One of the most often quoted verses of the Bible is Romans 8:28 which says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” It’s a great verse, offering all sorts of comfort to us in our times of trial.
But unfortunately, it also is often misunderstood and misapplied. Too often we interpret that verse to be a blanket guarantee that “everything is going to work out fine”. God is somehow going to take whatever mess or situation we have managed to get ourselves into and unravel all our mistakes and make things hunky dory again.
But that’s not what the verse promises. The promise that all things will work together for good is conditional to a couple of key elements. One, it is for those that love God. To truly love God is not to have some warm and fuzzy feeling about God from time to time - especially when in distress - but to be obedient to God. It is to mirror the kind of love God has for us - agape love - a self sacrificing love for the things He loves.
Secondly, the promise is conditional to them that are called according to His purpose. If we love God, we will keep His commandments (obedience) and we will do the will of God. If we’re doing the will of God then God says He will cause it to work together for good. If we’re doing our will, then there isn’t that sort of guarantee. If I resolutely put my will above God’s will, then I can’t expect God to undo all that I have done. I may pay the price for my willfulness.
For instance, there are a lot of Christians out there spending time in prison due to some willful desire that they put above God’s will. There are a lot of divorcees and their children out there paying the price of breaking their marriage vows. There are a lot of Christians out there paying the price of addiction to substance abuse because of feeding their fleshly appetites.
That’s why Paul sternly warns the Corinthian church in 2 Cor. 13: 5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” We need to guard against the flesh everyday. It isn’t dead, it’s just supposed to be submitted to the Spirit. But we can let it have the upper hand any time we want. And when we find ourselves serving the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life again, then we put ourselves out of the will of God and consequently, the protection of God.
By the way, we’re still meeting on the beach on Sundays until mid October. Come out and worship with us this week and enjoy viewing the waves from Hurricane Igor.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
A parent's perspective
Believe it or not, I’ve been accused of being an over protective dad from time to time. As a parent, there is nothing that can get me riled up like something that I perceive as a threat to my kids. Their well being is so important to me. When they were really little, it seemed I constantly worried about them. And even now that they are older, their safety and welfare is still one of my primary concerns. I can take a certain amount of ridicule or attack towards me personally perhaps, but let someone threaten my children in even the slightest way and the bear rises up in me.
You know, as children of God, our heavenly Father has the same attitude towards us. He is very jealous of His children. We saw in our study last week that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven we have to become like children. And then once we become part of His family, Jesus tells us in Matthew 18 the dire consequences of those that mess with His children.
Number one, He says those that mess with My kids, messes with Me. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives Me.” In other words, the way we treat a child of God is the way we treat God. In Matthew 25 the picture is given of those that will stand before God’s judgment throne and give an account for the way they treated Christ. “Truly I say to you, that to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”
Then secondly, He gives a warning. Back in Matthew 18 again, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to stumble, it would be better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.” You better think seriously about causing a child of God to stumble. Those that trespass in that way are going to bring down the wrath of God upon themselves.
Then thirdly, He gives a promise. “For I say to you, that their[these little ones] angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven.” In other words, we are the apple of God’s eye. And He is watching us constantly and has given His angels charge over us, to protect us and keep us. They are vigilantly watching for the signal from God to step in and deliver us, or punish those that would hurt us. We have the promise from God He will protect us with all the resources of heaven. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.
And as a child of God, I take refuge in that. My Father is vigilant. My Father loves me. And because of that, I don’t have to take revenge for myself, “for vengeance is Mine, says the Lord, I will repay”. I’ll let my Father take care of it. But all of us need to be careful not to cause another child of God to stumble.
You know, as children of God, our heavenly Father has the same attitude towards us. He is very jealous of His children. We saw in our study last week that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven we have to become like children. And then once we become part of His family, Jesus tells us in Matthew 18 the dire consequences of those that mess with His children.
Number one, He says those that mess with My kids, messes with Me. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives Me.” In other words, the way we treat a child of God is the way we treat God. In Matthew 25 the picture is given of those that will stand before God’s judgment throne and give an account for the way they treated Christ. “Truly I say to you, that to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”
Then secondly, He gives a warning. Back in Matthew 18 again, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to stumble, it would be better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.” You better think seriously about causing a child of God to stumble. Those that trespass in that way are going to bring down the wrath of God upon themselves.
Then thirdly, He gives a promise. “For I say to you, that their[these little ones] angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven.” In other words, we are the apple of God’s eye. And He is watching us constantly and has given His angels charge over us, to protect us and keep us. They are vigilantly watching for the signal from God to step in and deliver us, or punish those that would hurt us. We have the promise from God He will protect us with all the resources of heaven. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.
And as a child of God, I take refuge in that. My Father is vigilant. My Father loves me. And because of that, I don’t have to take revenge for myself, “for vengeance is Mine, says the Lord, I will repay”. I’ll let my Father take care of it. But all of us need to be careful not to cause another child of God to stumble.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Pharisee Book
Around my house I sometimes jokingly refer to Facebook as Pharisee Book. Among Christians especially, this internet tool seems to lend itself particularly well to self promotion. The Pharisees as you know, were adept at performing their works of righteousness for the world to see. And while I realize not everyone is doing that, on those rare occasions when I have to go on there I can’t help but see the similarities.
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? This age old question seems to be just as much an issue with us today as we compare ourselves among ourselves as it was with the disciples during Jesus day. In fact, it seemed like the disciples were constantly squabbling about it, positioning themselves to reap the benefits of the earthy rewards they hoped to get after He established His throne. James and John even got their mother to try to influence Jesus on their behalf. In fact, right up until the night He died they were all still competing with each other.
In Matthew 18, Jesus was asked again who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It should have been obvious to them that He was. But the humility of Jesus was shown by taking a very young child and sitting him on His lap. Jesus said, “Whoever humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Mark 10:43,44 tells us that after James and John’s mother approached Jesus, that He said, “”Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.” Then He says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many.”
There is a crucial need for this message today in Christianity. In this new era of self service, self promotion, and self improvement, we need a little bit more self sacrifice. Jesus taught us that we show our love for Him by serving others. Our reward is not from earthly recognition, but we lay up our treasure in heaven. We don’t do our good works for the world to see, but our Father in heaven sees those things that are done in secret and He knows our motives. One day He will disclose those things which are hidden, and reward those that were faithful, “but many who are first will be last, and the last, first” when our deeds are judged in eternity.
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? This age old question seems to be just as much an issue with us today as we compare ourselves among ourselves as it was with the disciples during Jesus day. In fact, it seemed like the disciples were constantly squabbling about it, positioning themselves to reap the benefits of the earthy rewards they hoped to get after He established His throne. James and John even got their mother to try to influence Jesus on their behalf. In fact, right up until the night He died they were all still competing with each other.
In Matthew 18, Jesus was asked again who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It should have been obvious to them that He was. But the humility of Jesus was shown by taking a very young child and sitting him on His lap. Jesus said, “Whoever humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Mark 10:43,44 tells us that after James and John’s mother approached Jesus, that He said, “”Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.” Then He says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many.”
There is a crucial need for this message today in Christianity. In this new era of self service, self promotion, and self improvement, we need a little bit more self sacrifice. Jesus taught us that we show our love for Him by serving others. Our reward is not from earthly recognition, but we lay up our treasure in heaven. We don’t do our good works for the world to see, but our Father in heaven sees those things that are done in secret and He knows our motives. One day He will disclose those things which are hidden, and reward those that were faithful, “but many who are first will be last, and the last, first” when our deeds are judged in eternity.
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