Alive and Dead at the same time…

At lunch with Christian friends, we discussed the value system of the world, particular some who are often in the news, and the difference between what they want out of life and what we want. Well, most of the time.

That difference mainly amounts to our realization that we “can’t take it with us” so most of what is important to many, like money, power, and fame, is not important to us. Well, most of the time.

This is because of a truth Jesus stated in verses like this one:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:24–26)

Piper puts it this way: “It doesn’t matter what happens to me. . . .  when I am dead, I will not care what they do with my body. It will make no difference to me. I will be home with Jesus. That’s the way it is now, too, if I have died already with Christ, which all Christians have: ‘Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires’ (Galatians 5:24). Crucified means dead. So in a profound sense I am dead on the earth and my life is ‘hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:3). So it just doesn’t matter what happens to me here on earth.

However, most of us can say what a young missionary once said: “My problem is that a living sacrifice keeps crawling off the altar.” We so easily forget that we are dead, that is, our old nature is separated from God, cannot bear fruit, and is useless. The world and the Liar cannot make appeals to our new nature, but both will attack and mess with that old dead one. It seems odd that dead listens to other dead entities. Our lunch discussion included personal examples of  this battle.

Piper IDs it by pointing out that we are to “hate this life in this world” at least in the sense that we don’t give it much thought or care what happens to us. It doesn’t matter because we are dead to it… like a dead person is not concerned about possessions, being lied about, being famous, having much or little, and so on. 

Instead, our concern is to follow Jesus. And we do, most of the time. When do we crawl off the altar or come down from that cross? I get side-tracked by ordinary stuff. One friend shared how she tends to second-guess what God tells her to do. Another says, “I just want things to go smoothly.” We have I-trouble and our ears sometimes do not hear that still, small voice. Short term memory loss? 

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:11–13)

Excuses aside, it is a choice. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). “Like a grain of wheat, fall into the ground and die.” Choose it. “Hate your life in this world.”

The result is much fruit. Paul said, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things” (Philippians 3:8). Most of us know what that means. Yet many are not happy with the idea of suffering loss. This is what makes me less fruitful than Paul. Not that I live in a different era, or place, or am a woman, or need to take care of my home and family. The real reason is that I-trouble.

PRAY: Jesus, this is a sharp reminder that life is short and if any of it will have eternal value, it will not come from the dead old me, only from the new life that exists and is empowered because of You. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” (Romans 8:7) Make that distinction between dead to sin and alive to You even sharper, and remind me often. I need it, not just most of the time, but all of the time.

The value of spiritual disciplines

 

Most Christians know what spiritual disciplines are: Bible reading and study, prayer, worship, fellowship, silence, and others. Some might suppose these make us more spiritual, but it is God that does that. The disciplines merely put us in places where we can experience His transforming power. On the other hand, if I do them all but refuse to obey, these disciplines have little value.

One detour to spiritual growth is thinking I cannot grow in less than perfect surroundings. However, that is often the situation for flourishing if I remain faithful to the disciplines and remember the truths God has taught me and still teaches, truth like:

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

This is an important “place of grace’ in that it puts the flesh where it belongs and centers life in Christ, where it actually is — even if the world, the flesh, and the Liar keep telling me otherwise. Jesus is the source of my life and I need to remain in that thinking, abide in it. This means all my thoughts, words, and actions spring from His Spirit, not from anything else.

I’ve used the illustration of a cup. Upright it is filled, but if I sin, I ‘tip over’ and the Holy Spirit is no longer filling me because I’ve let in something else, either the ideas and love of the world, the desires of the flesh, or the lies of Satan.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)

The flesh is given many descriptions. Some are at the lower end of our human sin scale:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19–21)

However others are not so blatant: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) This verse describes anything I do apart from the will of God. My own way might be ambitions that serve my ego, and other self-centered and selfish motivations.

The lies of the enemy are designed to knock out faith with suggestions like: “God does not want the best for you. God’s love should be making you comfortable. God does not control everything” and a host of thoughts contrary to Scripture and truth about Him. 

Again, spiritual disciplines offer a variety of reminders, clues, rebukes, and helpful reasons to keep my source on Jesus instead of getting knocked over or off track by spiritual enemies, including my own pride and foolishness. It keeps this “glove” on the “hand” that moves it, not stuck in some useless place without any power.

The most common knockout punch is disobedience. This enemy is rooted in lack of faith in the Lord and putting faith is something other than Him. It keeps sinners from salvation and Christians from living fruitful lives that prove our faith, ensure answered prayer, fill us with joy, and enable us to love one another:

If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:6–12)

PRAY: Jesus, I’m so thankful that You give me a love for Your Word and a desire to go to those “places of grace” that help me focus on You and on truth. They also rebuke my sinfulness and hold me accountable. The only ‘cure’ for disobedience is confession and Your forgiveness and cleansing — certainly not “trying harder” for I cannot save myself or fix my sin. You are truly my Savior, not even the disciplines and not my will. You love me and keep all Your promises to forgive, cleanse, and transform my life and will take me home to live with You forever.

Motivated by what God has done…

Why is it that so many preachers or devotional writers focus on telling their listeners or readers what to do rather than glorifying Jesus for what He has done? It is the love of Jesus that motives godly responses. I’m rarely charged up by another sinner shaking their finger at me.

My first reading today was all about my need to follow Jesus. So were other readings. One of them quoted this passage: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend … I have called you friends.” (John 15:13, 15), and then used it to tell me I need to lay down my life for Jesus. That is true, but that is not what these words say. When my heart and mind are filled with the wonder and glory of God, responding easily follows. What folly to put the cart before the horse so why make this cart pull the load instead of the Lord?

One reading says what I always need to hear. It begins with, "Oh, what a Savior He is. Words can never express His mighty power to save! I never felt so utterly weak in myself, but Jesus is strong, and He is mine, and He saves me now. Praise His Name!"

A few lines later, the writer says, “Every moment, Lord I need the cleansing of your blood. And every moment, Lord, I have the cleansing of your blood.” I do not mean here cleansing from the guilt of sin, but cleansing from the sin itself, that cleansing which makes me “pure in heart.”

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)

Each day I need the good news of the gospel. My sins distract me from the reality of sins forgiven and from the power of redemption. It is knowing what is possible in Christ that gives me even the desire for purity of heart that He calls for, as well as the purity itself…

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:3)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)

Another reading says this: “God always answers the general design and intention of His people’s prayers, in doing that which, all things considered, is most for His own glory and our spiritual and eternal welfare. As we never find that Jesus Christ rejected a single supplicant who came to Him for mercy, so we believe that no prayer made in His name will be in vain.”

Such words edify, build faith. Telling me my duty is helpful only if I have decided not to do it and live as I want. But for the Christian who wants to live for Christ, His words of encouragement and reminders of what He has done for me always give me hope and the motivation to live for Him.

PRAY: Thank You Jesus for calling me Your friend and laying down Your life for me. Greater love has no one than this. Because of what You have done for me, I want to live for You and for the glory of Your name.

 

Why do I pray?

 

Lately I’m noticing how many prayers are motivated by a desire for personal comfort. Heal sickness so pain and discomfort go away. Fix relationships so we are happy in them. Save my loved one and remove my worries for that person. Show the world Your goodness so I do not experience or even deal with evil.

Yesterday I saw two NT passages that say joy comes not in spite of trouble but because of trouble. Yet even the devotional writer put that joy at the end of doubts and struggles rather than while the trials were being experienced.

In another reading, Stephen Charnock, a Puritan Presbyterian pastor in the 1600s, adds another dimension to this thought. He says that a person “without doubts is without testimonies. Doubts are to testimonies what the mortise is to the tenon, the lock to the key, the enigma to the solution.”

The Lord says, “Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4) yet that delight does not come to us apart from at first not having that delight. In other words, problems unlock or open my heart to the work of the Holy Spirit. For instance, without recognition and conviction of sin and a deep sense of guilt that leads to confession, I would never experience delight in knowing forgiveness and cleansing from sin.

After God does His work, He wants me to battle sin for it blinds my eyes to the wonder of God. Not only that, sin steals my delight as quickly as a pickpocket lifts a wallet. Be filled and stay filled with God’s Spirit, remembering that all flames die without the fuel that feeds them.

Again, the Bible tells me to delight in prayer. That is easy when God has answered. “Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.” (Psalm 116:2) However, such a delight reveals that its source is more likely the good life rather that in talking to my Creator. He wants that delight in Him and being with Him in prayer, no matter what is going on in my world.

Charnock says, “A Christian’s heart is — in secret — transported into heaven. There is a delight in coming near God and warming the soul by the fire of his love.” He points to angels cheerful in praise; their work is their glory. Holy souls should delight in prayer not so we think it a good day without some communion with God but because we delight in Him. When in trials, I can delight in God’s comforting presence rather than His sanctifying presence. It can be a delight to pray to God as a storehouse, but not as a refiner’s fire to purge away my dross.

Heavenly cheerfulness is mostly in heavenly things. Much asking concerns worldly goods; even less is for the glory of God. Charnock says, “The saints have redoubled and repeated their petitions and redoubled the Amen at the end of prayer, to show the great affections to those things they have asked. The soul loves to think of those things the heart is set on, and frequent thoughts express a delight.”

Is that how I pray? Reading this man’s words shows me that my soul must desire not only to speak to God, but to make melody to Him, and be more displeased when that attitude is missing than I am when God does not answer me. True delight is in exercising the grace of God in reliance and humility, desiring the preparation of my own heart as well as answers to my prayers.

Other writers says the same: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3) Therefore, “It is neither talent, nor power, nor gifts that do the work of God, but it is that which lies within the power of the humblest; it is the simple, earnest life hid with Christ in God.”

Whatever gives glory to God is the vital thing, not what brings me joy or any kind of reward. The testing of my faith is to make it genuine, “more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire” so it “results in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7) not so that it makes me more comfortable or more anything. This is about Jesus, not me.

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. (1 John 3:2)

PRAY: I know You reward us according to our works and give life to those who seek Your glory. I also know that as part of Your Body, I am a fellow worker and part of what You are doing, but I also know that You alone are “worthy of praise, glory, and honor” and my reward is You, not glory for myself. You promise to sustain me and keep me in Your care. For all that, I am grateful. May my focus be on You, not on personal comfort or the joy of how You make me feel, but the joy of seeing Your glory magnified and made known, both in trials and in good times. May I rejoice and be glad when Your glory is revealed. Amen.