Grace: Free, But Not Cheap

“It is finished.” Among the last words of Jesus before His death, this statement summarizes the Gospel. Everything that had to be done for our forgiveness was done. Finished. Accomplished. Completed. Paid in full.

Thus, by the death of Jesus. the grace of God is extended to anyone who wants it, regardless of the nature of their sin. Murderers can be forgiven: St. Paul was. Betrayers can be forgiven: St. Peter was. Thieves, liars, cheats, adulterers, the whole list: if it’s a sin, it can be forgiven by God’s grace.

God’s grace is available to the repentant, and it is utterly without charge; indeed scandalously so. For that reason, some are critical of the biblical concept of God's grace. “It’s not fair,” they assert, “for someone to just be forgiven without paying a price.”

However, that is a misunderstanding of grace. The fact is, God’s grace is completely just. It’s not a function of sloppy sentimentality. Grace is not a denial of the reality of sin, or even the cost of sin.

Indeed, grace knows the cost of sin; and grace paid it in Christ. Consider the incredible price He paid to wipe away our sins. Not only did He endure the physical torture of the cross and the emotional pain of His friends’ abandonment, He also felt the infinitely greater spiritual agony of separation from His Father.

This means that grace is free; but, it’s not cheap! Jesus paid the price, the full and gruesome payment, for grace to be free to us.

This kind of grace is so stunningly free that it’s impossible to understand for those who refuse to forgive. When folks refuse to forgive others, they say to the crucified One, “Jesus, it wasn’t enough. Your payment was insufficient. I want more. I want more suffering to be extracted. I want more pain to be inflicted. I want them to pay!”

Frankly, that is an eternally perilous thing to say. The fact is, that’s not Christianity; not even close. It may be religion, but it’s absolutely not Christianity.

Religion rejects grace, insisting that we must contribute something to our salvation. We must try harder. We must do better. We must live morally, and so forth. Religion is really nothing more than a self-help way to try to earn God’s respect. Buddhists have their eightfold path. Hindus have the endless cycle of karma and reincarnation. Islam has its four pillars. Only Christianity dares to affirm that God offers us a relationship with Him on the basis of His own pure grace.

It’s a bold path to take, this way of grace. It means letting go of your offenders and leaving them in the nail-pierced hands, acknowledging, as the hymn says, that Jesus paid it all.

Isn’t that where you want to be? If you struggle to be there, let me remind you that it was Jesus Who said, right after teaching us the Lord’s Prayer, “If you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15). Remember that truth, the next time you’re tempted to refuse forgiveness to one who has offended you.

You’ve Got to Tell Someone!

Living in this broken world, we Christians have been given an honorable opportunity. This privilege is telling people we know and love about Jesus. Telling them. That means actually using words.

It’s more than just showing kindness to people, which, of course, we must do. But many show kindness without sharing Jesus. It takes more than just being kind.

It’s more than hospitality. Though God’s Word commands us to “show hospitality” (Hebrews 13:2), it takes more than hospitality for our neighbors to receive Jesus.

It’s more than caring for the poor, visiting the sick, and feeding the hungry. Mind you, it’s not less than those ministries. We must do those things, because Jesus commanded them (see Matthew 25). But it’s more than that.

Kindness, hospitality, caring, visiting, and feeding are vital tasks that we Christians simply must do, in the name of Jesus.

Yet, in all of that, if we don’t actually tell people about Jesus, we fail them at the very core of their need. The wounded people who populate this world have a vast array of needs: they need soup, they need soap, and they need solace. But more than anything else, they need a Savior!

In God’s Word, there is a fascinating story of four lepers in ancient Jerusalem (see 2 Kings 7). Israel was at war, and Jerusalem was under siege. Food was scarce, and the lepers’ prospects for survival were grim. They decided their best option was to surrender to the enemy and beg for mercy, concluding that nothing worse would happen than a quick execution, which was better than the slow death by starvation that awaited them in the surrounded city.

As they approached the enemy camp, they found that the besieging army had suddenly fled in the night, leaving behind huge stores of food and supplies! The famished men began to gorge themselves, rejoicing in their good fortune.

Suddenly, one of them remembered their starving brothers and sisters in the city. He said, "What we're doing is not right. This is a day of good news, and we're not telling anyone about it” (2 Kings 7:9).

We who know Jesus as Lord and Savior are just like those four. We too were once needy lepers, spiritually speaking: unclean in our sin, and hopelessly starved within. We too, by no merit of our own, have found the miraculous provision of our need: a Savior to forgive our sin and restore our life.

And, if we are keeping it ourselves, we too are not doing right in this day of good news.

If God has given you new life, it’s sin to stay quiet about it.

If you have been blessed with joy and hope from the Lord, you must not keep it to yourself.

If you have been born again by trusting Jesus, you’ve got to share it.

Of course, you’ve got to be kind. But that’s not enough.

You’ve got to tell someone.

A PAIR OF SIMPLE QUESTIONS

There is a new kind of entrepreneur in America today, and those who are good at their trade are making an amazing amount of money. They call themselves “consultants.”

In the simplest terms, consultants go from corporation to corporation, helping generate ideas about how to operate more efficiently, and market products more effectively. Fees for famous consultants may run to 6 or 7 figures!

A meeting between a company’s CEO and an expert consultant usually begins with some version of these two simple questions.

Question #1 is “What’s your business?” This one requires an answer of ten words or less.

Question #2 is “How’s business?” The answer should be three words or less.

Until those two simple questions are answered satisfactorily, nothing else is considered. That’s because if the CEO can’t state his company’s purpose clearly and concisely, then the company’s employees probably can’t either. And if an enterprise doesn’t know why it exists, it will eventually become ineffective, and probably sooner than later.

The same principle applies to the church.

Several decades ago, Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple said, “The church is the only society that exists for the benefit of its non-members.” How’s that sound to you? Unfortunately, it’s more than ten words.

We Christians need to be asking each other the consultants’ question about our Churches. Every church board meeting and business meeting should include a reconsideration of these questions: “What’s our church’s business?” “How’s business?”

Think for a moment about your church. How would you answer these questions?

“What’s our church’s business?”

“How’s business?”

How do you think your pastor would answer these questions?

“What’s our church’s business?”

“How’s business?”

Most important of all, how would Jesus answer those two questions? He’s the one Who founded the church, so He ought to have a big say in why the church exists, shouldn’t He?

If you have a hard time imagining what Jesus would say in answer to those questions, pick up your Bible and read the Gospels again. You’ll find that Jesus was very clear about what He expects the church to do. Very clear. Amazingly clear. In fact, clear enough to state in ten words or less.

By contrast, I’ve got books on my shelf that take hundreds of pages just to tell you what the church is, let alone describe its reason to exist. These tomes may be comprehensive, but they’re sometimes not very helpful. Jesus knew the value of simple, clear communication. Here are a few samples, each comprising ten words or less.

“I have come to seek and save the lost.”

“If you love each other, it proves you’re My followers.”

“My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit.”

“Go into the world and make disciples.”

In light of what Jesus said, try to answer those two simple questions.

What’s your church’s business?

How’s business?

Why Does the Church Exist on Earth?

“When I go in that church and see all the hypocrites in there, it just makes my blood boil.”

“Why should I go to church and sit there with those sinners?”

“I’ll never go to that church, knowing what that woman did to my mother 30 years ago.”

It’s a common sentiment, isn’t it? I hear it almost weekly when I talk with folks about coming to worship: too many hypocrites in the church.

Behind that attitude lies a twofold misunderstanding of the church: what its membership standards are, and who it exists for.

Some people think church is something you belong to if you measure up to a set of standards. There are social standards: having enough money, wearing the right clothes, or living in the right neighborhood. Others think of behavioral standards: if you don’t smoke, drink, swear, gamble, or carouse, you can be a member.

By contrast, Jesus said that to be in His church, the only standard that counts is spiritual – you must be born again. In other words, you must trust Jesus for your salvation, and demonstrate that you trust Him by inviting Him to live inside of you.

Trust Jesus. Only Jesus. Not the way you dress, or the neighborhood you live in, or the things you do or don’t do.

Of course, once you trust Jesus, He will start to change your behaviors. But that comes after, not before.

Which leads us to the second question: for whom does the church exist on earth?

The church exists, in great measure, for sinners. It’s a clinic of sorts, to which sick and hurting people may come for healing and therapy; not because they’ve conquered all their problems, but because they can’t, not by themselves.

The church is a sinner hospital, not a saint museum!

In fact, it’s the hypocrites that the church is there for. That’s right: the church exists for hypocrites!

The word “hypocrite,” in its original language, literally means “someone under judgment;” and people under judgment are precisely the people for whom Jesus died. People like you and me, who sometimes sin so habitually that we feel like we can’t help ourselves. And because we can’t help ourselves out of our sin, we need a Savior. That’s why He came, as the Apostle Paul wrote, “the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

Indeed, the church exists because, as God’s word says in Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory;” and because we all need equal access to the one and only Savior. It has nothing to do with how good you are, where you live, how you dress, or whether you’ve overcome some bad habits.

So, when people say that the church is full of hypocrites, they’re right. And it’s a good thing, too. In fact, I can’t think of a better place for hypocrites to be, because without Jesus and His Church, all of us hypocrites would be going to hell.

This Sunday, I’ll be in church, along with a bunch of other hypocrites who’ve realized how much we need each other and our Savior. How about you?

TIME TO GO TO THE CROSS AGAIN

If we could learn one lesson in 2007 that would increase our spiritual and emotional health more than anything else, it would be this one: how to forgive. Admittedly, it’s not easy. We live in a world that vigorously teaches us how to hold grudges. “Everybody thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea,” wrote C. S. Lewis, “until he has something to forgive.”

That puts it pretty straight, doesn’t it? All of us who are aware of our sin naturally want to be forgiven. Indeed, even those who aren’t aware of their sin actually need to be forgiven, whether they know it or not.

It’s worth remembering that Jesus said that receiving forgiveness from God goes hand in hand with extending forgiveness to those who have sinned against us. Listen to His very words as recorded in Matthew 6:14-15: “If you forgive people their wrongdoing, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don't forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.”

Jesus said that immediately after teaching the infant church what we call “The Lord’s Prayer,” in which one of the petitions says, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” That little word “as” is the important one. It means exactly what Jesus expounded upon after the prayer: if we are unwilling to give forgiveness, we don’t receive it.

Many people are too easily offended. Some almost seem to take pride in their ability to hold a grudge or in their refusal to humble themselves or in their resistance to seeking or extending forgiveness. By contrast, true Christians love forgiveness. Because of God’s forgiveness of them, they know beautiful and Godlike it is to give or get forgiveness.

So how do we learn to forgive in a grudge-keeping world?

I have one bit of advice: go to the cross. Look upon the supreme sacrifice of the Son of God, and gaze in wonder upon the agony He suffered in bearing the sins of the world. Then remember that what He bore embraced every sin you’ve ever committed, including the grudges you’ve held. Realize that His torturous death was the punishment you should have received for what you did.

Pause and ponder the cost of your forgiveness, and then consider whether it makes more sense to forgive those who have wronged you, or to keep holding onto it. I believe you’ll see the folly of unforgiveness more clearly in the light of the cross of Jesus Christ.

The testimony of the late great British preacher Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones should be the heart-cry of every Christian: “I say to the glory of God and in utter humility that whenever I see myself before God and realize even something of what my blessed Lord has done for me, I am ready to forgive anybody anything.”

Amazing words: “ready to forgive anybody anything.”

How close are you to that?

It’s time to go to the cross again.

QUESTIONS OF HIS COMING

During the time leading up to Christmas, questions often arise about the day and its celebration. In fact, in this space last December, I printed a “Christmas Quiz” that raised a couple dozen questions about the details of our traditional Christmas celebrations.

Typical questions surround elements of the celebration. For example, some question why we use trees (a pagan symbol?), where He was born (a cave, a barn, or an open field?), and quite notably, when He was born (probably not December 25, was it?)

Of course, there’s a point to all these questions. They help us sift out all the cultural myths about Christmas from the biblical truths. But they may also distract us from the most important question about Christmas, and that is this: Why was Jesus born?

You see, when He was born, how He was born, and even where He was born are relatively insignificant matters. And that’s precisely why the Bible doesn’t waste any space on those matters.

But the “Why?” question: now that’s a different matter! And scripture is very clear about it. Let’s allow God’s Word to answer this one for itself.

First, here are some words Jesus spoke about Himself

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:31-32).

“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:11).

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17).

And then we have the testimony of Paul, who, before he met Jesus, loved to persecute and even kill Christians.

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (Titus 1:15).

There are many more passages that say the same thing. It’s clear: the whole reason for Jesus’ birth was to save people.

But see who it was He came to save! Not the righteous. Not people who were trying to clean up their lives on their own. Certainly not those who considered themselves more worthy than others.

Sinners! It was sinners that Jesus came to save. Anyone and everyone willing to admit their sin and their need of a Savior.

That’s why every church that seeks to follow Jesus has doors that are intentionally open to anyone who is willing to admit he or she is a sinner, no matter what their sin may be. Jesus didn’t come to create churches that are saint museums, filled with people who gather to congratulate themselves on how good they are in contrast to others. He came to make sinner hospitals, outposts of hope and healing, forgiveness and reconciliation.

Are you a sinner? Do you admit it? If you do, it’s clear that Jesus came to save you from your sin, and make you God’s child.

And that makes Christmas worth celebrating!

CHRISTMAS EMOTIONS RUN DEEP

For Debbie and me, Christmas is a particularly poignant season. This time when the Child was born always reminds us how hard it was for us to have children. As we enjoy Jesus' birthday with our two wonderful children, Laura and David, we can't help but recollect the pain of two miscarriages, followed by the premature birth and subsequent death of twins.

On the day they were born, Aaron and Katherine were very much alive, and struggled to survive. We will never forget their valiant battle for life, their little chests heaving to draw breath. They cried, they wiggled, and they reacted in pain to the intravenous tubes inserted into their tiny bodies. They were alive. If born today, they would likely continue to live.

And yet, these living persons, little Aaron and Katherine, could have been legally aborted an hour before they were born, if we had been predisposed to do so. It would have been legal – and it would have been monstrous!

Debbie and I will never be the same, having held them in our arms, having prayed over them, and having wept at their graves. To us, theirs are the visible faces and audible cries of the millions of unborn Americans whose lives have been snuffed out by abortion.

Because of Aaron and Katherine, Christmas has taken on an expanded meaning for us. This special day marks the birth of a Child Who, had He been conceived today, might well have become a statistic of the abortion industry. The setting in which He was conceived, judged by current standards, would have made abortion a predictable "choice" today.

Consider the following circumstances.

His mother was young, unmarried, uneducated and poor. She was clearly unable to support a child on her own.

When her fiancee found out she was pregnant, his first thought was to call off the wedding. The Child's birth would only have brought increased hardship to a family already financially strapped.

Clearly, the Child would have a low quality of life.

Today, as you know, these circumstances comprise a classic profile for recommending abortion. It is chilling to think that, in our time, He through Whom the world was made would have been a likely candidate to end up in a dumpster behind a “clinic”!

Some would say, "Don't disturb me with such unpleasant thoughts, especially at Christmas." I would only ask one question: if just thinking about abortion is so troublesome – at Christmas, or at any time – then how much more ghastly is the fact that it happens a couple thousand times a day in our nation?

This Christmas, as you celebrate the birth of the Holy Child, may His Spirit stir your heart about the plight of our nation's unborn citizens, for whom He was born and died. Then, as you enter the new year, please do something in Jesus' name for the unborn children. Do it for His sake. And for theirs.

GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE

Mary was going to have a baby! It was simply impossible!

As if it weren’t scary enough when the angel Gabriel appeared right there in front of her, he proceeded to pronounce an incomprehensible, utterly implausible announcement, “You’re going to have a child . . .” I can envision Mary thinking something like this: “Whoa, now! Wait just a minute here. I know enough about the birds and bees to be one-hundred percent certain that I’m not going to have a child any time within the next nine months.” How do you suppose this young lady might have felt faced with the unimaginable, the unthinkable . . . the impossible?

“It just can’t be.”

How many times do we have the same kind of feeling when faced with the previously unimaginable?

It just can’t be . . .
. . . God would never let that happen.

It just can’t be . . .
. . . I’m not ready yet.

It just can’t be . . .
. . . I’d never be able to stand it.

And yet, though you try to convince yourself that it just can’t be, there the just-can’t-be thing is, in all its immense be-ing-ness, staring you in the face in bold defiance of your feeble self-assertion. It just can’t be . . . but it is!

And then what?

When the what of God’s plan exceeds our comprehension, we usually look for explanations. So did Mary. And when Mary asked “How shall this be?” Gabriel’s explanation was simply this: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will come to rest on you . . .”

What other indisputable impossibilities of life are out there, waiting to be blown away by God’s promise? “The Holy Spirit will come on you . . .”

I’ll never amount to anything!
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you . . .”

There’s nothing that can be done about it!
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you . . .”

This marriage is doomed.
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you . . .”

Like it or lump it, that’s just the way I am.
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you . . .”

The “then what” is this: God wants to do the impossible in your life.

Here’s the how: the Holy Spirit will come upon you.

And the why? Mary already knew that one. Do you? It’s simple. God wants to do the impossible in your life because He chose you for His glory. You didn’t earn it, you don’t deserve it and you never will. God just chose you.

And so Mary’s response is the key for us. She may have had doubts, may have still thought it all quite incomprehensible. And yet she expressed her faith in God’s plan with words we all should pray a dozen times a day: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to Your Word.”

IF FAITH IS REAL

In the political campaign just ended, faith was talked about more than in most campaigns in recent memory, at least out here in Colorado. We heard many candidates claim to have faith in God.

Interestingly, more than a few of them quickly went on to say something like this, “However, I try to keep my faith as a private matter between me and my God. I don’t let my faith affect the way I vote or make decisions in the political realm.”

That’s a fascinating kind of “faith;” a kind that, quite frankly, is completely unrecognizable when compared to what the Bible calls faith.

Such a so-called “faith” sees a person’s relationship to deity in completely private terms, making it a kind of hidden hopefulness that some god (who desires to play no active role in one’s day-to-day existence) will one day be nice to everyone and let us all go to heaven – or wherever.

The fact is, faith is not like that at all. If faith is real, it transforms you, and keeps on transforming you, making you little-by-little more like Jesus. That transformation is not isolated to the “religious” part of yourself, but extends to every aspect of your personhood: who you are, what you do, how you make decisions, and what you consider to be valuable.

Thus, if faith is real, it can’t be hidden, because it changes you. It can’t be privatized, because it makes you live differently. And it certainly can’t be relegated to the “religious sphere” of one’s life – whatever that is.

Inspired by God’s Spirit, James stated it this way: “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). That’s blunt enough, isn’t it?

Or, to put it another way: if your faith doesn’t produce changes in your life, it’s not faith at all. It’s just a corpse – it may look real, but there’s no life in it.

If faith is real, it always results in change, because when you place your faith in Jesus Christ, a new life begins. You become a whole new person on the inside. Suddenly, you are changed. Formerly just a child of your earthly parents, you become a child of your heavenly Father. And since you have become His child, the family resemblance begins to take over. As you live out your life of faith in an intimate love relationship with God, the things that matter most to Him also come to matter most to you. Your values become more in tune with His values. Your heart begins to break over the things that break the heart of God. And you begin to be committed to those ideals God is committed to.

And, none of that can be hidden. It shows. Always. I repeat: A-L-W-A-Y-S. Indeed, if nothing shows, if no change is visible, then there’s nothing there. No real faith at all.

So, next time you hear politicians -- or anyone else, for that matter! -- say they have a kind of so-called faith that doesn’t change the way they live and act and vote, ask yourself who they’re trying to fool.

One thing’s for sure. They’re not fooling God.

Not an actual article, but, so, like, anyway . . .

. . . I mean really, uh, anyway, we were going out to, uh, the ,uh, you know, thing, and all, and when we got there, well, uh, the dude was, like - "whoa man!" I mean, and we were all, uh, you know - "whoa!" and stuff, and when I said to him, like, you know, "hey man", and all they, I mean he, was all "what?" and stuff - and I just told him what you said and all and they were all man - "not cool dude", but whatever - so, uh, we split and went back to my lair and just hung out and whatever, but the whole thing was, like, just SUCH a bummer and all but, you know, it was cool and stuff, but you just gotta, you know, about the dude and all, like, it's cool and all you know, but what's up with that "blah blah blah"? Whatzit got to do with Jesus and all? I mean, really, dude, whatever . . . but, it's cool and all . . . so, anyway, you know, I mean, like, right?

PASTORS NEED TO BE PRAYED FOR

News flash: pastors are people too. Just like all Christians, pastors are tempted with many of the usual enticements of this world. Though this should never be used as an excuse for sin, it is an important reality to remember, especially in view of the recent news out of Colorado Springs. The much-publicized moral failure of well-known pastor Ted Haggard highlights the need for the church to learn to relate in more healthy way with the real people that pastors are.

However, before I go any further, let me state unequivocally that what Ted Haggard did was wrong and sinful, and it was appropriate, by his own admission, that He be removed from his ministry.

In his letter of departure from his church, Ted Haggard wrote something intriguing. He indicated that, though he had accountability partners to help him overcome temptation, he let pride and shame keep him from being honest with them, and so the power of the temptation grew until he sinned. Interesting, isn’t it? He was ashamed that he was tempted, so he quit talking about his temptations, and eventually gave in to them.

The question naturally arises: why would anyone be ashamed of being tempted? After all, being tempted is not the same as giving in to the temptation. Temptation is when we sense an opportunity or an urge to sin. Scripture says that everyone is tempted, and that includes Jesus Himself during His earthly ministry. Indeed, Hebrews 4:12 says, “He was tempted in every way that we are, but He didn't sin.” Clearly, temptation to sin is not the same as sin itself.

Why do some folks seem ashamed that they are tempted? I don’t know for certain, but, I do know why some pastors won’t talk about their temptations: they’re afraid if they admit to being tempted they may be considered weak or somehow flawed. They wonder whether their admission of being tempted will turn into a church-wide object of gossip rather than being kept a confidential subject of prayer. They may even think that, because church leaders must aspire to a higher standard (see James 3:1), some will criticize them because they haven’t “gotten over that” by now.

However, the point here is not so much to analyze pastors, but rather to learn to deal with temptation in a healthy way BEFORE it leads to sin. Imagine the victory we would enjoy if we could say to a fellow Christian, “I’m struggling with a particular temptation. Would you pray for me?” How healthy it would be if pastors could discuss their temptations with a few other Christians, to objectify the temptation, reveal the schemes of the Tempter, and thus prevent sin before it takes place. Indeed, how beneficial it would be if all of us would pray for each other about our temptations, lest we give in to them!

Yes, pastors are people. Though that doesn’t excuse it when they sin, it does remind us that they, like all Christians, need the freedom to share their temptations and ask for prayer.

Could your pastor ask you for this kind of prayer?

WHAT WE DESERVE

“I only want what I deserve in this relationship!” he growled as he turned and walked out of my office.

I cringed.

“Deserve.” What a deadly word.

Little-by-little, that attitude was crushing the life out of their marriage.

Sadly, like far too many relationships, this marriage had turned into a score-keeping contest. Every offense he committed against her was accurately tallied by her and indelibly inscribed in her memory. Every “nice thing” he did for her was remembered by him to see whether she would respond in kind or not.

Nothing was ever forgotten. They both kept very precise scorecards.

And, of course, they both insisted they wanted only what they deserved.

The encounter drew me back in memory to that night of trial when, all too early, my wife went into labor with twins. Having already endured two miscarriages, we were afraid and uncertain as we headed for the hospital, hoping and praying. As I counted the twenty-something miles to the hospital, Deb counted the minutes between contractions; and I cried out to God in my spirit, “Okay, Lord, how much is enough? After all, we’ve dedicated our lives to Your Kingdom. Doesn’t that mean anything to You? Don’t we deserve better than this?”

Nothing.

Nothing except that single word, “deserve,” thrown back into my breaking heart by the piercing sovereign silence of Him Who had already spoken so many times.

Like the tolling of a huge bell it sounded in my mind.

Deserve.

When all is said and done – or so the silence seemed to say – what indeed DO you deserve? In view of the fact that even your righteous deeds are like filthy rags before Him? Remembering that in you, that is in your flesh, dwells no good thing?

Suffering and pain, no doubt, if the truth were told. Let’s not kid ourselves. We know, all too well, the cherished jealousies and petty hatreds of our secret selves, the untold sin we try to hide even from our own consciences. What do we deserve? Ruin, anguish and fear, in this life, to be sure. And after that, worse forever, unspeakably worse.

That’s the gloomy ride for which keeping score buys you a fist full of tickets, all purchased and paid for by your own desire to “deserve” it.

But God has a better plan.

It’s called grace.

God’s riches at Christ’s expense.

It means not only do you NOT get what you deserve – and that would be enough! – but, moreover, that you DO get what you DON’T deserve. In fact, you get what Jesus deserves, because He took what you deserved.

It’s an amazing transaction to which God calls us! What an astonishing offer! We let go of our deserved desperation, and received an eternally undeserved mercy!

Now, in view of the immensity of God’s grace, how dare we cry out for what we deserve, as if God were beholden to our sorry sense of justice?

You think about that, next time you’re tempted to demand what you deserve.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE REALLY SAY?

"The Lord helps those who help themselves."

"Know thyself. To know thyself is the deepest knowledge of all."

"To thine own self be true."

How many of the above quotes are from the Bible? Stop for a moment and think before you answer.

In a recent survey of American homes, 91% had at least one Bible. Yet, eight out of ten American adults think the first quote above is from scripture. It's not. You'll find it in "Poor Richard's Almanac;" but it’s not in God's Word.

The second quote comes from an ancient Greek document called "The Delphic Oracle," ascribed by legend to Pythagoras; but it’s not in the Bible.

The third quote is interesting. New Age guru and sometime actress Shirley MacLaine, in her book “Out On a Limb,” claims that Jesus said it. MacLaine must have forgotten her Shakespeare. The Bard penned that line, and you can find it in "Hamlet;" but it’s not in the Bible.

Famous pollster George Gallup recently stated that America has “become a nation of biblical illiterates." Gallup and Christian researcher George Barna back up that claim with plenty of survey results. Look at the statistics revealed in some recent polls, and compare with your answers.

Fewer than half of all American adults can name all four Gospels. How many can you name?

Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the twelve apostles. How about you?

Sixty percent of Americans can't name more than four of the Ten Commandments. Give it a try yourself. How did you do?

Here are some more examples, even more astonishing.

One Barna poll stated that one out of eight American adults thought Noah's wife was Joan of Arc! A survey of high school seniors indicated that over half of them thought Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. Another poll asked who preached the Sermon on the Mount, and many respondents said Billy Graham did.

We are in big trouble!

It’s one thing for the general populace to be ignorant about the bible. The deeper tragedy is biblical ignorance in the church. Sadly, survey after survey shows the same thing: Christians know less and less about the Bible.

In a nation where more than nine out of ten homes have at least one Bible, why are so few aware of its message? Gallup answers, "Americans revere the Bible – but, by and large, they don't read it.” To know the Bible, you have to read it. Sadly, only four out of ten Bible-owners read it as often as once a week, while just 11% read it daily.

The result of such biblical illiteracy is that God's people are open to deception. God's Word warns of tragedy for those who don't know His decrees. "My people are destroyed by their lack of knowledge . . . because they have neglected the Law of God" (Hosea 4:6).

The world around us is full of deception. The only way you can know the truth is to read it.

Do you?

What's Possible

In the previous article I discussed the life transformation that can take place when you trust Jesus minute by minute and step by step with the details of your life. I proposed that He can and will change your life, and you will become more like Him, if you do that.

Even as I pushed the “send” button that transmitted my article via cyberspace to the local newspaper here in Sterling, I could hear the sound of unbelief saying, “Yeah, riiiiight! This is Sterling, and we’re different. We don’t change.”

I could hear those words, because I’ve heard them before. Indeed, any pastor who has been here more than a few months has heard those words, or read them in the archived minutes of his church’s business meetings.

Think with me for a moment about the magnitude of those words, “We don’t change.” Jesus came to change lives, to transform them utterly. Remember that Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good, which would be miracle enough. No, He came to do much more than that. The transformation He works is nothing less than making dead people alive. Change, in other words, is so very at the heart of what Jesus came to do, that saying “We don’t change” is the same as saying “Jesus, we don’t want You here.”

With that in mind, let’s remember why we often don’t want to change. I think it has to do with our conviction about what’s possible. Let’s face it: we either live up to our beliefs or live down to them. I think a lot of the time when we say, “We don’t change,” what we really mean is “We can’t change.” Maybe other people can, in nicer towns, where people have more money or more opportunity, but not us, not here.

When we talk like that or think like that, we’re focusing on the wrong part of the picture, and by “the wrong part,” I mean us. The issue, at its most basic, is not whether we can change, but rather, whether God, Who spoke the world into existence and raised His Son from the dead, can change us. Do we believe God can change us?

Here are some questions we who claim to trust Jesus need to ask.

What’s possible . . . when human beings pursue the kingdom of God with Jesus as their Leader?

What’s possible . . . when we learn to bring the details of everyday living under the Lordship of the crucified and risen Son of God?

What’s possible . . . when we enter into apprenticeship in the service of the King, with the Holy Spirit as our Teacher and Guide?

What’s possible . . . when we dare to make radical obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ the cause and source of our life’s joys?

Anybody out there want to find out . . .

. . . what’s possible?

When You Trust Jesus

The Gospel, if it is about anything, is about Jesus transforming your life. During His earthly ministry, Jesus was all the time changing people. He changed a Roman tax collector and a Zealot into friends. He changed a prostitute into a servant. He changed Peter, a pompous boaster, into the leader of the fledgling church. He changed Christian-hunter Saul into world-evangelizing, empire-challenging Paul.

The common factor of all these lives changed by Jesus is not what they were before they met Him, but what happened when they did. And what happened was that they all began to act more like Jesus. His nature, His character, and even His actions came to dominate their very lives.

To them the Gospel was more than just something to be affirmed in church on Sunday. The Gospel was what introduced them to Jesus, and Jesus is what - or rather, Who - changed their lives. Changed them. Transformed them. Made them different from what they were before - radically different!

The world, when it takes time to be honest with the church - and by "the world," I mean those outside the church, those who have never truly met Jesus - has some great questions to ask the church and its people who claim to have met Jesus, claim even to know Him. One of the greatest of the world's questions is this one: "Why don't Christians act more like Jesus?"

The reason I say it's a great question is that it's very similar to one Jesus Himself posed to His sometimes-avid, sometimes-aloof followers of two millennia ago: "Why do you say to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' but do not do what I say?"

I think the answer to both questions is the same: we don't trust Him. Not really, not with the everyday things of this life where we live. Oh, there are plenty of people who trust Him with the sweet by and by. But what about the sour here and now?

Trusting Jesus in the here and now means saying to Him, "Jesus, I want You to be in my whole life. I want You to be in all of my living. Please transform every aspect of my life. Please, Lord, I want you to show what to do and how to do it."

And then learn to listen and obey.

And so the cure to the problem of not acting like Jesus, of not having a transformed life, is this. Trust Jesus. Trust Him in everything and with everything. Trust Him in your job. Trust Him in your marriage. Trust Him with that co-worker who's always on your case. Trust Him with your money. Trust Him with your health. Actively, consciously, in trusting prayer, bring all these aspects of your daily life to Him.

Then, see how He changes you, transforms you and remakes you . . .

. . . when you trust Jesus.

What We Really Need

Hmmm. Maybe I should call this space "Once a MONTH for God." Sorry it's been a while. Here's the most recent piece written for the Sterling, Colorado "Journal-Advocate"



One of the common experiences of the human heart is to cry out to God in time of need. Even people who don’t consider themselves Christian may occasionally say something like “God, help me!”

This kind of prayer arises out of all kinds of needs. Common on this list of needs are financial problems, physical illness, marital difficulty, and what I call “rust needs,” meaning the problems that arise from the fact that all the mechanical things in our lives wear out or rust out.

I find myself praying like this a lot; indeed, too much. It disturbs me that so much of my praying is about my felt needs, rather than about the plans of God for my life. After all, who is the focus of my life: me, or Jesus Christ? As a Christian, I declare that Jesus Christ is the rightful center of my existence. He alone has the right to sit on the throne of my life, and thus, He should be at the heart of all my praying. Sadly, I find that far too often my prayer life is driven primarily by the needs I feel in my life.

Do you experience that? Mind you, Jesus truly desires to be the Lord of all those needs, and longs to show Himself to us in every situation. However, shouldn’t our focus be on Him, and not on ourselves?

Recently I’ve been blessed by Elisabeth Elliott’s book, “Keep a Quiet Heart.” Mrs. Elliott is the widow of Jim Elliott, a missionary to the Auca people in South American who was slain by those with whom he was attempting to share the gospel. After her husband was killed, she continued to minister to his murderers, eventually leading many of them to faith in Christ.

In “Keep a Quiet Heart,” Mrs. Elliott reminds us that what we really need from God far transcends our felt needs. One of her chapters describes the “Jesus Prayer,” which developed in Middle Eastern tradition more than a thousand years ago, but has obvious roots in Jesus’ own teaching on prayer. It goes like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It’s similar to the prayer that Jesus Himself affirmed in Luke 18:13-14a – “But the tax collector . . . beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified . . .”

It’s a concept of crucial importance for our prayer lives, because it reminds us that anything God gives us, except the condemnation we so richly deserve, is the result His overt and extravagant mercy. What we feel we need may involve all sorts of blessings and repairs, and God may, in fact, wish to give them to us. But let’s be wise about this: what we need, what we all need, what we really need, is mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you asked Him for mercy today? It's a really good way to start.

God's Word: Let's Pray It

Last Friday in this space I sought to remind us that the church is in a battle. In a battle, good armies pay attention to three main things: the strategy for victory, the tactical application of that strategy, and the logistical considerations required to support the tactics.

In the church, our objective is to glorify God by worshiping Him, obeying Him, and bringing the lost to Christ: that’s the strategy. The tactical application of that strategy includes the “how-to’s” of ministry. Logistics involves finding the supplies, asking God to meet our needs.

But just read most of our prayer lists, and you might conclude that we are an army that has turned things upside down: preoccupied with logistics, but mostly unaware of our strategic purpose or our tactical orders.

So, what then must we do to expand our practice of prayer?

The obvious first answer is to remember that we are, indeed, at war. There is a devil who hates God and His people, and there is a world increasingly hostile to the clear claims of Jesus Christ. Even our own sinful natures are at odds with God. We need to re-orient our entire outlook into a constantly conscious awareness of the state of war that exists, and in which we are called to be warriors.

A second way to expand our prayer-lives is to learn to pray what’s on God’s heart, rather than simply praying those felt needs that preoccupy our minds and emotions. However, maintaining a focus on the big picture can be tough: as the old adage says, “It’s hard to remember that your job is draining the swamp, when you’re up to your elbows in alligators.” But, to carry that illustration out, if we would ask God to help us drain the swamp, then little by little the alligator problem would go away.

God knows the big picture, the overall strategy of the church, and we must learn to pray strategically about that big plan. That means catching hold of His heart, learning to pray back to God what He tells us in His Word.

In practical terms, it works like this. As we spend time reading God’s Word, He enlivens His Word as He seeks to pour into our hearts that which is on His heart. Then, we simply pray His Word back to Him. The Word of God then serves not only as the guide for your life, but as your prayer list.

A good place to start this approach would be in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Carefully read the first chapter, and highlight the big-picture plans God reveals there. Then simply pray back to God the strategic matters He lays on your heart.

That particular chapter is filled with God’s eternal purpose for Christ and Church. As I read that amazing text, it always excites me to consider what God wants to accomplish through the church. But let’s do more than consider it.

Let’s pray it!

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO PRAY?

Recently I heard a well-known Christian teacher describe some research he conducted in his travels throughout the nation. For more than two years, he tracked the prayer requests people shared with their fellow Christians, both in small groups and in worship settings.

He discovered that more than ninety-five percent of prayer requests were based upon a felt need or a problem that had arisen. A friend has cancer. A brother needs a new job. A neighbor’s child has chicken pox. A co-worker’s marriage is shaky.

Please understand something here: he wasn’t saying there’s anything wrong with such prayer requests. I am not saying that either. Such requests are important.

Does God care about such things? Of course He does!

Should the church pray for needs like these? Of course we should!

But should prayer requests like these occupy ninety-five percent of our praying? Absolutely not. While not neglecting these felt needs, the church must awaken to the fact that there are many other matters about which God has called us to pray.

Think of it this way.

In a military operation, the energies of the battle group are divided into three major components: strategy, tactics, and logistics. Strategy refers to the overall objective: winning the battle. Tactics is the practical how-to aspects of achieving victory. Logistics has to do with provisions: getting the ammunition, food and supplies to the warriors so they can do their job.

In all of this, strategy must dominate, because the focus is the overall victory. The needs of the troops are addressed not merely with their comfort in mind, but as a function of their warfare: they call for provisions so they can win the battle.

I hope you see the analogy.

The church is in a battle. The glory of God is our objective, and that involves worshiping Him, obeying Him, and bringing the lost to Christ: that’s the strategy. How we achieve these goals in the ministries we conduct, the outreach with pursue: that’s the tactical aspect. Logistics in the army of God is finding the supplies, and that includes praying for sick friends and people who need better jobs.

Looking at our prayer lists, you might conclude that we are an army that has turned things upside down. We seem preoccupied with logistics, but mostly unaware of our strategic purpose or our tactical orders.

Perhaps the reason we focus so much prayer on felt needs and logistical concerns is that we have forgotten we are at war. As a result, Christianity has been reduced in some circles to a “feel-good” experience, with the church serving as a kind of spiritual therapeutic massage center. In such a setting, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that much of our praying is a reaction to our aches and pains, rather than a response to the glory of God and the holy majesty of our risen Lord Jesus.

So, what then must we do to expand our practice of prayer?

More on that next week.

The TRUTH Will Set You Free

When Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32), He wasn’t talking about just any old facts. And He certainly didn’t have some relativistic idea of an evolving kind of “truth” that supposedly changes from time to time and from place to place.
In contrast, today’s post-modern society is characterized by a refusal to acknowledge the concept of “absolute truth.” The irony is that no one has ever proven that there is no such thing as absolute truth: those who hold this view simply assume that it is so.
Please note, however, that denying the existence of absolute truth is a logical contradiction. When people say, “There is no such thing as absolute truth,” they are themselves making an absolute truth claim.
Let’s listen in on a brief conversation between Joe and Mary.
Joe: “There is no such thing as absolute truth.”
Mary: “Are you sure?”
Joe: “Yes I am.”
Mary: “How can you be so sure?”
Joe: “Because it’s true.”
Mary: “So . . . it’s absolutely true that there is no such thing as absolute truth?”
Joe: “Uh, yes, I mean, no - well, maybe.”
I’m sure you get the point.
But there’s more to this than simply exposing the folly of Joe’s assertion. Postmodern society, in its denial of absolute truth, has come perilously close to cultural insanity by holding with absolute certainty the notion that nothing is absolutely certain, thus sawing off the limb upon which it stands.
Sanity is restored by knowing the truth; or rather The Truth, with two capital T’s.
Among the many things Scripture says about The Truth, three stand out as being critically important to post-modern culture. First, there is the relationship of biblical love and The Truth, described in that great love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. Verse 6 says, “Love . . . rejoices in the truth.” Why? Because if you truly love someone, you don’t want that person to live in error, because living in error causes needless pain.
Second, Scripture tells us where to find The Truth. Ephesians 4:21 says, “The truth is in Jesus.” If you want to discover The Truth, develop a relationship with Jesus. All The Truth you need for life and salvation is found in the person of Jesus Christ.
Finally, Jesus Himself made an immense claim in John 14:6, when He declared, “I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody comes to the Father except through Me.” By declaring Himself to be identical with The Truth, and by claiming to be the only way to heaven, Jesus forced upon us a decision: is what He said false, or is it true?
If it is false, then He was either a liar or a lunatic. If it was true, then He was, and remains to this day, the Lord of the universe, and your only hope for eternal life.

WHERE WE LOOK FOR GUIDANCE

Odd, isn’t it, the places we look for guidance these days? Some look to the stars for lucky lottery numbers, hoping some twist of chance, some fluke of fate will make them instant millionaires. Others search online for advice about love from people they’ve never met, hoping for riches they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t need, so they can impress people they don’t like.

Some even seek direction revealed by the deal of a deck of cards, or fortune told by the marks in the palms of their hands.

All the while, in most of our homes is a Book, written for us by the Creator of the Universe, containing every instruction we need for life and peace, joy and love, fulfillment and purpose, just waiting to be read and followed: the Bible.

Are you looking for joy in life? The Book says you can find it in a relationship with Jesus: “I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).

Need advice about love? One little chapter of the Book shows fifteen practical ways to be a more loving person: “Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast, nor is it arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).

Wondering about direction for your life? The Book says: “Because the Lord is righteous and good, He teaches sinners the path they should follow. He leads the humble in the right way and teaches them His will” (Psalm 25:8-9).

There’s lot more in the Book for you to read and live by. God made sure it all gotten written down for you, because He loves you and dreams wonderful dreams for you. Like David said in Psalm 119:1, “Oh, the joy of those who live lives of integrity by following the Lord’s word!”

During Jesus’ earthly ministry, a time came when some of His followers began to disagree with His teaching because it was contrary to the common religious sentiment of the day. Some even forsook Him. When this happened, Jesus asked His closest followers, “Do you want to leave also?” Peter’s answer speaks for all who are seeking the truth: “To whom could we go, Lord? You’re the only One Who has the words of life.”

Indeed.

So rather than have someone look at marks in the palms of your hands, focus on the marks in the palms of His hands, for they remind you that He loves you and has a good plan for you – all written down for you in His Book.

And if you’ll read His Book, you’ll never have to try to read His mind.