Who will always be?
The day after the election: Jesus is still the Center of the universe
For Your Ears/Election 2008: Don't forget the One on Whose shoulders the government rests
"the inviolable steadiness of God's government" (Matthew Henry on Ecc. 3:14-15)
His Kingdom is unshakable even when we're being shaken
day of prayer, earthly governments & security ("For who is God, but the LORD?")
Are you keeping calm & carrying on? Do you react or respond? ~ Isaiah 7:1-9 - letter 112
You speak as one of the foolish women would speak ~ Job 2:9-10

Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

I was saved in November 1982, but only a few years ago I came to a point in my Christian life when I began to be challenged by the Spirit of God to possess the land, much like what was happening in the book of Joshua...

Joshua 13:1 Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the Lord said to him: “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed. This is the land that yet remains..."

Joshua 18:1 Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them.  2  But there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance. 3 Then Joshua said to the children of Israel: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?

To explain, it wasn't a physical land I was being challenged to go in and possess, but rather a spiritual land – the spiritual inheritance God has given me in Jesus Christ.

This is a summary accounting of that gracious activity of God in my life, and His activity and my pursuit of Him is ongoing. As you read my words, I pray God's Spirit might bless you to see the land that has yet to be possessed, and by His grace at work in you, may you be strengthened to go up and possess it...

2007:  Meeting Jonathan Edwards and coming face to face with my lukewarm affections

It was in the late spring/early summer of 2007 that I'd begun reading through "Devotional Classics" (edited by Richard Foster & James Bryan Smith) along with a friend. [As way of disclaimer, I don't fully endorse either the book or Foster and Smith, but the book does provide a bird's-eye view of the varied streams of Christianity (it's really a supplement to Foster's larger work, "Streams of Living Water.")] To clarify, the various section headings in my book (an older used edition I'd picked up at the used bookstore  - I LOVE used bookstores!) include: The Prayer-Filled Life, The Virtuous Life, The Spirit-Empowered Life, The Compassionate Life, and The Word-Centered Life. Each chapter includes excerpts from the writings of an individual from Church history, along with an applicable Scripture text, reflection questions, suggested exercises, and reflections, as well as a short bibliography for further reading. The book can be useful as a check for us, so we don't get unbalanced in the Christian life.

One of the first readings in that book included excerpts from Jonathan Edwards' "Religious Affections." Well, if you're at all familiar with Edwards, you know that's a most wonderful place to start! Yes, I'm pretty sure I'd read his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" in high school, but given that my heart was hard and I was still dead in my sins, those words fell on the wayside; they meant nothing to me since the Holy Spirit hadn't chosen to breathe upon them. And though after becoming a Christian, I'd come across Edwards here and there prior to this time, there was something uniquely different in this encounter with Jonathan Edwards. Just a little note:  Foster & Smith did use an edited paraphrase, which does make Edwards more accessible, but after having read Edwards himself, I find it lacking. Therefore, I'm going to quote Edwards directly, even though I realize his thought process and his writing stretches the reader, and I'm the first to confess here that I'm no intellect. I would hope and pray that God's Spirit might work in you as you read these words, as He did me, that He might provoke you and begin to give you a glimpse of and a desire for what Lloyd-Jones speaks of as the "great and glorious possibilities of the Christian life."

Edwards wrote that it was his desire "to observe some things that render it evident, that true religion, in great part consists in the affections." And then Edwards continues...

And here...

1. What has been said of the nature of the affections makes this evident, and may be sufficient, without adding anything further, to put this matter out of doubt; for who will deny that true religion consists in a great measure, in vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of the soul, or the fervent exercises of the heart?

That religion which God requires, and will accept, does not consist in weak, dull, and lifeless wishes, raising us but a little above a state of indifference: God, in his word, greatly insists upon it, that we be good in earnest, "fervent in spirit," and our hearts vigorously engaged in religion: Rom. 12:11, "Be ye fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." Deut. 10:12, "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord the God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul?" and chap. 6:4, 6, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy might." It is such a fervent vigorous engagedness of the heart in religion, that is the fruit of a real circumcision of the heart, or true regeneration, and that has the promises of life; Deut. 30:6, “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."

If we be not in good earnest in religion, and our wills and inclinations be not strongly exercised, we are nothing. The things of religion are so great, that there can be no suitableness in the exercises of our hearts, to their nature and importance, unless they be lively and powerful. In nothing is vigor in the actings of our inclinations so requisite, as in religion; and in nothing is lukewarmness so odious. True religion is evermore a powerful thing; and the power of it appears, in the first place in the inward exercises of it in the heart, where is the principal and original seat of it. Hence true religion is called the power of godliness, in distinction from the external appearances of it, that are the form of it, 2 Tim. 3:5: "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it." The Spirit of God, in those that have sound and solid religion, is a spirit of powerful holy affection; and therefore, God is said "to have given the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind," 2 Tim. 1:7. And such, when they receive the Spirit of God, in his sanctifying and saving influences, are said to be "baptized with the Holy Ghost, and with fire;" by reason of the power and fervor of those exercises the Spirit of God excites in their hearts, whereby their hearts, when grace is in exercise, may be said to “burn within them;" as is said of the disciples, Luke 24:32.

I'd encourage you to read the rest here...http://m.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/affections.toc.html

It was at that point, I began to see that my understanding and experience of the Christian life was sorely lacking. More accurately, because my understanding of the Christian life was sorely lacking (i.e. - lack of solid doctrinal rooting), my experience of the Christian life was sorely lacking. My affections were nothing at all close to what Edwards described. Along with other events in my life, Edwards' writing was working to tear down my façade of thinking that I was doing fairly well as a Christian, and began to get me wondering what I was missing and what more there was to the Christian life.

2008:  Martyn Lloyd-Jones quoting Spurgeon:  "There is a point in grace ... " ~ approaching holy ground

The following spring, while away on a private retreat, I listened to a portion of Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon on Ephesians 3:16

There are many ways we can keep track of the Ebenezers in our lives. And included in those for me are my own personal journals and my blogging.

In my post dated May 29, 2008, I'd referenced a quotation which ML-J gave from Spurgeon in that sermon:

There is a point in grace which is as much above the ordinary Christian as the ordinary Christian is above the worldling.

This morning, I looked through my journals (my spiral notebooks which are "filed" in a cardboard box in the corner of the bedroom ), and I found the notebook from that time with the quotation written down along with some notes I'd taken from the sermon. No, there was no lightning bolt at the time, but a seed was planted: a deeper desire and hunger and thirst for Christ had been imparted into my soul through the Holy Spirit. I vividly remember the day when I sat on the bed in that retreat center and listened to that sermon and then knelt down by the bed. I had heard something that day that did further shaking to my complacent, safe, self-sufficient, works-oriented, lukewarm Americanized Christianity. Even though I knew my present reality at that point in time was so very far from that point in grace, and even though I knew I was approaching holy ground to even consider such a possibility, yet all the same, that possibility began to captivate me and my hunger and thirst grew. I knew there was more to Christianity than I'd imagined... I was slowly coming to the realization, much like Oswald Chambers wrote:  "But I knew that if what I had was all the Christianity there was, the thing was a fraud." (Please see my post here for more on that.)

2010:  A hot summer night in Wyoming ~ Show me Your glory! Grace upon grace: Yea, even for ME!

It was in the summer of 2010 that we were on a vacation out west. We were staying at a wonderful refurbished old hotel in Wyoming. Our room, however, didn't have air conditioning, so I wasn't sleeping all that well, and I finally headed out to the sitting room. It was there I opened John Baillie's "Memoir of the Rev. W.H. Hewitson," and I can't explain this to you at all, but suddenly, those "great and glorious possibilities" were opened to me! By God's grace I was enabled to begin to grasp that those great and glorious possibilities of the Christian life were actually FOR ME. They were no longer distant, they were no longer just a theological construct, they were no longer just a theoretical concept, and they were no longer just Martyn Lloyd-Jones' words, but at that point I had the sense that they were truly within my grasp, if I would take hold of Him, as Jacob did, and not let Him go until He blessed me.

The thing that was so odd about all of that is that prior to this time, I'd already received a felt assurance of forgiveness of sins, and I had already begun to enter into and experience into joy in Christ that I'd not thought possible (see my post here); however, above and beyond all of that blessedness, and I say this humbly, there was still more to be had ... there was more spiritual land remaining to be possessed! In other words, I had come to see that I didn't want to be like the Israelites, who'd become negligent (or slack, in the KJV). Their example is set forth as a warning to us – to me. And I knew I could no longer remain content with getting out of Egypt and getting into the promised land. I couldn't even be content with those blessed experiences God had already given my soul (O! don't get me wrong! I thank and bless Him for all He has given me, all He is to me!) –– however at that point, and since that time, my heart has been crying out to possess all the land God has ordained to give me – for there is land that still remains! How can there not be? Our God and the inheritance He has given to His children is infinite! Now, don't misunderstand me – I realize that there is unholy discontentment, but to pant and thirst and long for the courts of the Lord, that He might be the one thing we seek, to long for the deep things of God to be imparted to our souls –– all of that can only be described as a holy discontentment (keeping in mind that God is sovereign, and He alone chooses how, when, and where to pour out His grace upon us).

There was a footnote on page 12 of the book; it was an excerpt from an essay Hewiston had written, "Imagination," which included these words:

Why is man endowed with imagination––why made susceptible of poetic rapture?––That he may discover God in all things––God's image in his own soul––God's image in the hosts of heaven––God's image in the creations of earth––God's greatness in all that is great––God's loveliness in all that is lovely––God's glory in all that is glorious...

I'm pretty sure it was at that point, as I was reading that last phrase: "God's glory in all that is glorious," that I recalled Moses prayer to God in Exodus 33 (where Moses asked God to show him His glory), and so I looked up the passage, which I'd read countless times before, had studied in BSF at least a couple times, plus I'd also read Lloyd-Jones' sermons on it (and had listened to some of those as well) –– but that night those words in Exodus 33 came alive to me in a way they hadn't before, particularly verse 13:

Now therefore I pray if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight, and consider that this nation is your people.

I found this mind-boggling and exhilarating... Here is Moses, who has already found grace in the eyes of God. But Moses is not content with that. He's found grace, but there he is asking to find grace! There's that holy discontentment! He's going back to God and importunately pleading: "I want to know You! I want to receive more grace from You!" And then, if you keep reading the passage, God grants Moses his request, but even at that point, Moses doesn't stop, he pleads with God to show him His glory! I can't explain it you, but the Rock just split open for me at that moment. Now the perplexing thing to me, as I said above, is that I'd heard these things all over the place in Lloyd-Jones teachings for a couple years prior to that time, but all of a sudden my heart and my eyes were opened, and now they were made to be real possibilities for ME – much like Paul had been praying for the Ephesians in chapter 1. I found myself embracing those possibilities and promises with all my might. The Spirit blows how, when, and where He wills! O! Rejoice with trembling before this sovereign, good, and gracious God of glory! And then examine the content of the prayers you are regularly praying. How do they compare to Moses' prayer here? How do they compare to Paul's prayers in Ephesians 1 and 3?

"You have taught me ... and to this day I declare your wondrous works."

Psalm 71
14 But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.

17 O God, You have taught me from my youth;
And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come.

Like the Psalmist here, God has taught me, though not from my youth, so now I feel I'm making up for lost time. And I don't certainly know all, far from it, but I am pressing on to know Him and to take hold of that for which He has taken hold of me. And, all glory to God, I am learning to know Him, love Him, and praise Him yet more and more! I am older, though still not really grayheaded (though a few hairs of gray are appearing). My purpose in writing all this to you, and my purpose in much of my writing here, is to tell of God's righteousness and salvation, to declare God's strength and power, that is, to remind you that there are streams of Living Water abundantly available to all the saints. To declare to you that in Christ there is an infinite spring of life (not a limited well) – but all too often we fail to ask, seek, and knock for these things because we don't even understand they are available to us. I see far too many of you hewing and drinking of broken cisterns and strange waters. I am writing to urge you to pray for a holy discontentment such as Moses had and to seek to know and to experience the great and glorious possibilities of the Christian life.

And, dare I say it, and I don't mean to sound unthankful at all, and I don't want to be misunderstood here –– but so often we settle for first grace, and we don't press in and onward and upward to ask for more! Jesus Christ gave Himself in our place, and through His body and blood He has made a way for all believers to begin to experience infinite grace, glory, love, light, life, comfort, and joy –– but what are we doing about it? My brothers and sisters, there IS spiritual land to be possessed! Are you being negligent like the Israelites? No wonder so many of you are weary, fainting, and languishing. We can't expect to run the race set before us apart from God's supplies. Can you really expect to flourish in times of famine, to be sustained in the Valley of Baca (the thirsty or weeping valley), to persevere with joy, or to bubble up with living water to a thirsty world if you aren't drinking of Christ and if you aren't seeking to drink deeper and deeper of Him?

Caleb's example to this 54-year old:  Don't stop satisfied!

One of the greatest dangers of the Christian life is for us to stop short of possessing and enjoying all of the spiritual inheritance God has for us. I have a close spiritual friend and one of the exhortations that we constantly bring to one another is this:  "Let us not STOP SATISFIED!" Why do we do that? Because we know that each of us, no matter who we are, no matter our previous experiences, is in grave danger of stopping satisfied. I'm turning 54 years old today, and I love the account of Caleb I've cited below, the man who at 85 years of age is still pressing in and onward and upward for more of Christ. Why? He kept remembering the promises of God and he continued to embrace them –– for a full forty-five years!

Joshua 14:6 Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him: “You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. 8 Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. 9 So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ 10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. 11 As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. 12 Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.”

13 And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. 14 Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. 15 And the name of Hebron formerly was Kirjath Arba (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim).

However long I live in this earthly tent, I am praying for God's grace to continue to abound to me so I might be pressing on in the same way Caleb did! O! God! Let me not stop satisfied! Give me this mountain!

What kind of life are we really living if we stop satisfied? Having received a sight of God's glory, are we not given freedom by the Holy Spirit to go from glory to glory? Having received grace, ought we not to be pleading for more grace? Like Joshua, I am old, and advanced in years compared with many of you, but I am praying God will grant me grace to possess all the land He has yet for me! The thought thrills me, for I am increasingly convinced that, as the Scripture tells us:

... the path of the just is like the shining sun,
That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
(Proverbs 4:17)

As I said, that was only a summary, but I hope it gives you a better idea as to why I'm blogging as I am, and it may also help you make more sense of my repeated exhortations to you that in addition to the Scripture, you should read good Christian books, as well as listen to and/or read good sermons.

My deepest desire and prayer is that along with me, you would not stop satisfied, but that God would grant you an enlarged and enhanced understanding of the inheritance He has for you, and along with that, an ever-increasing hunger and thirst to know Him. And I'll tell you this, as God does this for you, He will give you a desire to use it to His glory, for He always blesses us to bless others. As we freely receive, we are called to freely give. (That's a whole other huge topic, which I'm not going to begin to tackle here...)

"... not only a possibility for all Christians, it is the duty of all Christians ... The question we must face therefore is..."

To close, I'd like to share with you the first portion of Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon on Ephesians 3:16.

'That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.'

Ephesians 3:16

The Apostle now tells us that he is praying that the inner man may be strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit. I must emphasize that this prayer is offered for those who are already Christians. He is praying for the people whom he has been describing in the first and second chapters, where he said some very remarkable things about them, such as, 'In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession'. Not only so! The Apostle has already offered a great prayer for them in Chapter 1, namely, 'that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him'. But still he is not satisfied. He goes on praying for them, and he lets them know that although he is in prison and far away from them, he is bowing his knees, he is praying in the presence of God, he is looking into God's face on their behalf, and he is praying that in the inner man they may be strengthened with might by the Spirit of God.

I emphasize the fact that he offers this prayer on behalf of Christians because the experience of forgiveness and of salvation is merely the beginning of the Christian life. It is only the first step, an indication of entry into the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately there are many Christians who stop at that point; they are concerned only about their personal security and safety; their sole concern is to belong to the Kingdom of God. They are anxious to know that their sins are forgiven, that they will not go to hell, that they have a prospect of going to heaven. But the moment they have had this initial experience they seem to rest upon it. They never grow, and you cannot detect any difference in them if you see them fifty years later. They are still where they were. They think they have everything, and there is no indication whatsoever of any development.

Now that is very far removed indeed from what we find here about the Christians. There are great and glorious possibilities for Christians. One of them is 'that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith' and that they may come to know something about God's love in its 'breadth and length and depth and height'; indeed that they 'might be filled with all the fulness of God'. These words indicate something of what is possible for the Christian; and we must underline the face that it is possible for all Christians. The Apostle is not writing a circular letter to apostles, he is not concerned here only with some very exceptional persons; he is writing to the ordinary church members of the Church of Ephesus. We do not know their names, we know nothing about them; they are people whom we describe (if there is such a thing) as ordinary Christians. Yet Paul is praying for them, and he prays that they may experience all these blessings, leading to the almost incredible climax, 'that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God'.

This is not only a possibility for all Christians, it is the duty of all Christians to be in this position. The great Charles Haddon Spurgeon, dealing with this matter, once said, 'There is a point in grace as much above the ordinary Christian as the ordinary Christian is above the worldling'. In other words, there is a stage in the Christian life, in the development of the Christian, 'which is as much above the ordinary Christian as the ordinary Christian is above the worldling'. That states the matter in a very striking and strong manner, but it is right and true. We all know the difference in level between the non-Christian and the Christian. The Christian is on a higher level, a higher plane than the non-Christian. But Spurgeon reminds us that there are higher reaches in the Christian life which are as much above this ordinary Christian level as the Christian is above the non-Christian. We must accept that, if we really believe that Christ can dwell in our hearts, that we can know this love of God and of Christ in all its dimensions, that we may be filed with all the fulness of God. Clearly, that is as much above the ordinary Christian level as that level is above the non-Christian.

The question we must face therefore is: Have we reached this level to which Spurgeon refers? Do we conform to the description which the Apostle gives here of what is possible to the Christian? Is Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith? Have we looked into this great 'cube' of God's eternal love? Have we been staggered as we have looked at its dimensions? Do we know what is meant be being 'filled with all the fulness of God'? Do we know the God who is able to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we either ask or think? Have we reached that level, that height? Are we dwelling there? Or are we still down on the ordinary Christian level? There is always the danger of imagining that because we have been converted we can rest upon our oars, or simply become active, busy workers always rushing into activities.

Having dealt with this matter we must obviously go on to the next question. If we feel that we are still on this ordinary level, how can we reach the higher level? There is but one answer to that question, it is the answer given by the Apostle's prayer. We must be 'strengthened with might by (God's) Spirit in the inner man'...

Like the apostle Paul, I am praying for you, and by God's grace, I will continue to exhort you to ask, seek, and knock that you might not stop satisfied, that you might not neglect going in and possessing your full inheritance in Christ, but that you would begin to understand and experience the "great and glorious possibilities" of the Christian life!

For your joy and for Christ's glory (Isaiah 61:1-3),
Karen

Information about ML-J's sermon ~ This sermon was preached in 1956 during Lloyd-Jones' Ephesians series, which he began in 1954. The text was taken from "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ:  An Exposition of Ephesians 3:1-21" by D.M. Lloyd-Jones (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980), chapter 10 "Strengthened with Might," 130-132, emphasis mine.

Updated 2/12/2013:  Thanks to the MLJ Trust (http://www.mljtrust.org/), you can access for free this sermon, as well as over 1600 sermons of the late Dr. Lloyd-Jones from the Martyn Lloyd-Jones Audio Library here: http://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/.The sermon title is "The Importance of Spiritual Growth," sermon 10 of ML-J's sermons on Ephesians 3, and can be downloaded here:  http://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/the-importance-of-spiritual-growth/.

A weekly broadcast/podcast of ML-J's sermons is available at http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/living-grace/listen/ At the beginning of 2012, they began posting sermons from the Ephesians series.

Related:

Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
Herein is love ... Vast as the ocean ~ And let him that is athirst come!
Two Fountains ~ Where are you drinking? What is flowing? Don't waste your drinking!
God works through bad economies for good: A retrospective (my testimony)

my posts on Christian hedonism, including:

Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor
Advent # 7 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might be satisfied with Him
Finding pleasure in Him
Moderation in pursuing God? An answer from Jonathan Edwards
Moderation in pursuing God? An answer from George Whitefield
How's your spiritual appetite? (Jonathan Edwards)
Second Sunday after Christmas: Is your religion true religion? (Henry Scougal)
this earthly manna ~ the Christian hedonist's plea
Happy Birthday, John Piper ~ reflections on year-ends, aging, fruit bearing & Christian hedonism
The Father's Inheritance (Eleven days' journey ~ A lamentation & an exhortation)
"The honeycomb I lift!" ~ Will you join me? I Samuel 14:24-30

more from Lloyd-Jones:

postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck? (considering the glorious possibilities)
The Christian should not just believe the truth, and know it..." | the Father's assurance
update w/ excerpt: Lloyd-Jones' sermons on the role of experience in Christianity (includes an excerpt from Hewitson)

more from Hewitson:

In which circle do you take your stand? ~ Hewitson's holy ambition ~ Are you a true disciple?

my posts on assurance & fighting for joy, including:

Letter 10 on assurance and fighting for joy (joy is for ALL!)
Letter 18 on assurance and fighting for joy (my testimony of joy)
Keep me away from the paths of the destroyer that I might behold Your face. (Psalm 17) - letter 67
Remembering the pit & bog so I might rejoice in Him & you might also! (Psalm 40:1-3) | letter 74
asking a hard thing (letter 84 on assurance & fighting for joy)
five years ago ~ for your joy (AND an inheritance | Richard Sibbes & the Sealing of the Spirit) ~ Letter 136
Canaan's Cluster, Eschol's Vine | Letter 138 on assurance & joy

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dore_Return_of_the_Spies_From_the_Land_of_Promise.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {PD-Art|PD-old-100}

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jonathan_Edwards.jpg - Public Domain / {PD-Art|PD-old-100}

I Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (KJV)


From Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on I Corinthians:

     III. The apostle presses this advice on the Corinthians by proper arguments drawn from the same contenders.

1. They take pains, and undergo all those hardships, to obtain a corruptible crown (25), but we an incorruptible. Those who conquered in these games were crowned only with the withering leaves or boughs of trees, of olive, bays, or laurel. But Christians have an incorruptible crown in view, a crown of glory that never fadeth away, an inheritance incorruptible, reserved in heaven for them. And would they yet suffer themselves to be outdone by these racers or wrestlers? Can they use abstinence in diet, exert themselves in racing, expose their bodies to so much hardship in a combat, who have no more in view than the trifling huzzas of a giddy multitude, or a crown of leaves? And shall not Christians, who hope for the approbation of the sovereign Judge, and a crown of glory from his hands, stretch forward in the heavenly race, and exert themselves in beating down their fleshly inclinations, and the strong-holds of sin?

2. The racers in these games run at uncertainty. All run, but one receives the prize, 24. Every racer, therefore, is at a great uncertainty whether he shall win it or no. But the Christian racer is at no such uncertainty. Every one may run here so as to obtain; but then he must run within the lines, he must keep to the path of duty prescribed, which, some think, is the meaning of running not as uncertainly, 26. He who keeps within the limits prescribed, and keeps on in his race, will never miss his crown, though others may get theirs before him. And would the Grecian racers keep within their bounds, and exerting themselves to the very last, when one only could win, and all must be uncertain which that one would be? And shall not Christians be much more exact and vigorous when all are sure of a crown when they come to the end of their race?

3. He sets before himself and them the danger of yielding to fleshly inclinations, and pampering the body and its lusts and appetites: I keep my body under, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away (27), rejected, disapproved, adokimos, one to whom the brabeutes--the judge or umpire of the race, will not decree the crown. The allusion to the games runs through the whole sentence. Note, A preacher of salvation may yet miss it. He may show others the way to heaven, and never get thither himself. To prevent this, Paul took so much pains in subduing and keeping under bodily inclinations, lest by any means he himself, who had preached to others, should yet miss the crown, be disapproved and rejected by his sovereign Judge. A holy fear of himself was necessary to preserve the fidelity of an apostle; and how much more necessary is it to our preservation? Note, Holy fear of ourselves, and not presumptuous confidence, is the best security against apostasy from God, and final rejection by him.

Hebrews 6:11-12

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:  That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (KJV)

Each of you. Every one of you. Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the author knew the heart of man and how each one of us would be tempted to sluggishness and slothfulness in the Christian race. These words are included in the Bible as a warning and encouragement to us today, for it's far too easy for each and every one of us to become sluggish and slothful in running the race set before us. We see that happening time and again with God's people, both throughout the Bible and all throughout Church history.

It's far too easy for any one of us to start the race well, but then along the way we can become distracted by, enamored by, entangled with, and weighed down by earthly concerns, earthly glory, earthly crowns, and earthly wreaths. What tonic exists to awaken us and to shake us out of such treacherous slumber? The hymn writer Helen H. Lemmel reminds us that as we ...

Like Moses, in order to endure, we need to keep looking to the God who is invisible! (See Hebrews 11:24-27; that last portion of v. 27 has been one of the most soul-fortifying passages for me in all of Scripture). Ah! To truly LOOK to and to CONSIDER Jesus, the glorious prize – lest we grow weary or fainthearted!

In verse 2, the Greek word for "looking" is aphorao, and it means "to consider attentively," from the Greek words apo and horao. From Strong's Concordance horao means:

And the word for "consider" in verse 3 is to analogizomai, meaning "estimate, i.e. (figuratively) contemplate:--consider."

In other words, this looking to Jesus and this considering Jesus goes far, far beyond a once-in-a-while glance; far, far beyond breezing through a 5-minute devotional while your eyes are on the clock, anticipating checking your facebook; far, far beyond having a daily quiet time so as to check off an item on your "to-do list"; and far, far beyond intellectual scholarship without the Spirit's breath.

Have you really considered why Jesus came?

This is one of the most glorious verses of Scripture, and I regret to say that I missed it... for years! Consider it! The spotless Lamb of God gave His precious blood, so we might be brought to God! So often Christianity is made out for a way to get to heaven, and yes, it is that, but, my friends, heaven begins in the here and now, as the veil has been torn, and a new and living way has been made for all of us who believe – straight into the Holy of Holies, through the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! Yes, it will be unceasing glory one Day, but even in this fallen world, we get foretastes of glory divine and joy unspeakable!

Earlier this year, I heard one of the most blessed statements. It was made by one of our Sunday School teachers regarding the result of our reconciliation in Christ: "We get God!" Amen to that. I was thrilled! After all the classes I've sat in for years, that is one of the few statements which has been etched deeply on my soul. Afterwards, I shared that experience with a friend, who agreed with me, and added, "And God gets us!" What a thought! That God loved us while we were yet sinners, and Christ humbled Himself, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but took on the form of a man, and became a servant, obedient unto death, even death on the cross in our place –– and who are we? Worms... dust and ashes! And yet, because of His great love for us, Christ became sin for us so we might become the righteousness of God in Him! Our God came to ransom and redeem His elect, so our joy might be full and God's glory might be displayed and exalted and exulted in, as we fellowship with our God, together with all the saints! Consider it! Vile, wretched sinners now justified in the eyes of God. Because we are credited with Christ's righteousness by grace through faith in His atoning sacrifice, and because Christ appeased the wrath of God, we are now free to draw near to God! Once far away, we have been brought near! Once not a people, now a people! Once not having been shown mercy, now shown mercy! As children of God, we are now privileged to look unto Jesus and to consider Jesus in a way that the world cannot do!

Therefore, if we as Christians aren't beginning to plumb the depths of what it really means that we have been brought to God, then we're really in a miserably poor position as far as understanding the privileges and blessings we have as children of God! That's the state that the church of Laodicea was in: Jesus was reproving them as He stood at the door of the church and knocked. He was calling to all who would hear to open to Him, so they might sup with Him and He with them, to enjoy the fellowship that He suffered and died to bequeath to her! Let us not neglect or make light of the blessed and glorious privilege we have been granted to look unto Jesus and to consider Jesus!

• Our time with Jesus in the Word of God is not merely something on our "to do" list, but it is something we ought to REJOICE WITH TREMBLING over! It's true that we no longer come to Mt. Sinai, but Mt. Zion, yet our God is a consuming fire! Psalm 130:3  If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4  But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. Let us always approach the throne of grace with reverence, awe, and a holy boldness. (See the last portion of Hebrews 12.)

• Our time with Jesus in the Word of God is not merely something on our "to do" list, but it is something we ought to HUNGER and THIRST for – because Jesus Christ is the True Bread sent from heaven and the Living Water which is provided to us to specially sustain and satisfy us, unlike and surpassing any and all earthly food or drink! Christ is our life! All our springs are in Him! John 6:35  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst..."

• Our time with Jesus in the Word of God is not merely something on our "to do" list, but it is something we ought to SAVOR and ENJOY! Our Bridegroom died for us so we might be His bride, so we might enter into life and life abundantly! We get to sup with God! We can draw near to our exceeding Joy, our all-satisfying Portion, and our great Reward! Even as we walk in this fallen world, we can expect to receive grace upon grace from His treasure store, so we might make the Valley of Baca (weeping, thirsty valley) a place of springs, and go from strength to strength. (See Psalm 84.) Proverbs 4:17 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

This looking to Jesus and considering Jesus moves us to an intentional and suspended supernatural gazing and contemplation. And no! I'm NOT talking about unhealthy mysticism, but healthy mysticism (see here for more on this): i.e. - always centered on the Bible, always flowing from the Bible, always checked by the Bible. And, it is not something we can work up, but the sovereign Spirit brings it down to us, at those times when we are graced to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the written Word of God, through the operation of the Holy Spirit...

You can read and study the Scriptures all day long, all your life long, you may have been raised from birth attending church, you may have attended seminary, you may even have many degrees, and be serving in a ministry position, but it is quite possible you may have never truly looked unto or considered the Lord Jesus Christ in this sense. You may know of Him, but have you ever known Him in this direct sense through the operation of the Holy Spirit? That type of looking and considering is what fuels us to keep running the race so we might obtain the glorious prize! Have you ever supped with Christ? Has the Holy Spirit brought His truth to bear in your heart? Has He ever given you a glimpse into the deep things of God? Can you say with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength that Jesus Christ is altogether lovely and the fairest of 10,000? Have you been in the position of the Shulamite woman where you have sought a glimpse of Christ, and you have been lovesick for Him? Can you honestly confess that Jesus Christ is The Beloved above and beyond all other lovers? Have you been brought under His apple tree, where you have tasted and seen He is infinitely holy, and good, and precious? With the apostle Paul, have you come to spiritually see the all-surpassing worth of knowing Christ that you consider all else as rubbish? Having seen the glory of God, does your sin increasingly grieve you and do you despise yourself? Have you come to know God as your portion and great reward? Has God's Holy Spirit written Christ's beauty and glory and sweetness upon your soul, so that you cry out with David...

Regrettably, we often exhibit such great resolution and determination in regard to worldly matters, but pay little attention to our souls' welfare. We find ourselves almost effortlessly and thoughtlessly feeding the lusts of our flesh. In marked contrast, it is pathetic to see how very little time and attention we pay to the feeding and sustaining our souls with the Bread of Heaven and the Living Water so we might show the same earnestness and the same diligence until the end. May God be pleased to draw us to Himself, to increase our dissatisfaction with earthly fare, and to increase our hunger and thirst for Christ alone, and may He grant us such soul-refreshing and soul-satisfying views of the Lord Jesus Christ, so we might strengthened to run to obtain!

May God also grant us that holy fear of ourselves of which Matthew Henry wrote, and may God guard us so we do not fall into sinful and deadly presumption. I Corinthians 10:12  Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (Please read the whole chapter of I Cor. 10, as well as Hebrews 3 & 4, which point us to the example of the Israelites whose corpses fell in the wilderness! ~ And then go and read the account in the Old Testament. These things are written to us as an example! ALL Scripture is God-breathed and is for our profit, each and every word has been given to us by God so we might persevere in the race marked out for us! That's why it's so important for us to read the whole Bible (not just to pick and choose), as well as to read Church history!)

II TImothy 2:1  You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2  and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3  Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4  No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5  An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6  It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7  Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Philippians 2:12  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13  for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Emphasis mine.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Emphasis mine.

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