Gentile Judaizers

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily. (Gal 2:19-21, The Message)

One thing that intrigues me about these words of Paul is that they're the testimony of a man who had previously lived his entire life as a Jew - as a "strict and devout adherent to God's law" (see Phil 3:5, MESSAGE) - and was now making a great big deal about how he had come to know Jesus through dying to the law. It was a completely different life that he was now living.  In his former life he had been a "law man," but he had discovered that in order to truly be "God's man" he had to put an end to that!  He put a huge spotlight on this in his letter to the Philippians, highlighting his rather impressive credentials as that former law man, and then turned around and said that the only way for him to be found in Christ and Christ alone was for him to count all of it as rubbish and dung! (see Phil 3:4-10)

And yet in a very bewitching way, even with Paul's extensive explanations of the gospel of life in Christ apart from the law, all of the above is largely ignored in a good portion of the church today.  I can see how the whole idea of life apart from the law might be resisted by Jewish believers who have lived under the law all their lives, as was the case of many in Paul's day. It's all they've known when it comes to relating to God, and it may take time and some "convincing" from the Holy Spirit before they embrace the pure gospel of grace and realize they need to count their "rule-keeping, peer-pleasing" ways as dung.

But what's the deal with this mentality also being prevalent among Gentile believers?  The law was never "theirs" in the first place, but now after believing in Christ it suddenly becomes theirs?  Again, have they been oblivious to what Paul said?  If Paul, a Jew who had formerly been under the law all his life, had to count his law-keeping as dung - and not only that but to go so far as to die to the law - in order to be found in Christ, then why would Gentile believers put themselves under the law now that they've believed in Christ?

This is a major problem in the church today.  Gentile believers, who had never previously been under the law, are leading other Gentile believers in the way of the law!  It's one thing when Jewish Judaizers try to put Christians under the law, but aren't Gentile Judaizers even more bewitching?

GIG 255 - Where Did Our Sin Go?

God's Law was powerless to do anything about sin, and in fact the only thing that came from the Law was condemnation and death. But through the blood of Jesus, something was accomplished that could never come through the Law: Our sin was completely, utterly and sufficiently taken away! So where did it go? We talk about that on this edition of Growing in Grace.

Always remember the good news that the record that stood against you has been wiped clean forever. There is no longer a record against you! Your sin has been taken away, forgiven, forgotten... Never to be brought up again!

Click here to listen to the Growing in Grace podcast.

The Answer Is Always B - 8/20/10 - Jars of Clay

What is the proper wording of 2 Cor 4:7?

A) But we have worked hard to become really tough to prove to God (and everybody else) that we are strong for Him.

B) But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

C) It probably doesn't hurt your cash flow if you have a song that ends up being featured in a Michael Keaton movie. :)

(Song featured in 1998's Jack Frost).

Love's Divine

Seal - Love's Divine

"Love is what I need to help me know my name..."

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. -Ephesians 4:3

People Change

Quite often over the years I've thought and re-thought about who I am, and have often come to new conclusions about who I am.  When I say "who I am," I'm not talking about my solid, unchanging spiritual identity as a child of God.  I'm talking about who I am in relation to my desires, personality and other things about me that change and evolve over the course of my lifetime.  I'm talking about my soul (mind, will and emotions).

I once thought I was a certain 'type' of person, and those things about me would never change.  There are indeed things about the way that I'm wired that aren't likely to change.  But the truth is that there are many things about my mind, will and emotions that are ever-changing, or that at least have changed and will continue to change over the course of time.  My desires change.  My hopes and dreams change.  My interests change.

And what I'm leading up to, at least in this post, is that my "part" in the body of Christ changes.  That is, the way I function within the body doesn't always stay the same.  My gifts change and evolve.  My callings change.  Don't get me wrong - sometimes those things stay the same for a very long time, and perhaps even throughout my entire lifetime.  But if I find my dreams and desires changing over time, it's nothing to be worried about, and in fact can be a really good thing.  Sometimes when I've noticed that my mindsets and desires have changed, I've thought I must not have heard God correctly at one point or another, and so I've unnecessarily struggled to try to figure out why I don't feel called to do the things I once felt called to do.  But it may not be the case at all that I've missed God's heart.  It may simply be that it's time to move on to something else!

Some examples of how I've changed:  I used to think "church" (the activities involved in the gathering of the saints) had to be done a certain way.  I now actually very much dislike church when it's done the way I used to think it had to be done!  And yet there are some who really like it that way.  It's ok that we have different tastes and different ways of doing things.

At the same time, in other areas of body life, I also used to have huge questions about how certain things were supposed to be done.  I remember reading in the book of Acts about how the early church "had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need."  I wondered if that was how true, genuine Christian community was "supposed" to be.  I remember reading about how another group in Acts "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily," and I was taught that this means that it's vital that Christians read the Bible every day.

As my thinking has evolved, I've stopped wondering about those things as I've realized that there is not much of a chance that I'll ever live in a Christian community in which everyone sells all their possessions and has everything in common.  I've also stopped reading my Bible daily.  In fact I've come to highly doubt that those early Christians remained that way throughout the rest of their lives (sharing all their possessions and 'searching the scriptures' daily). They were real people who didn't remain the same all life long.  I do love sharing with others and I love reading the Bible, but I've realized that those early church stories are not "models" for how the Christian life is meant to be.  It's simply what those people did during those particular times for whatever reasons they had to do things those ways.

I used to think "pastor" was a lifetime position or calling.  I had thought, innocently enough, that anyone who was called to be a pastor had that calling all life long. Then one time I heard someone say the exact opposite. He said a person might be called as a pastor for a period or season, and then that might change as he or she is called into some other function within the body of Christ.  That thought revolutionized my way of seeing things.

I once did a lot of comparing of myself to various Bible characters. For example, I would look at certain things about the Apostle Paul and I would say, "I'm like Paul."  (Or I would even sometimes think that I should be more like Paul).  Or I would notice certain characteristics about Peter and say, "I really relate to Peter." I would do the same with David, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and various others. The truth is, as I've read about these people, at times I've truly related to various aspects of their lives... and at other times I've realized that I'm nothing like them.  And here's the thing. Even they changed. They, too, were all real people and they changed over the course of their lives.

At times in life I've also found myself doing a lot of comparing of myself with other people who I know - friends, family, mentors, pastors, teachers, etc.  But in the same way, I realized that in some ways I can relate to aspects of their lives and in other ways I can't.  And also in the same way, I've seen that they've changed over the course of life, and so have I.  And even more important: They're them.  I'm me.

There's no need to compare myself with others (although I can certainly be influenced by others). And I don't have to remain the same all my life long.  I'm not going to remain the same all my life long!  I'm not meant to.  Again, some things about me will never change.  But many of my thoughts, hopes, mindsets, desires, emotions, callings, positions, etc, will change over the course of my lifetime. That's a really good thing!  That's life.

GIG 251 - What We Have Been Freed To

As believers, it's wonderful to understand the various things that we have been freed from.  We've been freed from the demands of the law. The law demanded perfection but was powerless to provide it. We've been freed from religion. We've been freed from sin. And so on and so forth.

But now that we've been set free, are we simply to wander around aimlessly, with no real direction or devotion to something? The truth is, we've not only been set free from many things, but we've also been freed to many things! For example, we've been freed from Mr. Law to Mr. Grace (Jesus). We've been freed from dead religion to an alive relationship with someone - a union with someone. This union is described in many ways in the Bible. In addition to a relationship, it's also described as a "marriage."  It's also said that we've received "adoption as sons."  We're not simply out there on our own.  We're freed to a vital relationship with the One who gave us His life!

There is a very tiny minority of people who say that we have been freed to sin. And there are some who say that if we preach this wonderful freedom that we have in Christ, then people will just go out and indulge the flesh.  Either way, it's a perversion of the gospel of grace.  It's a perversion of the true meaning of freedom. It's not what freedom in Christ is about.  However, just because some pervert the gospel, that doesn't mean we should stop telling the truth about the freedom that we have in Christ! Those lies shouldn't stop us from telling the truth!

The truth is that we are free indeed! And we should never submit ourselves to the bondage of the law or religion. The truth is, we have been freed to love God and to love others.  We have been freed to serve others. We've been freed to be devoted to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Click here to listen to the Growing in Grace podcast.

The "Prone To Wander" Fallacy

One of the verses to the old hymn, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," goes like this:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

I realize that the hymn in its entirety, and even this verse, is an expression of the writer's hope in grace and mercy, but yet I see him hoping in an anemic grace.  For one, I see him stating some mistruths, ans secondly I see him asking God for what God has already given him!  My intention is not to criticize the writer, but to point out more of the fullness and power and vitality and far-reaching-ness of grace that seems to be lacking.

One of the first thoughts I have is that the hymn speaks of a "wandering heart."  It even says we are prone to wander, and prone to leave the One we love.  The word "prone" implies that it is our default position.  The word means "having a natural inclination or tendency to something."  To have a heart that is "prone" to something means that the heart is always set toward it.

To say that a "wandering heart" is the condition of a person who is in Christ is to be ignorant of the fullness of the reality of what has happened to that person due to the grace of God and the life of Christ that richly indwells them!  We have been given a new heart.  God took away our old stony heart and replaced it with a brand new heart and a new spirit that is one spirit with Him and that partakes in His nature!  He has made us a new creation. This new creation life is not prone to be a wandering heart.  It's not prone to leave God.  The complete opposite is true!  Our new heart has already been established in Christ, and sealed and anointed and indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Cor 1:21-22).

Again, we are joined together with God as one spirit (1 Cor 6:17) and have become partakers of His very nature (2 Peter 1:4).  Peter encourages us in the far-reaching effectiveness and sufficiency of God's grace by saying that "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises..." (2 Peter 1:3-4).  This hardly suggests a heart that is "prone to wander!"

Do we get this?  Or do we continue to give more credit to the flesh than to the Spirit?  Yes, "the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh" (Gal 5:17), but is not our confidence in the overcoming strength and power and sufficiency of the Spirit?!  The fact that the flesh lusts against the Spirit is no reason to believe that the lusts of the flesh are what we are prone to do or follow!  Seemingly unbeknownst to many Christians, "the flesh" is not who we are.  However you want to describe the entity or power known as "the flesh," it in no way whatsoever represents the reality of who we are, and it is in no way an equal match for the Spirit!

Just because we do things that don't line up with the reality of the New Creation that we are, doesn't mean we are "prone" to do those things.  If we "feel" prone to wander or prone to leave the God we love, those feelings don't make it a reality.  We are putting more trust in our feelings than in the sufficiency of God to keep us.  He Himself has bound us to Himself, and Himself to us, and we cannot for a moment do a thing to break that binding!  Do we not realize that it is not "us" who keeps us bound to Him, but Him who lovingly and faithfully and forever keeps us safely and securely bound to Him?  If we have become partakers of the divine nature, then do we not realize that it is our natural inclination to walk according to the Spirit!

Having been wrongfully taught that they are victims of two warring natures (a sin nature vs. a righteous nature), rather than being taught that their old nature died with Christ and then a brand new nature was born and made alive with the resurrected Christ, many Christians are confused and perplexed about their behavior, and they think that because they sometimes sin (or even often sin), that they are helpless victims who will always have a propensity to sin until they leave their earthly bodies.

Now I'm not saying that I never do anything that goes against the reality of my new nature.  That's not the case for me or for any Christian.  But just because we do things that are contrary to our true new nature does not mean that we are prone to do those things or that it is our nature to do those things.  It doesn't even mean we like to do those things!  I know that I may get temporary pleasure in doing certain things that are contrary to my nature, but yet the reality is that I hate it when I do those things. And because my true nature is one that is infused with the divine nature, it's my very nature to be identified with the Holy Spirit and to do "divine nature" things.

Be assured that as a Christian, you are not a "sinner."  You are not identified by your behavior.  You are not prone to wander.  You are not prone to leave God.  You may "feel" like it sometimes, but those feelings are not the reality.  The grace of God has provided something for you that is far greater than a helpless existence as a sinner who can't help but sin and who ebbs and flows and wavers in your relationship with God.  He has sealed you in Himself and has established you as a saint who is seated with Him in heavenly places.  Rest in who He is and who He has made you to be, and get yourself established in His unconditional love and grace, and you will never have to worry again about this fallacy of a heart that is prone to wander!