Wanna Save Your Marriage?(Part 4) The Husbands Role.

Your back!  That's wonderful!  There are few sweeter joys than a renewed marriage.  Sometimes that happens all at once.  Sometimes, one spouse has to take the lead.  While sometimes the wife must be that spouse that temporarily leads, scripture puts complete responsibility for leadership and shepherding of the family on the husband.

That's right men.  Christ set the example for how we are to love and lead our wives.

Check out Ephesians 5:25-27.  "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

Do Not Abuse Them!

Notice it does not say, be an overbearing brute, commanding obedience, and verbally, if not physically or emotionally abusing her.  

NO!  That man needs a gang of godly men to come over to his house and kick his butt quite frankly.  No really, that kind of man does need to be held accountable via methods of church discipline if he will not receive the wise council of patient and loving, yet firm in the faith, men of God. 

Remember men, if you abuse your wife verbally, physically, or emotionally, especially if she is a believer, you are abusing a member of Christ's church and he will not take kindly to it.  

Harsh Honesty Will Crush Your Wife's Heart!

Colossians 3:19 states, "Husbands love your wives and do not be harsh with them."  Being harsh doesn't happen only in tone.  There are many thoughts that you have which may represent feelings that seem very real.  These should never be shared with your wife.  

If you are not sure of your feelings toward your wife or you are battling with attractions to other women, etc. these are things that should be hashed out with another trusted brother in the Lord through the word of God.  

If your feelings don't mesh with the word of God, then they are likely sinful, to be taken captive and handed to God to be disposed of.  That is true for all of Christian life.  Just because it feels right does not mean it is right.

Man Up!

Gentlemen.  We need to man up!  We need to stop whining and moaning about every little perceived problem we have, that simply must be all our wives fault.  Even if we are only complaining to ourselves.  

As I said in the first post, I am married and I love my wife very much.  She is my best friend however, my marriage is not perfect. 

For a long time my wife and I fought over lots of things.  Some were important.  Some were not.  The problem is that I was allowing myself to become bitter about the the important, topics that really did matter.  I was constantly angry with my wife, sometimes subconsciously, so that it fed the stupid fights, without me realizing it until it was too late.  Worse yet, I gave myself permission to tear her down verbally as if it was my job to change what I did not like.  Meanwhile, completely missing the acts of sin I was committing against her and God by not being loving, patient, kind and most importantly forgiving in the way I handled my issues with her.  

Remember, "love keeps no record of wrong"(1 Corinthians 13).  I was failing miserably at this.  I had placed zero trust for the unity of my wife and I in the sovereign hands of my Savior.  I acted as if I was totally in control.  

Gratefully, God broke me, shined a light on my own heart and showed me where I was wrong.  He taught me to recognize His grace in MY life and to pray for more of His grace in hers.  We need to recognize that the battle is bigger than us or our wives, take authority in Christ, and pray.  We are practically handing our marriages over without a fight because we do not recognize the spiritual battle and we do not know how to use the weapons that have been given to us.

Marriage is Spiritual Warfare!

Prayer is a powerful weapon that we as husbands do not wield enough.  We must realize that we need to be at war with Satan's attacks on our marriage every day. 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 states, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  

This is huge!  If we would simply recognize that many of the ridiculous fights we have with our wives are actually fueled by sin and selfishness, not Christ and righteousness, we would save ourselves and our wives a lot of pain and sorrow.

The Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-18 lists the Armor of God that is made available to us to stand against the devil's schemes. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit.  All of this under-girded by prayer.  So here's the thing about prayer:  

In 1 Peter 7, Peter warns husbands, "Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers."  

How about that?  If you mistreat your wives it will hinder your prayers, which will impact every other weapon available to you.  

Conversely , if you aren't applying the weapons of holy living, studying the word, knowing and sharing the gospel, building up your faith in these and praying, then you will most likely mistreat your wife because you will be focused on you rather than Jesus.

Humble Yourself!

Humility is key to being a successful leader.  Unfortunately, sometimes the last place we strive for humility is in our marriages and with our children.  

As mentioned above, you must remember the gospel.  In order to remain humble, you must remember what you were like before you were born again.  Before God's grace empowered gospel obedience. When you recognize this, it will create a gratitude in your heart for what Christ has done and a compassion for those who have not yet experienced that.  

Christ does not want us to revel in our grace given successes.  He wants us to be continually driven to the cross.  He wants us to see the flaws of others, most especially our wives, as those things in which they need God to help them overcome, just as we need him to continually help us overcome.  

He wants us to serve them by loving them through the challenges and praying compassionately for them to experience victory.  When you are praying continually for people's spiritual success, it is difficult to remain unloving. 

Wash Them

Christ loved the church by giving himself up for her.  He died to himself.  He humbled himself, becoming nothing, that his church would be made clean.  And how is the church made clean?  By the washing of the word.  Not, the force feeding of the word.  

If husbands would strive to spend real time cultivating an appreciation and application of God's word in the home daily rather than considering their duties done on Sunday morning this would fix many problems.  

Value Your Wife

Proverbs 31:10-12 says, "A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies.  Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.  She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life."  

Chapter 31 ends stating in verse 28, "her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her."  

verse 31 says, "Give her the reward she has earned and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."  

Be sure of it gentlemen, Ephesians makes it clear that we as husbands are responsible for seeing to it that our wives are able to become everything that this passage in Proverbs 31:10-31 says she can and should be.  

If we show that we find her valuable and encourage our children to do the same by praising her, blessing her, loving her, praying for her, and washing her with the water of the word, 

SHE WILL BLOSSOM!!  

Lead Lovingly, Gently, Carefully, Patiently, Faithfully and Prayerfully

Finally and repetitiously, die to yourself and live for Jesus.  Lead your family.  Wash your wife and your children with the water of the word.  

Do it lovingly and gently just as Christ has done for you or they will likely not respond positively to you.  

Do it carefully as you are capable of building up their hearts....or breaking them. 

Do it patiently, faithfully, and prayerfully. Remember, only God can change their hearts, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as I pray he has yours.  

You are the shepherd of their hearts and souls.  A good shepherd leads and protects his sheep.  Be diligent in your responsibilities, applying the fruit of the Spirit, and trust Jesus(Galatians 5:22-23).

Jesus, the chief shepherd has taken over 2,000 years to get His church ready and He is not done yet because we are still here.  If he is patiently shepherding us that way, then we must apply that same patience in shepherding our own families.  We will give an account for the way we lead them.  If we do our part and trust God to do His, then by His grace, the account will be a good one.

May it be so in Jesus name,

Amen

Wanna Save Your Marriage(Part 3), What is the Gospel?

I am including a post with this title in this series because I realized that in the last post and in posts to come I am using the word gospel as an adjective quite a bit.  Gospel obedience, gospel witness, etc.  The gospel first and foremost however, is a noun.  An eternal story of redemption for a lost and dying world.

So what does this mean.  I said in the last post, as my assessment of the gospel reflection through marriage in Ephesians Ch. 5 that Christ died for the church, and this is true, but it is incomplete and thus insufficient. Every unbeliever needs a complete picture of the gospel and every believer needs to be able to give a complete description of what the gospel is.  Ask yourself, could you do it?  Is your description of our need and God's solution to that need adequate?  Even if you think you know, I ask you the favor of giving ten minutes or less to read through this and consider how it relates to what you think you know.  You may find that you are fine, you may find that you are not.  Wouldn't you like to be sure?

These days if you ask people what the gospel is, it may come out as God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.  While this is true in a sense, our idea of wonderful and God's idea of wonderful are rarely the same.  More on that at another time.  Let it suffice to say that the "good news" which is what the word "Gospel" means is not that everything will be coming up roses if you follow Jesus.  We live in the world of the "already" and the "not yet".  We will not experience all the benefits of being a child of the King in their fullness until we are living fully in the Kingdom for all eternity where "the King will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."(Revelation 21:4) That is where all the promises come to their complete fruition.

The Gospel in a nutshell.

If we needed a quick summary of the gospel, it might go something like this. While I do not claim this to be a flawless statement by any means I think the gospel can pretty much be succinctly stated in this way, "We are all sinners, who are spiritually dead and damned to hell because of our rejection of God the Father. Because of His great love, He sent His Son to live perfectly and die on the cross, taking all the punishment and guilt for our sin and making his righteousness available to be placed on all who believe as a testimony of what He did.  Victory over sin was then demonstrated when God raised Christ from the dead and He ascended to heaven.  God then, by His grace and through the Holy Spirit, draws men unto himself whom He has already promised as a reward to Christ for His sacrifice. (John 6:37-40, 44, John 17:1-3) He then changes their hearts so that they can have faith to believe, repent from their sins. receive Christ's forgiveness through His shed blood, submit to Christ's Lordship and spread the good news of what Christ did to those whom do not know, here on earth.  This, until the last day, when Christ returns, completes Satan's destruction, and restores the earth to a sinless, perfect state where all who's names are written in the book of life will enjoy a perfect, sinless, happy life with no sorrow or suffering, and glorifying God for all eternity."(Revelation 20:7-15, 21:1-7)  The unbeliever, because of their willful disobedience and rejection of the truth,  will find their place in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death for those whose names were not written in the book of life. (Revelation 21:8) 

Something of this nature could be a really quick, basic rendition of the gospel if you only had a minute or two to explain it.  However, I truly think a more thorough fleshing out of this summary is good for us to think through in our day to day struggles with sin.

What we need to understand, learn to fully appreciate and strive to remember every day is that we cannot get to that glorious day without the gift of God's grace being poured out in our lives.  We need to remember who we were, before Christ, if we are saved; and we need to know who we are, without Christ, if we are not.  Though the same truth of the gospel is explained in many different ways throughout the New Testament, I will stay with the book of Ephesians primarily to flesh this out.

In Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul beautifully lays out our spiritual state before and after Christ, the means by which it came about, and the purpose for it.  I will strive to expose the truths and leave the reading of the entire passage to you.  If you have a bible, I encourage you to look it up.  I will address this, as to believers, as Paul did, but you must understand that, if you are not a follower of Christ, this is true of you RIGHT NOW!

We were dead! (Ephesians 2:1-4)
Paul explains that our transgressions and sins made us spiritually dead  We were servants of Satan.
Romans 5:12 states "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned."  Now, when you are dead, are you capable of anything on your own?  Of course not.  You are a stinking corpse.  There is no life in you. That was our state without Christ.

We were objects of wrath! (Ephesians 2:3)
Everything we did was done from a selfish motivation to satisfy the cravings of our sinful nature.  Because we rejected God, disobeying him  to serve our own purposes we were subject to having God's wrath poured upon us(Romans 1:18-20, 2:5-11).  His holiness, cannot tolerate our sinfulness.

What about all the good I've done?
I want to take a moment to address this question?  Romans 3:9-20 is the answer to that question and to those who might challenge the need to use the law to make people aware of their sin.  Romans 3:9-18 makes it plain that there is nothing good about us in the eyes of God.  There is absolutely nothing that we can do that will gain us favor in the eyes of God. Isaiah 64:6 states that "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags".  These righteous acts are actually self-righteous acts performed out of the motivation of our own feeling of goodness or for our own benefit. There is nothing we can do inherently, of ourselves, to be saved. No matter how many good deeds you have done in this life, without Christ's work on the cross, you will go to hell!  Vs. 20 plainly states that it is through the law that we become conscious of our sinfulness against God.

Good News!
I will start with Romans 3:21-26 which basically says that though we are all guilty of sin and thus fall short of God's glory, through Christ redemptive act we are freely justified by God's grace.  Christ lived the perfect, sinless life, then went to the cross and bore the weight of our sinfulness.  All of the Holy wrath that God has toward sin and sinners was poured out on Jesus so that those who will believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life(John 3:16).  Christ's righteousness, is placed on the believer, not making them sinless, but removing the guilt of their sin forever.  This is the point at which sins are forgiven, through Christ's blood and by God's grace(Ephesians 1:7-8).

But you cant' do it!
Now to return to Ephesians 2:4-9.  In this passage Paul makes it clear that, because of God's love for those whom He chooses to save(Ephesians 1:4-6), HE makes us alive with Christ, even though we were dead.  Ephesians 2:8-9 is a quintessential verse in helping us understand this.  It says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast.  Without God regenerating us.  Without God making us alive, by His grace, we are incapable of making a decision to have faith and believe.  You see, we must have faith to believe and confess Jesus Christ as Lord(Romans 10:8-13).  However, that faith, while essentially our first act of obedience, is also a gift of grace.

Good works.
Finally, in Ephesians 2:10, Paul makes it clear that we are not saved just to sit back and enjoy the good life. We have a job to do.  He states, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."   What do these works look like?  First and foremost they are confession of sin and repentance from sin.  Confession of sin leads to forgiveness(1 John 1:8-9).  Repentance is the obvious fruit of a changed heart.  Repentance is evidenced when our hearts desire is to turn from the things of this world that are offensive to God and do not bring him glory and begin pursuing obedience to His word.  This is a lifelong process but we will continue in it if we are truly saved
(Matthew 24:12-13, 2 Peter 1:5-11).

What does this have to do with marriage?
EVERYTHING!  In every aspect of our lives, we are supposed to walk out self-sacrificing love, sharing the Gospel with the world, making disciples, and teaching them all the things that Christ commanded(Matthew 18-20). Not only that, but we are supposed to do these things in our marriages.  Our spouses and children are the front line of missions if we are married.  We are to put each other first, being living examples of Christ's love and building each other up in the most holy faith as you do the same for yourselves(1 Thessalonians 5:11, Jude 1:20).

You are not alone!
But you cannot expect to do it by yourself.  You must remain aware of your need for God's grace to empower everything that you do.  This is what Paul means in Philippians 2:12-13 when he says, "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose".  He does not save you and then leave you to walk righteously under your own power.  He enables every act of obedience.  So when you are feeling weak, then pray.  Ask God for strength and wisdom.  He gives that freely to all who ask(James 1:5).

All of this is fleshed out so that when I refer to the Gospel as an adjective, describing the motivation of our actions, you will remember that is also a noun.  It is the redemptive story that is the power of God unto salvation(Romans 1:16).  Without understanding that, you will not be able to appropriately apply the rest.

I know some don't like what I have to say, think it is too long some times, etc.  I do not know the purpose for God laying this on my heart, or creating me to blog in the style that I do.  However,  I do know that if only one life is changed for all eternity, or one marriage is saved in this temporal life that we live in the here and now because of what I am writing in these posts, it will have been worth it.  I get nothing out of this except the satisfaction that I am obeying God in this moment and the hope that He uses it to glorify himself in the lives of others.  Even if you don't have time or the desire to read everything I write, please pray for marriages that are struggling and souls that are lost and look for opportunities to share the good news of the gospel with them, that God would make His love known to them.

Thank you for your time and prayers.

Sincerely,

Josh

Marriage, a reflection of the Gospel(Part 2)

So glad you came back!
I so desperately want to encourage you to fight for your marriage if it is in trouble or improve it, if it needs work.  There is not a marriage in the world that does not have room for improvement, including my own. Nor is there a marital issue in the world that God cannot help you overcome.  As I stated before, I have heard many a testimony of failing marriages renewed and divorced marriages restored. That's right, you can be on the road to divorce or already there and still have a shot at happiness with that same spouse. 

I heard of one pastor counseling a couple this way.  Marriage is not 50/50 or even 100/100.   If the husband is struggling to give 75% effort then the wife's job is to help pick up the slack and give 125% and vice versa.  Keeping in mind always that both partners need God's grace to carry them through whatever is required.  I thought that was a fairly accurate and applicable way to look at the teamwork aspect of marriage, practically.  Not bad, but lacking, without a greater purpose for their effort that goes beyond themselves.   Let's look at one of the primary reasons that God finds successful marriages important and what his idea of successful teamwork looks like, spiritually.

Scriptural Emphasis on Unity
Ephesians is a wonderful book for so many reasons.  Really, the first three chapters and the first half of the fourth are loaded with truths of how we are made alive in Christ and the oneness that we have in Christ.  The last half of chapter four continuing through chapter six are about application.  The idea being this.  Now that we are made alive and unified in Christ, everything about our lives is to be a representation of the gospel of Christ made living and active in our lives.

Ephesians 5:22-6:18 pairs different examples of submission and authority in relationships that were typical in the home in Paul's day with the absolute necessity for spiritual armor.  I will not go into the spiritual armor here, but suffice it to say that I believe it is essential to these relationships being loving; and representing a healthy application of spiritual authority and submission to that authority.  Not only that, but  that this spiritual armor, which is girded up by prayer, is necessary to a successful individual representation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the world at large.

Scriptural Basis for the Gospel in Marriage

Now, as I am dealing with the issue of marriage my primary text for at least the next two posts will be Ephesians 5:22-33.  Once you read it, you will realize that it speaks to submission and authority as it applies to husband and wife. Though the text begins with wives, I will speak to husbands first, as I am a husband and I believe that the husband bears the load of the responsibility for the spiritual direction of the marriage and family.

The overall gist of the passage is this, Marriage is a reflection of the Gospel! as stated in
Ephesians 5:32. Wives are first asked, in this passage, to submit to their husbands as to the Lord.  Just as the church is expected to submit to Christ.  The reason that the church should want to, and is expected to submit to Christ is because Christ gave himself up for the church.  He died that they might live.  This is what husbands are expected to do.  They are not expected to defend themselves or command obedience.  Rather, they are expected to exhibit sacrificial love, even if in the face of perceived or actual rejection by their wives. They are expected to die to themselves.  If this is being done appropriately, then it will be much easier for wives to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord.  Over time, they will want to because of the sacrificial love that they see being exhibited by their husbands.

Unconditional Obedience to Christ

However, I would like to point out that this scripture passage does not say, wives, submit to your husbands as long as they are doing their part in succumbing to your every desire or not making a decision unless you agree with them..  Nor does it say, husbands, love your wives sacrificially only if they are submitting properly and showing you respect at all times.  

NO!  Christ died for us, while we were yet sinners(Romans 5:8).  It was an unconditional love, not contingent on whether we deserved it or not.  Consequently, both commands are expected to be obeyed by either party, in spite of the other's apparent disobedience.  This, as an act of obedience to Christ, not each other. It is to be done "as unto the Lord".  However, it is certainly much easier for each spouse to do their part when the other is doing theirs.

If we do not do this, we are selfishly hindering the gospel representation that is intended by the marriage covenant.  We are acting in direct, willful disobedience to Christ, which, I might point out, is the very definition of sin.

If unbelievers would get a hold of the truth of what Christ did for them at the cross, surrender their lives to His Lordship, and apply those gospel truths to their marriage it would revolutionize the divorce rate in America.

If believers would get a hold of these same truths and apply them to their marriages, it would revolutionize the divorce rate at least among the Christian population.  We should be competing to give affection,  not competing to receive it.  Our first gospel witness should always be to our spouses.  My prayer is that a fleshing out of these roles will help toward a greater understanding of how the selfishness of divorce, and the things that often cause it, directly impact the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hang with me,

Josh

Wanna Save Your Marriage? (Part 1) An Introduction

HELLO!
When I was was in college and shortly there after, there were a number of us whom for one reason or another, and some much earlier than we would have liked than others, found ourselves married.  Of those, I only know of a couple of marriages that are still in tact. Different influences, some more legitimate than others, destroyed those marriages and it is still happening today. I am sick of it.  Yet, I have also heard many a testimony of failing marriages renewed and divorced marriages restored. That's right, you can be on the road to divorce or already there and still have a shot at happiness with that same spouse.

This may seem a little long, but I beg of you to stick with me.  It is an intro or overview of sorts, that will be a multi-post topic and the other posts should be shorter. The sanctity of marriage has been under attack for some time and the enemy is not letting up.  If it does not mean much to you, you have only lost maybe ten minutes.  If it speaks to you, it could mean a not perfect, but stronger marriage for the rest of your life.  I pray, by God's grace, that the second will be true for you.  Keep reading, pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaassssse!

Is the commitment real?
Here's the thing.  We live in a post-modern age and culture that has become so increasingly relativistic that you don't need to commit to much of anything.  Truth is relative.  Right and wrong are relative.  Everything is acceptable because everyone is entitled to their own view and beliefs.  Whether it has any substance behind it or not.  Do what  feels good.  Do what makes you happy.  Thus, well before gay marriage was an issue we were throwing away heterosexual marriage.  If couples were marrying at all, statistics show that upwards of fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce and that this number is almost as true of the "church" as it is of the world.  That of course presumes that everyone in the church who got divorced was a "true convert" and should have known better.  I would venture a guess that many who would argue against same-sex marriage are divorced and did not try nearly hard enough to save their opposite-sex marriage.
We have got to fight harder for commitment to God and our spouse in marriage.

God is a fan of marriage!
Before I go any further, I want to clarify that my goal is not to beat up those whom have gotten divorced nor is it to assume that every divorce is unjustified.  My goal is to challenge  those who are thinking about divorce or maybe even simply feel stuck in a marriage that they are committed to on principle, but miserable in.  In  these cases, often times if you are committed and really trying to stick it out, someone is asking you why, telling you your spouse is not worth it, and that you deserve better. Taking your side on every gripe you have.  Hearing that kind of thing makes it even harder.  My first suggestion would be to change your council.  You will not succeed if you continue to listen to that.  Second, make no mistake, GOD IS A FAN OF MARRIAGE.  When asked about divorce in Matthew 19:3-9 Jesus makes it very clear what his stance is regarding divorce and what His definition of marriage is.  It goes like this:

Some Pharisees came to him to test him.  They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"  "Haven't you read", he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?  So they are no longer two, but one.  Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"

Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard.  But it was not this way from the beginning.  I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery. 

Divorce is an attack on Christ's glory!
If you have been divorced, then you know how much it hurts, know matter how justified you think it was.  I would ask you to stick with me and perhaps you will hear something that will encourage you, should you ever be married again or even if you are already remarried.  You may also hear something that you can use to help others to save their marriages rather than encouraging them to abandon them.  As I said, my goal hear is to deal with the self-absorbed culture that we live in and the stinkin thinkin that plagues our attitudes toward marriage today..  In a sense I am attacking divorce itself, not any one divorcee.  So please know that while I may be direct at times and the truth may be tough to hear, that I am genuinely writing these posts out of love and because I am tired of seeing so many people hurt and failing in their marriage.  To say nothing of the glory that is stolen from God by divorce.  Marriage is intended to be a representation of Christ's relationship with the church(Ephesians 5:32).  Every time a marriage fails, it puts a blemish on the pure and blameless relationship that Christ has with His church.

Marriage is hard.
My marriage is not perfect.  I have been married to my beautiful wife for twelve years and we dated for six years.  We did not have the perfect relationship before we got married and we don't have it now.  The truth is, there is no such thing as a perfect relationship.  Even for Christians, only one side of the relationship is handled perfectly and it is NOT the human side.  There is also no such thing as an easy relationship. Marriage can be really difficult.  You may even think, "it's not worth it" or "I don't have time for this".  Any relationship takes a lot of work to sustain, especially a marriage.  It is challenging because we are imperfect beings prone to selfishness and unforgiveness.  This selfishness and unforgiveness, if unchecked, creates strife in many ways because we are putting ourselves before our spouse.  We are often holding on to past offenses or wounds in the relationship which creates bitterness and resentment.

Christ gave his life as an eternal commitment!
If you are a believer who's marriage is struggling and you are battling with wounds and offenses, I invite you to consider something.  Consider the grace that was poured out on you when Christ saved you.  Were you perfect?  Were you not offensive?  Were your sins not responsible for the death of God's only Son on the cross?  If you are not a believer then the same is true of you.  You are imperfect, offensive, and guilty of rejecting God the Father and crucifying God the Son.

But consider this.  Romans 5:8 states this, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  This is true for the unsaved sinner and the sinner saved by grace. The difference is, as a believer, you are called to recognize this great love demonstrated for you and, by God's grace, demonstrate that same self-sacrificial love to your spouse. God committed to those he saves for eternity knowing full well they were still going to struggle with sin and disobedience, remaining imperfect until we are glorified in eternity.  We owe our spouses no less.

Good News!
If you are an unbeliever let me share with you, perhaps for the first time, or as a believer let me remind you, of the most wonderful news.  There is an answer to the dilemma of divorce.  There is a love that knows no limits for you or your spouse.  It loves you through all your failures no matter how big, small, or multitudinous they may be.  This love does not give up and is always faithful.  This love is always unselfish(1 Corinthians 13).

It is the love of the cross.  The love that Jesus showed when he gave up a perfect, heavenly dwelling to come clothe himself in this jar of clay.  This earthen vessel of flesh that is broken from the moment it enters this world.  The difference is that the flesh isn't the only thing that is broken in our case.  Our souls and spirits are broken from day one.  Genesis 8:21 says God knows that "every inclination of our heart is evil from childhood".  We are not able to make one pure decision that is pleasing to God from the day we are born.  We are prone to selfishness and self preservation from day one.

PRAISE GOD that Jesus came into this world perfect and remained that way until His death on the cross(1 Peter 2:22, 1 John 3:5).  He was tempted in every way and remained without sin(Hebrews 4:15).  He committed the most unselfish act ever committed when He lived the perfect life that we cannot live and then died the death that we all deserve.  He achieved for us what we could never do on our own so that we could have unity with the Father and the opportunity to spend eternal life with Him in glory.  Not only that.  He sent the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us and with us in order to regenerate our dead souls, justify us by faith, and enable us to be sanctified, which is to be changed from glory to glory(2 Corinthians 3:18).

Something is wrong!
So why is all this important?  It is important because if you are struggling in your marriage and feel that you are incapable of loving your spouse then you need this love.  If you feel you have nothing left to give then you need Jesus to give through you.  As a believer it is difficult because you must maintain a healthy relationship with Jesus in order to truly love your spouse appropriately.  If you are not a Christian then you are trying to give something to your spouse that you do not have.  In fact you have never experienced it.  Unconditional, self-sacrificial love.  That, ONLY comes from Jesus.  Any love that is given out of your own efforts will be flawed and quite likely run out at some point out.  For the believer, in that moment of weakness, when we feel we have nothing left to give, that is when the love of Christ shines through(2 Corinthians 12:9-10).  If that is not happening for you then you need to evaluate your relationship with Christ.  I am not saying that you are not saved however, something is wrong!

I am going to strive to flesh out biblically based thoughts paired with personal experience to work all this together in a way that I pray will be a blessing and will draw you into a relationship with Christ that makes loving your spouse through the difficult times that much easier to do.  I am probably going to do it over at least 3 posts, if not more, because I don't want to sell this short and I still need to try to do it in digestible portions.  So stick with me and see where I go with it.  Even if you are skeptical you may find a blessing in it that you weren't expecting.  Jesus loves you and He wants your marriage to succeed!

I love you all very much which is why I put myself out there on difficult subjects knowing I may have critics.  I believe that your joy and eternal well being is worth the time and effort it takes to do this and worth the risk of criticism.  Hope to see you back.

Josh

Olympus Has Fallen

So a few days ago I got a discount to Redbox to rent a movie.  I had been intrigued to watch Olympus Has Fallen, so I got it.   There have been a few movies that I have had the opportunity to watch recently via different means.  Unfortunately, contrary to my very real convictions about the unholy nature of much that is in  movies and TV these days, I have had a period of weakness where curiosity, about movies unseen or not seen in a long time, has gotten the best of me.  I was reminded afresh,with every movie that I watched, why I have that conviction.

There has not been one movie of late, with a rating of R or even PG-13, that has not been all together trivializing of sin and not glorifying to God.  Now, I know what you are going to say.  It's just make believe, it's not real.  It's not like I'm gonna use these words or go out and kill people or have gratuitous sex just because I saw it somewhere.

Ok, how about this?  Can you honestly say that, while you are watching a movie involving many people dying in a horrible scene of murderous terror that you think, "many of those people are probably going to hell"!  Can you honestly say that you are burdened for the lost in these fictional stories.  The typical response, "COME ON JOSH, THAT'S JUST A BUNCH OF LEGALISTIC, RELIGIOUS HOGWASH!  IT'S MAKE-BELIEVE HELLO!

That's the point.  THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT SATAN'S GOAL IS!  We have movies making piracy, lust and drunkenness look fun(Pirates of the Caribbean), kids killing each other as a game(Hunger Games), witchcraft(Harry Potter), glorification of homosexuality, fornication or even adultery(you name the romantic comedy or comedy in general),  stories about living dead(any zombie flick or show), or horrific scenes of mass death with tons of murder and profanity(Olympus, and most other action flicks these days), then there is REALITY TV, and the list could go on. Satan's goal is to numb us.  To dumb down our spiritual discernment so that not only are we not bothered by these things in media, we are also less affected by them in the real world.  He wants to kill our witness for Christ.  This witness that is the only purpose for which we are left on this earth.  To let our light so shine, thus drawing others toward the Father through the Son. 

It's not as if the bulk of Christianity is tearing down walls to pursue souls saved anyway.  Even if there is a piece of us that wants to.  Now, we choose to ignore that piece of reality altogether and escape into fictional stories where it is not even an issue.  Where the people are not real thus, neither are their souls.  Do you ever stop and think that if the people in the movie died for real in the state they were in that they would probably go to hell? 

Listen,  I have been struggling here lately and I already have this conviction.  So I understand that it can be a battle.  The trouble is that for many it is not even a thought, much less a struggle.

Here is the primary problem.  My concerns are not religious mambo-jumbo, they are scriptural.  Let's take for example, Psalm 101:3-4 which says, "I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.  I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.  A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil".  That pretty well speaks for itself.  It has been set before us in scripture as an example of how to live before God.

Then there is Galatians 5:16-25.  In vs. 22-25 you have a list of the fruit of the Spirit so that we will know what it looks like to walk by the Spirit.  Before this in vs 19-21 you have listed the works of the flesh.  Actions that vs. 17 states are against the Spirit: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.  It is plainly stated that THOSE WHO DO SUCH THINGS WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD! 

How many of these works of the flesh are glorified in the TV and movies that you watch?  So WHY are you or I watching them?  Why do we fight so hard for the right to watch things that are in direct opposition to the Spirit of God?  Things whom, if the people practicing them in the media venue died and could go to hell, they would.  The bible says so.  How many people do you know in real life that are practicing these works of the flesh?  Do you ever think that they are going to go to hell if they die in that state?  Does that burden you?  It should? 

The reality is that most people who are painted as "good people" in movies or TV are actually "good people" who are lost.  You can usually tell it by the way they live their lives or even by life philosophies that are fleshed out through their scripted lines.  The problem with that, is that it normalizes goodness in spite of sin.  You could even say that normalizes sin all together.  Most stories do.  If the truth be told, many good people that we know in reality today would go to hell as well based on the fruit of their lives.  If we really believe what the bible says then that should make us sad and create an urgency for the eternal lives of the lost.

Here is one more scripture. It is known as the Philippians 4:8 test. "Finally brothers, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise,  think on these things".  All of things are expected to be held up against the effects and standards of the gospel, not human ideals as they relate.  We need to to consider a G rating for everything that we see and hear.  G as in God or Gospel.  Shucks, if you wouldn't let your 5-10 year old watch it then it is probably not something that we as adults should be watching.  It is sad but true.  Enough said.

I cannot say that I walk this out perfectly all the time.  However, the more I meditate on the words of life that are in scripture; the more the gospel begins to permeate my soul; the more these truths begin to invade everything that I do, including what I watch and how I watch it. God is not commanding us not to ever watch TV or enjoy a movie.  Nor am I.  That would be legalistic based on scripture.  However, God does expect us to be so saturated in His word and the message of the gospel that it informs everything else that we do.

I want to be clear that I am not advocating this line of thought as a means by which to gain favor with God or to earn or secure our salvation.  If we are Christians, we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone.  Our favor with God comes through Christ's blood.  The bible does make it clear however, that the Holy Spirit, who is a member of the Trinity thus He is God, can be grieved or pleased by the way we walk out our Christian lives(Ephesians 4:30).   We are responsible to live lives worthy of the gospel(Philippians 1:27, Colossians 1:10).

If however, you find that you think I am over the top and you have absolutely no interest in considering the point I am making here then there is a problem.  I cannot say that you are not a Christian because I am not  God.  I will however challenge you to examine yourselves and see if you are in the gospel
(2 Corinthians13:5).   Hardness of heart toward biblical truths are serious business.  You may have had an excuse if you had never thought these things through but once you are exposed to the truth, it should cause contemplation, prayer, and eventually repentance.

My desire is not just that we would all not watch ungodly material.  My desire is that we would so desire the glory of God; that we would so desire to find our joy and satisfaction in Jesus, pursuing holiness and Christ-likeness, that the thoughts presented here would not be a big deal   That this passion and love for Jesus and His gospel would drive us to desire souls saved and God glorified and cause us to lay down the TV remote, pick up our bibles, and start seeing the lost world right in front of us every day.

May it be so in Jesus name,

Amen

Confessions of a Conflicted Blogger

Ok.  It's time for one of those moments of vulnerability.  The kind you typically have with those you hold in closest confidence.  Those whom you trust most not to stomp all over your tender heart when you bear your soul about inadequacies and struggles that are raging on the inside. 

So why would I do that with the potential that it may be read by people whom don't know me well, could judge me, and who potentially, couldn't care less about my vulnerabilities?  

Because I blog about the most precious commodity that money CAN'T buy.  It is more precious than any jewel or loved one that can be found in this lifetime.  I blog about the Gospel of Jesus Christ; the power of God unto salvation.  When your blog is centered around the Gospel it brings the potential for posts about every possible area of life that the bible impacts.  This is because the bible holds the entire narrative surrounding the need for the Gospel as well as every implication of the impact that the Gospel should have on our existence. 

I don't want anything about me or my message to hinder the impact that I can have for this wonderful truth.  If that means addressing controversial issues, so be it.  If it means bearing my soul about my own struggles and shortcomings, then may it be so in Jesus name.  I have done plenty of posting about my convictions regarding the truths of the bible, how they apply, and why they are necessary.  Before I do any more of that however, I want to be perfectly honest about some challenges I have been experiencing.  I have confessions to make.

Pride
I have struggled with pride regarding this blog though not from the beginning.  I have found though, that in the last two or three months I have struggled significantly.  I made the announcement that I was going to strive to write shorter posts more often.  That was challenging to begin with.  Any of you who know me know that I am not built to be short winded.  I am detailed in my expression, not wanting to miss anything that may have an impact on the point I am trying to make.  So my pride has taken a hit because I have not been able to figure out how to do this consistently.  I am not sure that I made that commitment for the right reasons to begin with.  

Recognition
This has also been driven by pride.  When I first began blogging, I received more feedback than I do these days.  I also paid less attention to the visit count.  Yes, there is a counter that tells me how many times the blog page is visited.   I never used to care about it but for some reason, lately, I have been watching it and becoming discouraged.  This is silly for many reasons, one of which is that people whom receive this by email don't even have to go to the page to read the post.  So it does not make sense and up until recently I had never cared.  I have begun finding my validation in my readers rather than my Jesus. 

Ungratefulness
One of my biggest problems, that I believe fuels all the rest, is that of a lack of gratitude for the opportunity to have an outlet to express my convictions to begin with.  Whether anyone reads it or not, I am able to practice fleshing out my thoughts and exercising my expression through this tool.  But that is not the only reason I do it, which leads to another struggle that I long to overcome, fear.

Fear of man
Blogging is not a cop-out for witnessing face to face.  I have experienced some challenges courtesy of putting my thoughts out into the "virtual" world. My passion for God's word and my desire to express it has brought some friction in areas of my day to day walk as well as a heightened since of accountability.  All of this I am grateful for.  However while I am not known as one to hide my faith, as people of bold speech go regarding sharing the gospel with your neighbor etc, I struggle significantly.  I battle with the fear of rejection or being judged.  I don't share the gospel with people face to face the way I do on this blog and that has got to change.  I don't always obey my Heavenly Father in faith the way I should and that also has to change.  It represents a lack of confidence in God's promise to finish what He starts.  I am the sower, He is the reaper.  I must strive to sow seeds of truth in love and leave the watering and growth to God.  Pray that I would trust Him more.

Fear of God
If I had a proper fear of God.  A holy reverence.  If I really believe what I preach.  If I believe that the bible says that those who do not believe on Jesus and live a life of repentance that evidences a pursuit of holiness and a submission to His Lordship are going to an eternity apart from Him that will involve an eternal burning torment like nothing they have ever known, then I will tell them about it.  If I really love them; if I really believe that God loves them and that Jesus died, paying the price for their sins, then I will shout it from the rooftops.

So what is the answer?
Obviously, God does not expect us to have a perfect handle on holy servitude, as it were, before we start striving to obey him and share him with others.  We are justified through grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone and I have no doubt that I am justified.  I am in pursuit of holiness and desire to be made as close to perfect as is possible before I get to heaven.  The challenge we face is in remembering that sanctification is a lifelong process and that we must desire to work hard at it while never forgetting that only God's sanctifying grace enables any changes that occur(1 Corinthians 15:10).  Thus, we must not make excuses for our continual struggle with sin and yet, we must never lose site of the victory that we already have in Christ.  A proper understanding of this victory helps us to battle the guilt and condemnation that sin and Satan try to put on us to slow us down in the fight.  We must always remember that "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"(Romans 8:1)  Conviction by the Holy Spirit is healthy and helps us to stay the course.  Condemnation is of the devil and has no place in the life of a believer.

Pray!
In Ephesians 6:19-20, even the Apostle Paul asked for prayer that he would proclaim the Gospel boldly as he ought. So please pray for me.  Pray that I would step into bolder action by grace, through faith in obeying my Lord and Savior more faithfully in every area of my life.  Pray that I would forget what is behind and press on toward the high calling in Christ Jesus(Philippians 3:13-14).

As it regards this blog.  I am going to strive to be whom God created me to be.  I will post as often as I can and feel so directed. Some posts will be shorter, some longer.  Some will be more controversial than others.  I will strive not to think any longer about how anyone responds to it or if they even read it at all.  I want to impact peoples lives, but only the Holy Spirit can use what I write to do that.  So I will be faithful to write and strive to leave the rest to God. 

I hope you haven't minded my honesty or detail.  More than anything I want people to understand that I don't proclaim the truth as one who has overcome all things and is now telling everyone else to do the same.  NO!  I struggle with sin, every second of every minute of every day!  I am just like you in that regard.  As Paul said, those things I don't want to do, I do.  Those things I want to do, I don't do.  But thanks be to God that He has delivered me from this wretched body of death(Romans 7:21-25).  I have a glorious eternity free from sin, sickness, sadness, guilt, or shame to look forward to.  In the mean time, my goal is to satisfy the instruction of the Lord in sharing the Gospel, to pursue a life of holiness and to impact the lives of others for the glory of God. 

He is Mighty! He is Glorious! He is Worthy!  I pray that both you and I would live lives worthy of the Gospel!  Thank you for your ears, eyes, and hearts.  Let's go into battle, lifting each other up in prayer.

In Jesus name,

Amen!

A Conversation with Satan

Is Knowledge and Belief Enough?
What is Salvation?  What is Lordship?  Can one exist without the other?  There is a great misunderstanding among many today that all you have to do is believe in Jesus and you will be saved.  Unfortunately, too many people make confession without repentance and submission to Christs' Lordship.

Romans 10:9-10 states, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."

Is this true?  Of course it is.  However, too often we focus on the belief part and forget what the confession is?  That Jesus is Lord.

In speaking of faith apart from works in James 2:17-19 he states, "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works."  Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works.  You believe that God is one; you do well.  Even the demons believe and shudder!"

A Conversation
Let's suppose that God had a conversation with Satan about his eternal destination. It might go something like this:

God:    Satan.  Do you believe that I am the only God, maker of heaven and earth?
Satan: Yes
God:    Do you believe that I sent Jesus to die on the cross, taking on the punishment for the sins of the                     world, satisfying my wrath toward their sins, and then raised him from the dead on the third day?
Satan: Yes
God:    Do you believe that in the last days I will raise the living and the dead to be judged either innocent or             guilty based on their belief in me, and their confession of and and submission to my Lordship?
Satan: Yes
God:    Satan, will you Submit to my Lordship and serve me faithfully, obeying all the commands I have                     given you?
Satan: NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And I am going to take every soul with me that you do not save.

This would, in fact, be the end result of that conversation.  Satan rebelled in heaven.  He tried to overthrow GOD!  He has no interest in submission to Christs' Lordship.  Thus, no matter how much he and the demons know or believe about God, they will be condemned to everlasting torment in the lake of fire(Revelation 20:10).  And his goal is to take as many with him as possible.  However, whether in this life or before the judgement seat of Christ, every knee, including Satan and his minions, shall bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father(Philippians 2:9-11, Romans 14:10-12, Revelation 20:11-15).

A Passionate Plea
Please don't be one of the casualties of Satan's war against God.  You see, knowledge about God, Jesus, and the bible is not enough.  Just saying you believe is not enough. Belief without change is nothing more than mere intellectual ascent. It does not matter if you simply go to church or are actively involved with your church.  If your whole life is not surrendered to the effort of repentance from sin and the pursuit of holiness, in every area of your life, then there is reason to question the relevance of your salvation.  If you prayed a prayer once, but there really is not much of your life that looks like the disciples of the bible, then there is reason to question the relevance of your salvation.  If you lack genuine interest in God's word, embrace the ways of the world, and perceive not problem with this then you are likely in open rebellion against God and, there is reason to question the relevance of your salvation

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and you truly believe with your heart, not just your mind, it will change you.  Your thoughts and behavior will not be the same.  You will not be perfect until heaven however, 2 Corinthians 5:15-17 states that "Christ died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but him, who for their sake died and was raised.  From now on, therefore regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passes away; behold, the new has come."

Examine yourselves!
God requires surrender of this life, that you may know life eternally with Him and in Him. Examine yourself and see if you are in the faith(2 Corinthians 13:5).  If you find yourself wanting of the characteristics of a true, biblical Christ-follower, and thus you find that it is likely you are not in the faith, that can change now.

If you are Lost
God can and will save you if you are willing to die to yourself and live for Christ.  Cry out to God to save you!  He will!  Then find a local, bible teaching church, get baptized as part of your public profession of your faith, and begin feeding on the word of God.  God has given, to those whom are believers, everything needed for life and godliness by His grace, empowered by the Holy Spirit, through the study of His word, prayer, and obedience(2 Peter 3-11).  All of this fosters relationship with God.

If you are Found
If you find that you are in the faith and desiring repentance and holiness, yet there are areas of your life in which this is lacking, know this.  God does not require anything of the believer that He does not enable them to do.  In Philippians 2:12-13 Paul instructs us, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling.   For it is God who works in you both to will and to work according to his good pleasure."

Even the Apostle Paul whom wrote much of the New Testament recognized that he could not do it on his own.  In 1 Corinthians 15:10 he states, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward  me was not in vain.  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me."

Conclusion
Without Christ we all will be like Satan, rebelling against God and headed for an eternity of hellish, conscious torment.  Don't be like Satan.  Pray that the God of all grace will pour that grace out on you without measure, empowering you to believe and submit, thus saving you through the blood of His Son, and empowering you to obey through the Holy Spirit, thus sanctifying you and making your calling and election sure.  Don't just know about the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, KNOW HIM! and be known by Him!  For there is no greater joy.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Patriot Day, 9/11/2013

September 11, 2001, also know as Patriot Day.  Not to be confused with Patriot's Day.

Where were you?  What were you doing?  Regardless of it's impact on your life there is one thing that it did commonly for the whole nation; it turned there thoughts to God.  Everyone looks to church and God when something terrible happens.  However, unfortunately, the results were not permanent for the nation.  My question is, "Did it have any lasting effects for you as an individual?"  If you got back in to church and began thinking about God, was it a lasting change.  Was the change caused by a profound, faith driven realization of the urgent need for Jesus to become a reality in yourself and your neighbor or; was it driven by a fear of death and questions about eternity?  Last but not least, did it cause you to turn outward toward the physical and spiritual needs of those around you or did it cause you to merely look to your own needs? 

With those questions in mind I wanted to bring a different line of thought that you will not likely hear anywhere else on 9/11.  As I do, I would like to clarify that much of this will be a metaphorical parallel vs. actual spiritual judgement on any of the victims of 9/11.  Obviously I do not know what the state of their hearts were with God when they died.  While it is unlikely that they were all legitimate believers, it is certain that many were.  As you read you may wonder how the twist you read here could be pertinent on such a somber day.  I would submit according to Luke 13:1-5 that a proper perspective on such tragedies was a high priority for Jesus and it should be for us.  An understanding of our role and God's purposes is of utmost importance in all things.  Jesus saw tragedy on this scale as a call to repentance.  Maybe we should to.  I beg you to consider with me for just a few brief moments the eternal perspective of such a day as the one we remember today.

 As always there is story after story regarding the events of that day.  Stories of horror by the survivors.  Stories of heroism. Stories of bravery on the part of John Doe people in a building or on an airplane.  Stories of bravery among the many emergency and police personnel that day. Stories of heartbreak among loved ones.

I think of how many people in the twin towers were not aware of just how perilous their situation was.  That soon the buildings they were in would come collapsing down around them.  People milling around on the streets below having no idea of the danger they were in.  As the first plane was flown into the first tower and people began to run away, firefighters and policemen were running toward the danger, trying to warn and rescue as many people as possible.  Even after the first tower fell, having an inkling that the second tower could do the same, rescue workers continued to do their jobs with no thought for their own lives.  The brave souls on Flight 93 who, knowing that they would likely die, thought it important to make sure that they were the only ones who did.  Many lost their lives that day to save another.  I would like to think I would have done the same.....Would you?

As Christians, we have that opportunity.  We have the opportunity to die to ourselves.  We not only have  the opportunity, but the responsibility.  A  responsibility that we are shirking on a daily basis.  There is a spiritual 9/11 going on around us every day.  Satan is the spiritual terrorist, lurking, waiting for the moment when people are spiritually asleep to strike.  I think it's appropriate considering the metaphor that the bible uses in (Ephesians 2:2)calling him the prince of the air.  1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober-mined and watchful.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour."  Only, instead of a few thousand people dying, there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions dying spiritual, eternal, death daily, around the world.  In our neighborhoods.  In our schools.  In third world countries that God holds us responsible for as if they lived next door.

These are people who do not know the truth.  They do not know that any minute their plane could crash into a building or the ground.  They do not know that any minute their building could come crashing down around them.  They do not know that at any moment, their spiritual world could burst into an eternal, unquenchable hell fire!  They do not know that this doesn't have to happen!  That God loves them.  That he sent his son Jesus to experience the hell of God's judgement on sin that we deserve so that we would not have to.

Who is going to tell them?  WE MUST!!!

IF you have true faith.  IF Jesus is truly LORD of your life, then you must tell the world.  You are the fireman, or police officer.  You are the spiritual rescue worker running into that spiritual hellhole of a building to tell all those souls that they are going to die for eternity without Jesus!!!

Can you imagine, what would have been said by people and media, if all of the rescuers had sat idly by and done nothing on 9/11; if they had not seemed to care at all or worse yet said, my life is more valuable than theirs and I am not going to sacrifice it on their behalf.?  They would have been eaten for breakfast by the media.  They would have lost their jobs and probably been shunned from their communities.  No one can imagine a firefighter sitting in his truck doing nothing beside a building in flames as families scream out the window for help.  That would be a travesty.

I would submit to you that if we sit by as supposed Christians and coldly watch the world around us die a spiritual death with no concern for their eternal destination, we are just like that firefighter.  He would be fired and possibly arrested for neglect.  I would suggest that if we lack concern for the lost and compassion for those in need, we are in danger of being eternally fired (condemned) as well.  Rather that this lack of conviction in these areas would be potential evidence that we were never eternally hired (saved) to begin with.  The fruit of a true Christian whose Savior is also Lord will have these qualities: concern for those who do not know Jesus as Savior and Lord and compassion for those in need.  If we do not have these then we are lacking evidence of our true salvation.

I invite you to read several passages. In John 15:13 Jesus says, "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends".  James 1:22-27 speaks of not just hearing the word but doing what it says.  He goes on to say that true religion involves taking care of widows and orphans and keeping oneself from being polluted by the world(James 2:14-24).  In this passage James speaks to the fact that saying you have faith is not enough.  Faith without works is dead.  You must have righteous works as evidence of that faith.  Works that are full of compassion for the lost and those in need.  Matthew 25:31-46, regards Jesus' separating of the sheep from the goats (saved from the unsaved) and he relates it to acts of compassion for those in need.  Matthew 7:15-27, speaks of good trees bearing good fruit and bad trees bearing bad fruit.  It also states that those who put God's word into practice are the ones who have evidence of a solid foundation in their salvation. And of course Matthew 28:18-20 which is known as the Great Commission from Jesus to the disciples. 

Does this mean that works earn us salvation?  Absolutely not!  Salvation is a free gift from God, by grace, through faith that we are incapable of attaining on our own(Ephesians 2:8-9).  All of those other verses clarify the fact that salvation is not simply fire insurance.  That we are not saved to simply sit around and continue enjoying the sinful nature.  We are not saved to a life that does not look any different than the life we were leading before we "prayed the prayer".  We are a new creation in Christ, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new(2 Corinthians 5:17).   If we are truly saved then, while our works do not save us, our Christian works will be an evidence of the overflow of Christ in us.  We will not do these things because we feel obligated to in order to be in right standing with God....that is impossible.  No, we will do these things because we love Jesus and our heart will be to do what pleases him.

What pleases God is that we whom He has saved recognize that we are are dead to our former selves.  We are born again.  And our new selves are commanded not to regard this body.  Not to fear death of this body, that will one day whither and fade away anyway, but to die to ourselves daily.  To take the examples of selfless compassion that were common amongst so many heroes that tragic September day and apply them to ourselves in the daily 9/11 of the lives of so many living among us and around the world.  Unfortunately heroism is not always driven by "saving, grace-driven, faith".  Sometimes, it is inspired by a common grace given to all men that some good may come of it.  If we are certain that unmerited salvation has been applied to our lives however, we must stop conceiving of salvation as a "one and done" for ourselves and realize that we were saved by a love and a grace that is made abundant in us so that it can be given away to others, in order that souls would be saved and God's name glorified.

If you are unsure of your salvation, yet you long to be sure, then get in the bible and cry out to God to save you.  The bible says that the Holy spirit will testify with your spirit that you are a child of God.  That you will not need to be afraid and that you will be able to overcome the sinful nature because you are now led by the Holy Spirit.(Romans 8:13-16).  If you are convinced that you are a Christian and you are not actively pursuing the clear will of God for your life that is in his word for every disciple then I implore you to get in the word and begin crying out to God to place his desires in your heart.  Then you will find yourself as one of the firemen who is running into the burning, collapsing building telling the people of their need to be saved, rather than the one sitting by doing nothing.  You will find yourself having a difficult time ignoring those in need as you become acutely aware of all that God has blessed you with.

In all this, know that God is not asking you to do this under your own power.  It is Christ who saves you and Christ who keeps you(Philippians 1:6).  It is Christ who empowers you unto growth and transformation.
As Philippians 2:12-13, says, "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose".

If this day drives us to a greater passion for the gospel-driven mission of Jesus Christ, then these many tragic deaths will not have been in vain.  They will have accomplished a greater eternal purpose for the glory of God than any earthly, perishable fruit that will ever develop in this short life.  As we honor those who died and those who lost loved ones on this, the twelfth anniversary of this unforgettable, providential day; let us forever be changed in a way that not only impacts our spiritual and physical lives, but the spiritual and physical lives of those around us and around the world. 

In Jesus name,

Amen.

Are you Walkin or Talkin?

None of us is perfect.  We will all make mistakes.  However, we are not called to concede to that truth.  I have noticed, of late, a few people whom either have forgotten or stopped caring about the fact that our walk is supposed to exhibit our most sincere efforts to represent our talk.

Is that true of you?  Do you profess Jesus yet live a life that does not appear to represent His message?  Are you compromising or outright ignoring what scripture says about sin in your life.  Let's look at what scripture has to say about why this is important.

In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus says this, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven".

We are not to be or appear as callous having given ourselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.  We are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, putting on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and to holiness. (Ephesians 4:19-24)

In Philippians 1:27, the Apostle Paul charges us "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ"

In Colossians 1:9-14 the Apostle Paul writes out a prayer that he and Timothy are praying for their fellow brothers in Christ.  It goes like this, "And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.  May you be  strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.  He has delivered us form the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

You see, if in fact you are a child of God.  If you have indeed been "called out of darkness into His marvelous light"(1 Peter 2:9) then not only are you expected to walk out the gospel of Jesus Christ but you must remember that you have been empowered to walk it out as well.  Paul tells us to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in us both to will and to work according to His good pleasure"(Philippians 2:12-13)

The Apostle Peter tells us that as Christians, "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."(2 Peter 1:3-4)

Peter goes on in 2 Peter 5:11 to instruct us to take action, working with great effort in applying holy and virtuous character qualities to the way we do life so as to make our calling and election sure.  That we may know we have entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As His children, God requires much of us.  As His children, God has made available to us all that we need to accomplish His purposes.  His grace is always working under the surface of our efforts.

So if you have made mistakes or experienced hurt that has drawn you away from your Savior and affected your submission to His Lordship.......COME BACK!  God loves you and has provided everything you need through the study of His word, prayerful communion with His Spirit, and fellowship with other believers that can help you understand and apply His word and help hold you accountable.

Repentance from sin and pursuit of holiness is a lifelong effort and as long as you are still breathing it is never too late to come back to your first love.  Look to the cross and trust your Savior.  He will carry you though.

If this message rings true to you.  If you feel convicted and desire to change, this is not of your own doing.  It is because Jesus has revealed himself and the Father to you(Matthew 11:27) and is either calling you to his side for the first time or is drawing you back to an obedient life of submission to His lordship. 

So lean on the one who's "yoke is easy and burden is light"(Matthew 11:28-30).  You don't have to do it alone however, if you are a child of the Most High, then obedience is not an option.  You will not do it because you have to, but because you are driven to it by the revelation of your Heavenly Father's love toward you and the sacrifice of His Son Jesus for you. 

If your life does not represent what you say you believe, the world notices and they talk about it.  I have heard it through the grapevine.  By God's grace I am what I am(1 Corinthians 15:10), there are many areas of my life that have improved greatly in representing my faith and many have come to me and told me that they can see it and respect it.  I am so grateful.  It is a continual reminder to me to watch my life and doctrine closely.
(1 Timothy 4:16)

Read the word! Pray Hard!  Live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ!  People are listening and watching! 

Don't just talk it, WALK IT!

In Jesus name,

Amen

Our Love vs God's Love. Which Came First? (NT examples)

And so we continue to look at God's covenant with His people of promise as the example of why God's love always comes before ours.  In fact, God's love, is the cause of our love.

Thus we enter the New Testament or New Covenant.  The great story of Jesus.  The only one who ever perfectly kept God's laws, lived the sinless life we could never live, and died the death we should have died..  This Savior sent by the one and only wise, loving, living God, Creator of all things.  This God demonstrated His great love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us(Romans 5:8).

In Christ, God fulfills the prophecy of Ezekiel 36:25-27 in which he states, "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.   And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes  and be careful to obey my rules." 

If you are a believer in Christ you must understand this in order to gain a proper understanding of God's grace.  And we must teach our children this.  There is nothing that we have ever done or will ever do, that makes us worthy of Christ's death.  Romans 5:10 says that we were enemies of God, yet we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son and saved by His resurrected life.  Romans 3:23 is Paul's summary statement regarding our righteousness apart from God stating that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  In Isaiah 64-6 scripture states that "all of our righteousness is as filthy rags"

Something supernatural must happen in us to make us right with God.  Those who are living according to the flesh are hostile towards God.  They cannot submit to God's law, nor can they please Him(Romans 8:6-8).  We must be born again of water and the Spirit(John 3, referencing the above passage from Ezekiel).  Apart from Christ we were "dead in our trespasses in sin"(Ephesians 2:1).  Apart form Christ we "were by nature children of wrath"(Ephesians 2:7).

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that know one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:4-10)

This supernatural thing; being born again; being dead, yet made alive in Christ; was activated by God's love for us....FIRST.  We have done nothing of worth to deserve this love or merit the sacrifice that makes this eternal love available to us.  That's why it is called sovereign grace.  Because it is provided by a sovereign God to those that do not deserve it.  This righteous grace is available to all those "who have sinned and fallen short".  And they that believe and confess Jesus as Lord will have been justified freely, as they are enabled by this grace.(Romans 3:22-24, Romans 10:9-13)  And just to be clear, being saved and justified freely by this grace does not justify Christian laziness.  Because just as Ephesians 2:10 states, "we are now his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand , that we should walk in them."

And so now, I will close with the Doxology or closing from the book of Jude.  "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever"(Jude 1:24-25).

In Jesus name,

Amen

Our Love vs God's Love. Which Came First? (OT examples)

I will go ahead and warn you that this one is a little lengthy but it is loaded with truth and now split into two posts thus making them more readable..  By the end of writing it I was overjoyed and enthralled with the amazing grace that God provided out of His great love for the glory of His own name and His great love for me, and most importantly....in spite of the lost, sinful, disobedient, rebellious, enemy of God that I was before He saved me.  If you are a believer, He did it for you too.  If you are not and this strikes a chord with you, it is because He wants to do the same for you.  He has been doing it from the beginning and He will continue until Christ's return.  Check it out.

It is a common misunderstanding among contemporary Christianity that somehow God loves us because of what we do vs. because of what He did.

For example:
Some think that Abraham was made the Father of many nations because He had great faith.  While it is true that Abraham had great faith, God chose him in Genesis 12 well before he had exhibited any great acts of faith.  God wanted to make a covenant, with a people, with the intent of manifesting His glory through them.  These people would be Israel and He simply chose Abraham as the one from whose line this nation and eventually, the Messiah, would come.  Thus all that Abraham was, that was good, faithful, and honorable, he was because God chose him to become these things.  Not because he already was these things.  But Abraham was certainly flawed and used by God in spite of his flaws.

Some think that David was chosen by God and made King because he was good.  In fact, when the Lord rejected Saul and it was time for a new king, God said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:1, "I have provided for myself a king."  Prior to this point there is no account of any great works or faith that made David more worthy or any better than any of his brothers.  God made David for this purpose from the beginning.  Everything good about David came about because of what happened in 1 Samuel 16:13, upon God's instructions to Samuel, "Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.  And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward."  

As for the Children of Israel, in Deuteronomy 7:6-11 God states to them this, and I paraphrase, "I have chosen you.  And it is for no other reason than the fact that I have chosen you and I love you and have called you my own, and have made a covenant with you, that you shall therefore be careful to do the commandments and the statutes and the rules that I command you today."  In fact, God delivered Israel from Egypt purely out of love.  Before they had the Ten Commandments or any other commandments to obey or disobey, he showed His love through their deliverance.  Any favor that Israel had with God was simply because he had chosen to unconditionally place his favor on these people for the purpose of His glory.

This is proven by the fact that though he promised blessings in their obedience, they still disobeyed.  And over and over in this great story of redemption, amidst much great judgement by God for disobedience, He still gives chance after chance.  Rather than destroying them completely as He had done so many other nations, He keeps them around, and blesses them, to fulfill His covenant ultimately in His Son Jesus whom comes from the line of David, one of the greatest of the Kings of Israel.  As stated in Ezekiel 36:16-32, the keeping of this covenant was ultimately not for the benefit of the people of the promise, but to vindicate the holiness of His great name.

I will stop here for brevity's sake.  It was longer but I will separate Old and New Testament examples in an effort to honor my word regarding attempts at shorter posts.  Whether you like this part or not, stick with me.  It only gets better with the New Testament.

Oh the marvelous grace of our incredible, loving, Almighty God!

Josh

God's Glory (Part 4)

Dr. John Piper, is the former minister of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minn. and the author of the book "Desiring God", among others.  This is the book for which the para-church organization and conference are named. He along with the elders of the church founded the organization and his most well known phrase is this, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

I can think of no better way to express in non-scriptural terms the importance and functionality of the glory of God.  I want to give credit to Dr. Piper for helping to instill this passion for God's glory in me and for doing some of the leg work for this post.  Some of the scriptures referenced here were used in a sermon by Dr. Piper entitled "Is God for Us or for Himself?"  If you have never checked out the site, read the book, or heard Dr. Piper's sermons on this subject I encourage you to.  His theology is biblically sound and his passion for God's glory is infectious.

God Is His Own Biggest Fan

So, at the center of the statement above is the fact that God is God-centered, not man-centered.  If this bothers you, ask yourself the question, "Who else would you have Him be centered on?"  If God is centered on anything other than himself or desires all glory and honor to be centered around anything other than himself, He then ceases to be the God of the bible. He is the creator of all things.  There is nothing else that makes the world go round but Him. 

Now, what does the bible say about God's desire for His glory to be made known or in defense of the glory of His name.  I quoted for you Ezekiel 36:22-23 in the post entitled "Christs Goals, Our Purpose, God's Glory".  In this scripture God makes it clear that He has saved us to begin with "for the glory of His name".  In Isaiah 48:11 God states through His prophet, "For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned?  My glory I will not give to another."   In Ephesians 1:6, 12, & 14, every line of scripture states that what is being done is "for/to the praise of His glory".

What An Egomaniac!

Again you might ask, isn't this incredibly egotistical and self-centered.  The answer is YES.  But, that is only a problem for sinful, vain, self-centered, egotistical human beings.  This is because when those characteristics are placed on flawed humans, it steals glory from God...the only one who deserves it.

God Does Not Need Us
The fact of the matter is that God is all sufficient.  He needs nothing.(Romans 11:36)  In his book, Knowledge of the Holy, preacher and theologian A.W. Tozer states this,

"To admit the existence of a need in God is to admit incompleteness in the divine being.  Need is a creature-word and cannot be spoken of the Creator.  God has a voluntary relationship to everything He has made; but He has no necessary relationship to anything outside of Himself. His interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply, nor from any completeness that those creatures can bring to Him who is Himself complete." 

Therefore it is in fact, in our best interest, that God is God-centered.

He did not make us or send Christ to die for us because he needed us, but because we needed Him. Ephesians  2:18 says that, "through Christ we both have access in one Spirit to the Father".  1 Peter 3:18 says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God". The Psalms are loaded with praise and adoration for the glory of God.  Specifically in Psalms 16:11 the psalmist says, "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore".  We benefit greatly from the fact that everything about our existence is originally designed to glorify God, if in fact we are surrendered to Him. 

God the Father Desires the Glory of His Son

I began in Philippians and I will end there.  Again, as the second person of the Trinity, God desires that Jesus's name be lifted up because of the humility he bore in taking human form and obeying His Heavenly Father to the point of death on a cross for the sins of the world.  

Philippians 2:9-10 proclaims this, "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Conclusion

So to wrap this up, working out our salvation is something we must do with a Christ-like humility and with the heart of a servant that is like that of Jesus.  Last, but certainly not least, we must work with the glory of God in view.  We must do this not only to demonstrate the fruit of a real and active salvation at work in our hearts, but also to demonstrate the glory of God to those that do not know Him.  Jesus said, "let your light so shine that men would see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven"(Matthew 5:16).

Make no mistake, the end will come.  Bowing the knee to Christ's Lordship is not optional.  Every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  The question is, will it happen this side of eternity?  If you submit yourself to Christ's Lordship then you get to do it now and forever.  This is an awesome privilege.  When we are most concerned about God's glory in our lives then, by His grace, we are striving to live according to His word.  This in turn will create the most satisfaction because everything that we do centers on Him and we realize that all we need is Him.  

If however, you do not surrender to Christ's Lordship in this life, then you too will bow your knee and confess that He is Lord but, it will be too late to do any good.  At that point His Lordship must be demonstrated by the eternal pouring out of His wrath on all those guilty sinners whom rejected God during life on earth.  It will be an eternity of conscious torment where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

My prayer is that your heart has been opened to the awesome privilege that it is to be a follower of Christ and that you desire to surrender to him today if you have not already.  This is NOT fire insurance.  It is Lordship.  It is glorifying God with all that you are everyday.  It is a decision that you make by God's grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone and, it is a decision that you will never regret.

All Glory to God!

Josh

Our Purpose (Part 3)

This is the continuation of a conversation surrounding the question "What is the purpose of working out your salvation?"  It is built on the central verse of Philippians 2:12-13 and it's surrounding context, specifically, Philippians 2:1-15.  

Last time we looked at the purpose and goals of Christ's ministry in life, death, and resurrection.  This time we will consider our purpose as Christians, as it relates to Philippians 2:14-15.  

The text of Philippians 2:14-15 reads, " Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."

Instruction Toward PurposePhilippians 2:14 is what is known in grammar as an imperative.  An imperative is an instruction or a command.  They are found all through scripture.  This imperative involves a very specific aspect of working out your salvation.  It states, "Do all things without grumbling or questioning".   Another version says grumbling or complaining.  

Why?
The primary purpose for vs.14 is stated in vs. 15.  In order to be blameless and innocent, above reproach so that we do not diminish the effects of the glory of God in our lives.  Where does Paul get this idea?  Could it be from Jesus?  In Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, specifically the part in Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus says, "You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let our light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

Our Purpose is God's Glory Through scripture, in this series of posts, I have presented scriptures in which emphasis on the glory of God and the honoring of His name through proclamation of the truth and holy living has been evident.  This has been presented by God through His prophet Ezekiel, by Jesus himself, and by the Apostle Paul through his letters to the church.  

This is the primary purpose of our existence.  As believers we exist to enjoy a fruitful relationship with our Heavenly Father and to proclaim to others His goodness and their need for Him.  If we are not exercising both the fruit of holy living via this relationship and the proclamation of the Gospel to the lost, we are not fulfilling our purpose.

I encourage you to evaluate every area of your life in relation to these two functions of Christian living and ask yourself if they are being fulfilled.  If not then delve into them further by prayer and study of the Word and ask God to give you the grace and wisdom needed to see them fulfilled.  He will do it.  If you are a child of God then He desires to make these things a reality in your life. 

As Philippians 2:12-13 states, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

May it be so in your life in Jesus name,

Amen

Love,

Josh