The key to His goodness

 

Yesterday I asked my husband how marriages would be different if both husband and wife were always filled with the Spirit? We agreed — no conflicts ever.

At the request of a friend, I read a book in which the author didn’t understand that concept and gave a long history of the results of men and women in conflict over who is the boss. Without the Holy Spirit, this battle will continue; with Him there is no battle.

Piper gives testimony to the unity in his church between him, his wife, and the church leaders. He says that they all have the same “husband” who is Jesus Christ. As their first commitment and common allegiance, there is no competition. All three hear the same voice and the Holy Spirit is the secret of their unity. He is their peacemaker and the power behind their desires and ideas.

In another reading, another pastor said the same things, then added the way it happens and how God works to bring that understanding. He quoted:

Then (Jesus) said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:44–47)

This man’s prayer was that God would open his eyes and the eyes of all Christians to see Jesus everywhere in the Bible, to read the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the psalms with Jesus clearly in view.

He also confessed that for years he thought the law was only as a bunch of rules and principles for earning God’s favor and blessings and managing his life. Finally he understood they were given to drive him to Jesus. The law has never been a way to earn God's acceptance. Any efforts without the Holy Spirit are futile and frustrating.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Jesus fulfilled the law for us by His perfect obedience, and exhausted its judgment by His death. I have life because of His life. I cannot boast, just as I cannot do well without Him.
I’m reading the prophets but without fear of judgment for I see them the same way: those who listen and obey are able to walk in harmony with God. Those who do not will experience the consequences. He gave the “rules” to us for the same reason He gives us the “rules” in the NT — to show how badly we need to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Otherwise, we cannot obey Him, nor be like Him. Life in the flesh is doing our own thing — and that is sin.

Jesus is the “Yes” and “Amen” to every promise God has made. With Him, we can do it. In ourselves, we fall short. Reading the Bible is the way God reveals this. Of course I often learn through experience and its failures, but unless God opens my mind to understand the Scriptures, I will not ‘get it’ and be in the dark about why my life gets messed up. Too often I’ve lived my own way and made so many mistakes. Selfishness is a perfect way to be miserable.

PRAY: Jesus, continue to open my mind to understand how the entire Bible is a revelation of the gospel, of You and Your commitment to redeem Your people and restore the world. Show me more of you and my place in Your story. I’ve learned that all things are intended to transform me into Your image. That is entirely awesome. Even being able to listen to Your voice and do what You say is a great wonder. I’m deeply humbled that You transform sinners such as I to do Your will. I am overjoyed too, at such love and grace. You are incredible — and that also comes from You being willing to reveal Yourself to me. Amen.

Sin is serious

Exodus 21; Job 39; Luke 24; 2 Corinthians 9

A friend who works in a women’s prison tells of hearing the following conversation. One inmate says, “I don’t know why I am in here.” Another says, “What did they charge you with?” She replied, “Assault and battery.” The other woman asked, “What did you do?” The first woman said, “Oh, I hit my boyfriend with a car, but only a little bit.”

Her attitude reveals much! I wonder how she would react to Biblical Law. For instance, Exodus 21 begins a list of laws and punishments for only a few things. Two of them show that God takes seriously what many people might claim is “only a little bit” serious:

“Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death . . . . Whoever curses (dishonors or reviles) his father or his mother shall be put to death.” (Exodus 21:15; 17)

Imagine the consternation if the lawmakers in this present day put this law of God into effect. Would it stop parental abuse? Or would there be a sudden increase in statistics concerning the death penalty.

This disrespect of parents is only one sin on the list of what could be described as how we break the Ten Commandments. There are more and some seem much less serious, such as craving what belongs to someone else. Yet God considers human attitudes that go against His principles as serious sins. Jesus verified that is in our hearts is the source of our sinful actions.

The New Testament is clear; the seriousness of sin is the reason God sent Jesus to suffer and die on the cross, not a death that He deserved but to give life to sinners:

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:44–47)

The New Testament is clear; “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” but this verse does not end with that. The next verse says, “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)

It is as if God is the judge and we are guilty of breaking most of the law, but as we stand before Him, we are told that another has taken our penalty. We can go free if we accept that other as our Lord and Savior, giving our lives to Him because He has bought us with the price of His own life.

Sin is serious. So also is the remedy for sin. God’s redemption plan is not only astonishing in the freedom from guilt it offers, but the add-ons that come with it. Here is one example of the life that is offered in God’s redemption package:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work . . . . He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:8–11)

No wonder that the writer of 2 Corinthians ends this section with, “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

APPLY: God is giving me occasion this day to rejoice in all that He has done in Christ for me. I’ve broken His laws and fall short of His glory, but He gave me Jesus, the Substitute who paid my debt and set me free, sending me out into this sinful world with all the grace needed to live for Him. For the enormity of this inexpressible gift, I am deeply humbled and deeply grateful, also deeply willing to do whatever He asks of me as His redeemed servant, His child, and His friend.