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The Holiness Project – Day 2 “A Living Sacrifice”

26 Sunday Apr 2020

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The Way of the Cross – Lenten Season 2018

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12: 1,2 NIV)

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.  She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” (Genesis 3:6,7 NIV)

“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21 NIV)

A Living Sacrifice

There are a few sayings that I really like, mostly because they tend to get to the heart of the matter and usually give a different perspective on things.  One of those that I like has to do with parenting (especially for fathers).  As a father myself, I have fallen into this trap a couple of times.  When my wife wants to go out, I end up babysitting the kids (at least that is how I usually put it).  But one day, my wife said to me, “Look, you aren’t babysitting, you’re parenting.  You aren’t doing me a favor, you’re just doing your job.”

Wow.  Burned.  But in a good way, you know?

I feel the same way about this particular passage of Scripture.  It is obviously very famous and we have all heard a lot of sermons about what it means to be a living sacrifice.  But then one day, I got an entirely new perspective on what it means and it has made all the difference.  For some reason, I was talking with a friend about the sacrifices he makes for his family and especially his children.

He looked at me and said, “Frankly, I have never thought of it as a sacrifice.  I am glad to do it.  My children and my wife need me and I give them whatever they need so long as I am able to.”

Wow.  Burned.  But in a good way, you know?

It is one of those fundamental lessons that we need to learn as humans and especially as Christians, that love knows no sacrifice.  If there is love, it simply isn’t a sacrifice.  It is just love.  I don’t sacrifice for my kids.  I just serve them.  The same goes for my wife.

Ok, ok.  I know what you’re going to say.  This isn’t about the normal things of life that you are responsible for as a husband and father.  The Bible is talking about bigger, more difficult things here.  Well, yes and no.

Before we jump to conclusions, let’s just reflect for a moment.

You have heard me talk about my friend, Scottie, and I minister to his needs whenever I can.  He and his wife are street evangelists and practically live on the streets themselves.  They are always in need.  And they are always asking for help.  One day, he just showed up at my front gate and without even saying hello, started asking for help and money because he had another difficult situation to deal with.  I remember feeling a bit cross with him.  It felt like he was taking advantage of me and that he was only in it for the benefits and not the relationship.  But I gave him what he needed and he left.

When I went inside a few minutes later, my daughter came up to me and asked me for something she wanted (not needed) and I immediately agreed and told her I would buy it later that day.  Then I sat down at my desk and this thought hit me.

Why was I not cross with Michelle but I was cross with Scottie?

Scottie came to me with a serious need, Michelle with only a desire.  I was quick to judge Scottie and his intentions but was more than happy to meet my beautiful, precious daughter’s needs immediately without thought to cost or intention.

The Lord was teaching me something.  The truth is that I love Michelle much more than Scottie.

Now, you might say that that is obvious and normal.  Maybe.

But Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves (or, at least, as much as we love our own families).  For me, meeting my daughter’s needs was not a sacrifice but meeting Scottie’s needs was a real difficulty.  Not financially, but emotionally, in terms of the relationship.

If we love one another, as Jesus loves us, or even just as we love our own families, then the sense of sacrifice tends to fade away.  Love trumps sacrifice.  Sacrifice, in this sense, is still focused on oneself, not on the other.  It is focused on what we are giving up and not how the other person is being helped.

I guess what I am saying is that a lot of what we mean by sacrifice is really just a lack of love and is not what this passage is talking about in Romans 12:1,2.

Learning to become a living sacrifice isn’t about inconveniences and reluctance and focusing on what we are giving up for someone else (that we really don’t want to do) or for the church, or for a certain ministry.  I am sacrificing my time, my money, my abilities to make the ministry in my church happen.  Really?  Please, let’s not cheapen the concept of sacrifice that way.  That is just a lack of love.  Get over it.  

I want to say that “love knows no sacrifice” and leave it at that but I think the idea will be misunderstood.  I think it is a true statement when we use our normal concept of sacrifice, which is cheap and self-serving.

But the Biblical concept of sacrifice is deeper and more powerful.  Perhaps it would help to realize that the word “sacrifice” in this passage is a noun, not a verb.  We sacrifice (verb) a sacrifice (noun) we say.  And that is true.  But in this passage, we are called to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice (noun).  Like the sacrifices in the Old Testament maybe.  True.  But more like Christ himself.

The example of “a living sacrifice” that we must always keep in mind is the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  It was not a lack of love but a demonstration of love.  And he did it for the “joy” that was set before him, not out of reluctance or resentment, though the process was still (necessarily) difficult.  It was not about trifles, but about his life (and death) as a substitute for each one of us.  It was about becoming what his soul hated – sin itself – an abomination to the Father he loved and worthy of all of His wrath.

It’s not just that this is serious stuff, but rather that this is something that Jesus did not have to do.  It was voluntary.  It was not normally expected of someone.  Yes, he came to earth to die on the cross, but he pointed out very clearly that nobody takes his life from him but that he gives it up freely.  That was the point of Gethsemane after all.

Another important point to remember is that we are not doing the sacrificing (verb).  We are the sacrifice (noun) and we are offering our bodies to God as a living sacrifice.  God is the one who sacrifices us but we make ourselves available for sacrifice.  Just like Christ did.  It was voluntary.  He offered himself as a sacrifice.  It wasn’t forced on him.

Think of Abraham and his son Isaac on the mountain.  If Isaac had understood what was happening, he could have chosen to offer his body as a sacrifice.  That is a level of spiritual maturity that is holy (set apart for service) and pleasing to God.

But when you take it out of the physical realm of actual sacrifice (like Abraham and Isaac), and understand it as a daily submission to the will of God, you begin to understand what a “living” sacrifice must be like.  God is the one to whom you are offering yourself and the purpose of the sacrifice is for the spiritual benefit of those who witness it and even participate in it.  Just like Christ.

To give up something that you are not normally required to give up (like a normal life), and do it voluntarily (even if it means suffering for it), for the benefit (especially the spiritual benefit) of another is closer to the idea.

Doesn’t it make you jump with excitement?  What spiritual maturity this is – to be willing to lay down your life for the spiritual benefit of others and trust God to do the deed.  What a powerful prayer it is to offer yourself, your body, your life, your finances, your talents, your suffering, your pain, your words, your actions as a living sacrifice for the spiritual good of others.

To pray the prayer that says, in effect, “God use me in whatever manner you choose to provide the kind of testimony that my kids need to see in order to be saved.”  Even if that means cancer.  Even if that means impoverishing myself for the sake of the gospel.  Even if that means changing my career path and going to Bible College and Seminary at forty years old.  This is your life ministry and your life ministry is your testimony.

But not just for your kids, also your neighbors, your co-workers, your friends and fellow worshippers, believers and religious alike, who need to see that testimony, that spiritual maturity that agrees with God that the salvation of the lost is worth sacrificing for, even dying for.  That anything and everything in my life is available to be sacrificed, spent, changed, given up, developed, learnt anew for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of the spiritual well-being of my kids, my family, my friends, even my enemies.

Now we are starting to think like Christ, starting to have the mind of Christ, the priorities of Christ.  Now it’s getting interesting and God can do great things through us.  This is the practical, everyday life testimony of the spiritually mature.

But how do we get there?

Let’s go back in time to the book of Genesis where we read the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, rebelling against God and beginning the endless cycle of sin in the lives of all human beings.  Their eyes were opened, the Bible says, and they knew they were naked.  They were exposed.  They were in danger because their nakedness was a symbol of the safety and care they experienced with their Creator God who provided a Garden and a relationship where exposure wasn’t even an issue, where safety was not even a concern.  Now that the relationship was broken, they could no longer trust the protection, physical or otherwise, of their Creator God.

They tried to deal with it themselves by sewing fig leaves together to cover their vulnerability (a symbol of all religious efforts to protect ourselves from the dangers of this world).  But God, ultimately, had to kill some of the animals (probably sheep) to make skins for Adam and Eve and clothe them (a symbol of the coming sacrificial system and the final sacrifice of Christ on the cross).

Yes, animals had been dying since the beginning as a consequence of our rebellion against God.  But in this case, it was God ordained.  As a symbol.  As a type of what was to come.  First the sacrificial system which existed in some form even before Moses but was codified for the people of Israel as a temporary solution until the true lamb of the world would be slain on a hill outside of Jerusalem two thousand years ago.

The point being that the animal’s lives were sacrificed.  Blood must pay the price.  The wages of sin is death and it has always been so.  Our deaths, most certainly, but also the deaths of animals as a symbol of the deeper relational, spiritual death that God works hard for us not to forget.

Animals could never be anything more than a symbol of course.  Animals have no business dying for humans.  How is that just?  It isn’t.  But it is a necessary reminder that blood must be shed and that the broken relationship with our Creator God is not to be taken lightly.

Still, ultimately, each human must pay the price for his or her own sin.  We all die and we all face judgment.  But while we live, we need symbols and reminders to tell us that all is not well with this world we live in.  Protection is needed, both from creation itself (earthquakes, hurricanes and disease alike) and from God.  Yes, from God and His righteous justice.  A justice rooted in his great love.  A love we have rejected and we reap the consequences every day.

So what am I trying to say?

First, do not cheapen the idea of sacrifice to mean the inconveniences and difficulties of everyday life where we are called to love one another truly from the heart.  Love knows no sacrifice.

Second, remember that a true, biblical, sacrifice is made for the spiritual benefit of the other.  It isn’t just about meeting people’s needs.  That’s love.  It is about meeting their spiritual needs by giving up something essential that is normally not required of you.  Although it is rooted in love, it goes beyond simply loving your neighbor as yourself.  It is a spiritual sacrifice.

Are their any examples of what this kind of living sacrifice for the spiritual benefit of others is all about?

Yes.  Christ, himself, shows us the way.  He didn’t need to die on the cross.  It was a voluntary act.  But why do it at all?  It was necessary in order for him to become our substitute and allow us to renew our relationship with our Creator God and reverse what happened in the Garden of Eden.  It was necessary for our spiritual good.

I find it interesting that Paul once said that he would be willing to go to hell and take the place of the Jewish nation if that would allow them all to be saved (Romans 9:3,4a NIV).  But Paul is not asked to do that.  Only Jesus.  Still, he understands the idea.  When Paul talks about his ministry, his living sacrifice, for the sake of the Gentiles, he talks about being shipwrecked, about being stoned, about floggings, rejection, escaping away at night, and becoming a prisoner so that the Gentiles would receive the gospel (II Corinthians 6:3-10 NIV).

Jesus is one example and Paul another.  There are many more throughout the Bible (see Hebrews 11 for a list of the Heroes of Faith) and throughout history.

My life can also be a living sacrifice.  I am also called to give up my life (Matthew 10:39 NIV), give up the normal, expected things of this life for the sake of the gospel.  I am a disciple and I need to follow.

Paul says here in Romans 12 that it is our spiritual worship to do so.  It is expected of all of us.  We are to give up our life in this world with all of its requirements, needs and expectations to make the Kingdom of God our first priority.

Jesus died on the cross and suffered the mockery and injustice of his own people for the sake of the gospel.  Paul says something interesting in his letter to the Romans about this very thing.  He says “now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17 NIV).  When we suffer for the gospel, as Christ did, then we will also share in his glory, according to Paul.

And this is no pie in the sky stuff, either.  Don’t “spiritualize” it into something that isn’t real, that doesn’t hurt, that doesn’t cost you anything, maybe everything.  You would be making the idea of sacrifice cheap again.

Look at what Paul says.  “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God” (vs 1).  Keep it real.  Feet on the ground, toes in the dirt.  Paul went through it all.  It hurt.  It smelled bad.  It was difficult.

Some people want to interpret the whole concept of “a living sacrifice” by that one word, “holy” and interpret it merely as morality.  As if Paul were saying, be good, moral people and do the right thing (which is always a bit of a sacrifice) and if you are holy in your lifestyle you will be pleasing to God and that is your spiritual worship.  No.  That is not what Paul is saying.

Certainly morality is part of the picture.  No doubt.  And morality is generally a limit to our wills (since we often want to do things which are not very loving towards others).  So far so good.  But the idea of holiness has to do with being set apart for a purpose.

Part of being set apart is that we are cleansed (and continue to be cleansed) for that purpose but without the purpose, the cleansing becomes an end in itself.  It is self-serving and safe.  That is much more acceptable to people.  We don’t mind being moral but we know that a new “set apart” purpose to suffer for the gospel, sacrificing our normal lives for the sake of the spiritual benefit of others, would upset the apple cart too much.  But so it is.

We can’t avoid it.  It is our spiritual worship after all.  We must have a gospel purpose, a ministry of suffering for the spiritual benefit of others, and do so in practical, real ways, in our bodies.  This is what it means to be a living sacrifice.

And it makes sense.  We have been talking about spiritual maturity based on these same two verses in Romans 12 and agreed together that spiritual maturity consists of a transformation of our minds that results in testing and approving of the will of God in all circumstances.  It means agreeing with God’s priorities, His spiritual purposes, His eternal perspective even if that means suffering in our bodies (with floggings, disease, rejection, mockery) for the sake of the gospel.

If that is spiritual maturity, which is only developed in the context of a ministry mindset that promotes the gospel and seeks the Kingdom of Heaven first and foremost, then it proves that our understanding here of the meaning of a living sacrifice is correct.

This is not the cheap version but rather the life changing version that can make all the difference in the world.  No wonder so many people can hear sermon after sermon on these verses and it makes so little difference in their lives.  The change here is a change in worldview, a change in perspective, a transformation of the mind that brings renewal and hope to many.  It brings identity, purpose and significance.  It brings joy and meaning to life.

That is why I called this whole thing a cyclical process of spiritual maturity in an upward spiral of virtue and purpose.  The more we offer ourselves up to suffer for the gospel in ministry to others, the more we will be transformed by the word of God in real life situations, which allows us to test (live out) and approve (agree with) God’s priorities.

Which, in turn, encourages us and empowers us to give our lives in even more serious ways to the suffering for the gospel in ministry to others which is the context for even more renewal as the word of God teaches us the priorities of God in the midst of real life situations in ministry.

That is how we change.  And this change makes all the difference in the world.  It is our testimony that we have been changed.  It is our testimony that the gospel can make a difference in the lives of people.  It is our testimony that we are willing to give up a normal life in order to pursue the renewing of our minds in the context of ministry, and demonstrating to the world a radical discipleship that takes the gospel seriously.

Now that is what I call a living sacrifice, a living martyr that can make a difference in society, in family, in individual lives.

Just like the early church did as they followed Christ and were persecuted for it.  Thrown to lions.  Used as torches for Nero’s night parties. Crucified upside down.  Now we are starting to understand why these living sacrifices, these living martyrs, willing to die for Christ but would rather (like Paul) live to promote the gospel (and suffer for it) are God’s secret weapon in his fight against evil (see Revelations).

The only question is whether you and I are willing to pay the ultimate price and dedicate our lives to the gospel or whether we will continue to play the game of making this “sacrifice” business just another cheap attempt to be a moral person or eat fish on fridays or be nice to the local missionary when he comes to our church.

The difference is abysmal.  The results will be as well.

The Desert Warrior

Creator God,

Please teach me what it means to be a living sacrifice willing to suffer for the gospel in ministry to others.  Make me willing to pay that price.  Help me to become more spiritually mature so that I can experience and live in the truth that your eternal priorities are worth the price of any suffering this world has to offer.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

 

The Holiness Project – Day 5 “The Sin Addiction”

21 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Daily Devotionals, Lenten Season, The Holiness Project

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Temptations2The Way of the Cross – Lenten Season 2018

“So I find this law at work.  When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:21-25a NIV).

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV).

The Sin Addiction

Until we come to terms with war as the context of our days, we will not understand life. We will misinterpret ninety percent of what is happening around us and to us. It will be very hard to believe that God’s intentions toward us are life abundant; it will be even harder not to feel that somehow we are just blowing it. Worse, we will begin to accept some really awful things about God. That four-year-old little girl being molested by her daddy—that is “God’s will “? That ugly divorce that tore your family apart—God wanted that to happen, too? And that plane crash that took the lives of so many—that was ordained by God?

Most people get stuck at some point because God appears to have abandoned them. He is not coming through. Speaking about her life with a mixture of disappointment and cynicism, a young woman recently said to me, “God is rather silent right now.” Yes, it’s been awful. I don’t discount that for a moment. She is unloved; she is unemployed; she is under a lot. But her attitude strikes me as deeply naive, on the level of someone caught in a cross fire who asks, rather shocked and with a sense of betrayal, “God, why won’t you make them stop firing at me?” I’m sorry, but that’s not where we are right now. It’s not where we are in the Story. That day is coming, later, when the lion shall lie down with the lamb and we’ll beat swords into plowshares. For now, it’s bloody battle.

It sure explains a whole heckuva lot.

You won’t understand your life, you won’t see clearly what has happened to you or how to live forward from here, unless you see it as battle. A war against your heart.

*****

These are the words of John Eldredge, founder of Ransomed Heart Ministries, and he is dead-on.  He is one of my favorite writers and authors.  I republish his blog posts almost on a daily basis.  We can learn a lot from his perspective on the Christian life.  This blog post was called, You Must Fight For Your Life and helps us to see life as a battlefield for our hearts and souls.  Good stuff.

In his book, Awaken the Dead, John Eldredge talks about three truths that we, as Christians, must accept.  First, that there is a spiritual dimension to life.  Second, that we are a world at war and third, that we have a crucial role to play.  All three elements are found in the blog post above as well.  And it’s true, isn’t it.  Scary maybe, but also true.  And we have to come to terms with it.  Of the three enemies of our soul, the Devil is probably the scariest but, funny enough, perhaps not the deadliest.  We also have our flesh and the world to fight against.  And, of the three, it is probably our flesh that is the most dangerous to the abundant life that we all desire.

We have been talking about the Sanctification Gap, that chasm between the holiness and perfect love of God as seen in His justice and mercy on the one hand, and the depths of our sin, our selfishness, our inability to love ourselves, much less God or anyone else on the other.  That Sanctification Gap continues even after we have been justified by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ.  In fact, precisely because it is a substitution, that it isn’t our righteousness, the gap exists because we are not made immediately perfect in love.  Our Sanctification is progressive.  But that gap between our Justification and our Sanctification also creates a credibility gap, both in our own eyes as well as in the eyes of other people.  And so it should.  It is a necessary part of our situation as Christians.

Why?  Why is it a necessary part of our situation as Christians?  I don’t get it.  It makes me feel terrible.  The more I know about God and his holy, perfect love for me, the more I recognize the sin that is in me.  And it isn’t just specific sins, it’s like I’m polluted with ego and selfishness and self-interest.  My commitment to my own authority is incredibly strong.  I find idols and other lovers, other priorities, other interests than my relationship with God distracting me and pushing me off the path on the road to Jerusalem.  It’s miserable.  I’m almost convinced that ignorace was bliss, but now I am no longer ignorant and I see myself as I truly am and it sickens me.  Good.  It’s supposed to.

Paul didn’t like it much either.  What a wretched man I am! he declared.  Who can save me from this body of sin?  But he also declared something else.  Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Paul’s struggle did not drive him to spiritual despair or to spiritual pride (if you ignore sin and the holiness of God) but rather it drove him back to the cross, over and over again.  There is only one solution and that is the cross of Christ.  In the next chapter of Romans, Paul goes on to talk about the supernatural, resurrection power of Christ that sets us free from law of sin and death.  We can’t forget that truth.  It is also part of the cross.  Jesus didn’t just die, he also was risen from the dead by God through the power of the Holy Spirit.  That is worth talking about.  In a lot greater detail.  Which we will.  But for now, let’s just stay with this concept of  “the struggle” a bit longer.

Some people think that the solution to our dilemma is that, as Christians, Jesus frees us from the struggle.  We are free in resurrection power to live righteous lives and, from now on, sin has no more hold on us and therefore a good Christian doesn’t sin any longer.  Well, some of that is true and some of that is just plain false.  Let’s look at this in some more detail.  Paul seems to make it quite clear throughout his writings that the struggle with sin will permeate our lives until we are “delivered” into eternity.  There isn’t much doubt about that.  But he also makes it quite clear that we have resurrection power through our “umbilical cord” connection to Christ that we must access through faith which will help us in our struggle against sin.  Both things are true. 

What is not true is the conclusion that says since we don’t have to sin any longer, then anyone who continues to sin or struggle with sin is automatically an immature Christian or even worse, not a Christian at all.  Not true.

Let me make this clear.  The key to the dilemma is the presence of the Holy Spirit within.  No doubt.  He is the one who regenerates us.  But the key is not our ability to harness the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit which is available to us.  That puts the key in our own hands and we will always fail.  The key is in the hands of God, in the very presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  The question we must ask is twofold.  On the one hand, is there evidence of the Holy Spirit and regeneration in my life?  And secondly, how do I access that Holy Spirit resurrection power?  The answer to both questions is the same but different.

The answer is faith.  Faith is both a gift and a skill that we must master.  We need to look for evidence of faith and we need to learn how to harness the power of that faith that we find within.  The Bible is clear that faith is a gift and that believing in Christ and recognizing our sin are the works of the Holy Spirit.  When you have the Holy Spirit within, you are convicted of the guilt of your sin.  That is evidence that non-believers just don’t have.  The very fact that you are worried about it, that you question it, that you are looking for evidence can only be so because the Holy Spirit is stirring you up to ask the question.  Looking for evidence of the Holy Spirit is evidence of the Holy Spirit. 

But it goes even further.  When you have the Holy Spirit within you, you also have hope.  Hope for the future, hope for salvation but most of all “the hope of righteousness.”  We look forward to the time when the struggle is over and we are at peace with ourselves and the gap is closed with actual righteousness which we will receive together with white robes at the Feast of the Lamb on that last day.  We have the righteousness of Christ but we also hope for the time when we are presented without spot or blemish before the throne of God.  Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.  He is our hope and to him we give our gratitude and love (what little we have).

In motivational terms, we call that intrinsic motivation.  There is something within us that is different, that wants something more, that struggles, that fails and then struggles again, something which cannot just “curse God and die,” something which continues on in the worst of all circumstances, that “wrestles with God,” that won’t let go until we are blessed.  Not because we are such great “strugglers” but simply because he stirs us up to do battle once again after every defeat, every failure, ever feeble effort at the mortification of our flesh.  For some strange, divine reason we have intrinsic motivation to struggle on in our walk with God.

Yes, there is some extrinsic motivation mixed in there as well.  We want to live forever.  We want God’s blessings.  We want the benefits of the relationship.  Perhaps we want to look good in front of the others at church.  Perhaps we want people to think we are good people.  Perhaps we are scared of hell.  Some of the extrinsic motivations are rooted in the Spirit and some are rooted in the Flesh.  Our job is to root out the flesh.

For some reason there is a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, some desire to close the gap, some effort at pleasing God.  Why?  Why bother?  Because you have the Holy Spirit within.  That is also evidence.  You want a relationship with God.  Why?  What’s the point?

You are willing to humble yourself in confession, put your reputation at risk, perhaps be taken advantage of, be persecuted by people (even in Church) when they get ahold of that confessional information.

You are willing to make every effort to repent, to make things right, to spend money and time in restitution and reconciliation.

You are willing to forgive, to accept the cross as sufficient payment for the sins against you, even if they do not confess or repent.

You are willing to extend spiritual trust and take the risk of being hurt again.  Why do you bother with all of this? Just forget it.  Let it go.  

You are willing to root out everything and anything that is getting in the way of your spiritual unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

You hunger for the holiness and power of the abundant life and the anointing that it brings.

You want to find your meaning in the significance of joint work with the Holy Spirit in joint ministry, you find your purpose in the great rescue operation that Jesus has launched in this world, you find your identity in Christ and in him alone.

Amazing.  What in the world is wrong with you?  Do you think for a moment that other people think this way, or even want to.  You are stark raving mad.  You have the Holy Spirit within.

The evidence of the Holy Spirit is not a sinless life, it is a spirit-filled life.  The evidence of the Holy Spirit is not about certain legalistic actions or words or religious efforts that you make every Sunday and Wednesday night, it is relational.

The question is whether or not you have a relationship with him and what is the evidence of that relationship.  Just because you go to church and you call yourself a Christian doesn’t mean diddlysquat if you don’t have the evidence of the relationship with the Holy Spirit.  In the same way that many people get married for many different reasons, the ones who are truly in love have evidence.  And most of the time they aren’t even looking for the evidence.  They just know.  That is what faith is.  Knowing the other and trusting that relationship.

We will talk tomorrow about how to access that resurrection power through faith and how the Holy Spirit, as our Helper, will encourage us and teach us the ways of faith, but for now, the focus is on the relationship itself.

The thing to remember is that God is in the business of creating a certain type of person and the way that he does it is to bring to the surface the sins and habits and problems of our life so that we are faced with our own demons and are taught how to overcome them.

When we sin, we need to ask ourselves some tough questions about our walk in the Spirit and our committment to Christ.  Yes, of course.  But then we go back to the cross and acknowledge that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.  You must accept and affirm that you are in union with Christ now and that this sin is not appropriate for a child of God.  You do not belong to yourself, you cannot decide for yourself what sins you will or will not indulge in.

If you are justified, there will be a corresponding desire (however small) to respect such a great salvation, to give honor to God, to live up to the life that he calls us into.  Paul says it over and over again.  Live out the relationship you have within.

If you know and believe that you have the resurrection power within you to overcome this particular sin, then what is going on?  The truth is that it isn’t about being too weak (since we have resurrection level power within us to deal with sin), it isn’t about not having a way out of the temptation (God promises that there is always a way out), the truth is simply that we wanted to sin.  We wanted to commit this particular sin.  Why? 

Now we are getting down to brass tacks.  We can ask these questions precisely because there is no condemnation.  What idols, what bad habits, what stress-relief strategies are we committed to instead of God?  The process is painful but it is God’s way of uncovering sin so that we can deal with it through confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.  We need to go further, probe deeper, uncover the filth and deal with it and that can only happen in the context and culture of grace.

Self-understanding here is key.  It is one of the two pillars of our relationship with God.  On the one hand, we need to understand the Holiness of God.  His holiness is rooted in His perfect love.  Who can argue with that?  Wait.  We do.  All the time.  Perfect love is a pain in the neck.  We tell our Mother’s all the time NOT to love us so much.  Put on clean underwear.  Wear a hat.  Change your socks.  Love you, dear.  Oh, bother.  Mom, don’t love me so much for Pete’s sake. 

But God is much worse.  The point is that God (and Mom) is not the problem.  We want the freedom to make our own mistakes, to live with dirty socks and underwear, to do what we want when we want (preferrably without too many consequences).  Problem is that life and relationships are not really about dirty socks and underwear.  Domestic violence, child abuse, absentee father, single mother’s, unpaid bills, alcholism, drug abuse, unwanted pregnancies, abortion (and the list goes on).  That’s the stuff of real life.

Well, that’s not me, you say.  Fine.  But the bar is pretty low in that description, isn’t it?  Try looking at your life from God’s point of view for a minute.  His standard is perfect love.  You may say that you are fine when comparing yourself to others but that’s like saying that being an alcholic is fine because you come from a family of alcholics.  The bar is pretty low.

The holiness of God is his perfect love.  And yes, he expects us all to love one another the same way.  We expect it too…..from others, but not so much from ourselves.  A double standard that is so normal, we don’t even realize we have it anymore.

And it is when we look at the holiness of God’s perfect love that we realize how sinful we really are, in various ways, to varying degrees but sinful we are.  We have missed the mark.  Our love isn’t good enough to solve our problems every day.  In fact, we generally make a mess of things.

But it isn’t until we try to do something about it that we realize how strong that addiction to our own sin is.  We want what we want whether or not it is good for us (or anyone else) or not.  Our desires are powerful things but they are often broken and we call that addiction.  The addiction to sin.  It may show up as a secondary addiction called alcholism or drug abuse or pornography or violence but it is all sin addiction at it’s core.

And it is not something that we can overcome on our own.  We all have it and we all need help.  That awareness is the second pillar of our relationship with God.  His holiness and our sin.  The only bridge between the two is the cross of Christ.  Therefore there is now no condemnation.  There is progress not perfection and we need each other to make it happen.

We are too quick to judge one another when we sin (even if it’s true), perhaps because it scares us too.  We need to learn how to help and encourage one another to take our failures in righteousness to heart and learn from them and then give the Holy Spirit permission to tear the idols down and root them out of our lives.  We get help if necessary.  We get educated if necessary.  We fight for the abundant life.  There is a battle going on and I’ll be damned if I let the Devil win the day.  I am a child of God and I have power within me to transform my life and the lives of the people around me, the people that I love.  The Devil will not win the day.  The world (the flesh of others) will not win the day.  The flesh (my flesh) will not win the day.

I am like a Hollywood heroe that cannot be defeated.  My story is already assured.  Yes, it can hurt.  Yes, I will still bleed.  I can get wounded, persecuted, thrown out of church, misunderstood, even die.  But I will live forever.  I cannot be defeated and my life is in God’s hands.  I can afford to take some risks, make some moves, take a leap of faith.  I can afford to follow God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength because he will take care of me eternally.  Yes, there is a struggle.  But I cannot be defeated.  I can only whimp out, quit, hide in the bushes, get distracted, lose interest, not care anymore.  I can give up on the relationship, at least for a while, but if I truly have the Holy Spirit, he is just going to stir me up and get me back in the fight so I might as well learn the tricks of the trade, take the training to be a desert warrior, fight the good fight and in the process, perhaps be used by God to save and transform another life.  Perhaps one of my own children.  Or a friend.  Or a complete stranger.  In any event, the price is worth it.  Isn’t it?

It is the quality of our fight that matters, not how many victories we have.  It is the quality of our relationship that matters not that we do everything right.  But the message for today is that the abundant life, the pleasure of God’s anointing, must be fought for.  There is a battle going on and real people are depending on you to get your act together, get your armour on, and go to war.  Life is spiritual warfare and lives are at stake and you and I have a crucial role to play.

The Desert Warrior

P.S.  Let’s talk to God…..

Lord, I didn’t really realize that I have a crucial role to play in your plan of redemption.  You decided that you needed real witnesses, people transformed by the cross to give witness to the truth of the gospel.  It’s one thing to have the Word, and another to have the Spirit but, you also decided that you needed the testimony of your saints, real, transformed lives to give credeence to your offer of salvation.  Thank you for choosing me.  I’m a bit scared of the battle but I know that I cannot be defeated.  Others (including the church) may misunderstand me and mistreat me but you know my ways, my feeble efforts, my desire to please you.  Teach me to look for the evidence of the Holy Spirit in the relationship not in acts of righteousness.  Thank you for that freedom in Christ.  In Jesus name I pray.  Amen.

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The Holiness Project – Day 6 “The Delivery”

20 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Daily Devotionals, Lenten Season, The Holiness Project

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The Way of the Cross – Lenten Season 2018

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener…I am the vine, you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit;  apart from me you can do nothing….If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:1,5,7,8 NIV).

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!  Amen” (Ephesians 3:20,21 NIV).

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:11 NIV).

The Delivery

In a mother’s womb were two babies.

One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?”

The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

“Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”

The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”

The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”

The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”

The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover if there is life, then why has no one ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”

“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”

The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now?”

The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her.  It is in Her that we live.  Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”

Said the first: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”

To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.”

*****

This little story is making the rounds on the internet and on facebook.  I love it.  It’s a wonderful way to describe our situation as we live in darkness and grow and prepare for our delivery.  It is very well done.  But the metaphor isn’t perfect and I would like to improve it a little bit.  Let’s talk about the umbilical cord….

So, the two babies are there in the womb but one has an umbilical cord and is fed by her mother but the other one is dead and withered in the womb (but still able to talk and discuss and “pretend” that it is alive when it is really quite dead).  The metaphor is already starting to get ugly but it is closer to the truth.

One baby is being fed by this umbilical cord and the other is not.  One is alive and in contact with her mother and the other one is not.  And this is important because new life, real life comes through the umbilical cord.  They will both be delivered at some point but one will be delivered in a still-birth and the other will be a beautiful baby girl.  That difference makes all the difference in the world.

Jesus said that he was the umbilical cord of life (the vine) and we are the babies (the branches) and that without his life flowing through us and in us, there is no power (you can do nothing) and there is no fruit (no life).  Life is in the blood and the blood brings both oxygen and energy.  Without that life there is no change, no growth, no transformation.

So, let’s get our metaphors straight.  On the one hand, we are prostitutes who run after other lovers at a moment’s notice because we forget who we are and are we take all of our husband’s directions as obligations rather than as a path to a deeper and more loving relationship.  We are broken but have been redeemed, bought with a price and we have been given the Holy Spirit who regenerates our hearts and makes them soft and pliable and more willing to make an effort in this relationship.  We discover that we have some basic faith, some expectation of blessing, some desire for our husband but we aren’t so good at putting it into practice.  Why?

Jesus said that we needed to remain in him and that his word needs to remain in us.  In our metaphor for today, we are babies that need to have life pumped into them on a regular, continuous basis in order to have the power to live, grow, change and become more mature.  Without that connection, that relationship, we will wither and die and be just like all of the other babies that are not regenerated.  It doesn’t mean that we aren’t alive.  Maybe we are but maybe we aren’t.  How can you tell?  If you are pinching the umbilical cord so hard that life doesn’t flow through it, if you have it wrapped around your neck so tightly that you start to resent it being there, if you sit on it, ignore it, stick it in your mouth and chew on it, anything in fact, other than to take care of it and nurture it and let it feed you, then you are in trouble.  The umbilical cord is our relationship with Jesus.

So to speak plainly and not in metaphors, let me say it in another way.  We have this new relationship with God.  We have faith that it is true and that salvation is ours when our friends and perhaps even family think we are crazy.  They certainly don’t believe in these fairy tales.  And we discover that we are filled with expectation of good things, of blessings, of benefits that will come from this new relationship.  We are not in it for the benefits, mind you, but we know that good things will come naturally from it.  Like being in love.  The relationship is it’s own reward.

And finally, we have this new desire.  It drives us crazy sometimes.  We want it but we don’t want it.  We want to love God but we don’t want to give up all of our other forms of pleasure and stress-relief that we have learned to rely on to get through life.  We love, but poorly, half-heartedly, inconsistently.  And we know it and it drives us crazy.

That’s the good news because our family and friends don’t have that struggle.  They don’t even remotely care about loving God.  They don’t want God at all.  We are the crazy ones, struggling with sin, wanting to know God better, agonizing about our shortcomings, like a teenager in love, thinking about every word, every gesture, every thought and wondering whether or not it will change the way He looks at us, whether it is true that He really likes us, even though He knows us so well, especially when we still are so broken and weak and even rebellious in our efforts to love Him back.  Can it be?  Is it really unconditional?  Does He like me even when, and especially when, I am a walking mess and I grieve the Spirit?  The answer is transformative if you really believe it, hope for it and live and breathe it.  It’s called agape love.  And, yes, it is astonishing!

The umbilical cord has miraculously been re-attached, the life is starting to flow through it and we are starting to experience the steady supply of faith, hope and love and the oxygen and energy it brings to our efforts.  The Bible calls it Resurrection Power and it comes to us from the Holy Spirit when we walk with Him in abundant life.  We look forward to our Delivery (Deliverance) from this body of death into a new life on the last day or when we die but, for now, we are supposed to work with our Mother, stay in the relationship and make every effort to keep that umbilical cord in good working order.  It is our life-line to resurrection power.  When that life-line is working well, anything can happen.

Obviously every metaphor breaks down at some point and here it breaks down in the sense that a baby has nothing to do but exist and grow and get ready for birth.  But in the case of the Christian life, we are more involved than that.  Yes, Jesus is the author and finisher or our faith but we need to be committed to the relationship, ready to make every effort to take care of and nurture that relationship so that resurrection power flows through into our lives and into the lives of the people around us.

So, here is the point I want to make.  Focus on the relationship not the sin.  Confession is not about the sin, it’s about the honesty that is necessary for any relationship to flourish.  Repentance is not about rules and regulations.  If the confession was honest, then there will be a real committment to change and we have all of the resurrection power of Christ available to us through the Holy Spirit to make any changes that God wants to see in us, in order to perfect our love for Him and for others.  Forgiveness is about the love of God shown in the cross.  It is about healing not about punishment.  Reconciliation is about restoring the relationship.  Most sin isn’t about the sin even in our earthly relationships.  It isn’t about the harsh words she said or the stupid actions that he did, it’s about our fear that the relationship has been broken, it’s about our hurt that he or she doesn’t really care, that the love was just a sham, a fake, a temporary desire.  It is the broken relationship that matters not the sin.  That was just the symptom of something deeper.

And, yes, we are talking first and foremost about your relationship with God but that includes your relationship with your brother and sister in Christ.  John makes it clear that our relationship with other Christians is the same thing as our relationship with Christ.  We are one body.  One Spirit.  What you do to the least of these my brothers, Jesus said, you do unto me.

The same is true for God.  Sin is a symptom of a broken relationship.  That needs to be dealt with first, and then you will have the intrinsic motivation to deal with the sin in a progressive way.  If you can learn that one truth, it will save you a lot of heartache and keep you clearly on the right path, the way of the cross on the road to Jerusalem.  It might also save your marriage….

The Desert Warrior

P.S.  Let’s talk to God…..

Lord, I want to learn to love you more.  Not just in spiritual experience in worship but everyday in my actions and words.  I want to join your cause, learn your ways, take your paths.  Help me, Lord.  I want to focus on our relationship and learn to love you more and talk to you more.  Help me to learn that when I don’t want to pray it might be because there is something I am hiding, some sin that I don’t want to bring into the light.  Help me to learn that when I am not willing to be transparent and honest with my fellow Christian in a small group or one-on-one setting that it might be because I don’t want to be real with them because I am scared, or tired or just plain in a bad mood.  Help me to work on the relationships in order to find true resurrection power and abundant life.  In Jesus name I pray.  Amen.

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