Grace For The Journey

  If life is all about God … and it is … then our life is all about bringing glory to God. The Westminster Confession of Faith’s Larger Catechism begins this way:

Question 1: What is the chief and highest end of man?

Answer: Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever

So the question we all have to answer is this:

How is our story bringing God glory?

St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!”  When you take a look at your life’s story up to this point, would you define it as being “fully alive”? Or something less?

Let’s see how Jesus brought glory to God the Father when He was upon this earth.

The Bible tells us how Jesus did that in John 17:4, “I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave me to do.”

Jesus brought glory to God by fulfilling His purpose in life.  He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) and He completed what He came to do.  “It is finished,” He cried out from the cross (John 19:30) . . .  A shout of triumph so thunderous that the earth shook and the rocks split open (Matthew 27:51).

Every human being is to bring God glory by fulfilling the purpose God has given to them.  Think about all the things created by God that fulfill their purpose: birds fly; fish swim; trees grow; the sun, moon, and the stars give light to the earth. Everything created brings glory to the Creator when it is doing what it was created to do. God made everything for a purpose . . . and that includes you! Your life story brings glory to God when you are living the life God has created you to live.

Today’s word of encouragement is not intended to tell you whether you should be a butcher, baker, or candlestick maker.  It is intended to encourage you to glorify God, regardless of what you are currently doing, simply because you are consciously doing it for His glory!  When you live and work and interact with others with the intent of giving God glory, then you know the experience of being fully alive, because you are living for the One who gave you life.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.”

The primary way we bring glory to God is through worship; all of life is to be an act of worship.  C. S. Lewis once wrote, “In commanding us to worship Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”  We worship God when we delight in Him – not out of a sense of duty, but out of a sense of pure delight and devotion.  God wants us to live life to the fullest (John 10:10) and He knows we are never more alive than when our life story is working to bring God glory. John Piper wrote, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

So . . . how satisfied are you in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?  Is there anything other than God that holds your heart?  We all find ourselves struggling with divided affections from time to time.  That is simply a result of the battle we face with indwelling sin.  The old nature will do everything in its power to tear down the new nature.  Since we will not be perfected until we get to the other side, we must fight the good fight along the way!

The primary point of God’s glory displayed through our story is found in the deepest desires of a heart that beats for Jesus – not perfection in your practice.  If this describes you today, rest well in knowing that your story is bringing God great glory!  If you have been drifting a bit lately, or even find yourself “in the far country,” fear not!  Your Heavenly Father waits for your return with open arms.  And when you return home, you will not be received back as a slave, but as a son . . . just as if you’d never left.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  By nature, we all like the security of certainty. Yet, uncertainty and risk are simply parts of our existence on this earth. In the face of this truth, we can be unshakable in uncertainty if we keep our focus on Christ and not our circumstances. Let’s take a look.

The Bible says in Esther 4:15-16, “Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ‘Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.’”

In saying “If I perish, I perish,” Esther was making it clear she was uncertain of the outcome of going to plead to the king on behalf of her people. She knew that Persian law made it clear that anyone who approached the king without being summoned could be put to death.

Yet, she was unshakable in uncertainty,

because of the certainty she had in her God.

Esther trusted in whatever outcome God would deliver to her, because she knew she was doing God’s will.

The Bible says in Daniel 3:16-18, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’”

Here we have another incredible example of being unshakable in uncertainty.

The Jewish people were in exile in Babylon under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The king set up an enormous statue of gold and required all the people to bow before it when the trumpets sounded. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow before the statue, Nebuchadnezzar threatened to throw them into the fiery furnace for their disobedience. Notice what the three young Jewish men said: “The God we serve is able to save us . . . but even if he does not, we will not bow to your image of gold.” They knew God could save them, but they weren’t certain God would save them. Yet they remained unshakable in uncertainty.

We all face great uncertainty in this life. But just like Esther, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we can remain unshakable in uncertainty if we fix our eyes on the Author and Perfecter of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So . . . are you facing any particular uncertainty today in your personal life? Perhaps in your professional life? Are you asking for divine deliverance in some particular area? You can be sure that, regardless of the outcome, God is always working toward two great ends: His glory and your good!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

 

Grace For The Journey

  How would you describe your walk with Jesus currently?  Hot?  Cold?  Lukewarm?  Jesus warned that it would be better to be cold in our faith than lukewarm!  Jesus says in Revelation 3:15-16, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to find out what getting spit out of His mouth might be like!  “For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:30-31).  So with the understanding that living above the level of lukewarm is a matter of more than casual importance, let’s take a look at what a lukewarm Christian looks like and ask a question: How do we bring the pot to a boil?

Lukewarm Christians look pretty good on the surface of their salvation.  They attend church regularly . . . unless they receive an offer for a day on the water, or a round of golf, or a trip to the stadium.  They give their tithe to their church and even additional money to charities . . . just as long as it doesn’t hurt their lifestyle in any way.  They understand the truths of Scripture and the call to be different from the world . . . but when forced to choose, they would rather blend in with the world than stand out for Christ.

The lukewarm are engaged in service to God, but their motivation is rooted in what others think and say about them.  They absolutely love the stories of sold-out Christians who have impacted the world for Christ, but they are not willing to move outside of their pre-determined zones of comfort and security to do the same.

• The lukewarm call “sold-out” what Jesus calls service.
• The lukewarm call “radical” what Jesus calls responsibility.
• The lukewarm call “drastic” what Jesus calls duty.
• The lukewarm call “fanatical” what Jesus calls faith.

With or without Jesus, life looks about the same for the lukewarm Christian because they are not doing anything that requires faith.

But this is not what God wants for you!  To be sure, we all lapse into “lukewarm” in our walk with Jesus from time to time. I did not write this to evoke feelings of guilt and fear in you; guilt and fear never raise our temperature for any sustained period.  Sure, we may run hot for a time when we are feeling guilty about our past or fearful about our future.  But not for long . . . and not in a way that pleases God.  Remember, God does not look on the outward appearance, but at our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7).  As David beautifully captured the heart that pleases our Lord in Psalm 51:17-17: “You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

So what is the antidote to living above the level of lukewarm?

The Gospel, of course!

The Gospel is the fuel that ignites the flame of faith and keeps it burning hot, regardless of the cost or circumstance.  The Gospel reminds us what Jesus has done on our behalf, and the love of Christ begins to compel us, replacing guilt and fear.  The Gospel turns obligation into opportunity, which is a fragrant offering in the sight of God.  The Gospel is the only force that can lift us above the level of lukewarm and keep us there.

So if you feel yourself running a little less than hot for Jesus, the solution is not to “do more” or “try harder.”  And it certainly is not to make resolutions to “do better next time,” only to find yourself falling woefully short of the intended mark . . . again.

The solution is found in your Savior and in your Savior alone.

See His sacrifice for you … Feel His forgiveness for you … Hear His victory cry, “It is finished!” uttered for you … and hear His decree of power in your life: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).

This is the only way to consistently live above the level of lukewarm.  “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

 

Grace For The Journey

  Today marks 43 years that Kay and I have been married, so I thought I would give you a word of encouragement about the two most important things we have both learned about marriage during the course of four-plus decades: the purpose of marriage and the power in marriage.

1. The Purpose of Marriage

The Bible says in Ephesians 5:31-32, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

Paul is telling us here that the purpose of marriage is to put the covenant-keeping love of Jesus Christ and His church on display. In other words, marriage is designed to point to our Savior and Lord. Without understanding the purpose of marriage, we have a tendency to make our marriages about meeting our needs rather than displaying the love and grace of Christ.

You see, because God designed marriage, it must be more than just us; it’s about Him! Jesus underscores this truth in Mark 10:6-9:

“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Jesus is telling us that the making of a marriage is primarily the work of God, not man. It is God who has joined together both the husband and wife. Because of this, God is to be the central focus of marriage, and we are to put His covenant-keeping love for us on display for all the world to see, to the praise and glory of His name.

1. The Power in Marriage

The Bible says in Ephesians 5:21-27, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

I would turn this blog into a Bible commentary if I were to unpack all the truth in this passage, so for our purposes today, I simply want to focus on the first verse: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” The power in marriage is the Lord Jesus Christ. To be sure, this passage beautifully lays out the different and divine roles husbands and wives are called by God to carry out in marriage. But every aspect of it is rooted in submission – by both parties!

When we focus more on laying down our lives for each other, we exalt Jesus to His rightful place in our marriages – on His throne – which means He always gets the last word. The more we submit to Jesus, the more we live in the only power that can crush every marriage-wrecking thought, word, and deed.

I pray that these truths encourage you today where they find you in your journey.  Allow me a moment of personal privilege as I close today’s blog with a few words of thanks.

I thank God for 43 years of marriage to my beloved Kay and the grace that was sufficient in every season of life we have faced so far.  I pray that other couples have been encouraged as we have lived for our Lord, loved each other in the Lord, and labored through Him during these wonderful years together.

Finally, to my beloved Kay . . . THANK YOU! Thank you for walking alongside of me every step of the way. Thanks you for you example of godliness, your graciousness, wisdom, and encouragement.  Thank you for your partnership in the ministry.  Thank you for your unconditional love and forgiveness.  Thank you for the joy you have brought and for the godly character, love, and strength of faith which has steadied our course and brought honor and glory to our precious Lord.  I could not have imagined the reality of our vows when we said them.  Yet these words have marked our marriage, and God has used it all to bring us closer together and transform us and conform us, a little more each day, into the image and likeness of His Son.

Kay, I cannot presume on God for another 43 years, but I pray He has ordained many more years for us to be together. I am just starting to get the hang of this “husband” thing! But regardless of the time we have left, I pray God will continue growing me into the husband He has called me to be and the husband that you deserve. I love you more than these words can possibly express!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KAY!

Your greatest supporter and best friend,

Terry

Grace For The Journey

  Today is our final installment on the debt of love we owe all people. Let’s first review the original passage, Romans 13:8-10 –

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the Law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.”

We’ve looked at what this love is and identified to whom we owe this debt of love. Today’s message the way we are to pay this debt.  In a word, the Bible teaches we are to do it SACRIFICIALLY . . .

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)

“This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.” (1 John 4:9)

These passages clearly state that to simply tell someone we love them is not the biblical understanding of love. How easy it is to say those three words – “I love you” – without ever backing it up with actions and in truth.

But God expects more out of us! You see, God did not only send a book that told us that He loved us . . . as amazing as that is. He showed us how much He loved us by sending Jesus to die on a cross. The apostle Paul proclaimed, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The love of God in Christ is a sacrificial, agape love that revealed itself through the ultimate sacrifice the world has ever seen. The perfect, sinless Son of God went willingly, lovingly to our cross; He took our nails in His hands and feet; He wore our crown of thorns; and He died the death we should have died and paid the penalty for our sins.

John echoed Paul when he wrote, “This is how God showed His love among us . . .” – by giving His Son as the atoning sacrifice for sin, “that we might live through Him.” It’s truly incomprehensible to imagine that the unblemished Lamb of God was given over to the most horrific, agonizing death for the blemished sinners of this world – sinners just like you and me.

Let me remind you what we are doing as we pay off our Divine Debt: we are fulfilling the Law! Jesus said in John 13:34-34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

Disciples of Jesus fulfill the law by loving vertically (by loving God) and horizontally (by loving all others). The great reformer, John Calvin, wrote that our Lord’s command is “reducing all the precepts of the Law of God found in sacred Scripture to love!”

So . . . let me ask one final questions as we close out this series: How are you doing in paying down this divine debt? Let me leave you with these words from the great evangelist, D. L. Moody:

“A man may be a good doctor without loving his patients: a good lawyer without loving his clients; a good geologist without loving science; but he cannot be a good Christian without love.”

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  As we look deeper into our divine debt, we will learn to whom we owe this debt of love. Let me quickly refresh your memory on the passage this truth is grounded in . . .

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the Law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.”  (Romans 13:8-10)

Yesterday, we looked at the Greek word agape, which Paul was inspired to use to describe this unrestricted, unrestrained, unreserved, and unrelenting love; today I’d like to unpack the Greek word allelon, from which we get the English phrase “one another,” and which the New Testament often employs to refer to the relationship between believers. But here allelon is not limited to the body of Christ. It refers to EVERYONE! Here are a few Scripture passages which reveal this truth:

“As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Galatians 6:10)

The “all people” here means exactly what it says—ALL PEOPLE—including those who do not belong to the family of faith.

“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”  (1 Thessalonians 3:12)

Here “each other” identifies the family of believers, and “everyone else” identifies everyone else! We are to love everyone, without exception. The reason for this is rooted in creation and the fact that all men without exception are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Francis Schaeffer offered this profound explanation:

“All men are our neighbors, and we are to love them as ourselves. We are to do this on the basis of creation, even if they are not redeemed, for all men have value because they are made in the image of God. Therefore they are to be loved even at great cost.”

This wonderful truth takes us from our natural tendency to be “tribal-minded” (caring only for the members of our “tribe” – that is, our family, community, or nation) to becoming “mission-minded” (caring for all people, from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation), regardless of cost or circumstance.

So . . . how are you doing in paying down your debt to all people? Do you find it easier to love only those in your “tribe” and those who love you in return? By nature, the answer for all of us is “Yes.” But by the new nature, which was given us by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are equipped and empowered to put the Gospel on display and make God attractive by loving others—all others—even when we would rather not!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  What debt are we to pay daily and yet never pay off? The answer to this profound question is the focus of our next three blogs. They are rooted in the following passage, which comes from the inspired pen of the apostle Paul . . .

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the Law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.” (Romans 13:8-10)

The debt we are to pay daily and yet never pay off is the debt of love. It is important to pause for a moment to define this word love. The Greek (in which the New Testament was originally written) employs a number of words for love that are not in view here:

Philos is brotherly love between two people with shared interests; philos love steadily grows through a strong commitment. (Now you know why Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is called “The City of Brotherly Love” – it comes from the Greek!)

Eros is the root from which we get our English word “erotic.” Eros love is primarily emotional and sexual. It is characterized by an insatiable desire to be near its target; it changes suddenly; and it is based entirely on circumstances.

Storge is love for one who is dependent. It is a “motherly” love based on the relationship between the lover and the loved.

But the word used here in Romans 13 is not a feeling motivated by physical appearance, emotional attraction, or self-satisfaction …

The Greek agapao in this passage is from the root agape, which is a love that is as unconditional as it is sacrificial. Agape love finds its meaning and manifestation in the revelation of God in Christ Jesus.

So the debt every Christian owes, moment by moment, is the debt of agape love, a love that is unrestricted, unrestrained, unreserved, and unrelenting. It is volitional (a personal choice), unconditional (not motivated by hope of some return), and sacrificial (it loves regardless of the pain or cost).

So . . . how are you doing at paying down your debt?  In tomorrow’s blog we will dive a little deeper into this passage and discuss who it is to whom we owe this debt.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

 

Grace For The Journey

  I’m sure you’re familiar with targets that have rings of concentric circles marked on them; the smallest circle in the center is called the “bull’s-eye,” which is the point on the target where you score the most points when you hit it.

Did you know that every Christian believer has a bull’s-eye to aim for?

The Bible says in Romans 11:36, “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.”

Jesus Christ is to be the center of everything for the believer. He is to be the believer’s “bull’s-eye” in every area of life. Now, we all know Jesus is to be the center of our religious lives, but we tend to forget that He is also to be the center of our personal and professional lives as well. He is to be the center of our marriages. He is to be the center of our parenting. He is to be the center of our jobs and careers. There is no possession, no part of our lives that does not belong to Jesus. He is the target we are to aim at, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

If you are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve, you will remember that God was their bull’s-eye, in that He was the target of their very existence. Their humanity was only to be found in the One who created them. But they chose to put independence and selfish ambition in the center of their target and sent all of humanity into a death spiral that has lasted ever since. It was not enough to be made in the image of God; our first parents wanted to be their own god, and they removed the God from the center of their very existence and put themselves there.

Think of what the devil promised Adam and Eve. He promised them more and they got less. He promised them life and they got death. When we remove Christ from the center of our target, even if we continually hit the dead center of our “me target” and get everything we want, we will always be left wanting. Jesus is the only One who can meet us in our place of deepest need, every moment of every day. It’s only when Christ is your bull’s-eye that you have the power to rise above the pull of the passions of this world.

Only Jesus can incapacitate your love of self and recalibrate it to center on Him. To move Jesus to the periphery of our lives is no life at all. It is a “Christ-less Christianity” that shrinks the size of our lives down to the size of our lives. In that kind of shrunken existence, we live for the expansion of our own little kingdom rather than God’s vast kingdom.

So how do we keep Christ at the center of our target? We keep the cross He was nailed to on our behalf in view. We see His wounds. We hear His cries and witness His anguish. In doing that, we realize that living for anything other than Jesus is not life . . . it is slow, certain death.

With the Gospel in view, Jesus remains at the center of our lives. He sits upon the throne of our lives as our only hope in an otherwise hopeless situation. For apart from Christ, all hope is lost. But with Jesus as our bull’s-eye, we can know that our life has meaning, direction, and purpose that will live on into eternity.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  Seems like a strange title for today’s blog doesn’t it?  What could the “sweet sounds of grace” possibly mean?

When you give it some thought, I’m sure you’d agree that all of Scripture can be classified under the category of the sweet sounds of grace, because it is the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of the Living God – His God-breathed gift to us.  But today I would like to sharpen our focus on just two of those sweet sounds in particular.

The first is found in Luke 23:34, recording the words of Christ as He hung on Golgotha’s cruel cross: “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’”

The second sound rings forth in 1 John 4:19: “We love because He first loved us.”

How sweet is that!  Forgiven and loved . . . forgiven and loved . . . the sweet sounds of grace tell us we are forgiven and loved.  Jesus was big on both forgiveness and love because He knew how badly we need them both!  He knew the only way to keep pain, sin, and death from having the last word was to pay the price that would purchase forgiveness and love for you and me.  It is no small thing to be loved when you’re unlovable.  And that is what we were when we were forgiven as sinners and enemies of Jesus.

How sweet is that!

But it doesn’t end there!

We are continually forgiven; and in spite of our need to be continually forgiven, we are completely loved!  Of all the countless things we do that require the forgiveness of God, there is nothing we can do that will cause Him to love us less.

• When we divide the affections of our hearts, we are still loved by God.
• When we chase after worthless idols, we are still loved by God.
• When we look to things smaller than Jesus to do for us what only Jesus can do, we are still loved by God.

We will be no more loved 10,000 years from now in glory than we are right now, even if right now is marked by sin.  How sweet is that!

To press this truth down into our hearts is to understand what the Gospel is designed to do for us each and every day.  Knowing that we are forgiven and loved frees us to stop pretending we are something we aren’t.  It frees us to take off the mask we have been hiding behind for so long.  It frees us to come out from behind the curtain we have been cringing behind for longer than we can remember.  To know we are both forgiven and loved is to know we are treasured by the One who has forgiven and loved us.  And the more we see ourselves as His treasure, the more we will begin to treasure Him.  And how sweet is that!!

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is Peter’s encounter with Jesus after His resurrection.  You will remember that on the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter denied even knowing Christ three times.  In his desperate fear Peter called on curses on himself and cried, “I do not know the man!”  But forgiveness and love would not allow the story to end there . . .

The Bible says in John 21:15-17 “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’  ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘You know that I love you.’  Jesus said, “Feed My lambs.”  Again Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me?’  He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love You.’  Jesus said, ‘Take care of My sheep.”  The third time He said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me?’  Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?” He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love You.”  Jesus said, ‘Feed My sheep.’”

How sweet is that!  Can you imagine how Peter was feeling after having denied his Lord?  Yet, here Jesus made it clear that Peter was both forgiven and loved.  Here we are confronted with the sweet sounds of grace that restored Peter to his place of service in the kingdom of His Savior.

Regardless of where this finds you today, you are just like Peter!  You have been given the forgiveness you need and the love you desire.  Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

 Grace For The Journey

  When we fail to recognize the difference between being a chosen people, rather than “choice” people, we not only mess ourselves up, we mess up everyone else around us!

There is a huge difference between believing we are “choice” people, rather than a chosen people.  It is the difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector in the Temple (Luke 18:9-14).  The Pharisee saw himself as a “choice” person, and thanked God that he was not like other men.  “I do this,” he boasted; “I do that.” On the other hand, the tax collector knew his condition; he was painfully aware that he was not “choice” by any means!  The tax collector threw himself upon the mercy of God, praying that he would become one of God’s chosen people.

Let me clear up any confusion. God did not choose us because there was something special – something “choice” – about us. God initiates His gracious relationship with us; He is not responding to anything that we think, do, or say. Listen to what He says to His chosen people Israel:

“You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”  (Deuteronomy 7:6-9)

What a huge difference a single word can make!  If we see ourselves as “choice” people – if we believe God chose us because He saw something valuable about us – we will place ourselves above our fellow man.  We see our salvation as God’s response to who we are and what we have done to earn it.  We think the blessings that are poured out on us are a result of having earned the favor of God.  We begin to believe that we are better than everyone else and spend all our time building self-protective barriers around our tidy, controlled, and well-organized lives.  We seek to erect gleaming ivory towers to keep out the great unwashed who are not as “choice” as we are, continually thanking God we are not like them.  We are characterized by tribal mindedness instead of mission mindedness.  We associate only with those who look like us, talk like us, dress like us, act like us, and think like us.  We are puffed up with our special status in our elite club.

But this is not the attitude God wants us to have!

Jesus said in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. “

The Bible also says in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Think about it for a moment.  Isn’t it better to be a chosen people rather than “choice” people?  If we regard ourselves as “choice” people, we look only to ourselves for our comfort . . . as long we believe we have maintained our superior status.  But what happens when our strength wanes, performance falters, and contribution lessons – when we begin to lose the reasons for being in the “choice” category?  Would we not believe that God would set us aside . . . perhaps toss us on the discard pile to make room for someone else who is more “choice” than we currently are?  We see that happen all the time to athletes who once were great heroes but are no longer “choice” in the eyes of their team.  Some of the greatest players of all time are put up for trade or simply kicked to the curb.  Is that how God will treat us?

If you think you are part of a “choice” people, you will locate your sense of identity, meaning, significance, and purpose in yourself.  But when your “choice” status begins to change, so does your sense of identity, meaning, significance, and purpose.  But to be a chosen person is to be wanted by your God for no other reason than He because He wanted you!

The Bible says in Ephesians 1:4-5, “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.”  You have been chosen, not because of what you did do . . . can do . . . or will do for God, but simply because He chose to set His affections upon you.  And He did it before the foundation of the world, in accordance with His pleasure and will – not yours!

What an enormous difference between being “choice” people or chosen people!  As for me and my house, we are deeply grateful that we have been chosen to be in God’s family, knowing that we will never outlive our usefulness to Him.  And when the day comes when – whether because of sin or illness or age – our service to God wanes, His love for us never, ever wavers.  We can rest on His promise that “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”