Grace Math: Divine Calculations

Article by Bob Kellemen

A Word from Bob: In a recent post, we shared about grace narratives and weaving truth into life. You can learn about that at Hoping When All Hope Seems Lost.

Grace Math… 

Healing wounds requires grace narratives and grace math. Grace math teaches us that:

Present suffering +

God’s character

=

Future glory.

The equation we use is the Divine perspective.

Martin Luther’s Spiritual Mathematics  

From a Divine faith perspective on life, we erect a platform to respond to suffering. How we view life makes all the difference in how we respond to life’s losses. Martin Luther understood this:

“The Holy Spirit knows that a thing only has such value and meaning to a man as he assigns it in his thoughts.”

We must reshape our interpretation of life by contemplating suffering from a new, grace perspective. Through God’s Word we nurture alternative ways to view life’s losses.

The spiritual consolation offered by Scripture is a new vision, the power of faith to see suffering and death from the viewpoint of our crucified and risen Lord. It renews our sight and turns our common human view of matters upside down. This does not eradicate the pain or the fear of misery; it robs it of its hopelessness.

Our earth-bound, non-faith human story of suffering must yield to God’s narrative of life and suffering—to God’s grace narrative and grace math. Luther beautifully portrays the God-perspective that prompts healing.    

If only a man could see his God in such a light of love . . . how happy, how calm, how safe he would be! He would then truly have a God from whom he would know with certainty that all his fortunes—whatever they might be—had come to him and were still coming to him under the guidance of God’s most gracious will.

Look to the Cross 

As you respond to your loss, are you struggling to believe that God has a good heart? Look to the Cross. The Cross forever settles all questions about God’s heart for us. According to Luther, without faith in God’s grace through Christ’s death, we are tone-deaf to God-reality.

He who does not believe that he is forgiven by the inexhaustible riches of Christ’s righteousness is like a deaf man hearing a story. If we consider it properly and with an attentive heart, this one image—even if there were no other—would suffice to fill us with such comfort that we should not only not grieve over our evils, but should also glory in our tribulations, scarcely feeling them for the joy that we have in Christ.

The Christ of the Cross is the only One who makes sense of life when suffering bombards us.

Join the Conversation 

How can spiritual mathematics and a cross-perspective impact how you respond to suffering?

Article posted at: https://www.rpmministries.org/2016/08/grace-math-divine-calculations/

Your Morning Will Come Trusting God in the Darkest Nights

Article by  Jared Mellinger, Pastor, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania

We took our 2-year-old daughter to the hospital for what we thought would be an ordinary visit. I threw in my bag the two books I had been reading that day. One was by a Christian leader diagnosed at age 39 with a rare form of incurable cancer. The other was a book on Romans 8 by Ray Ortlund, who writes, “A strong confidence in God’s loving intentions and enveloping care fortifies us to face whatever life throws at us.”

That same day, life threw something big at me. While we were at the hospital my daughter was diagnosed with cancer, which has been the deepest sorrow I have known and the greatest threat to my hope. Currently, our daughter continues her treatment. More than ever before, my soul needs to know how to face the future without fear. Where can we turn when the cares of our hearts are many, and fears threaten to overwhelm us?

Whispers in the Dark

No one is better equipped to speak to our fears than Jesus Christ. On the night before he was crucified, he helped his disciples as they considered their future and were fearful, distressed, and lonely. He said to them, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). And Jesus not only gives the command; he speaks truths designed to lead them from fear to faith. He gives them good news about their future.

The answer is not to stop thinking about the future. Rather, we overcome fear of the future by remembering our future in Christ. That night, when confidence was waning, and the disciples were troubled by the days to come, Jesus reminded them that he was going to prepare a place for them (John 14:3). He said that he will give them a Helper, the presence of the Spirit for power and comfort and instruction, to be with them forever (John 14:16). Jesus gives his disciples the promise of eternal life with God: “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).

I naturally spend more time dwelling on what I don’t know about my future than what I do. But the word of God reveals glorious truths about our future in Christ. What we know about the future needs to shape the way we view what we don’t know.

More Grace Will Come

One morning, when my daughter was so weak from battling cancer that she could not walk, and our family was more exhausted than we have ever been, my wife read a Charles Spurgeon quote to me from the book Beside Still Waters. She read it through tears. They were tears of sorrow, tears of comfort, tears of hope.

We have great demands, but Christ has great supplies. Between here and heaven, we may have greater wants than we have yet known. But all along the journey, every resting place is ready; provisions are laid up, good cheer is stored, and nothing has been overlooked. The commissary of the eternal is absolutely perfect.

Military posts usually include a commissary, which is a store of food and supplies. Our needs are many, but Christ knows all of our needs and has already prepared to meet them. Nothing has been overlooked. God promises to provide for our future needs by giving us future grace. We are poor in ourselves, but we will find riches of grace in Christ.

Godly Optimism

Those who belong to Christ have every reason to be optimistic about the future. Hope dominates our outlook. We look at everything that could possibly come our way in life and consider ourselves more than conquerors. Randy Alcorn says, “Because of the certainty of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and his promises, biblical realism is optimism.”

The Bible promotes optimism, but it is a certain kind of optimism. It is not the secular optimism of positive thinking, or the natural optimism of a laid-back personality, but the godly optimism of Christian hope. True hope endures in the darkness. It is through tears of faith-led lament that we see the beauty of our hope most clearly. Godly optimism is marked by realism and mixed with grief. We know that in this world we will have trouble, but we take heart trusting the one who has overcome the world (John 16:33). Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

Why Your Future Is Bright

What do we know about the days to come? We know that for every changing circumstance, there is new mercy from our faithful God (Lamentations 3:22–23). We know that whatever trials we face, God will be with us to guide and preserve us (Isaiah 43:2). We know that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38–39).

You don’t know everything about your future, but you know the most important parts:

• God will be with you.
• Christ will intercede for you.
• The Holy Spirit will empower you.
• God will supply your needs.
• The risen Lord will protect you.
• The love of God will keep you.
• All things will work for your good.
• The defeat of sin and death is sure.
• You will see Christ face to face.
• You will worship the Lamb who was slain.
• Your body will be resurrected.
• Your sorrows will be no more.
• You will be with loved ones in Christ.
• You will be richly rewarded.
• Christ will make all things new.

We often fall short of the hope and courage we ought to have as Christians. But day by day, Christ is changing us and empowering us to face the future with confidence in him. Therefore, be strong in the Lord Jesus. Let your heart take courage. Look to the days ahead with joy-filled hope.

By the grace of God, we are learning to expect a bright tomorrow. If you trust him, your morning will come.

Jared Mellinger (@JMellinger) is senior pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. He’s married to Meghan, has six children, and is the author of Think Again: Relief from the Burden of Introspection and A Bright Tomorrow: Facing the Future without Fear.

Article posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/your-morning-will-come

Spiritual Growth is Bot an Accident

Article by Jon Bloom

We have a small garden at our home. Usually we enjoy looking at it through our kitchen window in the summer. But we haven’t enjoyed it much lately because among the perennials and annuals we’ve planted, a fair amount of weeds are growing. Why? Because I haven’t tended the garden for a number of weeks. Why? Because I’ve been busy doing other things and neglected our garden.

Perhaps my neglect has been a dereliction of duty — putting lesser priorities ahead of our garden. Perhaps my neglect has been the result of choosing not to be derelict in more important duties. Either way, our garden is reminding me that what a gardener does or doesn’t do really matters.

Our Work Matters

If a gardener wants certain flowers or shrubs or grass or trees to grow in his garden, he must actually cultivate the ground and plant them. But that’s just the beginning. He then must persistently and diligently work to nurture and protect what he’s planted from drought, weeds, pestilence, and pesky critters (like my hole-digging dog).

This even holds true for a Calvinist gardener. If I believe it doesn’t really matter how (or if) I do my gardener’s work — because God will make sure every garden he ordains to exist will grow and flourish — then I hold an errant understanding of how God’s sovereignty and my responsibility work.

“God gifts us with the incredibly gracious dignity of real responsibility.”TweetShare on Facebook

When the apostle Paul rightly said that “God gave the growth” to the church plant in the garden at Corinth, he fully believed his work of planting, and Apollos’s work of watering, were the necessary means of that God-given growth (1 Corinthians 3:6). Paul knew he didn’t create the “seed”; he was entrusted with it. Apollos knew he didn’t create the “water”; he was entrusted with it. Both knew they didn’t create the “sun” or “soil” or other environmental factors necessary for the “plant’s” growth. And yet they both worked as though their labors were vital to the survival of the “plant,” because their labors were vital. If the seed wasn’t planted, the plant wouldn’t grow. If the plant wasn’t watered, the plant would die.

Our “gardening” labors being necessary to the germination and growth of “plants” in the gardens of God do not detract from God’s sovereign jurisdiction over all things. This is how he has sovereignly ordered our roles in the gardens he gives us to tend. He gifts us with the incredibly gracious dignity of real responsibility — meaning, what we choose to do or not do affects real outcomes in our gardens.

And yet God does not mean for us to be crushed under the weight of fear lest we fail in our responsibilities. Instead, he promises to supply us all we need to do our gardening work if we learn to live like plants.

Gardeners Like Plants

In the kingdom, just like all Christians are sheep (John 10:27) and yet some are called to the work of shepherding (1 Peter 5:2), all Christians are plants, and yet we’re also called to the work of gardening. Now as plants, this is how God intends for us to live:

Blessed is the man . . . [whose] delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1–3)

“You likely cannot care well for every garden you wish to grow.”TweetShare on Facebook

Notice what is vital to the flourishing of the “tree”: the “tree’s” meditating frequently on God’s word to nourish faith. If that condition is not met, the tree’s roots won’t tap into the stream, and the tree should not expect to yield fruit in its season or have healthy leaves. Jesus essentially says the same thing in this text:

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4–5)

Notice what is vital to the flourishing of the “branch”: the “branch’s” continual attachment to the vine. If that condition is not met, the branch will be unable to bear fruit and will wither (John 15:6).

When it comes to us, as “plants” (trees or branches), we see the same design of our sovereign God: what we do, or don’t do, really matters. How precisely our real responsibility works with God’s ultimate sovereignty is not a mystery God means for us to solve. It’s a truth he means for us to trust. The important thing we need to know is that if we draw from the stream or from the vine, we will have all we need to tend the gardens God gives us.

How Do Your Gardens Grow?

We are all “plants,” and we are all “gardeners.” Gardening is, after all, the original job God gave to man when he “put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Like Adam and Eve, God has given us “gardens” to tend, and he expects us to work and keep them. And the work we do really matters to the condition of the gardens.

What gardens has he given you? And as the quite contrary Mary was asked in the nursery rhyme, “How do your gardens grow?” What have you planted? For a plant only comes forth from a planted seed. How are you nurturing what’s been planted? For gardening requires persistent, diligent work.

“God has given us each ‘gardens’ to tend, and he expects us to work and keep them.”TweetShare on Facebook

Do you know which are your primary gardens and which are your secondary gardens? Are your primary gardens receiving your primary attention? You likely cannot care well for every garden you wish to grow. At times, the needs of your primary gardens will require you to neglect some secondary gardens for a season, and other secondary gardens altogether. For God promises his stream-fed trees and abiding vines sufficient grace for every good gardening work he gives them to do (2 Corinthians 9:8), but not every gardening work that appeals to them or that he has assigned to someone else.

The little garden outside our kitchen window is a secondary garden currently neglected due to time-consuming needs in more important “gardens.” I hope to give it attention soon, but for now, it must wait. And while it waits, it’s reminding me that when it comes to any of my gardens, what I do and don’t do really matters.

Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) serves as author, board chair, and co-founder of Desiring God. He is author of three books, Not by Sight, Things Not Seen, and Don’t Follow Your Heart. He and his wife live in the Twin Cities with their five children.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/spiritual-growth-is-not-an-accident

How Far Does God's Grace Go?

by David McLemore 

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” - Luke 15:1-10

The parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin are basically the same stories. In each, something is lost, searched out, and found. Jesus is making a simple point: He came to search and find the one. He came to restore that which was lost. Charles Spurgeon put it this way: 

The truth here taught is just this—that mercy stretches forth her hand to misery, that grace receives men as sinners, that it deals with demerit, unworthiness, and worthlessness; that those who think themselves righteous are not the objects of divine compassion, but the unrighteous, the guilty, and the undeserving, are the proper subjects for the infinite mercy of God; in a word, that salvation is not of merit but of grace.

Since salvation is not of merit, but of grace, God’s heart toward sinners is different than our heart often is. He’s not waiting for them to turn their lives around; he’s out there searching for them to bring them home. He’s on the move, even if they’re stuck in a cave or lost in the floorboards. He is not content to merely find the lost one; he rejoices over its restoration. God searches for and finds the lost, one by one, until all his children are tucked safely in their eternal rooms. Then, he throws a heavenly party. Who would spend such time on one sheep or one coin? It seems excessive, doesn’t it? God’s love is like that: excessive, extravagant, lavish.

The sinners and tax collectors gathered around must have understood Jesus was referring to. They were the lost sheep, the lost coin. Jesus had come looking for them, and they had been found! How many in the crowd had dined with him? How many had he healed? How many had received his smile, felt his touch, been warmed by his presence? And yet it was not to this group that Jesus directed his parables that day. He was not instructing the sinners. He was instructing the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes. The sinners and tax collectors had been found by Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes were still running from him.

They knew the law, but they did not know God. They looked at the letter and found rules to obey without seeing the heart to love. They ventured into the world with their Sunday-best shirt starched as stiffly as possible, Bible in hand, with a smile ready to produce. But their hearts were far from God because their hearts trusted in their good deeds rather than God’s good grace. Their mind was too occupied with obedience to see a need. They were too full of themselves to be needy for Christ. They were lost and needed to be found, but they didn’t know it.

And Jesus was asking them a simple question: how far does God’s grace go? How far does his love stretch? How deep does it plunge? To the worst sinner? To the deepest depravity? To the best Pharisee? To the smartest scribe?

In each of these parables, Jesus includes two characters. The first is that which is lost. The second is the one who seeks. The lost must be found. But in each instance, the lost do not know they are lost. We have no indication the sheep understood his plight. It had no awareness of danger. It thought it was fine. The coin has no ability to see, it cannot understand, it doesn’t think. Each is lost, and each matters so much that the seeker leaves much to find the one.

The one who seeks wastes no time. The shepherd abandons the ninety-nine to look for the one. The woman sweeps the house over to uncover the coin. Time is not mentioned. Cost is not counted. All that matters is the one being returned to the many. And when it is, a party is thrown. It was not the sheep who stayed or the coins in the bank that were the cause of the party. It was the sheep that wandered, the coin that was lost and everyone was invited to rejoice.

The Pharisees and scribes don’t know how to rejoice. Instead, when they see sinners coming to Jesus, they blame Jesus for being too lenient, not for being too gracious. They miss the wonder of his mercy thinking they deserve the party instead.

What about you? Can you rejoice in bad people being made good in Christ? Is there a certain test - designed by you, administered by you, and graded by you - that one must pass to be included in God’s kingdom? The Pharisees and scribes had such a test, and Jesus couldn’t even pass it. Would your test exclude Jesus as well?

Jesus is calling the self-righteous to account in these stories. He’s showing us what his brother, James, said years later, “Judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13).

Editor's Note: This post originally appeared at David's blog, Things of the Sort.

David McLemore

David McLemore is part of the church planting team at Refuge Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He is married to Sarah, and they have three sons.

Article posted at: https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/how-far-does-gods-grace-go

When Sin Looks Delicious

Article by Tim Challies

Do you ever have those days where you just want to sin? Sin looks delicious while righteousness looks distasteful. Sin looks satisfying and holiness looks frustrating. You wake up in the morning with a desire to do what you know you should not desire to do. Your heart echoes with what God said to Cain: “Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you.” And your desire is for it.

What do you do on a day like that?

Take the Blame

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:13-15). Sin takes advantage of your sinful desires by promising satisfaction in the expression and fulfillment of those desires. Take the blame for wanting to sin. You want to sin because you are a sinner!

Look for Satan

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith…” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Satan knows you are prone to sin and knows you well enough to know your specific temptations to sin. In the days you are being tempted to sin, you may well be facing his attacks. When sin feels extrinsic, like it is coming from outside as much as inside, prepare yourself to resist the devil.

Talk to God

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. … praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Ephesians 6:11, 18a). When tempted to sin, you are told to put on the whole armor of God—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and so on. Each of these pieces of armor is donned and deployed through prayer. You resist sin and withstand temptation through humbling yourself in prayer and by crying out to God for his strength.

Talk to Someone Else

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). Tell your husband or wife, your colleague, your friend, your accountability partner. Confess your desire. Make it as simple as it really is: “I want to sin today. Sin looks desirable; holiness looks boring.” Ask for their prayer in the moment and ask them to talk to you later to ask if and how you withstood the temptation. Just as they can pray with you now to plead God’s help, they can pray with you later to rejoice in his deliverance.

Preach the Gospel

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Preach this great gospel truth to yourself. As a Christian, you have been purchased by Christ. You belong to him. You are his. You have been given everything you need to resist—the ability and the desire. You are a new creation and both can and should behave as such. Preach the gospel to yourself and remember whose you are.

Resist the Temptation

Resolve that you will not sin and then follow resolve with stubborn obedience.

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). God promises that he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, but that he will always provide a way of escape. He will provide a way, but you still need to take advantage of that way. Talk to God, ask him to make the way clear, and ask that he will give you grace to take it. Often resisting temptation is as simple as this: Don’t sin! Resolve that you will not sin and then follow resolve with stubborn obedience.

Rely on Patterns of Godliness

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you … Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience … And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called…” (Colossians 3:5-15). The Christian life is a lifelong obedience of replacing ungodly patterns and habits with godly ones. We continually put off the old man and put on the new. When facing temptation you will be tempted to fall back into old tendencies and habits. Instead, reject the old patterns of ungodliness and rely upon and follow the patterns of godliness you have developed.

Give Thanks

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). If temptation is born out of sinful desire and false promises of satisfaction through what God forbids, the solution is to give thanks. Where temptation focuses on all you do not have, thanksgiving focuses on all you have graciously been given. When you are tempted to sin, thank God for his good gifts. When you have been delivered from the temptation to sin, give thanks for his enabling grace.

Article originally posted at: https://www.challies.com/christian-living/when-sin-looks-delicious/

Ten Short Truths about the Shortest Psalm

Article by Barry York, 

Psalm 117 is the shortest psalm of only two verses.

Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!

This little psalm is bursting with praise to the Lord. As Spurgeon says in his Treasury of David, “This Psalm, which is very little in its letter, is exceedingly large in its spirit; for, bursting beyond all bounds of race or nationality, it calls upon all mankind to praise the name of the Lord.” Three times the psalmist calls us to praise or extol the Lord.

Psalm 117 is found right in the heart of the Bible. Interestingly, the Bible has 1189 chapters, meaning the 595th chapter is the middle chapter of the Bible. Which chapter is that? Psalm 117! Though certainly the chapter divisions are not inspired, as the original texts did not contain them, still the Lord was providentially in control of them.

God's presence is experienced in this chapter just as in any longer chapter of scripture. Again Spurgeon says, “The same divine Spirit which expatiates (writes at length) in the 119th psalm, here condenses his utterances into two short verses, but yet the same infinite fullness is present and perceptible.”

Psalm 117 is part of the Hallel of the Psalter. The Psalter has various collections of songs in it, and Psalms 113-118 form one section known as the Hallel, which means "Praise." These psalms praise God for his salvation from sin and death, and speak of one who will bring this salvation. The previous psalm, Psalm 116, says, "You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” The next psalm states, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” These clearly are prophecies of Christ's death and resurrection.

This psalm exchoes the covenant promises given to Abraham. God had promised Abraham he would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, even changing his name to Abraham which means "Father of many people." In Genesis 18:18, the Lord said, “Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.” This psalms reminds us of God's promise made to Abraham and fulfilled in his seed of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:1).

Psalm 117 was sung by Jesus and the apostles the night before he died.Matthew tells us that at the conclusion of the Lord and the disciples observing Passover and the first Lord's Supper, they sang "a hymn" before departing to the Mount of Olives (Matt. 26:30). Most commentators tell us that this hymn would have been actually these particular psalms, sung especially by the Jews at Passover. In the midst of the psalms that Jesus was singing the night before he died, he calls all nations to praise the Lord for his great love.

Psalm 117 is quoted in the Book of Romans. Paul quotes from this psalm in Romans 15. In this part of Romans, he is section explaining that the gospel is for all people, Jews and Gentiles alike. “I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written (here then is the quote from Ps. 117), “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him.” So the early church saw this psalm fulfilled in God manifesting the gospel to the Gentiles.

This psalm finds its true fulfillment in the New Testament Church. Though given to the Jews, this psalm is certainly not limited to them. Rather, it is a call to all nations and peoples of the earth- in other words the Gentiles - to praise God.

Psalm 117 testifies to the everlasting love God has for the church throughout the world. The reason given for praising the Lord is for his great love that stands on his truth forever. Those redeemed by Christ will know of that love now and forever.

How the church throughout the would should rejoice and sing these words together!

Article originally posted at: https://gentlereformation.com/2018/06/11/ten-short-truths-about-the-shortest-psalm/

The Stupendous Reality of Being “in Christ Jesus”

Article by  John Piper, Founder & Teacher, desiringGod.org

Being “in Christ Jesus” is a stupendous reality. It is breathtaking what it means to be in Christ. United to Christ. Bound to Christ. If you are “in Christ” listen to what it means for you.

Thirteen Stupendous Realities

1. In Christ Jesus you were given grace before the world was created. “He gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Timothy 1:9).

2. In Christ Jesus you were chosen by God before creation. “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).

3. In Christ Jesus you are loved by God with an inseparable love. “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39).

4. In Christ Jesus you were redeemed and forgiven for all your sins. In Christwe have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Ephesians 1:7).

5. In Christ Jesus you are justified before God and the righteousness of God in Christ is imputed to you. “For our sake God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

“In Christ Jesus all the promises of God are Yes for you.”

6. In Christ Jesus you have become a new creation and a son of God. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:26).

7. In Christ Jesus you have been seated in the heavenly places even while he lived on earth. “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

8. In Christ Jesus all the promises of God are Yes for you. “All the promises of God find their Yes in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

9. In Christ Jesus you are being sanctified and made holy. “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:2).

10. In Christ Jesus everything you really need will be supplied. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

11. In Christ Jesus the peace of God will guard your heart and mind. “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

12. In Christ Jesus you have eternal life. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

13. And in Christ Jesus you will be raised from the dead at the coming of the Lord. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). All those united to Adam in the first humanity die. All those united to Christ in the new humanity rise to live again.

Faith and God’s Sovereign Work

How do we get into Christ?

“Union with Christ is the ground of everlasting joy, and it is free.”

At the unconscious and decisive level, it is God’s sovereign work: “From God are you in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:30, my translation).

But at the conscious level of our own action, it is through faith. Christ dwells in our hearts “through faith” (Ephesians 3:17). The life we live in union with his death and life we “live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). We are united in his death and resurrection “through faith” (Colossians 2:12).

This is a wonderful truth. Union with Christ is the ground of everlasting joy, and it is free.

God Will Give You More than You Can Handle

Article by Mitch Chase

Christians can make the strangest claims when comforting those who are suffering. What do you say to someone whose life is falling apart? If you have but few precious minutes with a person who’s lost a job, home, spouse, child, or all sense of purpose, what comfort do you give?

We might turn to conventional wisdom instead of Scripture and end up saying something like, “Don’t worry, this wouldn’t happen in your life if God didn’t think you could bear it.” The sufferer may object, head shaking and hands up. But you insist, “Look, seriously, the Bible promises God won’t ever give you more in life than you can handle.” There it is—conventional wisdom masquerading as biblical truth. You’ve promised what the Bible never does.

Temptations Versus Trials

In 1 Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul writes, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” His discussion is specific: he’s writing about “temptation,” a snare that breaks a sweat trying to drag us into sin. Using a predator metaphor, God warned Cain that “sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Gen. 4:7). Sin stalks us, but God is faithful. Sin desires to overcome us, but there is a merciful way of escape. Sin sets the bait, but for the believer—praise God!—sin is not irresistible.

Now if people apply Paul’s words about temptation to general sufferings, you can see where the line “God will never give you more than you can handle” comes from. I don’t doubt the sincerity and good intentions of those who use this phrase, but sincerity isn’t enough. Even Job’s friends meant well.

The Twin Errors

There are at least two errors in the unbiblical notion of “God will never give you more than you can handle.” First, it plays on the cultural virtue of fairness. Second, it points the sufferer inward instead of Godward.

1. Trials that Are . . . Fair?

If you give your children boxes to load into the car, you make visual and weight assessments that factor in their ages and strength. You don’t overload their arms and watch them crash to the ground with stuff splayed everywhere. That would be unfair. The saying “God will never give you more than you can handle” strikes a tone of fairness we instinctually like. There’s something pleasing about the idea that the scales are in balance, that God has assessed what we can handle and permits trials accordingly.

But there is a glaring problem with the “fairness” that undergirds this conventional wisdom: God has been unfair already, because he has not dealt with us as our sins deserve. He has been longsuffering, forbearing, gracious, and abounding in love. The sun shines and rain falls even on the unjust (Matt. 5:45). God transcends the categories of fair and unfair to such a degree that we have no position to evaluate his actions or weigh his will. His ways aren’t subject to our culture’s standard of fairness.

2. The Power . . . Within?

Suffering doesn’t ask if you’re ready. It may come slowly or with a vengeance, but it doesn’t ask permission, and it doesn’t care about convenience. There’s never a good time for your life to be wrecked. But the saying “God will never give you more than you can handle” tells me I have what it takes. It tells me I can bear whatever comes my way. It tells me God permits trials according to my ability to endure. Think about what this conventional wisdom does: it points people inward.

Yet the Bible points us Godward. As the psalmist says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (Ps. 46:1–3). When our strength is failing under crushing burdens, the answer is not within. God gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak (Isa. 40:29). The power comes from him to those who wait on him.

Where Trials Direct Us

Trials come in all shapes and sizes, but they don’t come to show how much we can take or how we have it all together. Overwhelming suffering will come our way because we live in a broken world with broken people. And when it comes, let’s be clear ahead of time that we don’t have what it takes. God will give us more than we can handle—but not more than he can

The psalmist asks, “Where does my help come from?” (Ps. 121:1), and we must be able to answer like he did. We must know and believe, deep in our bones, that “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (121:2). When trials come, trust that the Lord’s help will come. This news is helpful to sufferers since we’re saying something true about God instead of something false about ourselves.

Paul recalled a time when God gave him more than he could bear. In a letter to the Corinthians, he wrote, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself” (2 Cor. 1:8). Paul and his associates had been in circumstances that transcended their strength to endure: “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death” (1:9).

Then he provides a crucial insight into his despair. Why were he and his companions given more than they could handle? To “make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). God will give you more than you can handle so that his great power might be displayed in your life. Indeed, a greater weight of glory is still to come: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).

You might not consider overwhelming sufferings to be “light” and “momentary,” but think of your trials in terms of a trillion years from now. In the middle of affliction, sometimes the most difficult thing to hold onto is an eternal vision. Paul isn’t trying to minimize your affliction; he’s trying to maximize your perspective.

Suffering doesn’t get the last line in the script. In this life, God will give you more than you can handle, but the coming weight of glory will be greater than you can imagine.

Mitch Chase (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the pastor at Kosmosdale Baptist Church and an adjunct professor at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky. He’s the author of Behold Our Sovereign God and The Gospel Is for Christians. He is married to Stacie, and they have four boys. You can follow him on Twitter.

Article originally posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/god-will-give-you-more-than-you-can-handle/

Eight Sequential Steps to Change

Article by Rick Thomas

One of the most blessed things about the gospel is the transformation that it brings to us. And one of the most challenging things about the gospel is how many Christians find authentic and sustainable change elusive.

I’m going to walk you through eight sequential steps to long-term and effective change. But before I do that I want to address two critical stumbling blocks that commonly interfere with the Christian’s hope for change.

1. Acknowledging personal brokenness

2. Understanding we cannot change ourselves

Deliverance Is Needed

One of the healthiest perspectives that you can have about your life is your weaknesses, imperfections, and faults. I realize what I just said flies in the face of the long-standing cultural worldview that teaches the path to freedom is through the doors of self-actualization and self-esteem.

The pursuit of self-actualization and high self-esteem are at the heart of the American psyche. There is probably not another culture in the world that has a more elevated view of themselves than Americans, though all “Adamic people” think highly of themselves.

Self-esteem is the call to esteem yourself as being something special (Philippians 2:3-4). That thought, when practicalized, is supposed be the “secret sauce” that unlocks the door to your best life now.

The biblical record could not be more antithetical to the self-esteem gospel (Romans 3:10-12). The message of the Bible is that even though God made us in His image (Genesis 1:27), we chose to taint that image (Genesis 3:7; Romans 5:12) to the point where we are corrupt entirely (Jeremiah 17:9).

Now, this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. – Ephesians 4:17-19

The theological term for our condition is “total depravity.” We are pathetically and irreparably broken. That is who we are before regeneration, and as odd as it may seem, that perspective is the perfect beginning of your best life now.

To know and affirm that you are without hope, separated from salvation, and entirely unable to change how you are is one of the most significant self-reflective thoughts that you could make about yourself.

It is true that our culture knows they need deliverance from something. Where we disagree is the path and method that brings liberation. The culture prefers to pursue personal “god-ness,” as though being autonomous and self-reliant are the ways to their best lives now (Genesis 11:4; John 14:6). The biblical record could not disagree more.

The path to success (Joshua 1:8) is through death, not life (Matthew 16:24). Being aware of the need for deliverance is a good start, but it will be a dead-end and disappointing road if your deliverer is not the Lord Jesus (Proverbs 14:12).

Self-Reflection: As you think about your life, what has been your primary means of saving yourself from yourself? Are you an adherent to the self-esteem gospel or would you characterize yourself as a practitioner of the gospel-centered life, which says, in part, that you are depraved entirely?

A great way to answer those questions is by how you respond to this one: Are you free enough to be vulnerable, transparent, and honest about who you are?

The gospelized person has nothing to fear, hide, or defend because the gospelized person knows that the worst possible thing said about him happened from the cross. (Paraphrasing Milton Vincent from A Gospel Primer.)

The death of Christ is the loudest proclamation ever made about our pathetic-ness, and with the worst thing that could be said about you already broadcasted to the world, you no longer have to pretend you are somebody that you are not–a worldview that is at the heart of the self-esteem movement.

Deliverance Comes from God

If your ultimate goal is to be safe, secure, and free from all present and future harm, there is only one way to find such freedom: God is your Deliverer. Your methods for deliverance have never been able to hold water for long (Jeremiah 2:13).

Principles, inspiring quotes, and a bucket-load of good habits will not save you. Though you can have temporary relief and even short-term behavioral change through worldly wisdom, transformation into a new creation does not happen without the empowering and transformative work of God in your life (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The requirement is on you to relinquish your rights to yourself while asking the Lord to do what you absolutely cannot do under your strength (2 Corinthians 4:7) and wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).

Continuation down a path of self-reliance, self-serving, and self-preservation is a march into a more profound darkness that will further entangle you into enslaving habits of the mind and body.

Embracing weakness and death is a worldview that is too hard for high-esteemers to grasp. The high self-esteemer lives in a world that feeds the insatiable desire to be somebody. Here is a quick peek into that world:

• They buy clothes to present themselves in a way that they want folks to see them.

• They watch their “likes” on their favorite social media sites because they crave acceptance.

• They disguise who they are while ignoring the real truth about themselves because the culture tells them that it’s unhealthy to their psyches to think otherwise.

• They carefully script their lives into an image for public consumption, hoping that imitation garners appreciation.

If an individual persists in these practices, they will form strongholds that will be almost impossible to defeat. That plan and path to freedom is not freedom at all; it’s a life sentence with no chance of rescue. Only God can set the captive free.

Eight Steps to Change

Do you believe that you are broken and entirely unable to help yourself? Do you think that you need God to change you? Do you think that all the self-help and self-esteem in the world will not transform you from the inside out?

If you believe these things are accurate, you’re on the right path–a path that begins with the grace of God, which is the unmerited means that escorts you to the starting blocks of change.

I have eight steps that will help you change your life. The best way to work through these steps is with a trusted and competent friend. The questions with each step are brutally honest, no doubt, but if you’re serious about change, you’re ready.

Find your friend and get to work. (I have also built an infographic to motivate you along visually.)

Step #1 is grace–God’s unearned favor in your life.

1. Are you indeed at the end of yourself (Luke 15:17)?

2. Do you believe you are worthless (Romans 3:12)?

Step #2 is the gospel–God’s power to bring change to your life.

1. Are you convinced that only God can change you?

2. Are you willing to allow Him to have His way with you?

Step #3 is humility–the fertile ground upon which the gospel will do its work.

1. Are you broken enough to be vulnerable?

2. Are you broken enough to be transparent?

Step #4 is discernment–the ability to perceive the real truth about yourself.

1. Do you know the real you, the whole truth about yourself?

2. Are you willing to confess the whole truth about yourself?

Step #5 is obedience–the desire to follow through with the Spirit’s illuminating instructions.

1. Are you willing to act on whatever it takes to change?

2. Are you willing to revisit your obedience every day?

Step #6 is perseverance–the grace-empowerment to stay the course.

1. Will you secure help from your friends so you can stay the course?

2. Will you hold them accountable to hold you accountable to the process?

Step #7 is gratitude–the heart that cannot be silent about God’s good work.

1. Will you make a gratitude list and add to it each day?

2. Will you share with one other person what the Lord is doing in your life?

Step #8 is exportation–the person who wants others to know, feel, and experience a similar transformation.

1. Will you ask the Father to bring at least one person to you so you can disciple them?

2. Will you begin helping them to experience what you are experiencing?

Article originally posted at:  https://rickthomas.net/portfolio/change-happens/

Humility Before God

Article by Mike Ayers

The first two years of life are all about the struggle of learning to walk and talk. These are the basics at this age. Learning to talk is rather cute and harmless. Learning to walk, on the other hand, can be a bit treacherous. My oldest son cut his eye open doing so. My other son kept a knot in the middle of his head for six weeks during this process.

Despite the danger, we as parents make them do it because we know we have to teach certain things first. There are basic prerequisites to functioning in life and some things come before others. We walk, then we run; we learn the alphabet, then we read; etc.

In the spiritual life, there exists a fundamental prerequisite for relating to God, and if there is any single key condition for authentic holy living it would be the virtue of humility. It is, in fact, a quality from which all other dimensions of life in Christ flow.

Saint Augustine said, “Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist, there cannot be any other virtue.”

Can one receive salvation without humility? No. Can one develop in character, love, be reconciled to others, or worship without humility? No. This is why humility is such a high value in God’s economy.

In 2 Chronicles 7, the Bible describes prayers and worship offered to God at the dedication of the temple upon its completion. In response, God gives commands for relating to Him and provides promises of blessings when those commands are heeded.

Contained in this passage is likely the premiere verse for spiritual revival in all of Scripture.

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” - 2 Chronicles 7:14

The very first phrase—that is, the very first condition for God’s response, forgiveness, and healing of His people, is humility. God says that we are to humble ourselves before Him.

As a prerequisite for relating to God, humility is like one of those required classes in college. You know, the ones you don’t choose because they’re not as fun, as easy, or as relevant as the others. If you flunk this kind of class, you have to take it again. We who have lived long enough in Christ know that we don’t really have a choice when it comes to humility. It is required by God. So, we can humble ourselves: we willingly posture ourselves before God without pretention or pride. Or, we can do it the hard way—experience pain in our lives as a result of pride that eventually leads to humiliation. In other words, we can be humble, or be humbled. In fact, it may be true that one cannot be humble before God until one has been humbled by God. After some of my own experiences of pain resulting from arrogance and independence, I’d like to choose the former.

But what is contained in humility before God? I believe there are three dynamics at work that leads a person to humble themselves.

The first is PERSPECTIVE. Humility flows from a perspective that I have about God, and then about myself in relationship to Him.

Let’s look at Isaiah’s experience:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.” - Isaiah 6:1-4

Wow! Isaiah had a vision of God where He clearly came to grips with the majesty, holiness, righteousness, and purity of His character. What was Isaiah’s immediate response?

“Then I said, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” - Isaiah 6:5

Do you get a picture of what the Bible is describing? It is a vision of God’s holiness. Holiness includes God’s complete moral purity and perfection, i.e., His righteousness in character. More than that, God’s holiness primarily points to what some theologians have called His infinite “otherness”. To say that God is holy means that He is transcendentally separate and distinct in His purity and goodness from us.

As a result of this vision, Isaiah was “undone” before God. Have you ever been completely undone before God? This word could be translated as “ruined”, or “utterly lost.” His perspective was, “I don’t measure up. I don’t deserve to be in God’s presence, let alone to be a recipient of His grace and mercy. I am unworthy.”

You see, when we have an accurate understanding of who God is, we will then have an accurate understanding of who we are. The result is humility. The perspective is that there is no way we could stand in God’s presence with any sense of right to do so or pride in what we bring. It is a deep understanding that He is God and I am not.

Therefore, when we are allowed to be in His presence (as we are) and be loved by this holy God, this fact produces the second component of humility: gratitude.Because of who He is, in light of who we are, and because we are received by Him, we worship this infinitely other God with hearts full of gratitude and praise!

The Book of Revelation paints the greatest picture of humble gratitude in eternal worship.

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” - Revelation 7:9-12

See the angels around the throne? The multitudes falling on their faces before the God? They are beings who are overwhelmed with the reality: “We are not worthy, yet we are chosen.”

Here’s our human problem. Familiarity breeds ingratitude. What we are used to, we take for granted. Therefore, ongoing spiritual vitality requires constant awakening to what we have in Christ. It means remembering the preciousness of the gift of salvation, the unending presence of the Holy Spirit within, and that fact of our destiny in eternity.

But humility doesn’t end with perspective and gratitude. Most might think it would. If it did, humility might only be a profound thought (perspective) or a fleeting feeling (gratitude). True humility is manifested in one’s life. Upon recognizing God’s holiness, and being grateful for His love and acceptance, the results are an innate desire to do what He wants, to seek His ways, to trust His commands, and to believe that His way is truly best. So thirdly, true humility requires obedience.

In this sense, disobedience to God is not so much rebellion, as much as it is a lack of perspective and gratitude.

As parents, we want our children to obey us, not out of legalistic allegiance, but out of perspective of who we are to them, and out of gratitude for all we have done for them. The same is true for the Father in Heaven.

Perspective, gratitude, and obedience. These are the marks of humility before God.

Billy Graham’s death recently occurred. The week of his death, I read many articles about him and his ministry. Time and again, there was one trait that was expressed about him by countless people who knew Reverend Graham and had worked with him. It was humility.

Come to think of it. Every godly person I have ever known in my life, regardless of their respected positions, great achievements or considerable power they held, were humble people. 

Mike Ayers

Mike Ayers, a Regular Contributor to For The Church, is the lead pastor of The Brook Church in Tomball, Texas, the Chair and Professor of Leadership Studies at College of Biblical Studies in Houston, and the author of Power to Lead: Five Essentials for the Practice of Biblical Leadership. He is a husband of 26 years to Tammy, and they have three children: Ryan, Brandon, and Kaley.

Article posted on:  https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/humility-before-god