A Christmas Prayer

May this season to you bring
The love of Christ our King,
Who came to give his life,
For us the perfect sacrifice.
Who came to show us the way
And for our sins to pay,
That we would believe and never die,
But instead have eternal life.

May his love your heart fill
And may you know his perfect will,
That he would be your treasure,
And you find in him your pleasure.
May you each day love him more,
And share that love with the world.
May he guard you by his grace
Until at last you see his face.

May he be the one great reason
For your life, and not just the season.

God's Invincible Commitment to Your Good: Thoughts on Romans 8:28-39

Last week, we looked at how God takes us, spiritually dead and rebellious as we are, and gives us new life and desire for obedience in Christ. To close out these Advent thoughts, I'd like to call your attention to why God saves us so. What's the point of being a Christian? Is it so we won't go to hell and instead be with God in heaven forever? Or does God have a bigger plan in saving us?

The Goal of God's Saving Us

We find the answer in Romans 8:29. There, Paul says that we are "predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." Ephesians 1:4 puts it this way: God "chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him." God, from before tiem began, set out to save a people and make them like Christ. He wants us to have Christ's attitude as our own (Philippians 2:5) and to love one another (John 13:34-35).

That's the goal of our salvation - to be like Christ. And God is absolutely committed to seeing this happen. Consider Romans 8:29-30: "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." Notice the progression here:

• the foreknown are predestined to Christ-likeness,
• the predestined are called,
• the called are justified,
• the justified are glorified.

The process of salvation begins with God's foreknowing and ends with God glorifying. And, from this passage, we see that nobody is lost along the way. God is irrevocably committed to conforming his own to Christ-likeness. In fact, the rest of the chapter builds on this assurance:

• God is on our side, so nothing can stand against us (Rom 8:31)
• God gave us the best he had-his own son. Surely he will give us everything else we need (Rom 8:32)
• God has declared us righteous, so no one can accuse us (Rom 8:33)
• Jesus dies, rose, ascended to heaven, and intercedes for us, so there are none left to condemn (Rom 8:34)
• In the face of hard times and even death, we are super-conquerors through Christ (Rom 8:35-37)
• Nothing in all of creation can separate us from God's invincible love (Rom 8:38-39)

God wants us to have an unshakable confidence in him, that he will indeed see us through all of the difficulties that we may face in this life. Things may hurt us, but they cannot destroy us. We cannot be cut off from our God who has adopted us as his own children. We can be confident that "that he who began a good work in [us] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:6)

God's Commitment to YOUR Good

All of this assurance stands underneath the promise of Romans 8:28: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

If you are a true Christian, this is God's promise to you. If you have, by faith, trusted in Christ alone to be set free from your sin and to be your Lord, God is irrevocably and invincibly committed to bring everything in your life out for good. It may not feel like it in the moments of intense pain and suffering, but God is fulfilling his desire to make you like Christ. And God cannot, does not, and will not fail in his mission.

So keep fighting. Fight sin that remains in your life. Fight the desire to lead a "comfortable" life. Fight the depression on the insanity that threatens to undo you. Fight the influences of the world that want to shut you up and shut you down. Fight, because the invincible God is on your side!

Rescued or Resurrected? Thoughts on God’s Great Salvation

This is post #2 in this series. To see the first post, click here.

Last week, we saw from Ephesians 2:1-5 that we are dead in sin and unwanting of rescue. We do not, in our natural state, see any possible need for God or the salvation that he provides. Romans 8:7-8 adds more bleakness to the picture:

• Our natural mind (lit. “mind of the flesh”) is hostile to God
• It does not submit to God’s lawIt CANNOT submit to God’s law
• Natural people CANNOT please God.

Jeremiah 17:9 adds “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Our hearts are beyond sick and diseased. Our minds are hostile to God. We cannot, by anything we do, please him.

But we also saw last week that God, though he has no reason to, loves us and will make us alive with Christ. This week, I want to look at how he does that. God tells us how this happens in the Old Testament, primarily in Ezekiel 36:26-28 and Jeremiah 31:33. These passages are part of what is called the New Covenant. God says that he will:

• Remove the heart of stone (Ez 36:26)
• Give us a new heart of flesh and a new spirit (Ez 36:26)
• Put his Spirit in us (Ez 36:27)
• Put his Law in us and write his Law on our hearts (Jer 31:33)
• Cause us to walk in his ways and obey his rules (Ez 36:27)
• Be our God (Ez 36:28; Jer 31:33)
• Make us his people (Ez 36:28; Jer 31:33)

When we were flat-lined, he removed our old, dead heart and gave us a heart of flesh. When we were more interested in our own desires, he put his Spirit in us and wrote his law on our hearts. When we were children of wrath, he made us his own children. When all we wanted to do and could do was disobey, he caused us to become obedient to him. The New Testament refers to this act in several ways:

• Jesus calls it being born again (John 3:3, 3:5, 3:7)
• Luke tells us that God “opened [Lydia’s] heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul” (Acts 16:14)
• Paul says that God “made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2:5)
• He also says that God “has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6)

How Does God Do This?
How is God able to give us a new heart, to make us born again, to be able to walk in his ways? Listen to Jesus’ own words: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). Jesus, when he died, bought this new covenant for us. With his own life he bought our new hearts. He bought the indwelling of the Spirit. He bought us to belong to God, that we could call him our own. Jesus’ death bought these things for us, God’s people.

So as we look forward to Christmas’ coming, remember that Jesus’ birth is not the main event. That he was born to die is. And, most importantly, he was born to die to purchase our salvation. Not just to make it possible, but to give us what we needed to be saved.

Drowning or Drowned? Thoughts on Our Condition as Sinners

Sorry for the prolonged absence from the blogosphere. It's been a while I know, but I've had some stuff that's been needing to be dealt with. Nevertheless, I'm back in time for Christmas!

I heard a commercial on a Christian radio station the other day that said we are all “drowning in our sin.” A drowning person is fighting for his life. He is fighting to get out of the waters that are trying to choke him. He is in need of help. He needs a rescuer. It sounds good enough, right? But is it a biblical picture of us in our sin? While it’s true that we need a rescuer, is it true that we are really fighting for our lives to get out of our sin and merely need someone to assist us in our desire to escape?

The Bible paints no such picture of us in our sin. The picture is much more hopeless than that. Consider the following observations from Ephesians 2:1-5:

• We were dead in our sins (vs. 1, 5)
• We followed the course of this world (v. 2)
• We followed “the prince of the power of the air” – namely, Satan (v. 2)
• We lived in the passion of our flesh (v. 3)
• We were by nature children of wrath (v. 3)

We are not drowning; we are DROWNED. We do not want out of our sin; we WANT it. We’re not trying to escape anything; we FOLLOW SIN deeper. We don’t want a rescue; we need a RESURRECTION. Our condition as sinners is so hopeless that we, left to ourselves, only deserve God’s wrath, and justly that’s all that we should receive.

But in spite of this hopeless condition of our souls, look at what God does:

• Instead of giving us his just wrath, he shows mercy (v. 4)
• Rather than let us face his righteous anger, he loves us with a great love (v. 4)
• Rather than leave us dead in our sin, he makes us alive (v. 5)

The source of all the good things that God does for the sinful man is this: Christ. As we celebrate CHRISTmas, the focus of our holiday should be not on the gifts we receive, the family we see, or the twinkling of lights on trees, houses, etc. Our focus should be on Christ, who is a great Savior. But we will not see how great a Savior he is unless we see how bad off we are without him. If we were merely drowning, there are many who could save. But who can save a dead man? Only Christ. And that is ample reason to celebrate this season.

How do you understand your condition as a sinner, and how does that lead you to see Jesus? How would you explain it to someone who does not believe the gospel?