![]() The Exchange Seminar this week has been tremendous! God has really blessed Jeff and Anna Musgrave with the ability to clearly and compellingly share the gospel. We have drunk deeply from those rich waters this week, and we have been convinced over and over again, both biblically and testimonially, that the gospel still works. I want to pass along the challenge from Romans 1 with which Jeff started the seminar. These thoughts are very convicting, and combined with some other sermonettes that Jeff is bringing this week, they provide a very appropriate context for each session. In Romans 1:1, Paul affirms that he has been “set apart” to the gospel. While this word choice certainly communicates that there were some things that Paul had been set apart from (i.e., other worldviews, pursuits, etc.), he primarily has in mind here a positive separation. In marriage, a husband is “set apart” to his wife, and while that surely connotes a degree of separation from all other women, it is undoubtedly a positive dissociation because the new union with this one woman is more desirable. We know that Paul does not view this “setting apart” to the gospel as something unique to himself, for in verses 6-7 he refers to all believers as “called” and “set apart ones” (or “saints”). We all have been “set apart” to a more desirable reality – the gospel! But what does this look like? How do I know if I’m cooperating with God’s calling and engaging my life in this new association? I’ve received this new identity positionally, but how do I employ my practice to demonstrate this calling? With four “I am” statements in verses 14-16, Paul pictures for us what being “set apart” to the gospel looks like. From these statements, we discover that the gospel is not something we do, as much as it is something we are. 1. “I am under obligation” (v. 14). Paul is not subscribing to the legalistic “debtor’s ethic” which suggests that we owe God a debt that we should pay back with our lives, for he understands that the debt was already paid by Christ. Nonetheless, the truths of the gospel and our response of faith-filled worship to them will compel us to give ourselves to Jesus and His mission. In this passage, Paul is illustrating that we give ourselves to Jesus by giving ourselves to others. Paul acknowledges that His “not being His own” (cf. I Corinthians 6:19-20) obligated him to struggle on the behalf of others (cf. Colossians 1:24-2:5) – for both the beautiful and not so beautiful, for both the wise and the foolish. Do you recognize that the gospel has given you an obligation to others? 2. “I am eager” (v. 15). Paul was both (1) excited and (2) prepared to preach the gospel to the lost and the saved. I’ve experienced this week that part of what builds excitement in gospel-ministry is preparation for it. Are you prepared and therefore excited to share the gospel? 3. “I am not ashamed” (v. 16). What Paul is really saying here is that he is shameless in sharing the gospel. This is crucial to understand! Being shamelessly faithful in sowing the gospel seed is more important than being compelling, eloquent, reasonable, etc. While shamelessness is perhaps not natural and certainly counter-cultural, we have great reason to be shameless – our message, the gospel, is the “power of God unto salvation”! The gospel works, and Jesus saves, and His testimony through us is the effective means! We must be empowered by claiming by faith Jesus’ promise in Matthew 28:20 – He is with us! This “with you” life is what God is after, and it is the message of the gospel that constantly brings us back to this reality. So, meditate on the gospel to claim its power, and then speak the gospel to spread its power! Are you shameless in your spreading of the gospel? If you are “in Christ,” you have been “set apart” to His message of good news – the gospel. Are you practicing this calling? Do you recognize the obligation placed upon you by your Lord to labor to “present everyone perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:28-29)? Have you prepared yourself to the point of excited faith that God will use you? Is your confidence in the gospel, so that its power is filling you to the point of shameless witness? Remember, the gospel is not something we do, as much as it is something we are. Learn to love the gospel, and allow your many meditations upon it to empower you with boldness to be who you are and to speak what you have become. ![]() I saw this comment on an online forum recently. The commenter was referring to a registered sex offender, also a professing believer, who is facing more criminal charges: "You know, what struck me when I saw that page is that this guy…is only six years older than me. He’s screwed up his life and he’s wasted his life screwing up others’ lives too. I can’t think of a word to describe how that makes me feel. But ugh. Some people are just worthless." How much sin do we have to commit before we are “worthless”? Or, are there certain types of sin that, if engaged in, make us “worthless,” while others just make us…I don’t know…”bad”? The truth is, all of us were born “worthless.” We were born in sin (Psalm 51:5), and there was nothing in us or about us that attracted us to God or made us a more worthy candidate for salvation (Ephesians 2:1-3). The incredible message of the gospel is that although we were worthless, God still loved and redeemed us (Romans 5:6-10). What grace! It is only after we have been recreated by Christ that we have any worth (Colossians 3:9-10), for now we are “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved” (Colossians 3:12). So, in reality, to call someone “worthless” is to state the obvious, but that’s not usually the purpose behind such human indictments. Rather, we typically offer such a censorious label because we’ve taken the role of God, allowing ourselves to judge the eternal (or even temporal) value of that individual and “writing them off” if that’s what our judgment decides. Perhaps we justify such a bold statement by, “Well, Jesus said that you would know them by their fruits,” and we interpret that statement as the allowance to slander and demean an individual whose fruits are obviously missing. Someone who makes an indictment like we read above is failing to consider two very important realities: 1. First, the individual is failing to consider God’s standard. Scripture reveals that there is only One who alone is worthy (Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 12-13). His people have worth and significance only because they are “in Him” (Ephesians 1:3; Colossians 2:10). And for these individuals, God’s standard is incredibly idealistic (Matthew 5:48). For example, God doesn’t just tell His people not to murder; He tells them not to hate (Matthew 5:21-22). God doesn’t just require us to just be kind; He requires us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-47). He doesn’t command a tithe; He commands us to give proportionally to God’s blessing (I Corinthians 16:2). He doesn’t expect a redeemed husband to just be cordial to his wife, but to unconditionally love her (Ephesians 5:25-30). He doesn’t insist that believing children only obey their parents, but that they also honor them (Ephesians 6:1-2). Etc. Etc. And God doesn’t demand that His people just not look at pornography or be a pedophile; He demands that they not lust (Ephesians 5:3-4). So, let you “who is without sin among you” cast the first stone (John 8:7). In ourselves, we daily fall miserably short of God’s ideal standard for His people. The problem is not the idealistic standard; the problem is with me, for while “the spirit is willing…the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38) and “in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing” (Romans 7:18). Hence, the longer Paul walked with God, the more clearly he recognized his own inherent worthlessness (I Corinthians 15:9; Ephesians 3:8; I Timothy 1:15). Therefore, to condemn a fellow-sinner is like one piece of dirt demeaning another piece of dirt for being so dirty. Sin is certainly destructive and at times gruesome, and when we see it in all of its unrestrained and unrepentant ugliness, it is certainly repulsive and warrants condemnation. Nevertheless, in light of God’s standard, such condemnation is not ours to give, for to do so is arrogant and hypocritical on our part, for we also are unworthy. We must allow God to be the Judge, and we must never condemn, “write off,” or conclude the final answer on any man. To do so not only ignores God’s standard, but it also overlooks a second obvious reality. 2. Secondly, the individual is failing to consider God’s grace. God’s grace never ceases to amaze! Just when we think we’ve wrapped our minds around all it can do and the degree to which it extends and the way in which it operates, we see yet another dimension that challenges our view of God. Perhaps the most vivid illustration of the constantly astounding nature of grace is discovered in two words in II Peter 2:7 — “righteous Lot.” He who had selfishly chosen the best of the land while leaving the leftovers to his uncle, he who had willingly surrounded himself with debauchery and taken a leadership role in a culture of licentiousness, he who had piously rebuked the abominable while offering up his own daughters to their base appetites and insatiable lusts, he who allowed his family to be so contaminated by iniquity that he lost his wife and was raped by his daughters — this man is here called “righteous.” While this statement provokes many meditations, a most obvious one is that God’s grace is able to reach inconceivably farther than we would expect. This verse stops us in our tracts when we take Matthew 7:16, 20 and try to apply it as if we were God, for we are being reminded here that only God can provide the final answer on someone. Jesus Christ was the personification of grace, and it’s inescapable to note that He was habitually ministering to those whom society had written off as “worthless” (called, in the KJV, “publicans and sinners”). Our God is well-pleased that His people be known by the same ridiculed and scandalous title as His Son — “the Friend of publicans and sinners.” Fellow-believer, if you continue to condemn the modern-day publicans and sinners who are obviously “worthless,” then you are (1) very un-Christlike and (2) very Pharisee-like, for you are perpetuating the deception that only the “well” are worthy, when in fact they need the Physician just as much as the “sick” (Luke 5:27-32). O church, it’s time to learn with those first 12 disciples again, and to watch our Master through the eyes of faith as He visibly loves and spiritually sacrifices for those whom we might despise. Since we are ourselves recipients of lavish grace, we cannot be stingy dispensers of grace. It is time for us to change our mind about how we look at this world, to change our calculation about who is “well” and who is “sick,” and to learn first biblically and then experientially that God is still able to save the maniacs of Gadara (Mark 5), and He is pleased to do so. Let us take care, then, lest in our arrogance and hypocrisy we presume upon God’s standard and grace, and show an inferior and prejudiced Savior to the “worthless” (cf. James 2:1) — people who because of their “worthlessness” are actually prime candidates for God’s unmerited grace (cf. Luke 7:1-10; Titus 3:1-7). ![]() This past week, we enjoyed Missions Conference at Colonial, and I thought I'd share a few nuggets that I gleaned. (1) I'm thankful to be a part of a missional church. First, as we planned for the Missions Conference, it was decided that we would host fewer missionaries, in order to be able to involve them more fully, get to know them more personally, and treat them more generously. Prior to the conference, the missionary families had been emailed in order to gather information regarding their needs. Throughout the week, our church family had the privilege of meeting those needs and presenting a different missionary family in each service with the "surprise" of certain gifts that would really be a asset to them. It was a thrill to be an encouragement to them in this way and to demonstrate our loving commitment to co-laborers that we don't often get to see! Second, our Missions Conference ended on Sunday night with the recommitting of our faith-promise missions giving for the next year. Last year, the church family had promised a generous amount and had exceeded that by year's end. This year, the commitments were even greater than last year, and by God's grace in the faithfulness of His people's giving, Colonial will be able to contribute financially to missionaries and missions projects in greater ways than before. In the past, Colonial has been able to enjoy ministering financially to a work in Myanmar, and we were able to hear in detail this past week how the Lord has used our gifts in that mission field. With the faith-promise commitments of the upcoming year, we hope to continue to store up eternal treasure by partnering in the gospel with those brothers and sisters across the ocean whom we have never met but with whom we can have a substantial and Christ-exalting impact through our finances (cf. II Corinthians 8). What a true joy to see the grace of giving in the church family, as it takes what God has entrusted to it and willingly gives it right back to Him in gospel missions! Third, last summer our church sent a medical missions team to Panama, and the Lord richly blessed their ministry (i.e., they treated over 600 patients and witnessed over 300 professions of faith in Christ in three days). This summer, we will be sending another team to different area in Panama to engage in the same kind of ministry. Last week, the team introduced themselves and shared their vision for this summer, and it was an honor to recognize our church's commitment to do more than just pray for and give to missions, but to actually do missions. God has purposely blessed Colonial with many medical personnel, so these medical mission trips are a wise usage of these entrusted talents. However, I hope in the future that Colonial will be able to offer summer missions trips for non-medical people, so that we can continue to reinforce here our individual need to fulfill the Great Commission in a hands-on manner. (2) I was challenged to maintain a missional lifestyle and ministry. First, Nathan Deatrick, a church-planter in Columbus, NC, brought a missionary sermon one evening on the life of Isaac McCoy. I had never heard anything like it, but I was greatly convicted by this man's example of faith-living. This 18th Century pastor understood that we are "strangers and exiles on the earth" (Hebrews 11:13), and he lived and ministered by faith in the unseen as the utmost and eternal reality (cf. Hebrews 10:32-11:40). I was humbled to recognize again that in my struggles on earth, "[I] have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in [my] striving against sin" (Hebrews 12:4). Thank You, Jesus, that you did! And, thank You for the example of those who have gone on before who model for us what it means in the modern day to "desire a better country…a heavenly one" (Hebrews 11:16). If you'd like to hear this powerful challenge for yourself, you can do so here. Second, Josh Hedges, a missionary to Chad, Africa, shared a unique challenge during our International Dinner. He shared the hypothetical story of a believing businessman whose business trips frequently took him to that country, where he got to know some of the missionaries there. Over time, the disadvantaged conditions of that country, its very needy people, and the missions work that he had witnessed began to greatly impact him as God's Spirit challenged him concerning what he could be doing stateside to further accomplish the Great Commission. Upon returning home, this man and his wife began to pray for wisdom about how they could participate more practically in Christ's rather radical call to discipleship (cf. Matthew 10:37-39; 16:24-25). They adopted a "wartime lifestyle" that allowed them to live modestly according to their needs, so that they were freer to contribute financially to God's mission around the world. Over time, they saw the fruits of their faith, as God blessed their partnership with Him. What a challenge to break out of our convenient, casual Christianity, and really dive in to God's mission in the world today! "The mission of the church is missions; the mission of missions is the church" (James MacDonald). In an American society that is so driven by sight, I know that I must live by faith. In an American culture that is so given to entertainment, I know that I must live with a mission. Christ, increase my faith in the unseen, and allow me to give all for You who gave all for me, because my home and reward is not on the earth! (3) I developed a deeper appreciation for Bible translators. On the last day of our Missions Conference, Josh Hedges shared more information about his Bible translation work in Chad, Africa. He sought to provide us with a theological framework for Bible translation, putting it into its proper context of preservation. Throughout the centuries, God has providentially preserved His Word through the careful transmission and translation of men devoted to carefully passing on God's message of truth. Translation, then, is vital, not just to preservation, but to the perpetuation of understanding truth in the language of the masses! Furthermore, Josh showed how translation relates to personal growth, and he did so by creating a scene in which an American church (like mine and yours) were to take a 6-month complete fast from God's Word. While some in our churches might unfortunately not be affected by such a loss, most of us would find our spiritual stability unraveling, and the preaching in our churches would greatly diminish in its content and effectiveness. We take for granted in America the immediate access to God's Word that we enjoy in our own language, but many nations have no such access. The believers in thousands of people groups around the world are illiterate and/or have no Bible translation in their language, and so are unable to experience the spiritual power that God has sourced in His Word. Praise God, then, for men and women who sacrifice their time to learn the original languages and who sacrifice their comfort to put God's Word in the hands of others. Since faith comes by hearing the gospel message in God's Word (Romans 10:17), and since God is calling out a people from every people group (Revelation 7:9-10), then we must send Bible translators to do what God has gifted them to do in fulfillment of the Great Commission. Just some nuggets for thought and application. I hope we'll partner with Christ in these things, starting in Indianapolis! ![]() READ: Matthew 1 I love Matthew 1:21–”[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” What a wonderful reminder that while Jesus will fulfill Luke 1:68-75 for Israel and ultimately for all His people (i.e., save them from their enemies), Jesus primarily came to redeem us from our worst enemy–sin. O glorious reality! While the Messiah was indeed very holy and powerful God of very holy and powerful God (notice the lofty descriptions of Jesus in Luke 1:32-35), He was named Salvation (or “Yahweh Saves”–the meaning of the name, Jesus) to declare to all that He had first come in gracious humility to bring them back to Himself. The next thirty years would be His “saving” work of perfect righteousness in life and vicarious propitiation in death, so that redemption from sin and reconciliation to God could be ours. Believer, in both worship and evangelism, be not silent, but “let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (Psalm 107:2)! For more Christmas Meditations, click here. ![]() READ: Luke 1:1-4; John 1:1-18 In Luke 1:1-4, Luke demonstrates painstaking care in describing “the things that have been accomplished among us.” He uses statements like “undertaken,” “eyewitnesses,” “followed all things closely for some time,” “orderly account,” and “have certainty” to communicate the carefulness with which he and others have passed along what they witnessed from Christ. Yet, John’s Gospel suggests a special blessing for those “who have not seen and yet have believed” (20:29). While we may at times quietly wish to have been alive during Jesus’ time so that we could have benefited more fully from physical interaction with Him (or wished this for unsaved loved ones), John 1:9-13 demonstrates that spiritual blessing does not necessarily come through physical interaction with Christ, but rather through whole-hearted belief in Christ. While there were several eye-witnesses that expressed faith in Christ (as Luke demonstrates), the general rule was that “He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him” (John 1:11). So, physical interaction with Christ never guaranteed spiritual blessing. Faith was the key! Eternal, spiritual blessing comes to those who “believe in His name…who [are] born…of God” (1:12). So, while physical interaction, one the one hand, didn’t guarantee spiritual blessing, neither does physical removal, on the other hand, render us disadvantaged. A relationship with Christ is still by grace (v. 13) through faith (v. 14). And, because Christ is the unending Word (v. 1) and manifestation of God (v. 14, 18) who ministers life (v. 4), grace, and truth (v. 14, 17), we can know Him fully and personally, albeit not yet physically. So, dig into the Word, and with eyes of faith see the risen Savior and cry “My Lord and my God!” For more Christmas Meditations, click here. A pastor in Ohio started a ministry of song-writing about 4 years ago. His hymns are tremendous and can be freely used from his website, www.churchworksmedia.com. One of my favorite hymns is one he wrote earlier this year, entitled, Draw Near Through Christ. I've copied the text below. I'm always been especially stirred by the theme of the cherubs throughout each stanza. In Eden’s bliss we walked with God
Unhindered by the curse. Yet we rebelled and were expelled-- Estranged; alone; perverse. Two mighty cherubs barred the path To Eden’s holy place; No more could men, now stained by sin, Behold our Maker’s face. Beneath the Law we sought the Lord Through sacrifice and priest. One time each year one man, in fear, Sought God with blood of beast. Still mighty cherubs blocked the way So sinners could not pass-- In curtain sewn, on golden throne, They stopped the rebel fast. Then Christ appeared to clear the way To God for sinful man; Fulfilled the Law without a flaw-- Our Temple, Priest, and Lamb. Astounded cherubs stepped aside; Each hid his flaming sword. With nail and thorn the Veil was torn; Draw near through Christ the Lord! In Jesus’ name we boldly come Before the throne of grace. With empty hand, in Christ we stand To seek Almighty’s face Till saints and cherubs join in awe Around the Savior’s throne. With one great voice we will rejoice: “All praise to Christ alone!” Copyright 2010 ChurchWorksMedia.com. All rights reserved. |
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