{Continuing our look at four beautiful things about Mary …}

:: Mary was calm, cool, and collected. 

Do you remember being 13? I remember experiencing a common teen-girl behavior: freaking out. I believe all teen girls do this often — triggered by any variety of things  ranging from a zit to a stolen boyfriend.  Chalk it up tor hormones or whatever you like, but freaking out is the norm at 13. (Or 30 for some … but that’s another issue.)

Not for Mary. If anyone had cause to freak out it was her. She is nine months pregnant with the Son of God, still enduring ridicule from all sides, but probably holed up her in her home nesting like crazy, getting the nursery ready and having everything prepared. We who have had babies know that crazy-nesting period when we can’t shampoo the carpets enough times and can’t make enough gallons of soup to freeze before baby’s arrival. We’re nuts, all of us.

But just as she’s about to bring baby boy into the world, all the plans change:

Road trip. 

And not just any road trip: a donkey-riding roadtrip of almost 100 miles. Oh for the love! Can you imagine? I could hardly walk up the stairs at 9 months pregnant, and this little waif of a thing was trotting across Israel about ready to burst. This girl is amazing.

But that’s not it. Sure, she’s thinking, surely there will be a nice hotel waiting for us when we get there. One of those special doula birthing suites with a Jacuzzi tub. Nope. No room.

How about a barn? 

I’m sorry, ladies, but can you stinkin’ imagine this??!! We think that the childbirth nightmare is not making it to the hospital in time and giving birth in the car. No … this is the childbirth nightmare. leaning against a hay bale while pushing out your baby, then lying him in a feed trough for his first night of sleep. Good grief.

This was God’s plan. Would Mary freak out?

No. She was calm, cool, and collected. No epidural. No Jacuzzi tub. No nothing. Every plan changed. Nothing was as she expected. There may have been tears, I can only  imagine she was humanly hormonal, but her cries weren’t loud enough to make it onto the page.

She must have wept quietly. She must have talked to herself instead of listening to herself. Must have chosen to submit her emotions to the rule of Christ — who she held in her arms.

She was the first to bow the knee. The first to submit to His plan. And the result was a calm, cool, collected first-time mother who cradled the glory of God in her very arms. Why? She knew her God.When all is out of control, nothing is out of His control.

Do we remember this when all is spinning out of control? Nothing is out of His control. 

:: Mary kept confidence.  Besides freaking out, the other behavior commonly known to teen girls is called “blabbermouth syndrome.”  Yes, that is, there is no gate on that beautiful mouth and so everything comes out. Again, some girls never outgrow this … but that’s another topic.

While Mary was entrusted with the Savior, she was also entrusted with a Secret. As God gradually revealed the magnificent truth about this God-child, she was given a first-hand glimpse of the miraculous Rescue Mission her very Son would spearhead.

Would she tweet it? Blog about it? Put it all over Facebook?

Could she be entrusted to keep quiet? To hold the truth in confidence, knowing that God would unfold His plan at the appropriate time? She did. When the shepherds shared with Mary the amazing news that had been told them by the heavenly host, what did she do?

“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” (2:19)

Where did she treasure them and ponder them? In the quiet of her own heart. And then, as Jesus grew and revealed in His own words more about His mission, that He must be in His father’s house, once again,

“she treasured up all these things in her heart” (2:51)

God’s glorious gospel-plan depended on the discretion of a teenage girl. It wasn’t time to blab about her boy.

Mary wasn’t called to be a prophet, just a mom.

Would she quietly be faithful to her task? She was. And in God’s beautiful time, the Rescue Mission unfolded, the glorious love story of a Groom seeking a Bride.

Here’s the cool thing for us: We will never be called on to give birth to the Son of God (that seat’s taken!) but we will all be called on for some mission of God. We each have a unique calling on our lives. Will we follow through? Is God’s glory safe with us? 

Will we be courageous when everything is scary? Will we stand in confidence with our future looks unsure. Will we stay calm, cool, and collected even when everything’s spinning out of control? And will we keep confidence, showing discretion at the appropriate times. The qualities that Mary needed for her mission are the same qualities we need for whatever mission God has for us.

And He does have a mission for us. He has good works, prepared in advance for us (Eph 2:10). How will we respond?  I’m grateful for a girl named Mary who quietly, simply, humbly submitted her will to God’s and let Him write her into His story. I pray the same for us…

Thanks for reading.

 

I had a very flesh-provoking week. 

As I shared with the dear WCC ladies at Bible Study, last week I had a headache that lasted six days, Heidi (who is completely potty-trained) wet the bed every night last week, we had a very important meeting at our house on Saturday night, during which both kids got diarrhea, then after church on Sunday Dutch admitted that he’d gotten a time-out in Sunday school for sitting on a girl’s face, and the grand finale was Dutch spilling his huge bowl of popcorn all over carpet and as I sighed, “Dutch!” and put my hand down on the counter I flipped my own bowl of popcorn up in the air, popcorn scattering all across the kitchen. At that point we both burst out laughing and I told him, forget it, just eat it off the floor. We did. (And yes, you already read my secret here that I do not keep it spotless.)

But those are just the funny things. Strewn among those were plenty of non-sharable and not-funny flesh-pokes that had me understanding more than ever before that we are in a battle. 

It’s no surprise the week turned out like it did, seeing that I was teaching Galatians 5:16-26 (Audio of the message here).  The flesh/Spirit battle is alive and well in our lives and quite literally in our bodies.

As long as we have bodies of flesh we’ll have battles with flesh. 

What is the flesh? Sarx:

Refers to moral and spiritual weakness and the helplessness of human nature still clinging to redeemed souls. It is the Christian’s propensity to sin, their fallenness that awaits redemption.

Simply put, our flesh fights against the Spirit’s work in our lives, keeping us from living the fruitful life of glorifying God and blessing those around us. What does it look like? Scripture says it’s obvious:

Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

While certainly some of these have never presented themselves as a temptation, certainly anger and jealousy and selfish ambition have reared their ugly heads at times, even this past week. Like Paul we cry,

“Who will set me free from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)

Thankfully, there is another verse. And another force:

“Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25)

Jesus Christ crucified His flesh so we can crucify ours. Galatians goes on to say that

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (5:24)

Positionally, we have already been crucified with Christ. Experientially we continue in His crucifixion by living the crucified life. Blessed theologian John Stott, who’s now with the Lord, says this:

“The first great secret of holiness lies in the degree and the decisiveness of our repentance. If besetting sins persistently plague us, it is either because we have never truly repented, or because, having repented, we have not maintained our repentance. It is as if, having nailed our flesh to the cross, we keep wistfully returning to the scene of its execution. We begin to fondle it, to caress it, to long for its release, even to try to take it down again from the cross. We need to learn to leave it there. When some sinful attitude or thought enters our mind we must kick it out at once. It is fatal to begin to examine it and consider whether we are going to let it live or not. We have declared war on it, we are not going to resume negotiations. We have settled the issue for good; we are not going to re-open it. We have crucified the flesh; we are never going to draw the nails.”

Have we really declared war on our flesh? Do we hate it enough, are we tired enough of its bondage that we’re ready to fight and find freedom. Yes, there will continue to be battles, but we are more than conquerors as we face the fight each day.

{What area of the flesh are you ready to fight? More on this next week, but I pray Stott’s words can encourage you today. Bless your Friday and thanks for reading.}

 

At a recent women’s conference we looked at this, and I was floored. Talk about two contrasting lists!  Check out how God relates to the proud, and to the humble:

• His wrath is on the proud (2 Chron. 32:25)
• He pays back revenge on the proud (Ps 31:23)
• He will not tolerate the proud (Ps 101:5)
• He mocks the proud (Prov 3:34)
• He tears down the house of the proud (Prov 15:25)
• He detests the proud (Prov 16:5)
• He punishes the proud (Prov 16:5)
• He humbles the proud (Is. 2:12)
• He throws the proud to the earth (Ez. 28:17)
• He scatters the proud (Luke 1:51)
• He opposes the proud (James 4:6)

• He saves the humble (2 Sam. 22:28 & Ps. 18:27)
• He keeps back disaster from the humble (2 Kings 22:19)
• He forgives and heals the humble (2 Chron. 7:14)
• He holds back destruction and delivers the humble (2 Chron. 12:7)
• He turns His anger away from the humble (2 Chron. 12:12)
• He hears the humble (2 Chron. 34:27)
• He guides the humble in what is right (Ps. 25:9)
• He teaches  the humble His way (Ps. 25:9)
• He sustains the humble (Ps. 147:6)
• He crowns the humble with victory (Ps. 149:4)
• He shows favor to the humble (Prov. 3:34)
• He allows the humble to rejoice (Is. 29:19)
• He looks on the humble with favor (Is. 66:2)
• He gives rest to the humble (Matt 11:29)
• He exalts and lifts up the humble (Matt 23:12, etc.)
• He gives grace to the humble (James 4:6)
• He shows favor to the humble (1 Peter 5:5)

 

“[The false teachers] make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.” Galatians 4:17 (emphasis mine)

Whether we know it or not, we’re preached at all day long. This week in Bible study, we studied this verse, and talked about how to be discerning women, who stand fast in the truth of God’s Word. The world preaches at us every single day. How so?

In Galatia the false teachers “made much of them.” The phrase translated “make much of” has idea of a man seeking a woman. They were pursuing them, almost lustfully. They fawned on them and fussed over them. That is, they flattered them. Why would the false teachers “make much of” the Galatians? So that the Galatians would “make much of” the false teachers.

Flattery is always a form of manipulation in order to draw people after yourself. To win their approval, popularity. To make them your fans. And this is huge:

One of the primary marks of a false teacher is that they try to draw converts to themselves away from others, and not to Christ or God’s Word. A true servant of Jesus Christ does not “use people” to build himself up or his work. He ministers in love to help people know Christ better.

Proverbs 27:6: “Profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”

False teachers always use kisses, flattery, smooth talk. Paul said in Romans 16:17-20,

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery deceive the hearts of the naive.”

False teachers serve their own appetites, their own desires, their own egos. And they use smooth talk and flattery to deceive the hearts of the naïve. And Paul makes it clear that he writes these words because he wants us to be WISE. (“I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.”) That is, he wants us to be women who are discerning.

Consider: A “teacher” who names her show after herself, who names her magazine after herself, who builds an entire business empire based on exalting her own name and her own self: Those are the marks of a false teacher.

Some questions to consider:

Does this teacher draw people to him or herself? Do they promote their own name or Christ’s name? Do they insist that they alone have the secret knowledge or only path to God? Do they somehow elevate their status in such a way that people depend on them as their source of spiritual sustenance?

Sisters, it is hugely important that we are discerning women. And this is not meant as a knock on our gender, but women are, in general, more susceptible to false teachers than men. Paul warns in 2 Timothy 3:1-7.

¹But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,⁴treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. ⁶For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, ⁷always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

Women, hear my heart. I love women, but we are susceptible to deception. We tend to be more emotional, more subjective, we’re far more compassionate so we tend to be more warm and open. We aren’t as confrontational, and we’re WAY more easily swayed by relational temptation and flattery.

¾ of new converts to mormonism are stay-at-home moms.

Creeping into our households?! Well, of course we wouldn't let false teachers creep into our households! We'd close the door to those false teachers and not let them in! But here's the thing: The front door isn’t the only place where people creep into your house. We have many portals! Every time we turn on a TV or “open” our home things are creeping into our household. We “let false teachers creep into our household” every time we “entertain” people who teach things that are contrary to the word of God. And, it’s worth noting, that not all “false teaching” is in the form of religious “-isms.” There are world systems of materialism, humanism, consumerism – everything preaches something and it flatters us in order to draw us after it.

Are we to live in fear and never open our homes to anything or anyone? No. Are we to be discerning women who are cautious about what we let creep into our households?

Absolutely.

{Thanks for reading.}

 

“Hey!” The man raised an arm from across the fence. It was just a few days after our move, and our new neighbor was waving us down to say hello.  Immediately he looked at Jeff and said, “Now you’re a pastor, right?” (You never know what’s coming after that!) Jeff said yes and the man continued, “Come on over, I have to show you something!”

So we all followed him over to his property, unsure of what was ahead, and he led us all the way across his land and around the back of his house, to this elaborate outdoor tent-like structure built out of sticks, twigs, branches and canvas (huge!), with a sort of arbor, almost altar-like thing at the front.  we were wide-eyed of course, and he went on to explain that they were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles and hosting their Jewish synagogue’s Feast of Tabernacles service in this outdoor “tabernacle” that he’d built.

(The Feast of tabernacles or feast of booths was a weeklong celebration, instituted by God in Leviticus 23, to remember the years that the children of Israel carried the tabernacle through the wilderness and lived in tents or booths. To his credit, this man had followed the biblical directions exactly for building his twig-stick structure.)

So Jeff’s talking to the man and I’m thinking it all looks really weird and the kids are a little spooked so they start back to our house.  Some friends were over at the time and the whole encounter raised some interesting questions, especially with another certain holiday just around the corner right? In fact we were laughing about how ironic it is that our Christian friends are preparing to celebrate Halloween while our non-Christian neighbors are celebrating the biblical feasts! 

So, yesterday in Bible study we looked at Galatians 4:8-11 and discussed How Christians are to relate to culture.  That is, Are we to shun Halloween, celebrate it, dress up as Bible characters? Hand out gospel tracts to the kids that knock on our door? What is the Christian’s relation to holidays and holy days?  Here are a few biblical principles to consider, to help as you navigate this issue for yourself. (Click here for audio of the entire message.)

1. We are free. Colossians 2:16-17 says, “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”

It’s clear that Christ fulfilled the law, and that all the OT festivals, feasts, and sabbaths are a shadow of Christ. They all speak of Christ.  So we are not to let others pass judgment on us for not observing them, because they are just shadows, and the real thing is here now. The wrong isn’t necessarily in celebrating something, the wrong is giving in to the the fear of man and not the fear of God.

2. We are to do all things “in honor of the Lord.” Romans 14:4-6 says, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.”

Again, we read the command is to “not judge one another!” We often get so concerned in what Christians should or should not do, when the real thing we should be concerned about is not judging! But who are we to judge, if you will? Ourselves.  Be “fully convinced in your own mind.”  That is, figure out your convictions and stick by them. And what you decide to do, do it” in honor of the Lord.” If you can honestly say that the choice that you make is “ in honor of the Lord,” awesome! Praise God. You stand and fall before Him and no one else.

 3. We are to do all things “for the sake of the gospel.” 1 Cor. 9:19-23 explains that Paul became like the Jews to win the Jews to Christ, he became like the Gentiles to win the Gentiles to Christ. Everything he did he did “for the sake of the gospel.”  Paul’s guiding principle, with regard to culture, was, Is this the best route to win people to Christ and spread the gospel of grace?

For the Galatians, the problem was not the holiday, it was the slave-spirit in which they observed it. The problem was once again legalism and the fear of man. Paul was a free man, and the 1 Corinthians passage shows us that he was free to observe or not observe for the sake of the gospel. The question then, for us to be discerning culturally, is “Am I doing this for the sake of the gospel?”

For our family, our personal conviction is that we don’t celebrate Halloween. Honestly, I hate Halloween. I can truly see no redemptive value in it. Plus, I spent several years discipling a  girl who came out of a background of the occult and horrendous witchcraft practices. Knowing, from her, what the “real” Halloween is all about has made me detest the holiday. Plus, since Christ conquered sin and death, we do not celebrate sin or celebrate death.

However, note THIS: It is possible to engage in Halloween festivities for the sake of the gospel and in honoring God. It is also possible to celebrate Easter (or Christmas) in a way that doesn’t honor God or further the gospel at all. It is possible to celebrate Passover and the feast of tabernacles, as a family, in a way that celebrates Christ and honors God and furthers the gospel. It is also possible to observe those same things in a spirit of slavery, of legalism. It is possible to observe certain holidays in a spirit of thinking we’re somehow spiritual superior because we observe them. And it’s possible to NOT observe certain holidays in a spirit of thinking that we’re somehow spiritually superior because we don’t observe them.

The key, as always: the heart.

–

{Response: How does your family celebrate or not celebrate in honor of God and for the sake of the gospel? I would love to hear your thoughts and perspective. Thanks, friends, for reading.}

 

For those of you following along in our Galatians study, here are thoughts from Chapter 2 {Or listen to audio here}. Feel free to catch up by checking out thoughts on Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solo Christo {intro}, The Free & Freeing Gospel {Gal 1:1-12}, and When I Was Going the Other Direction {Gal 1:13-24}.

So, to review and recap: Paul has on his warpaint, he is taking issue with the Judaizers who have put a drop of cyanide in the pure water of the gospel, and thus swayed the minds of the Galatians away from the true gospel. Paul has shared his testimony with us and let us see that the gospel he preached was not from man or told to him by man, but given directly from Jesus Christ to Paul by revelation. Right?

Now, Paul continues his narrative story a bit to make a further point, and then goes on to share a pretty dicey story about some head-to-head apostle combat. He then finishes by giving a summary, clarifying exactly what it is that he is defending. What doctrine is at stake, that is so important that he has gone to all this trouble and explanation to make sure it is not tainted. We have a whole chapter to cover, and I tend to talk fast so it’s a good fit, so let’s lace up our running shoes and hit the ground running, ok?

v. 1 So Paul has been preaching the gospel for 14 years, and he only then heads up to Jerusalem to check with the primary church leaders about the purity and validity of the gospel he’s preaching. NOT because he’s uncertain about it, but because he is certain about it. He’s checking because HE knows that his gospel is the true gospel and he wants there to be NO mistaking this truth.  He also took Titus with him, which is significant in a moment.

v. 2 Paul notes that he went up “in response to a Revelation.” Again, his constant emphasis is that he reacts, responds according to revelation by God not the pressures of man. He doesn’t go up because he’s heard rumors or someone told him he should. God told him he should. Paul maintained a consistent fear of God, not fear of man. That becomes important down the road as we read. Make sure I’m not running in vain. “If I’m preaching this true gospel, but ya’ll are preaching something else, I want to make sure I’m not doing all this work for nothing.”

v. 3 Now, his first point is that even Titus was not circumcised, who was a Gentile or Greek (these words can be used interchangeably because the word “Greek” was loosely used to describe those actually from Greece or those who spoke Greek which was the common language of the day. Prior to the Roman Empire (which is when this was written) Alexander the Great had established the Greek empire and so the language of trade was Greek, and the Bible was written in Greek. So Roman citizens were citizens of Rome but Greek can be a general term in the Bible interchanged with Gentile. It simply means non-Jew. Titus, a non-Jew wasn’t circumcised.

Taking Titus with Paul was a bold and strategic act. One commentator said it was a “master stroke of genius” to take Titus wit him. Titus was the test case. It’s always easy to accept something in theory, right? But what about when it intersects with our real life?

Vs. 4 No why would he have even been pressured to be circumcised? Vs. 4 tells us the pressure came from “false believers who had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.” The pressure to become slaves. Legalism is always slavery. What did these legalists come to spy out? FREEDOM. The true gospel is characterized by freedom. We learned that our first week: The true gospel is free and it’s freeing. It is characterized by freedom. If our lives are not characterized by an increasing measure of freedom, then we are somehow being yoked into something other than the true gospel.

2 Corinthians 3:17 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

 John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

 Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

 V. 5 So Paul stood fast in freedom and even Titus wasn’t circumcised, so that (you looked at this in your homework) “the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.” Everything Paul did he did for the same of this truth. The truth of the gospel. The true gospel. Titus proved that even in real life, in real time, Paul lived out the true gospel. Everything that he did he did so that he could connect as many people as possible with the true gospel. And that’s what we’re going to look at today: 5 things we see about the true gospel.

v. 6 Now Paul begins a bit of a tirade, or at least a bit of an emotional rambling that can be a bit tricky to read, yes? One commentator says, “It’s virtually impossible to translate this passage clearly because “Paul became so emotional while defending the heart of the gospel and was so afraid that his beloved flocks would be corrupted by Judaistic heresy that he used complex grammar and failed to complete his sentences.”

“Those who seemed influential” v. 2, v. 6, seemed to be pillars: v. 9. Paul isn’t tearing them down, he’s just refusing to put them on religious pedestals. Paul was not being boastful just truthful. He acknowledged that he was the foremost of sinners (1 Tim 1:15), and the least of the apostles (1 Cor. 15:9) but “By the grace of God I am what I am” that because of God’s grace he was equal to all other believes and his calling was equal to all the other apostles. (2 Corin. 11:5) – was not inferior. Paul accepts their “office” of apostles, and gives them the respect they are due, but he is not overawed by their person as it was being inflated by the Judaizers.

The gist of verse 6 is that those who seemed like the religious giants, the religious superstars if you will, they added nothing to his gospel and they added nothing to his person. Again, Paul emphasizes– , my apostleship didn’t come from man (1:1), my gospel didn’t come from man (1:12), my status or confidence doesn’t come from man (2:6). All that I have and am comes from God.

Paul did not conceive his gospel he received his gospel. Even though Paul received His gospel from heaven, this story proves that it lines up perfectly with the gospel preached by the other apostles, by the disciples who walked with Jesus. This is key because it both Proves His GOSPEL and His APOSTLESHIP. Both were at stake and both were intertwined. Both were under attack and in this one story he gets vindication for both. The Judaizers knew that if they could throw Paul’s apostleship into question then they could throw his gospel of grace into question. Critical issue.

V.7-9 But the result of this visit is glorious: The super-apostles, the “pillars” confirmed Paul’s message and confirmed that the same spirit that worked through Peter also worked through Paul. The SAME spirit worked through each of them with the SAME gospel message for different audiences. And this whole encounter proved this: Our first point about the true gospel.

1. The true gospel isn’t Peter’s or Paul’s (or anyone else’s) … it’s God’s.

All of these pillars of the early church were in absolute agreement because the gospel wasn’t theirs it was God’s. The “right hand of fellowship” means they were in perfect doctrinal and personal harmony. Paul’s person and message are vindicated.

Interestingly enough, Paul remains under attack even today. Many so-called Christians today want the message of Jesus without the message of Paul. Reading the Bible like a fish: Eat the whole thing and spit out the bones. But Peter very clearly ranked Paul’s letters with “the rest of Scripture.” 2 Peter 3:15-16. (Jesus vs. Paul article in Christianity Today)

Peter, Jesus, Paul, James: All the biblical writers confirm that SAME gospel with different emphases. The gospel is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter, Paul, and James preached Jesus, and Jesus preached Jesus. One thing that’s interesting is that nowadays a common argument is that Jesus preached a gospel that included concern for the poor but Paul preached a gospel that only included justification by faith. Our very next verses addresses this:

v. 10 The one thing Peter, James and John wanted to be sure Paul continued in was that he remember the poor, which Paul was eager to do. Our second point:

2. The true gospel gives us a heart for the poor.

Just as the true gospel is characterized by freedom, the true gospel is characterized by a heart for the poor. HEART. Not “obligation” to the poor. Not “guilty feelings about the poor.” A HEART for the poor. A LOVE for the poor. 1 John 3:17 – “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” Concern for the poor is not a requirement of the gospel it is the fruit of the gospel.This is the fruit of true faith.

(James 2:15-16. Ex. 23:10-11, Lev. 19:10, Deut. 15:7-11, Jer. 22:16, Amos 2:6-7, Luke 6:36, 38, 2 Cor. 8-9.) God has a special love and concern for the poor, the widow, the downtrodden, the broken. When the true gospel truly changes us we will have a special love for those same people. When we understand the gospel, what we’ve been freely given, we will freely give. God’s grace makes us just. Just as Peter urges Paul, remember the poor, God would urge us today, remember the poor. Do whatever it takes to remember them. Pictures on the fridge or prayer for them or going to where they are – remember them. We’ve been givein so much.

v. 11-14 So now we enter a new story. Now we’re in Antioch, and Paul relates a further story where poor Peter, Peter who is the pillar of the early church, Peter who is also so prone to cowardice, Peter, a Jew was living out the gospel authentically, living out what they preached by eating with the Gentiles, but when other Jewish men came from James, (that is other religious big wigs) he began just eating with the Jews. Because Peter was so influential, eventually others were caught up in this same behavior, including even Barnabas, right? So Paul, true defender of the true gospel, gets on his warpaint. He takes issue with this and confronts Peter in front of everyone, pointing out Peter’s hypocrisy that tarnished the pure message of the gospel.

Peter should have known better than any apostle that God has declared all foods and people clean. Through a miraculous vision in Act 10, God revealed this truth to Peter and Peter then affirmed (Acts 10:28 “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. … “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality (v.34). The revelation about this specific thing came THROUGH Peter, and yet here he is, the old Peter – weak, fearful, vacillating – coming to the fore again. Why? What would drive Peter to hypocrisy, to compromising the very truth that had been revealed to him by God Himself? What would drive Peter to do this?

v. 12 tells us: Peter was “fearing the part of the circumcision.” Fear. It wasn’t that his beliefs were off, Peter KNEW the truth, it was that he was giving in to pressure – He was, quite frankly, simply falling prey to the fear of man. Even though he knew the freedom of the gospel, his freedom was stolen by his fear. Prov. 29:25 The fear of man is a snare. Peter is acting stupid. The fear of man makes us do stupid things, and even makes us compromise our faith, all because of who we’re trying to impress.

Who are we trying to please? Who are we trying to impress? The fear of man is a snare.

V. 13 Tells us that the “rest of the Jews” and even Barnabas were “carried away”. Everyone followed Peter in this! This is why this is so dangerous. All that we do affects others. Be very careful if you are a natural leader. Passages like this scare me to death – I blog, I write, I teach. And no matter how much we love Jesus and are used by Him to spread the gospel, we are all vulnerable to the fear of man and hypocrisy. And it’s worth nothing that this happened to Peter even after Pentecost. Even after the supernatural indwelling by the Holy Spirit. No matter how spirit-filled and powerfully anointed we are by God, we are all susceptible to the fear of man and hypocrisy. We have to be on guard.

V. 14 And Paul opposes him, why? That same phrase again: Because what Peter was doing was not in step “with the truth of the gospel.” Indicates that their steps were crooked. Off kilter – not parallel with the gospel. That’s why we must stand fast in freedom, not veer off to the left or right. It is not enough to BELIEVE the gospel (Peter did) but we must walk in it, APPLY it, live in it, stand fast in it each day of our lives. When we do not, we stray from it.

So Paul when sees this he calls Peter out publicly. This is a WHOA moment. Can you imagine if this happened in church one morning? This is like if Jon Furman stormed up on the stage one morning and rebuked Joel in front of everyone. This is a very public confrontation. Why? Peter had cause a PUBLIC scandal, so Paul had to deal with it PUBLICLY. It wasn’t just that Peter had sinned against Paul, Peter had sinned against the truth of the gospel, against all those who had seen and been carried away in his hypocrisy. Paul knew this, our third point:

3. The true gospel message never changes (though our communication method) may.

And that pure and true gospel message can be tarnished and polluted by our false living just as much as by our false teaching. Just as Paul was opposing the Judaizers who were false teach-ers, he was opposing hypocrites who were false live-ers.

Hypocrisy: an actor wearing a mask. We can do this in two ways. We can put on a mask of Christianity, do all the right things, go through the motions, but not truly be followers of Jesus Christ. Or, we can, like Peter, be true followers of Jesus Christ, and yet fall prey to hypocrisy in situations where being a Christian, or embodying the true gospel message, is awkward or difficult. This is what Peter did and we know how well that went over with Paul. Paul got on his warpaint.

Now it’s possible that someone might read this and think that PAUL is being a hypocrite because in 1 Corinthians 9 he says, “20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 

Here’s the key. The WHY? We’ve said this again and again. Why did Paul do what he did: Vs. 23

23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. (1 Cor 9:20-22).

Paul was willing to do anything for the sake of the gospel. Anything except compromising that gospel. As one commentator said, when comparing these two passages: Paul would make considerable concessions in order to accommodate weak Christians, but he would not yield an inch of truth in order to accommodate false Christians.

Would not yield an inch of truth. Truth was what was at stake. The truth of the gospel. And in particular, one central doctrine: Justification by faith. Number 4:

4. The true gospel’s central doctrine is justification by faith.

JUSTIFICATION is the central doctrine to the Christian faith.

What does it mean to be justified? Declared righteous. You probably found in your homework, this is a forensic term, used in the judicial system to describe someone officially declared not guilty. Justification means it’s just-as-if-I’d never sinned. Just-if-ied. This means that Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to you because of faith in Him. You stand up on the dock and testify, just as Joy said a few weeks ago what you will say to God when you stand before Him someday. You stand and testify and say, “I am guilty.” but Christ comes and stands in front of you on the witness stand and his record becomes yours. His perfection becomes yours. This is the greatest deal you will ever find. The great exchange. Your sin for His righteousness. Just-as-if-I’d never sinned. Innocent.

But what Paul’s saying in verses 15-16 is that no one, Jew or Gentile, is justified by the works of the law but only by faith in God. THIS IS NOT NEW. This is not only true in the new testament. This same truth can be found from the beginning of time. Every person, in all of history, who has been born into sin is born with the universal plague of sinful mankind: Guilt. Every person feels guilty and every person tries in some way to alleviate that guilt. Counseling, positive thinking, self-confident, self-indulgent, escape through sex, alcohol, drugs.

The very first people born into this universal plague were Cain and Abel. And interestingly enough, Cain is our very first example works-based righteousness. God had made it clear what sacrifice He desired, (animal) but Cain brought a sacrifice of his own accord, his own idea. (plant) Wrong kind of offering and brought in the wrong spirit. (This is what it’s like when we try to earn our way to God by our own works and not by faith). By rejecting God’s prescribed animal sacrifice, Cain rejected God’s provision of substitutionary salvation which that blood offering pointed. Cain proudly supposed that his offering of disobedience was just as acceptable to God as the one He had prescribed. Arrogant and prideful rather than humble and obedient. Legalism is always arrogant. Abel on the other hand, obediently and humbly offered the blood sacrifice God required, in faith leaped across the centuries and touched the cross. God accepted his offering not because it had any spiritual benefit but because it was presented in faith and obedience. Thus the beginning of the battle between faith-inspired obedience and works-based legalism.

Those same two lines can be followed throughout scripture. Tower of Babel – a mighty work of unbelieving and rebelliousness. Noah – a mighty work of believing and obedience. Isaac & Ishmael… but we’ll get to them in chapter 4. Justification, salvation, has always been by faith. It’s not that in the OT people were saved by works and now we’re saved by faith. It has always been by faith. And we’ll study that more in Chapters 3 and 4.

v. 17-19 Very tough verses. The gist is this:If we are justified in Christ but still find ourselves to be sinners, or among sinners (NIV), does that mean that Christ is a minister of sin? No, if we rebuild what we tore down, reconstructing the law and living under legalism, we are the ones to be blamed, not Christ. Christ justifies us by His grace but we must continue to live to God, that is, let the life of Christ live through us. v. 19. In FACT we have died to the law, in PRACTICE we must continue to die to the law and yield to verse 20: The life of Christ working through us.

v. 20 This isn’t saying that we need to try to crucify ourselves. In fact, it is impossible. If we are in Christ – we have been crucified. It is a fact. Done deal. We live out that by letting the life of Christ work out through us. We were crucified when Christ was crucified, it was His substitutionary death that justified us freely by His grace.

Col 2:14 tells us: having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

Ephesians 2:5: made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Romans 6:5. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We are saved by grace through faith and we live by grace through faith. If we place our faith in Christ, we were crucified with him resurrected with Him, and given life each day through Him.

v. 21 The grand summary bring us to point #5.

5. The true gospel hinges solely on the cross of Jesus Christ.

If righteousness came through the law then Christ died needlessly. CRUX of the matter. ANY theology which de-emphasizes the cross of Christ is a deviation of the truth. The end of verse 21 really summarizes why this insidious disease of legalism is so devastating and so abhorrent to God. His greatest act of kindness, grace, love, and mercy, His greatest gift in the history of the world, His son – when we think that we somehow earn our merit before Him by our own efforts, we do nullify the grace of God, we say by our actions that Christ died for nothing! I pray we never, ever are guilty of this.

{Thanks for reading.}

 

This week we continued our journey through the book of Galatians, stepping foot right down into its pages and getting our first glimpse of the gospel of grace. Joy taught a great message (audio available here) that’s stuck with me all week. Three quick things from the message to consider as you kick off your weekend:

1. There are only two gospels: The true gospel and a false gospel. The true gospel is that God, in His infinite love and mercy, sent His one and only Son to pay the penalty for our sin that He could be both the just and the justifier (Rom 3:26), wholly punishing sin and wholly extending extravagant grace.  Anything that adds or takes away from this simple gospel message isn’t the gospel.  Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).
2. The gospel is free. We do nothing to deserve this free gift of grace. We add nothing to it. It is given with no strings attached. It is free. If we ever add extra qualifications to the gospel, it ceases to be the real gospel.  It’s hard for us to accept this because our pride wants to somehow pay it back or insist that we’ve earned it. Humility kneels low and extends empty hands to receive lavish grace.  The truth gospel is always free.
3. The gospel is freeing. We can always tell when we’re walking in grace vs. legalism because legalism weighs down and grace lifts up. Grace’s burden is light. If we find ourselves becoming more and more shackled with burdens, obligations, guilt, chances are we’re not walking in glorious truth of the true gospel.  The true gospel is the truth and the truth sets us free (John 8:32).

 

Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solo Christo:

The gospel is salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

{Want to join along in the book of Galatians? There’s always room for another hungry soul!}

The book of Galatians begins with a bit of backstory: The Apostle Paul was not one of the original 12 disciples, but a Jewish Pharisee, or religious person, who persecuted the early Christians, even having them put to death. He was then miraculously saved when Jesus Christ (after his resurrection) appeared to Paul in a blinding light and commissioned him to go preach the gospel to the Gentiles (non-Jews). So he did, and he traveled throughout modern day Greece and Turkey and Italy establishing churches and spreading the gospel to the whole known world.

One of the places he preached the gospel was the region of Galatia, (in Acts 13 & 14 called Pamphylia, Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Antioch. Mentioned as Phrygia & Galatia in Acts 16 & 18), to the Galatians and they believed him. They were new believers, vulnerable, and as a people they were easily tossed to and fro by different ideas and doctrines. One minute they were into this thing and the next minute they were into that. (Sound familiar?)

They were an inconstant people who changed their minds easily. They lackedspiritual discernment and steadfast determination. They lacked deep-seated convictions about divinely revealed truth, a conviction that can be formed only by careful thinking and unwavering faith in the Word of God. They were new converts with sincere desire, eager beavers who were very susceptible to believing what others told them they must do. Steadfastness is an exhortation again and again.

So after Paul had preached the gospel and left, these other religious leaders, called Judaizers came in and began telling these new believers that even though they’d received Christ as their Savior, they still had to abide by all the OT laws and continue the ceremonies and traditions of the Jewish faith.

Judaizers were messianic Jews who considered the Jewish law essential for a believer in Jesus Christ. They were Jews who made a superficial profession of Christ but turned back to Judaism and sought to make Christianity an extension of their traditional system of works righteousness. 

Galatians is an argument against identifying primarily with a certain religious tradition and a particular nation. It urges us  to be shaped by Christ apart from inherited standards of behavior or national allegiance.

Further, Galatians is a summons to be less attuned to the pressures and pleasures of our social context and more aware of the presence of Christ in our midst.

So, slowly the Galatians began to follow the Judaizers and  turned aside from the pure and simple gospel. The gist of the book of Galatians is Paul’s exhorting them to return to the true gospel and stand fast in the freedom of Christ Jesus. To identify more with the gospel of Christ than social, national pressures. It’s a challenging but refreshing opportunity to step back and ask ourselves why we do what we do. Is it an outworking of the gospel of Christ, or a cultural or religious practice to which we’ve been subconsciously tied to without knowing why?

This is a fighting epistle. Paul writes with deep emotion and strong feeling. His heart laid bare. He has on his war paint. This is the Emancipation Proclamation of Christianity. This is Martin Luther’s favorite book, the masthead of the reformation. It’s the strongest declaration of justification by faith in or out of the Scriptures. Sinners are not only saved by grace through faith plus nothing, but the saved sinner lives by grace through faith. Grace is the way to life and the way of life.

Paul does not correct conduct (like Corinthians) but doctrine. Much more severe than the former. Paul has no word of commendation, praise, or thanksgiving. The harshness and severity of this book indicates how very dangerous this subtle corruption is. At first it seems strange that Paul would have words of commendation for the worldly, divisive, immoral and immature Corinthian believers and yet have non for the saints of Galatia. (1 Cor 1:4-7). The difference was that, as bad as the Corinthian situation was, the major problem there did not pertain so much to right doctrine as to right living. In the Galatian churches, on the other hand, the very heart of the gospel was being undermined by false teachers, the gospel of grace was being trampled, and in its place was being offered the gospel of works, which is no gospel at all but a distortion of God’s truth that leads to bondage, not salvation.

He had warned them about false teachers in Acts 20:28-30. There will always be an enemy of the gospel. The world will always hate the cross, because the cross is the END of man’s self-effort, the end of pride, the end of pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps religion. The end of earn your way to salvation. The cross is central to Paul’s gospel and inextricably linked to righteousness by faith. He’ll make the argument that if we are saved according to our works then the cross is superfluous, unnecessary.

Galatians is a book of contrasts: Legalism vs. Love, Religion vs. the Gospel, Works vs. faith, law vs. grace, Flesh works vs. Spirit’s Fruit, World vs. Cross, true gospel vs. another gospel, bondage vs. freedom, Old covenant vs. New covenant.

Love is characterized by cooperation. Legalism is characterized by competition.

Legalism is the most popular substitute for spiritual living that we have in our churches today. Millions of believers think they are “spiritual” because of what they do and don’t do, who they follow and don’t follow. Warren Wiersbe says, “When the Holy Spirit takes over, there will be liberty, not bondage – cooperation, not competition – glory to God, not praise to man. The world will see true Christianity, and sinners will come to know the Savior.”

These Judaizers were legalists, they lived by the law, loved the “do” passages. Some of us can relate to that, right? Loved to read those passages and make them into lists, with boxes next to them. Numbered lists. And that way they could be checked off, right? That way they could judge themselves. That way they could count. Legalism loves to keep track. Love gives. Legalism calculates.

Paul is preaching the end of legalism and insisting that “the just shall live by faith” Habakkuk 2 is quoted 3 times in the NT: Romans 1:17, Hebrews 10:38, Galatians 3:11.

Faith plus law was the thrust of Judaism. Faith plus nothing was the answer of Paul.

 Living a life of faith in the gospel is a life of freedom. We’re always in danger to being either in bondage to works or in bondage to sin. That is, we are in bondage to the law or in bondage to the flesh.

John 8:36 “If the Son therefore shall make you free you shall be free indeed!”

 Galatians is the exhortation – STAND FAST IN FREEDOM. We do well to heed his words today as well…

{Thanks for reading.}

 

{Continuing our study of Psalm 27. We’ve looked at confidence,the fear of man,vision,beauty, worship, and facets of worship…welcome back!}

Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. (11-12)

We’ve come down off the mountaintop of worship into the daily grind of life. Sometimes this descent can be disturbing, abrupt, discouraging. Sort of like leaving an awesome Christian conference.

We’ve just had an encounter with God. He’s given us confidence and vision, He’s let us see His beauty and we’ve become enthralled in worshipping His name.

Now, this is the Monday morning of Psalm 27. For the six days where we do not meet for corporate worship, we need God to teach us to walk a level path. We desperately need consistency in order to remain, to abide, in His presence.

Few characteristics are more critical to the Christian life than consistency, or steadfastness, and therefore this will be the primary area where spiritual attack will occur. If the enemy of our souls cannot lead us into grievous sin he will at least try to keep us from consistently abiding in Christ. He will seek to make our lives haphazard.

Consistency, steadfastness, faithfulness, stability — these qualities aren’t touted and praised much in our culture. We’re told to do what feels good, follow your heart, indulge, let yourself loose.

And yet, growth or mastery in any area requires consistency. Any personal trainer will tell you that consistency is key. Running two miles every single day is better than running fourteen every Saturday. A steady, balanced diet over the long haul is better than a crash-diet to lose five pounds by this weekend’s wedding. Consistency is always the key.  The level path.

Webster defines consistency as: marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity.

Wouldn’t it be a beautiful witness if our lives were marked by harmony, by regularity and steady continuity. If we moved between our work and church and family and friends in a seamless manner, not given to hypocrisy but characterized by integrity and wholeness. Consistency is what will take us from a rollercoaster of frustration and defeat to a level path of joy, peace, and purpose.

Let’s hold up the mirror of God’s Word and take an honest look at the consistent character and conduct of our lives.

Consistent Character:

• Joy: Am I steadfast in rejoicing? Am I deliberate every single day in choosing to rejoice despite my circumstances?
• Peace: Is my life characterized by anxiety or peace? What would my family, friends, co-workers say?
• Patience: Do I lose my patience in a check-out line or waiting in traffic? Do I show great patience for others and yet often snap or lose my temper with my family?
• Kindness: Do I show kindness to others only when others are looking?
• Goodness: What movies do I watch? What music do I enjoy? Would I be comfortable letting my pastor look through my internet history? Do I consistently set my mind on things that are good and lovely?
• Gentleness: Am I harsh or short with my spouse, roommate, kids, parents? Do I use sarcasm?
• Faithfulness: Do I follow through on my commitments even when it costs me something personally? When my circumstances change do I remain committed to my word? What kind of friend am I? What would others say?
• Self-control: Do I indulge myself when I’m alone in ways that I wouldn’t if others were around? Do I have a quick-tongue, always speaking my mind, or am I slow to speak?

Consistent Conduct:

• Do I show up on time for work? Do I often make others wait for me? Am I habitually late for meetings?
• Do I follow-through on my chores or work at home? Do others often have to pick up after me or cover for me?
• Do I have good personal hygiene habits? Do I exercise regularly? Do I eat a healthy, balanced diet?
• Do I attend church regularly? Do I tithe regularly? Do I read my Bible and pray regularly? Do I regularly meet with other believers for fellowship and accountability?
• Do I serve on a regular basis? Have I diligently explored ways that I can consistently use my time and talents to serve others and further God’s kindgom?

Am I someone who others can count on? Am I the same at work as I am at church? Do I have anything to “hide”?

All of us have areas of inconsistency in our lives. The key is remembering that in reality we always act in ways that are consistent with our beliefs. So if our actions aren’t lining up with what we say, chances are we don’t really believe what we say we believe. We always act out of what we believe. If we believe God is glorious and good and altogether sufficient, our actions will be wholly consistent with that. If we do not, in some measure, believe that, our actions will be consistent with that too. This is why all sin is a personal affront to God. It all comes from some area of unbelief.

So our job is to evaluate these areas honestly and ask God to show us where we have unbelief in our hearts. We can repent, turn, and be given a fresh measure of faith to overcome these areas of inconsistency in our lives. And we must do just that every single day.

{For today, what area of inconsistency is God putting His finger on? How can you agree with Him and ask for His grace to grow? He loves us too much to let us stay the same! Thank you, friends, for reading.}

 

[Continuing our study of Psalm 27. We've looked at confidence,the fear of man,vision,beauty, and the beginning of worship...glad you're here with us today.]

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.

Here, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to You, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.“

Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O You who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! (6-9)

What is worship? Four things we find in this passage:

• Worship is sacrificial. “I will offer in His tent sacrifices…” Worship began with sacrifice. From Genesis chapter four on we see worship always include a sacrifice of some sort. Jesus fulfills the need for blood sacrifice but Romans 12 now tells us that our spiritual act of worship is the presenting of our bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). Anything given up, gone without, laid down, or let go of for the sake of Christ rises as beautiful incense to His throne as an acceptable offering. David insisted that he would not offer to the Lord that which cost his nothing (2 Sam 24:24). In David’s mind worship always included cost or sacrifice.

• Worship is joyful. “… with shouts of joy.” Worship and despair cannot coexist. We cannot be grateful and anxious at the same time. We cannot worship God and willfully remain in a pit of sorrow. However, we also cannot worship God by detaching ourselves from our feelings. True worship feels. Often we enter into worship through despair, contrition, anxiety, pain, confusion, longing, desire, fear, but the consistent pattern of the Psalms shows every worshipper moving from these feelings and entering in to a rich encounter with God where these feelings are transformed into hope, joy, thanksgiving, awe, wonder, gratitude, peace, trust. The range of emotions we feel will be wide, but we must feel. To worship God without feeling is to “draw near with our lips” while our hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8-9).

• Worship is musical. “I will sing and make melody to the LORD.” God created music. Nothing moves the soul like music. Music wins battles (1 Chronicles 20), music changes feelings, music brings back memories, music lifts spirits, music elevates our mind from earthly things to the things of God. Nothing moves us like music moves us. We are wise to engage in music in order to move our hearts inline with God’s.

• Worship is prayerful. “You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek … forsake me not, O God of my salvation!” Worship without an encounter with God is not worship. It’s just noise. We can make great sacrifices for God, we can even be filled with emotion and be playing instruments beautifully and be carried up in the moment, but unless we actually have an encounter with the Living God true worship hasn’t taken place. David is offering joyful sacrifice and playing music, but He also is having a heart-conversation with God. God says to seek His face and David’s heart responds that he will. He speaks to God, cries out to God, is having a real, life, encounter with God. This is what separates Christian worship from a benefit concert. Both can make music and feel emotion and even inspire giving or some sort of action of sacrifice, but anencounter with God is what true worship is all about.

Which of these facets strikes your heart today? Is there one that serves as a helpful reminder? What would it look like for you to engage in worship today, throughout your day? Thanks for reading.