January 7, 2010

• dedication 2010 (reflections on God's Word & God's grace)

  In January 2009 I wrote "Why I blog & the only kind of recommendation I should seek." Then in February I wrote my credo for being a godly encourager. This post is a follow-up/supplement to both of those. (You may wish to read both of those in conjunction with this one.)

  There are several verses God has continued to bring me back to over the past few years...Here are some of them...

  For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. Ezra 7:10
  
  And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you. Ezekiel 2:7-8
  
  Thus says the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the LORD all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word. Jeremiah 26:2.
  
  Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life. Acts 5:20.
  
  Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:26-27.
  
  

  

  I consider my writing here a stewardship for which I will be held to account one day. I'm a steward of God's Word...all His Word...nothing held back, no sugar coating...no shrinking back...

  Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

  First off, I will say that I know my salvation is secure by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross, that it does not depend on my works, nonetheless I take Jesus' words seriously here as I have received His Word to steward faithfully by His Holy Spirit at work in me...

  As children of God, ransomed by the blood of Christ, we have been adopted into God's family; therefore we are to live like God's sons and daughters. We are to live like our Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was perfect and holy and always about His Father's business and seeking to bring glory to God. We are no longer our own, we are God's purchased possession. We are no longer to live our lives for ourselves and our own desires but to God and to His glory and for His desires. Shouldn't we then carefully consider how we use our time, our words and our resources each and every day? If we are Christ's, shouldn't all we do be for His glory? Doesn't this include our blogging here? Doesn't this include our being stewards of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light?

  I know there are a lot of you in the Xanga/Revelife community who are seeking to serve God and glorify and honor Him with your lives, including by your blogging, your commenting, your messaging and your prayers here. And know that you have blessed me abundantly. Thank you! May God bless you as you continue to strive to be well pleasing to Him by His grace strengthening you.

  I am sad to say there are some out there who are Christians and/or who profess Christ (not only here at Xanga and Revelife, but going beyond that to pastors, teachers and ministry leaders in many congregations and denominations and movements) who are representing God and His Word and His Gospel in ways that distort His calling to us to be a holy nation. God's Word is too often dumbed down, twisted, sugar coated, made trendy, remade in our own image, what have you...

  If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I don't sugar coat things...

  
  "Dumdums" by
  Linuxerist  (cc by 3.0)

  I've written previously that I like to be liked and that I have struggled with people pleasing, but when it comes to my giving out all the words of God's life vs. your liking me, that's a no-brainer...

  Most of my blogs are hard-hitting, and I do know I've been tough with a few of you...(And I hope you will be the same with me. Yes, I admit I may not initially enjoy it, but God's truth must be spoken in love, that's what we're here to do in the Body of Christ, to encourage one another, to build one another up, to spur one another one to love and good deeds.)

  My priority in writing is not to make you my friends (though I'm very glad to be friends with you) – but to make you Christ's disciples.

  As a result, that means I may not be liked by some of you and some of you may even go away sad...

  Jesus wasn't liked by everyone either. Neither were the disciples, nor Stephen, nor Paul, nor Tyndale, nor Luther, nor Whitefield and so on...

  If we look at God's intent for His people in the Bible it is that we be holy and conformed to Christ's image and we be maturing and growing up in Christ.

  I'm not here to point you to me (O, I know the temptation in that, and I must say I fight it pretty much daily) – but to point you to Christ.

  If I'm not doing that, then I'm failing. My constant prayer must be "Not to me, O Lord, but to You, be the glory in what I'm doing here. You alone have the words of life; anything I do here to build up and encourage others is by Your grace at work in me."

  Frankly, I will tell you that for some of you who've been Christians for a long time, it's time to move beyond the milk, beyond the baby cereal, beyond the jars of pureed fruits and veggies. It's time to rip off your bibs, get down from the high chair and get ready to grab and gnaw on some meat now! There are plenty of places that serve baby food, but you're not going to get much of that here...(And please keep in mind, I'm only giving you what God has been feeding me...)

  And for all of you, my desire is that you be well-rooted in the Word of God. The Word of God provides all we need for the Christian life; instead of looking to new programs, new plans, new books, let's look at the old Book, the book that is God-breathed. How ridiculous that we too quickly cast it aside, or should I say, cast God aside for the next newest trend? Consider that we already have the words of God, we already have the words of life in our hands...or should I say sitting on our bookshelves?

  And I want you to be well-rooted and grounded in all the Word of God.

  New and Old Testament. (You can't begin to understand and know Christ apart from the Old Testament.)

  Doctrine and experience. (We serve a living God, our faith must be a living faith, not merely a head knowledge, a spouted-out creed, a robotic, loveless legalism.)

  (My disclaimer here is that I have no seminary degree; I'm no expert in the world's eyes. I've had a one credit seminary class, and that's it, so I know there are some of you out there who are much more learned and can write and expound these things far better than me, so I say to you, "Go for it!"  I'll be the first to admit that. I can't stand toe to toe with some of you, but I'm not called to that sort of ministry; I don't have that kind of mind. I'm not a scholar. However I am a child of God with a passion for God and His Word and I have His Holy Spirit indwelling me. By His grace I am attempting to learn to know and love my heavenly Father more and more and then to write about what He is teaching me.)

  I've become increasingly grieved since I continue to come across more and more people who are not well-rooted in doctrine and the Word of God. The result is that we've gone astray and lost our moorings and the Church has become but an astonishment, a proverb and a byword in the world today. (That's why I'm also continuing to pray for revival...I hope to write more about where God has me in that journey in a future post, but in the meantime you can read more about that here and here, or see my other blog tent of meeting, which is devoted to prayer for revival.)

  When I write I will use words such as atonement, justification and sanctification. Why? To impress you? No, because they're in the Bible. How can we teach the Bible without teaching what is IN the Bible? Absurd? Yes, but consider this: How many of you hear those types of words regularly in your pastor's sermons?

  My chief desire is to lift up Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

  

  The cross is the glory of God. Our life flows from Christ's blood shed at the cross. Christ's blood is at the center of the atonement. Any relationship we have with God is rooted in the blood of Jesus. We have no ability to come to God apart from Christ's shed blood. I could go on and on, but I hope you get the idea. These things are not old-fashioned but they are central and primary to our relationship with God and to Christianity. We cannot neglect them or give them lip service!

  Maturing and growing up in Christ also means we begin to move beyond asking for God to fix our lives and give us what we want. To the contrary, we ought to be prepared to enter into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings so we might know Him more and more. As we are conformed into the image of Christ, He will give us grace to pray the prayer our Lord did at Gethsemane ("Not my will, but Yours, be done") from the depths of our hearts with a quiet joy and assurance knowing that when we abandon ourselves into the will of God, there is nothing more beautiful or sublime, nothing more precious as a child of God surrendering all we are and all we have to our Father in heaven. (These are hard lessons for all of us to learn, but they are lessons we must all be taught if we are His disciples. Let us remember we are all called to walk in His steps...They are not theoretical constructs for me...and the Lord has been gracious and longsuffering with me as I slowly learn and walk in His steps...) I have been honored and privileged to have some of you ask me to pray for you. So, though I may pray for you as you ask me to (and as God's Spirit leads me to, I will do so), you can be sure I will also pray you will mature and be increasingly conformed to Christ's image. (And I hope and expect you will pray that for me as well.)

  God's intent is that His people move on to perfection  – all of us – there are no exceptions in this...

  Jesus prayed in John 17 that we might be sanctified by God's truth and His Word is truth. In conjunction with the work of the Holy Spirit, our being immersed in the Word of God is key to our sanctification. God provided the manna in the wilderness yet let's remember that the Israelites had to go gather it daily (except on the Sabbath). So too God has provided the manna (His Word), but each one of us needs to gather it...daily. The Word of God is accessible to most of you in your own homes; and if not, since you're reading this, there are countless places online you can access it. So you have no excuse...

  In Ephesians 5, Paul wrote that

  Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

  Once again, the Word of God is linked to our sanctification. The KJV translation tells us that Jesus' desire is to present the Church to Himself as a glorious church. Are we living lives that are glorious? Really? Are we a praise in the earth? Are we a shining city on a hill? Are we turning the world upside down like the early Church? Are our communities and our cultures being positively affected and impacted by the Church, or is it the other way around?

  In II Corinthians 11, Paul's tells us his desire is to present the Corinthians to God as a chaste virgin, and in Colossians 1 Paul intent is to present every man perfect in Christ. Once again if you read both those passages, you see the teaching and preaching of the Word of God is a central part of that process.

  Chaste virgin. Perfect in Christ. These are descriptions of the holy lives God calls us to live here and now which He makes possible to us through the resurrection power of His indwelling Holy Spirit, Who is given to all who believe in Christ; therefore these are real possibilities for us (see my posts here and here). And not only that, they are God's desire for us as His people. We are new creations in Christ; we're a holy nation, we're to be holy as He is holy.

  Many of you may be saying, "But wait! God is a God of love and mercy and grace. This holy living...it's doesn't really matter. I'm saved. The blood has covered me." It is true that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a God of love and mercy and grace, but our God is also a holy God, a jealous God and zealous for His Name and His renown, a God who has come to purify and sanctify us, so let's not ever presume upon God's grace or dumb it down in any way. Bonhoeffer wrote about cheap grace and the apostle Paul answered this concern in Romans 6, right after he unfolded the wonderful doctrine central to Christianity: justification by faith. So to your comment, "If we're justified by faith, it doesn't matter how we live, right?" I implore you to go and read Paul's response at the beginning of Romans 6. Of course it does matter. The true child of God will desire to be holy and will come to resemble His heavenly Father more and more. It does matter how we live! We're not to continue in sin that grace may abound. There's been much too much distortion and twisting of grace; even a little twist is too much! We cannot give way for a moment! Let's return to Biblical grace, to God's grace, rather than our man-made conception of what we think God's grace ought to look like. God forbid we dare to cheapen the infinite riches of God's grace to us poured out at Calvary's cross!

  Here is a description of the kind of grace that drives my life and drives my writing (actually I've written this from a negative perspective). My hope and prayer is that Biblical grace does (or will, if it does not already) drive your lives and your writing as well...

  grace that does not call us to holiness is not Biblical grace
  grace that allows us to continue in sin is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not call us to battle with sin and mortify sin is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not speak the truth in love is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not call us to repentance is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not lead to Holy Spirit conviction of sin is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not produce broken and contrite hearts is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not lead to godly sorrow is not Biblical grace
  grace that settles for outward improvement rather than inner transformation is not Biblical grace
  grace that allows us to remain cold or lukewarm is not Biblical grace
  grace that provides only milk and not meat for the soul is not Biblical grace
  grace that says doctrine doesn't matter is not Biblical grace
  grace that allows us to profess head knowledge without heart fire is not Biblical grace
  grace that allows us to be half-hearted is not Biblical grace
  grace that allows self to usurp Christ's throne is not Biblical grace
  grace that permits two masters is not Biblical grace
  grace that avoids entering into suffering for Christ's sake is not Biblical grace
  grace that allows us to be conformed to the world is not Biblical grace
  grace that allows us to bow to any idol is not Biblical grace
  grace that gives glory to us or our works is not Biblical grace
  grace that allows us to love our lives is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not call us to count all things loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ is not grace
  grace that does not call us to press on to the high calling of God is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not call us back to our first Love is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not make Christ preeminent is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not cause us to call, "Abba, Father!" is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not drive us to our knees in total dependence on God is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not proclaim Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life is not Biblical grace
  grace that doesn't lead us to proclaim Christ's Gospel unashamedly is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not regularly humble us before the throne of God is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not cause us to cry out, "I am not worthy" and beat our breasts is not Biblical grace
  grace that does not cause us to give all praise, honor and glory to God is not Biblical grace

  And with all that in mind, here is a prayer of dedication to God for my blogging and my communications for the year ahead.

  Your Word is like a rock. Let me not stand by speechless and watch Your children build on sand.
  Your Word is like a hammer. Let me not refrain from swinging it.
  Your Word is like fire. Let me not quench it.
  Your Word is like a sword. Let me not dull it.
  Your Word is right. Let me never twist it.
  Your Word is life-giving. Let me never butcher it.
  Your Word is a lamp. Let me not cover it.
  Your Word is light. Let me not extinguish it.
  Your Word is pure. Let me never pollute it.
  Your Word is true. Let me never falsify it.
  Your Word is truth. Let me never exchange it for a lie.
  Your Word is a purifier. Let me never contaminate it.
  Your Word is a cleanser. Let me never dirty it.
  Your Word is incorruptible. Let me never corrupt it.
  Your Word is for edification. Let me never use it to tear down.
  Your Word is a stewardship. Let me not abuse my authority.
  Your Word is a deposit. Let me guard it with vigilance.
  Your Word may cause offense. Let me speak it boldly and fearlessly.
  Your Word spoken without love will avail nothing. Let me speak it in love.
  You have promised Your Word would not return void but accomplish that which You please.
  Let me continue to sow Your Word in faith, never becoming weary in well doing.
  In faith and patience I will inherit the promises.
  Woe is me if I shrink back and do not preach the Gospel, all the words of the life which saved me.

  As God leads you to do so, would you please pray for me and my ministry here (Colossians 4:3-4)?
  
  By His grace alone, for His glory alone,
  Karen

  ---

  Related posts:

  • My follow-up post to this one: dedication 2010 (addendum): may He temper my tongue with love
  • the minister's examination: "Who is my master?"
  • the most diligent prelate and preacher
  • Blogging to build up the ruined church of God (see the Piper clip)
    
  • praying for Revelife (and your own blog)
  • They went everywhere gossiping the word shouldn't we also? (Acts 8:4)
  • are you gossiping the word to one another?
  • my deep concern for the churches
  • the Ministry of the Word & Prayer
  • Bible Reading-Mark 4: (6) Kingdom-Obsessed People persevere in scattering seed
  • Rejoicing in Winter?
  • Postcards from England: do you care?

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