouldn’t have been true.  He might decide to write it down on every piece of homework between now and the end of the year but his teacher won’t be fooled.  He will learn that there is another who grades him and Ms. Foster’s criteria is much more scrutinizing than my boy’s.  In the end, he will graduate K-5 and enter the realm of first-graders.  He will have to earn it on his own by hard work and diligent progress.

I’m glad we don’t have to life and eternity that way.  My test was aced by the King and He welcomes all who will to sign their name to His flawless achievement to do so by faith.  Thank You, Lord Jesus, for doing what we never could.  My passing grade was written in blood with a nail-scarred hand of omnipotence.  Who could ever contest that?

“Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” – Psalm 117:7

Sometimes it lodges in pretty deep before we are even aware of it.  Somewhat like a blemish that appears on the face overnight while we sleep – we wake up and discover something is gnawing at us.  Often the result is irritability, or perhaps a blueness of heart that attaches itself to us like lint.  We can’t quite define it nor are we quite able to shake it as the day goes on.  It brings with it the fleeting companions of fear, worry and skepticism.  What is this thing, anyway?  It is the all too familiar presence of a disquieted spirit.  Can I get a witness?

If you care about life, about God, about the Great Commission or about people then you have certainly experienced the occasional tossing and turning of your heart.  What a blight this is to those of us who have been saved by immeasurable grace – to distrust the God who proved His commitment to us by dying on a cross.  As if He would hold back the minor elements of life from us when He has blatantly revealed His reliability in the most precious of things.  Truth be known, some of us just aren’t content unless we are experiencing a little discontent.  If fully trusting God equals a life of carefree days then I humbly submit that few among us really trust Him fully.

God has blessed me so extravagantly that it saddens me when I recognize how often I am suspicious of Him.  I suppose I could try and lessen the sting of what I’m saying by employing less direct terms but I feel the need to be brutally honest today.  Many of us are the types of believers who readily acknowledge that “God Can” but falter when it comes to declaring “God Will”.  We echo the words of the man in the Gospels who cried to Jesus, ‘Lord, I believe but help me with my unbelief.”  That’s tough turf to dwell upon, isn’t it?  We wrestle with doctrine meshing with practical life.  We tout God’s grace but then limit that grace to the boundaries of our own merit (it is no wonder then that few people are actually walking in great grace!).  We speak of His love to others but live as if we are unloved.  We encourage the one next to us to take heart and look for the answer for it is on its way!  At the very same time we harbor a sneaking pessimism that God will not likely come through for us this week.  Above all, we are hesitant to make bold declarations about God’s willingness to be manifestly God-like through our lives.  Our hearts ache to tell others what amazing things God will do…lest He not do them and we come off looking foolish for having proclaimed His awesomeness.

So Christians are shuffling their feet, stuffing their hands in their pockets and nervously darting their eyes while wondering if anyone else notices the conspicuous silence of the Almighty.

It occurred to me recently that God might be waiting for me to edge out on the limb before He allows me to witness His greatness.  We can hug the tree trunk all day with the brethren but how many of us are willing to grab that lowest branch of promise and begin to climb?  We want fruit, don’t we?  Well…how much fruit can one expect to find while clinging to the roots?  No, if we want fruit, we have to slide on out upon the length of the limb – the fruit is always found out on the limb.  Those who are suffering from disquietness of spirit might want to explore if God has allowed it to remain because they are living in their own strength.  Any time we are trusting in self there should be the expectation of some form of unsettledness.  It could be as extreme as panic attacks or as mild as a smoldering dread.  The result may be seen in depressed and fatalistic paralysis or overexertion of non-stop effort to try to handle things.  I don’t know if anyone out there is relating but I have to confess that I am weary of Jeff Lyle.  I want to experience more of Jesus.  Jeff Lyle is so 1993 and I’m learning that he has little to offer himself or the world around him.  Jesus Christ? Well He is an altogether different entity.  When He’s in focus, there is a zero tolerance policy for the intrusion of disquiet. Dread knocks on the heart's door, Jesus answers...and nobody is there.

The Psalmist says simply, “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.”  To His inspired lyric I humbly reply, “Oh yeah.  I forgot that for a bit.  I guess I’ll honor Him by refusing to fret today.”

Sounds like a plan.

“And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, "Thus says the Lord, 'I will make this dry streambed full of pools.'  For thus says the Lord, 'You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.' This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand,  and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones." The next morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.” - 2 Kings 3:15-20 {ESV}

One of the things we Christians struggle with is the concept of God leading the way God chooses to lead.  We, if we are honest, prefer to tell God what we wish He would do and then gladly commit to following Him as He leads us according to our own plan.  You let our plan begin to experience circumstantial hiccups and we often balk at taking that next step in the journey of faith.  Let me illustrate this principle from my own family life.

My two children are precious.  Alicia is my soft, sensitive child who has a heart for things being precisely done.  She’s a detail girl with an impressionable heart and she is FILLED with questions which often seem overwhelming and complicated to those she is asking.  Landon is my thunder-child.  He doesn’t have as many questions as his sister, he has PLANS.  Alicia wakes up on summer mornings and asks a series of questions about the day’s events; Landon wakes up with a long list of how things are going to be for that same day.  Alicia wants to experience order, Landon wants to give orders.  When we load the family up in the car for a day that Amy and I anticipate will be leisurely and liberating, the children serve as alternating voices of inquisition and instruction from the back seat.  We’ve not even pulled out of the driveway before Landon is insisting that we fulfill his agenda and Alicia wants to know what we will be doing at 2:12 PM and where it will be taking place and with whom.  Amy and I glance at each other and wonder when these two precious ones will come to place where they can sit in their seats, look out their windows and rest in the fact that their mother and father have a plan that is better than their own.

That must be what God desires for His own kids.

In the opening passage from 2 Kings 3 above we find God’s awesome answer to an impossible situation.  Three kings had come together with their armies to defeat another king.  Plans had been made; battle strategies had been agreed upon, a massive military contingent was now mobile.  These kings were tanked up and ready for the fight but they didn’t plan on how to keep their men and horses alive in the arid region through which they marched.  They were going to die of thirst out there and had no remedy to the circumstance.  Long story shorter:  Elisha speaks on behalf of God and declares to them that God was not intimidated by their impossible circumstances.  He was going to move in a sovereignly supernatural manner and afford them everything they needed to survive the drought and conquer the enemy.  The Hebrew text reveals that they were commanded to dig ditches and that God was going to fill those ditches with abundant, life-saving water.  He did not  give them the courtesy of explaining how this would be accomplished – as a matter of fact He seems to imply that they didn’t need to worry about HOW when He told them that they would hear no windstorms nor see any rain.  His words to them reveal that it doesn’t have to make sense for it to be possible.  God reserves the right to be fully God whether you think He can or not.  In my and Amy's world, Landon prefers his own plan above ours and Alicia needs a syllabus before the class begins.  God sometimes says to all of us, “Put your plan in your pocket and throw away your need for a syllabus – this one is on Me.”

God is doing some incredible things in my heart these days.  Good things.  Things I don’t understand and I can’t fully explain.  It would either bore you or frustrate you for me to try and formulate words about it.  In essence, the ditches I’ve been digging for two years were full of water one day about three weeks ago.  I didn’t see the rain nor hear the wind.  I just arose from ditch digging one day and saw the fullness that God provided without any fanfare.  He never said, 'Jeff, here it comes!  Your heartfelt prayers will be answered tomorrow! It's going to be amazing!'  He didn’t let me participate, He just let me benefit.  I’m going to predict that He’s going to do the same for some of you.  Ditch digging is boring…but it is essential.  Keep doing the right thing and try to whistle while you work.  Don’t demand explanations, sing His praise instead.  Go beyond you.  Put your immediate plans in your pocket and risk a slow-down as you ask Him anew what He desires for you.  Keep checking the ditches for water because He’s going to fill them.  What – do you think He’s going to let you die of thirst?  No way.  He’s the God with the plan and He has a specific one for you.  I love Alicia and Landon more than words can tell.  When their demands (Landon) and interrogations (Alicia) get a little too much, I just tell them to sit back and let daddy drive.

I always get them where they need to be.

“Go your way and tell John the things you have seen and heard: how that the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor the Gospel is preached.  And blessed is he who is not offended in me.” – Luke 7:22-23

John the Baptist was incarcerated.  He would never leave his prison.  The forerunner to Jesus Christ now had shackled feet and he would soon have his head removed by an enemy of God.  John had been granted the unique privilege of announcing boldly to the world that the Lamb of God had come.  His voice had broken a four-century silence from God and John had experienced incredible power in the Spirit.  His life had been amazing.

Now his life was coming to an end in a fashion he had never anticipated.

When I read Luke’s account of John the Baptist’s struggle of faith I come away relieved.  I’ve not experienced the victories that John was graced with, nor have I experienced his level of persecution and trial.  John was denied the opportunity on earth to witness the blossoming of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  He expected to be a partaker of his Messiah’s ministry…instead he was a prisoner awaiting execution.  He sent some of his own followers to Jesus to inquire whether or not Jesus was truly the Savior of Israel.  Jesus had been preaching, praying, healing droves of innumerable people, confronting the legalistic religious rulers and even raising the dead.  Those who were eyewitnesses of His ministry were not wondering whether or not Jesus was the One.  But John only saw his prison.  Every day, all day.  His faith was being obscured by his circumstances.  Jesus, are you really who I’ve believed you to be?

The Son of God heard the inquiry of John’s disciples.  He then proceeded to do what he had been doing for months - He engaged His hands in the work of His Father.  John’s disciples witnessed the miraculous works of God as Jesus healed and preached the good news.  Grace and glory combined in such an undeniable fashion that Jesus is not recorded as giving a pinpoint verbal defense to His messianic credentials.  John wanted reassurance and Jesus sent it by reminding John of what he already knew.  That’s how God brings back to the forefront a faith that is struggling – He reminds you of what you already know.  John didn’t need new evidence, he craved reassurance.  Jesus graced him and then afterward launched off into a holy toast to his beloved forerunner (Luke 7:24-28).  He declared to all that the man in prison with the vacillating faith was the greatest prophet who ever lived.  How like Jesus to quietly touch the wound in John’s faith while publicly affirming the whole of John’s faith.

God is not frustrated with your doubts.  If the greatest prophet who ever lived was allowed the grace to work through his troubled heart then, rest assured, you will find that same grace.  As you work through your hitches and hiccups as a believer, please discipline your mind to remember the mighty works of God which preceded your present testing.  The work of God goes on around us and, in some places, without us.  He reserves the right to take us from the Judean hilltops where we once thundered to the masses and place us in a solitary place where our experience is rarely anything more than Him and our troubled heart.  The key for me in times like those is to answer the question of whether or not His unwavering presence is enough to satisfy me.  We all know that it should be…but is it?  Is His promised presence satisfactory when we are facing the reality of what once was possibly never being again?  These are tough questions that the saints of every age must grapple with.

John only made one more public appearance in life.  Some stranger cut off his head.  An inglorious end to his earthly pilgrimage.  Think on this though:  do you think he has any regrets right now?  Is John’s faith still obscured?  Do we dare to wonder if he thinks it was worth it all?  You know the answers.  We borrow John’s words from time to time down here – Are you the One, or should I be seeking another?

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Just before I stepped up to the podium for the second morning service yesterday, I was handed a note with a hastily scrawled message.  I looked at it and learned that Don Shockley, Meadow’s Family Life Pastor, had been rushed off of a cruise ship to an Anchorage, Alaska hospital with serious medical issues.  I had to force the concern for him from my mind as I prepared to share the prepared message with the people of Meadow.  In the few minutes between receiving that note and embarking on the sermon,  I had a host of images and thoughts flash across my mind.

My first memory of Don was seeing him sixteen years ago wearing white shoes and a pink shirt in the lobby of Meadow’s old building.  He has a full head of silver hair and booming voice like thunder.  I remember thinking, ‘I never guessed that Moses would wear a pink shirt.’  Not long thereafter, Don, along with his precious wife Shirley, took me under their wing and poured some great foundational material into me when all I knew was that Jesus had forgiven me.  They took me to Florida where Don was preaching a series of meetings and I had the privilege of hearing God’s word preached by a man thirty-five years my senior.  He even let me get up and give a testimony one night.  Those were precious days I could never forget.

About two years into my senior pastorate, Don came into my office and told me that he wanted to serve in any way he could to help me in my fledgling ministry.  He likely saw some tendencies in me that would require a little iron-sharpening and he humbled himself as he offered to do whatever he could to help me.  The only thing missing in that scene was a towel girded about his waist and a water basin.  A man of his stature who freely offered to help a young pastor has left an indelible mark upon my mind.  He came alongside of me and has been an integral part of the ministry here ever since.  He never asked for a dime of compensation and, yet, has often been the hardest working member of our ministry team.  I purpose to look at his life and regularly ask the question of whether or not I will finish like Don is finishing:  he’s 75 years old and continually exerting himself to make a difference for Christ.  He knows when to speak and knows when to bite his tongue.  Our church has been so greatly blessed to have him serve and I pray that there will be more opportunity for him for years to come.

I only have a handful of heroes and Don Shockley is one.  Who is yours?  Have you let that one know lately what a difference they made/are making in your life?  Somebody out there needs to hear that God is empowering their efforts and utilizing them in a constructive way.  Heroes are still human, and humans need a little encouragement as they purpose to do the right thing for the benefit of others.  In the day we are living, when heroes are decreasing in numbers, let’s make sure that we aren’t taking for granted the one that God appointed for us.

Thanks Don.  See you soon.

“So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.” – 2 Chronicles 20:30

An unlikely result had found the king of Israel nearly 900 years before Christ.  His name is long so I’m going to refer to him as King J for the remainder of this blog; King J started out magnificently for the Lord God of Israel.  His father was a king before him and was characterized by relying on the flesh rather than walking by faith in the living God.  King J observed, received soul-instruction, and committed to lead according to God’s word (2 Chron. 17:9).  The result was that Judah was immensely blessed with both the fear of the Lord and the prosperity of the kingdom.  It would have been an amazing time to be living in Israel.

A short time later we discover that King J had a miscue which nearly cost him everything.  He made a league with the wicked king of the northern territory, Ahab.  King J agreed to partner with Ahab in a military effort against the armies of Syria at Ramoth-Gilead and nearly lost his life in battle.  To top it off, when he had escaped the battle God sent a stern word of rebuke through Jehu (2 Chron. 19:1-3) for having made alliance with such a detestable individual like Ahab.  God greatly humbled King J and he redoubled his commitment to godliness and integrity throughout the nation of Israel.  Repentance had been granted and King J had narrowly escaped the wrath of God.

Now here is what I wish to focus on:  some time after King J repented and brought forth fruit worthy of repentance, an impossible dilemma found him and the nation he was leading.  An ominous word came which described a large conflagration of armies coming hard against Israel.  The news filled the king with fear; was this God’s wrath?  Was King J due the punishment for earlier missteps?  Had God recanted and made the decision to allow chastisement to fall upon King J?  Because he was in way over his head, the good king fell on his face before God to seek His face and petition His hand.  Before all the people of Israel this great man did not come before God as royalty but as a powerless pauper.  He traced God’s faithfulness and covenants and encouraged himself in the Lord as reliance upon God alone was the anthem of that day.  Then King J mouthed the words that have encouraged so many of us so often:

“O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee.” – 2 Chronicles 20:12

Victory was as good as secured.  God would send word for King J to dismiss his inner fears and let them lodge in the hearts of his enemies.  The battle would belong to God, not King J.  There would be no need to lift a finger for the fight because God was soon to instruct all Israel how to win a war.  Certainly King J would have felt the prick of conviction in his own conscience as he listened to the Lord.  Perhaps written between the lines would have been the tender rebuke which said, ‘And you trusted Ahab last time…”  King J had learned that a battle with God alone is more secure than 1,000 armies at your side.  The temptation to rely upon lesser things is a constant battle for believers.  We have all fallen prey to this relentless tendency within us.  We love to preach about living by promises but our pitiful hearts prefer to live according to fleshly guarantees.  Songs about the invisible God fall silent when there is visible man who offers a helpful hand first.  King J was sovereignly placed in such a strait that nobody could come to his aid.  God would need to be God if Israel were to survive.

And so it may be with you today.  If not today, then in upcoming weeks.  God precisely places his people in pressured predicaments.  He wants to teach you how to keep your eyes solely upon Him when they are naturally disposed to dart about scanning the horizon for any available Ahab to come your way.  When your capable hands are ready to grab the nearest sword and get to slaying the enemy, God gives an authoritative whisper which says, ‘Stand ye still and see the salvation of the LORD.’ (2 Chron. 20:17).  He immobilizes our impulses and empowers our stillness so that the glory for the approaching victory will be His alone.

What is the result?  Our opening words:  “So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.” – 2 Chronicles 20:30

My plan this Sunday is to share from Luke 5 with the people of Meadow.  I’ve not taught from the Gospels in quite some time and I’m looking forward to some consecutive weeks in this great book if God allows.  What captured my thoughts this morning was the following verse and how it blossoms when I think of our lives today.  Read this verse and try to think of what it would look like if it was describing you today and a similar radical commitment to Christ.

“And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.” – Luke 5:11

As Peter, James and John were about to experience the life-changing choice that we are all called to face, this is what was entailed.

Parking the boat – Their boats equaled their former livelihood.  They were fisherman and had learned great skills over the years.  Those boats were the places where they spent many hours a day; they worked in those boats, occasionally napped in those boats, put food on the table and money in the safe through those boats. Without those boats these men had very little else to lean upon.  These boats represent the source of their former confidence.  They chose to park the boats on land where there was no further use for them.

Exchanging priorities – These initial servants of Christ had an immediate restructuring of their priorities.  They had seen an amazing miracle from Jesus Christ when He gave them an overwhelming haul of fish.  Previously they had labored through the night and had nothing to show for it.  They lent their boats to Christ for Him to use as a pulpit.  At the conclusion of His message He rewarded them in grace by nearly sinking their ships with a treasure trove of trout.  Amazingly, they did not ask Him to do it again tomorrow.  They did not presume that they were now to be set upon the pinnacle of the fishing industry.  It was at the peak of their entrepreneurial enterprises that they simply walked away, employing the wisdom that teaches it is better to remain alongside the Giver than to become enamored with the gifts.  They forsook all their former priorities and decided in a moment of time that the greatest manner of life was to exalt the lordship of Jesus to the apex of their earthly lives.

Trusting the leadership of Jesus – I’m unsure of what they did with all the fish from that day but I do know that they immediately committed to follow Christ.  They didn’t even ask where He was heading when they let their sandals follow in the impressions of His.  He would lead them lovingly for the next three years.  They would witness and perform miracles.  The dead would be raised, the blind given sight, the deaf made to hear.  Their ears would serve as funnels to their souls as Christ poured in amazing truth that nobody had ever articulated before.  They would shed the old skin of former sins and awaken to new vitality in Christ.  With both fear and amazement they would listen to Jesus indict the religious leaders of the day while, at the same time, reach out to the rejects of their society.  Their lives were flipped on their heads and there was no way to predict what would come with the next sunrise.  Ultimately, He led them to the place of His betrayal and crucifixion.  Similarly, these three men would also give their lives for Him.  In the end, they followed Jesus all the way to Heaven where they sit today…never regretting that they didn’t clutch their boats and consequently lose their crowns.

Is God asking you to do something?  If He is, it isn’t a request but, rather, a decree.  The King’s invitation is not to be answered but obeyed.  He has something awesome for you.  Something that will drill you, fill you, thrill you and spill you.  He’s tapping a fragrance that He has placed within you that He wants a sour world to be refreshed with.  He can give you a haul of fish if that’s what you want.  He can also make you a fisher of souls.  The choice is yours today.  My advice?  Park your boat and answer the call.

I’m spending a little time this morning thinking of those who don’t know Christ.  Most who read this blog are already believers.  You likely read the word of God and delight in spiritual truth.  You love the body of Christ, enjoy singing His praises and have a longing to be conformed to His image.  You are spiritually hungry and pursue what you know will satisfy your deepest longings.  You have a purpose for being here and will not stop pursuing until you have secured it.

When I read this anonymous note last night, I was convicted that Jesus has a purpose for this generation also.  His purpose is this writer and countless others like him or her.

“I’m not sure who you are, Father, or Mother. I find it hard to believe that there are so many different names for you. I can’t really grasp why you would create us knowing that some of us will either never be able to grasp your existence, or that some of us may shun you or disrespect your teachings. I wonder if you raise me up and hold me in your arms when I fall asleep at night. I only want to be closer to you, to know you. I don’t even know who I am, or why I am here. I just wish that you would talk to me, or show me the way. I fear that sometimes I dismiss the signs that you send to me. I don’t feel that I deserve forgiveness for the wrong that I have done in my life, yet I am told that you forgive us for all that we repent of. I wish I knew the path to take that would lead me to you. In the face of you, I am nothing. It feels like the emotion inside of me originated from something too deep to be measured. I only know that I know nothing, but my feelings know more than I can fully comprehend. I do not know who you are, and until I find peace, I will never know what I am.”

The man or woman who wrote this delivers your mail.  She might work in the cubicle next to you or hand you a receipt after she bags your groceries.  He may be the man who cut you off in traffic yesterday or the politician who has mastered the smile in front of the cameras.  I don’t know who he or she is but I am reminded by the words that this writer is empty, he or she knows it, and needs some answers. 

We have the truth that this person needs.  Don’t squander it today. Tell somebody - it might be the one who wrote this note.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.” - Proverbs 3:5-7

Amy and her mother recently had an occasion to be back on the street where Amy grew up.  It was engaging to hear my sweet wife reminisce about her childhood.  So much of who she is was fashioned there on Cumming Street and it had been a while since she had been back there.  I sensed a similar feeling this morning when God led me back to the verses above.  Who among us has not been impacted deeply by these inspired words along our Christian journey?  I think they are perfectly suited for a Monday morning so I’m going to address just one phrase in the sixth verse:

“In all thy ways acknowledge Him…” 

The people who know me best will readily tell you that I’m a big picture guy.  I’m not overly given to enjoying the fine print of life – give me some headlines and turn me loose.  The Proverbs appeal to me for this very reason.  When God’s Word tells me to acknowledge God in all my ways, I become suddenly delighted that I’ve been given something to work with.  This is a huge and comprehensive chunk of counsel from the Almighty that I can wrap my life around.  So I sit at my desk and stare at this verse.  I read it out loud.  I think about how I should apply it today.  I think of some of your lives and how this verse might assist you (that’s the pastor in me appearing on the horizon).  Quickly I realize that if I could simply master this one verse then the entirety of my life would change for the better.  So what can I glean from this command to acknowledge God in all my ways?

No matter what the situation, no matter the nature of the circumstances, regardless of the potential blessing or bruising…I must acknowledge my God.  The Hebrew word translated knowledge in this passage is a very common word.  It indicates a call to learn God, know God, perceive God, distinguish God, and experience God in the midst of every occurrence in my daily living.  It describes an intimacy of relating to Him.  When I think of how far I could run with this teaching today, I must pull back on the reigns and leave you with something to consider as another week is unfolding before us.

In all of what is happening in your life right now, utilize the teaching of this verse by acknowledging the following:

Acknowledge the wisdom of God – He is holy and can never be failing as He works out His plan for you, His child.  He has never made a mistake and He is interweaving both the visible and invisible right now in order to accomplish something in and through you that will bring Him glory.  Acknowledge His wisdom in all your ways.

Acknowledge the faithfulness of God – You have history with the Almighty.  He has drawn into more than one valley in life and you have always emerged with His omnipotent hand holding yours.  He’s never left you to the predators and shadows.  He is faithful and you know it.  How amazing that He would continue to lead you through a series of mountaintops and valleys as He shepherds you to the place of rest and glory.  Acknowledge the His faithfulness in all your ways.

Acknowledge the purpose of God – We often forget that the supreme purpose of the Lord for our lives is that we will be made into the likeness of Jesus Christ.  Does God want us happy or holy?  Don’t answer too quickly because the accurate response is that He wants us to be both happy and holy.  The problem is that we fail to recognize that to be holy is to be happy.  The sinking feeling in life occurs when we seek our happiness in things separate from His purpose to make us holy.  He is committed to His own glory which must become the source of our personal happiness.  Acknowledge His purpose in all your ways.

Acknowledge the sovereignty of God – The Lord is in the heavens and He does whatever pleases Him.  He is in absolute control of the microscopic and the telescopic.  The grains and the galaxies all belong to Him.  He is not only in complete authority over all but He is the only being in existence worthy to exercise that authority.  He is supremely capable and is working countless quintillions of events, intersections, human lives, angelic powers, natural forces, spiritual influences and sovereign decrees in order to accomplish the end-all finish which He has ordained before you and I ever breathed.  Nothing is accidental and incidental and this truth allows everything in your life to be infused with sublime purpose.  Knowing that there is a reason why is something that keeps our souls anchored in this life.  You absolutely will never know all the Why’s of your life while you are still here.  One of the glories reserved in Heaven for God is the moment when we cross over and immediately understand it all.  Acknowledge His sovereignty in all your ways.

Finally, acknowledge the love of God – Everything that Jesus Christ ordains in your life is encapsulated in love, fueled by unblemished agape, and seasoned with beautifying grace.  Though life is not continuously tender, He always is with His children.  He understands – not from a distance, mind you – every intention, emotion, consternation and aspiration in your heart.  He knows exactly what you want and chooses in love, rather, to bless you with what you need.  You have awakened today in the secure arms of the greatest Power in the universe and He leans down in grace to kiss your cheek and declare to you in a whisper that silences Hell, “I so greatly love you.”  Satan and his demons have no retort for that. Once you really believe that whisper from God, you’ve cut off the enemy at his knees, retired the doubts and fears that assault you and laid a foundation to build a life upon.  Acknowledge His love in all your ways.

Now, friend, go live your God-appointed Monday.  He will be directing your paths.

“Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:  only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.” - 1 Samuel 12:23-24

Today it is my privilege to go to the throne on behalf of the reader.  This prayer is for you and I hope you will know that I mean it as exactly that.  It is not written to be admired or merely appreciated – it is written with the intent that God would answer it on your behalf.  May you trust Him today for its fulfillment in your life. - Jeff

Heavenly Father, I praise you this morning for being constantly faithful, amazingly kind and compassionate, thoroughly good, and omnipotently active.  You are gentle in your authority over your children.  You are steadfast and reliable.  You stun us when we remember that You always know what You are doing, and that what You are doing is always good.  Forgive us for trying to coach You.  Forgive us for wishing You would do things our way and according to our limited wisdom.  Forgive us for our petulancy and pouting when You have empowered us to be strong and courageous.  Have mercy upon us in our fears and follies and enable us to place ourselves in our ranks beneath Your guiding and gracious hand.  Tell us Your secrets, O God.  Speak in such a fashion that we may undeniable hear.  If we have grieved Your Holy Spirit in our apathy and indulgence then please renew a right spirit within us so that we may again taste of Your most precious joys.  Cause our ears to be open to Your words of promise.  Cause our hearts to be satisfied fully in that we are fed and clothed and sheltered this day.  Give us eyes to look upon those whose needs are greater than ours and forbid us from stopping at the point of feeling pity for them – place it in our hearts and hands to help them.  Let us be used by You to remind them of their Father’s faithful provision.

Give us hearts which treasure the Gospel more than all else.  Cause us to gag when this world presents itself as a meal which would suffice us.  Let us be starved from the empty pledges of this fallen world and let us feast on the glorious provisions in Your Gospel of Grace.  Let us remember Your mercy, compassion, guidance, renewing, chastisement, relentless pursuit, eventual culmination and inevitable paradise.  Cause us to slow down and reacquaint ourselves with the treasured reality that we will one day be evacuated from this fallen world and be allowed to enter into the final rest which carries ceaseless echoes of ecstasy and glories.  Help us remember that there are sights unseen, songs yet unheard, visions not yet beheld.  Constantly remind us that there is more that we have not yet experienced than that which we have- convince us again that the best is yet to come.  Teach us precisely and personally that eye has not seen the things which you have prepared for us and that there may likely be a stunned silence from Your saints as we enter into the fullness of our inheritance.  Let our present diseases, deprivations, denials and delays be humbly accepted in the perspective of an eventual deliverance.  Empower us afresh to love those who oppose and wound us.  Let us pursue them in the grace, mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.  Protect us from Satan and his frenzied host who would kill us today if You allowed it.  Let them tremble at You in us rather than us trembling at them in this world.  Because we are overcomers and hyper-conquerors, let us then live in that reality - God, help us here!  May all strongholds be seen as crumbling.  May every thought and imagination of our heart that exalts itself against You be immediately reduced to rubble.  May an empty tomb reality begin to characterize this vapor of a life we have been entrusted with.

Make us holy, O God.  Let us be willing to pay the price for this necessity in us.  Let us choose joy in a world that affords little.  Teach us the power of silence and reverence so that we might sense the most subtle of moves by Your Holy Spirit.  Cause us to be patient and, in this patience, let us possess our souls.  Adjust our appetites heavenward.  Plow new furrows in our hearts and plant the choicest of seed that we can be entrusted with.  Let there be an amazing harvest so that all around us will be reminded that our mighty God has not waned in His power.  Show Yourself strong –not so that we might believe. . . But because we already do.

In the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” - 2 Peter 1:10-11 {ESV}

“Imagine gaining entrance into the eternal home of the One we failed so miserably.  It doesn’t get any better than that.” – David R. Helm, Sharing Christ’s Sufferings

If you know of a currently faithful Christian who has survived an abysmal personal failure in his or her faith at an earlier time, get to know that person deeply.  Listen to their words with an aching ear; hunger for their counsel as you humble yourself to receive priceless jewels of instruction.  How rare it is to encounter a believer who understands what it means to personally implode in their journey of faith, only to be raised by omnipotent grace to begin to walk again.  I love Peter’s epistles for this very reason.  Peter, the failure in faith, became Peter, the father in faith.  As a wise father he teaches his children how to become better than he, himself, would ever be. God bounced Peter back and we are the better for it.

We serve a God of multiple chances.  The theological term behind this concept is Grace.  God’s constant pursuit and empowerment of those who are humbled before Him is one of the most refreshing components to the Christian journey.  I have no choice but to confess plainly that I have pitifully failed God more times than I could ever remember.  It would be impossible to recount the exact number of occasions even in the last thirty days wherein I fell short of His immaculate glory in thought, word, motivation and action.  Sin crouches at the door and I know of clear occasions when I’ve welcomed it inside.  Peter could affirm this in his own life.  You, as honesty moves to the front of the classroom of your heart, must affirm that it is also true about you.  We need this God of multiple chances.

Peter’s intentions as a raw disciple were that he, above all his peers, would be a great follower of Jesus.  He saw their pathetic weaknesses – John’s and James’ presumptuous pride, Thomas reluctant heart, Nathaniel’s skepticism, Matthew’s sullied pedigree as a servant of the pagan Roman empire – Peter knew that he shouldn’t actually acknowledge it, but he was pretty confident that these men would be carrying his sandals one day.  He would be doing something great for his Messiah.  And then Peter feared.  Then Peter followed afar.  Then Peter denied his Master.  Then Peter wept bitterly underneath an inky black sky in Jerusalem.  Satan had hollowed out our brother.  Jesus warned Peter that it would happen, and had prayed in advance for his recovery.  Peter would be restored through an intensely humbling encounter with Jesus around a morning campfire.  He was granted immeasurable grace and then he was given important work.  Peter had waffled but now Peter would win; Jesus allowed this amazing apostle to hear the clanging of an empty heart so that He could subsequently enable Peter to hear the sloshing of that same heart now filled.  Peter’s failure of Christ was not incidental in his ministry, it was pivotal.  The obliterating of Peter’s pride was not casual in its purpose or in its result.  The man would never be the same and the Kingdom of God harvested the fruit that was formerly watered by Peter’s tears of heartbroken failure.

Read the two letter's bearing his name in the New Testament; you and I benefit today from his failure.  He welcomed that potential for the glory of His Master.

Two things to remember today:  Firstly, God is not surprised when your heart betrays you.  He knows you and has provided sufficient grace for every left turn that should have been right.  He intends for you to grow in wisdom, love, faith and understanding – and your own failures can become excellent instructors if you respond properly.  I boldly proclaim that you need to stop lamenting your past failures and start thinking again about the current and future stewardship of what He has entrusted to you.  Get out of the dust, repentant saint.  The wages of sin is death, not self-imposed penance.  Peter told the world that he never knew Jesus, denying the One who would shortly die in his place.  He trembled before a young woman and employed the words of a fallen world to further separate himself from Christ.  He insisted on this betrayal of Jesus and watched it culminate with the crucifixion.  Responding to the grace offered him, Peter then became one of the greatest men of God that the world has ever known.  Don’t you think there is sufficient grace for you in the areas of your own struggles and failures?  Secondly, please emulate your Savior by gushing grace upon those around you who have also experienced failure in their relationship with Christ.  The world needs fewer pointing fingers and many more extended hands.  The one you are quietly judging in their current failure may end up being the person God chooses to mightily use for His own glory.  Look for occasions to be aggressively gracious.  Believe that the grace of God has greater strength than the sin of man.  You may just help someone’s life to change if they witness in you an understanding smile coupled with an offer to help.  Be quick to forgive – you’ll never regret it.  Be slow to write anyone off…anyone.  There’s a Peter somewhere around you that has great work to accomplish someday; right now your Peter is all alone under the night sky of his failure.  It’s cold there.  It’s very lonely.  They don't think anyone cares anymore.  Someone needs to go and get that one who is suffering from self-inflicted spiritual wounding.

That someone is you.

“My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.” – Job 10:1

Well, good morning, Job.  Haven’t we all been there before?  Job would probably qualify that we haven’t exactly been where he was when he spoke the above words…but we have all felt the weight of life as it grew beyond our power to sustain.  Job’s life had crumbled upon him in an instant as he lost everything outward thing that was precious to him.  His children all died in a natural (supernatural?) disaster.  His employees were executed by a rival.  He lost his business in a day.  His wife encouraged him to abandon his faith in God.  His body was attacked by Satan, resulting in horrific pain and misery.  To top it all off, his fundamentalist friends let him know that it was probably due to some hidden sin in his life.  Now that I think of it, maybe we haven’t been there before.

Job had his God-ordained burden and you have yours.  It’s tailor made for you even though you didn’t request it.  Because it is from God it is actually a beneficial aspect to your life.  I’m constantly seeking to squirm out from something that God has sovereignly laid upon me; interestingly, when I commit to the squirming process all I succeed in doing is making myself more uncomfortable.  When God empowers my stillness and submission I learn that the weight fits perfectly upon the scope of my back and I’m able to continue upon my walk, albeit a little more slowly.

Jesus knows about carrying a burden upon His back.  His cross was supposed to be mine but I was not suited to bear it in triumph.  The cross of our sin and guilt and shame would have driven us into the grave and positioned us there for eternity. No, only Jesus Christ could sufficiently bear that load and do so in eternal victory.  He despised the shame as He endured the cross.  There was a joy which was established before Him which motivated Him to fully accomplish the will of the Father.  He was able to cry out that it was finished so we might cry out that we have now begun.  He is awesome Savior who knows exactly how His sheep are faring today.  He has heard some of you praise Him this morning.  Some of you have petitioned Him for relief, provision, sustaining strength and active grace.  Some of His lambs have rushed out into the corral of life before placing their gaze upon the Shepherd today.  Remember, there are wolves out there so make sure your eyes lock with his before you start to graze.

I just want to declare this morning that Christ has compassion on your weariness.  He is acutely aware of your weakness.  It is gracious relief for us to know that He doesn’t require us to be at full strength today.  Be weak, be weary but do so intentionally in the direction on Omnipotence.  Don’t be like me when I seek to squirm away unencumbered from His blessed burden.  He’s too good for us to second guess Him on this Monday.  Are you listless?  Breathless? Restless?  Tell Him all about it and then get very quiet and He will declare to you that He is resolute, full of vigor, and pinpointedly focused on what needs to take place in you, around you and through you today.  Ask Him to let you in on it.  Tell Him that you trust Him as He places the appropriate weights upon you.  If you really feel courageous, thank Him for the burden.  Who knows what you would be without it?

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?"  Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments." And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.” – Zechariah 3:1-5

There is no greater treasure that could be laid upon us than the astounding truth of our comprehensive forgiveness before God.  Think of this:  we know that we have failed Him.  He knows even better than we do the degree of our sins against Him.  Satan and the entire angelic realm – both holy and fallen – see the tarnishing guilt of every one of us.  We feel it in our guts.  Satan expresses it with his accusing lips.  The holy angels lower their heads in powerlessness to take our stains away.  The fallen angels tempt us to deeper stain.

Then God arises and abolishes our sin with the decree of Heaven and the blood of His Son.  There is therefore now no condemnation.  The filthy garments have vanished and we are now robed for eternity with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.  As His brow was embedded with thorns, our heads are dripping in grace.  His wounds once held nails and now they hold us in omnipotent security.  Satan indicts us with historical accounts of our purposed rebellion against God.  God gives the final rebuttal of the Cross of Jesus Christ to which there can be no successful counter argument.  It is God who justifies, who then can condemn?

The incarnation, the agony of Gethsemane, the betrayal, the trials, the rejection and abandonment, the scourging, the crucifixion, the turning of His Father’s back, the yielding up of His spirit, and the entombment - what holy horrors our guilt demanded.  These awful realities paralyze the discerning soul with a sense of wretchedness that brings us to our knees.  Yet, in a staggering moment we realize that none of these things – not even the outpouring of the Father’s wrath upon His own Son – could thwart divine decree that we would be with God forever.  Our sin, our sin , our sin – though it was oh so bad – was weaker in its might than the triumphant grace of God manifested that day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Our Savior bellowed on the cross that it was finished and the Father declared at Christ’s resurrection that it was, indeed, perfectly accomplished.

Let Satan’s voice fall silent against you.  Let the whisper of grace expand into a roar of justification.  The hiss of the serpent has been replaced by the chorus of the redeemed who praise the Lamb of God both day and night.  No sin, no guilt, no condemnation, no fear, no wrath, no distance, no death!  We have been forgiven – not probated or tolerated, but fully forgiven.  May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ let the truth of the Cross penetrate our fickle minds and permeate our fragile consciences.  Let us appropriate confidence in this pilgrimage that God has made us overcomers.  Let triumph fill our hearts when it cannot fill this world.  May God reacquaint His children with the both the blood and the beauty of the Cross. 

“Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.  I cried unto Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue.  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:  But verily God hath heard me; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer.  Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.” – Psalm 66:16-20

“The merciful man does good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubles his own flesh.” – Proverbs 11:17

To be like Jesus Christ we must master mercy.  We might zealously engage in so many facets of the Christian experience, become proficient at a thousand disciplines, pray in the passion of the Holy Spirit, cross seas to evangelize the nations and part with all our earthly goods so that Christ may be our sole sufficiency…but if we can’t release others from the wrongs they’ve perpetrated against us then we are nothing more than imposters in the faith.  The cross of Christ must inevitably produce mercy in our stubborn souls.

I love being forgiven.  God – the God of all power and all mercy – chose to forgive me.  He declared me justified before His holy gaze.  I, as all other sinners, was once before Him as an undeniably filthy sinner whose stains were tattooed with permanency upon my fallen soul.  I was guilty of treason against the Righteous King.  My hands dripped blood and I dared raise those bloody paws in a clenched fist to God, daring Him to judge me.  My actions declared myself to be the Lord and Him to be my personal doormat.  I heartily pounded nails into God’s Son and stood with the crowd, crying until my voice was raw, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”  I walked away from the cross in abject indifference and lived my own life in a willful rebellion against my Maker.  You would say, ‘Jeff, you are being too harsh.  Away with the drama, friend, you are making too much of our folly.  And if it was true about your sin, Jeff, then I need to let you know that my sin was nothing like that.  I was not near as notorious in my ways.  Sure, I fell short but – pounding nails into Jesus? – come on, man.”

If you believe that then you are also likely to be one who struggles with showing mercy to those who have wronged you.  Is that a grudge that I see spilling out of your pocket?

For several weeks now I have been focusing scripturally on this issue of unforgiveness and bitterness.  I regularly counsel Christians who are unwilling to forgive…and it is telling on them.  By the grace of God this is one issue that I do not struggle with and I clearly know the reason why: God has solidified in my heart that I have no permission to withhold forgiveness from anyone when He has lavished His own mercy upon me without restraint.  The Holy Spirit will lead each believer in an attitude of eager mercy and forgiveness; this is the result of experiencing AND appreciating the forgiveness that we have each received.  If bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness and anger are regular flavors of your soul then please know that God is sounding the warning alarms.  You are in danger!  It is not merely that relationships with the ones you begrudge are in danger.  Do not think that it is simply a forfeiture of joy in this life that is in jeopardy.  Never be fooled into believing that it is solely your effectiveness in Christian service that is being eroded.  It is much more than that, friend.  It is much worse than that.

A commitment to unforgiveness in your life ultimately lands you in hell.

“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” – Mark 11:25-26

At this point I’ll need to address the objection which has already leaped into our minds.  We know that we are saved by grace through faith.  We know that we cannot be justified before God by engaging in works of any sort.  The blood of Jesus Christ alone is the agent which washes us eternally clean.  Serving, giving, teaching, loving or sacrificing cannot do anything to raise the spiritually dead to spiritual life.  How then can I make such a bold declaration that a commitment to unforgiveness by humans gives evidence that their is no forgiveness from God in the one who is unforgiving?

Because that’s exactly what Jesus declared.  Let’s work backwards.

Works are the essential evidence of genuine salvation.  Works can never save us but a presumed salvation devoid of works can never save us either (James 2:20-26).  The Apostle John teaches that a life devoid of love for people proves an absence of the life of God in that person (1^st John 3:14-19).  We also have multiple passages which refute the notion that a person living in perpetual sin can have any legitimate claim in God’s gracious salvation (1^st John 2:3-6, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Cor. 6:9-10).  As much as I find the deepest relief in knowing that salvation is all of God’s immeasurable grace, I have no right to blind myself to the clear teaching of scripture that asserts His grace will make a new creation out of any who receive it.  His forgiveness brings about a total transformation of us.  This transformation empowers us to overcome all sin as God sanctifies us along our journey.  One of the sins which He delivers us from is the unwillingness to forgive others.  It is the height of foolishness to support the ongoing sin of unforgiveness in us with a presumed forgiveness from God.  Can we really believe that it is permissible for us to refuse to forgive others because our soul has been made safe through the incomprehensible grace, mercy and forgiveness of God?  It's as if we might be saying, "It's a good thing I have been saved, otherwise God might condemn me for my commitment not to forgive the one who hurt me."  Do we justify ourselves in our unforigiveness with the eagerness of God to fully forgive us?

Please know that I am sympathetic to this dilemma.  I am certainly not saying that there is no struggle in forgiving others.  It can feel like the deepest wrestling match you will ever endure.  Someone wronged you.  They abused you, mocked you, robbed you, deceived you, failed you, disgraced you and ruined you.  Their crimes against you are factual and there is no doubt concerning their guilt.  You were the innocent one and they were the guilty.  And now you are being told that they must be fully and immediately forgiven as you extend perpetual mercy to them.  How can this be?

It can be.  It must be.  It will be if you have, yourself, experienced the full pardon of God.  Not denying the pain inflicted upon you by the ones who have wronged you, I will boldly assert that your sin against Christ is boundlessly worse.  You killed God’s Son with your sin.  If you still don’t believe this then it is no wonder that you are struggling to forgive others.  You have not yet tarried before His cross and fixated the eye of your soul upon Him.  You’ve not lingered long enough to absorb the atrocity of your own culpability in the death of Jesus Christ.  You didn’t sling mud at Him, you crucified Him.  His response?  To pray upon the cross for your forgiveness.  To come forth from the grave you sent Him to and ordain the message of His forgiveness to be proclaimed to the world.  To send the Holy Spirit to empower the message of His forgiveness.  To inspire the Apostles to serve as the architects of the doctrine of forgiveness. To preserve His word which enlightened you to His forgiveness.  To send messengers who shared with you His forgiveness. And then, in a grand display of unbridled mercy, to lavish you with comprehensive forgiveness which obliterated your sin against Him forever.  Search the universe and you will not locate one single shred of evidence against you which substantiates your guilt before Him!  It’s as if you had never wronged Him.

But you won’t forgive the ones who hurt you?

I’m calling us all to humble ourselves and choose forgiveness of any and all who have failed us.  Bitterness and a commitment to not forgive clearly betray an unregenerate heart.  In mark 11:25-26 Jesus was not merely saying that you don’t have fellowship with God when you refuse to forgive – He’s saying that you don’t have God.  Make your purposeful decision right now that you are forgiving everyone.  Don't expect your emotions to motivate you in this - engage your will!  Make the Spirit-empowered declaration that nobody owes you anything.  Make that phone call, write that letter, ask for that meeting.  Tell them that they are forgiven whether they think they need it or not.  If your offender is no longer alive then declare out loud to God that you have just exonerated that person.  Tell Him with equal volume that you have done so in response to His full forgiveness of you.  Make this painful decision to forgive all others an act of worship to a forgiving God.  Pardon that person who hurt you.  Set them free.  Spit the remainder of the bitter bile from your mouth and drink in the refreshing taste of mercy granted.  Let them go - they are not worth your soul.

That sound you just heard was the key turning the lock on the gate of the prison of bitterness.  As one now fully pardoned and free, help others escape their cells.

Which of these statements do you feel best applies to you?

I am a sinner who needs salvation.

I was a sinner who needed a Savior.

I am a sinner who needs a Savior.

Forgive the presumption but I will not give the option to any of us to declare ourselves anything other than sinners.  Gratefully recognizing that God’s grace through Jesus Christ positions us as saints before Him, I will still submit that we live in an ongoing state of sinfulness.  Yes, we are being sanctified but, until we are glorified, we will transgress.  So then, which is it?

I am a sinner who needs salvation.

I was a sinner who needed a Savior.

I am a sinner who needs a Savior.

Statement 1:  If you are a sinner who acknowledges a need for salvation – that one time transaction whereby God declares the believing sinner to be made  positionally righteous through faith in Jesus Christ alone – I invite you to humble your heart and acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life.  His blood was shed to pay the penalty of your sin against God and there is no other remedy.  Abandon all else and cry out to God for total forgiveness as you express your trust in the work and person of Jesus Christ.  You will experience immediate justification before God and all guilt and condemnation will be taken from you, never to return.  God’s Spirit will immediately indwell you and seal you for all of eternity.  You will be eternally accepted and made to be one with God.  Jesus Christ has provided for this and you must receive His gift of eternal life by faith.  Believe Him.

Statement 2:  If the second statement is the one you have chosen then I will assume that you have believed the Gospel.  You have acknowledged the spiritual reality that all humans are sinners by nature and by choice.  You saw yourself as helplessly condemned before a holy God.  You knew that there was no escaping His judgment; no works, no commitments, no religious affiliation could set you free from your sin.  In a moment of faith you humbled yourself before the cross of Jesus Christ and repentantly called on Him for forgiveness.  You believed Him and received Him as the Lord of your life.  Your salvation is a spiritual reality and a historical fact.  You have been saved.  Your sins are gone.  You have obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  You were a sinner who needed a Savior and you rejoice that the transaction was cemented upon the day you believed.  You received what He offered and have been forgiven by His unspeakable grace.

Statement 3:  The third statement, when adopted as your personal self-assessment, is the description most accurate about the Christian.  Having acknowledged everything written previously about statement number two above, you sense something more.  You have been made acutely aware that, even while being saved from the penalty of your sin through faith in Christ, there is a deep and lingering need for the Savior.  You are daily desperate for Him and dependent upon Him.  God has enlightened you that your historical receiving of Christ as your personal Lord did not siphon out of you your constant need of Him.  You are still a sinner who still needs a Savior.  This is not to say that you are in need of recurring justification, for this was a one-time act which Christ has accomplished for you.  What this third statement contains is your awareness of the undeniable need for the active work and presence of Jesus Christ in your day to day living.  You know that, without His power, you will fall.  You sense that His guidance is constantly required or you will stray.  His words are more important to you than your daily food.  His tender hand dispenses spiritual treasures that you tremble to think of going without.  Convinced of the wretchedness of your flesh, the deceit of your own heart, the selfishness in your vacillating mind…you groan for His ownership of all of your faculties.  You need Him.  You need Him.  You need Him.  You are a deeply hungry Christian who can no longer pleased with a pauper’s porridge.  Why do you acknowledge that you are still a sinner who still needs a Savior?  Because you know the reason why we are here.  We are here not primarily to be saved from our sin, but you understand that we are here to bring great glory to the One who saves us.

Yes, those who have adopted the third statement as their personal self-assessment have been graced with the enlightenment that the high call for human beings is to radiate and reveal the resplendency of our Redeemer.  Because of this we experience the desperate groan of inability and unworthiness and pound our breast and declare, “Oh how I need You!”

To which He replies, “Yes, I know.  And I am here.”  And this is what eases your soul today.

Sitting in my office yesterday after lunch with a friend, I was surprised at my own hesitation at answering a question he posed to me.  I had just shared with him how glad I was at having finished a five message series on financial stewardship which was shared with the people of Meadow.  I confessed that dealing with money was not my favorite topic to focus upon when the church gathers together.  He then asked me a question that I have never been asked:

"What do you like to preach about?" 

For the last sixteen years I've opened the Bible almost every week before some of God's people (and many more who were not yet God's people) and shared a message.  I assume that I've preached well over two thousand sermons during that time and I had never paused to consider what it is that thrills me most to teach.  Because the entirety of Scripture is profitable it is impossible to share anything from it that is not qualitatively and inherently good.  Yet his question was one of human preference;  what is it that I most enjoy when it comes to preaching?  In essence, he was asking me of my passion.

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called..." 1st Timothy 6:12

God did not create me to be a super evangelist.  A seminary classroom has never seemed like an oasis to me.  His Majesty did not ordain me to be a foreign missionary.  I'm unsure that I have ever been involved in starting something in His kingdom from scratch on my own.  Scarcely a day goes by when I'm unaware of all the things that God did not call me to.  As my journey with Him continues I become increasingly more aware that I am one voice among many who was sent to cry aloud to God's people that they can and must continue on.  It thrills my soul to be granted the privilege to exhort you in your faith.  The evangelist gives the Gospel to the unsaved.  The discipler takes one-on-one time to ground the newbie in the faith.  Distinct from them, God has graced people like me to tell His children every day why they will persevere, never quit, eventually overcome, and learn so much so richly in the process.  My job is easy and one which I treasure.  I get to tell the Christian that he or she is a guaranteed winner.  I then get to tell him or her to live like it.

Some of you are in the bog of discouragement today.  I know the address because I've had a room there more than once.  Your theology is sound and you know the "what's" of your walk with Jesus;  you're struggling today with the "how's and why's" of this journey.  One of the occasional tortures of being a committed follower of Christ is the excruciating challenge of reconciling present difficulty with the guarantee from God of eternal victory.  If I'm really a winner why am I feeling like such a loser?  I know that God tells me that I'm an overcomer but I feel more prepared for the undertaker.  God's army is predestined to win but my reality seems to ordain me as a casualty of this war.  Jeff, let me be honest and risk the question: Why have I not appropriated the fullness of victory that has been granted to me in Christ?

Because you're not done yet.  You are no longer at the beginning of your journey, but you certainly have not completed it either.  You're in the middle, living between parentheses...and God is living there with you.  Without sounding like some stoic fatalist I have to be faithful to remind us this morning that we are commanded to fight the good fight of faith.  We like to sing about the fight.  We like to preach about the fight.  We love to strategize about the fight.  But we don't like the actual  fight.  We will pray for others while they fight and read books about those who fought before us and went to Heaven as victorious conquerors.  We will group Peter and Paul and Elijah and Esther under the heading of FAITHFUL WARRIORS.  Moses?  A winner.  James and John, those sons of thunder?  Overcomers to the core!  The heroes in Hebrews 11?  Let's applaud them for their example.  Please realize with me that every single saint of God who ever qualified for victory watered their own fruitful path with tears.  They provided traction on their trail with their own blood.  The sense of their victory was heightened because of the intensity of their pain which preceded that triumph.  I read Psalm 88 this morning and received great instruction that the infinite God over all inspired and preserved these words as part of His holy book forever.  Psalm 88 could be titled "GOD, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO HURRY UP AND HELP ME?"  Read it if you are struggling today and be encouraged as much as possible that everyone who fights the good fight of faith bares some scars before omnipotent eyes.  He sees the wounds.  He feels the pain.  He hears the cries. He tastes the bitterness of your circumstance.  At times He refuses to move and intervene; there's a reason for this.  I will resist the urge to defend His ways by reminding you of the reason and, rather, simply exhort you to remember that there is a reason.  A holy reason, a justified reason, a healthy reason, an echoing reason which will sound like praise in the end.  We know this to be true.  You are convinced of this in your spiritual gut.

So keep fighting.  Fight your flesh.  Fight this deceitful world.  Fight the devil - whether in holy confidence as you stand against his schemes or in weakness and dependence as you cast your care upon the Lord because He cares for you.  The fight you are called to is one of faith.  Faith can be expressed in holy boldness as you dare the opposing forces to go another round against you.  More often, faith is expressed as a son or daughter hiding behind the greatness of their father as he takes care of business on their behalf.

Either way, you're going to win.  He guaranteed it.

I start the day, the war begins
Endless reminding of my sin
And time and time again
Your truth is drowned out by the storm I'm in
Today I feel like
I'm just one mistake away
From You leaving me this way...

Casting Crowns; "East To West"

“Where is the fury of the oppressor?” – Isaiah 51:13

Last Sunday morning I found myself wide awake at 2 AM.  I often wake up early on Sundays but this early was too much of a stretch.  Being honest, I must say that I was not awakened with eager anticipation for the forthcoming events of the day but, rather, with an oppressive sense of dread that would be with me off and on for the next twenty hours.  The mind of the Christian is a major battlefield and the enemy had strategized to send a volley of explosives my way in order to sway me from the appointed path that I was to honor Christ upon.  Coming into my office ninety minutes later, I could sense an intense weight upon me as a barrage of accusatory thoughts filled my mind:

“You’re an awful man.  How can you preach when you know you’re such a sinner?”

“You plan to minister to strangers today among Meadow’s sheep when you barely spoke an edifying word to your wife and children yesterday?  You’re a hypocrite!”

“The message you plan to preach today is like a torn up and blind offering unto your Lord.  Do you really think that He will receive this flippant sermon as being worthy of what He has done for you?  What a pitiful excuse of a servant you’ve become.”

I could go on with a longer list of what was being played in my mind that morning but it wouldn’t really help us today.  The bottom line is this:  I was hearing the voice of lies much more easily than His voice of Truth.  Fear ensued, tears were shed, and my cries echoed out into my empty office as the worst accusation seemed to be supported by the evidence: God is not with you today, Jeff.

My Bible was sitting upon my desk so I did the only thing I could do in fighting back; I read His precious word aloud, slightly changing verb tenses and pronouns to where the inspired Word of God became a torrent of personal prayers.  Psalms pealed out from my mouth as the Sword of the Lord pierced through the thick darkness in my study.  The accusing voice was unrelenting to the very point that – just for a moment- I had a flicker of doubt as to whether or not I ever even belonged to Christ.  I’m unsure if I ever had battled like this before.  For the next three hours I went from my desk to my prayer-chair to my office floor where I lay on my face and waited for deliverance or doom.  Neither came.

At 8 AM I entered Meadow’s pulpit for the first service of the day - I was trembling in my soul.  My friends and church family could not see the war inside.  I sensed that I was being insulated by grace but my cries for the mind-battle to leave went unanswered as I preached.  I suppressed the intruding thoughts that people were angry with me and that I was failing them.  I was a student in a Sunday School class and had to sit for an hour while trying to soak in the good lesson that Todd was bringing while, at the same time, resisting the warfare being waged against my mind.  Now the great test was being ushered in as the clock on the wall told me that I would be preaching in half an hour.  How was I to stand before God and His people when I could not even accomplish the rudimentary tasks of my morning?  How could I lead an army to battle when I felt like the enemy was dictating my course of action?  How would I win on this appointed day?

The answer: GOD

I spent the music service praying and was unable ever to really get out of my cocoon of conflict.  I sensed the music as being powerful and of good quality but my thoughts were taking me further downward.  Over and over again the enemy kept speaking to me about me.  Somehow, through all of the inner toil I was able to wrench my thoughts off of all that I was not and began to remember all that He is.  In actuality, I began to agree with the father of lies and reminded myself that the core of my unworthiness was, indeed, a reality.  My personal guilt before a holy God was a biblical fact.  My unsuitability as a pastor was not only known to the enemy and me, but was likely clear to anyone who chose to look closely.  The problem was not in what was being said to me by way of an accusing spirit; the problem was that the filter of GRACE was not being acknowledged.  When this staggering realization swept over me (less than a minute before I was to begin the morning message) I melted before God.  For the first four or five minutes that I stood behind the pulpit I could scarcely talk and considered asking Jose to lead Meadow in another song or two while I gained my composure.  Instead, I simply asked the church to be patient with me as I prayed to the Father of all mercies who comforted me during those moments.  His grace enabled me with preaching ability, clarity of thought and immunity against the enemy.  The oppressor had, himself, now been oppressed by the hand of Omnipotence.  He had reached the full extent of his chain’s length and could go no further.  The serpent had been defanged for a spell.  I breathed for the first time that day the fresh air of grace.

Child of God, please do not forget that there are two who have designs for you today.  God has a plan for the next 24 hours of your pilgrimage.  Satan does likewise.  Though all the bluster we should be reminded that we are ill-suited to wage or win this war apart from the moment-by-moment abiding in the grace of God.  The Holy Spirit will empower the victory and this victory will most definitely be countered by Satan and his literal host of demons.  Perhaps the challenge you face won’t resemble the dramatic encounter I faced last Sunday morning (in sixteen years of walking with Christ I’ve had only three encounters like the one I described).  Perhaps your battle will be less intense.  Perhaps it will be much more intense.  In the end, our only assurance is the incomprehensible grace of God through Jesus Christ.  Today I ask the question that I could not ask last Sunday:  Where is the fury of the oppressor?

Last Sunday it was with me.  This Sunday that fury currently falls somewhere else.  In some other place, upon some other life there lands the great weight of the enemy's fury.  Some saint this very minute is feeling crushed.  The weight for that believer is palpable and they are being wrung out before the eyes of onlooking angels.  The fury of a lion seeking to devour is hot and strong.  That saint will pray.  That saint will run to the strong tower of God’s name and hide there.  That saint will remember the Word and use the Word and exalt the Word.  The lies will lose their strength.  The darts will smoke as the fire is quenched.  The enemy will offer a final roar to further intimidate that prostrated believer who has found that God’s grace is sufficient.  The oppressor will have to leave.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33