Monthly Archives: May 2013

If you are a regular follower of this blog, you are aware that we’re in the midst of study of Paul’s letter to the Romans at Cross Community Church. Occasionally someone in the congregation will comment on something in a sermon that resonated with them and suggest that it would make a great blog. Well, thanks to one of those comments, here is one such message, which was given during the exposition of Romans 5:1.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)

The apostle Paul clearly sets forth the peace that is promised to all those who have trusted in Christ’s atoning work on their behalf. The justified have peace with God through Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote to the Colossian Christians, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation . . .” (Colossians 1:21). Christian believers are declared eternally righteous in God’s sight (we are justified) and thus have peace with God.

This is the promise to all those who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But let me briefly share three pillars of peace that were never promised to the Christian. We should not look to lean on any of these!

PILLAR #1 – Peace with the world
Far from any guarantee of peace with the world, the exact opposite has been promised to us by our Lord Jesus Christ: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, emphasis added). Why should we expect peace with the world when Jesus has promised trouble? The world jammed a crown of thorns down onto our Lord’s forehead and hung Him on a cross. Do we expect to wear a crown of glory in their presence? The Son of Man had no place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20); do we expect to recline in the lap of luxury? No, peace with the world was never promised.

PILLAR #2 – Peace with the flesh
From the moment of our conversion, a war began between our flesh and God’s Spirit; that battle will rage until we are brought all the way into glory. The apostle Paul made this point perfectly clear, warning us that “The sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want” (Galatians 5:17). It was Paul who cried, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24.)

Make no mistake, the old sinful man is waging war against the new spiritual man, and we can expect to be harassed and hounded by the corruption of our sinful nature. Peace with the flesh was never promised.

PILLAR #3 – Peace with the Devil
The Devil was after our Lord in His wilderness experience (Matthew 4:1-11) and he is after us in ours (1 Peter 5:8). There will never be peace between the Christian and the Prince of Darkness; we can go back to the Garden of Eden to find this promise. God told Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Enmity means we are enemies; this promised enmity is clearly no promise of peace! Just as the “sinful mind is hostile to God” (Romans 8:7), and the “friendship of the world is hatred toward God” (James 4:4), we will be at enmity with the devil until we are brought safely into our heavenly home.

Our promised peace is with God, not the world, the flesh, or the devil. It should not come as a surprise to you when you warring against the world, fighting against the flesh, and being dogged by the devil. You can be certain of this: if the world, the flesh, or the devil never distressed, discouraged, nor battled against you, then God has never created new life in you. Peace with sin is sinful peace—not the peace promised to the saints of God.

You have no promise of peace with the world, the flesh, or the devil, but you do have peace promised with God. Could there be any better peace in both life and death? I think not!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

All believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are called the “saints” of God—not because they are perfect, but simply because they are His. In the original Greek, the word hagios, which is translated as our English “saints,” means set apart ones. Saints are those whom God has set aside according to His eternal, sovereign purpose.

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7)

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ–their Lord and ours. (1 Corinthians 1:2)

God calls these saints to be “searching saints,” and what they are to be diligently searching are the sacred Scriptures. Jesus said,

You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me. (John 5:39)

So . . . if you are in Christ you are one of those set apart for God. Are you a searching saint who is investing time in searching the Scriptures? The Greek ereunao, the word rendered as search in John 5:39, can be likened to someone who is panning for gold. Gravel and sand is scooped into a pan and gently agitated in water. The gold panner slowly sifts and pours out the water and lighter materials. The heavier materials, including possible nuggets of gold, sink to the bottom of the sediment. What remains within the pan is then scrutinized (searched) to find any gold that might be there. The primary reason we are called to be searching saints is because skimming the surface will never bring us into the deep truths of the Gospel. For those who are satisfied with milk, a mere surface reading will accomplish this goal. But for those who hunger and thirst after the Master’s meat, which will cause them to grow and mature in the faith, a diligent and disciplined searching of the Scriptures is required.

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews cautioned, “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:13-14). We must dig, sift, and mine our way through God’s holy Word if we wish to find its hidden treasures. Every believer must be a Berean believer.

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17:11)

This passage clearly suggests that there is a great return given by God to those who emulate the Bereans in searching the Scriptures. First, the Bereans are said to have been of more noble character than the Thessalonians, and the passage tells us why: it was because of their great passion and precision in searching the Scriptures every day. This was not done when they got around to it or had nothing else better to do. This was not reserved for their time in corporate worship service. But daily did the Bereans search the sacred Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true.
Oh, how we need more Bereans today in the church of Jesus Christ! With so many theologically barren pulpits across our country, we need to be a people of the Word by being a people who are in the Word. The more we search the Scriptures, the more we come face to face with our beloved Savior: “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

Marinate in that Gospel truth for a moment. Regardless of where you open up the Scriptures, you come face to face with Jesus. From Genesis to Revelation we are confronted with our Savior and Lord in every passage. Let us all be “searching saints,” and let this be the confession of our lives!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Today is Memorial Day, a federal holiday in the United States. It occurs every year on the final Monday of May. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service. Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, and many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries. Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veteran’s Day. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving, while Veteran’s Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.

To be sure, our freedom isn’t free and every brave man and woman who lost their lives defending this great nation proves this truth. They gave up their hopes. They gave up their dreams. They gave up their future plans. They gave up the families they had and the families they never got the chance to have. They gave up their lives to serve this great nation to give to us the freedom we enjoy today.

Sadly, far too many in our country today have forgotten or never learned what Memorial Day is all about. Some see it only as a 3 day holiday to hang out with family and friends for a barbeque. Others see it as merely an extra day off from work and a time to catch up on a little extra sleep. Still others spend their time working through the countless advertisements to find the best Memorial Day sales from mattresses to automobiles. How easy it is to get so caught up in enjoying our freedom that we forget the fact that it wasn’t free. It cost many much…and it cost far too many all. When you think about it for a moment, pausing today simply to say thank you is a good thing, but it really doesn’t seem like enough. But let us at the very least do that.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:12-13

In these words we find the One who truly understands best what it means to sacrifice it all. The Lord Jesus Christ lived out the truth of this command demonstrating “no greater love” but there is something quite amazing about what He did. Jesus did not lay down His life for His friends. He laid down His live for those who were His enemies. He died for those who hated Him, for those who hurled insults at Him, for those who dishonored His mighty name, and for all those who put Him to the most horrible death by slow suffocation while hanging nailed to a cross.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. Colossians 1:21

As we go throughout this Memorial Day let us pause and take some time to remember and appreciate all those brave men and women who gave it all for our freedom. Pray for their families and find ways to participate in the process of helping all of our veterans and their families who suffer a lifetime of the after effects of the horrors of war. And as we do this, let us also remember the greatest sacrifice of all, the one paid by our Lord Jesus Christ for all those who would put their trust in Him for salvation. His perfect life and sacrificial death not only gave us the freedom we enjoy today from the reign of sin and death, the freedom to live a life that is pleasing in His sight, but secured our freedom for all eternity.

Remember, because of what Jesus freely did on our behalf, there is a time coming when their will be no more tears, no more suffering, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more wars, and no more death. Let that truth fill our hearts today and every day with thanksgiving for the One who laid down His life for us. The freedom we enjoy in our great nation wasn’t free. It was blood-bought by the brave men and women of the Armed Forces. And make no mistake, the freedom we enjoy as Christians wasn’t free either. It was blood-bought by the precious Son of the Most High God. May God bless you this Memorial Day!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

That seems like a strange title for today’s meditation, doesn’t it? However, by the time you finish working through this article, I don’t think is will seem so strange. And I hope you will be both encouraged and inspired to make sure there is, indeed, a “church” in your home. Consider the following passage.

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home.  (Philemon 1:1-2)

To find a church meeting in the home of Philemon was not uncommon. Churches met in homes until about A.D. 200; church buildings were not established until the 3^rd century. For the early apostolic church, the size of the house would determine the size of the gathering of Christians worshiping their Lord. Inasmuch as people started migrating to church buildings for the corporate worship of God, Scripture gives no indication that God preferred that the “church” would leave the home. Charles Spurgeon put it this way:

Is there a Church in this house? Are parents, children, friends, servants, all members of it or are some still unconverted? Let us pause here and let the question go round—Am I a member of the Church in this house? How would father’s heart leap for joy, and mother’s eyes fill with holy tears if from the eldest to the youngest all were saved!

If there be such a Church in our house, let us order it well, and let all act as in the sight of God. Let us move in the common affairs of life with studied holiness, diligence, kindness, and integrity. More is expected of a church than of an ordinary household; family worship must, in such a case, be more devout and hearty; internal love must be more warm and unbroken, and external conduct must be more sanctified and Christ-like. We need not fear that the small number will put us out of the list of churches, for the Holy Spirit has here enrolled a family-church in the inspired book of remembrance.

Wow! Wouldn’t that be well said of our own homes today, to be remembered as a family church? And that brings me to a wonderful story I would like to share with you.

Our church plant started in a home back in February 2012. Our dear friends, Joe and Carolyn Miller, opened up their home to launch the planting of Cross Community Church. Joe thought a gathering in his living room would be a nice start for our church. When I told him we might overflow out on to the pool deck, he never flinched.

What I have come to understand over the past 15 months is that there was already a church in their home long before we ever showed up to launch The Cross. The Miller home is built not upon shifting sand, but upon the Rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is a place where everyone should feel welcomed . . . and this is the mark of their home.

I remember Joe saying to me, “This is how the church got started back in the days of the apostles and I think this is the way God would like us to start The Cross in Deerfield Beach.” Well, he was right. The launch was electric; the atmosphere was charged with a powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. Launching our church plant in their home church is a time no one who was there will ever forget.

Why? Because church was nothing new in the Miller home. Today they can say along with John, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 1:4). Sons John, Paul, Jimmy, and daughter Jasmine are all walking in the truths of the Gospel. Now, the home church did not save these children; Jesus did! But the Bible makes it clear that God uses means, and one of the means God uses is a home that is dedicated for the sole use of expanding the cause of God’s kingdom.

Carolyn puts the Gospel on display through her incredible gifts of hospitality and service in their home church. She simply cannot do enough for others, regardless of the cost or circumstance. Joe is busily engaged in sharing the good news of the Gospel with everyone who enters, and I am convinced more people hear the Gospel behind the walls of the Miller home than in most churches today. They have taken the model of the 1^st century church, marked by the love of Christ, and made it their mark in ministry to everyone who walks through their doors.

So . . . is there a church in your home today? If yes, praise God for the grace He has poured out upon you and your family in your home. If you would have to answer “no,” prayerfully consider how you can begin cultivating church in your home—for God’s glory and the good of all those who enter in.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

In a world where people exaggerate their accomplishments and abilities, there is One who walked this earth who did not. Not only was every word from His mouth truth, He Himself was the Truth.

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”(Luke 19:40)

Jesus uttered these words during His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. The people were shouting and waving palm branches as their King approached Jerusalem. Some of the Pharisees demanded that Jesus rebuke (silence) His disciples, to which He gave this remarkable response about speaking stones. Jesus was saying that even if He silenced the crowds, the stones would burst into praise and adoration to celebrate the coming of the great King and Savior.

Should we find the idea of shouting stones hard to believe? Coming from the One who healed the sick, made the lame walk, gave sight to the blind, and brought the dead to life . . . not at all! Jesus has always done what He said He would do because He is who He said He was: the very Son of the Living God. Jesus created all things, including the stones, and sustains them by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). He spoke all things into existence and breathed life into the first man. Surely Omnipotence can give speech to a silent stone!

There was a time when the twin stones of the Law cried out for our condemnation, declaring just how far we moved away from God. But Jesus has forever silenced those stones; He broke them against the Gospel, which frees us from the penalty of the law.

I can only imagine what that huge stone might have said when the angel rolled it away from the opening of the tomb and Jesus walked out alive on that first Easter morning!

To be sure, every stone could be made to shout of our Savior, but we must not let that happen; we must refuse to keep quiet about our Chief Cornerstone! The stones should not need to make a sound, because we are shouting from the rooftops about our Lord and Savior, who came to seek and save the lost. Let us with one voice tell the world about the forgiveness we have received! Let us boldly proclaim the unconditional love that has been poured out upon us! Let us sing of the glories of the Gospel that have freed us from the prison of the past, propelling us into our promised future!

Even in the face of opposition we must shout of our Savior, for He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. And if Jesus is with us, shall we shrink back from the privilege of telling the world about the only way of salvation, which is available to anyone who believes? God forbid! Peter said, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5).

We are called “living stones” and God is building us into a spiritual house. At one time we had no voice, being dead in trespass and sins; but now, having been raised to the newness of life in Christ, we can sing of His grace and His glory. May we be living stones that cry out about our Savior!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Ever feel useless? If you are anything like me—a great sinner in need of an even greater Savior—you may have felt that way from time to time. Well, get ready for a word of cosmic comfort today!

Although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul–an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus–I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.  (Philemon 8-11)

Philemon was a wealthy Christian who lived in Colossae. Slavery was a common practice in the Roman world and Paul had not received a mandate from God to abolish it. However, as several New Testament passages show, Paul intended to transform slavery through the Gospel transforming the way Christian slaves and Christian slave owners related with each other.

A slave belonging to Philemon, named Onesimus, took something of value and ran away from Philemon. Onesimus somehow met Paul in Rome, and through Paul’s teaching, Onesimus became a Christian believer. Now Onesimus needed to do the right thing: return to his owner and face whatever consequences Philemon chose to impose on him.

Onesimus wouldn’t return empty-handed, however. Paul wrote a letter—which we know today as the New Testament epistle “Philemon”—asking the Christian slave owner to receive Onesimus back, not as a slave but as a Christian brother. The name Onesimus means “useful.” Paul was appealing to Philemon’s Christian heart to overlook the offense of Onesimus, who was “useless” without Christ when he ran away, returning now as “useful” because of his faith in Jesus.

Before Jesus shows up, you and I are just as useless, from the perspective of doing anything good that brings honor, praise, and glory to God. We were just like Onesimus: runaway slaves, stubbornly refusing to bow our knee to the King of kings. But once Jesus saves us, we become useful for advancing the cause of the kingdom. We are useless no more, now that we have been redeemed from our slavery to sin in order to rejoice in sonship to our Savior.

Marinate on this for just a moment. After you have been united to Christ by grace through faith, you are useless no more, no matter what you do.

•  Abraham lied and he was still USEFUL.
•  Jacob schemed and he was still USEFUL.
•  Moses was fearful and he was still USEFUL.
•  David was an adulterer and a murderer and he was still USEFUL.
•  Matthew collected taxes for Rome, stole from his people, and he was still USEFUL.
•  Peter denied and he was still USEFUL.
•  Thomas doubted and he was still USEFUL.
•  Paul persecuted the church and he was still USEFUL.

Once you are in Christ, you are useless no more, regardless of anything you have done, regardless of anything you do or don’t do. To be sure, there are consequences to your behavior, and some of those consequences may follow you for the rest of your life. But you are always fit to be used by God, as long as you are willing to get back up and into the game of life.

In reading the biblical account of Onesimus, it is obvious that the apostle Paul set his affection upon this runaway slave for no reason that was to be found in Onesimus. And that, beloved, is a picture of Jesus . . . and you and me. Jesus set his affection upon us, slaves on the run, for no reason that was in us. Indeed, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

In ancient Rome, the only thing Onesimus deserved was punishment as a slave on the run. Instead he got grace. In our day, we deserved the eternal punishment as slaves on the run. When we trusted in Christ as our Savior, we too got amazing grace. What a beautiful picture of the Gospel—going from useless to useless no more!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.  (Exodus 20:4-5)

When we read the second commandment in the year 2013, we may have a tendency to think this word was for a primitive people who made graven images of wood, stone, and gold. But if we think this is the limit of idolatry, we will miss our portion in it!

OK, so we may not bow down to a golden calf like the children of Israel did when they grew impatient waiting for Moses to return from his meeting on Mount Sinai. But let’s not kid ourselves! We bow down to countless other things that are just as dangerous, and often even more dangerous, because the danger is hard to see. See if any of the following “graven images” resonate with you at all:

•  Money
•  Work
•  Sex
•  Power
•  Prestige
•  Pleasure
•  Position
•  Applause of man
•  Approval
•  Education
•  Relationships

This list could go on for pages, couldn’t it? There are some things there that are “good” things; the problem arises when we take a good thing and make it an ultimate thing; then it becomes a bad thing—an idol.

Take church service as an example. That’s a very good thing. But when church service becomes an ultimate thing, displacing Jesus from the throne of your life, it has become a bad thing. This happens all the time! It is one of the things pastors like me have to guard against on a daily basis. We can so totally focus on serving God that we miss God altogether.

But this is not for you!

Do men make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!  (Jeremiah 16:20)

When we turn anything smaller than Jesus into our “god,” the blessing we seek turns into a burden that can—and often does—bury us under its weight. These “gods” simply cannot deliver on their promises because they are not God! They promise help, but in times of trouble the help never arrives. What satisfaction they may yield today steals our joy tomorrow.

The idols we bow down to today always take more than they can ever give. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Why are we so bewitched with vanities? We pity the poor heathen who adore a god of stone, and yet worship a god of gold.”

I’ve shared this quote from C.S. Lewis with you before, but it bears repeating here. “We are half-hearted creatures,” Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory, “fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Only the truths of the Gospel can fill the longings of our hearts . . . and keep them filled too! The Gospel makes a promise: to meet you in your place of need and to keep meeting you in your place of need . . . and it delivers on that promise every time.

Everyone is living for something. And whatever that something is, it is your master. It consumes you. It enslaves you. In this life we will always be confronted with two choices. We can bow down to the one true, living God or we can bow down to something smaller. One will always bring life; the other brings death.

So . . . do you have any graven images in your life today? Is there something you might have missed seeing? Sexual immorality is easy to see; service to God is much more subtle. Becoming a slave to financial success sounds a lot like worshipping a golden idol; making our children the ultimate thing in our lives seems like such a good thing . . .

May the Lord purge us from our idolatry and lead us further up and further into our vision of the cross and the love that held Jesus on it. That is the only love that will deliver what it promises—and it delivers every time!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the most beloved stories in Scripture. In that story we see two sons who seem quite different on the surface, yet both were lost and looking for love in all the wrong places. Today I’d like to look at another son in the story who just might minister to you today, right where you are.

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living . . .

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”(Luke 15:11-13, 25-32)

The younger son was in a faraway country, squandering an inheritance he did not deserve to receive at the time he requested it—“demanded it” might be a better description. The older brother was in a faraway condition, busily engaged in working his way into the father’s heart, not realizing he was already there. Both sons were lost; both of them were in desperate need of a Savior.

Some of us can relate to the prodigal; we’ve wandered off into some far country, seeking to satisfy the sinful desires of our hearts. Some of us would have to confess that we’ve acted a lot like the older brother; we’ve languished in a faraway condition, cold and indifferent to the Father’s love.

But as I said, there’s a third son not mentioned in the story . . . and we all know who he is. He is not far off or in a faraway condition; he is just adrift. With no intentional departure from His father’s presence, nor any real desire to win His favor, this son is simply going through the motions. He is making a living but not even close to making a difference. For this son, Wednesday is “hump day,” and the beginning of the weekend is marked by the letters TGIF.

Many of us are neither running away from nor running toward the One who has given us everything. We aren’t openly sinful like the prodigal, nor are we insufferably self-righteous like the older brother. We are simply floating on the surface of the sea, at the mercy of the strongest wind that is blowing at the time.

So . . . which of these three sons have you been acting like lately? Have you been running away from God? Running toward Him? Or ambling along on the proverbial treadmill?

We don’t need to be any of these three sons! The Gospel frees us from the need to run off to find our satisfaction in anything smaller than Jesus. The Gospel liberates us from the need to work our way into God’s divine favor. And the Gospel releases us to respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit that flows from a heart that overflows with love and thanksgiving for all God has done. We are finally and fully freed from the “doing” in order to get—because we have already been given everything!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

How good and pleasing it can be to our flesh when we come upon a ship that’s available to take us in the opposite direction from where God has clearly called us to go. We think, “If it’s available, it must be for me!” This is what I like to call “The Jonah Justification.”

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.  (Jonah 1:1-3)

The Gospel frees us to live a life filled with unimaginable joy. But all too often we become fearful about the demands of the Gospel, rather than rejoicing in the delights of the Gospel, and we flee to Tarshish—a destination in the opposite direction of Nineveh—on the first available ship we can find. Oh, we delight in obedience when obedience is delightful. But how often obedience demands from us that which we would rather not give! So, like Jonah, we run.

Yet the beauty in Jonah’s story is how God would not let him do what he wanted. God pursued Jonah . . . and He is pursuing you and me today. Like Jonah, we can run but we can’t hide! We may justify our retreat in our own minds . . . but that makes no difference to God! God is in the business of sending us places we don’t want to go and calling us to minister to people we don’t want to minister to.

A quick moment of meditation today might not send us racing off into the “Ninevehs” of this world, but it will go a long way in keeping us out of the ticket line for a seat on a ship that would take us in the opposite direction! Perhaps a moment of pause this day will have you making that long overdue call or writing that note of thanksgiving. Maybe it will cause you to reflect on the forgiveness that Jesus has poured out upon you—and continues pouring out upon you moment by moment—which will make you willing to forgive others.

It may seem safer and easier to board a ship that’s docked at your port, promising to take you in some other direction from the one God is calling you to take. But we must always keep in mind that every available ship is not available for us to board. Sometimes they are there simply to test our commitment and discipline.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (Proverbs 14:12)

There is always a way that seems right to us, but if it is not God’s way, it leads to death in the end. It could be physical death or spiritual death. God knows what’s best for us. He knows exactly what we need in order to grow into the person He is calling us to be.

So . . . where are you headed today? If you find yourself on a ship heading in the wrong direction, get off immediately! God may not send a great fish to protect you and propel you to the shore of your sanctification . . . but He will provide you the means and the strength to get going in the right direction again.

One last thing: there was a way of obedience that led to death . . . and it was the way Jesus traveled. He knew that by obediently following the will of His Father in Heaven, it would lead Him to the cross. He went that way with you in His mind and on His heart. He never even glanced in the other direction!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When we read through the Scriptures, it seems remarkable—perhaps even incomprehensible—how Jesus sets His love, time and time again, upon those we would call the unlovable. He set His love upon people whom society had no interest in . . . and He did it to show us what a Gospel-saturated love is to look like.

9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:9-13)

The term “tax collector” wasn’t simply a title for a job; it was a label of the utmost judgment. “Hated” and “despised” are two words that best describe the tax collectors of Christ’s day, and that is what Matthew was: a hated and despised tax collector. Israel’s Roman conquerors had hired Jewish men to collect taxes and gave these men the authority to keep anything they collected over and above the money that was due to Rome. So the tax collector was not only working for the hated Roman invader, who held his people in bondage; he added insult to injury by collecting more than he needed—lining his pockets at the expense of his own people! To say that the tax collector was viewed as a scoundrel is an understatement! His neighbors would have seen him as a traitorous villain.

Now enter Jesus. Jesus was well aware just how much the people despised Matthew. Jesus used tax collectors as examples of “the lowest form of life” on more than one occasion, such as the time He delivered this stinging rebuke to the Jewish elders and chief priests: “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you” (Matthew 1:21). By equating tax collectors with prostitutes, Jesus was simply acknowledging what was a widely held opinion.

And yet in spite all this, Jesus called Matthew to “Follow me!” He even went to Matthew’s house to eat with him, a sign of friendship and intimacy. Christ knew the condemnation that would greet His decision to pour love out on the unlovable, but He never hesitated. He had come for sick sinners who desperately needed a doctor; the Great Physician had arrived to pour out His love on those who were “kicked to the curb,” so to speak. When was the last time you felt like that?

Jesus came for people like the tax collector, the prostitute, the immoral, the beggars, the blind, the crippled, the sinners, and even self-righteous Pharisees . . . people just like you and me! We all have one thing in common with Matthew, which is that we are all sinners in desperate need of a Savior. We can try to save ourselves or we can trust in the only Savior of the world: the Lord Jesus Christ. As for me and my house, we will choose the Savior of the world!

You remember the rest of Matthew’s story, don’t you? The hated tax collector became one of the twelve apostles and, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gave us the very first book of the New Testament.

You see, it doesn’t matter where Jesus finds you—whether you’re in the pit or in a palace. It only matters whether or not you heed His call to follow Him, regardless of where He leads you. Matthew knew full well what everyone else thought of him; but he heard the call, got up, and followed Jesus. In keeping his focus on Jesus, Matthew never let the opinion of others derail his divine destiny.

What about you today? When you get right down to it, we are all tax collectors—our sin makes us ugly and unlovable—yet we all have a willing Savior who is ready to pour our His love on one who is so unlovable.

One last question: are we willing to do the same to others? “Freely you have received,” Jesus said, “freely give” (Matthew 10:8). Will you share Christ’s love with those who need a healing touch from the Great Physician?

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!