The perimeter of sin

God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes. (Philippians 2:13) 

When God enables us, he makes us able, giving us the power or ability, as well as the means by which to live holy and upright lives. Consider who is doing the enabling and we might just begin to see our course of action as different than what we might have originally believed it ever could be. On one hand, we work hard to obtain or realize a goal, without anyone really helping us realize that goal. On the other hand, when someone comes alongside, bringing talents we don't possess and apply those talents toward the end goal, we might just realize the project comes to fruition quicker and easier than if we struggled to do it alone. There is something about being enabled to do something which gives us a certain freedom or liberty to pursue it with a greater passion and purpose, isn't there?

Imagine your spiritual goals. You should have some, you know! If you don't, then maybe that is the place to start - with an honest conversation with God about what it is in your life that requires some adjustment in order to be a better example of his love and grace. Spiritual goals may seem a little lofty at first - like wanting to be free of some life-dominating sin or point of consistent compromise in your life. You might not imagine yourself fully "free" of those things, but you can "hope" there might be a point when you would be out from under their weight. At first, the impossibility of "being on the other side" of the habit, sinful pattern, or consistent compromise seems a little bit like you might never be "truly free", but you know scripture declares that you are not only "set free" but being continually "renewed" in that pattern of being "set free". This is referred to in two terms in theological circles: Salvation and Sanctification. Salvation makes you free (you are saved out of whatever it is you were in bondage to). Sanctification makes you continually free (helping you to live free of those bonds over and over again until you stop returning to the place of your bondage completely).

An elephant can be chained to the immediate ten-foot radius around a peg and a chain attached to his rear leg. For a while, he will pull and pull at that staked chain to attempt to be free. In time he will come to think his "freedom" only consists of the ten-foot radius around that pegged chain. In a while, he could even be unlocked from that chain, and he wouldn't move out of that area. Why? He has developed the pattern of bondage. He has accepted his confined place and no longer believes he can escape it. Sin is kind of like that in our lives - for a long time we might resist the hold it has on us and even chafe against it a little. Given enough struggling to be "free" of that sin and we might just come to the place we give up on ever being free. At salvation, the moment we say "yes" to Jesus, the chain is loosed, and the shackle is removed. If we only focus on the thing which held us in bondage for so long, we may never explore the freedom outside of that ten-foot radius! We will believe we are still bound - but if we get outside of that radius even just a little, we begin to experience life as it should be - free and full of good things God intends for us to enjoy fully.

God's plan is to remove the shackles AND the peg that held us in bondage. The evidence of bondage is long gone, but sometimes we continue to remember the peg and shackles as being there, making it almost impossible to escape 'sin's radius'. Remember, he not only 'unshackles' us, but he removes every trace of the thing that held us in the perimeter of sin. Just sayin!

999.99 isn't 100%

 If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—simply come clean about them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. (I John 1:8-10)

There are a whole lot of ways I show off my 'ignorance', but I don't want one of them to be that I think I am without sin - I am a sinner, yet redeemed from my sin! Admitting our sin is the only way to be free from it. If we admit our sinfulness, does that make us no longer sinners? We all have a human nature - there is always going to be a 'pull toward' sin in our lives as long as we are walking on this earth. Do we have to 'give into' that pull? No, because we have been given a new life in Christ Jesus - the desire might be there, but we have the ability to no longer act upon that desire. Is it still a struggle for us at times? Yes, because the enemy of our souls doesn't like it that we aren't giving into that impulse to sin. 

Some of us need to 'come clean' when it comes to our sinfulness. We have been hiding some things in our lives as well as we possibly can, but the light of God isn't going to allow what we hide to be hidden forever. We are not fooling God - we are merely trying to fool ourselves into believing we aren't 'sinful' or 'sinners'. I have met people who claim to be 'good' - therefore they believe they have no need for a Savior. They justify their 'goodness' by their good deeds and their 'lack of outward sin', all the while denying they still struggle with inner thoughts and desires that aren't all that wholesome. They don't do the 'big sins' like murder, but they might just hold grudges and think themselves better than others. Does that mean they aren't sinners? No, it just means they are disillusioned about what 'sin' actually is. In the simplest sense, sin is defined as anytime we miss the mark. 

What is the 'mark' we are to be aiming at in life? If we don't know God, that 'mark' may actually be something quite different than what God deems to be the 'mark'. God's mark is purity, holiness, and justice. How many of us actually struggle with at least one of those three on occasion? Likely it is all of us. None of us is 100% pure. It amazed me to know the gold jewelry we buy is not 100% pure - there is always some form copper, silver, or other impurities. In all our work to get gold pure, we have only been able to achieve 999.99 purity, leaving that miniscule amount as 'impure'. As much as we may try to 'clean our lives up' and live pure lives on our own, there will always remain some 'miniscule' amount that isn't quite 'hitting the mark'. Grace is the only way to actually rid ourselves of all the impurities - the grace that is only available in Christ Jesus! Just sayin!

A living testimony

As we have studied scripture before, I have often reminded of the importance of the simple words such as "and" or "but".  Today's passage has one of those "buts" in it - the thing which has been proposed or said ahead of this simple little word makes a huge difference.  So, we cannot skip over the simple words if we are to get the entirety of the meat from the passage.  To set the stage, we see Peter writing this letter to believers - it wasn't written to those who had no faith in Christ, but rather those who had embraced the finished work of Christ on their behalf.  As he begins the letter, he challenges believers to begin to live a life of holiness - set apart from their former ways of doing things (especially as it applies to their past religious performance).  There will be tough times - of this he assures us - BUT these tough times don't need to destroy or defeat us - we should allow them to define us.  As the chosen ones of God, we are designed for a specific work - to be his instruments and his voice to a hurting people.

But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. (I Peter 2:9-10)

The former way of living is behind - the new is set before us.  As such, Peter calls our attention to several important facts we need to keep in mind as we make choices about how it is we live each day.  First, we need to recognize our high calling.  Now, if you were in school and the teacher called on you to come to the front of the class to share your "show and tell" item - something special you brought to school that day to share with the class - you would feel pretty special.  You might feel like at that very moment you were the center of attention - all eyes directed toward you and interest high in anticipation of what you might share.  Our high calling in Christ is not really that we are the center of attention, but this calling draws attention to Christ as the author and finisher of a great work - a work he has begun in each of us and chooses to highlight in each of our lives.  This work is evidence of his grace, love, and intense desire to see each of us drawn into the nearness of relationship he desires with each of his children.

We are chosen to be a holy people.  As such, we exemplify the finished work of Christ in our lives.  What does being "holy" entail?  Simply put, it means that we are "set apart" from the old way of doing business in our lives. Choices are made differently, actions reflect a new "person" in charge of our lives.  We make out "holiness" to be something like unto the life of being a priest - being pulled away into the monastery, living without some of the earthly pleasures others enjoy, taking a vow of poverty, etc.  Now don't get me wrong - if Jesus has asked this of you, then follow that path - but few are called to live this type of life.  In fact, most of us are asked to live right where we are as "holy" people - serving God in the midst of the regular stuff of life.

This high calling is simply put as "telling others" - being an example of the life change Christ brings into our lives.  There is an old adage which states "more is caught than taught".  In other words, our lives are to "tell the story" of God's ability to take a life of religious performance and transition it into a life of grace-filled holiness.  As more and more of our life becomes filled with God's grace, it bubbles forth into a lively testimony of what God does in the lives of those who serve him.  I know my old way of living had a "testimony" which did not honor God - but I was quite "religious".  I attended church weekly, sometimes more frequently.  I spoke the language of "religion", but my words did very little to describe the real condition of my heart.  Trust me -my actions often betrayed my words!

God's action in our lives brings a transformation - all Peter is reminding us to do is allow this transformation to be so evident that it sparks the interest of others to want what we have in our lives.  It is by a living testimony that many will follow Jesus - may ours be that testimony!  Just hoping!

The Circle of Quiet

^12-15 How blessed the man you train, God, the woman you instruct in your Word, providing a circle of quiet within the clamor of evil, while a jail is being built for the wicked. God will never walk away from his people, never desert his precious people.  Rest assured that justice is on its way and every good heart put right. 

(Psalm 94:12-15 The Message)

How blessed the man you train!  How blessed the woman you instruct in your Word!  Awesome words, huh?  Did you know that there are other words for "blessed" in our English vocabulary?  Namely, they are:  Consecrated, Sacred, Holy, Sanctified, Supremely Favored, and Blissfully Happy!  Wow!  Now that says a lot, doesn't it?  The one trained or instructed by God is really a pretty privileged individual!

As I sat in English class during my high school days, one of my most favorite things I learned to do was "diagram" a sentence.  My teacher would remind me that there is always a subject of the sentence, that a whole lot of other "matter" might be contained in that sentence, but it always has a subject!  The subject of our passage today is GOD!  Perhaps you missed that, so I thought I'd point it out to you!  

There is also a concept in constructing a sentence that is called "defining the condition".  In other words, a cause-and-effect relationship is laid out.  For example, "Bring me the remote, and I will change the channel."  The condition is that the remote needs to be in my hand before the channel can be changed.  The desired outcome of the cause-and-effect is that the channel gets to the one that we desire to watch.

Here we have it - the condition - "Be trained by God" and "Let his Word instruct you".  The outcome of the training and instructing - consecration, being made holy, growing in God's favor, and being blissfully content in his love!  To that, I can only shout, "Woohoo!"  Who does the training and instructing - this is the subject - GOD!  

Remember that I said that a sentence might contain other "matter" that gives structure to the sentence?  Well, here is some of that "other matter" that we should not miss from this passage:

- Those that are trained and instructed learn to enjoy the privilege of a "circle of quiet" in their lives!  Have you ever wondered why some people call the time they take to speak with God, enjoy time in his Word, and to praise him their "Quiet Time"?  Maybe the idea stems from this passage!  When all the rest of the world is caught up in the chaos of the "clamor of evil", we can nuzzle up to Jesus and enjoy the "circle of quiet" that his presence provides!

- God does not "walk away" from his people.  In a world filled with all kinds of "deserters", that is a good thing to know!  It does my heart good to realize that God actually pursues me when I am "walking away" from HIM!  Not too many would pursue someone who is fickle enough to turn their back on the best thing going!  Yet, in his intense love for us, he does!

- Justice is on its way!  We may not see it today, but there is a promised arrival!  With its arrival - the good will enjoy the privilege of being "put right". What could that mean?  I think God is reminding us that the picture may be bleak right now, but in the end, he is the one that makes his people shine!  

Just some thoughts for us to ponder today as we go about our busy schedules.  Don't forget to draw into that "circle of quiet" and really let him do the work of training and instructing that comes in those moments.  Those very moments may be what you will hold onto in the chaos of the hours ahead!

Cookies for the King

^1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

(Romans 12:1-2 The Message)

Consecration goes beyond the surface - in fact, it embraces all of our being when it is operational in our lives.  Consecration is simply the act of setting something apart for a specific use.  When we say that the chocolate chip cookies are just for daddy because they are his favorite cookies, we have the expectation that the one receiving enjoyment out of those cookies will be daddy.  The same is true when we say we have dedicated our lives to the service of our heavenly Father - he will receive the enjoyment our dedication brings.

Grace and mercy are two very powerful forces at work in our lives.  It is the "favor" of God and the "pardon" of God that is at work in us.  The first step in dedicating our lives to his service is to yield what he already owns!  We are in a kind of "territory dispute" with God most of the time.  We want to enjoy the liberty of his grace and release of his pardon, but when it comes to actually turning over the "deed" to our lives, we hesitate.  We are called to be separated UNTO God for his special work within and through us.  What we fail to recognize is that separation is completely voluntary.

In the off chance that I am not clear here, let me explain.  God never REQUIRES our dedication.  He is honored by it, but he never compels us to serve him.  WE choose whom we will serve.  What we fail to recognize is that by dedicating ourselves to him, we are really being set apart for the most awesome enjoyment that one could ever experience.  Just like daddy may savor those chocolate chip cookies that have been "dedicated" to him, our heavenly Father will savor our dedication - giving over our "right" to hold control of our lives into his hands.

The most awesome thing happens when we finally yield the control of our lives to Jesus - we begin to bear the image of that which we yield to.  Did you ever see two totally close friends and notice how much they "resemble" each other in their habits, ideals, and even in their communication?  "Likeness" actually occurs because of the frequency of contact that they have with one another.  

When we finally desire God's enjoyment of our lives more than our own enjoyment of our sin, God is honored to take what we yield to him.  But...he only takes what is yielded (dedicated / consecrated)!  There is a practice in the Old Testament that we don't see any longer in our church services - the practice of the altar sacrifices.  That is okay, since Jesus was the perfect sacrifice!  Yet, I think there was some value in seeing how the altar affected what was dedicated to God by being placed on it!

Every gift laid at the altar is affected by the altar.  I call this the "altering" effect of the "altar".  It is like putting those chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar for the enjoyment of one person only - each time that jar is opened, the aroma of those cookies rises.  At the altar of God's grace and mercy, there is an aroma that reaches God's nostrils and invites him to enjoy that which has been dedicated to him.  Yet, at the altar, God awakens a sense of need in us, as well.  It is at the altar that we are acknowledging our dependence upon him.

One last note - the CALLED OF God are CALLED FOR God - his enjoyment alone.  He already paid the price for our souls at the cross.  When we yield the right to govern our lives (our will), we are truly giving evidence that we are willing to have that which controls us the most affected by the altar.  Paul refers to this as having our minds renewed.  I think he might have had the picture of the altar in mind - leaving no part of our self-will untouched by the fire of the Spirit.

Salvation 101 - Part I - Why is grace needed?

^16-18"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him."

(John 3:16-18)

This past week someone asked me the question that seems to come up at one time or another whenever groups get together in an attempt to understand their faith just a little bit better.  That question was:  Is the "once saved, always saved" term biblical?  Tough question and I know parties that will weigh-in on both sides of this equation, but over the next couple of days, I hope to take you through some scriptures that might help to answer that question - or at least, provide the biblical perspective "in context" rather than taking a few verses out of context.

First, let me lay a little foundation.  Salvation is a term used in Christian churches to describe the condition of having surrendered your body, soul, and spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is more than asking Jesus "into your heart", as some put it.  It is a condition of "exchange" - we exchange our filthy, unholy condition for the holy and whole condition of God's Son Jesus.  This exchange is something that is a result of believing in the work of Christ on Calvary in dying for the sins of mankind.  It comes by faith - there is absolutely no amount of "doing" that makes us "saved".  

What really happens at the point of "salvation" is that we are delivered from the potential of eternal death.  There is a lengthy passage in Matthew 25:30-46 that speaks of weeping, gnashing of teeth, being cursed, everlasting punishment, and eternal life.  One is the condition of eternal death - the other is eternal life.  There is a very real separation from God that is eternal and there is only ONE way to ensure that we escape that eternal separation - Christ.

Sin is really a condition of heart that means that we have gone beyond the boundaries God has set for our lives.  Sin is more than a "passing thing" in our lives.  It is a series of behavior problems that stem from wrong attitudes, impure motives, selfish actions, and just plain wrong patterns of conduct.  By nature, we are pretty self-centered individuals - always on the lookout for how a circumstance will affect US.  We are born with this nature.  If you don't believe me, look at a newborn.  They pop out hungry, expecting to be fed.  They soil their diapers, expecting to be removed from what makes them uncomfortable.  They miss the warmth of the womb, so they cry until they are rocked into slumber.  

Behavior may be a learned thing, but our sin nature is something that we are indeed born with.  Our tendency to sin is therefore not a LEARNED thing, but a product of the nature we were born with.  If you don't believe me, try changing a particular behavior.  You may change that behavior, but underneath the very sin nature that encouraged that behavior is still there - that is why we struggle with change so much.

Many people feel they can just deal with their own sin - like willpower is enough!  Willpower is the desire and ability to resist something, but it is a self-motivated action.  It is important as we begin this discussion to realize that we cannot transform our spirit without also having our "nature" touched by the hand of God, too.  We need that nature to be altered by the altar!

"Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him."

(Romans 5:6-7)

We probably have a little problem associating with this passage because we don't really understand this kind of sacrificial love and commitment.  We had absolutely no ability on our own to "procure" our salvation.  There was nothing in man that could make right what sin had made so wrong.  So, God being the loving God he is, made the provision for our sin - he provided the exchange of nature we so desperately need, but could never produce by any effort of self-determination or willpower.  

The passage in Romans goes on to say that God has a holy nature and his holy nature cannot coexist with the sin nature of man - in order to come together, the nature had to be "fixed".  Reconciliation with God requires a change of nature.  Man must act on what has been provided in order to enjoy the provision.  In other words, we must desire the exchange of our nature, calling upon the sacrificial work of Christ to make us holy.  

As we conclude today, remember this:  God made provision for the exchange of our nature - that provision is Christ.  All we "do" is accept the work of the cross, believing that Jesus is the only provision for our sin problem.  It is through Christ that we exchange natures - no other way works!

No more patches!

¹⁶ “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.  ¹⁷ “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”

(Matthew 9:16-17)

Have you ever tried patching your favorite pair of jeans?  Those well-worn jeans develop what I will call "stress-tears" at the most inappropriate and most difficult points to patch!  Try as we might, we can attempt to bring the frayed edges of the tear together without the "stress-tear" being noticed, but it is almost impossible.  Fabrics don't match and if we simply join the two sides of the "stress-tear" together again, the surrounding fabric is also weakened, so that patch is not going to last long either.

We experience these same kind of "stress-tears" in our character.  The things we have become so familiar and comfortable with, like our little habits, actually "fit" us well, but are riddled with weakened areas that can "burst-out" at anytime.  The very moment that the stress of life gets a little too much to contain, we experience the "stress-tear" and it leaves us feeling a little too exposed!

A lot of us think that the answer to those "stress-tears" is to simply apply a little patch here and there, until what was exposed is covered up well again.  Some of these "patches" are not all that bad - like when we attempt to incorporate prayer as a "patch" to our worries.  The thing we don't recognize is that the entire "garment" of worry is what is giving us the trouble - patch one area and another will give out under the stress of life!

Jesus doesn't offer us "patches" in our lives.  He offers us completely new garments!  He says to be clothed with his righteousness - to be outfit with his graces, power, and authority.  The "patches" are our doing - the new garments are his!  

In the 60's, patched jeans were the "in" thing - but that did not last long.  Now kids wear purposefully "distressed" jeans - paying good money for those "stress-tears" in perfectly new fabric!  I may not fully understand the "statement" of such attire, but I do know that my Lord is not keeping up with the latest fads!  His garments are perfect - fitting me to a "T" and adorning me with just what I need in those areas of my life!

I don't know about you, but the times of simply "patching-up" the failures of my life are over.  I am serious about this spiritual wardrobe exchange of my ragged garments for his beautiful garments!  Isn't it about time that we evaluate the "patch" jobs of our lives and truly shed the old garments in exchange for his new ones?

Inflow determines outflow

^14-15"Listen now, all of you— take this to heart. It's not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it's what you vomit—that's the real pollution."  

^20-23"It's what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution."

(Mark 7:14-15; 20-23)

With today's incessant emphasis on diets, new and improved probiotic-infused foods, and custom-designed daily vitamins, it is a wonder that we know what matters anymore.  So many times we focus more on what "goes into" the body and completely miss the importance of what it is that "comes out" of that same man or woman in the form of action, attitude, and exemplified values.  Jesus is speaking to that very thing in this passage.  He and his disciples have just been criticized for not "washing" prior to partaking of their meal.  Trust me, there was no real concern on their part that the disciples practiced good hand-hygiene to reduce the spread of micro-organisms!  It was a "custom", plain and simple, that they were bypassing - and that drew the attention of the Pharisees.

In one sense, we can be too overly focused on what it is that we "allow" into our physical bodies (not to say that we shouldn't be conscientious to eat well).  On the other hand, we can be too nonchalant about our physical intake, bringing unwanted things like obesity, clogged arteries, and diabetes into our lives.  So, focusing on what "goes into" our physical bodies is not exactly a bad thing - but it is not the primary focus Jesus is concerned with here.

His concern is in what we allow into our lives that will ultimately "pollute" everything that comes out of our lives.  The list of "outward" manifestations of things that are hidden in the recesses of a man's mind, or heart, is what he is concerned with.  These are directly impacted by what we allow to be the repeated focus of our thoughts, or the continual intake of damaging things through our physical senses like sight or sound.  

As we examine the list of "outward" manifestations of what is "inwardly" embraced, it easy to see why he is so concerned with our "intake".  Obscenities - morally offensive, disgusting, and repulsive communication.  Lusts - intense and uncontrolled desires of all types that demand fulfillment and suck up our focus in life.  Thefts - the taking of what we have no right to on our own.  Murders - the "ending of life" may not be literal, but even the desire to "do away" with another is a crime in Jesus' book.  Adulteries - the uncontrolled urge to take what belongs to another.  Greed - the continual desire for more and the competition to always outdo the other guy.  Depravity - evil, corrupt, totally consumed by what pleases self and demeans another.  Deceptive dealings - fraudulent, misleading, misguided actions.  Carousing - loose living.  Mean looks and slander - wrong conduct toward another that damages or demeans another's reputation or self-image.  Arrogance - the incessant desire to be the best and to be noticed for it.  Foolishness - you could name any number of things here!  

The question we need to ask is simple:  What is "going into" our lives that may "come out" in a manner that is not honoring of others, or that will damage the image of what others might believe about God as a result of our behavior or actions?  We need to be cognizant of the "outflow" of our lives.  We can only do that by being conscious of the "inflow".  What goes in is what comes out!

Branding - A "product" others want

"Set yourselves apart for a holy life. Live a holy life, because I am God, your God. Do what I tell you; live the way I tell you. I am the God who makes you holy.

(Leviticus 20:7-8)

There is a concept in business today called "branding" - it carries the idea of the techniques utilized to ensure that the public knows your name, recognizes you as a leader in your industry, etc.  Companies invest big money into making sure that they are recognizable in the community they serve by the "brand" they have invested time, talent, and energies into creating.  It is kind of like what God said through Moses so many years ago - "Set yourselves apart..."  God was telling us to be known by our "branding" - that which makes us uniquely different from those around us and makes people want what it is that we possess.

Although the concepts of "branding" are primarily a marketing technique in the business realm, I think we can draw some parallels in the spiritual.  

• First, branding begins with having a quality product that others will want.  If the product is shoddy, no matter how much you invest into "branding", it will be a waste of your efforts.  
• Second, branding involves being visible in the community. The more you are exposed to the public, the better.  Companies invest huge sums of monies and talent into getting their product before the public.  Why?  It cements the brand with an image.  
• Last, branding involves a commitment to provide a product that the community REALLY needs.  A market inundated with similar products that are not well-differentiated from other products finds that they will go for that product that requires the least investment on their part - especially if there is no difference appreciable.

Now look at those same ideas from a spiritual perspective:

• Quality products - our passage points out several characteristics that will ensure that our "product" passes the "quality" test.  Doing what God tells us and living as God tells us ensures that we have a product that can neither be labeled as "shoddy", not a waste of efforts.  Obedience produces within us what all the efforts at self-improvement could not - life transformation.  Nothing is more appealing to someone without hope than to see what having a solid basis for hope can produce.
• Visibility - our passage does not imply that we are to live on a commune and never associate with others.  Being set apart does not mean that we get "weird".  It carries the idea that we have something that makes us "unique" - we stand above the rest.  There is clearly a place for association with others in the faith, but that should not be our only association.  Others need to see Christ in us - that exposure to Christ may be the only exposure they may have.
• Demand - a product that someone really needs - a unique product that no one else offers.  There are a lot of "religions" in the world - organized and informal.  What sets us out as unique is the ability of being "holy" as God is holy.  Holiness is evident in a life that is changed by the Spirit of God within.  The ability to steer clear of the gossip chain, the tendency to shy away from coarse or off-color jokes, or the simplicity of making ethical choices because that is the way you have come to live - these seem simple enough, but they serve to set us apart from other "religions" in the world.  It is more than doing good deeds for the sake of doing them - it is a matter of engaging in right conduct because that is what stems from the core of your inner man.

How do we live in such a way that others see something in us that makes them want what we have?  We allow God to live in us - we allow him to make us holy (branding at its best!).  Set apart lives are not "branded" in some weird way, but are uniquely beautiful and relationally appealing.  Others want what we have allowed to be worked out in our lives because they see a sense of hope for their own life.  That is what God wants of us - to give the world hope.  Hope is best understood when it is exemplified - there is a "product" people can connect with.  Believe it or not, you are a "product" of God's grace.  Let your life be displayed as set apart for his service, dedicated to his love, and uniquely touched by his grace.  Others will be drawn to him through your example.

Prepared for Future Growth

^13-16So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, "I am holy; you be holy."
(I Peter 1:13-16)

In our passage this morning, we will explore the attitude of heart that we need to have in order to pursue God's holiness.  Our writer reminds us that it is not a pie-in-the-sky, happy-go-lucky existence we have once we come to Christ.  As a matter of fact, there is no room for laziness in our daily walk.

Peter opens this chapter with the words:  God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus.  He has his eye on us - an attentive Father that will not let us get by with living "below our potential" in Christ Jesus.  He has determined to keep us obedient - it is a lot more work for him than it is for us to keep us obedient!

Since this passage deals with bringing us into the reality of living holy lives, just like God is holy, it is comforting to me to know that the work of making me holy is not reliant on me!  God is at work in us to create the image of his Son in us - a life shaped by God's life.  Before we acknowledged Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we lived a life constantly guided by our own desires.  After coming into faith in Christ, there is a new "pull" on our lives - like a magnet drawing a piece of metal.  That pull is the work of the Holy Spirit of God within us - pulling us toward obedience.

A life energetic, blazing with holiness is not something that comes naturally - in other words, we can do nothing to work ourselves into a place of holy living. The very energy to pursue God in obedience comes from him - he is the one pulling us toward himself, enabling us to make right choices, laying aside the desires and pursuits of our sinful life.  Peter tells us that it is easy to "slip back" into the old way of doing things - we can resist the pull to do right when we become lazy in our pursuit of God.

A couple of weeks ago, I spent some time out in the yard.  My yard did not look all that bad - the grass was cut, the majority of the leaves were raked, and no huge weeds were springing up in the flower beds....but it was not "tailored".  In other words, I had let the plants "lazily" grow out of control.  They lacked form, and therefore, they really were over-running my flower beds.  So, I spent time trimming away dead growth, exposing the roots soil buried under a layer of dead leaves, and shaping the plants for future growth.

Don't miss that...I was shaping the plants for future growth.  The Lord does that in our lives, as well.  The tendency we have to "drift" into what appears on the outside to be "okay" growth may actually keep us from growing as we have the potential to grow.  As I cut away the dead blooms, removing the suckers that had sprung up, and reshaped the plants, they were "exposed" to new growth.  In one short week, I have seen new sprouts coming forth that give me signs that new growth is on the way.

The plants have a "new energy" to produce new growth - something they were not doing until I spent some time "cutting them back".  God wants us constantly revealing new growth - so he takes us through times when he focuses on that which is not growing well in order to move us on in obedience to him.  God is shaping us for future growth - blazing with holiness!