Keeping short accounts with God…

 

A few weeks ago, a Christian friend said she didn’t need to confess sin as that had been done when she was saved. God had already forgiven all her sin, past, present, and future. She was startled at the teaching of keeping short accounts with God as the NT says:

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:7–10)

This passage is not in past tense. God knows that if I sin, the guilt of it can cripple me as it puts my focus on failure and defeats future efforts. That is not the only reason for short accounts. Sin spoils fellowship with God and often with one another. When I am being selfish, no one wants to talk to me, and God does not use me until I clear it up with Him in confession and repentance.

That said, today’s reading speaks of a failure to grasp the “much more” of Scripture that tells me God wants to do things in my life that are above and beyond my imagination. The remedy given is to have more faith, to abandon forever our “much less” of unbelief, to accept as true God’s declaration of “much more,” and to claim at once the promised victory. It adds, “According to our faith it must and will be to us.”

But what can ruin faith more than sin and unconfessed sin? Sin comes when I put myself in the driver’s seat and run my own life according to my own ideas. They might seem good or be very selfish, but either way, I’m turning from the will of God and stopped trusting Him. Is God going to fill me with His Spirit and bless me with a fruitful life while I am like that? Of course not. It is only the promise of 1 John 1:9 that gives me forgiveness and a clean heart, and with that, He will fill me with His Spirit and direct my thoughts and actions according to His will. Otherwise, I’ve come up against a wall, a roadblock, and cannot advance. Sin separates. It cannot be ignored.

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)

The free gift of Christ’s righteousness is not going to show up in my life when I’ve turned from it to run my own life. Just as Jesus said that I cannot serve both God and money, I also cannot serve both God and myself. My work, attitudes, even worship, is something He pours in. In myself, I can do nothing and if sin blocks His blessings, I cannot deny it and carry on as if I’m okay.

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. (John 15:4)

Abiding is about continuing or staying in harmony with the Lord. Sin messes with that and renders me useless in serving Him. I cannot serve Him and at the same time serve myself. Such sin, even the attitude of ‘me, myself, and I’ must be confessed, forgiven, and cleansed to get me back into abiding and living for Him.

PRAY: Lord, You are continually making me more sensitive to Your rebuke and correction. When I  neglect continual confession and become more and more self-centered, I know that I’ve lost touch with You and that Your focus for me changes. Instead of hearing my prayers for others who have needs, You concentrate on convicting and changing my attitude — my dire need. Thank You for loving me so much that You do not ignore any of my sinfulness, and will do whatever it takes to help me acknowledge it and bring it to the foot of the cross. You want me to be bold and guilt-free, knowing Your love and relying on You for all things.

The Wonder of Jesus

 

READ Luke 1-4

I’ve read the Bible daily for years, but God always shows me what I’d not noticed before. Today was no exception.

The angel said, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:13–17)

Note: Only the Holy Spirit gives power to turn people to God, fathers to their children, rebels to wisdom, and can prepare people to meet Jesus.

“And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” (1:20)

Note: If I don’t believe God will fill and use me, it will affect my ability to tell others about Jesus.

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God . . . . you will . . . bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus . . . . He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” . . . . “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people . . . that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us . . . to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness. (1: 30–33; 68–71; 72–75)

Note: The Jews supposed their Messiah would give them deliverance from enemy oppression. Only a few considered what Zachariah said to John: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins . . . .” which John did: “He went . . . proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins . . . .” (3:3–6)

The devil said to (Jesus), “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread . . . . To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will . . . . If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here . . . .” (4:3-9)

Note: These lies correspond to false ideas of what Jesus will do for those who submit to Him: such as we will never be without anything, will be able to do all we want, and be protected even in our foolishness.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed . . . .” (4:18)

Note: We resist taking good news to people in poverty, prison, darkness, and oppression, preferring our own social groups — the opposite of why He came.

And in the synagogue, there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God” . . . . And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. (4: 33–34; 41)

Note: Many people, including ‘Christian’ cults and those who attend church have no clue who Jesus really is, but the demons know. Why does sin keep us from realizing His identity but fallen angels are not blind to who Jesus is? Could it be our false expectations? Could it be a fear of His rule being ‘no fun’ or too harsh? Or are millions so busy or too content running their own lives to consider Him?

I know that salvation from sin happens only by God. All of it. Sin separates us from Him. It ruins my fellowship when I rely on my own way. Only God can turn me to Himself. People will say, “I came to Christ” but in reality, no one chooses Him — He chooses us and then enables us to choose Him.

 

Why is sin against God such a big deal?

Saul, later Paul, heard a new Christian named Stephen preach the Gospel and tell how he saw “the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56) Saul was fueled by that event and continued his rampage against Christians. But before long he had his own experience with the Son of Man:

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” (Acts 9:1–6)

We often say “what goes around comes around” which was certainly true for Paul. After his conversion, the Jews stirred up a crowd, laid hands on Paul, made accusations and threatened his life. (Acts 21:27–28) Paul defended himself giving personal testimony of his experience on the Damascus road:

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting’” (Acts 22:3–11)

Paul told them he had been as they were — zealous for God and persecuting those who believed in Jesus, but Jesus Himself appeared to him and he realized that this new faith was the way to God.

This man made the same defense when taken before the Roman King Agrippa. This time his approach was a little different but included his conversion story. He explained his past and what happened to him when Jesus confronted him:

“I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee . . . I not only locked up many of the saints in prison . . . but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities. (Acts 26:1–11)

Paul went on to share that Jesus stopped him saying, “Why are you persecuting Me?” I noticed today that in each story of his conversion, Jesus asked the same question. Paul had to have realized that the issue was how he had treated Jesus, not just those who believed in Him.  

Christians sometimes share their story and speak of prior sin, such as “I was a thief” or “I drank all the time” yet we neglect to say how our behavior was a sin against God. Maybe we don’t realize it at the time, only think of it as something we wanted to stop doing. However, Jesus made sure that Paul realized that his mistaken zeal for God was the very reason he needed to be saved.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I realize from Paul’s three stories of his conversion that every Christian needs to realize that whatever we were doing prior to salvation, it was a sin against You. I can clearly see that the sin that separated me from You was the sin of running my own life and totally ignoring You. I was not religious like the Jews who eventually crucified You and who persecuted Paul but I was so filled with pride at my own ability to do things that I didn’t think about You at all. You are the One to whom I owe my life, the One who created me and loved me enough to die for me, but I didn’t need You. That sin needs to be included in my story so others can know that the issue is not all that stuff that didn’t work or eventually made me feel like a failure — the issue and the reason You died was my sin against You.