What Did Jesus Do?
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3.5-6
My friend Philip preached about thanksgiving last Sunday, a timely message certainly. But Phil's focus was not so much on thanksgiving, but rather on what gets in the way of our being thankful, not just on the fourth Thursday of November, but every day. Philip rightly made the point that people who are not content find it hard to be truly faithful.
When we're not content our hearts are always troubled by wanting. Perhaps we feel life has served us too small a portion of success, or wealth, or prestige. Or, conversely, we may be convinced that life has unfairly dealt us far more than our share of troubles, suffering, and sorrows. It might just be that we want, not so much more or less of something, we just want something different. We've got a beautiful spacious home, but for some reason we just have to get an addition built. Or we tool around in a fine set of late model wheels, but can't get a decent night's rest until we get the newer, more powerful ride parked in our garage. All this manner of all but endless and insatiable wanting sooner or later makes us anxious (As in the aforementioned sleepless nights pining over a new car.). The effect of anxiety is to wear down and worry the heart (See Proverbs 12.25), making thanksgiving all but impossible.
Contentment is simply essential to thanksgiving. Discontent, on the other hand, is the chief ingredient in disaster. As Paul advised his protege Timothy, “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment...But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” (1Timothy 6.6,9) Now, I believe that perhaps the biggest reason we all suffer from discontent at some time or another, and why some of us are plagued to death by discontent, is a matter of trust, or more accurately, a pernicious distrust of God.
You see, if we are always second guessing God, are always convinced that we know better than the Father, that lack of trust will inevitably cause us to grow anxious. We will either become impatient with what we convince ourselves is God's slowness, or fretful that he either doesn't know all the facts or, worse, that somehow he doesn't really care about us. I think you can see how this kind of distrustful attitude towards the Father can lead to our becoming less than thankful children.
What is the real cause of thanklessness? Our faith. What do we really believe about God? That his steadfast love never ceases? That his mercies never come to an end, and that he offers them to us fresh and new each morning? That his faithfulness is great (As in unending!)? When the Lord is our portion it is he, and he alone whom we hope in. (See Lamentations 3.22-24) If this isn't what we believe about him, our beliefs are faulty. And faulty beliefs will mess us up sooner or later.
Whether we have a job, or are unemployed; whether we live in a mansion, or a homeless shelter; whether we have a million in the bank, or our account balance is zero; whether we are as healthy as or horse, or the “ol' gray mare” is broken down by illness and infirmity, is, ultimately, immaterial to our thankfulness. The Father looks after us 24/7, and has through the Son made us eternally secure. Surely this is reason enough for us to be eternally grateful.
All that the Son did, he did with complete faith in the Father. You don't think Jesus went to the cross wondering what was going to happen to him, did you? No, he trusted the Father with his life, and with his death.
I am not saying it is always easy to be thankful, or that the way of faith is an easy or always pleasant path to tread. Jesus asked the Father in the garden of Gesthemane if there might be another way. And, yes, even the Lord cried out in anguish and despair from the cross. Yet it was into the Father's hands he committed his spirit because Jesus trusted the Father.
While I certainly hope you have a comfortable home, a healthy family, a secure job, and financial resources to give thanks for this year, I pray even more that you have trust in the Father so that you will give him thanks. That's what Jesus did.
Have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Jesus Changed Landscapes
What Did Jesus Do?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
2Corinthians 5.17
I think the folks who produce television shows, especially so-called “reality” shows, are far too impressed with themselves. They build someone a new house and call it an “extreme makeover.” Please, moving into new digs doesn't mean much more in the long run than winning the lottery; and there are many tales of woe associated with lottery winners whose lives are no better, and oftentimes worse, after their windfall. I guess there is nothing wrong with new clothes, new hairdo, new car, new home: it keeps tailors and barbers and car makers and carpenters in business. But none of these things really changes a person, does it? If we want to talk about extreme makeovers we need to accept that the work must progress from the inside out. Literally, it means being made into a new creation. And, ahhh, you guessed it, that's what Jesus did.
While John the Baptist proclaimed a coming transformation of the exterior landscapes of the world, with valleys being filled and mountains and hills being made low, with crooked paths being straightened and rough places being smoothed over (See Luke 3.4-6), John's cousin dealt with a very different and more stubborn landscape: the hearts and minds of men and women. You see, Jesus' specialty was the re-creation of interior landscapes. There was divine genius in this. Change the person from the inside out, and the exterior landscapes of their life, their direction, their relationships, and their worldview will be transformed.
The fallen world, corrupt and passing away, truly needed an “extreme makeover,” otherwise the whole mess was going straight to he _ _ ! But, while creation wasn't responsible, the guilt, if you will, lay with man, for it was man who first sinned. It didn't matter how many valleys were filled, how many mountains brought low, how many rough places smoothed, if the heart of men and women were unchanged the entire world would remain under the curse. The Father was not about to let this happen, so he sent the Son to go to work on our hearts. Give people a new heart, change their interior landscape, and the whole world could be saved. For Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3.17).
Most fundamentally, with their hearts changed, women and men would be reoriented 180 degrees. No longer would they be turned from God, but longingly, lovingly be directed towards God. With a new heart people would no longer have any reason to run and hide from God (See Genesis 3.8), but those who had had no relationship with God, who had never known him, would come to desire nothing more than to run towards him (See Isaiah 55.5). And, with a wholly new relationship with God, people would relate to their neighbors in a totally new way as well. Barriers and distinctions of gender, ethnicity, and social class would disappear (See Galatians 3.28; Colossians 3.11). Our worldview, how we perceive and understand everything, would also be transformed. Truth would banish the lies and illusions that for so long impaired our vision. Strongholds would be torn down, and remarkable new landscapes would be revealed and realized.
But the extreme makeover of humanity also required that men and women should die; actually, what was required was that people should be put to death for their sins. And here is where the Son did his best work. What good a new heart for men and women if all must die for their sins? And so the Son willingly offered his life for ours. Christ died and rose again so that we might both receive a new heart and the promise of new and eternal life.
The landscapes of this world change when people change. And the change is not a matter of new clothes or new car or new home, but a new heart which makes totally new creatures of us. Change even one heart, and you begin to change a family, a classroom, an office, even a congregation! Change a family, a classroom, an office, a congregation, and you begin to change a neighborhood, a school, a company, even the Church! Change these, and the landscapes of the world will begin to change. That's what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
2Corinthians 5.17
I think the folks who produce television shows, especially so-called “reality” shows, are far too impressed with themselves. They build someone a new house and call it an “extreme makeover.” Please, moving into new digs doesn't mean much more in the long run than winning the lottery; and there are many tales of woe associated with lottery winners whose lives are no better, and oftentimes worse, after their windfall. I guess there is nothing wrong with new clothes, new hairdo, new car, new home: it keeps tailors and barbers and car makers and carpenters in business. But none of these things really changes a person, does it? If we want to talk about extreme makeovers we need to accept that the work must progress from the inside out. Literally, it means being made into a new creation. And, ahhh, you guessed it, that's what Jesus did.
While John the Baptist proclaimed a coming transformation of the exterior landscapes of the world, with valleys being filled and mountains and hills being made low, with crooked paths being straightened and rough places being smoothed over (See Luke 3.4-6), John's cousin dealt with a very different and more stubborn landscape: the hearts and minds of men and women. You see, Jesus' specialty was the re-creation of interior landscapes. There was divine genius in this. Change the person from the inside out, and the exterior landscapes of their life, their direction, their relationships, and their worldview will be transformed.
The fallen world, corrupt and passing away, truly needed an “extreme makeover,” otherwise the whole mess was going straight to he _ _ ! But, while creation wasn't responsible, the guilt, if you will, lay with man, for it was man who first sinned. It didn't matter how many valleys were filled, how many mountains brought low, how many rough places smoothed, if the heart of men and women were unchanged the entire world would remain under the curse. The Father was not about to let this happen, so he sent the Son to go to work on our hearts. Give people a new heart, change their interior landscape, and the whole world could be saved. For Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3.17).
Most fundamentally, with their hearts changed, women and men would be reoriented 180 degrees. No longer would they be turned from God, but longingly, lovingly be directed towards God. With a new heart people would no longer have any reason to run and hide from God (See Genesis 3.8), but those who had had no relationship with God, who had never known him, would come to desire nothing more than to run towards him (See Isaiah 55.5). And, with a wholly new relationship with God, people would relate to their neighbors in a totally new way as well. Barriers and distinctions of gender, ethnicity, and social class would disappear (See Galatians 3.28; Colossians 3.11). Our worldview, how we perceive and understand everything, would also be transformed. Truth would banish the lies and illusions that for so long impaired our vision. Strongholds would be torn down, and remarkable new landscapes would be revealed and realized.
But the extreme makeover of humanity also required that men and women should die; actually, what was required was that people should be put to death for their sins. And here is where the Son did his best work. What good a new heart for men and women if all must die for their sins? And so the Son willingly offered his life for ours. Christ died and rose again so that we might both receive a new heart and the promise of new and eternal life.
The landscapes of this world change when people change. And the change is not a matter of new clothes or new car or new home, but a new heart which makes totally new creatures of us. Change even one heart, and you begin to change a family, a classroom, an office, even a congregation! Change a family, a classroom, an office, a congregation, and you begin to change a neighborhood, a school, a company, even the Church! Change these, and the landscapes of the world will begin to change. That's what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Jesus Sent Help
What Did Jesus Do?
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,
to be with you forever.”
John 14.16
When I wrote about my personal salvation I described how, for a long time, I had believed the Lord to be far away from me at the Father's right hand, but that when I had my first real conversation with Jesus he explained that he had in fact always been with me (See WDJD for 11/8/10). It occurred to me that some further clarification is appropriate, because someone might think that in saying he had been with me always the Lord could not have been in heaven with the Father.
The fact is, Jesus is present with all believers, even when, like me, they may go for years quite insensitive to his presence. And, at the very same time that he is present with us, the Lord is also attendant upon the right hand of the Father. This is possible because Christ's presence with, actually within, every believer, is through the agency of the “Helper.”
You see, Jesus was painfully aware of the approach of his crucifixion, and anxious that his disciples should not feel abandoned and alone in a world where persecution was certain. They were all going to need help, and the Lord knew just what help to ask for from the Father. The help the Son would request, and the Father would send, was the Holy Spirit. And, by the promise of Jesus himself, we can believe and know that the Spirit is with us forever (John 14.16b).
Now, the Spirit is no free agent, but the real presence of the Father and the Son, from whom he issues. The Son came that we should know the Father, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14.9); and the Father sends the Holy Spirit at the request of the Son so that both Father and Son should abide with believers forever, “...and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14.23). It is only in the Holy Spirit that Father and Son come and make their home with us. To slightly expand John 14.9—Whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father, and anyone who sees Father and Son also sees the Holy Spirit, for God the Three in One is inseparable.
In the Book of Revelation the Apostle John was shown a vision of a new heaven and a new earth which will succeed to the place of the first heaven and first earth, which shall pass away (Revelation 21.1). A voice accompanied John's vision, and declared that, “the dwelling place of God is with man” (Revelation 21.3). Though the vision was of an event which lay in the future, it in fact proclaimed a present spiritual reality for the Church, for believers, which is—God already dwells with the Body of Christ, with every believer in every place and every time, until time itself passes away and eternity future opens up. Thus it is that the Church does not put off the celebration and worship that will be the defining characteristics of the new Jerusalem, but experiences them even now. For, again, it is the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who makes manifest the presence of the Triune God, and who transforms the Church into the new Jerusalem even now.
If we need help today, help is here. If others need help, well, we are here. For, even as the Father sent the Son, and the Father and Son have sent the Spirit, so in the Spirit we must be willing to be sent—to go and be helpers. That's what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,
to be with you forever.”
John 14.16
When I wrote about my personal salvation I described how, for a long time, I had believed the Lord to be far away from me at the Father's right hand, but that when I had my first real conversation with Jesus he explained that he had in fact always been with me (See WDJD for 11/8/10). It occurred to me that some further clarification is appropriate, because someone might think that in saying he had been with me always the Lord could not have been in heaven with the Father.
The fact is, Jesus is present with all believers, even when, like me, they may go for years quite insensitive to his presence. And, at the very same time that he is present with us, the Lord is also attendant upon the right hand of the Father. This is possible because Christ's presence with, actually within, every believer, is through the agency of the “Helper.”
You see, Jesus was painfully aware of the approach of his crucifixion, and anxious that his disciples should not feel abandoned and alone in a world where persecution was certain. They were all going to need help, and the Lord knew just what help to ask for from the Father. The help the Son would request, and the Father would send, was the Holy Spirit. And, by the promise of Jesus himself, we can believe and know that the Spirit is with us forever (John 14.16b).
Now, the Spirit is no free agent, but the real presence of the Father and the Son, from whom he issues. The Son came that we should know the Father, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14.9); and the Father sends the Holy Spirit at the request of the Son so that both Father and Son should abide with believers forever, “...and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14.23). It is only in the Holy Spirit that Father and Son come and make their home with us. To slightly expand John 14.9—Whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father, and anyone who sees Father and Son also sees the Holy Spirit, for God the Three in One is inseparable.
In the Book of Revelation the Apostle John was shown a vision of a new heaven and a new earth which will succeed to the place of the first heaven and first earth, which shall pass away (Revelation 21.1). A voice accompanied John's vision, and declared that, “the dwelling place of God is with man” (Revelation 21.3). Though the vision was of an event which lay in the future, it in fact proclaimed a present spiritual reality for the Church, for believers, which is—God already dwells with the Body of Christ, with every believer in every place and every time, until time itself passes away and eternity future opens up. Thus it is that the Church does not put off the celebration and worship that will be the defining characteristics of the new Jerusalem, but experiences them even now. For, again, it is the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who makes manifest the presence of the Triune God, and who transforms the Church into the new Jerusalem even now.
If we need help today, help is here. If others need help, well, we are here. For, even as the Father sent the Son, and the Father and Son have sent the Spirit, so in the Spirit we must be willing to be sent—to go and be helpers. That's what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Monday, November 8, 2010
Jesus Secured Our Adoption
What Did Jesus Do?
In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1.5
Has anyone ever asked you, “When were you saved?” If we move about in evangelical circles long enough we are sure to be asked that question, and most of us have probably been asked many times about our salvation “experience.” And most of us have probably heard many stories from people eager to tell us about the time they “got saved.” There is no small difference of opinion on the whole matter of salvation. Here, for your consideration, is my understanding of “my” salvation.
In a very real sense I was “saved” the moment in eternity past when the Father chose to include me among the number of those he predestined for adoption through his Son (See the above captioned verse). Once my adoption was settled in the will of God there was nothing that could touch it. Oh, I'm not suggesting that predestination is all there is to salvation, but our eternal security in and through the Son is just that, eternal, from eternity past, through all the temporal ages, to eternity future. Those who have been chosen/elected/predestined in Christ are safe and secure in him by the sovereign authority of the Father's will.
But my salvation, secure in the Father's will, had to be paid for. It is the Father's free gift to the elect, but it came at a very high price. So, in a somewhat different sense, I was “saved” on a day nearly two thousand years ago now, on a hill called Golgotha, which stood just outside the walls of Jerusalem. There, on a cross erected atop that hill, my Savior died for me, paying the penalty for all my sins. The penalty having been paid for sinners, the victory over sin and death was announced three days after the Crucifixion with the words, “He is risen!” And so, for me, and for all who are adopted by the Father through the Son, death holds no terror because we have been promised eternal life. And the proof, the guarantee of that promise, is the Risen Savior. All this pertaining to my salvation is as absolutely true as the very words of Scripture which describe it. But there is more. For there was also a time when all this truth became true to me, and you might say that the occasion of my calling was when I was “saved.”
For me, the calling was not a singular episode that occurred in an instant. When I was fourteen I was baptized in the Reformed Church, and I made a public profession of my faith. While it was a very sincere action on my part, I must confess that I did not actually have a personal relationship with the Lord at that time. There was a lot of knowledge of Jesus in my head, and I believed all that was in my head, though it still needed some sorting out. But, even with a head full of Jesus, if you will, I still lacked something very important. My heart had not really received him. Did this mean I wasn't “saved?” By no means! It did mean, however, that I possessed a far from complete understanding of salvation at that time, and, far worse, I could not really live out the reality of my salvation in any meaningful way. It was as if I had received a gift, but never unwrapped it. The gift was mine, and all its benefits. I simply missed out on the matchless joy of the gift. That remained for another occasion.
The occasion came when I was in a hotel room alone, well not alone, as I discovered, and got on my knees and had my first real conversation with Jesus. Oh, I had prayed many prayers over the years, but they were more like telegrams, sometimes urgent, generally pleading, but certainly not the stuff of an intimate personal relationship. My prayers were up to that point dispatched to, so I thought, a distant Savior and Lord sitting at God the Father's right hand in heaven. But there, in that dark hotel room, I became aware that I was not alone at all, he was there with me! In fact, he made it clear that he had always been with me, patiently attending me in all my willfulness, all my waywardness, all my sinfulness. He had patiently waited for that very moment, when I confessed, from my heart and not my head, my desperate longing and need for him. Jesus had been real to me for a long time, but now that my heart was open and not just my head, he was real and present in a way I had never experienced. That encounter in the hotel room, what some would call my “conversion,” could also be said to be the time I “got saved.”
So, when was I “saved?” You may have your own opinion on the matter of my salvation. All I can tell you is that the Father decided it before even the foundations of the world were established; the Son secured it on the cross nearly two thousand years ago; I acknowledged it when I was baptized and made my first public profession of faith; but its real fruits began to blossom the night Jesus burst my heart open. All of this was Jesus' doing; it was all a matter of his securing my adoption by the Father. That's what Jesus did, for me.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1.5
Has anyone ever asked you, “When were you saved?” If we move about in evangelical circles long enough we are sure to be asked that question, and most of us have probably been asked many times about our salvation “experience.” And most of us have probably heard many stories from people eager to tell us about the time they “got saved.” There is no small difference of opinion on the whole matter of salvation. Here, for your consideration, is my understanding of “my” salvation.
In a very real sense I was “saved” the moment in eternity past when the Father chose to include me among the number of those he predestined for adoption through his Son (See the above captioned verse). Once my adoption was settled in the will of God there was nothing that could touch it. Oh, I'm not suggesting that predestination is all there is to salvation, but our eternal security in and through the Son is just that, eternal, from eternity past, through all the temporal ages, to eternity future. Those who have been chosen/elected/predestined in Christ are safe and secure in him by the sovereign authority of the Father's will.
But my salvation, secure in the Father's will, had to be paid for. It is the Father's free gift to the elect, but it came at a very high price. So, in a somewhat different sense, I was “saved” on a day nearly two thousand years ago now, on a hill called Golgotha, which stood just outside the walls of Jerusalem. There, on a cross erected atop that hill, my Savior died for me, paying the penalty for all my sins. The penalty having been paid for sinners, the victory over sin and death was announced three days after the Crucifixion with the words, “He is risen!” And so, for me, and for all who are adopted by the Father through the Son, death holds no terror because we have been promised eternal life. And the proof, the guarantee of that promise, is the Risen Savior. All this pertaining to my salvation is as absolutely true as the very words of Scripture which describe it. But there is more. For there was also a time when all this truth became true to me, and you might say that the occasion of my calling was when I was “saved.”
For me, the calling was not a singular episode that occurred in an instant. When I was fourteen I was baptized in the Reformed Church, and I made a public profession of my faith. While it was a very sincere action on my part, I must confess that I did not actually have a personal relationship with the Lord at that time. There was a lot of knowledge of Jesus in my head, and I believed all that was in my head, though it still needed some sorting out. But, even with a head full of Jesus, if you will, I still lacked something very important. My heart had not really received him. Did this mean I wasn't “saved?” By no means! It did mean, however, that I possessed a far from complete understanding of salvation at that time, and, far worse, I could not really live out the reality of my salvation in any meaningful way. It was as if I had received a gift, but never unwrapped it. The gift was mine, and all its benefits. I simply missed out on the matchless joy of the gift. That remained for another occasion.
The occasion came when I was in a hotel room alone, well not alone, as I discovered, and got on my knees and had my first real conversation with Jesus. Oh, I had prayed many prayers over the years, but they were more like telegrams, sometimes urgent, generally pleading, but certainly not the stuff of an intimate personal relationship. My prayers were up to that point dispatched to, so I thought, a distant Savior and Lord sitting at God the Father's right hand in heaven. But there, in that dark hotel room, I became aware that I was not alone at all, he was there with me! In fact, he made it clear that he had always been with me, patiently attending me in all my willfulness, all my waywardness, all my sinfulness. He had patiently waited for that very moment, when I confessed, from my heart and not my head, my desperate longing and need for him. Jesus had been real to me for a long time, but now that my heart was open and not just my head, he was real and present in a way I had never experienced. That encounter in the hotel room, what some would call my “conversion,” could also be said to be the time I “got saved.”
So, when was I “saved?” You may have your own opinion on the matter of my salvation. All I can tell you is that the Father decided it before even the foundations of the world were established; the Son secured it on the cross nearly two thousand years ago; I acknowledged it when I was baptized and made my first public profession of faith; but its real fruits began to blossom the night Jesus burst my heart open. All of this was Jesus' doing; it was all a matter of his securing my adoption by the Father. That's what Jesus did, for me.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
God's Motivation or Why Jesus Did What He Did
I was thinking over why he does what he does, you know, what is his motivation. Everyone needs motivation, even God. Why create Creation? Why make a covenant? Why go to all the trouble of redeeming lost sinners? Well, I believe there are two clear and omnipresent motivators for all that God does: 1) His glory, and 2) Our good. It would require God to be untrue to his nature to do anything that did not contribute to his greater glory and our good. And God cannot be untrue to his nature and remain God.
Consider, all that God created (See Genesis Chapter 1), his handiwork proclaims his glory (Psalm19.1). And all this work of God's hands (More accurately, the work of his Word by which he called all things into being), God declared, “Good.” Not just good in his eyes, but good for the sake of what he created. Linus surveyed his pumpkin patch and saw nothing but “sincerity;” God looked over all that he had made and saw nothing but “good.”
Tragically, Satan had to insinuate evil in the midst of all the good God had created, and our ancestors made the awful choice of the “not good” over the “good,” and unleashed all kinds of misery, suffering, and death. Yet God would obtain even greater glory, and we would be the recipients of greater good, through the work of redemption ordained by the Father through the Son,
“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
John 17.1-3
Glory and goodness, it's hard to top motivators like these, so why even try? Rather, we would do well to commit ourselves to follow the Son's example and do everything to the glory of the Father, and for the good of all whom the Father loves in and through the Son. In fact, we should question any other motives we might have. Glory and goodness, that's why Jesus did what he did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Consider, all that God created (See Genesis Chapter 1), his handiwork proclaims his glory (Psalm19.1). And all this work of God's hands (More accurately, the work of his Word by which he called all things into being), God declared, “Good.” Not just good in his eyes, but good for the sake of what he created. Linus surveyed his pumpkin patch and saw nothing but “sincerity;” God looked over all that he had made and saw nothing but “good.”
Tragically, Satan had to insinuate evil in the midst of all the good God had created, and our ancestors made the awful choice of the “not good” over the “good,” and unleashed all kinds of misery, suffering, and death. Yet God would obtain even greater glory, and we would be the recipients of greater good, through the work of redemption ordained by the Father through the Son,
“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
John 17.1-3
Glory and goodness, it's hard to top motivators like these, so why even try? Rather, we would do well to commit ourselves to follow the Son's example and do everything to the glory of the Father, and for the good of all whom the Father loves in and through the Son. In fact, we should question any other motives we might have. Glory and goodness, that's why Jesus did what he did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Jesus Did The Father's Works
What Did Jesus Do?
“...even though you do not believe me, believe the works...”
John 10.38
Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10.17), and so the Word of God must be proclaimed. But many are not willing to give the Word a hearing. So how do we create an audience for the Word? We pray, for the Holy Spirit must open ears, and hearts. And we work, because sometimes what the eyes see can open the ears. Not to gainsay Scripture, but there is some truth to the old adage, “Seeing is believing.”
The Church can open its doors to the public every Sunday, but if the public never sees the Church out and about in the community being the Church, few hearts are likely to be led to enter our sanctuaries, and fewer ears will be open to receive the Words of life. Jesus did not spend the majority of his time in synagogues waiting for the Sabbath to arrive each week. Day by day he was out and about on the paths and road which crisscrossed the land, and he was continually moving through the villages and towns where the people were. True, after a time more and more people began to seek him out, even enduring desolate places without food for a chance to see the Lord and hear his words. But first Jesus knew he had to go into all the towns (Mark 1.38).
Here's the thing for the Church, we have to start where the people are, and the sad truth is, they aren't in the pews. So we have to go out and be the Church where they are. We have to be the salt and the light Jesus charge his disciples to be in the world, not sequestered behind stained glass. We have to go and work at being the Church where people are. In classrooms and in sick rooms. In homeless shelters and in clinics. At executive lunches and at soup kitchens.
While no one is saved by works, the works of the saved can lead others to come to know the Lord. And this need not be accompanied by any fanfare. Light doesn't go around announcing to the darkness that it is about to illuminate things. Salt doesn't proclaim that it is going to counter corruption and work to preserve. Light and salt simply do their jobs, and people recognize and appreciate what the salt and the light accomplish.
Yes, there were many who heard the words of Christ, and who witnessed the works he did, and yet refused to believe. But that did not discourage the Son from doing the works the Father had given to him to accomplish. The Lord persevered in the face of rejection and opposition until all his work was done. Though the Church still encounters rejection and opposition it must persevere in doing the works that incarnate the Gospel in order that the Gospel should have a hearing among the people. Every good work is like a thousand word portrait of the Gospel.
Seeing may not really be believing, but seeing can enable hearing which leads to believing. Good works are to be seen, that people will give glory to the Father (Matthew 5.16). Good works proclaim the Word. That's what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
“...even though you do not believe me, believe the works...”
John 10.38
Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10.17), and so the Word of God must be proclaimed. But many are not willing to give the Word a hearing. So how do we create an audience for the Word? We pray, for the Holy Spirit must open ears, and hearts. And we work, because sometimes what the eyes see can open the ears. Not to gainsay Scripture, but there is some truth to the old adage, “Seeing is believing.”
The Church can open its doors to the public every Sunday, but if the public never sees the Church out and about in the community being the Church, few hearts are likely to be led to enter our sanctuaries, and fewer ears will be open to receive the Words of life. Jesus did not spend the majority of his time in synagogues waiting for the Sabbath to arrive each week. Day by day he was out and about on the paths and road which crisscrossed the land, and he was continually moving through the villages and towns where the people were. True, after a time more and more people began to seek him out, even enduring desolate places without food for a chance to see the Lord and hear his words. But first Jesus knew he had to go into all the towns (Mark 1.38).
Here's the thing for the Church, we have to start where the people are, and the sad truth is, they aren't in the pews. So we have to go out and be the Church where they are. We have to be the salt and the light Jesus charge his disciples to be in the world, not sequestered behind stained glass. We have to go and work at being the Church where people are. In classrooms and in sick rooms. In homeless shelters and in clinics. At executive lunches and at soup kitchens.
While no one is saved by works, the works of the saved can lead others to come to know the Lord. And this need not be accompanied by any fanfare. Light doesn't go around announcing to the darkness that it is about to illuminate things. Salt doesn't proclaim that it is going to counter corruption and work to preserve. Light and salt simply do their jobs, and people recognize and appreciate what the salt and the light accomplish.
Yes, there were many who heard the words of Christ, and who witnessed the works he did, and yet refused to believe. But that did not discourage the Son from doing the works the Father had given to him to accomplish. The Lord persevered in the face of rejection and opposition until all his work was done. Though the Church still encounters rejection and opposition it must persevere in doing the works that incarnate the Gospel in order that the Gospel should have a hearing among the people. Every good work is like a thousand word portrait of the Gospel.
Seeing may not really be believing, but seeing can enable hearing which leads to believing. Good works are to be seen, that people will give glory to the Father (Matthew 5.16). Good works proclaim the Word. That's what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Jesus Freely Gifted
What Did Jesus Do?
For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6.23
I was troubled when, at a worship service for the Lord's Day, I heard someone proclaim that on the Day of Judgment, when we all shall have to give an account, God is going to judge us on 1) whether or not we chose to receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, and 2) whether or not our lives produced fruit for the Kingdom of God. It troubled me enough that I had to ask the speaker if this account was going to be the basis of our salvation, and, if so, if we could lose our salvation. His answer was “Yes.” I was so grateful to God that, at the end of the service, I had the opportunity to pray aloud and thank the Father for the eternal security of our salvation in the Son, established before even the foundations of the earth were set down. I hated to think that someone might have gone home unsure about their salvation. It is Election Day today in the United States, but the issue of our salvation, our election in Jesus Christ the Son, was settled in the Father's heart a long time ago. The salvation equation, if you will, is not Jesus + anything, but Christ alone.
We need to have this matter settled in our heart as well, or we will subject ourselves to all manner of anxious worry, and subject others to no little judgment, in a Pharisaical sort of way, when, in our eyes, they don't measure up. Let me ask you, is salvation obtained, or is it received? Do we quest after our salvation, as Jason sought for the Golden Fleece? If someone has convinced you that salvation is something you can ever attain to by dint of effort, you have been fleeced! Here's another question for you. Is salvation a reward, or is it a free gift? (Hint, if you are unsure, check the verse cited above.). Again, if you have been led, by whatever means, to believe that there is something, anything, which you can do to qualify for salvation, you have been misled.
If the Bible is true, and of course it is, when it says,
None is righteous, no, not one...
All have turned aside...no one does good,
not even one. (Romans 3.10-12; see Psalms 14.1-3; 53.1-3)
then there is absolutely no possibility of any of us contributing anything at all, even a decision, to our salvation. All have sinned, all fall short; our justification is by God's grace alone, a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3.23-24). To suggest that God, having chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, predestining us for adoption as his children, would tear up the “adoption papers” because we sinned, because we didn't “freely choose” Christ, because we did not produce sufficient fruit in our lives to evidence true regeneration, is to say that Christ died for nothing. For, if all these things mattered in the question of our salvation, then Christ's death on the cross is not sufficient in and of itself to deliver us from sin and death.
Should there be even the slightest thing is us that we on our own could count upon for salvation, then there was no need for the Son to die on the cross for us. None of us can claim credit for claiming Jesus as Lord and Savior, for even this most basic and essential confession is beyond us without the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in us (1Corinthians 12.3).
Now, if we believe that our salvation is a matter of our choosing to be saved, we can see how the corollary to this belief would be that we could somehow unmake that choice, and lose, or throw away what we had once obtained. I have heard it argued that Hebrews 6.4-6 supports such a position. The problem with using this text in this manner is that it is in fact misusing it. Hebrews 6 is not discussing regeneration and salvation, but growth and sanctification. The author of Hebrews is exhorting his congregation to keep going and growing in faith. In Hebrews 6.1 we are encouraged to “move on” from the basic and elementary doctrines, which form, as it were, the foundation of our faith, to build up our faith. What is “impossible” in verse 6, is re-regeneration, re-baptism, and re-rebirth. All believers stumble and fall, but this doesn't mean that they must go back and repeat the process of their justification again as if it had never happened.
This passage is also talking about something worse than stumbling and falling, it speaks of a forceful and outright rejection of Christ. Well, such a thing is not actually possible for those who have truly received him. Yes, we can fall away, distance ourselves from the fellowship of other believers, and embrace sin. All this is a manifestation of our persistent human frailty and sin nature, which continually wars with the Holy Spirit within us (Galatians 5.17). To reject Christ would require that the Holy Spirit be evicted from within us, which would be to say that our sin nature is stronger than the Spirit. If this were possible then God's grace, by which we are saved, could no longer be said to be either irresistible or sufficient. And faith built on anything other than the foundation of God's grace is faith built on sand rather than rock, it is counterfeit faith from the beginning, really not faith at all.
Jesus came to give us the free gift of salvation. This is not to deny the terrible cost Christ paid so that we should be forgiven our sins and receive eternal life. If we are going to be Christ's disciples, and participate in the Gospel ministry, let us have none of this business of demanding anything of those who desperately need redemption, but rather offer it freely. That's what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimiwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6.23
I was troubled when, at a worship service for the Lord's Day, I heard someone proclaim that on the Day of Judgment, when we all shall have to give an account, God is going to judge us on 1) whether or not we chose to receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, and 2) whether or not our lives produced fruit for the Kingdom of God. It troubled me enough that I had to ask the speaker if this account was going to be the basis of our salvation, and, if so, if we could lose our salvation. His answer was “Yes.” I was so grateful to God that, at the end of the service, I had the opportunity to pray aloud and thank the Father for the eternal security of our salvation in the Son, established before even the foundations of the earth were set down. I hated to think that someone might have gone home unsure about their salvation. It is Election Day today in the United States, but the issue of our salvation, our election in Jesus Christ the Son, was settled in the Father's heart a long time ago. The salvation equation, if you will, is not Jesus + anything, but Christ alone.
We need to have this matter settled in our heart as well, or we will subject ourselves to all manner of anxious worry, and subject others to no little judgment, in a Pharisaical sort of way, when, in our eyes, they don't measure up. Let me ask you, is salvation obtained, or is it received? Do we quest after our salvation, as Jason sought for the Golden Fleece? If someone has convinced you that salvation is something you can ever attain to by dint of effort, you have been fleeced! Here's another question for you. Is salvation a reward, or is it a free gift? (Hint, if you are unsure, check the verse cited above.). Again, if you have been led, by whatever means, to believe that there is something, anything, which you can do to qualify for salvation, you have been misled.
If the Bible is true, and of course it is, when it says,
None is righteous, no, not one...
All have turned aside...no one does good,
not even one. (Romans 3.10-12; see Psalms 14.1-3; 53.1-3)
then there is absolutely no possibility of any of us contributing anything at all, even a decision, to our salvation. All have sinned, all fall short; our justification is by God's grace alone, a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3.23-24). To suggest that God, having chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, predestining us for adoption as his children, would tear up the “adoption papers” because we sinned, because we didn't “freely choose” Christ, because we did not produce sufficient fruit in our lives to evidence true regeneration, is to say that Christ died for nothing. For, if all these things mattered in the question of our salvation, then Christ's death on the cross is not sufficient in and of itself to deliver us from sin and death.
Should there be even the slightest thing is us that we on our own could count upon for salvation, then there was no need for the Son to die on the cross for us. None of us can claim credit for claiming Jesus as Lord and Savior, for even this most basic and essential confession is beyond us without the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in us (1Corinthians 12.3).
Now, if we believe that our salvation is a matter of our choosing to be saved, we can see how the corollary to this belief would be that we could somehow unmake that choice, and lose, or throw away what we had once obtained. I have heard it argued that Hebrews 6.4-6 supports such a position. The problem with using this text in this manner is that it is in fact misusing it. Hebrews 6 is not discussing regeneration and salvation, but growth and sanctification. The author of Hebrews is exhorting his congregation to keep going and growing in faith. In Hebrews 6.1 we are encouraged to “move on” from the basic and elementary doctrines, which form, as it were, the foundation of our faith, to build up our faith. What is “impossible” in verse 6, is re-regeneration, re-baptism, and re-rebirth. All believers stumble and fall, but this doesn't mean that they must go back and repeat the process of their justification again as if it had never happened.
This passage is also talking about something worse than stumbling and falling, it speaks of a forceful and outright rejection of Christ. Well, such a thing is not actually possible for those who have truly received him. Yes, we can fall away, distance ourselves from the fellowship of other believers, and embrace sin. All this is a manifestation of our persistent human frailty and sin nature, which continually wars with the Holy Spirit within us (Galatians 5.17). To reject Christ would require that the Holy Spirit be evicted from within us, which would be to say that our sin nature is stronger than the Spirit. If this were possible then God's grace, by which we are saved, could no longer be said to be either irresistible or sufficient. And faith built on anything other than the foundation of God's grace is faith built on sand rather than rock, it is counterfeit faith from the beginning, really not faith at all.
Jesus came to give us the free gift of salvation. This is not to deny the terrible cost Christ paid so that we should be forgiven our sins and receive eternal life. If we are going to be Christ's disciples, and participate in the Gospel ministry, let us have none of this business of demanding anything of those who desperately need redemption, but rather offer it freely. That's what Jesus did.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimiwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
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