Take off the grave clothes

"And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes... Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. (John 11:44)"

There are some of us who have been given new life, we have been raised by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, but we are still walking around in our grave clothes! The NIV says it this way, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” We say, “woe is me, I have this and that problem, this and that complaint... circumstance A is overwhelming me... I can't do this, I can't do that... such and such is too hard or I have never done that...you don't know what so and so said or did to me etc...” Take off the grave clothes! Yes you may have been in the tomb, BUT NOT ANYMORE! Wake up, you have been raised from the dead! Sin is no longer your captor and we have been given new life in Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:17). There may be difficult times, there may be deep valleys, but that is not where we stay. We don't live there anymore, and that is not where we remain! Jesus said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you...” (John 15:4 NIV). Death could not hold Him in the grave!

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NIV)

Oh Righteous Father, oh Righteous Lord, revive our spirit and quicken our hearts, let us awaken to your life in us, and let us not grieve you and supress the flame of life you have put in us. Not by might, not by power, but by your Spirit oh LORD!

A trustworthy saying

It has been awhile since I posted last, and at this time I will break from the previous series. I have been consumed in busyness and what I have at times considered as mundane. But even in these things I have found that not only is God at work, He is profoundly at work even when you think nothing is happening. Since my last post much has happened in my life, including the growth of my son and arrival of my daughter. Praise God for they are truly a blessing!

Now to link with my last post... even though I am breaking from the series I was doing, today's post is the outworking of putting the last post into action...

I have found that the more you strive at goodness, the more the necessity for grace. The more you attempt to be good, the more you see how far from good you are. There is a fine line between walking in grace/living out the life of Christ in your life and justifying yourself with "goodness" before God. Clearly the latter is impossible because our meager attempts at righteousness - self righteousness that is - before a holy God is revealed to us, shockingly, to be utterly and woefully inadequate. The closer you get to God, the more you see how far you are from being God (or as good as God)! He is Holy, so00 Holy! And I am so woefully unholy. The words of Peter are so fitting, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord" (Luke 5:8). Yet we are driven to cling to Him and the cross of calvary, "for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Amen!

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst." (1 Timothy 1:15 NIV).

God is teaching us reliance on Him, utter and complete reliance, from first to last. For we come to Him by faith and entrust ourselves to His mercy and grace, knowing our deeds are not enough to justify ourselves before Him. And consequently we walk with Him, doing good, by this same faith, entrusting ourselves to the one who is "able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day" (2 Timothy 1:12 NIV). For it seems God is pleased to keep us in tension between entrusting ourselves to Him and to doing good- putting our hope in Him as we do it.

"This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe" (1 Timothy 4:9,10 NIV). The words of Paul are preceded by "train yourself to be godly" (v. 7). This theme is repeated again and again by Paul, "This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good" (Titus 3:8) and finally,

"Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; ...if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself" (2 Timothy 2:11,13 NIV).

Amen!

Step 2, GOODNESS

GOODNESS
{for the detailed view, click on exploring the word in the links}

We have been “saved by grace, …through faith, and created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8,10; NIV). In addition to our faith we must add moral virtue, as if to say in practicing our faith me must strive to walk in the standing which we already have in God. Christ is our righteousness before God, but we still have to practice moral excellence (Hebrews 5:14) to walk in righteousness. “Be ye Holy; for I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:16). As one called out of darkness, I must live out the righteousness I now have in Christ.

“You are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [aretas] of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…” (1 Peter 2:9;
NASB, brackets mine: from the Greek word arete(1) meaning also virtue or moral excellence)

1. Thayer and Smith. "Greek Lexicon entry for Arete". "The New Testament Greek Lexicon". .

Step 1, FAITH

FAITH
{for the detailed view, click on exploring the word in the links}

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, butChrist lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)

There is no fruit without faith. What shall we do to do the works of God? Jesus’ answer was,

“...Believe in Him whom He has sent.” (John 6:29; NASB)

There is a mystery by which we are to respond to God’s instruction or command; by faith we come to know Him, and by faith we come to become like him. “The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’” (Romans 1:17; NASB)

“Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” (John 14:1)

8 Enduring Steps to an Effective and Fruitful Life in Christ

Knowing God, by being like Him

“…Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5,6-9 NIV)

The real stairway to heaven is faith in Jesus Christ, and yet to be fruitful (verse 8 in NASB) and effective you may follow a distinct path. This path is marked by steps of goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. To climb all the steps at once may seem daunting, but a steady ascent over each step, moment by moment, day after day, will certainly lead to useful and productive lives for Christians. We are not alone, we have help after all from Christ Himself. He will help us get to know Him by helping us to be like Him.

“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12,13 NIV)

Christmas

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

What is the meaning of Christmas? What is Christmas about? A friend of mine is a grade school teacher in Ottawa, and he asked one of his students this question thinking the response would be about Santa or presents. A little girl put up her hand and answered brightly, “Christ!”

That is absolutely right! Nothing else to say, nothing else can be added. Christ!

The truth about grace;... and truth

"Full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

The Son of God was described in this way. He was perfectly in balance. We like to talk about grace. We are champions of grace. The truth of the matter is, grace could not be grace unless there was truth. What I mean is that without truth, you would not have the necessity for grace. We cannot speak of receiving something we do not deserve, unless we first admit the truth that we do not deserve it. Likewise preaching the gospel of grace is useless if we do not preach the necessity for grace.

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Mark 2:17; New King James Version)

The Gospel without repentance is no Gospel.