Tag: Biblical Reflections

Word of Encouragement

^ESV Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

As Christians we must learn not merely to live for Christ, but to realize that Christ is our life.

If we have Christ, we have everything we need and we can lose nothing. Even death will be our gain, not a loss. Having the mindset “Christ is my life” will help us to make progress in our faith and grow in our joy (Phil. 1:25). Christ teaches us in “Discipleship 101” that we are to love and serve Christ more than we love and serve our most beloved persons and things, including our very lives (Luke 14:26).

Don’t merely live for Christ, but realize that Christ is your life.

This means not merely living for Jesus, but living in a way that shows that Jesus is what defines your life!

Think about the Apostle Paul who was writing this letter to Philippians to encourage Christians. Paul is imprisoned, in chains for Christ and His Kingdom. Yet the Gospel is advancing- -many are being en-couraged– -the Gospel is advancing and the brethren are boldly preaching without fear the good news of Jesus Christ as a Savior from sin, even though they are threatened with persecution. Paul can rejoice because He knows that whatever happens to him, he interprets the circumstances from God’s perspective and He knows that what may seem like “hindrances become by God’s grace high-speed highways for the advancement of the Gospel (Phil. 1:3-11).”

For Paul, to live is Christ.

Paul has nothing to lose- -HE HAS EVERYTHING IN JESUS.

Whatever place he finds himself, it is for Jesus; it is with Jesus; it is in Jesus! Nothing to lose and everything to gain! (v. 21) – -REJOICE!!

Paul lives his life in a moment-by-moment “win-win” situation; there are not good times and bad times- -every moment is a good moment where Christ can enter in by virtue of Paul’s real and Holy-Spiritual union with Him and be transformed- -made more like him- -and to become more and more fruitful as he progresses in his faith.

 

Do you have this kind of ability to rejoice? All Christians can know this both theologically and practically!

For the Apostle Paul, “to live is Christ” is THEOLOGICAL and very PRACTICAL.

 

THEOLOGICALLY Paul is in union with Jesus Christ.

Paul is: “Buried with Christ” (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12); “United with Christ” (Rom. 6:5); “Crucified with Christ” (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20); Alive with Christ” (Rom. 6:7); “Heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17); “Suffers with Christ” (Rom. 8:17); “Glorified with Christ” (Rom. 8:17); “Have the same form as Christ- -be like him” (Rom. 8:29; Phil. 3:21); “Be conformed with Christ” in every way: life, death, and resurrection (Phil. 3:10ff).

“The foundation, center, purpose, direction, power and meaning of Paul’s life is Christ” (see Hansen, PNTC, Philippians).

  “The central soteriological reality is union with the exalted Christ by Spirit-created faith. That is the nub, the essence, of the way or order of salvation for Paul.” -Richard B. Gaffin, By Faith, Not By Sight: Paul and the Order of Salvation

Our union with Jesus Christ is a glorious reality, where we can withdraw from the Risen-Ascended-Exalted Jesus all the power we need for life and godliness!

 

PRACTICALLY (theology lived out), Paul knows that Christ is the most important person, thing, possession and reality in his life. Period.

All of Paul’s “meaning of life” or what it means to live for Paul is about Christ.

Paul cannot fathom a life that is truly a life being without Jesus Christ.

 

CHRIST IS HIS LIFE.

What about your life?

Is Christ your life concerning the BIG Questions of life? Can you say with the Apostle Paul to live is Christ? Ask yourself:

“Who am I?” Can you answer: “I was created for Christ.”

“What is my purpose?” Can you answer: “Christ.”

“Why am I here?” Can you answer: “Christ.”

 

Paul’s mind, affections, and will are filled and directed by Christ; Jesus defines Paul’s person and mission and is his purpose.

What defines you? What brings you the greatest joy? Honestly. Getting at what brings you the greatest joy (which is often just happiness that changes with circumstances, but what is it that makes you happy most of the time), will help you to know what defines your life.

What is your heart’s greatest longing?

What’s most important to you? Right now.

What is your most important goal?

What could you never live without?

What fills your daydreams and captures your imagination?

What possesses you? (We often says what “possesses that person to do that?!”)

What is your most valuable asset? What is most precious and “worthy” to you?

 

Does Jesus bring you the greatest joy? When you say the name JESUS does your heart beat harder within you? Do you sense his presence and think of His goodness towards you?

Can you say with the Psalmist:

^ESV Psalm 16:2 I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

^ESV Psalm 73:25-26: Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. ²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

What do you long for the most? What causes you most to rejoice now? This will help you to find what matters most to you. “To live is ___________.”

 

Is it Christ Jesus who died for you?

“Let your soul be filled with a heart-ravishing sense of the sweetness and excellency of Christ and all that is in Him. Let the Holy Spirit fill every chamber of your heart; and so there will be no room for folly, or the world, or Satan, or the flesh.” – Robert Murray M’Cheyne.

Christ Jesus is the chief end of our lives. We are to glorify and enjoy God forever. We can only do this when Christ Jesus is the chief end, aim, and/or hope of our lives.

No true joy is possible UNLESS JESUS CHRIST is everything (as the hymn we sing reminds us):

“When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride…

…Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God: all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood…

…Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

 

We will never be able to rejoice always like the Apostle Paul (see also Phil. 4:4ff) until we know what it means “to live is Christ” or “To live—CHRIST!”

Jesus Christ must be our life! Jesus must be dearer to us than our richest gain; Jesus Christ must be more dear to us than our jobs, our careers, our families, friends, reputations, finances, homes…

Our Gospel promise is that God who began the Gospel work in us, will complete it (Phil. 1:6). As God has sought us, and redeemed us by the blood of Jesus, so let us seek for Christ to be our life. As Christ has laid down His life for us so that we can be God’s children (although we do not deserve such mercy!), let us learn to live for Him and Him alone!

 

Let us learn to pray for one another for the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ to fill us and that we might be overflowing with God’s joy and hope in Him!  Let us pray to know Christ better- -his love, his work for us, his priestly intercession, his sufferings for and with us- -and to know Christ more intimately, closely, adoringly, affectionately. Let us at KCPC come to Christ more and by your grace, O Father, let us leave with more of Christ. Grant that we might be a congregation characterized by “TO LIVE IS CHRIST.” For Christ’s sake and His glory alone! Amen.

 

In Christ’s love,

 

Pastor Biggs

07/29/11

Word of Encouragement- Pastor Charles’ Thoughts on Assurance of Salvation

^ 

^ESV 1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

 

As God’s people, we can be grateful that we can have confidence that we have eternal life in Christ Jesus! We can be grateful that those who are truly believers will never be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus- -NOTHING—absolutely NOTHING can separate you from His love for you!! (Romans 8:31-39; John 10:28-30). As believers, we can truly be joyful and confident in God’s love for us in Christ, and so gain assurance of our salvation. Those who have an assurance of salvation through believing God’s promises in His Word, and through the work of the Holy Spirit can live with “joy in expressible and full of glory!” (1 Peter 1:8).

 

Our Reformed forefather, Thomas Brooks said of assurance of salvation: “Assurance is glory in the bud, it is the suburbs of paradise, it is a cluster of the land of promise, it is a spark of God, it is the joy and crown of a Christian” (Heaven on Earth; a favorite book by many Reformed Christians!).

 

The Bible teaches us that assurance is a fruit of our faith in Jesus Christ, but assurance does not necessarily belong to the essence of faith. One can be a believer with a little smidgen of faith; one can be a true believer in Christ with the slightest and smallest faith because they are taking hold of a great Christ! Salvation is about the greatness of Christ and His saving power, and willingness to save the repentant, not about how much faith we have (“Lord, I believe, help my unbelief”)! But a true Christian must expect to grow up in their faith through believing, and through trials and temptations be tested, and because of this, they sometimes may have to wait a long time to be fully convinced and assured of their salvation. One who does not have assurance of salvation might still be a Christian, but they cannot experience the fullness of joy and confidence of one who does have assurance.

 

Assurance of salvation is a fruit of our faith in Jesus, and it grows out of our faith. Assurance of salvation in Christ comes out of faith growing up and maturing in our walk with God (notice the goal of biblical teaching and preaching is to grow up in Ephesians 4:11-16 so that a Christian will not be tossed around).

 

As pastor, you may have heard me say that if you’re living in sin you may be a Christian who has fallen into temptation and sin, but you cannot be assured that you are a Christian. It is important to make this distinction between our faith in Christ as we confess and profess, and the assurance that we can gain in Christ as we grow in Him through our obedience.

 

Obedience in the Christian life is in no way meritorious, but it is a concrete manifestation of the faith that we claim to have in Christ. As Paul says we are saved by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone; we are saved by God through faith alone, but it is a faith that works (compare the works that are forbidden for salvation, and the works that are necessary for salvation in Ephesians 2:9-10. Paul says that we are saved by grace apart from works in Eph. 2:9, and then He tells us that we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works as an outworking of this salvation).  James says that if you have faith, show it in your obedient works (James 2:19ff; essentially James says, “If you truly believe, then prove it by showing Christ’s power in your life”).

 

Our Scripture from 1 John 5:13 tells us that the Apostle John wrote His first epistle to the churches so that they would have assurance of God’s love for them in Christ: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”

 

But how do we know? How do we get assurance of God’s love? How can you have assurance and the joy and confidence in Christ that comes from it?

 

The Apostle John tells us in the same letter (and we will be going through the Epistles of John seeking to better understand assurance of salvation in our evening services beginning in the fall). Notice what John writes before this statement of assurance in chapter 5. In this passage, John says we can know that we KNOW HIM. But how do we know that we KNOW HIM??!!.

 

^ESV 1 John 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandment.

 

^ESV 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

 

^ESV 1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹ By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him…

 

^ESV 1 John 3:24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

 

We can know that we know HIM, but how do we know that we know HIM? John tells us four important ways (1) Loving Obedience to Jesus: “We know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandment.” Jesus said: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (2) Love to Our Brothers: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love other Christians.” (3) Fruit of the Spirit: “By [loving in deed/action and in truth] we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him.” (4) Witness of the Spirit of God: “By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”

 

We must acknowledge that there are lots of hypocrites and unregenerate persons in the church who presume that they are in an estate of salvation, although they show no evidence that they have had any work of grace in their hearts; this is true of the visible churches of Christ for all time (see the visible Church of Jesus’ day, and how Jesus’ rebukes the Pharisees and scribes for horrible hypocrisy, Matthew 23)!!  Therefore because we know that our hearts can deceive us, and that there are truly hypocrites, and that we can easily play the hypocrite, we must seek to examine ourselves as Scripture teaches us:

 

^ESV 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?- unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

 

You should never want me as your pastor, nor anyone else to ever grant you assurance in the faith if you are not living by faith. To give assurance to one who may not be a Christian is to condemn them to hell. What might be just a weak and tender conscience having trouble believing God could love them, could also be an unregenerate person being moved by the Spirit to believe. Because we can’t be sure, we must go on what the Bible teaches as true evidence. Again, notice the Apostle John’s teaching of how you know that you know HIM, or how you know that you truly know Jesus: (1) Obedience to Jesus; (2) Love to Our Brothers; (3) Fruit of the Spirit; (4) Witness of the Spirit of God (also Romans 8:13-26).

 

If you’re living unrepentantly right now in a sin, it may be that you’re a Christian who has fallen into a trap and you need immediate help, but you are not one who can be joyful and confident that you are in Christ because you’re living contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture, and contrary to the reality that you have died to sin as believers have according to Romans 6-8 (this is not the work of the Spirit, why would you have assurance from the Spirit?). You do not need anyone to assure you first; God may be making you feel guilty in your conscience to inform you of grieving the Spirit and calling you to repentance. It may be that you need to be told to examine yourself to see if you be in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5; 2 Peter 1:10; every approach to the Lord’s Table each worship service is an opportunity provided for you to examine: “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”– 1 Corinthians 11:28).

 

One is to examine themselves often to see if they have faith, as the Apostle Peter teaches us from not only the inspiration of the Spirit of God, but also from his own experience of losing his own assurance of God’s love in Christ when he denied his loving Lord. I encourage you to read carefully 2 Peter 1:3-10. Notice how God has provided all that we need for life and godliness as Christians in Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:3-4). In light of this reality, we are to believe God’s promises and so add to our faith, allowing it to grow up and mature into more assurance (2 Pet. 1:5-7). If we do this, living by faith in God’s promises and the Spirit’s power, then we will be prevented from “ineffectiveness” and “unfruitfulness” in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Pet. 1:8). Whoever does not have these qualities is as if they are blind, and has not been cleansed from sin (as if, that is they may be Christians, but they live inconsistently), and so it is important in order to reach assurance of our salvation the great joy and confidence in Christ that comes with it, to be “more diligent to make our calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:9-11).

 

^ESV 2 Peter 1:3-10: His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ¹¹ For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

It is true that you can truly be a Christian, but if you are living in sin, you may not have assurance. In fact, if you are living in sin, the first step towards growing in your faith, and gaining assurance of salvation and the joy and confidence in Jesus that comes with it, is to first confess your sins to God, knowing God is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-2:2). Now turn from your sins by the grace and power of Christ; believe God’s promises that in Jesus you can and will bear good fruit that will last (John 15:1ff; Gal. 5:19ff). As confessing Christians seeking assurance, we need to daily repent of our sins, turning from the sins that we see in our thoughts, actions, behavior, and turning to God for forgiveness, strength and the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers have been united to Jesus Christ by faith (Romans 6), and therefore we are to live for him and we are to live like him in this world.

 

Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Assurance can be hard work. It is the hard and agonizing work of working out our salvation with fear and trembling, yet knowing that anything we accomplish is because of God’s working in us (Philippians 2:12-13). Let us seek to have the faith of Hebrews 11 as believers, growing up in our faith to assurance!

 

Assurance was described by our Reformed forefathers this way: “Assurance is the beauty and top of a Christian’s glory in this life. It is usually attended with the strongest joy, with the sweetest comforts, and with the greatest peace. It is a crown that few wear” (Thomas Brooks, Works, Vol. 2, 333). “Assurance comes as a reward of faith….A man’s faith must fight first, and have a conquest, and then assurance is the crown, the triumph of faith…and what tries faith more than temptation, and fears, and doubts, and reasonings against a man’s own estate? That triumphing assurance, Romans 8:37-39…comes after a trial, as none are crowned till they have striven” (Thomas Goodwin, Works, Vol. 8, 346).

 

Seek Christ Jesus and you will find assurance through the Spirit’s help. Remember it is the Spirit of God who not only regenerates us and unites us with Christ in our new births, it is the Spirit of God who empowers us to live for Christ and become like Christ, resisting our sins, the flesh and the devil, and growing up into our salvation in Jesus. It is the Spirit of God who witnesses with our Spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:15-26). If children, then we are heirs, and we should live as in the very suburbs of heaven, rejoicing in Christ no matter what difficulty, trial or tribulation, knowing that it will only strengthen our endurance, hope and assurance (Romans 5:1-5).

 

For further study with the family, see Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 18: Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation

 

Love in Christ,

 

Pastor Biggs

 

CRB

07/12/11

Word of Encouragement

^ESV 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

 

Have you taken time to commune with God today? Have you beheld the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ by faith? Have you sought the Spirit of God so that you might glorify God in all you do and say today? Are you growing in His power and grace?

 

“Get communion with God. Your strength to stand, and your strength to withstand all assaults—is from your communion with God. Communion with God is that which will make you stand fast, and triumph over all enemies, difficulties, dangers and deaths. Communion with God will make a person as courageous and bold as a lion….

 

Communion with God is a reciprocal exchange between Christ and a gracious (grace-filled) soul. Communion with God is Jacob’s ladder, where you have Christ sweetly descending down into the soul, and the soul by divine influences sweetly ascending up to Christ. Communion with God is a shield upon land, and an anchor at sea; it is a sword to defend you, and a staff to support you; it is a balm to heal you, and a cordial to strengthen you.

 

High communion with Christ will yield you two heavens, a heaven upon earth, and a heaven after death. He enjoys nothing, who lacks communion with God; he lacks nothing, who enjoys communion with God; therefore above all gettings, get communion with Christ, and above all keepings, keep communion with Christ. All other losses are not comparable to the loss of communion with Christ.”- Thomas Brooks

 

^ESV Psalm 27:4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

 

Have you gazed upon the beauty of the LORD today as He is made sweetly known to you in Christ? Spend time with Him; he calls you near.

 

Love in Christ,

 

Pastor Biggs

 

 

CRB

07/06/11

Dear Beloved Congregation in Christ at KCPC,

 

God has been so good to us the past few years as we have grown together in Him.  It is easy to rejoice in Jesus when times are good, but when difficulties come with their challenges to our families, it is easy to grow weary in doing good. This short letter is intended to be seed sown with confidence in God’s promises that KCPC will reap a great harvest!

 

We grow weary because the results that we had hoped for, the answers to prayers and the harvest that we rightly expect to be enjoyed, are delayed, or not noticed as easily at the moment, and so we are tempted to weariness.

 

We are tempted to give up, and/or to grumble and complain and lose our spirits and attitudes of gratitude, praise and thanksgiving to God for Christ! We are tempted to think that our labor in the Lord is in vain; but it never is! (read 1 Corinthians 15:58). We grow weary ultimately because we fail to believe God’s promises made to us in Christ. And unbelief it not a “respectable sin” that everyone does; unbelief is at the heart of all of our problems.

 

If you are feeling a weariness, let me remind you of Jesus Christ who never grew weary in securing your salvation; let me remind you of Christ who never grew weary of giving up His life for you when beaten, spit upon, crucified and reviled by unbelieving, hostile enemies; let me remind you of Christ who lives to ever intercede for you at God’s right hand, and never grows weary of praying for you; let me remind you of Christ that continually tells us to continue to follow him, not growing weary, knowing that He is faithful!

 

As a congregation, in the next few weeks, I encourage you to focus on Galatians 6:6-10. I encourage you to prayerfully meditate upon this Scripture as an individual, as families.

 

In Galatians 6, there is a promise if we do not grow weary.

 

God promises this: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9). What does the Apostle Paul mean specifically by “doing good” in his inspired admonition to “let us not grow weary in doing good?” Read the context:

 

^ESV Galatians 6:6-10: One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. ⁷ Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. ⁸ For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. ⁹ And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. ¹⁰ So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

 

Three things I would encourage you with; we are specifically to do good in:

 

1)    Sowing the Word of God in teaching (Gal. 6:6).

2)    Sowing the Word of God in our personal holiness and growth in Jesus (Gal. 6:7-9).

3)    Sowing the Word of God within our community and to reach out to our neighbors (Gal. 6:10).

 

1)      Let us continue to sow the Word of God in our teaching (Gal. 6:6) here at KCPC. The implication of verse 6 is that the one who teaches shares, or sows all good things to the congregation and the congregation is to grow in this.  The congregation then loves and serves in response to God’s Word and so shares with the one who teaches them. God uses the Word of God primarily as a means of grace to convert the lost, to nurture covenant families, and cause us all to grow individually in our salvation. Prepare for sermons, take extensive notes, meditate upon God’s Word, attend Sunday school, memorize Scripture and catechism.

 

2)      Let us continue to sow the  Word of God in personal holiness and growth in Jesus (Gal. 6:7-9). What we sow, that we will reap (we must never think we can live fleshly lives and that we will not reap trouble- -God will not be mocked! This calls for a life of constant repentance and turning to Jesus!).

 

Let us all personally, in light of Christ’s love for us and His sacrificial life and death for us, and his glorious resurrection power granted by His Spirit, let us grow in our sowing to the Spirit- -never to the flesh. This means seeking to pray and commune with God, meditate on God’s Word, seek the face of Jesus, and trust God’s providential hand in all of our lives. By the grace given to us, let us not sow to the flesh in our families, in our relationships, in our selves! Christ often grants difficult circumstances to His people because He wants us to draw near to Him, and he wants us to learn that He is more faithful than we had estimated, and that we were far more unfaithful than we realized.

 

Sowing to the Spirit means living obediently under God’s Word in reliance upon God’s grace. Seeking to avoid grieving the Spirit of God and withdrawing from your fellowship with God. The more we know about our problems inside, and the greatness of the trouble of our enemy and the world’s seducing power, the more we should seek after Christ moment by moment to avoid sowing to fleshly evil.

 

3)      Let us continue to sow the Word of God in our community and to reach out to our neighbors (Gal. 6:10). Let us do good especially to the household of God, but let us wisely and prayerfully seek ways as a congregation whereby we might enjoy the great privilege and encouragement of new converts to the faith. Let us trust God’s Spirit as we ever rely on His grace to make us faithful witnesses to the truth of Jesus Christ both within and without our congregation. When we are experiencing difficulties and challenges in our lives, the answer is not to go inward to “find yourself” and your feelings to do what God has commanded you to do, but to pray to be self-forgetful, look outward at Christ in the Gospel, then move outward to serve and help others. Your problems will dissipate as you see Christ and get more involved in serving.

 

We are promised that if we continue to rely on Jesus and His grace as a congregation, we will reap a harvest.

 

Mediate upon this Scripture in the next few weeks. Pray this together as families, as individuals.

 

Pray for encouragement for one another; pray that each of us might never give up and that we would be encouraged to continue to sow the seed of God’s Word in this congregation, within our own hearts and lives, and to reach the lost and others straying with this seed in our community.

 

Don’t give up!

 

Paul teaches us all this truth because it is so easy to grow weary- -all of us can grow weary. We must remember that God has promised results- -the results are up to God and His perfect timing. The sowing is up to us.

 

We must continue to realize as a congregation that if we hope to see abundant fruit and a great harvest in our congregation and community—and we should expect this based on God’s promises to us in Jesus—we must continue to depend upon Jesus alone for our strength and for the results.

 

Let this cause you to pray more; seek the face of Jesus more; meditate upon Scripture more; know God’s providence toward you is for His glory and your good (that is also our good!).

 

Do you believe Christ can do above and beyond what we ask or imagine according to His great power? (Eph. 3:20-21).

 

Don’t grow weary—there’s a harvest coming! That harvest will bring the fruits of the resurrection of Jesus to us now. But there is a greater harvest coming! There is a great harvest of God’s people that we anticipate when Jesus comes and we see Him as He is and we become fully transformed into His likeness and glory. That’s a harvest worth waiting for! But sow in light of His rich promises to you in Christ for now!

 

^ESV 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

 

Growing Weary? Sow Far, Sow Good.

 

IN Christ’s love,

 

Pastor Charles

 

The sixth beatitude, or characteristic of Christ and His people, is being those who are pure in heart.

 

We live in a very compromising world.  As Christians, we want to live uncompromising lives to our Lord because of all he has done on our behalf in Christ.  We want to be pure in heart.

Being pure in heart means to live with an undivided and loving loyalty to the LORD alone.  It means to serve and love only God by His grace and His power that works within us.

Yet we do not have pure hearts completely.  Even as Christians we sin daily and wrestle against our sins (Romans 7:7-25).  Our hearts are polluted and Christ has come to make us pure in heart, so that we might learn to love God alone!

There are many idols that we have in our hearts.  Many things we love more than God.  Yet Christ is committed to smashing these idols as we surrender them to him.

The pure in heart are not perfect people, they are those who have been saved by the LORD Jesus who is pure in heart and who cleanses them from sin.  The great hope of those who will one day be pure in heart is that they shall see God.  It is the greatest motivation to continue to ask him for strength for purity so that on that day we shall see him as He is! (1 John 3:1-3)

As Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Psalm 24:3-5 says: “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? ⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. ⁵ He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

We know that the One who ultimately ascended the hill of the LORD and stands in God’s holy place is Jesus Christ our Savior from sin, He is the only one who has perfectly clean hands and a pure heart!

Purity of heart

What is purity of heart?  An undivided and loving loyalty from the heart dedicated to the LORD alone!

During each day of our daily walk with God, we experience what is like a walk through a hall of advertisements: everyone selling to us what we “truly need”.  It’s like a walk in vanity fair, where Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress is being tempted by everything to keep him happy and healthy to distract him from fully seeking after God (which is the place also where his partner Faithful is killed!).  It is like a visit to a country with street salesmen, everyone trying to sell you something – Our lives can be great distractions from the one thing needful, as Jesus puts it!

In our world of compromise, we can have literally “everything we want, when we want it” and not have the very thing we need the most: an undivided and loyal love from the heart to the Lord and His Kingdom!

Purity of Heart in the Old Covenant

In the Old Covenant, Israel was taught to approach God through a mediatorial High Priest who approached the presence of God in the Holy of Holies only once yearly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16).  God was instructing the people that if anyone was to approach a Holy God it would be with a perfect and pure heart.  The High Priest approached God with a bloody sacrifice that symbolized the life that was required as a substitute in order to bring purity of heart to sinners so that they might have communion with God again.

In the New Covenant, we see the full significance of the High Priest revealed in the Old Covenant.  Jesus is our High Priest who has shed his precious blood, so that we might be pure and holy, and so we might approach the Living God and all come into his presence.  The Book of Hebrews has much to teach us on this Greater High Priest:

Hebrews 9:24-28: For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

76% of Americans Keep the First Commandment?

God revealed our need of a Savior and our need of a pure heart, or an undivided and loyal love from the heart in the first of the commandments: “Thou shall have not other gods before me!”

In 1993, 76% of Americans said that they “consider themselves completely true to the first commandment”.  What this means in reality is NOT that 76% of Americans are true to the first commandment, but more likely that 76% of Americans don’t fully understand the Gospel!!  None of our hearts are fully devoted to God, and whatever at any particular time is getting our fully devotion and loyalty is an idol.

Now perhaps you don’t have idols of wood, stone, or porcelain as in other cultures in other parts of the world; perhaps you don’t offer incense and prayers to a little porcelain Buddha in your home.  But what does your heart desire and want so much that your heart clamors: “Give me this, or else I’ll die!”

According to secular psychologists (and there is some good we can learn from them- – ALL TRUTH is God’s truth), most people struggle with four main idols (although the secular psychologists wouldn’t call them idols).  These four main idols are like colors, there are many variations and shades of these idols and they can be mixed like colors to form new idols.

The four main “idols” of our hearts are: (1) Power; (2) Approval; (3) Comfort; and (4) Control.

In these four idols, you can find various “sins that so easily beset you” each and every day.  In these four idols, you can find what takes the place of God many times in your life, on any given day.  Meditate upon these four and the many variations of each of them, then try to think about how Scriptures corrects the assumptions of our idols and smashes them as we meditate upon the Word of God and bring our thoughts into captivity to our Lord Jesus!

“Good Old Fashioned” Idolatry

What must you have for life to be meaningful or happy- – money, reputation, position, respect?”  At any given moment, our hearts are ready to be divided in its loyalty according to whatever we think at any given moment, will ultimately bring us happiness!  So, what do you desire that if you do not have, you think you will die?

If you answer this question with anything other than God Himself that “other” person or thing serves functionally as an idol or god to you.  Jesus teaches us what this means in Matthew 6 concerning serving two masters:

Matthew 6:24,33: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. ^{25 …33} But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

To seek anything more than the kingdom of God and his righteousness is “good old fashioned” idolatry!  We need pure hearts, undivided and loving loyalty to the LORD alone, yet we are all idolaters.  If you cannot think of the idols that afflict you at this moment, read this brilliant insight as to what the first commandment actually means in our daily and momentary practice, written by 120 godly men who wrote the Westminster Larger Catechism.  This answer is in response to the question:

“What are the duties required of all creatures/all mankind (every single human being!) in the first commandment?”

“The duties required in the first commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of him; believing him; trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in him; being zealous for him; calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all obedience and submission to him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please him, and sorrowful when in anything he is offended; and walking humbly with him.”

After reading this, we are reminded that the “heart” is the seat of all of our affections – we must guard our hearts! After reading the duties required in the first commandment, I am not tempted to commend myself and my filthy works to the Living God, rather I am encouraged to repent and return unto God yet again to seek his loving grace and forgiveness!

As Christians, We Desire to Be Pure and Clean Like Our God…

…and we can be! In Ezekiel 36:25ff, God promised that he would send the Spirit of God to transform our hearts and cause us to love God and His Law.

zekiel 36:25-27: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

The promise of God in Ezekiel’s prophecy was that he would provide pure and clean hearts for his people.  In the fullness of the times, after Christ had earned our salvation and paid our debt for sins committed against God, Jesus received the Spirit and sent it forth to cleanse His people (John 7:37-39; 1 Corinthians 15:20ff).  In fact, Paul says that the work God has begun in us will be completed and accomplished when Christ returns and we are a pure and holy bride for Christ.

ESV Ephesians 5:25-27: Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

How Can Our Eyes See God Who is Holy and Majestic?

Jesus says that the pure in heart shall see God. What does it mean that we shall see God?

In Exodus 33-34, Moses the Mediator of God’s people in the Old Covenant, wanted to see God’s face, his glory.  God allowed Moses to behold his glory passing by, but not his face.

Exodus 33:18-23: Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” ¹⁹ And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” ²¹ And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²² and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

As an Old Covenant servant of God, Moses had the privilege of talking with God closer than anyone else, but the time had not come for redeemed man to behold God face to face.  No man would behold God face to face until the LORD Jesus, who was God and with God, would walk among us as man.  The Apostle John explains this in John chapter 1:

John 1:1-18: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it….

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ ( John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'”) ¹⁶ And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

As his people who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, we now see God with eyes of faith.  We look on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporal, but what is unseen is eternal:

2 Corinthians 4:16-18: So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

We see God now as he is revealed in His Word and we see him with eyes of faith.  One day however, we shall see him as He sees us on the Last Day!  The Scriptures teach us in various places that when God renews all things, we shall behold His glory in the face of Jesus Christ- – and we shall be like him, truly like him – -pure in heart!

1 John 3:1-3: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. ³ And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

1 Corinthians 13:8-13: Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. ¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The Beatific Vision

Historically, this great hope of “seeing God” has been called the “Beatific Vision”: The final vision of God’s glory and truth given to the blessed of the Sermon on the Mount!  The pure in heart shall see God!  What hope!  What a motivation to serve the Living Lord alone with loving loyalty from the heart!

If you have never read St. Augustine’s ‘Confessions’ you must do so as soon as possible (not an understatement!  An extremely important book to read for Christian encouragement!).  Here are some of Augustine’s thoughts as he meditates upon seeing God one day.  When we go through difficult and trying times, when some of the time we desire to give up, we should meditate by faith upon the face of God revealed in Jesus Christ!  And how do we “see” the face of God in Jesus now?  From the revelation of God’s character found in Scripture!

From Augustine’s Confessions:

“Alas! Alas! Tell me of your compassion, O Lord my God, what you are to me.  Say to my soul, “I am your salvation”.  When I hear, may I run and lay hold of you.  Hide not your face from me.  Let me die, lest I die, if only I may see your face.”

Soli Deo Gloria!

Love in Christ,

Pastor Biggs

Next Study: “Blessed are the Peacemakers”

“Blessed are the Merciful, for they Shall Receive Mercy.”

We often so easily forget the mercy that God has shown to us in Christ. We deserve only God’s wrath and justice for our sins, but he has offered his hand of mercy to us in Christ!  What have you been given by God that you truly deserve (1 Cor. 4:7)?  Be honest!

How do we practice mercy with others, particularly those who treat us indifferently and cruel?  Are we merciful with others who sin against us?  Do we reflect our Father’s goodness and mercy when others sin against us?  Not always!  In fact, we many times ask for others to treat us and to pay us back in a way inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God offers to us mercy, a forgiveness that is unmerited or undeserved!  We ought to offer that same unmerited and undeserved mercy back to other people who upset us– – yet it is so hard for us to do!

It is because we have not truly understood God’s mercy on us!  If we did, we would have not trouble (by His grace) extending hands of mercy to others!

How can we be more merciful and forgiving as a people?  By the power of Christ’s Spirit teaching us the deep and undying love and mercy of God to us!  Let this sink into our unmerciful and unforgiving hearts:

“While we were yet sinners and enemies of God, Christ died for the ungodly!”(Romans 5:6-11)

That’s mercy!  May we come to understand Mercy, mercy, mercy to others.  As Jesus says: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.”

“Mercy, mercy me! What an Unmerciful World!”

We live in an extremely unmerciful world!  The most common way of expressing our evil design toward others when we are angry is summarized in the saying: “Don’t get mad, get even!”  Most people in our age are looking out for themselves, “number one” and if you cross them, they will do what they will to get back at you.  The way of Jesus is to offer mercy to those who oppose us and treat us cruelly.  Although this is impossible without the merciful Spirit of God living within us, it is possible by His grace.  The Apostle Paul sums up the Christian’s attitude in Romans 12:

Romans 12:14-21: ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

At first glance, this is seems impossible, but as we reflect on God’s mercy that has been shown toward us in Jesus, so we find the strength by His grace to demonstrate this kind of attitude toward those who are evil toward us.

Sometimes we see others, both believers and unbelievers, whose sins and mistakes have caused them pain.  We glance around and see the consequences of others “reaping what they have sown”.  Do you reach out to help, or do you just say: “They are getting what they deserve?”  Mercy reminds us each day that none of those who know the Lord Jesus Christ are getting what they deserve!  What we deserve is eternal death and God’s justice, what we get by faith in Christ is God’s abundant mercy!  We should remember that the next time we so easily judge another for their sins rather than teaching them to turn from their sins to the Hope we have in Jesus Christ for life!

Forgiveness- – One More Time??

What is mercy toward other people anyway?  Mercy is about forgiveness– – extending a hand of undeserved grace to another-  -and not just one time- – but one more time!

Remember when Peter asked Jesus “How many times shall I forgive my brother?”  He presumptuously answered his own question with what he thought was a very liberal and kind “seven times?” before Jesus answered him.  However, Jesus wanted him to know that if he or anyone else understood God’s forgiveness, undeserving mercy toward us, we would all offer forgiveness and mercy as many times as it is requested.

This means in reality that anytime you have forgiven someone “one more time”, you have not forgiven  them enough.  There will be probably be another time, and you must be just as ready and willing to extend a hand of undeserved grace toanother all over again!  This means that the next time you offer mercy to another (one to whom you perhaps have had to forgive before), you must remember that you cannot think anything like “Well, this will be the last time for them, I’ve had it with ’em!”

If you think like this, you have not understood the number of times daily, no hourly, that you must return to your God with requests of forgiveness.  In other words, you constantly need forgiveness and mercy from God and others will constantly need forgiveness and mercy from you!  Read carefully Jesus’ story in Matthew 18:

A Story of Debt Owed and Forgiven

Matthew 18:21-35: Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. ²³

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents (about 15 years’ wages). ²⁵ And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. ²⁶ So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ ²⁷ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

²⁸ But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii (a days’ wages), and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ ²⁹ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ ³⁰ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. ³¹ When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.

³² Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. ³⁵ So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Notice in this story the following important points concerning mercy: 1) The amount of debt is great- -it is not merely overlooked!  It costs the king a lot, yet he forgives the debt!  2) The servant could never repay his master! 3) The King was merciful and forgave him his debt!

We could never repay God for our sins!  None of us!  We all owe God eternal death, for Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. Yet God, who is rich in mercy, extends a hand of forgiveness to us in Christ.

“We owed a debt we could not pay; Christ paid a debt He did not owe!”

Remember: Believing and actually doing are two different things!  You may believe this about mercy.  You may even believe that this is Biblical, but do you practice mercy?  Are you an initiator of mercy?  How many “owe” you a debt today that is eating you up inside?  How many are you unwilling to forgive, to even call or write and extend mercy toward them?  Are you greater than God?  We must come to terms with our sins and face them, so that we can turn once again to the mercy of God found in the face of Christ!  We must seek out, be initiators of mercy!

Mercy is a “Weighty Matter” of the Law of God

We often forget that the Pharisees were very good at achieving merely external righteousness.  They “did the right thing” outwardly even if it didn’t come from a pure heart (Matt. 15:7ff; 23:23ff).  Remember that Jesus reminded the Pharisees and his disciples of the “weightier” or more important matters of the Law from the Prophet Micah:

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness (mercy: hesed, translated “lovingkindness of God), and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

“Mercy” or offering an undeserved hand of grace and forgiveness to others who sin against us is a very important and “weighty” matter of the Law!  Why? The Law condemns us all!  If God has shown us mercy and not just wrath and punishment, shouldn’t we show the same to others who may have broken our own personal and social laws against us?

Receivers of Mercy

We have earned God’s just wrath and punishment.  The only thing we have done to merit anything before a Holy God is to earn death and wrath.  But God, who is rich in mercy has offered us grace in Jesus Christ.  Some of the greatest two words ever written are “but God” from Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 2:1-8: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved- ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

The very good news of the gospel is that we are not getting what we deserve because of what Christ did mercifully for us! We have been shown mercy by the Living God.

God shows us mercy and grace so that we might be saved. The Mercy Seat in the Old Covenant is where justice and mercy meet because of God’s love and mercy to sinners!  In the Old Covenant blood is shed on the mercy seat as a substitution for sinners.  In the fullness of time in the New Covenant, Christ himself sheds his own precious blood, not merely on the Mercy Seat, a representation of God’s throne, but lays down his life before the very throne of God itself!

Do you show mercy to others?  Do you say things like: “Well, they deserved it!”?  Or, do you say unmerciful harsh things in more of a subtle manner, such as: “I would forgive them, but I’m not going to forget it!” Or, “I warned them so many times, and now they are getting what they deserve?

The next time you are thinking thoughts such as these, ask yourself:

What about what I deserve before a Holy God?

This reality should seep deep down into our heart and cause us to overflow with mercy and grace to others.  You truly owed a debt that you could never in a million years repay, yet Christ in His mercy to you, paid a debt he never in a million years would have owed to God.  Now, go and offer the same sacrificial mercy to others!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Love in Christ,

Pastor Biggs

Next Study: “Blessed are the Pure in Heart”

“Blessed are Those Who Mourn, for They Shall be Comforted.”

From our previous studies, we learned that the Beatitudes characterize how a Christian should think and live.  They are ultimately pictures of Jesus Christ our Lord.  As we come to know him by grace through faith, we begin to be conformed more and more to his image.  Jesus’ image and character are revealed in the Beatitudes.  The second beatitude, or characteristic of Christ and His people, is being those who mourn.

Being a mourner is not being a “cry baby”.  It should not be perceived as weak or childish, but extremely godly and reflective of Christ.  Living in a fallen world as redeemed people we are exposed to God’s gracious revelation in His Word of the way things should be in God’s world.  We know the purpose for all people is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever- -and yet we do not see this fully (and sometimes not at all)!

You could say that things are not as they should be, and we realize it.  This causes a tension in our lives.  We know what is good, right, and holy- -that is, what God expects and how God created all things for his glory- – yet we see sin, suffering, and problems in the world.

As Christians, we see and experience the consequences of sin in other people, as well as in our own hearts!  During this time, as we await the return of our Savior, we must be comforted by the reality that our Lord Christ is victoriously seated at God’s right hand, and our eyes should remain fixed on the future when God will renew and restore all things to the way things should be!

Those who mourn in this present age can be assured that they will be comforted by the Spirit NOW, and fully comforted when Jesus returns for all of those He loves!

Mourners are Repentant and Blessed!

It is actually not sad to be a “mourner”, but blessed!  The reason is that a mourner is one who is aware of his spiritual condition before the LORD.  A mourner knows that he or she is a sinner and needs the mercy and grace of the LORD!

Remember the main message of John the Baptist and Jesus when they preached to the crowds?  The message was “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  Mourners are those who live repentant for the Living God. Mourners are those who not only repent when they begin the Christian life, but live a life of constant repentance and dependence upon the Living God.  Mourners know they are sinners, yet they know they have a Savior Who they can go to and confess their sins and be cleansed (1 John 1:7ff).

King David gives us a fine example of a mourner, or how we should respond to our sinful condition as the Word of God reveals more and more of the depths of sin in our hearts.  Notice his approach to God begins with asking for mercy, not what he deserves.  That reminds us as well of two of the characteristics of the Beatitudes: Poor in spirit and the merciful!

Psalm 51: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. ² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! ³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. ⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. ⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. ⁶ Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. ⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. ⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. ¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise…

David’s request as a mourner is to have a clean heart before God, a right spirit within (v. 10).  Mourners know that only God can create this in us, and give to us a right spirit.  Mourners live repentant lives before the Lord, careful not to presume upon His grace, nor to forget their low condition.  Yet at the same time, realizing that God is merciful, forgiving, full of steadfast love for sinners, and one who will cleanse us from our condition (vv. 1-2).

In the context of the Sermon on the Mount, we should remember that the people who were listening in to Jesus’ message to his disciples, would have known the ways of the Scribes and the Pharisees.  These were not mournful people.  In fact, they do not respond to John the Baptist’s message of repentance.  When they come to hear John, he asks them: “Who has warned you to flee the coming wrath?”  He then proceeds to call them “vipers” and tells them to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

His point is that if you are going to enter the Kingdom, you must be made aware of your low position and condition before the Living God (being poor in spirit).  He wanted them to know that the “fruits of repentance” was a mournful spirit that came to God looking for grace, not honor of merit!

Mourning Over Sin

Think about the lack of true and Biblical mourning in our culture today, even among some Christians!  In our world, we either excuse the sin we see in others, or we condemn sinners.  Some in our culture on the one hand, allow others to “do as they please” with no regard to righteousness.  They say “Let the homosexual live freely without conviction of God’s Word”; “Let the rebellious and the lawbreaker alone”; “Don’t judge those who sin”; or “It doesn’t matter what God we worship as long as we worship with faith”.  All of these sayings (and there are plenty more), are sayings that justify or excuse sin!  We should never allow this kind of thinking to blur the righteousness and holiness of God revealed in Scripture.

On the other hand, some of us condemn sinners.  We as Christians see the homosexual, the rebellious, the lawbreaker, and those who are misguided in their worship of  idols and we condemn them forgetting that we were once among them as those far from the promises of God (1 Cor. 6:9-11; cf. Eph. 2:1-4ff)!  Neither of these positions are correct for Christians.  We should neither excuse sin, nor condemn sinners!  Rather, we should weep and mourn in repentance for what we see around us, calling others to repentance and pointing them to the same grace and mercy that we have found in the Lord Jesus!

Our message is one of repentance, and anyone reading this who does not live a repentant life must repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus, but we should never forget from where we came.  Our lives now are all because of His grace!  We should mourn over the lost condition of others, not judge them as if we are any better. 

Self-righteous people are never mourners! The Apostle Paul reminds us of this:

2 Corinthians 6:9-11: ⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

This passage to the Corinthians reminds us that we were all sinners.  That should make us continually repentant, but also grateful!  The joy of the LORD is our strength, and that joy is a reality in the midst of our mourning.  This too is the “already, not yet”!  We mourn now, knowing that things are not as they should be in our world (including our own hearts!), yet we rejoice and are comforted because we know that Jesus has overcome the world and made a way to come for cleansing and a righteous robe before the Most High and Holy LORD of Heaven and Earth!

Have you ever noticed how mad and angry we get with others when they sin against us?  Yet we often are not moved to tears and a mournful attitude when we see people sin against a Holy God?  It is strange how we so easily are offended by others, but we don’t think about the offense of our own sins before God!

As mourners, we should reflect upon these things.  We should remember, it was our sins that placed Jesus on the cross!  It was our sins that caused him to die, caused him to be afflicted and cursed by God, taking God’s anger and wrath in our place!  Our sins were placed on Jesus so that he was called “sin”.

Paul says: “He who had no sin became sin in order that we in Him we might become the righteousness of God!” (2 Cor. 5:21).

This statement alone should cause us all to be mourners!  Yet at the same time, Jesus was declared “sin” so that we could be declared “righteous”!  Furthermore, Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to God’s right hand should cause us to be comforted!

Jesus the Mourner

In Jesus’ life here “under the sun”, he visited a world full of sin and misery, so as to redeem those who would come to him by faith!  Yet, when he came to extend his hand of grace and mercy, he was brutally apprehended by sinful men, abused by those undeserving, and put to death by those unworthy of His presence!  Jesus was a mourner!

Jesus mourned over Jerusalem when he saw how many people who called Abraham “Father” rejected him and had not the “faith of Abraham” revealing themselves to be “sons of the devil” (John 8:31-58).  He cried out: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I have longed to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks and you would not let me!”

Jesus mourned over Lazarus when he saw the results of the wages of sin in bringing death to his friend.  Jesus mourned over those who were unrepentant and unbelieving who stood around him mocking him, laughing at him, and grieving His spirit within him!  Jesus mourned over sinners constantly throughout his life!

Yet in Jesus’ resurrection, He was comforted!  Jesus was raised again to new life!  Jesus ascended to God’s right hand upon completion of His heavenly work for sinners and sent a portion of His joyful and triumphant Spirit to dwell with His people until He returns!  He told his disciples “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world (John 16:33)!”

What great news for all Christians!  Take comfort, Christians.  Although we know that things aren’t as they should be, that there is rampant sin and iniquity around us, as well as in our own hearts!  We can be comforted by the fact that we know Jesus will return and restore all things!  He is preparing a place for us know, full of joy and salvation and worship, empty of sin and misery!  We know that the problem of sin has been taken care of in the death and mourning of Jesus Christ!  We know that he who began a good work deep within our sinful hearts, will complete it on the Day of Jesus (Phil. 1:6).

“…They Shall be Comforted!”

Our comfort today as Christians is not in this present age, this evil world full of sin and misery, hating the Creator and Living God who we so long to be like!  Our comfort is found in resting in the power of his Spirit, our knowledge of the God of all comfort, and knowing that he will wipe every tear from our eyes when he restores heaven and earth to the way it was supposed to be, yet in a way that will be beyond what we ever have asked or imagined!  As we close this study, may we be comforted and meditate upon the words of God in Revelation 21:1-6:

Revelation 21:1-6: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” ⁵ And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶ And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

May we as Christians, continue to mourn over our sins and the sins of others as we seek comfort in God’s Spirit, and await the New Heavens and the New Earth where there will only be rejoicing because only righteousness will reign with Jesus Christ, our Glorious Savior, seated on the Throne of Blessed Grace!  Are you longing for the day when you shall see him face to face?  When we shall see him, we shall be like him! (1 Cor. 13:9-13; 1 John 3:2).

Reflect upon the words of Anne Cousin, who wrote the following hymn based on the dying words of the great theologian and suffering preacher Samuel Rutherford; here is a true mourner:

“The sands of time are sinking,

The dawn of heaven breaks,

The summer morn I’ve sighed for,

The fair, sweet morn awakes.

Dark, dark hath been the midnight,

But dayspring is at hand;

And glory, glory dwelleth

In Emmanuel’s land.

The King there in His beauty,

Without a veil is seen:

It were a well spent journey,

Though seven deaths lay between:

The Lamb, with His fair army,

Doth on Mount Zion stand,

And glory, glory dwelleth

In Immanuel’s land.

O Christ, He is the fountain,

The deep, sweet well of love;

The streams on earth I’ve tasted,

More deep I’ll drink above.

There to an ocean fullness

His mercy doth expand.

And glory, glory dwelleth

In Immanuel’s land.”

You weep now, but you will rejoice and be fully comforted soon! (John 16:19-24)

Soli Deo Gloria!

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Charles

Next Study: “Blessed are the Meek, not the Weak”

Martin Luther came to understand the gospel from his study of the books of Galatians and Romans.  In 1520, Dr. Luther wrote a book entitled ‘Treatise Concerning Good Works’.  This most important book (or “treatise”) is still extremely relevant today.

Read carefully this quotation that reveals all of our “sin underneath the Sins” that we commit each day and how we are to understand God’s graciousness by faith alone!  He is commenting on the first commandment (I have inserted a few brief comments in Luther’s quote):

God says:  “You shall have no other gods before me.”

Luther on Our Common Idolatry

“All those who do not in all their works or sufferings, life and death, trust in God’s favor, grace and good-will, but rather seek His favor in other things or in themselves, do not keep the first commandment, and practice real idolatry, even if they were to do all the works of all the other commandments, and in addition had all the prayers, fasting, obedience, patience, chastity, and innocence of all the saints combined…

If we doubt or do not believe that God is gracious and pleased with us, or if we presumptuously expect to please Him through our works, then all of our compliance with the Law of God is pure deception, outwardly honoring God, but inwardly setting up self as a false savior…

…Note for yourself, then, how far apart these two are: keeping the first commandment with outward works only, and keeping it with inward justifying faith.  For this last makes true, living children of God, the other only makes worse idolatry and the most mischievous hypocrites on earth…

…And as this first commandment is the very first, highest and best, from which all the others proceed, in which they exist, and by which they are directed and measured, so also its work, that is, the faith or confidence in God’s favor at all times, is the very first, highest and best, from which all others must proceed, exist, remain, be directed and measured…”

Christ has come to free us from idolatry to sin so that we might serve God out of gratitude for the grace that He has bestowed upon us. Christ is the only one who has ever kept the first commandment and loved God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. Christ Jesus died under the curse of the Law for idolaters who repent and believe the Gospel of grace.

In the Gospel the righteous obedience and perfection that God requires of all man, God provides in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

Through faith alone, all the righteousness that Christ Jesus possesses in Himself is ours through imputation, as it is received by faith alone. Now we live freely by God’s grace and Spirit doing all that God commands us to do willingly and lovingly, yet imperfectly, and only in reliance upon His grace.

Let us say with the Apostle Paul:

I want to be found in Christ by faith alone… “Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” – Philippians 3:9-11 ESV

Love in Christ,

Pastor Biggs

The Apostle Paul’s Prayer of Power

The prayers of the Apostle Paul teach us a lot of truth about who we are in Jesus Christ.  After Paul speaks in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3-14 concerning the great Trinitarian work of God in our salvation, he begins to pray specifically for the Ephesian Christians that their knowledge of Christ might be a powerful life-changing knowledge of God’s truth.

Pastor John Owen once said that he desired above all things not merely to know the truth of God’s Word, but truly to know the power of the truth of God’s Word. This should be the same for all of Christ’s people.

In Ephesians 1, Paul begins his prayers based upon the truth of how God has called a people to himself and the deep and precious truth of how he saved us all.  In fact, Paul ends his theological praise in verses 3-14 with the profound truth that believers are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.  We have a portion of the Spirit now and know Christ, but we await our full inheritance, so in the meantime, Paul prays for the Christians so that they will know Christ — better!  That is, he prays that Christians may know not merely the truth of Christ, but the power of this truth in their lives.

Ephesians 1:13-23 ¹³ In [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

¹⁵ For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, ¹⁶ I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, ¹⁸ having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might ²⁰ that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²² And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Notice a few important things about Paul’s prayer here in Ephesians 1.

First of all, he “never ceases to give thanks and remember the congregation in his prayers”.  Paul put into practice what he preached.  He prayed unceasingly for others!  Oftentimes we find only the time to pray for ourselves (if we find the time to pray at all).  Secondly, he prays specifically for the Christians to grow in particular ways.  He doesn’t merely say: “Lord, bless the Ephesians”, or “Lord, be with the Ephesians”, or other famous generic prayers for others.

Rather, the Apostle Paul prays specifically that the same Father of glory who has graciously saved them will give the believers a spirit of wisdom and revelation in their knowledge of Christ (v. 17).  That is, Paul wants the Christians to know how God saved them (vv. 3-14), but also how God is saving them, or presently and powerfully making them more like Christ as he gives to them all they need for life and godliness.

Thirdly, Paul wants the Christians to know their hope to which he has called them (v. 18a), the immeasurable greatness of his resurrection power in us who believe (vv. 19-20), and the power of Christ in their lives as the Head of the Body, the Church for whom he died (vv. 20-22).  There is a good weakness and a bad weakness.  A good weakness is the kind Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 12, where through this weakness that God has brought into our lives, we know we can still say “though I am weak, yet I am strong”.  In this good weakness, we know that it is through our weakness that God’s strength is perfected.

However, the bad(sinful) weakness that we have as Christians is to fail to know who we are in Christ.  That is, it is weakness of a lack of true understanding of the power we have because of the Spirit of God who indwells us.  The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells within us! (vv. 19-20).  Christ has been raised above all authority defeating all of our our enemies sin, hell, and the Devil!  When Christ sat down at God’s right hand he sent to us His Spirit to be with us and to transform us all.

Paul wants the Ephesian Christians and Christians today, to know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power to us who believe (v. 19).  Because of the victory of Christ over sin, hell and the Devil in his resurrection and ascension, we have the same victory.

The power of Christ is given to us and we respond by faith and gratitude in the daily dying to sin, wrestling against the sinful tendencies that constantly want to lure us off the path in our walk with Christ, and knowing that we have the ability truly to resist and to stand firm in the victory of Christ over sin and the Devil (notice Paul’s development of this in chapters Ephesians 4-6, when he speaks of “walking in the Spirit”, “keeping in step with the Spirit”, “putting on our new man”, “resisting the Devil”, and “standing firm in the full armor of God”.

As Christians, we should pray for one another.  Additionally, we should pray specifically for each other.  Even when we do not know other’s specific prayer requests, we do know that we all struggle with “bad, sinful weakness” and so we all need truly to know the power of God’s truth in our lives.  Also, we should pray this prayer of Paul for ourselves so that we might really know the power of God’s Word, the power of what it means for us to be raised from death to life in Christ.

Our greatest enemies, sin, death and the Devil have been defeated.  In fact, Christ has led these in a triumphant procession, publicly showing to all the world that his resurrection and ascension has placed him high above all authority, power and dominion, not only in this age, but also in the age to come (vv. 21-22; cf. 4:8-10).  Because we are Christ’s people, we can be assured that we have been raised from the dead (John 5:24) and that we have a great power of resisting sin and the influences of the Devil that lead us all to death.

We are seated with Christ in a truly victorious position (Eph. 2:5-6)!  We have been seated with Christ in the heavenly places and although we do not fully see our inheritance, we have a great hope as we all await patiently and expectantly the return of our glorious Savior!

As Christians, we have so much to be thankful for!  God’s immeasurably great power should be exerted toward us who are sinners, deserving only of God’s wrath!  Yet because Jesus Christ took the powerful blows of God’s wrath because of our sin, in order to defeat death and the Devil, and to offer a satisfaction to God for our sins; because of this grace shown to us while we were yet sinners, God’s power is given as a blessing to help us, to raise us to life, and by His Holy Spirit he powerfully lives within us so that we can resist sin NOW, and gratefully and obediently live for Christ!  This truth should lead us from a “bad weakness” of falling into sinful patterns to a “good weakness” of humility, awe and reverence because our God, who is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28), has come to dwell within us who are united to Jesus Christ!

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Charles

“IS TIME ON YOUR SIDE?” – TIME AND WISDOM/EPHESIANS 5:15-17

There was a popular song in the 60s that boasted: “Time is on my side- -yes, it is!” (We should ask the aging singer now if this is still true). Is time really on our side?

ESV Ephesians 5:15 says (paraphrase) “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the most use of your time, or redeeming your time wisely.”

In our culture, how easy it is for us to waste time, yet we are called as the dearly loved children of God to walk wisely making sure to use your time wisely.

We live in a time where time is greatly wasted. Perhaps technology and our ability to be “everywhere” in so many places at once- -mobile networks, handheld devices, iPads, iPods, iPhones, “i-need another one!” etc.

We live in a world where time is not measured by age as much as by the next edition, the next operating system, the next generation of network, or iPod, or Play station, or whatever.

We await the “next, best thing!” The “next version”- -we long to be “upgraded” “rebooted” and “reconfigured”- -but time is ticking…

Not THE END as our goal- -but the “next best thing”.

We await the next model, next generation of iPod, next mp3 download, next television show, next computer, next movie release, next…

There is a great need to understand the rhythms of life- -and our time:

Our time is short.

We don’t have a lot of time.

We need to think about the use of our time.

We are commanded to be good stewards of our time (Re-read Ephesians 5:15-17).

But how can we rightly use wisdom about using our time wisely and in a godly manner as Christians?

This too, is part of getting discernment, and shining our lights before the dying world that is passing away (Ephesians 5:7-14).

Seeking to understand how we spend our time is getting wisdom:

ESV Ephesians 5:15 says “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise…”

From Screwtape to Wormwood: “In modern Christian writings, though I see much (indeed more than I like) about Mammon, I see few of the old warnings about Worldly Vanities, the Choice of Friends, and the Value of Time. All that, your patient would probably classify as ‘Puritanism’—and may I remark in passing that the value we have given to that word is one of the really solid triumphs of the last hundred years?” (Screwtape Letters, pgs. 50-51, my emphasis).

Do you understand this? Fools do not think about their use of time; fools waste their time.

The wise in Christ seek to use their time wisely.

Richard Baxter wrote: “Time being man’s opportunity for all those works for which he lives, and which his Creator does expect from him, and on which his endless life depends, the redeeming or well improving of it must needs be of most high importance to him; and therefore it is well made by holy Paul the great mark to distinguish the wise from fools” (Christian Directory, Part I, Chapter V).

Are you wise or foolish with your time?

We should understand:

God is the Giver and Governor of All Time

What is time?

A gift from our God.

“In the beginning, God…” God created time.

God created man to live his time for the glory of God.

Man was tempted and fell and his time was now cursed:

“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) teaches.

The Psalmist wanted to be wise.

There are a certain number of days that God has granted to each of us:

ESV Ecclesiastes 9:12 For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.

A reminder of our short lives: Psalm 90:12

ESV Psalm 90:5-6, 9-12: You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers…. For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. 11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

How long will you live?

168 days?

5,475 days? (15 years old?)

9, 125 days? (25 years old?)

14,600 days? (40 years old?)

21,900 days? (60 years old?)

25,550 days? (70 years old?)

Or more…?

That’s not really much when you think about it! Even at 70 years, you only have 70 birthdays (65 you can remember, the first two and the last two are blurred!).

70 trips around the sun; 70 New Year’s Eve celebrations (maybe 60 you remember because of age, and too much champagne!)

You would hate and regret losing $5,000 or$25,000 perishable dollars to a robber in a mask. Why then do we allow 5,0000 0r 25,000 precious imperishable days to be so easily robbed without the slightest hate or regret?!

Do you think we might have been duped?

Have we been played as the fool?

God is the Giver and Governor of All Time- -in Jesus Christ, God entered time as a man to redeem us and reconcile us to Himself so that our time would be redeemed!

Let us as Christians…

Consider each moment precious as a gift from God….

To seek to make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:9-11) in the time we have been given…

…To seek to become more and more like Christ each day with the time we have…

…To consider on how, by God’s grace to do our best, and to do the greatest good we can with our gifts and abilities, knowing the time is short:

ESV Galatians 6:10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Let us learn with our time…

…To prayerfully watch for special opportunities and/or seasons that God has granted to us:

Time with our children when they are young, and the most eager to learn about Christ…

…To cherish the time you have with aging parents…

…Cherish the time you have left with aging spouses…

…Cherish the time you have with all of your loved ones- -you don’t know when they will be called home.

Perhaps NOW is your special time for something…what is it?

Remember that if you are not a Christian, you will never redeem your time as you should with the glory of God in mind. As Christians, we are called because God has shown His loving grace and mercy to us, to see new opportunities to glorify Him with our lives.

In Christ, we have a new and living hope in Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead (1 Peter1 :4ff). We have wisdom in Christ Jesus, and we can be confident that because He will never leave us nor forsake us, He will help us to redeem our time for God’s glory.

Christ gave up every moment of time that He was given to live and die for God’s beloved children. Christ redeemed His time where we had constantly failed. Only Christ has lived in time perfectly, loving God and neighbor as Himself, fully glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.

As new creations in Christ, we can seek to do just the same with the grace He has granted to us by the Spirit. The Spirit creates; the Spirit re-creates, renews, and gives new hope and opportunities.

Won’t you start now?

Is this a special time for you right now?

BELIEVE.

HOPE.

GOD IS FAITHFUL.

To be continued…

IN Christ’s love,

Pastor Charles