Grace, Grace

I spent part of the evening at Barnes and Noble waiting for cheer practice to end.  In doing so, I picked up and read the first chapter in one of Kenny’s recommended books “The Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennen Manning.

The first chapter (perhaps the whole book) is all about how we (the Big-C church) have trivialized and minimized the meaning of the grace of God.  I’ve just been reflecting on that for the last hour or so. I can’t get it out of my head.  I continued to read in 1 Corinthians, but I can’t get my mind off the Grace of God.

The refrain of that old hymn just keeps singing in my head….

1.	Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
	Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Refrain:
	Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
	grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin!

2.	Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss;
	grace that is greater, yes, grace untold, points to the refuge, the mighty cross.
	(Refrain)

3.	Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away?
	Look! There is flowing a crimson tide, brighter than snow you may be today.
	(Refrain)

4.	Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe!
	You that are longing to see his face, will you this moment his grace receive?
	(Refrain)

Grace that is greater than all of my sin.

I’m undone with that tonight.  Thank you God for your grace that covers all my sin.

The Glam Life of the Apostle

1 Cor 4:9-16 NLT
9 Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike.  10 Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. 11 Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. 12 We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. 13 We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.  14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. 15 For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. 16 So I urge you to imitate me.

Yeah… right!

Be like you? What does that list include again?

– Become a spectacle before the world.
– Look like a fool because of my dedication to Christ.
– Be weak
– Be ridiculed
– Go hungry & thirsty with not enough clothes to keep warm
– Be beaten and have no home.
– Bless those who curse me
– Patiently be abused by others
– Appeal gently to those who talk trash about me
– Be treated as the world’s garbage

OK. That’s the glam life of the apostle. I’ve got a long way to go. Even in thinking about how that applies to my life today and what that would actually look like in my life, I don’t want to go there or be that. I fear that is a tale-tale sign of an issue in my heart I may need to deal with.

If I’m truly living out Galatians 2:20, then I am going to be OK with being any and all of that list. My reluctance shows part of ME is still alive somewhere and deceiving me to believe that I’m all dead and Christ is alive in me.

Shine your light Holy Spirit and reveal any part of my heart that needs correction and/or confession.

God's Glory – The End Game

(I posted this from my blackberry, hence the brevity the first post – now from my laptop, I will expound)

Acts 7:5-7
5 “But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants—even though he had no children yet. 6 God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land, where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 7 ‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and in the end they will come out and worship me here in this place.’*

This is the recounting of Israel’s history by Stephen before the Council. This is what God says … “… In the end they will come out and worship me here in this place.”

Isn’t that what it is all about? Worshiping Him? Spreading His glory and renown? It has to be because He says that’s what it’s all about.

There is a cycle I see here of God performing a miracle (starting with Abraham) and Israel worshiping God. Most of the miracles were some sort of freedom. Issac freed from the sacrifice, the 12 patriarchs saved from the famine (Joseph), Israelites saved from Egypt (Moses – Exodus, Moses – Red Sea), Israel saved from God’s wrath (10 commandments), Israel saved from wandering (Joshua), and so on and so on.

Each “saving” resulted in a time of worship and glory to His name. Each time, humanity ended back up in bondage. Each time, God had to set us free.

Where does the cycle end? Jesus. “Whom the Son has set free, is free indeed.” Thank you Lord! So if we have been set free, why do so many people choose to go back to bondage?

His Glory, His Worship, His Renown. It’s hard to do any of those when we are bound in or bound to something other than Him.

Whom the Son has set free, is free indeed…

Right Now

I Cor 3:-15 NKJV
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Jesus is the Foundation (this in itself is something I want to do a word study on – Foundation).

Verse 12 caught me off guard… “… if anyone builds on this foundation…”. IF? How does one not build on the Foundation of Christ (assuming we’re talking about believers). The rest of the verse goes on to say that IF we build, it could be out of a varied and assortment of materials… each of which will be tested by fire.

But I go back to “if”… I’m a little unsettled, quite honestly and I’m not quite sure what to do with it.

Verse 15 says that if what I build on the foundation doesn’t survive the fire, I will suffer great loss, but will escape the fire. I wonder if the “great loss” is the realization of how much time I wasted, not building those things that would survive. The epiphany of all the “for not” time I could have been using to further His Kingdom, His Name and His renown? I think that would be a “great loss” in the end… to know how much more I could have done.

It reminds me of the end of Schindler’s List when Oscar Schindler, realizes that the gold ring he was wearing could have saved 1 or two more Jews from execution and the car he was driving could have saved more, and all of a sudden, he realized he could have done even more than he already did.

I don’t want that realization when it’s over, although it’s inevitable. As Richard says, the best time to have done it was 20 years ago. The next best time is right now.

Freedom in Parenting

Lot’s of stuff in 1 Cor 3 today. But before I start, a new aspect of yesterday’s journal caught my attention…

1 Cor 2:11-12 – continuing from yesterday….

No one knows God’s thoughts but His Spirit.
He has given me His Spirit, and thereby He reveals His thoughts to me.

Question: Am I trustworthy with God’s thoughts?

Measures of Spiritual Maturity
1 Cor 3:2-3

Paul says of the Corinthians “You are still not spiritual, because there is jealousy and quarreling among you, and this shows that you are not spiritual. You are acting like people of the world.”

When we are jealous and quarreling (such as my kids are doing) this shows spiritual immaturity and that jealousy and quarreling are controlled by the sinful nature (“… you are still carnal…” NKJV says).

Planting, Watering & Growing
1 Cor 3:5-8

I can plant. I can water. Both of those are my job. God and God alone is responsible for the growing. That is very freeing when I place it in the context of parenting. I am not responsible for the spiritual growth of my kids. All I can do is plant and water, plant and water… sow, sow, sow. Papa is responsible to make it grow. That’s very freeing.

There is lots more in chapter 3, but I’ll post about it later, because I want to do a deeper study on foundations.

The Mind of Christ

I Cor 2:10-13 (NIV)
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

Good grief. I have never thought about this. Check out verse 11 again… “…no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God…” and verse 12, “…we have…the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand…”

For example, I may be close to my wife. I may be the closest human being alive to her. I know her better than anyone, but I cannot read her mind. (No jokes please – yes it’s true that no man can read a woman’s mind). Only her spirit, knows what she is thinking. My spirit is only privy to my thoughts. My spirit cannot read anyone else’s thoughts, no matter what we see on TV.

Given that chain of logic, only God’s thoughts could be known by Him were it not part of His plan to deposit a part of His Spirit into each of us who have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. When we make that profession of faith, and die to our selves, we get a filling of His Spirit whereby He can make known to us His thoughts!

Now when I read “..you have the mind of Christ…” just a few verses later (v16) it takes on a whole new meaning.

I forgot everything…

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

1 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters,* I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.* 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.

Dang!!!  I wish I wouldn’t stop reading at the chapter breaks! This is a continuation of yesterday’s journal. Two statements of Paul’s stand out in these 5 verses. “… I decided that … I would forget everything except Jesus Christ…“ and in verse 4 “… I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.“

What would my life look like if I forgot everything but Jesus Christ and relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit? (with my best Paulie impersonation…) “Oh my gosh!”

Here’s the key. It’s two words in verse 2. “… I decided…“ That is the key. It’s making a premeditated choice to respond and do “X” before the heat of the battle or the throw of temptation.

If I forget everything but Jesus, then that means I forget all about me… all my pride, my selfishness, my wants, my desires, my laziness, my lack of discipline, my busy-ness, and so on and so on. It means I forget all about tomorrow’s schedule, the demands of my job, cheer practice, scouts, sports, tv, (whatever) and I remember Jesus. I spend time with him. I let the Holy Spirit lead me, even through the events of my day – the difference being the attitude of my heart. I do it out of worship and devotion to Him and not out of guilt or duty to something else, or out of my own selfish desires.

I am deciding to forget everything except Jesus Christ and to rely only on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, help me make the same decision tomorrow and the next day. Amen.

The Simple Truth of the Gospel

1 Cor 1:17-18 (Amplified Version)
17 For Christ (the Messiah) sent me out not to baptize but [to evangelize by] preaching the glad tidings (the Gospel), and that not with verbal eloquence, lest the cross of Christ should be deprived of force and emptied of its power and rendered vain (fruitless, void of value, and of no effect).
18 For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition, but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God.

Having just returned from another Quest, it breaks my heart to see how hurt, how angry, how fearful and how deceived the Body of Christ is. These are the good guys. These are the church going folks. Their story is just like mine was almost 3 years ago. “The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick. Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9) I was just as jacked up because I didn’t really understand my own depravity and just what a cesspool that is before the Lord.

I wonder if our “verbal eloquence” has deprived the message of the Cross it’s power in the body of Christ? It’s no wonder the big-C Church is so jacked up. We’ve built denominations and churches and philosophies and beliefs on smooth talk, catchy quips, neat-o illustrations, and persuasive arguments.

The cross of Christ has lost it’s power in the church because not many are willing to speak the simple truth, the confronting truth, the uncomfortable truth, the absolute truth, the politically incorrect truth of God that shows our deceitful and desperately sick hearts, that only Father God can understand and heal. Too many people want to make it palatable and appealing to the masses. God help us.

Verses 18 -31 go on to explain that God’s ways are not our ways. God calls the wise through foolishness, the strong through weakness, the significant through insignificance, and the rich through poverty – in order that as Jer 9:24 states, “…let him who boasts,… boast in.. the Lord…”

So, then the question remains – and I’ll ask it before anyone else does – How do we get The Church back to the simple truth that heals wounds, calms fears, and transforms lives here on earth?

A broken spirit

Psalm 51:17

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

I’ve been meditating on this verse for the last few days and Papa has begun to show me that this verse depicts humility, total humility.  This is the antithesis verse (at least to me) for James 4:6 which says “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

What God has shown me is that if I am not broken over my sin (whatever that sin might be – because God has no grading scale for sin, it’s either sin or it isn’t) then I am walking in pride.  If I am not broken over my sin, then my heart is calloused.

Daddy, I pray I am always broken over my sin and continually aware of just how offensive it is to you.  Help me to “sin no more” as Jesus commanded, but when I do, help me to always recognize the repulsiveness of my sin to You.

Changing the routine…

Today I spent my day just worshiping Him,  memorizing scripture, and praying for others.  It was very cool.  Not all in one “block” of time, but consistently throughout the day my attention was turned to Him.  As I focused on the Lord, he brought to mind several of my posts and is ‘connecting the dots’, slowly on just how crucial it is to not “turn off” our minds in the name of faith.  There is certainly more to come on this topic as it seems to be a culmination of sorts of what the Lord’s been speaking to me for the last few months.

I leave for Quest tomorrow, so this is my last post until Monday, Feb 9th.