Embrace faith, not works

I want to belong to him. In Christ I am right with God, but my being right does not come from following the law. It comes from God through faith. God uses my faith in Christ to make me right with him. All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him from death. (Philippians 3:9-10)

There is no other way to be 'made right' than through Christ Jesus. There is no other set of rules or 'belief system' we need to follow in order to 'gain righteousness'. With that said, why do we still try to 'be made right'? I observe those who have given their hearts to Jesus trying to 'earn' their way into heaven or some such thing, all through 'righteous actions', family traditions, and deeply rooted traditions of 'the church'. For some reason, Satan has been able to convince many that they need 'more' than Christ in order to be 'made right'. They strive without purpose because all God has purposed has been accomplished in Christ Jesus, therefore all their striving and 'deeply rooted traditions' are nothing more than religion. God asks us to enter into relationship with him and then stop 'striving'. It is time to put down that which we thought would earn anything in God's kingdom and begin to lean into the faith he gives. When all we count on is the faith he provides to be made right with him, we begin to engage in actions that he purposes for us. Those actions aren't done to 'earn', but because there is a genuine interest in seeing others set free from their bondage to sin and made right with Christ. 

The Great Commission wasn't given to the apostles in order for them to 'earn' anything in God's kingdom. In fact, it was to help spread the good news about the way into God's kingdom - a way bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus. The believers were to share the good news and in turn, God would show these sinners the way into his kingdom through the finished work of Christ. “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me. So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have told you to do. You can be sure that I will be with you always. I will continue with you until the end of time.” (Matthew 28:18-20) Nothing in the commission says we are to show them how to do 'works' in order to be welcomed into God's kingdom. Authority was given to share the good news and 'make followers' - by showing them they can live in 'liberty' in service to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. the 'commission' involved teaching 'obedience' to the Word of God - obedience to God's will.

If we don't realize it, we are living, breathing 'testimonials' of all God has done for us, in us, and ultimately through us. Faith given becomes faith replicated. Obedience taught becomes obedience learned. Do we learn it naturally, or by following some set of rules? No, we learn it by example - the example of Christ, who although divine in all ways took on the form of a man and lived without sin in a very sinful world. We'd do well to study his example, sharing in the grace he gives, and learning at the feet of our heavenly Father. Then we need to share what it is he has taught and what we have learned. Really all the learning we do is because God grants us the ability (through faith) to embrace it. Just sayin!

Trust in the Truth

I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. (Galatians 1:6-9)

In the early church, Christ's message was being embraced and shared, but the Jewish leaders were still preaching that all of the Law of Moses still needed to be kept. Christ's message proclaimed that we are saved by faith, while the Law of Moses taught that works upon works were necessary. Christ's message showed how God worked his way to us through Christ Jesus, while the message of the Law of Moses kept men working their way to God. They were different messages - the Law of Moses being done away with by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Paul found there were individuals who began their walk with Christ through faith in this finished work, but then they listened to the preaching of the Jewish leaders that they still needed to do all manner of works, keeping this feast day and all the 'regulations' proclaimed within the Law of Moses and the Torah. In other words, those who had been set free by grace were being bound again by works.

Man can work his way toward God all he wants, but apart from grace, there is no way of ever reaching God! We may think all the 'good stuff' we are doing is going to assure us of entry into heaven, but as Jesus said, God won't be impressed by those works - only our testimony of faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus. We 'enter in' through the blood sacrifice that made all other sacrifices outlined in the Law of Moses obsolete. We 'remain in' by trusting in the grace and forgiveness found at the foot of the cross - continually bringing all our struggles, pain, and doubts to him for him to guide us through each of them. From the beginning of time, Satan has tried to deceive anyone hearing the Word of God and actually beginning to trust in that truth. He has been aptly called the deceiver of the brethren because he likes to twist the truth and get our minds confused. This is one of the greatest tactics he uses - taking truth, adding a lie to it, then proclaiming it as 'truer' than truth. We must guard against all those who seek to 'add to' God's truth - for truth is no longer truth when we add to it.

The truth - no one earns their way to God. The lie - you need to do this or that in addition to saying 'yes' to Jesus. You may ask, "Don't we have to do good stuff as Christians?" This is what confuses so many, for we see the early church caring for the sick, meeting the needs of the poor, embracing those others would reject. Isn't that 'works'? It come back to the heart motivation behind what we are 'doing'. If we 'do' in order to 'earn', it is the wrong type of 'works'. If we 'do' in a spirit of love and service, focusing first on our relationship with Christ, then in meeting the need we observe before us, we are not attempting to 'earn' anything by the 'work'. Relationship always stands opposed to religion - one relies upon the finished work of Christ (we cannot earn our way to God) and the other focuses on doing in order to be right (attempting to earn through our own merit what God gave as a gift to all who will accept it). How we choose is important - one leads to freedom and joy, the other to bondage and a constant dashing of our hopes. Just sayin!

Entering God's grace

I have enjoyed vacationing in Colorado again this year, exploring areas I haven't seen since I was a kid.  One of the things I like to do is notice the signs around me - especially those which announce we are "now entering..." and "now leaving..."  It is like a clear-cut way of understanding where the town or landmark begins and where it ends.  Why is this important?  When we are looking for our way, these signs welcome us.  When we are drifting a little too far outside of where we wanted to go, they warn us we are about to leave the area we hoped to spend a little time in exploring.  On road trips, these signs are important.  In real life, when we need to be cognizant of where we are in comparison to where we want to be, these "signs" may be equally important to us!  They may not be physical signs which announce "now entering..." or "now leaving...", but there are "signs" we are about to something foolish such as "leaving God's grace".

If you try to be made right with God through the law, your life with Christ is finished—you have left God’s grace. I say this because our hope of being right with God comes through faith. And the Spirit helps us feel sure as we wait for that hope. When someone belongs to Christ Jesus, it is not important if they are circumcised or not. The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love. (Galations 5:4-6 ERV)

We cannot be "in the right place" without being "in God's grace".  This is impossible.  We need to pay attention to the signs we might actually be "leaving God's grace" if we are to be continually within the "boundaries" of the place we need to be living our lives.  We aren't made right through our travels into lands marked out by those signs which tell us we are "entering by our own works". We are entering into territory where we will only experience frustration and continual disappointment if we think this is the right place for us to live!

Our hope is in the actions of faith - not in the actions of works.  Our place of dwelling begins within the boundaries of grace - our place of actually enjoying life also begins in this exact same place!  We cannot get to "right with God" apart from looking for the signs we are "entering God's grace".  Grace isn't one of those place we find haphazardly, like some of the discoveries we make while on vacation exploring new places and observing the scenery.  Grace is a place purposefully pursued and actually found because of God's "GPS" working in our lives.

In a literal sense, we have experienced the "value" of the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) of this world.  If we have flown, we have benefited from the pilots being aware of their location because of their "plotting" of path of flight because of the benefit of these satellite positioning devices bouncing back signals alerting them where to turn that plane and when it is time to land.  If we have used them in our vehicles, we know the comfort of listening to the voice announce we need to turn right or left within the next 500 feet.  Last night, we took a wrong turn, thinking we were entering into our neighborhood for the condo we are renting.  Ummmm....we were getting more and more twisted around with each turn because we weren't fully aware of the environment and it was after dark!  The landmarks we used to navigate in the daytime don't show up as well in the night.  So, we had to turn on the GPS quickly, punch in the address of the condo, and you know what - we were 1.1 miles out of the way!

What happened when we took the first wrong turn?  We left where we thought we were entering.  As we navigated back with the assist of the GPS, I observed we were within about 200 feet of making the right turn when we actually took the wrong direction which took us 1.1 miles out of the way!  What I realize is how easy it is for us to get off-course with where we think we are whenever we rely upon our own devices to get us to where we think we are going.  We need to heed the signs!  Something told me to turn right, but we chose left. I was as disoriented by the landmarks as I could be.  We cannot always rely upon the landmarks we have relied upon in the past.  What we can always rely upon is the signs of God's grace in our lives.  Where grace is, there is freedom.  When we begin to step outside of grace, we begin to get into places of bondage again. Places where we feel "bindings" of works and self-effort placing their ties upon us again.  This is when we find we are "leaving God's grace" and entering into the place marked by the sign "entering self-works".  Not the place we want to be living, just sayin!

Grace upon Grace

Kids "live off" their parents, don't they?  For however long they are part of the household - eighteen or plus years - the child lives off the provisions of the parent.  In many cases, the child goes off as a young adult to learn to make a way for himself, recognizing this will become his turn to begin to not only provide for himself, but perhaps his own family in time.  This is a cycle - has been from the beginning and will likely continue to the end of time.  Families are God's plan.  In fact, when he invites us to follow him, he invites us into his family - adopted as a child into the position of continuous fellowship with him.  That very adoption is what gives us the ability and privilege of living "off his generous bounty" - gift after gift after gift.  Now, how silly would it be to have access to the "bounty" of the Father and choose to live off what you could provide instead?  Yet, so many of us choose to do just this - we come into the family of God and still try to satisfy all the demands of the "rules" we think will get us "acceptance" into the family when all the while we are ALREADY accepted!

We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift.  We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, this endless knowing and understanding—all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.  No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse.  This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day.  (John 1:16-18 MSG)

Bounty is just another word for generosity.  It suggests the magnitude of this generosity, though - limitless!  The rules we keep - better known in the time John penned these words as the Law of Moses - just couldn't hold a candle to God's plan of grace upon grace.  The rules are just the "pointers" - they head us in the right direction, causing us to be attentive to the details of what is to come - but they don't get us to our destination.  We may follow signs on the highway, turning obediently in the direction they provide, but it isn't the signs that get us to our end point.  The car we are driving in is what actually brings us safely to our destination.  The things we think might just bring us closer to God are not always those which do!  We might just find all our "good works" are like making all the right turns - but we don't actually arrive at our destination of forgiveness and restoration under our own power.  

Look at what has been provided in Christ Jesus - when he took on the form of flesh and dwelt among us:

- Exuberant giving.  Not so much as one finger lifted on our part - he gives and keeps on giving.  Another word for this is overflowing.  We liken this to being fruitful and able to be multiplied.  God's grace and love are always exuberant - overflowing, fruitful, and meant to be multiplied in our lives over and over again.  

- Exuberant receiving.  Did you ever stop to consider how hard it is for some of us to receive a gift?  For some, the very idea of being given ONE gift is quite the difficult thing to accept - but to be "exuberant" about this incessant giving is something quite foreign to us.  Why?  We don't think we "earned" the gift. Silly us - if we earned it, it would be wages, not a gift!

- Endless knowing.  Another way to say this is limitless knowledge.  In Christ, we have access to all truth.  As such, we have absolutely no excuse for being "in the dark" about the things God would have us be "in the light" about!  How many times do we settle for darkness simply because we don't take the light which is offered?  Endless knowing involved coming into one truth right after another - not stopping at just half-truth, or partial truth, but embracing it until we come into the place of fully knowing.

- Endless understanding.  Knowledge is one thing - it gives us the foundation upon which we base all understanding.  Understanding is the application of what we know.  When we come into God's family, we not only have access to ALL truth, but we have received the ability to take that knowledge and apply it to our lives in limitless ways.  Truth known is one thing - truth embraced is another.  Embraced truth actually transforms a life!

All this through a person, not performance.  All this provided, not earned.  All this abundantly overflowing, not piece-meal in any respect.  All this is grace upon grace - provision upon provision - privilege upon privilege.  Rather than erecting walls of works, maybe we need to allow God to begin to erect walls of grace!  Just sayin!

Drop that load

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you know I periodically like to revisit this idea of "keeping rules" vs. "living by faith and in grace".  I think there is something important in revisiting this topic from time to time, as even Paul did so when he spoke with the New Testament churches.  Perhaps he was just aware of how addicting and binding "rule-keeping" actually is. It is one thing to know a rule, another to keep it, and yet another to keep it out of willingness and submission.  I know lots of rules (laws) - I have even been known to break a few of them on occasion!  There are still other rules I have been trying to keep all my life and have been very unsuccessful at maintaining them with any consistency.  We struggle with rules because of the "binding" power of rules - keeping them proves to require a whole lot more effort than most of us want to exert!

The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: “The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that’s the real life.” Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: “The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them.” (Galations 3:11-12 MSG)

Right relationship with God is my focus - not that I keep all the rules.  I will occasionally break a rule here and there - not because I set out to, but because I am less than perfect and my human nature gives me challenges on occasion.  I daresay you are in this same boat.  Our purpose in this life is relationship with God - pure and simple.  A good relationship is not based on keeping the rules, though.  If I had the opportunity to be in relationship ONLY if I kept all the rules of the relationship, I'd probably never be in relationship very long.  It isn't easy keeping the rules, let alone keeping ALL of them. It is like being in a relationship with "strings attached" - do this, and then you will get that.  God doesn't operate on that level in relationship with his kids and we should be eternally grateful he doesn't!

With God, relationship is based on grace - he makes a way where no other way is possible.  We embrace what he has arranged for us - we don't make our own arrangements for relationship with God.  If we did, we could take credit for the work of salvation in our lives and this is definitely not the case. It is foolishness to think we could ever keep enough rules to keep in right relationship with our God.  We get this relationship backwards if we think it is us doing things for God which gets us into heaven.  In fact, the very best of our efforts (like when people make the argument that they are "good" people), is really pretty limited.  We could never cheat on our taxes, always give to the poor or those down on their luck, volunteer at the soup kitchen every week, build homes for under-privileged families, aid in world relief efforts, and adopt twelve foster kids.  All would fall short of the one action Christ took on our behalf!  

Sometimes we think if we keep enough rules, we will eventually "connect" with what God expects from us.  The truth is God expects nothing from us that would compare with the one thing he has given to us.  The gift of grace is embraced - lived out daily in our lives.  It is not earned, nor is it merited.  It is purely embraced.  All we have to do to embrace is to open our arms.  When we do so, we let go of all we hold onto so tightly.  It is impossible to embrace with "full arms" - we have to let go of all the rules, good deeds, works, and the like.  Then, with empty arms and even emptier hearts, we are open to embrace grace - God's gift pure and simple.  Anything more is really us trying to complicate this "gift" with some sense of "earning it".

The sad part of living by rules - trying to work our way to God through religious actions - is the distance we still maintain between us and God.  We burden our arms with actions and things which don't need to have a place in our lives, but which needlessly consume our time, talent, and energies.  All the while, we maintain distance between us and God - something we are desperately working to reduce!  To decrease the distance, we need to eliminate the load we are carrying and then be open to run into his wide open arms with our now unburdened and open arms.  Just sayin!

Whatcha doing with the little stuff?

You know, there are a whole lot of things in this life we can "work hard" for and see our goals achieved.  Olympic hopefuls put years and years into training for their sport - hopeful they achieve the goal of the coveted gold medal or new world's record.  The student who pours through the books, takes copious notes, and studies like nobody's business might dream of being valedictorian at graduation.  The person who opens a business with a clever new idea is hopeful it will catch they eye of others and become a success as a result of their hard work and commitment to their product or service.  They can dream big, work hard, and still not come out on top, though.  Big dreams coupled with hard work are commendable, but only so far. You see, God never intended us to do the "hard work" of salvation - he only intended us to work alongside him once we received the "gift" of his salvation. No amount of hard work yields the same results in heaven's economy as his gift accomplishes.  

If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.  (Romans 4:4-5 MSG)

Why is it so important for us to understand this difference between God's gift and our hard work?  In essence, I think God wants us to recognize the futility of any effort on our part where it applies to this gift.  When we work and strive, it is wages we earn, not a gift.  The "job" of salvation is pretty much over our heads - we cannot accomplish the tasks with any efficiency, the necessary accuracy, nor the requisite sinless sacrifice it requires.  Therefore, no matter how much we work, we are only earning wages - not salvation.  We do something good and reap good results.  This is not salvation - it is works yielding positive outcomes.  A gift isn't earned - it is given without strings, freely, and sacrificially. 

What I think God wants us to recognize is how we bite off more than we can chew when it comes to trying to "earn" salvation through any means requiring our own effort.  It is a job "too big" for us - something only God can do.  What we "do" is trust.  Now, at first this may not seem like very much on our part, but if you have ever tried to trust God with what you think is way too impossible for him to handle (like your short-comings or failures), you know exactly how much "effort" this takes on our part!  It is something akin to giving birth - you find yourself going through a long process of labor pains, pushing, yelling, kicking, screaming, etc.!  What you don't remember is that this new life is about to be birthed - not by any effort of your own, but because it is gift of God.  All you DO is get with the process!

This thing we call trust is really faith.  Faith is allowing God to do what we cannot without "taking back" from God what rightly belongs in his care to begin with.  It takes some tremendous effort on our parts to leave things in his hands which we think of as: "Oh, that little thing, I can handle it". Salvation encompasses the "little things" we "think" we can "handle" as much as it does the big stuff we know we can't!  Our faith requires letting go of both the stuff we "can" handle and that which is far over our heads.  God may ask us to take steps of obedience with the stuff we "can handle", such as going to someone, asking for their forgiveness, and working to restore the relationship, but he doesn't expect us to work out our own "forgiveness" for the wrong-doing in the first place.  He "gifts" us with the forgiveness (our part in the offense) and then trusts us to do the work of reconciliation (bringing peace and healing within the relationship) - him alongside, guiding and directing, but we take the steps.

I don't know what "little stuff" you might be holding onto today for which you have formed the belief of "being able to work out" on your own.  I do know that God wants the little stuff as much as he wants the big stuff.  I also know the reality of holding onto the little stuff - because God asks for us to be faithful with the little stuff as much as we are the big stuff!  This includes our willingness to let go of the stuff we think we can handle and then allowing him to bring it into his care and under his grace.  When we become faithful to let go of the little stuff - he shows himself faithful to do a much better job with it than we could ever have if we held onto it!  Just sayin!

Am I good enough yet?

There is a story in the New Testament about children.  Jesus is surrounded by these curious little ones, pushing at him, wanting to be with him, some there because their parents brought them, but some likely there because they beheld him with curiosity and wonder.  Some of his disciples just did not understand the press of the children - nor the desire of their parents for Jesus' blessing of their lives.  So, they want to send the kids away.  Isn't that so like us adults?   We see the "business" of the hour as more pressing than the needs of a young one's heart.  Then along comes a man who wants to pose a question to Jesus.  His question:  “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”  I don't think this is an unusual question to ask, but notice it was not the kids who asked this question, but the adult.  Jesus' response to the man reveals much about how it is we interpret our standing with Jesus.  Kids come in awe and wonder - adults come with plans and lists. 

As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God’s kingdom? Let me tell you, it’s easier to gallop a camel through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter God’s kingdom.”  The disciples were staggered. “Then who has any chance at all?”

Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”  (Matthew 19:23-26 MSG)

You see, the parents brought the children because they hoped for a blessing from Jesus.  They wanted something from the great healer and teacher.  The kids just wanted to be with Jesus.  There is a tremendous difference in the approach of the child vs. the adult, isn't there?  The man who poses the question to Jesus is almost bursting with joy when Jesus responds back to his question with:  "Just do what God tells you."  Why?  Simply because he has been keeping all the rules for a while and he figures he is in the right place to get into the Kingdom of God by his "being good".  He equates "goodness" with his "right" actions instead of with the "grace" of God.  Kids somehow understand grace - if you don't believe me, catch a kid stealing cookies from the cookie jar and allow them to eat the cookies.  The child will see this as deserving whatever punishment you would dish out, but you giving a little grace to them instead!  They will merrily eat the cookies and enjoy your grace-filled presence all the while!  They equate grace with love.

For the young man who thinks he enters God's presence with good deeds, his bubble is about to be burst.  Jesus' response really was not what he anticipated.  Jesus told him to do something he just could not do - sell all, give it to the poor, and then follow Jesus.  Jesus is not against wealth or us having nice things.  Indeed, if you have these, they are ALL a blessing from the Lord.  Yet, he zeros in on this one thing for this young man.  Why?  It is likely because Jesus wants to show him his "good works" are really only superficial.  Jesus gets at the core of the matter when he asks the man to begin to give away what it is he relies upon.  This is how it is with God - he gets at the core of things.  If we have something other than him (his grace) that we are relying upon, he will focus on it.  He does so, not because he wants us to be defeated by it, but because he knows our reliance on whatever it is will defeat us in the end.

As was often the case, the disciples have to ask Jesus why it is he chose to focus on this man's wealth as a way of entering into service with Jesus.  It is likely they saw this man's "deeds" as pretty doggone good themselves, so they don't really "get" why Jesus would tell this man he is not ready to enter the kingdom.  In his faithfulness, Jesus takes the disciples aside and explains to them why it is the man's good deeds don't ensure entrance into God's kingdom.  I wonder if Jesus ever gets tired with all our "why" questions - if he does, he doesn't show it!  Thank goodness!  

The most amazing thing about Jesus is his simplicity.  You may think the opposite is true - that his complexity is most amazing, but I think it is his simplicity.  He is so straight-forward with these guys - wanting them to really understand what he has been saying.  You see, it is not the wise who enter the kingdom, but the simple.  Those who are willing to lay down all their preconceived ideas of how God's kingdom works and are willing to latch onto something as "non-complex" as grace - they "get" it.  To many, grace seems so complex - like it cannot be enough to get God's blessing - there must be something more required of US.  Nope!  Grace is a free gift of God understood best through the heart of a child.  A child seeks grace.  They understand the standing they have with their father is not so much in what it is they do, but in the way the father responds to them when they mess up.  Grace extended becomes the very binding force of love in the relationship.  So it is with our heavenly Father.  He wants us to realize our standing with him is not based on what we do, but on how he responds when we mess up in our "doing".

I don't know about you, but I mess up a lot.  In all my mess ups, God remains faithfully gracious.  Why?  Simply because he knows my heart is that of a child.  I am more in awe with who he is than in what it is I can do to impress him.  I just want to be with him and to enjoy his presence.  So, when I mess up, his response is grace.  I don't understand grace fully, but I know I am drawn in by those arms of love and I like it!  Just sayin!

Does God help those who help themselves?

^5-6Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.

(Galations 3:5-6 The Message)

This is indeed a good question for each of us to consider in our daily walk!  Does God do the "stuff" in our lives he does out of obligation to us because we have somehow "earned" it?  Do we obtain the blessings of God, including his attention and his directing influence, simply because we "did enough" to warrant it?  The Book of Galations is a letter to a church with a mixed up set of ideas.  They believe in the work of Christ - salvation through his shed blood (faith).  Yet, they cannot fully detach from the influence of the common beliefs of the day - you get good stuff when you do good deeds (works).

The writer has taken three chapters to explain the futility of thinking anything we do, say, or imagine in our minds will bring us into a "better place" with God. All the "moral striving" we go through - and for some of us, this may be quite a bit - is really just "good deeds", but it is NOT what brings us into God's presence, gives us the leading of his Holy Spirit, or provides us with some good outcome.  It is Christ alone who accomplishes this within us - no amount of our own striving produces positive effect!

You have probably heard it said, "God helps those who help themselves."  Ummm....although you may think it is biblical - the answer is "NO".  Really, when we say this, we are declaring our intention to take the initiative.  This phrase actually originated in Greek mythology!  Aeschylus wrote, "Whenever a man makes haste, God too hastens with him."  This comes from the Greek tragedy, The Persians, written in 427 BC.  Sophocles wrote, "No good e'er comes of leisure purposelessness; and heaven ne'er helps the men who will not act."  He was another writer of Greek tragedies during the same time period.  The concept of acting FIRST, then asking God for help AFTER you act is a concept taught throughout Greek mythology.  

Although there have been various "iterations" of this concept over the ages, the most notable to us is the present day rendering of "God helps those who help themselves."  This variation was penned by an Englishman (Algernon Sidney), intent on editorializing the governmental stands of the day, in 1698. We probably remember it best as being part of the writing of Benjamin Franklin - a quote in his Almanac in 1736.  

Regardless of how we have come to learn this "concept" - we have learned a concept which is foreign to the scriptural teaching of dependence upon God for direction!  Yes, God expects us to work - laboring well at our calling in life.  Yes, he expects us to engage in life - open to the leading he gives.  In fact, he invites us to act WITH him!  Solomon penned the words, "I have seen all the works done under the sun; indeed all is vanity and grasping at the wind." (Ecclesiastes 1:14)  At best, our works are "grasping at the wind" - an attempt to grasp the wind will show us each the futility of even trying!

We have an opportunity to change our mindset.  We can either believe we must do "things" in order for God to intervene in our lives, or like we are taught in scripture, we can accept God has already intervened despite our "doing"!  At best, our "doing" falls short of perfect faith!  This is the idea Paul is teaching.  No amount of "doing good" gains us any closeness of walk with Christ.  "Doing good" is an outcome of "being made" good!  The "being made" part is God's part - not ours!

So, if we have a tendency to be "self-initiators" in this walk with God, we might want to step back a little to see where it is God is leading!  He may have an entirely different course for our lives - one which is not focused on all the "works" we have been pursuing.  In fact, he may lead us away from some of those "works" into a place of grace we have never experienced before when we finally stop "doing" and just learn to "trust" in his completed work for our lives - the work of the Cross provided ALL we need for salvation!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall...

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us?

(Romans 8:31-32 The Message)

In other translations, this passage begins with the words, "If God be for us, who then can be against us..."  Well, I think our worst enemy is not some demonic agent of hell, but US!  It is amazing to me to see the things we believe about ourselves that keep us limited in our lives.  The passage begins with a very telling question:  "What do YOU think?"  The answer to this question goes a long way in us walking INTO growth as we should and not AWAY FROM it!

The truth we often fail to embrace is that God did not hesitate to embrace us - in our sin, aware fully of our fickleness of heart, and knowing full well that every promise we'd make him would always be with the best of intentions!  We often want to accept God's forgiveness only when we FEEL forgiven - like when we FEEL we have DONE enough to truly be forgiven.  The truth is that God already forgave at the cross and once he forgives, it is final!

The way we "view" ourselves often determines the way we walk.  For example, if we see ourselves as a failure, we often won't try new things because we don't think we can accomplish them.  If we see ourselves as unattractive, we portray that "image" of ourselves in how we dress, the way we hold ourselves, etc.  The "image" we have of ourselves in our "mind's eye" is often overriding of the image God holds of us in his.

The verse says, "If God be for us, who can stand against us?"  I would like to say no one, but I know from practical experience that we can indeed be our worst enemy!  I want us to refer back to the beginning verses of this chapter for a moment:

Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

(Romans 8:1-2 The Message)

A new power is in operation in our lives - we can come out from under that black cloud of doubt, feelings of worthlessness, and spirit of oppression that keeps us focusing on the OLD us.  The Spirit of Christ - like a strong wind - frees us.  Living in Arizona, I know the power of a strong wind!  Monsoon season around here can see winds into the 50 mph range.  Roofs take a beating, trees are uprooted, and dust billows across the baron desert floor.  Think about the power of one monsoon wind and multiply that by about a billion.  Now, maybe you have some idea of the work of the Spirit of Christ within you!

We are freed, not because of what we do or say, but because of the Spirit that works within us as children of the Most High.  If that is not enough, here is what else this chapter points out for us:

Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.

(Romans 8:5-7 The Message)

Our own moral "muscle" is really a pretty flabby one!  Try as we might, we will never change our nature - only Christ is capable of doing that.  Attention to God, and the activity of his Spirit within us, is what leads us into places of freedom beyond our wildest imagination.

Isn't it time that we begin to examine ourselves in the mirror of the Word and not the mirror of our minds?  

Salvation 101 - Part VI - Freedom

^4-8Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they've personally experienced the sheer goodness of God's Word and the powers breaking in on us—if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can't start over as if nothing happened. That's impossible. Why, they've re-crucified Jesus! They've repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God's "Well done!" But if it produces weeds and thistles, it's more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested.

(Hebrews 6:4-8)

There are several passages in Hebrews that speak to us about "drifting" away from our position in Christ - some call this leaving the faith - still others call this backsliding.  The Book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians - those who believed in Christ as their Messiah.  These were "converts" to the Christian faith.  Paul is most concerned because they are drifting back into their former ways of belief - a system of works.  They were actually being chastised a little by Paul because they had come to a place of freedom in Christ and now were returning to the bondage of the Law (trying to mix Law with Grace).  Just like oil and water, these just don't mix.  

First, let me just say this:  Drifting is gradual - it is a result of us being inattentive to the relationship we have with our Lord.  In order to be growing, we must pay attention to what it is that brings growth to a relationship.  If we don't spend time together, we drift apart.  If we don't share our hearts in communication with each other, we soon find we have very little in common.  Whenever we neglect our growth, we are simply turning away from that which gives us the greatest freedom.  We lose the closeness of relationship with Christ and the blessing that brings - but do we lose our salvation?   

If "drifting" is caused by inattention, then why do we do it?  It is simple - it requires our attention and there are tons of competing voices that demand our attention!  We have to be attentive to our relationship with Christ - it is an active pursuit, not a casual occurrence.  Nothing suggests that we have drifted away from a position of growth than to become "legalistic" in our worship and service.  Whenever we are doing things just for the sake of doing them, we are in a place of "drifting".  The problem with being in a place where we are just legalistic in our religion is that we rarely see any need for repentance when all we are doing is going through the motions.

Here this:  GRACE is not part of legalism!  In a place of legalism, mercy is something we have to EARN.  In a place of relationship, mercy is something we are given unconditionally and enjoy freely.  Paul was dealing with this fact as he wrote to the Hebrew converts.  He observed firsthand, had heard reports, and now he is taking the lead to counter their insensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  That is the first thing we will miss in our walk whenever we start to drift into legalism - the leading of the Holy Spirit.  We will be so focused on "doing" that we miss who it is we are doing it for.  Whenever we are growing, we look forward to our time with Jesus - knowing it will be a time of daily renewal.  When we drift into legalistic ways, we really are choosing to NOT be renewed - we miss out on the transforming power of Christ in our lives.

Whenever we fail to recognize the value of grace, we drift into legalism.  We begin to "miss the mark" on what grace can really do in our lives.  Legalism is going through the motions - religion is another term for this.  Grace has the potential to produce awesome life transformation when it is given free rein!  

There is a similar message in the 10th chapter of this book (10:26-30) - it deals with the attitude of heart that results in a person engaging in sin repeatedly.  Paul says that if we deliberately keep on sinning after we received the knowledge of truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.  Many use this passage to point the finger at those who struggle with sin after they enter into relationship with Christ and say that this means that if a person were to die with "sin in their hearts", then they would not go to heaven.  

In order to really understand this passage, you have to read the whole chapter.  In the 22nd verse, Paul has laid out that they need to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.  Then he goes on in the 23rd verse to outline that they need to hold fast to the confession of faith without wavering.  If that  weren't enough, he adds that they need to stir each other up to love and good works.  When he begins to talk about engaging in sin repeatedly, he is talking to them about what happens when we don't draw near, hold fast, and stir each other up.  There were two groups of Jewish people he encountered - those that rejected the Messiah and those who accepted him as Savior.  If they would not accept him as Messiah, there was no hope for them - they would assuredly see him as their Judge!

Paul is dealing with the idea of returning to the "traditions of man" and  the "rules of the Law" as a form of religious works - they were actually inviting the anger of God by trampling on the grace God had so freely offered them in the gift of his Son's life.  This entire book deals with the rewards of serving the King of Kings, the Messiah!  If anything else took the place of serving him, the benefits of grace would be lost.  If we were looking at the stock market, we might say we could lose what we invested.  Jesus did the investing here, not us.  What Paul focuses on is that the provision of Christ's sacrifice for our sins is not something we lose - it is something we reject!  We did not "take the risks" of dying on the cross to make atonement for sin - Jesus did.  So we don't lose our salvation, we reject it.

There is a difference between drifting away into staleness of relationship and never being in relationship at all.  In our natural relationships, we periodically experience staleness because we have not made any investment of self into that relationship.  Paul's entire focus here is that they not substitute anything for the grace of Christ in their lives and that they remain intent on following Jesus.  To not do so is to drift away from the freedom of grace into the staleness of a system of works (religion).  Tomorrow, we will build upon this to look at what some call the "unpardonable sin"

Salvation 101 - Part III - Started and completed

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! 

(Romans 8:31-32)

The rest of the passage that follows these two verses ends with a statement of fact:  I'm absolutely convinced that nothing - nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable - absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.  Nothing and nobody - nothing in heaven, nor in hell - can remove us from the love of God!  Woohoo!  Now if that doesn't make your heart swell in ecstatic joy, nothing will!

Whenever we begin to allow thoughts to enter into our mind that we can "lose our salvation", we are really not considering the context of these verses.  What is happening when we are doing this "questioning" of our salvation is to begin to doubt OURSELVES.  We have already established in the past two lessons that no act of salvation is based on anything good in ourselves, any good deed our "self" can perform, so why do we allow the doubts we have about ourselves to be those that we focus upon?  

God has declared us worthy of his love.  That is something that many struggle with - a sense of worthiness.  This is because we equate worth with what someone has done or is doing.  God insists that we do NOT determine our worthiness because he knows whenever we do that, we are getting into the realm of religious efforts and not intimate relationship with him.  Whenever we feel we have to "prove" ourselves worthy of someone's love, we work overtime to convince them that we are worth loving.  The simple fact is that we are intensely loved JUST THE WAY WE ARE!

Romans 8:29-30 goes on to say that God knew what he was doing from the very beginning - deciding from the outset to shape our lives along the same lines of the life of his Son, Jesus.  The fact is, Jesus is our "mirror".  This passage says that we see the original and intended shape of our lives IN HIM. It was all God's work that set us on a solid foundation - his intense love for us is the basis of that foundation.  The fact is, God not only STARTS the project of restoring us to wholeness, he COMPLETES it!  That means we can be assured that what has been declared "worthy" by God (that is you and me) will stand that way forever!

The part we play in the salvation experience is pretty limited.  God calls, we listen.  Our part is hearing - he does the rest.  Don't miss what I am saying here - we don't even seek - he seeks us, calling out to us so that we can find him in the midst of our chaotic mess of life!  Our part is to just "hear"!  It is in hearing that we come to a place of acceptance - we are no longer bound to our sin nature - there is an exchange of nature.  We call that step "justification".  Now, the next steps are in us being glorified - made into the image we see in Christ.  

Someone once asked me the question, "Which one of your sins did Jesus take to the cross that day on Calvary?"  You know how we are, we begin to list off this sin, and maybe that one!  The fact is, Jesus took ALL our sins to the cross - those we had already committed and all that we might commit down the road.  He didn't just die for the sins of our past - he knew there would still be struggles with sin in our future and he died for those, too.  Our salvation is through a repeated gift of grace in our lives.  Grace can never be added to - we don't add works to grace!

When I was a little girl playing on the playground with my friends at recess, we'd play a game called "four-square".  We'd bounce the ball around the square, each taking a turn at trying to keep our opponent from being able to retrieve the ball and pass it on.  Whenever we'd have a particularly bad start to the game, we'd be able to call "do-over" and serve the ball again.  That is actually what grace allows - do-overs!  His grace pursues us until we get it right!  So, don't think of your salvation experience as a point in time, but as a progressive act of grace upon grace in your lives.  It is in the extended grace that we become the image of the one we behold!

Who are you relying on?

But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God.  Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start.  It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe – Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.  (Galations 3:25-27)

We arrive in style at our final destination in Christ – in an adult faith wardrobe.  In direct relationship with God, we are “more than washed up” for a fresh start.  We are completely transformed.  There is an exchange of character – although we may not immediately see the evidence of it in our daily lives, it has been accomplished.  Through our daily pursuit of his presence being cultivated in our lives, we come to recognize the changes already accomplished.  Paul describes our position in Christ as being in direct relationship with God - having no compromising or impairing element that would keep us apart from a holy God.  Close logical relationship because of the accomplished work of Christ in our lives – with no intervening agency needed.  In other words, the “rules” of the law were made void.

Let me show you the implications of this.  As long as the heir is a minor, he has no advantage over the slave.  Though legally he owns the entire inheritance, he is subject to tutors and administrators until whatever date the father has set for emancipation. That is the way it is with us:  When we were minors, we were just like slaves ordered around by simple instructions (the tutors and administrators of this world), with no say in the conduct of our lives. (Galations 4:1-3)

A tutor is charged with the guidance and instruction of another.  He has guardianship over that person – he’s responsible for the direct care of that individual.  It is important for us to recognize that as we go through life each and every day, we WILL be tutored by someone or something.  We can choose to be tutored by the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit, or we can embrace the tutelage of a rough and cruel world.  We are never free from influencing factors that affect our choices.  Those influencing factors affect our focus and ultimately, they challenge the integrity of our inner man (creating or filling the cracks or flaws in our inner man).

You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!”  Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child?  (Galations 4:5-7)

You can tell for sure that you are fully adopted – not just “sort of” in the family, but fully embraced as a member of the family with full rights to the inheritance of our Father.  By the privilege of intimate conversation, we can be assured of our new standing in Christ.  We have complete access, complete freedom, and complete transparency with a holy God – not just a system of works that appeases our conscience.  As I am writing these words this morning, I am listening to a worship CD.  The words of the song that are echoing deep in my heart are those of an everlasting love that draws, assures, brings rest, and gives ultimate fulfillment that is not to be found anywhere other than in quiet trusting relationship with our heavenly Father.

Those heretical teachers go to great lengths to flatter you, but their motives are rotten.  They want to shut you out of the free world of God’s grace so that you will always depend on them for approval and direction, making them feel important.  (Galations 4:17)

All the world offers is a system of approval that is fleeting at best.  The next time that someone beats our time, improves upon our design, outdoes our profits, or any similar accomplishment, we are no longer standing as “approved” by the world's standards.  It amazes me how easily we follow worldly, self-seeking leaders, seeking their approval and direction, only to be disappointed in the end.  We have been provided one tutor – the Holy Spirit.  To turn to man for our approval or direction is to exclude God from his role.   The question I pose today is simple: What is your tutor teaching?  As you make daily decisions and face daily challenges, you will do well to subject the teaching to the Word, the wise counsel of mature believers, and the checks and balances of your conscience.

Anytime we try to do by our own effort what was fully accomplished by grace, we place ourselves in a position of bondage to the rules.  Paul wanted his readers to know that they can be free of this bondage.  Our trust in a finished work of Christ in us brings clarity of vision, centering of purpose, and deep, intimate fellowship with our God.