Around, but not within

And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (Romans 8:2)

Because - due to the fact that - don't miss that - it is a FACT that you belong to him, having the power of his life-giving Spirit indwelling you. NOW, live free from the power of sin that you once were controlled by! Fact determines reality - start living in the FACT. A fact is that which actually exists or is the case; reality or truth - there is no argument that stands against the FACTS. We are freed, so we need to stop living like 'bondmen' - bound to serve sin's every whim, impractical advice, or evil intent. 

Both righteousness and unrighteousness have a power 'backing' them. Righteousness has God's life-giving Spirit backing its every encounter. Unrighteousness has the power of our sin nature offering all manner of confusing thought, 'options' from which to choose, and ill-intentioned suggestions. It is good to remember that God is not a God of confusion - he is a God of peace, order, and reliability. The choices he offers will produce greater peace within, giving order to our lives, and stand the test of time.

Therefore, we live a different life after God's Spirit takes up residence in our hearts. It may take a bit for our mind and will to 'catch up' with what God's transformative Spirit is doing within, but the more we declare 'because we belong to him', the more we will begin to shut-down those contrary desires and confusing thoughts. The power that once controlled you is broken - it is a fact. The power that now operates within you is making you whole again - it is a fact.

Sometimes we just need the FACTs in order to contradict the untruth we are being asked to believe and submit to. FACT - you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. FACT - you don't belong to you old 'sin master' any longer. FACT - you have all the resources to live free right at your disposal. FACT - as a new creation in Christ Jesus, you are more than a conqueror. FACT - the power of sin still exists AROUND you, but no longer WITHIN you! Just sayin!

You still gonna stink

Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good.
Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.  “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. (Isaiah 1:16-18)

When something is settled, there is no further discussion. It is fixed - established - no change is forthcoming. The condition of relationship is to come - to lay down one's own agenda and to submit oneself to obedience to the Lord's will. We can try to wash ourselves up and be clean all on our own, but we still gonna stink! Until we are willing to give up and learn at his feet, we are still gonna stink. We can do all manner of good works, but we still gonna stink. Until we come, lay down our sins, and sit at the foot of the cross, we are gonna stink!

Obedience is what comes next - we get that backwards, though. We work on all the 'steps' of obedience before we get ourselves into right relationship with Jesus. We think we can somehow work our way to God, forgetting or not even realizing that he has worked his way to us through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ! We NEED relationship - not good works. Good works alone is religion, pure and simple. Volunteer all you want - you still gonna stink. Give all that you have to the poor and needy - you still gonna stink. Come to the cross, submit your heart to Christ, and that 'stink' is gone!

I have pointed out the 'stench' of sin and the sin nature more than a few times today. Why? Too many times we get so caught up in the 'signs' of right-living that we forget there has to be a heart-change that comes with them. The heart needs to be made right with God FIRST, then the 'signs' of right-living we might refer to as 'good works' or 'good deeds' actually flow from a different place in us. They begin to flow from the place of trust, not the place of hope. Good works to GET us somewhere or something in life is a place of hope. Good works that God actually blesses flow from a heart that has trusted in the finished work of Christ to deal with our sins once and for all. 

The washing up we need most is accomplished at the cross. The 'cleaning of the slate' or the 'removal of all sin' is done at the cross. We 'give up' as we come - we leave behind as we go. The cross is no place for weaklings - it requires a significant amount of strength to give up and leave behind all that we have hoped in up till that point. To move into a place of trusting in the finished work of Christ to remove our stink requires strength - the strength to admit we are weak, unable to cleanse ourselves from the stink, and standing in need of a change of heart and mind. Just sayin!

Getting it all out on the table

None of us relishes the idea of being disciplined, do we?  In fact, we'd probably rather avoid it at all cost, especially when we are feeling a little guilt load because of what we have done which really deserves the discipline. When it is hardest is when we don't feel we need the discipline - those are the times we probably resist it the most.  It is during these moments that we begin to feel sorry for ourselves - thinking we don't deserve what we are experiencing - all the while forgetting that discipline is not judgment. Discipline is training which is aimed at improving us - not judging us.  Too many of us equate discipline with judgment - like when we stole cookies from the cookie jar, got caught, and then ended up paying the price by being restricted from watching TV or the like.  We got caught - a price had to be paid for our disobedience - and we get to feeling sorry for ourselves, not because we disobeyed, but more likely because we got caught!  Maybe it is time we change our perspective on discipline away from being a form of judgment for disobedience to being a form of training us in the things which produce stability, grace, and joy within in our lives.

In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?  My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either.  It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects.  God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.  (Hebrews 12:4-11 MSG)

We are in a "death-match" of sorts on this earth - spirit waging war with flesh until one is declared the victor.  Too many of us struggle with one winning more than the other - most of the time it is the flesh.  Until this battle is declared "over" for good, we continue to "work out" the details of our being made right with God on a daily basis.  In this "work out" period, flesh rises up time and time again to put pressure on us to conform to its demands, trying desperately to squash the influence of the Spirit within.  It isn't that we don't desire to grow in Christ - we just continue to get as close to pleasing our sin nature as we possibly can!  When we begin to see discipline as more than judgment, we begin to realize it is the effective "working out" of our change in position from being subservient to the flesh's demands and listening closer to the still small voice of the Spirit instructing us toward godliness.

In the day-to-day decisions we make, this battle becomes very apparent.  It also becomes very apparent that we need someone who sees a bigger picture than we do to bring oversight into our lives.  In the military, we had various individuals who "out-ranked" others, but it also meant they had a larger influence of authority over our lives.  Sometimes we declare our sin nature as "outranking" God's nature within.  When we do this, we yield authority over to the sin nature time and time again.  One of the important features of "holding rank" in the military was this degree of authority.  Ultimately, there is a Commander in Chief (the US President) - outranking all other authority in the "ranks".  Generals outranked Colonels, who outranked Captains - with the lowest rank being Private.  You didn't get any lower than Private!  Some of us walk around like we are "Privates" in this walk of righteousness - taking orders from anyone who declares they out-rank us.  Truth is - we outrank all other authorities in our lives who proclaim to outrank Christ!

There is but one authority we should submit to - one authority worthy of us listening intently to for instruction in living - Christ.  When we focus on him, we find ourselves embracing his discipline, because we find it not so much a punishment for wrong-doing, but a training in how to focus.  Focus determines direction in our lives - it is quite difficult to look one way and accurately hit the target in the opposite direction.  When we focus on what holds the authority in our lives, we often begin to get the picture of why we are struggling with things we ought to have "outgrown" by now.  Things like doubt, fear, shame, and pride.  When anyone or anything holds more authority in our lives than Christ, we will struggle with these things.  His authority will train us in all manner of godly behavior - overcoming fear, dealing a blow to doubt, putting aside shame, and triumphing over prideful actions and thoughts.

Authority is really the power to settle disputes - to determine direction. When two "factions" don't agree on a matter, someone with "authority" needs to be called to the table.  When our sin nature doesn't agree with our new nature (what we all receive at the point of salvation), we really need the "ultimate authority" to be called to the table - Christ.  He settles the disputes - one at a time, until we get it all out and every detail is under his control.  Discipline which trains us toward godliness does just this - it gets all the disputes between what we ought to do and what we find ourselves repeatedly doing out on the table.  Then he is free to deal with them!  Just sayin!

Make no false claims!

Claim:  To assert or demand the recognition of something; maintain as fact.  This word comes from the root meaning to shout out.  In other words, when we "claim" something, we are like men standing at the top of the city wall, or in the city square, crying out at the top of our lungs some "demand" for recognition.  As humans, we have a tendency to make some claims which are just plain not true.  If this were not the case, would there be whole divisions of law to deal with "false claims"?  In fact, there is even a False Claims Act as part of our governmental laws - passed in the days of Abraham Lincoln - standing to this day in order to deal with those who make false claims against the federal government system.  It is "big business" to make some of these claims, but it is indeed sad business, as well.

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—make a clean breast of 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 MSG)

The issue we are presented with in our passage this morning is that of making "claims" which really do nothing more than fool ourselves.  When we claim this or that about ourselves, without really taking a good look at our actions and attitudes through the eyes of Christ, we often are found to be making "false claims".  The first "false claim", and probably one of the most dangerous claims to make, is that of being "sinless".  ALL men are born with a sin nature - none of us is without sin (Romans 3:23).  What our writer wants to point out is the position of assuming we are without a sin nature, or not guilty of sinning, is really the position and attitude of a fool.  A fool lives in a little bit of a "make believe" world - so if we are "fooling ourselves", we are living in a world we have made up in our minds!

The instruction is clear - don't deny we have the sin nature or the guilt of sinning.  Instead, embrace the fact we have sinned and have the capability of sinning again - then bring this to God.  He will then do the work of ridding us of the stain of sin - and the guilty memories of its effect in our lives.  This is the starting point for any person in Christ Jesus - bringing their sinfulness to him and asking him to not only forgive the sin, but to purge them of their sin. To purge means to be rid of whatever is undesirable or impure.  In other words, when we bring our sin to Christ, we are asking him to rid us of everything which makes our thoughts, actions, or attitudes impure.

There are seasons of the year when it seems those pesky weeds begin to peek through the surface of the hard earth and then without warning, they have taken root, flourishing like a bumper crop in what used to be "clean" space in our gardens.  Note that I said it used to be "clean" space in our gardens.  Having a sin nature is kind of like the repeated return of the weeds in our garden - it appears we may have it cleaned out at one point, but almost without warning, those pesky weeds can come up again and again!  What we thought was "cleaned out" isn't always, right?  Having a sin nature is kind of like having weeds in our garden - it takes only one seed to afford repeated opportunities for the same weeds to come up again and again!

This is why John points out the silliness of making a claim to have NO sin, or NO sin nature.  We may not have the action evident, but the "seeds" are there!  We may not have murdered someone in the most literal sense, but the "idea" of murder dwells in each of us simply because we have a sin nature.  This is probably why John raised the bar a little and told us when we hate our brother, we are really displaying the attitude of a murderer.  The seed is there, we just don't act it out to the degree of taking the life of the one we hate.  

So, if we have the "seeds" of sin in us, isn't it important to not make a false claim that they don't exist?  Instead, we are to take the "care" and "tending" of this garden of our heart to the one who can "ferret out" those seeds before they take full root and give way to a bumper crop of sin!  When we do this, we are being wise.  Admitting we are sinners is not a bad thing - indeed, it is the first step toward liberating ourselves of that which is naturally within us all.  John makes it clear - making a false claim is really only painting us as the fool because we are only "deceiving" ourselves.  We are deluding ourselves into believing we "do good stuff" so we must be "good" at the core.  The garden produces nice flowers some of the year, but when the season changes, the weeds creep in, don't they?  What appeared "good" really had all that "ugly potential" just beneath the surface!

Rather than deny our sin nature, we need to take it to God, allowing his care and tending to "weed out" the stuff which really doesn't belong in the heart.  When we do this, we are opening ourselves us to be a display of grace - and grace ALWAYS bespeaks fresh possibilities!  Just sayin!

Love much, love well

 ^9-11So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

(Philippians 1:9-11 The Message)

Love will flourish, but it must be cultivated.  This includes the love of others that we receive and learn to give, the love we come to understand in our relationship with Christ, and our love (acceptance) of who we are as Christ sees us.  Did you realize that the word "flourish" comes from the root meaning "to bloom"?  So, when Paul writes to the Philippian Church, he is reminding them that in order for their love to "bloom" there must be a process of cultivating, caring for, and tending that love.

His goal is not that they will just come to "love", but that they will learn to love well.  We are often more consumed by the quantity of something and totally lose sight of the fact that the quality of something may not measure up.  I know from experience that the "economy" size of something may not be the easiest to tote around, it can stick around way past the time it was useful, and that it sometimes does not measure up in quality to that which may have come in a "smaller" package.  

The process or idea of learning to love well is easy to miss in this passage.  It is laid out for us with some very specific examples, but I think we often skip over them because we see these verses as "introductory" to the book of Philippians (like the greeting in a letter we'd write to an acquaintance).  Let's take them apart:

Learn to love appropriately - most of us can associate with this verse by sharing the times when we have been "inappropriate" in our love, or in what we have placed our love in.  For example, we embrace someone or something that takes our eyes off of Jesus and we find ourselves "drying up" on the inside as a result.  Appropriate love is something that will ultimately help us become what God desires for us to be.  That which is befitting for us is often not what we choose.  For us to love appropriately, we have to understand what is proper for us to love.  

We must know how involvement with that person or object will be useful to us - if is takes us away from Jesus, it is not useful; if it builds us up in Christ, it is.  We must also see how who we involve ourselves with, or what we become attached to, is suited for us as a new creation in Christ.  Now, a word of caution here - this does not mean that if we are married to a spouse that does not believe in Christ, or has a differing belief system, that we have license to leave them.  Marriage is a covenant relationship, not to be entered into lightly, that God expects us to remain faithful to.  We have to learn to be God's love within that relationship.  We chose that relationship, maybe not very wisely, but we have an obligation to be the example of God's love within that relationship.  God will honor that commitment, but it may be a tough haul!

Learn to use your head and test your feelings - this is probably the biggest obstacle to learning to love well.  We are so feelings oriented that we often don't put any thought into our actions.  Paul is reminding us that what seems reasonable to us because of how we are feeling at the moment may not be what will produce the best outcome in the end.  If you have ever done something impulsively, then you will understand what I mean here.  When you acted on that impulse, you were responding to your "feelings" at that moment.  Later, you regretted the impulse you responded to.  We call that "buyer's remorse"!  The thing we need to see is that "feeling" something is not love.  Love is an action - not a feeling.  It is best understood in the "fruit" is produces, not in the "promises" it makes.

Learn to live circumspectly and exemplary - big words for some to understand, so let's break them down a little.  Circumspect living is really conducting our lives in such a way that we live with a little "caution" in our decisions.  We are not always obeying our impulses.  The opposite of circumspect living is carelessness.  To live an exemplary life does not mean that we have to be perfect, but that we learn to embrace the principles Christ teaches, putting them into action in our lives more and more until they become "second-nature" to us.  See, we usually respond in life by our "first-nature" - that part of us that we call our sin nature.  As we learn to live with some "caution", not always giving into the impulse of our feelings, we begin to take on the characteristics of our "second-nature" - our new nature in Christ Jesus.

When we learn to love in this way, Paul says it will make the Jesus people see in us something they will find "attractive".  So, if you have ever felt that you are not an "attractive" individual, here's your remedy to that!  Our physical appearance pales in comparison to the appearance of learning to display God's love in our lives!

Salvation 101 - Part IV - Sin nature vs. sin action

^7-9 Really! There's no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn't guarantee life forever, or insurance against the Black Hole.

(Psalm 49:7-9)

We have been exploring the scriptures that address our salvation experience and the fact that it is nothing we can earn or "work our way up to".  The keeping of commandments as outlined in scripture is not a system of works - do this and you will be like by God; don't do this and God will have no use for you.  The obedience of our heart, mind, and spirit is evidence that we love God and trust him - plain and simple.  When a parent tells a child not to touch the hot stove because it will hurt them - that is similar to a commandment.  It is shared with the child because the parent doesn't want to see the child hurt.  The same is true of the commandments (boundaries) established in scripture - they are God's plan to keep us from getting hurt!

Even with all the boundaries established for us, we still cross them from time to time!  It is kind of like telling a child that candy is not good for them and then finding out they emptied the candy dish the next time we look!  When we cross the boundaries established for us by God, we call this "sin".  Sin is different from having a sin nature.  The sin nature is what keeps us apart from God - we cannot fellowship with him with our unholy sin nature - we need that exchange of nature that happens in relationship with Christ.  Sin is entirely an action - it is totally based on the choices we make.  

One is the way we were born - born with a sin nature that has no potential of being "improved upon" by anything we "do".  It is only by the provision of grace and the blood of Jesus that God no longer sees our nature - he sees the nature of Christ in us.  That is why Paul tells us that it is "Christ in us" that is the hope of glory.  Sin is the outcome of making wrong choices.  Many of us think that the "action" of sin is not supposed to occur after salvation.  There is a misconceived idea that salvation will "deliver" us magically from all desire to sin.  Guess again!  The battle against wanting our own way, desiring what God tells us we should not have, is still there!

When we have this misconception of sin - that once we are "saved" we should no longer struggle with the desire to sin - we often feel very self-critical about the internal desires we experience that "pull us" toward crossing those boundaries.  We live with guilt, shame, and frustration, as a result.  Here this:  God loves us in spite of our sin!  He loved us before we were ever aware of our sin.  Now that we are aware of his love for us in Christ, why do we think he loves us any less when we compromise and fall into sin?  That is a lie we tell ourselves that Satan finds great joy in hearing over and over again!

We lose a lot when we compromise and enter into sinful behavior - but we don't lose relationship with God!  We are part of his family and we will be restored lovingly when we realize our sin and return for his grace!  The parable of the Prodigal Son is all about this concept of "recognition of sin" and "grace upon returning".  There is a principle taught in scripture of being "adopted" into the family of God at the point of our salvation experience.  We are given a "seal" of adoption (much like the official seal of the state in which an adoption is ratified that makes it legal and binding).  That seal is the Holy Spirit's work of creating within us evidence that we belong to God - we are part of his family and bear the mark of his family in our lives.

In the days the scriptures were written, a seal carried much weight.  It was the primary way of identifying that something was authentic - the real deal!  The mark of "family" that we bear in our lives as Christians means that when God looks at us he sees that we are the "real deal".  The struggles we have with sin do not change that!  So, can we "fall out of grace with God"?  Yep, I think we can anytime we add to the principles taught in scripture, creating our own religious system of works that hold people in bondage and don't allow them to experience the grace of God in its purest form - we call that a system of works or false religion.

Scripture is very plain - either you live by a system of works and apart from God, or you live by faith in the grace God provides and are embraced by him as his own.  One or the other, not both.  The system of works focuses on what we should NOT do.  The freedom of grace points us toward what we can do in Christ.  One limits us, the other gives us freedom.  One lifts us to God's bosom, the other pushes us further away.  One sees us as new creatures in Christ, the other sees only the evidence of our sin nature.

Yes, we will "sin" after we are brought into the family of God - but when we recognize our sin, confess it to God, turn away from it and allow him to do the work of restoration that grace affords, we draw closer to him and are not pushed away.  Sin is compromise - we cross the boundaries we probably should have observed in the first place.  Our God is a God of restoration - no other "penalty" for sin must be paid - the entire "penalty" for sin was paid on the Cross when Jesus hung there for our sin.  That includes the sin of yesterday and the sin of today - yep, even the sin of tomorrow.  Don't be willful in your sin, but when you do sin, confess it, bring it to God for forgiveness, and walk away a free person!  His grace is enough!