Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” (John 5:8)

In today’s Scripture passage, we find both a word of comfort and a word of challenge. Let’s take a look.

Jesus was in Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals and came upon the pool Bethesda near the Sheep Gate. This was the place where countless disabled people would be brought because it was believed that on special occasions an angel would stir the waters in the pool, and the first one into the water would be healed of his or her affliction. On this day, Jesus saw a man lying by the pool who had been paralyzed for 38 years. What happened next was as shocking as it is strengthening. Jesus looked at this man who could not walk, and told him to do what he simply could not do . . . “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

There is much to be gleaned from this account, but one thing is certain: there is a time in life when we are to do what we simply cannot do. Why? Because Jesus is calling us to do it! From our human perspective, Jesus often asks the impossible. This is the stuff of faith. If all Jesus ever did was ask us to do what we can do, faith would not be required. We would work out our lives in our own strength and not in the strength of God. We would live a purely natural existence.

There are numerous examples of this principle throughout sacred Scripture. Perhaps none is greater than when Jesus commanded Peter to step out of the boat and come to Him on the water. This was the time for Peter to do what he absolutely could not do . . . because Jesus was calling him to do it. And in an amazing leap of faith, Peter actually got out of the boat and walked on water! Yes, we know that Peter took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink, but that is not the point I wish to emphasize today. Rather than focus on Peter’s “little faith,” I want to show you something else.

Peter stepped out of the boat in faith, knowing full well that, humanly speaking, no one can walk on water. But Peter also knew that with God all things were possible. Peter learned many lessons that day, and perhaps the most important one was that there is a time to do what you cannot do.

So, where in your life right now is Jesus calling you to do the impossible? Listen, what cannot be done can be done when God in Christ is doing it! If you ask most Christians if they believe in miracles, they usually answer “Yes.” But if you ask those same Christians if they believe in a personal miracle, sadly, their answer is frequently “No.” Christian, please hold this thought close to you: There is always a miracle in the making when the Miracle-Maker is at work. And right now—right at this moment—Jesus is at work in you.

Perhaps this is the time in your life to do what you cannot do?

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

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work . . . (Exodus 20:9-10)

Labor Day is a holiday observed in the United States on the first Monday in September, celebrating the economic and social contributions of workers. Today I would like to take a moment to celebrate the contributions of all workers who are busily engaged in the labor of building the kingdom of God.

First we should ask, “Who are the kingdom builders?” Is that designation reserved only for those who are in full-time vocational service, such as pastors and missionaries? If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you know the answer to that question is a resounding “No!”

Here are some profound words on this subject from Os Guinness; I have excerpted an extended quote from his book, The Call:

There is a great distortion which argues that Christ gave two ways of life to his church. One is the perfect life, the other is permitted. The perfect life is spiritual, dedicated to contemplation and reserved for priests, monks, and nuns; the permitted life is secular, dedicated to action and open to such tasks as soldiering, governing, farming, trading, and raising families. Higher vs. lower, sacred vs. secular, perfect vs. permitted, contemplation vs. action. Sadly, this two-tier or double-life view of calling flagrantly perverted biblical teaching by narrowing the sphere of calling and excluding most Christians from its scope.

If all that a believer does grows out of faith and is done for the glory of God, then all dualistic distinctions are demolished. There is no higher/lower, sacred/secular, perfect/permitted, contemplative/active, or first class/second class. Calling is the premise of Christian existence itself. Calling means that everyone, everywhere, and in everything fulfills his or her (secondary) callings in response to God’s (primary) calling. For the Reformers, the peasant and the merchant—for us, the business person, the teacher, the factory worker, and the television anchor—can do God’s work (or fail to do it) just as much as the minister and the missionary.

The recovery of the holistic understanding of calling was dramatic. William Tyndale wrote that if our desire is to please God, pouring water, washing dishes, cobbling shoes, and preaching the Word is all one. William Perkins claimed “polishing shoes was s sanctified and holy act and the action of a shepherd in keeping sheep, performed as I have said in his kind, is as good a work before God as in the action of a judge in giving sentence, or of a magistrate in ruling, or a minister in preaching.”

The cultural implications of recovering true calling were explosive. Calling gave to everyday work a dignity and spiritual significance under God that dethroned the primacy of leisure and contemplation. Calling gave to humble people and ordinary tasks an investment of equality that shattered hierarchies and was a vital impulse toward democracy. Calling gave to such practical things as work, thrift, and long-term planning a reinforcement that made them powerfully influential in the rise of modern capitalism. Calling gave to the endeavor to make Christ Lord of every part of life a fresh force that transformed churches and cultures. Calling gave to the idea of “talents” a new meaning, so that they were no longer seen purely as spiritual gifts and graces but as natural and a matter of giftedness in the modern sense of the term. Calling demanded and inspired the transforming vision of the lordship of Christ expressed in the famous saying of the great Dutch prime minister, Abraham Kuyper: “There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ‘This is mine! This belongs to me!’”

WOW! Now that should help us all see the vision and value of calling from God’s perspective. From our first parents in the Garden of Eden, all of life is to be lived coram deo—before the face of God. It doesn’t matter if one is a butcher, baker, or candle-stick maker—or a priest, monk, or nun—every service is sacred when lived in the light of eternity for the glory of God.

So who are the kingdom builders for the King of kings and the Lord of lords? Everyone who is putting their gifts, talents, and abilities into faithful service in order to glorify God and expand the cause of His kingdom is a kingdom builder. This Labor Day, take a moment to do a personal evaluation in the area of your own calling. Ask yourself: is there any sacred/spiritual split? How is your work impacting the kingdom of God? How are you allowing God to use you, right where you currently are, to expand the cause of His kingdom?

Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  (1 Corinthians 10:31)

I often tell our congregation that there is indeed one menial job in this world: that job is the one where Jesus cannot be found. If your labor is a labor of love for the glory of God, the good of others, and the expansion of God’s kingdom, you can rest assured that what you are doing—regardless of what others might think of it—echoes in eternity. Let that truth bless you this Labor Day and all the days of your life as you labor for your Lord.

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

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:2-3)

The Israelites remained true to God’s Word to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28), even while they were in bondage for more than 400 years in Egypt. In the harsh conditions of that time, bearing children required the services of a midwife, who assisted the mother in the process of giving birth—often cutting the baby’s umbilical cord, washing the infant, and presenting the child to the parents and family. But as absolutely necessary as midwives were in the physical realm of God’s people, the Master has no need of them in the spiritual realm.

Here is why the Master has no need of His disciples playing the role of midwives: We play no role in the birth of the new believer! Salvation belongs to God; it is all of God and His grace. God gives the gift of repentance and faith. God raises the dead to life. As Jesus told Nicodemus, we are born again by the work of the Spirit, not the work of man (John 3:6). God in Christ does it all, with no help from modern midwives. There is no need for any of us to cut the cord, wash the baby Christian, and present the newborn believer to the family of faith.

However, there is a need to step into the life of the baby Christian from the moment after new birth, until his or her last day on this earth. The role of the Christian is to disciple new believers, not deliver them. We are to make ourselves available to God to be used as instruments of sanctification in His mighty right hand. And the first and most important aspect of sanctification is the renewing of the mind, which comes through the reading of Scripture. We are to bring the Word of God to all those we come in contact with. We are to encourage them to be good Bereans, exhorting them to search the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11).

So . . . how are you doing in the area of helping others grow up in their faith? Remember, the Master has no need for midwives, but He does need willing workers who will bring others through the pages of sacred Scripture. After the new birth, which is solely the work of God, it is our calling to help the believer understand what it means to believe, belong, and become a fully-functioning member of the family of faith.

Biblical truth received and responded to does more than change behavior. It renews the mind, realigns the will, and recalibrates the heart. This is the business of making disciples, which is the call for every believer—not in birthing new Christians, but in growing them to maturity.

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

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. (John 6:66)

I have a word of comfort and caution for you today. It is a word designed to help us understand the teachings of Jesus without taking offense. In today’s verse, the apostle John records that there were many who did take offense at the words of our Lord and walked with Him no more. Jesus had been teaching deep Gospel truths about being the Bread of Life, using such words as these . . .

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:51)

On the surface, this teaching seemed offensive. “This is a hard teaching,” many grumbled. “Who can accept it?” (John 6:60). Jesus was teaching deep spiritual truths about the Gospel that his audience was unable to understand . . . so they took offense and walked away. Here is the point: Jesus intentionally made Himself an offense to His audience. Why? Because it separated the false disciples from the true disciples.

When you think about it, many of the teachings of Jesus are offensive. For example, consider this: “Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Who reading this is excited about living a life of self-denial and cross-bearing?

It has been well said that the Christian life is not hard to live; it’s impossible! And that is entirely true . . . apart from the grace of God. Remember, the promise of Jesus is safe passage into glory, but not without storms and struggles along the way. The test for everyone who professes faith in Christ is this: Will there be a point where you find the teachings of Jesus offensive and refuse to follow Him? The world tells you to satisfy your every desire; Jesus says deny yourself. The world tells you to grab all you can, that he who dies with the most toys wins; Jesus says give all you have. The world says look out for number one; Jesus says look out for everyone else. The world says seek happiness; Jesus says seek holiness. The world tells you to follow your heart; Jesus says “Follow me.”

Listen: Having been bought at the price of His precious blood, you are now a slave to your Savior. And while His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30), make no mistake: He is Lord. He is a jealous God, and He will demand everything from you. Jesus did not raise you from death to life so that you could give Him half of your heart. He demands all of you . . . and rightfully so! He gave you all of Himself while hanging on a cross; it is only right for His disciples to give Him back the same.

How is it with you? Have you taken offense at any of the teachings of your Lord? Every moment you are faced with a choice: Take offense and satisfy yourself . . . or take no offense and live out your slavery to your Savior. The first choice leads to death; the second leads to life. Which will you choose?

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

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  (2 Corinthians 12:10)

The Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior; He is also our opposite. He is infinite and we are finite. He is omnipotent and we are weak. He is omniscient and we know very little. He is omnipresent and we are bound by space and time. That is the way God intended it to be all the way back in creation. It is not a result of the fall; rather, it is simply God’s perfect plan for humanity.

God never intended for us to be His equal. This was the problem with the fallen angels who rebelled against God in heaven; they wanted to be equal to God. And this was the very same problem with Adam and Eve when they rebelled against God in the Garden. The leader of the fallen angels appeared to our first parents as a slithering serpent; “You will be like God,” he hissed (Genesis 3:5).

Equality was not part of God’s plan when He created the angelic beings in heaven or humanity on earth. There is no greater demonstration of rebellion than when we rise up and seek to be like God. Make no mistake, the greatest sin of the human race is the evil of trying to overcome the oppositeness between the Creator and the creature. And we all do this every time we remove God from the throne of our lives in the hopes that we take His rightful spot.

Listen, there was only one Person in the history of the world who could—and did—truthfully and rightfully claim equality with God, because there was no oppositeness in Him. Jesus said . . .

I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? (John 14:9-10)

Only the God-Man could make such a claim. Because Jesus was fully God and fully man, He was equal with the Father in every way. And it is only when you and I let God be God that we can get on with the perfect plan He has for our imperfect lives. And in that perfect plan, we see this overwhelming truth: opposites attract. When God in Christ draws us to Himself, the pathway is now open for us to bring our opposites to Him that He might apply His healing ointment.

• When we bring our fears, He applies the ointment of His faith.
• When we bring our doubts, He applies the ointment of His belief.
• When we bring our hopelessness, He applies the ointment of His hope.
• When we bring our weakness, He applies the ointment of His strength.
• When we bring our discouragements, He applies the ointment of His joy.

In God’s economy . . . opposites attract. I hope you’ll be encouraged today to draw near to Him who is your opposite and rejoice as He draws near to you.

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

The just shall live by faith.  (Romans 1:17 NKJV)

Justification is a one-time act of God’s amazing grace pronounced on the life of the believer. Sadly, many suppose that is the end of the importance of our justification. Not true! Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that justification is indeed a one-time act of God’s grace, but it is to be followed by a lifetime of action.

Here is the simplest way to look at it: Having been declared righteous in the high court of heaven—not on the basis of any work we have done, but solely on the basis of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ—we have been reconciled with God and enjoy a new position in life. That new position comes under many headings. Here are just a few:

• Blessed
• Adopted
• Accepted
• Forgiven
• Redeemed
• Loved

We have received this new position by grace through faith; new practices must follow. We are to live out practically what we are positionally. Our belief is to be worked out through our behaviors. A lifetime of action must flow from the fact of our justification, because the grace that saved us is the same grace that is sanctifying us all the way into glory.

The key that unlocks the door leading to a lifetime of action that glorifies God and blesses others is the belief that we are who God says we are. When we believe deep down in our hearts that we are adopted, accepted, blessed, forgiven, loved, and redeemed in the one-time act of our Lord Jesus Christ, our lives will begin to reflect that belief in new behaviors.

So let me ask you: How are you doing at living out practically what God says you are positionally? If the answer is something less than you would like it to be, that is simply because you have not yet fully embraced the fact that you have been . . .

Blessed with every spiritual blessing

Adopted into God’s family of faith

Accepted in the Beloved

Forgiven by His grace

Redeemed by His blood

and

Loved with His everlasting love!

Let me encourage you to marinate in this truth today and see if it does not begin to set you free to live out practically (even though it will be imperfectly) what you are positionally.

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

When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you — a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant — then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (Deuteronomy 6:10-12)

Do you know the difference between sedatives and stimulants? A sedative is designed to “take the edge off” and help you fall asleep. A stimulant is designed to “sharpen the edge” and keep you going and going and going. I want to share a story with you about a time when God’s people allowed past blessings to act like a sedative rather than a stimulant. God’s people allowed themselves to be sedated into a sense of sinful, self-centered security, rather than stimulated into a season of sold-out, Savior-centered service.

After Israel spent more than 400 years in bondage in Egypt, God sent His servant Moses to deliver His people from slavery. God used a series of miracles to deliver Israel—the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, manna from heaven, water from a rock, and guidance by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night—but these many blessings acted like sedatives on God’s people.

Paul described the tragic outcome of their sinful thinking in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. Israel’s past blessings sedated them into a season of self-absorption, because they focused on the blessings rather than the One who had graciously given them. And here is Paul’s warning to you and me: “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us” (1 Corinthians 10:11). When we shift our focus from the Giver of our blessings to the blessings themselves, they act like sedatives; we slumber and sin begins to overtake us.

When past blessings sedate us, we are lulled into a false sense of security. We begin to see past blessings as a present promise. We begin to expect only good from the hand of our good God, as if we are somehow deserving of it. We lose our sense of appreciation for the many good gifts we have received from the hand of Almighty God. But when past blessings serve as stimulants, we shift our focus from the gift to the Giver of the gift; when we do, we never lose our dependence upon Him. We understand that past blessings can be exchanged for present burdens in an instant. So we keep our spiritual eyes on our Savior, which keeps our hands and feet from slackening into sinful self-reliance.

Let me ask you this: Have past blessings sedated or stimulated you in your walk with Jesus? Is your focus on what you have been given? Or on the One who has given it to you? Remember, our greatest gift is God, not what He so graciously gives us. Keep looking up, and let your past blessings stimulate you to a life of sold-out service to your Savior.

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

My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. (Hebrews 12:5-6)

I once heard someone say, “I am a spoiled saint of the Most High God!” Now, depending on your definition of the word “spoiled,” I submit to you today that there is no such thing in God’s family of faith.

The best definition of the term “spoiled child” that I can come up with describes children who consistently exhibit behavioral problems caused by being overindulged and under-disciplined by their doting parents. In a word, these parents have raised a “brat.” Are there any kids you know who come to mind when reading this definition?

Here again, how we understand this term as it relates to the child of God is rooted in our definition of “overindulged.” To be sure, we are overindulged with . . .

• Love
• Mercy
• Grace
• Goodness
• Forgiveness
• Kindness

I could fill this page with a list of the amazing gifts of grace that Christians have received from our heavenly Father . . . and then keep going. Can any of us fully describe the “overindulgence” we receive from our omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God? But when we review this list, we are never to think it should include words such as pampered, babied, coddled, or spoiled. Loved by God? Most definitely. Spoiled by God? Not a chance! Make no mistake about this truth: God would have none of us as His children rather than coddle a bunch of self-centered, self-absorbed, self-seeking, and self-interested brats!

We must keep in view the fact that the grace that saves us is the same grace that sanctifies us, and the business of sanctification is often a painful process. God’s greatest goal for every one of His children is to conform us into the likeness of His beloved and precious Son, and that takes discipline—a discipline that is designed to deflate our ego, which continually seeks to edge God out. The self does not die in a day, but daily, and God will not stop short of conforming us perfectly into the image of His Son.

It will never be said about our Father in heaven what was said about King David’s parenting of Adonijah: “His father [David] had not rebuked [Adonijah] at any time by asking, ‘Why have you done so?’” (1 Kings 1:6 NKJV).

Nobody wants a spoiled child. Good parents discipline their children in love, with the goal being correction and heart transformation. God is the perfect parent; He will not settle for a spoiled saint, so He disciplines us by every means necessary. And that is a kind of love that will never spoil!

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

Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. (Isaiah 1:14)

When was the last time you thought of God as carrying around some sort of burden? If you are like most believers, the answer probably is “Never!” Yet the prophet Isaiah tells us that the all-powerful God of the universe does indeed become burdened, and the reason can be found in a single word: HYPOCRISY.

Omnipotence wearies when we worship Him with our lips while our hearts are wandering away from Him. To weary God—to burden our Beloved—is a serious matter that must be dealt with. Like any enemy that comes between us and God, we must take sword to it and cut it out at its root. None of us wants to be called “hypocrite,” but we are all affected by the sin of hypocrisy.

If we are honest, we must admit that there are times when our practice does not match our profession. We say one thing and do another. But those failures are not the “burden” I believe that God is carrying. Our Father knows that we are still sinners in need of a Savior even after we have been saved, and we need our Savior moment by moment. God knows the old sin nature is in a constant struggle with the new saved nature, as Romans 7 clearly reveals. This is the Christian life, and we must fight this battle all the way into glory. We will enjoy victories and defeats along the way.

God is burdened by a believer whose heart has grown cold—treating God almost as if He is as an unnecessary appendage, to be cut off by a cool and casual commitment. I cannot find a greater statement of the evil of a divided heart than to read that Omnipotence grew weary and was burdened by it. This alone should cause you and me to examine our hearts to see what they are actually beating for. Many have hearts that beat for the good gifts God has given, but not for God Himself. Sadly, their relationship with Jesus has been reduced to a religion marked by empty ritual: “New Moon feasts and appointed festivals.”

So how do we ease God’s burden? We journey back to the day of our salvation, the day when our hearts burned deep within us for Jesus Christ—not the things He could give us. We remember that God will tolerate no rival, and we return to our First Love . . . on our knees. David’s prayer provides a wonderful model for you and me:

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me. . . .

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (Psalm 51:10, 12)

We cry out to Jesus, knowing that He is faithful to forgive and to heal. And we keep in view all the great saints of Scripture, who also found their hearts beating for something smaller than God at times.

Abraham refused to believe in the promise of God and tried to pass off his wife as his sister to save his own skin. Instead of going off to war, as was the duty of the king, David took another man’s wife and then had the man killed in battle. Peter’s divided heart reared its ugly head when he denied Jesus three times on the night He was betrayed. All these heroes of the Bible wearied God and became a burden to Him. Yet God restored them to fellowship, renewed their commitment, and brought them through with a deeper love for Him than they had before. God transformed His burden into His blessing!

God never changes; what He did for the saints of old, He will do for you today.

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

No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame.  (Psalm 25:3)

The prodigal son lived in a palace—a place where he received the unconditional love and forgiveness of his father—not only daily, but moment by moment. But when this younger son asked for his inheritance, he essentially exchanged his palace for a pigsty.

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. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating. (Luke 15:11-16)

Do you look on this young man with pity . . . or perhaps even scorn? Take a look in the mirror; you and I do the very same thing every time we exchange our will for God’s will in our lives. In demanding his inheritance now, the prodigal son was refusing to be patient and follow the father’s timing. Oh, he had a time of carefree celebration, but that untroubled state did not last. It never does! He squandered all that he had been given and found himself eating the husks with the swine, longing to be back in his father’s presence.

Does that resonate with you as much as it does with me?

Look at it this way: The prodigal son already had his inheritance. It was his by birth, but it was not yet the right time for him to receive it. God not only knows exactly what we need, but exactly the right time to give it to us. But the sin of impatience got the best of the young son. Impatience starts as an infection and winds up a disease—an insidious disease—which will eventually leads us away from the palace and toward the pigsty.

It is not enough to want what God wants for our lives. We must wait to receive it in His timing. Often “right now” is not God’s perfect timing for our imperfect lives. The shepherd boy David waited seven years to receive what God wanted for his life—the king’s throne in Israel—and that was after he had been anointed three times to become king.

So let me ask you this question:

Where in your life right now are you giving in to impatience?

If this finds you on the other side of impatience that has put you into a pigsty, fear not. Cheer up! The younger son eventually made his way back from the pigsty to the palace, where he was met with the unchanging love and forgiveness of his father. Amazing grace, wouldn’t you agree? Even when we mess things up, God turns our mess into His masterpiece. As the psalmist said, “Those whose hope is in the Lord will never be put to shame.”

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