Grace Works: That's the Story!

TELLING THE STORY:

I had this absolutely incredible conversation with my brother, Robert last night. We were just sitting in his room getting caught up with one another when God led us into a deep reflection on Christ and the forgiveness of sin, of Jesus and the Blood of the Lamb, of God and His own Son on a cross. Our hearts swelled with love and joy as we went back and forth, speaking the truth of the story of God to one another. For two hours I felt the Spirit at work reminding of us of all that our loving Father has done, from the deliverance of the Hebrew people to the Passover Lamb, to the blood on the Alter, to the blood on the cross. White as snow, we are. No longer any condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, because of His atonement for our sins.

Just when I thought it couldn't get sweeter, it went even deeper, as we were led to tears, thinking about the words Jesus said a few hours before hanging on the cross. Jesus was there in the garden, preparing Himself to die for you and me. While contemplating death, He called God, "Abba, Father."  Abba, a term of great affection, most akin to our word, "Daddy." This is what Christ Jesus said at the very point He was faced with the pending reality and ultimate completion of God's perfect will, the will for Jesus to die for the sins of mankind and for His blood to become the once for all perfect sacrifice for our sins. No where else does Jesus use the term "Abba." Prior to this moment of anguish in Gathsemane Christ is more formal, using "God" and "Father" to name Him. No where else does He call Him "daddy." Only here, at this moment, when He is prostrate on the ground, humbled by the event before Him, the culmination of God's entire plan from the beginning. Here is where He looks up through tears and declares, with great love and trust, "You are my Abba Father, and I trust you. I will do your will here, even though I wish there were another way for this cup to pass from me." Daddy. Abba.

We thought.... and paused to picture it....And then we cried.

What's more, we thought, as we wiped our wet cheeks, now God says we too get to call God "Abba." (Gal. 4:6)

Daddy.
Lover of my soul.
Oh...oh! Deep breath. Breathing in God. OH my! Oh my, How He loves us.
And we worshiped Him.

 GRACE WORKS: THAT'S THE STORY

He and I just sat there and wept together at the thought, speechless. What unconditional love. What mercy. What grace! That's it... what GRACE!!

This morning I woke up with such a glowing and thankful heart, so full of joy and life and love. It's like the light was brighter in our house. I could see my wife more clearly, my kids, my friends, my job. All the works of the day that lay before me seemed, well, not like works at all. They were little tid-bits of delightful duties. Was I different today? Did I make some conscience effort to "work hard" for God today? No. So where did this new view of life and this burning motivation to work for God's will today come from? OH, it came from my belief!!! Well, more specifically, it come from my complete immersion and acceptance of that belief, from the telling of the story until it led us to worship.

That story -- the Gospel of Life story -- the one where God creates an unfathomably huge universe and scores of beautiful creatures and plants and life, then creates a man and women and makes a paradise for them, but gives them a choice so that love will be genuine; but they choose to sin and then they're separated from God. The story where people fill the land and fill it with sin; But God doesn't give up on mankind even though we all deserve death, but instead saves a family from a world-wide flood in order to start fresh. That story -- which continues later with God delivering a people from bondage, where He sends numerous prophesies of the coming King of Glory, whom will actually be God on the Earth, in human skin; but that King turns out to be a martyr for me, but His death is not the end because God raises Him to Life on the third day, and that death and resurrection provides atonement for my sins and for your sins, forever -- a once for all-time, ultimate, sacrifice of unconditional love.  Whew.... but that's not all....

That story -- the Gospel of Life story -- where God then sends His Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance, making us adopted children of God, removing condemnation from us completely, and even making us complete in Christ. That story -- where the Father gives us direct access to Himself through His Spirit (Eph. 2:18), where we are hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3), where we are not given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7); that story -- the one where we are establishment, annotated, and sealed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22), where we become a branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15:5) and where we are chosen and appointed to bear much fruit (John 15:16). That story, where we can approach God with freedom and confidence because of the finished work of Christ (Eph. 3:12) and get to become God's co-workers (1 Cor. 6:1) and even get to be seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6). That story.

That story -- the Gospel of Life story -- IS a story of the Blood of the Lamb shed for us. It IS a story of forgiveness of sins, where we should hang on the cross but Christ takes our place, where we deserve death but Jesus dies in our stead. It IS a story of GRACE!! That story. But that's not all...

It is also a story of God gathering together people who will believe this story with all of their hearts. But this gathered people can only do so by faith provided by His Spirit. And this gathered people only does so in order to do God's will just as Christ did in the garden and in the grave. It is also a story of brothers and sisters in Christ, and of children, who sit in each others rooms and in each others lives and share this story -- deeply and completely -- and they break bread to remember His body broken for us, and they drink wine to remember His blood flowed for us. And they remember. And they tell the story. They tell it until the tears of joy flow down.

And they worship... together.Because of what they believe... together.

It is also a story of the church, a gathered people who believe in God's grace and receive it so fully that it changes everything.

And it is also a story of God's will -- now -- and of our works -- now -- a story where we work not because we think for a minute it will gain us anything, but we work because we simply must, because of what God DID for us. We are compelled. We work mostly because of what we believe about God, Christ, blood, forgiveness of sin, new life and new identity, and of how that redefines everything; of how a brand new word enters into our lives with such force that we leap to our feet in praise and steady ourselves with a posture to go. That word is ... Grace. Not cheap grace. But deep grace. Not lazy grace. But amazing grace. The grace that hits you in the soul and renews your mind, making you think about Christ  ... all ...  day ... long.

That grace. That is the grace that truly works.

Grace is the story. Grace works. Grace motivates. Grace moves us. And when we move, we move without guilt or pressure or condemnation, or out of some twisted gospel of self-righteous, self-salvation. We can't save ourselves. We can't even motivate ourselves to do good works. We are only pathetic, helpless, lumps of dirt without God... and His story and His grace and His Spirit and each other. We need God's atonement for salvation and we need God's Spirit to set us on the path of good works. We have nothing to offer but surrender. And a good surrender is one with both hands high up in the air, assuming a posture that looks a whole lot like .... praise.

Is there a problem with what we might call nominal Christianity (Christians in name only)? Sure there is. It's a work of the enemy of God to keep us from working for God and Wilkerson says it well right here. But what is the best answer to this problem of passivity? Is it boot straps or Bible studies? Is it motivational speeches or church organization? No. It's always been the same answer to the same problem, in every era of mankind. The answer is Grace, and understanding The Story. It's not that we believe a little and that belief makes us lazy. It's that we don't believe enough, to the point that our beliefs motivate us. We must tell the story until grace does its work, and we work for God. Then and only then will our work be done in and through His perfect grace.

Why did God create us? GraceWhy did God deliver us? GraceWhy did God redeem us? GraceWhy did God atone for our sins? Grace
Why does God give His Spirit? GraceWhy does God secure us as His own? Grace

What is our response to all of this grace? Works.
If our response is not work then we don't understand grace. Simple.


Grace Works: That's the Story!

Sometimes we just get ourselves too busy. Sometimes we just get the cart before the horse. We have to remember to just sit in each others rooms, get caught up with one another, and allow God to lead us into a deep reflection on Christ and the forgiveness of sin, of Jesus and the Blood of the Lamb, of God and His own Son on a cross.

Our hearts will always swell with love and joy when we tell His story.

And our lips will praise Him and call Him daddy.

~~~~~~~

Thanks, Robert. I love you a whole, whole lot. Until next time...

Ransomed

And because of his experience,
      my righteous servant will make it possible
   for many to be counted righteous,
      for he will bear all their sins. -Isaiah 53:11

And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” -Matthew 1:21

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” - 2 Corinthians 5:21

 

But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. -1 John 3:5

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.” - 1 Timothy 2:5-6

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a 

 ransom for many.”
Mark 10:44-46

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  -John 3:17

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him.” - Isaiah 53:3-4

(The Message)

ransomed

Camping fun at Tishimingo

We had a wonderful time with several families.

Tishimingo is a great little park and we were able to all get campsites together thanks to, well, God. We first went to Bay Springs but they were so full that we couldn't get even two sites next to each other. So Gabe called Tishimingo and not only did they have sites together for us but the manager reserved them for us over the phone. So we made it there in time to setup and have a great three days together. I didn't take a lot of pictures but here a few. Melody took some really great shots of Abby and Nathan, and their kids and the Shreeves, who also were with us.



3/27 update:
Melody sent us the pictures she took of our kids at the camp-out.

Who You Are in Christ -- Printout

A single sister in our church named Mala recently asked me for a copy of Who You Are in Christ. She sees them hanging up around our office and house. Years ago I laminated a copy and put magnetic strips on it and stuck it to our fridge. The fridge is a great place to see something over and over. I couldn't find the old original so I created a new version and made it available for download as a pdf file here. 

I've also added the link to the page on this blog called Who You Are in Christ. 

All of this has got me super excited again about, well, who we ARE in Christ. Just going back through and reading these scriptures again, and studying them as I created this new printout, made my heart stir with love for God. I'm more convinced than ever that Satan really doesn't want us to know our true identity and he'll do anything and everything in his power to keep us from truly coming into Christ and truly believing WHO God has made us through salvation in Him. 

Not that we are made perfect just by thinking it or reading it. The list is not magic. But believing the truths of these verses is completely life-changing! We are much more confident and secure when we believe that God now sees us through the filter of His perfect Son's sacrifice for us. We definitely need the Body of Christ to help us become more "like" Christ. But we also most certainly need to begin each day proclaiming and receiving the truths in scripture that God has given us an entire new identity through Christ's sacrifice on the Cross!

Therefore...

What we do we do as secure, complete, adopted, justified, chosen, channels, whom are purchased, redeemed, appointed, seated, re-born, friends and co-workers of Christ. Praise God!

Lovey-Dovey Stuff: A True Story

Obviously he was not happy with my eloquent and exuberant ramblings about love.

Finally, I trailed off to a mumble and paused for his response.

What I heard next was so surreal to me that it is forever fixed in my conscience

and had such an impact on me that it completely changed the direction of my life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following is a true story. I remember the quotes below word for word, because it was burned so deeply into my conscience. The year was 1996 and my first official job in ministry after college lasted only twelve weeks, coming to a difficult and sudden halt. But this event would completely change the course of my life. What a journey!

I thought I was ready for anything. Youth internships at 3 churches, each with over a thousand members, and countless youth activities, was my ticket into the wonderful world of professional ministry. Experience was equally balanced by education: a double bachelors degree in Bible and Family Studies was the very best David Lipscomb University could offer a young, ambitious up and comer. Unfortunately, no amount of Biblical studies or life experience could have prepared me for that one fateful day when my whole world came to a screeching halt.

As one of the more fortunate graduates I actually had a full-time job lined up with great pay, as well as a down payment on a house before I even graduated. I started working part-time in January of 1996, for a wealthy church of just over 600 members and a youth group of about 80. With college graduation coming up in May, I would graduate and become full-time with the church, leading them into a summer packed with great activities. They were excited; I was excited. This seemed like the perfect fit and perfect start to my career. Little did I know the whole thing was actually a divinely appointed lesson in the classroom of harsh reality. Here's what happened.

One day, after I'd only been there a couple of weeks, the elder in charge of education called me to a meeting in the very nice church library. He sat down right in front of me. To give you an idea of the presence of this man, he was an executive in a large corporation and he carried with him to this meeting his own personalized preprinted stationary, on which was written his name at the top and "Committed to Excellence" at the bottom. He placed these on the table in order for me to take notes. His wife came too, sitting behind him and slightly to the side where I could see her. Both were dressed in their Sunday best. I had on a t-shirt. What was said my surprise you. It certainly did me. It started out fine but quickly led to an out of body experience.  

“David, we have done some research here at Someplace Church,” he began (I changed the name to protect the innocent), “and we have found the kids do not have the five steps to salvation completely memorized.” I had actually just studied this topic in a church history class earlier in the year, so I was ready. “Oh, you mean hear, believe, repent, confess, and be baptized,” I quickly responded. “Yes! I’m glad you know them,” he said. “Yes, sir, I sure do!” I added. I was familiar enough with this trademark doctrine of this denomination to know he might ask me about it. Since I had his attention I began to unfold my pre-meditated answer with great enthusiasm. “Sir, I want to teach the kids these very important five steps and I have an idea of how we can really make them stick.” “Great. Go on,” he replied. “Well, I suggest we teach that which really motivates a person to learn the five steps.  And that is... the love of God.” I smiled. They did not. “Yep, the love of God!” I continued with zeal, unwavered by facial expressions. “The awesome love of God is the real motivation for everything we do in this life. We would not even know what love is if he hadn’t shown us.”And I was prepared to go on and on...


I thought I was just getting started but as I went on and on about love as the motivation for everything I began to notice his countenance was changing. His eyes glazed over and he sat back in his chair. I glanced over and his wife was frowning too. Then they both looked at the floor. I trailed off to a mumble and paused for his response. All fell quiet, like a room full of grieving family members waiting on a funeral to start. Obviously he was not happy with my eloquent and exuberant ramblings about love. What I heard next is so surreal to me that it is forever fixed in my conscience and had such an impact on me that it completely changed the direction of my life.

What he said was just exactly this: “David, we want what’s best for you here at Someplace Church. But I must warn you. If you come in here and start talking that lovey-dovey stuff people are going to get worried about you.”

Cue crickets chirping.

There was a split second where I though he might be joking. But his face would not let me off the hook. Time stood still. I didn't say anything else other than, "I'll have to think about this and get back to you." The next day I packed up my office and wrote letters to put in the boxes of each of the Elders, and the Preaching Minister and the Associate Minister. My letters were not nice. The gist of my letter was this -- the system you are in and the way you conduct yourselves reminds me a lot of the Pharisees. And I left.

To this day it is still in the top ten most painful experiences of my life. However, by God's grace I took the pain of that experience and turned it into personal vision. I figured if there was a church that was so decidedly this far from God's love then there must be the opposite, or the possibility of it, where love trumped doctrine and maintaining the unity of the Spirit was a primary value. From that day forward I promised God I would make the lovey-dovey stuff top priority. As I looked back through the Bible I was reminded God makes the lovey-dovey stuff His top priority as well.

Am I too harsh, to call them Pharisees? I think scripture supports my statement. I think the heart and spirit of the Pharisees lives on today. It's hard to imagine a place that still calls itself Christian but where talking about love is not welcome. Yet it does exist. I was young and naïve, for sure. God let me see there really are churches where love is discouraged. In fact, at that moment, God opened my eyes to a greater truth, there are thousands upon thousands of churches where love is diminished, or second place, or nearly gone. This is nothing new. There has always been this war against God's love. It is the greatest of all wars upon the church and upon our own hearts.

Where God's love is taught and loving one another encouraged, there is a battle. Love is warred against by religion and by the flesh, producing an impartial love or a love without felt sacrifice. By felt sacrifice I mean the sort of love commitment to one another which actually requires us to give something up -- our own time, energy, and even our life. The love of Christ in the earth is just such a sacrifice, the ultimate one in fact. So where is the same depth of love in so many churches? Is it gone? Or is it eclipsed by independent American idealism, that back-bone of western industrialization, and the cowboy nature of man? Even in churches which do promote lovey-dovey stuff much of the time that love is far from that of Christ’s unconditional and self-sacrificial, cross-shaped love. Where the love of Christ is promoted there is always so much further for each of us to go, to really plunge ourselves into the full depth and breadth of that love. We must beg God each day to show us this love.

Want to hear something really crazy? One of the youth ministers who came shortly after me at the same church was Matthew Winkler, the husband of Mary Winkler. Not kidding. A few years later, while serving as a youth minister at another church in TN, he was shot in the back and killed by his wife.

What is the opposite of lovey-dovey stuff? What fills in its absence?  Cruelty, prejudice, hatred, discord, gossip, jealousy, murder, you name it. You can't do away with love. God is love!

God is love!

God is love!

God is love!

God is love!

God is love!

God is love!

I made a solemn vow to God on that day and every day since -- I'm going to proclaim His lovey-dovey stuff from the mountain tops and the valleys and every place in between. God let me experience that for a reason: motivation. Well, it worked. I forget love just as much as the next person, but God's Spirit is a faithful friend and an ever present Counselor. Just ask God what to do in any conflict, circumstance, disagreement, challenge, task, or job and I'll bet - if we'll really listen carefully -- we'll hear the same thing which has been echoing throughout all of human history: "Choose the lovey-dovey stuff. Pour it on thick and spread it out to all. It's the answer to every question and it begins with the very Son of the Most High God!"

For God so loved the world that He gave... lovey-dovey stuff. 

Our most important activity...

I'll never forget the first time I was made to do a "solo" time with God. I say "made" because that's just it, I was made. The location was Colorado and the event was Wilderness Trek Christian Camp. We were deep in the mountains when the guides circled us up, confiscated our watches, and sent us out with Bible and notebook for three hours. As a 22 year-old hyper active young adult this was torture!... well, at least at first. Soon I loved it, and in the years that followed I became one of those guides who made others take their first steps into solo time. Being alone with God would become a regular thing for me for the rest of my life. But it's always been a challenge. 


What is our most important activity as a believer and disciple of Christ? What a question! Sorry, but it's on my mind today. After a great discussion with some brothers last Monday night I've thought about this question off and on. Then, I open my Bible and read, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” - Psalm 73:25-26

Here on the big blue rock, do I desire nothing but you? Perhaps the good King David means material things. I should not desire any "thing" more than my God. That's true. But I also desire my friends, my wife, my kids. I desire some very good things in life as well. So what gives? Here's what I think is the main point: "Cultivating our personal relationship with God is the most important corporate activity in which we will ever engage." Here's why. 

In responding to people in our lives there are only two options for us, we can either respond from our flesh or from the Spirit of God. Every single corporate interaction, whether it be with a friend, an Elder, a sister, a wife, or a child, comes from one of these two. Every word spoken, from the great and hard topics of conversation to the most gentle of passing small talk, flow from the Spirit of God or from our own flesh. What determines our response then? That can only be our own rootedness in Him. And our rootedness in Him can only be found through a cultivated and deep relationship with the Father. And this relationship with the Father can only come by spending time with Him. 


I like how Boyd puts it in his action guide for chapter 6, The Revolt Against Individualism: 


"It may seem ironic, but it is impossible to enter in to relationships that reflect the love of the triune community unless we ourselves are getting our Life from God. We all need deep, meaningful relationships, but they are not to be our source of Life. When our need for worth, significance, and security isn't met by our relationship with God, we end up using people to try to meet this need. Kingdom relationships shouldn't be a means by which we get Life from others. Rather, relationships are meant to express and share in the fullness of Life we receive from God." (Myth of a Christian Religion, page 187.)

In a chapter dedicated to challenging the destructiveness of Westen individualism on the Church (which is an awesome chapter) Boyd finishes by reminding us that we must have a personal relationship with God in Christ or it's all for nothing. I think Boyd is spot on: Kingdom relationships shouldn't be a means by which we get Life from others. Rather, relationships are meant to express and share in the fullness of Life we receive from God."

Bottom line: We must get alone with God. Jesus did it. The desciples did it. The early church did it. And so must we. If we do not take time to walk through the woods with God, to sit in the closet with God, to lay quietly in bed, before getting up, with GOD,  -whatever it takes - we will inevitably loose our center on Christ, miss His voice of guidance, and damage our relationships with people.  "Cultivating our personal relationship with God is the most important corporate activity in which we will ever engage." Perhaps this seems like a difficult task to you. It often does to me. 


Fortunately, even in regards to this cultivation the primary responsibility falls to the Spirit of God. I have zero power within myself to foster a love for God or build a relationship with the Father. My only duty, therefore, as in everything, is to surrender to God's Spirit and declare each day: My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. I do make the choice, sure. As James wrote: "Draw near to the Lord and He will draw near to you." -James 4:8. But once I decide to draw near the Spirit takes the labor and the work of actually knitting my heart to God's. I can do nothing. I can only admit my own inadequacy to cultivate a relationship with God and then fall back into His love and grace and watch as He draws near to me. This I have felt a thousand times. 

God loves us so very much. He is jealous for us. He desires our love, our worship, our time. He desires not because He has some lack but because, simply put, He is LOVE. And OH how He loves us!! May the Spirit work into us and through us just an ounce of that wonderful Calvary love and bind us to God's heart in a deep and personal relationship. He truly is our portion forever. And once His portion is felt we will have that much more to share in the community of believers. Solo time is so very important. Boyd is right, it is impossible to enter in to relationships that reflect the love of the triune community unless we ourselves are getting our Life from God. We must examine our relationship with God and if there is a lack it is now our first order of business. If we want to help a friend, or be a friend, build up the Body of Christ, or live in community, we must start by getting alone with -- and in love with --the Father and Creator of or Hearts and Jesus Christ, His son.