Happiness In Hostility

Psalm 119:17–24 (NIV),

¹⁷ Be good to your servant while I live, that I may obey your word. ¹⁸ Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. ¹⁹ I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me. ²⁰ My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. ²¹ You rebuke the arrogant, who are accursed, those who stray from your commands. ²² Remove from me their scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes. ²³ Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees. ²⁴ Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.

Father, I can so often think that my obedience is doing You a favor.  What a joke!  Who am I that I should be your benefactor?  I am Your beneficiary.  It is Your goodness to me that enables me to obey Your Word.  It is Your goodness to me that I should even see the beauty and wonder contained within it. If You do not perform this grace in me I am lost.  The world I live in is hostile to me and to anything about doing Your will.  I would rather be a stranger to this world and be Your servant, than be a servant to this world and be a stranger to You.   Your grace to me has inflamed a hunger to know You and obey You.  I feel the opposition of those I live with in this community.  You grant me peace because it is You that will deal with them.  You will rebuke them. You are Jehovah-Nissi.  You are my victory flag. The spirit of the Amalakites still fights against God's people. But You will grant me favor in their sight.  For me I will focus on Your Word and seek with Your help to obey You.  The thrill of my soul does not come from the praise of men and the affirmation of neighbors.  Like cold water on a hot day, Your Word inspires joy in me and inspires direction to me.  I then look to the friendship of Your Word and You take care of the frenzy in the world.  What a great trade off!  What grace!   Who would not love You?  Thank You for being so good.

Here's The Bottom Line.

Galatians 2:21 (NIV)

²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

There is a mode of reasoning whereby we are called to anticipate the end of our thinking.  We are called to carry our conclusions to their logical destination.  Here Paul makes this very clear.  Seeking to become righteous by obedience is tantamount to rejection of Christ.  Why would Christ come in incarnation, live a sinless life, die on Calvary's cross and rise in three days?  Why do that if righteousness could be gained by law-keeping (Or as Catholics believe, by congruence.)?

"The law is good, holy, and profitable, and yet it justifieth not. He then that keepeth the law to be justified thereby, rejecteth grace, denieth Christ, despiseth his sacrifice, and will not be saved by this inestimable price, but will satisfy for his sins through the righteousness of the law, or deserve grace by his own righteousness." [1]

To seek out and embrace any other means of salvation -- any other means, is to reject Christ's grace and render His passion a waste of time. This cannot be right.  "Mine eyes shall behold nothing else but Christ the Son of God. He ought to be such a treasure unto me, that all other things should be but dung in comparison of him. He ought to be such a light unto me, that when I have apprehended him by faith, I should not know whether there be any law, any sin, any righteousness, or any unrighteousness in the world. For what are all things which are in heaven and earth in comparison of the Son of God, Jesus Christ my Lord, who loved me and gave himself for me?" [1]

To reject Christ and embrace law-keeping as a means to be justified invites amplified condemnation: “How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29, NIV)

Father, this drive within us to find satisfaction and acceptance in our own efforts or through reward of our own goodness accents our pride; emphasizes our lack of appreciation for Your Son, Jesus; and reveals what a callous view of sin we hold. Your Son is the inestimable Treasure of all.  Nothing in this life can compare to Christ.  He great love and complete salvation is brought to us through mercy that is incomparable.  What a contempt one must have to reject so wonderful a Savior?  To turn from such grace is suicidal and the most irrational choice of all time.  “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”” (Acts 4:12, NIV). Today we thank You for Jesus, who loved us and gave Himself for us.  There is no other Savior but Him.  O what a Savior!

 

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1. Luther, M. (1997). Commentary on Galatians (Ga 2:21). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Man On A Mission

Psalm 119:9–16 (NIV),

⁹ How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. ¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. ¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. ¹² Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees. ¹³ With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. ¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. ¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. ¹⁶ I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

Father there is an indissoluble link between the pursuit of purity and the delight of duty.  It seems that there is an essential connection to my desire to obey and follow Your commands and a heart that is entirely and completely happy in doing so. Can there be any other true approach to my walk as a Christian?  Do you see me trudging down the path of righteousness, dragging one foot behind the other?  Or do you see me walking with joyful adoration, like a man on a mission?  This man, Father, that pleases You, is a man that is in over his head.  His whole being is committed.  His heart, his mouth, his brain, his emotions, his values, his will -- it's all or nothing.  This man is sold out, burnt out, busting out, all over.  Father, create in me this day a heart that is so passionate for You that people see me as a man on a mission -- wholly and completely obsessed with obedience.  

Is this not why Jesus came?  Is that not why I was plucked from the burning embers of Hell and placed into the hallways of your justifying grace?  Is it not me that You spoke of when You said, "You are not your own, you were bought with a price?"   Calvary set me forever free from the drudgery of purposeless, powerless, half-hearted living.  Calvary killed me.  And now Christ gets to live through me?  No, I'm not dead.  I've never been more alive.  This works because I now can live every micro-second of this infinite journey, by faith in Chirst.  Christ in me now exclaims: "I delight in Your Word."  Hallelujah.

   

Life In The Flesh But Not Of The Flesh

These verses may be some of the most familiar to us in Galatians.  Paul writes, 

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NIV).

"This he addeth, to declare that the law is a devourer of the law. Not only, saith he, I am dead to the law through the law, that I may live to God, but also I am crucified with Christ." [1]

As noted in the previous Blog, there is a law of faith in Christ that supersedes the Law.  "But Christ is Lord over the law, because he is crucified and dead unto the law: therefore am I also lord over the law; for I likewise am crucified and dead unto the law, forasmuch as I am crucified and dead with Christ." [1]  This doctrine is developed fully by the Apostle in Romans 6.  This act of "crucifying" is a incomprehensible work of the Spirit.  "Here Christ doth all himself alone. But I believing in Christ, am by faith crucified also with Christ, so that all these things are crucified and dead also unto me." [1]

This identification with the death of Christ also leads the believer to new life in Christ.  Once "dead" he or she now lives.  But this living is with very clear definition.  "Here he plainly sheweth by what means he liveth; and he teacheth what true Christian righteousness is, namely, that righteousness whereby Christ liveth in us, and not that which is in our person. Therefore when we speak of Christian righteousness, we must utterly reject the person." [1]  The obvious juxtaposition is clear. An individual is placed in one of two dimensions: One, is to live in obedience to the Law; the other is to die and let Christ live through us.

"Now Christ living in me abolisheth the law, condemneth sin and destroyeth death; for it cannot be, but at his presence all these must needs vanish away. For Christ is everlasting peace, consolation, righteousness and life; and to these the terror of the law, heaviness of mind, sin, hell and death, must needs give place. So Christ living and abiding in me, taketh away and swalloweth up all evils which vex and afflict me." [1]

Paul is drawing us away from ourselves; our works; and our merits (which are entirely defective) and leading to Christ, and Christ alone.   But this mounts an obvious objection.  Does this mean we do not live the Christian life?   Are we robots?  Are we inactive?  No!  For Christ to live through us is synonymous with "The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God. "So then I live in the flesh, but not of the flesh or after the flesh, but in the faith of the Son of God." [1]

"... I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NIV).  Here the Apostle drives a deep wedge between meritorious effort and sovereign free grace.  Rather than saying, "I am a child of God because I correctly observed the beauty of Christ and set my love upon Him;" the Apostle reminds us that it is Christ who loves us and gave Himself for us.  If this love had not preceded redemption, there would be no justification.    

Father, we who are the redeemed can say without hesitation, we love because You first loved us. You first loved us before the world was created.  In the eternal counsels of the Godhead, You set Your affection upon Your elect people.  Out of love You predestined us.  Out of love Christ was sent, willingly sent, to be our propitiation.  Out of love you freely offered justifying grace to all who would believe.  Out of love, you gave the gift of faith to those You called out of the world.  Out of love You sent Your Holy Spirit to work in us to will and to do of Your good pleasure.  Out of love we live and move in Christ.  All glory, honor, and praise belongs to You.   

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1. Luther, M. (1997). Commentary on Galatians (Ga 2:20). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.  

Defeating Sin With Sin. Can It Be True?

Galatians 2:19 (NIV),   ¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God."

These words disrupt worlds.  These words turn heads.  These words will stand as the formidable weapon against our enemies.  These words bring comfort and peace to the troubled heart.  These words stand as the key that turns the tightly closed mind of the skeptic.  "These are marvellous words, and unknown kinds of speech, which man’s reason can in no wise understand. And although they be but few, yet are they uttered with great zeal and vehemency of spirit, and as it were in great displeasure." [1]

Paul is talking about two laws (as he did in Romans 7: “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:6, NIV)).  There is a new law the law of the Spirit that trumps the old law.  "He calleth grace itself the law, giving a new name to the effect and working of grace." [1] 

The Law accuses and condemns, but there is another Law that accuses and condemns that Law. How does that work?  Luther explains:

"Therefore when I feel the remorse and sting of conscience for sin, I behold that brazen serpent Christ hanging upon the Cross. There I find another sin against my sin which accuseth and devoureth me. ow, this other sin (namely in the flesh of Christ) which taketh away the sin of the whole world, is almighty, it condemneth and swalloweth up my sin. So my sin, that it should not accuse and condemn me, is condemned by sin, that is, by Christ crucified: “who is made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God through him” (2 Cor. v. 21. In like manner I find death in my flesh, which afflicteth and killeth me: but I have in me a contrary death, which is the death of my death; and this death crucifieth and swalloweth up my death." [1]

Christians who feel condemned by the Law need to look in faith to another Law.  The very sin that brings low is found as we look to Christ.  There that sin is, upon His body on the tree.  That very sin is condemned in Christ.  There is our hope and comfort.  There can be no peace anywhere else.

But there is another profound thought within this pregnant verse.  "Except thou be dead to the law, thou canst not live to God." [1]   You cannot both be alive to God and alive to the Law.  You cannot be justified by the Law and justified by Christ synonymously. There is no mixing and blending Law and Grace.  Both have separate and irreconcilable kingdoms.  We find our hope, our confidence our life in Christ alone or not at all.  Therefore the Reformers were to stress sola -- alone.  Many believe in Christ but not Christ ALONE.  Many believe in grace through faith, but not ALONE.   

Grace cannot entertain Law for it swallows Law, killing it a permanent and conclusive death.

Father, in these somewhat strange and complicated ideas, there is for me a balm in Gilead.  There is healing for the soul and rest from anxiety.  But oh it is a fitful sleep.  It is a battle.  Thus the inspired writer calls us to work hard to enter that rest.  Resting in Christ alone is not stormless.  It is a battle.  Oh how my flesh would love to atone for my own sins.  Oh how my flesh would love to gain even a smidgen of merit.  Oh how I would love to cuddle and coddle this old man.  But I cannot.  I can only look to Jesus the author and finisher of my faith.  I can only look up at the Crucified One and see every broken commandment -- every broken Law -- every missed opportunity -- every intentional, willful act of rebellion.  There it is.  It is on Jesus.  The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.  The Law of Grace wins.  The Law of sin and death dies.  Praise be to God who through Christ Jesus gives us the victory.  Amen.

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1. Luther, M. (1997). Commentary on Galatians (Ga 2:19). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. 

Nothing Short of Perfection

Psalm 119:1–8 (NIV),

¹ Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. ² Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart— ³ they do no wrong but follow his ways. ⁴ You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. ⁵ Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! ⁶ Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands. ⁷ I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. ⁸ I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me.

Eternal Father, my eyes have been opened to the beauty of this psalm -- this psalm that is known for so many things but rarely thought of as a psalm that triggers a prayer-switch in a heart that is breaking and in desperate need of You.  I would love to be that blessed man: blameless, obedient, doing no wrong with a heart that seeks You.  I respond immediately and think, "Who can possibly live up to that standard?"   Of course no one.  So it must be a fiction.  It must be just a hypothetical situation. But no!  You have commanded us to obey your precepts.  This is no joke.  I must obey You.  I must obey You perfectly.  To follow You heart, soul and body would guarantee that I will never be ashamed.  I have no choice.  

But I can't.  

But Father I will seek to learn from You with a heart of thanksgiving.  How is that possible?  How can I do what is impossible?  Your Spirit teaches me I cannot, but there is One that has.  He is Your perfectly obedient Son.  He totally glorified You while on earth.  He did everything You asked Him. He is without blame.  He is perfect.  Today His record of achievement is mine. Today I can obey You with praise because He gave me His righteous record to be my own.  He gave me what I could never, ever earn.  Therefore today I praise You as I seek to learn how to live.  I am resolved to obey You because my record in Christ is clean.  Because I am clean, with Your help I can live in that beauty and wonder.   

Do not utterly forsake me.  I am far from perfect in reality -- in actuality.  So in my failings, my faltering, my forsaking You, please do not forsake me.  I need You today, Lord.   Come Father by Your Spirit and fill this broken, sin-ridden vessel, not because I deserve it, but because Christ came and poured Himself in this sinful world for wicked, unrighteous men like me.  Continue to empty Yourself into me, for the glory of the Savior.  Amen.

O Canada! (Stanza 3)

The second and third stanzas to our National Anthemn are rarely sung.  Here is the third stanza.

Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,

Hold our Dominion in thy loving care;

Help us to find, O God, in thee

A lasting, rich reward,

As waiting for the better Day,

We ever stand on guard for thee.

This is the prayer of all God's people.  Pray for Canada.