devotional – Page 9 – Christ the Truth

He rescued me because He delighted in me

GlenOctober 3, 2009Leave a comment

I preached that verse about a month ago (Ps 18:19). And you know my first reaction as I was preparing?

Hmmm, tricky, how on earth should we understand this...?

I hope you're all saying: But why Glen - it seems perfectly straightforward.

Well, there's the slightly tricky part about how we take the verse on our own lips. Clearly it's Christ speaking of His Father. But once we're all happy to sing the Psalm in Christ then I hope you're all saying to yourselves: Glen, it's perfectly obvious. The Lord saves us because He loves us. What could be difficult about that?

Ah, but you see I regularly fall into a foolish and horrible error - perhaps you're the same. I start thinking that Jesus died so that God could love me. I imagine that God saves in order to love. He cleans me up a bit and then gives me His grace. His atonement leads to love, (rather than love leading to the atonement). Do you see my error?

And so when Psalm 18 spoke of the Lord delighting in me and therefore rescuing me? Well it seemed backwards. And so I really had to let the word confront me again.

Because in the bible God loves the world and so sends the Son to save (John 3:16-17). In the bible it's 'because of His great love for us that God makes us alive', even when we were dead in sins (Eph 2:4). In the bible God demonstrates His own love for us in that Christ died for powerless, ungodly, sinful enemies (Rom 5:6-11).

Do you see what these verses are saying? God loves and so He saves. It does not say - God saves and so He loves.

Why's that important? Well for one thing it means that Christ loves me - SINNER THAT I AM. It's not a case of Christ loving the saved me (though of course He does). But it's the radical gospel truth that Christ has loved me at my putrid worst. He doesn't clean me up in order to love me. He loves me and so cleanses me through His atoning death.

Which means when I ask myself, 'Does God love me?' - I can look to the cross alone. I don't have to check my own saved status. I don't have to worry whether the cleansing has taken sufficient effect to allow me entrance into His affections. I can simply look at Christ crucified and say - God loves me. There is His demonstration - a love for sinners at war with Him. He has not fixed His love on me at my best. He has fixed His love on me at my worst.

My salvation - won through His blood alone - proves His love for me. His love is not a bonus for the godly but is specifically aimed at enemies. Such love is the very ground of all He does. If I'm looking at the Son lifted up on the cross then I'm seeing God's love for me because there I'm seeing my salvation. This salvation in Christ is infallible proof of God's immovable, inexhaustible and unfathomable love for me.

He rescued me because He delighted in me. (Ps 18:19)

Christian, God speaks that word to you right now. Believe it.

Cardboard testimonies 7

GlenAugust 30, 2009January 30, 20147 Comments

Really, really moving.

And a cool way to teach Luke 16 too.

From Paul Blackham

Public displays of affection

GlenAugust 10, 2009Leave a comment

No PDAs

How do you respond to PDAs?

Cringe?

Tut-tut?

Feel superior?

What about PDAs for Jesus?

What if someone expresses costly, counter-cultural public affection for Jesus in your workplace, in your family, on the streets or even in church. Do you cringe?

alabaster In Mark 14:1-11 we see a woman break open a jar of perfume worth tens of thousands of pounds. And she expends it all in a public display of affection for Jesus.

Jesus likes it. He thinks, v6, it’s a beautiful thing. Verse 8 He says ‘she has anointed my body for burial’. No-one would get the chance to do this after His death. Jesus was an early riser you see. So here the woman takes her opportunity in fulfilment of Song of Songs 1:12:

"While the King was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance."

She plays the part of the beloved and the King thinks it's beautiful.

Judas does not think it's beautiful. We know from the other gospels that he was the one leading the protest from v4: He thinks it’s a waste. It could have been sold and given to the poor.

But of course Judas wasn’t going to sell the perfume and give money to the poor. He was going to sell Jesus and get money for himself.

But it’s a shocking contrast. One follower of Jesus is moved to heart-felt, all-out devotion, centred on His death. Another follower of Jesus is repulsed by such devotion. And this event is a significant tipping point for Judas to betray Jesus.

Prior to the moment of betrayal, Judas's hard heart is never more exposed than here. He kept up such a good pretence the rest of the time. But here - in the presence of vulnerable abandonment and adoration - the true state of his heart is exposed. Nothing threatens the impostor more than genuine love for Jesus. He sees the woman's devotion and he thinks the focus is all wrong.

'Stop focussing on Jesus. Go out and do stuff in Jesus' name. Go and be Jesus to the poor.' That was Judas's attitude. Actual love for Jesus made him extremely uncomfortable.

So then, next time you're tempted to disdain certain Christian music as 'Jesus is my boyfriend' worship...

Next time you criticize some street-preacher's unenlightened methods...

Next time you feel superior to some simple saint's devotional sweetness while crediting yourself with getting out and doing the work...

Maybe, just maybe, that's the spirit of Judas.

You must know that a Christian is nothing if they are not a worshipper of Jesus.

In My Name

GlenAugust 1, 2009Leave a comment

Jesus praying

What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?

Here's Jesus Himself using the phrase 'in my name':

Many will come in my name, saying 'I am He' and will lead many astray. (Mark 13:6)

Here's a very strong understanding of 'in my name'. Here to act "in Jesus' name" is to act as Jesus and to appear to others as Jesus.

Well now - Jesus Himself asks you to pray to the Father 'in His name' (John 14:13,14; 15:16; 16:23). So when you come to the Father, come as Jesus. Come as son, come as christ (anointed one). Call on God Most High with Jesus' own cry - 'Abba, Father' (Mark 14:36 <=> Gal 4:6). By the Spirit, you are so identified with the Son in prayer that you pray as Jesus. And the Father hears you as His very own Beloved. That's the magnitude of what Jesus invites us into when He calls us to pray in His name.

Daddy’s rich

glenscrivJuly 28, 2009Leave a comment

Maybe your earthly father had short arms and deep pockets. Or long arms and shallow pockets. Or crossed arms and closed pockets. gold

Your Father in heaven is different.

He's rich beyond your wildest imaginings. 6 times Pauls says it in Ephesians (1:7,18; 2:4,7; 3:8,16).

He's rich - rich I tells ya. And it's just the normal word for wealthy. Loaded. Rolling in it. Stinking, filthy rich. Like Abraham (Gen 13:2), like Solomon (1 Kings 3:13), like 'the rich man' (Mark 10:25). Your Father is no pauper.

And neither is He a miser. He lavishes His children with every treasure at His disposal. First, He commits all things into the hands of His Son (John 3:35). The nations are His inheritance (Ps 2:8). The whole creation is a love gift for Him (Col 1:15-16). But for the sake of His Son, and so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers (Rom 8:29), the Father brings us into His inheritance. We become objects of the Father's lavish philanthropy.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. (Eph 2:4-5)

We weren't just dirt poor, we'd bitten the dust - dead in transgressions and sins. Yet even in that lowest of gutters God's riches were lavished on us - His riches in mercy - to make us alive with Christ. Not only this...

In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us (Eph 1:7-8)

Now in Christ we are lavished with freedom and forgiveness of our sins. And we stand as witnesses to heaven and earth of how generous is our Father in bestowing such treasures:

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:6-7)

God is rich and will be known as rich.

But perhaps you don't feel able to appreciate this wealth. Maybe you're not feeling the benefits of this incredible union with Christ? Well God's riches aren't just for the bestowal of grace, they enable you to appreciate these blessings too:

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (3:16-17)

You know what this means? God even has riches that awaken us to the riches He's already bestowed! Talk about grace upon grace.

And if we despair that we don't already possess these riches in their fullness, Paul has another prayer:

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (Eph 1:18)

What a day of sumptuous opulence and overwhelming prosperity when we are heirs of God, co-heirs of the cosmos with Christ and when God Himself inherits us His saints.

What can we do in the meantime except...

...to preach to the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8)

Christ is the storehouse of the Father's overflowing bounty. We beggars, who've gotten rich quick, tell the world where to find true wealth.

Friends, rejoice. Daddy's rich.

Daddy's rich

GlenJuly 28, 2009Leave a comment

Maybe your earthly father had short arms and deep pockets. Or long arms and shallow pockets. Or crossed arms and closed pockets. gold

Your Father in heaven is different.

He's rich beyond your wildest imaginings. 6 times Pauls says it in Ephesians (1:7,18; 2:4,7; 3:8,16).

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. (Eph 2:4-5)

In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us (Eph 1:7-8)

Now in Christ we are lavished with freedom and forgiveness of our sins. And we stand as witnesses to heaven and earth of how generous is our Father in bestowing such treasures:

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:6-7)

God is rich and will be known as rich.

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (3:16-17)

You know what this means? God even has riches that awaken us to the riches He's already bestowed! Talk about grace upon grace.

And if we despair that we don't already possess these riches in their fullness, Paul has another prayer:

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (Eph 1:18)

What a day of sumptuous opulence and overwhelming prosperity when we are heirs of God, co-heirs of the cosmos with Christ and when God Himself inherits us His saints.

What can we do in the meantime except...

...to preach to the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8)

Christ is the storehouse of the Father's overflowing bounty. We beggars, who've gotten rich quick, tell the world where to find true wealth.

Friends, rejoice. Daddy's rich.

I am in Christ AND Christ is in me

GlenJuly 27, 2009Leave a comment

Something I think the Lord has been teaching me recently is to prize both these truths:

I am in Christ

and

Christ is in me

I am clothed in an alien righteousness but also filled with an outworking Power. My standing before God is entirely outside myself - in Jesus. Yet my walk in the world is enabled by an energy that is no less heavenly in origin but that springs from a new core within - the new heart. Will's sermon on the New Birth is a great help in this direction.

Here are some more thoughts from Watchman Nee's little book on Ephesians - Sit, Walk, Stand. In this section he is moving from our 'seated' reality with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph 1-3) to our 'walk' in the world (Eph 4-5).

God has given us Christ. There is nothing now for us to receive outside of Him. The Holy Spirit has been sent to produce what is of Christ in us; not to produce anything that is apart from or outside of Him...We have been accustomed to look upon holiness as a virtue, upon humility as a grace, upon love as a gift to be sought from God. But the Christ of God is Himself everything that we shall ever need... Our life is the life of Christ, mediated in us by the indwelling Holy Spirit Himself.

No wonder that this is Paul's prayer as he transitions from the 'seated' reality to our earthly 'walk':

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God. (Eph 3:14-19)

God is waiting for you to despair 11

GlenJuly 24, 200911 Comments

From Watchman Nee's Sit, Walk, Stand.

"An engineer living in a large city in the West left his homeland for the Far East. He was away for two or three years, and during his absence his wife was unfaithful to him and went off with one of his best friends. On his return home he found he had lost his wife, his two children and his best friend. At the close of a meeting which I was addressing, this grief-stricken man unburdened himself to me. 'Day and night for two solid years my heart has been full of hatred,' he said. 'I am a Christian, and I know I ought to forgive my wife and my friend, but though I try and try to forgive them, I simply cannot. Every day I resolve to love them, and every day I fail. What can I do about it?' 'Do nothing at all,' I replied. 'What do you mean?' he asked, startled. 'Am I to continue to hate them?' So I explained: 'The solution of your problem lies here, that when the Lord Jesus died on the Cross he not only bore your sins away but he bore you away too. When he was crucified, your old man was crucified in him, so that that unforgiving you, who simply cannot love those who have wronged you, has been taken right out of the way in his death. God has dealt with the whole situation in the Cross, and there is nothing left for you to deal with. Just say to him, 'Lord, I cannot love and I give up trying, but I count on thy perfect love. I cannot forgive, but I trust thee to forgive instead of me, and to do so henceforth in me.'

The man sat there amazed and said, 'That's all so new, I feel I must do something about it.' Then a moment later he added again, 'But what can I do?' 'God is waiting till you cease to do,' I said. 'When you cease doing, then God will begin. Have you ever tried to save a drowning man? The trouble is that his fear prevents him trusting himself to you. When that is so, there are just two ways of going about it. Either you must knock him unconscious and then drag him to the shore, or else you must leave him to struggle and shout until his strength gives way before you go to his rescue. If you try to save him while he has any strength left, he will clutch at you in his terror and drag you under, and both he and you will be lost. God is waiting for your store of strength to be utterly exhausted before he can deliver you. Once you have ceased to struggle, he will do everything. God is waiting for you to despair.'

My engineer friend jumped up. 'Brother,' he said, 'I've seen it. Praise God, it's all right now with me! There's nothing for me to do. He has done it all!' And with radiant face he went off rejoicing."

How He has loved us

GlenJuly 16, 2009Leave a comment

For Thawed-out Thursdays - this one from 18 months ago

Three pictures of how we are loved from the upper room. The waterfall, promotion, God's compass. They all deserve reflection as we immerse ourselves in the love of the triune God.

First, the waterfall:

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you." (John 15:9)

Here the love of the Father for His Son cascades over to us. We stand in a beginningless, limitless torrent of love. Think about it. Take the word 'as' with utmost seriousness.

Then there's promotion to Jesus' side:

The Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. (John 16:27)

Here, in loving Christ we are raised shoulder to shoulder with the Son. Think how highly we have been raised. Anointed ones alongside the Anointed One. Sons and daughters alongside the Son. Receiving the same love from the Father that Jesus does. Promoted into the Godhead!

Then there's God's compass placed within us:

...in order that the love You [Father] have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. (John 17:26)

The Father's own 'true north' of love for His Son is placed within the Christian. Now we have the Father's love for His Son in us. The Christian loves the Son with the love the Father has placed within us. That beginningless, limitless waterfall is not only something we receive, it's something that now flows from within us (John 7:38f).

How He has loved us! How He has caught us up in His love! Meditate on these things