Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

There is a great deal of confusion regarding what Jesus said in John 17 about Christians being in the world but not of the world.  Let’s unpack this important truth and find some practical application to living out these two little words with one big difference.

First, what is meant by “the world”?  Jesus is not referring to the created order, which God said is very good (Genesis 1:31); nor is He referring to the universal community of humanity.  What Jesus is talking about is the godless, sinful systems of this world that are ruled by Satan (see 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2, 6:12).  This is exactly what the apostle Paul is referring to in the following verse.

Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.  (Romans 12:2)

Jesus and Paul are both telling us not to be conformed to the sinful patterns of this current world system, because we are no longer ruled by sin and Satan (Romans 6:14).  In brief, we are to avoid worldliness.  We are not instructed to retreat from contact with the people, places, and things in this world (see 1 Corinthians 5:9), which God is in the process of redeeming.  We are not to seek the quiet solitude of the monastic life simply to avoid our surrounding culture, as many over the centuries have done.  We are, however, instructed to resist the sinful direction this world seeks to lure us into (see James 4:4), a purely horizontal direction devoid of God and the revealed truth of His sacred Scriptures.  “If anyone loves the world,” John warned, “the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:15-16).

Sin has corrupted everything!  Everything God made good has been twisted, marred, and corrupted by sin.  That is why God hates sin so intensely . . . so much so that He sent His Son, Jesus, to atone for it on the cross.  Because God hates sin, we too must hate sin, which is why we are to understand the difference between being in the world but not of the world. 

• We are not to think like the world
• We are not to act like the world
• We are not to talk like the world
• We are not to desire like the world

God has placed us in this world to be both salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16).  Jesus emphasized this truth throughout His ministry.  The analogy of light suggests an unmistakable presence.  When the light goes on, the darkness disappears.  When we let our “light” shine before others, the world is impacted by both the “good news” we preach and the “good works” we practice. 

“Salt” needs to be understood in its historical context.  In the first century, salt was used primarily to preserve food, rather than to enhance its flavor.  God wants to use His people to preserve the world from its evil influences by flavoring it with the truth and power of the Gospel.  God wants the distinct difference between His unchanging truth and the world’s fleeting philosophies to be preserved.

Where there is war we are to bring peace.  Where there is sorrow we are to bring comfort.  Where there is hatred we are to bring love.  Where there is unforgiveness we are to bring reconciliation.  Where there is error, we are to speak truth.  We do this by preaching the Gospel with both our lips and our lives.

As my friend and pastor Tullian Tchividjian likes to say, we are to actively engage the culture around us by being countercultural.  We make a difference in this world by being different from this world.  We live against the world by living for this world, refusing to become consumed by worldly pleasures.  Not being of this world means we are consumed by Christ alone.  Because Jesus is making all things new, He is for this world.  And because we are Christ’s brothers (Romans 8:29), must we be for this world. 

So how are you doing at shining light into the dark places?  Are you enhancing the flavor of eternal life in this fallen, broken, and hurting world?  Remember, only God’s story provides the answers to the questions that matter most in life.  Only God’s story explains the beginning (creation), the problem (fall), and the solution (redemption through the blood of the Lamb).  Only God’s story weaves together the past, present, and promised future for all those who are in this world but not of this world . . . and we must proclaim that story to all the world!

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

I have a word of great comfort for you today.  Do you find yourself in a season of difficulty?  Are the storm winds blowing your way?  Is God disciplining and/or pruning you for greater growth?  The writer of Hebrews tells us that, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11, emphasis added). 

How sweet those words, “Later on, however” to the tried and tested, tired and triumphant Christian!  There is a special blessing that can only be experienced “later on.” 

LATER ON, HOWEVER . . . after the storm we find calm

LATER ON, HOWEVER . . . after the rain we find sunshine

LATER ON, HOWEVER . . . after the battle we find rest

LATER ON, HOWEVER . . . after the night we find day

LATER ON, HOWEVER . . . after physical death we find eternal life!

Regardless of what trial we are currently experiencing, God promises to bring us to the other side of it.  When God says, “Later on, however,” He is telling us that the best is yet to come.  All may seem lost today; “Later on, however,” we will experience victory.  We know this to be true because we know the One who said it is Truth.  The One who says, “Later on, however,” superintends all of life, regardless of how dark and dismal the day becomes.  Not a bird falls to the ground apart from His will (Matthew 10:29).  When we forget this truth we become practical agnostics, living lives of hopelessness and helplessness.

“Later on, however” is the fuel for forward motion regardless of the cost or circumstance.  What are you facing today?  Struggles in school?  Obstacles at the office?  Miscommunication in your marriage?  Disappointment in your dating life?  If Jesus is on the throne of your life, count it all joy, because “later on” every trial, every disappointment will produce a harvest of deep peace and sweet rest. 

Henri Nouwen rightly observed, “Those who dream of better things are not those who hate what is now, but who love the present enough to seek its transformation.”  To be sure, life is hard on this side of heaven.  But Jesus is in the process of transforming everything and making all things new, and that includes you.

The Bible says we must lose to win; give to get; empty to be filled; and die to live.  If our Lord received a crown of thorns, should we expect to receive a crown of glory?  Yes, we should . . . “Later on, however!”

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

There was a season in my life when I was immersed in the field of personal development.  I was a serious student of some of the most popular and sought after self-help teachers in the world.  I studied the stuff; I taught it; I believed it!  I had amassed a sizeable library of audio and print resources, not to mention a plethora of motivational posters, paper weights, and desk-top pictures. (I probably still have a few coffee cups left over from those days!)  Then Jesus showed up and taught me that I was trusting in a faulty power source.

If I could go back and speak to all the people I coached in those days, I would humbly ask for their forgiveness.  I would tell them that even though I was quite sincere in my self-help teachings, I was sincerely wrong!  I was trying to help others maximize their potential and become peak performers without ever dealing with their real problem: sin. 

When you truly understand sin’s appalling grasp on mankind, self-help is rightly viewed as a delusional fantasy, promising something it can never deliver.  In light of sin, personal power is absolutely impotent.  We don’t need self-help books or success coaches or motivational seminars.  We don’t need to repeatedly recite positive affirmations, rub crystals together, or sleep under pyramids.  What we need is a Savior, and His name is Jesus Christ.  The Prince of Peace and His divine power is the only power powerful enough to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. 

Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.”  (Luke 8:45-46)

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.  And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.  (Luke 6:17-19)

These are just two examples of the awesome power of Jesus.  In the first, the power of Jesus went out from Him into a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, “and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone” (Luke 8:43).  The only power powerful enough to heal her was the power of Jesus.  In the second passage the power of Jesus was going out into all kinds of sick and diseased individuals, who received the only power powerful enough to heal: the power of Jesus. 

When we rely on any power smaller than God, we end up right where we began—powerless!  Enthusiastic drivel that ignites emotional drive ultimately leads to an empty destination.  Make no mistake; no amount of personal power can do what only the power of Jesus can do.  Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the world waited for the only power that could reverse the curse—the power promised in the coming Messiah.  He came!  He conquered!  He commanded!  He cured!  He called!  And on the appointed day He will complete what He began almost two thousand years ago.  “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).

So choose this day which power source you will tap into: the utter impotence of personal power . . . or the stunning omnipotence of the power of the Prince of Peace! 

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

At first glance, you might be thinking I am referring to the time-honored practice of flipping a coin.  This coin toss is used to start NFL games in determining possession at the beginning of the game.  Sometimes it is used to decide an issue between two parties; “I’ll flip you for it,” someone might say.

Let’s see what our Lord says about heads and tails:

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them.  (Deuteronomy 28:13)

God promised to place His people, Israel, in power and privilege above all others if they were obedient.  Yet how often they chose the way of the “tail” and not the “head” by doing what was right in their own eyes.

But this is not for you!  Because of what Jesus has done for you in His perfect obedience—in both life and death—this promise, indeed “all the promises of God in [Christ] are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20 NKJV). 

Inasmuch as God is pleased to bless His people materially, we must receive this promise in the deepest spiritual sense.  All those who are in Christ are above all those who are not in power (lacking the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit) and privilege (not adopted as a child of the Most High God).  The lowliest Christian in the eyes of the world possesses this power and privilege because of Jesus.  It is the Lord who makes us “the head and not the tail,” and for that we must be eternally grateful. 

One of the best ways to show our gratitude to God is by living out practically what we are positionally.  We are to represent the One who laid His life down for us to this fallen and broken world.  When we live in a way that consistently reflects the God who recreated us we will:

• Give generously
• Serve sacrificially
• Love unconditionally

When Jesus transforms the heart, He also transforms the head and the hands.  Now, I am not speaking about perfection in practice, but I am speaking about progression in performance.  It’s what theologians call progressive sanctification, where we are being sanctified progressively by the same grace that saved us throughout life.  Paul sets forth this truth beautifully in Ephesians 4:22-24.

Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

We will make an eternal difference in the world by being different from this world.  Because we are not what we once were, we are not to live as we once lived.  Jesus has raised us from death to life and in doing so, given us the grace to “put off” the old self and to “put on” the new self. 

We are to be accurate representations of the One we represent.  When we are, we make the Gospel attractive.  God alone saves, but He uses means to do it.  One of the means He has ordained to use is the way we preach the Gospel with our lives.  When we give, serve, and love like Jesus, we make the Gospel attractive and provide an accurate picture to others of the God who saved us.     

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

On Friday we looked at the “Instruction” contained within Exodus 14:13—“Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today.”  Today we will complete our two-part message by looking at the “Inspiration” contained within this wonderful verse. 

THE INSPIRATION

God is in the business of delivering His people out of seemingly hopeless situations.  He has been doing this since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and He will continue until the return of Jesus.  Whatever Red Sea you might be facing today, remember the commandment of God: “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today.”

The world will whisper, “It cannot be done,” but pay no attention!  It may well be impossible for man, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).  God takes obstacles and turns them into opportunities; He takes problems and turns them into possibilities; He takes what is broken and makes it whole.  When God led you on your exodus from death to life, He was simply underscoring the glorious truth sung by the chorus of heaven: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10).  And He expects you to look to Him for your deliverance today. 

The world will whisper, “Retreat and go back where you came from,” but pay no attention!  When the going got tough, the Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt where their taskmasters provided food for them.  Just days before, they had been groaning under the yoke of slavery; now they were willing to forfeit their freedom for food.  But this is not for you.

Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).  The freedom we have in Christ is far greater than anything this world has to offer.  The provision we receive from our heavenly Father far surpasses the worldly baubles dangled before us, for “The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22).  As my friend and pastor Tullian likes to say, “Jesus plus nothing equals everything . . . and everything minus Jesus equals nothing!”     

One final thought: when God says, “Stand still,” He is telling you to prepare to walk into your deliverance.  The instruction to “stand” implies a posture of readiness.  If God had said “sit” or “kneel” or “lie down,” it would not have the same force.  But when God says “stand,” He is telling us to be ready and alert to receive our marching orders.  When they come, we are to march with confidence and joy into our promised land.  Make no mistake, God is in the business of bringing His people to such a place where the only way out is up.  When you find yourself in that seemingly impassible place, remember His Word: “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”  That way, God gets 100% of the glory . . . and you get 100% of the blessing!

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

Part 1

This article and the one following will unpack what I believe to be one of the most instructive and inspiring verses in all of sacred Scripture: “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today” (Exodus 14:13 NKJV).  Having been freed from more than four hundred years of bondage in Egypt, the Israelites found themselves seemingly trapped between the Red Sea and the pursuing Egyptian army.  Their fear was great, their cry was loud and their hope was lost . . . until God showed up!

When was the last time you found yourself in a similar situation? 

The Israelites did NOT find themselves trapped between Pharaoh’s approaching chariots and the Red Sea because Moses made a wrong turn!  The Lord was with them every step of the way.  God was leading His people as they began their Exodus from Egypt:

The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.  The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.  (Exodus 13:21-22)

It was God who led the Israelites to this seemingly hopeless situation in order to demonstrate one simple fact: that the God of the Israelites is God—the one and only true and living God, Who alone can save.

Today we will focus on the “Instruction” in this verse and Monday we will focus on the “Inspiration.” 

THE INSTRUCTION

The saving power of Almighty God was miraculously displayed so as to leave no doubt Who was responsible for the deliverance of the Israelites.  Who could send an east wind to part the waters of the Red Sea?  Who could enable the Israelites to walk across on dry ground as the waters were held in place like gigantic, foaming walls on their right hand and on their left?  Who could release the water with such cataclysmic force as to utterly annihilate the pursuing Egyptians?  Only God!

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.  Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.  (Exodus 14:30)

The physical deliverance and salvation of the Israelites was all of God.  God sovereignly orchestrated these events so that there could be no doubt.  And this serves as a picture of an even greater deliverance, the spiritual salvation of man that was won on Golgotha’s Hill by the Lord Jesus Christ.  This too was all of God.  Man was trapped between the murderous desire of Satan and the inexorable condemnation of the Law of God.  Man’s situation was utterly hopeless . . . until God showed up, “humble, and mounted on a donkey” (Matthew 21:5).

The Israelites gave all the glory to God for their deliverance from certain death at the hands of the pursuing Egyptians.  We, too, are to give all the glory to God for our deliverance from certain death and eternal separation from the love of God.  We are to live out the assertion of Scripture: “[R]ejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:11).

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

I remember the first time I was given the privilege of preaching from the pulpit of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, serving under founding pastor Dr. D. James Kennedy.  I was in the process of completing my Master of Divinity at Knox Theological Seminary and was licensed to preach.  However, many in the congregation could only see me as a gym owner, personal trainer, teacher, and coach because of my previous occupations.  Some could not get past my past to see me as a minister of the Gospel; their sentiments were essentially expressed as, “I knew you when . . . so what gives you the right to . . .?!”  Some still feel that way years later. 

If you have ever encountered someone who could not get past your past after you became a professing Christian, I have some good news for you.  I trust that what you are about to read will be as much a source of comfort to you as it has been to me.

Although I am less than the least of all God’s People, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.  (Ephesians 3:8)

When someone questions the “right” I have to step into a pulpit and preach the Word of God, they are actually quite correct to be concerned!  I have no “right” to do such a high and holy thing.  I do not deserve to deliver God’s Word to anyone, except for the grace that God has given to me to do it.  Dr. Kennedy would have been the first to admit the very same thing about himself, as would my current pastor, Tullian Tchividjian.  And the same is true for you, regardless of where this finds you today. 

Many may question your profession of faith in Christ because they “knew you when . . .”  That does not change the fact that God’s grace has sought you and bought you with the precious blood of His Son, and He calls you to do His work in a fallen, broken, and sin-filled world.  Some may never get past your past.  That’s OK.  God got over your past, no matter how wicked and wretched it truly was.  God did not wait for you to prove yourself to Him before raising you from death to life.  He knew you could never do that anyway!  While you were still a self-centered, self-absorbed sinner, Jesus died for your sins . . . all of your sins. 

Because God knew us when and still loved us then, that should be enough to keep us going in the face of those who will never be able to get past our past.  I can only imagine just how many people who knew Paul when could not get past his past.  He was a Pharisee of Pharisees and Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of the early Christian church.  He even stood and held the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death.  When Paul, now a radically converted believer in Christ, first came to Jerusalem, “He attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple” (Acts 9:26).  Yet God’s grace was enough for Paul to get on with the ministry he had been called to.  Is it enough for you?

None of us deserve anything we have, especially our faith and promised future.  So when others say, “I knew you when,” receive it with a heart of thanksgiving for a God who would rescue a sinner like you and give you such an incredible calling to serve Him for His glory and the good of others.

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

What kind of student were you in high school?  What about college?  What was your Grade Point Average—what students and educators alike refer to as the GPA?  Regardless of how low the GPA recorded on your official transcripts, in God’s grade book, if you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ, you are a straight “A” student with a perfect 4.0 GPA!  Because of Christ’s atoning work on your behalf, everyone who is in Christ has received an A+ . . . when only a grade of “Zero” was deserved.  “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10 NIV).  But thanks to Christ’s perfect life, sacrificial death, and miraculous resurrection, all our bad grades have been erased forever, as if they never existed, and only Christ’s perfect score remains.

Now, this does not change the fact that we are called to do our very best in the school of life.  It doesn’t mean we may forsake the spiritual disciplines and the continuous effort required to grow up into Christ.  But it does mean that, regardless of our performance (good or bad) and attention to spiritual discipline (consistent or inconsistent), Jesus has already secured for us God’s eternal approval, acceptance, and affection.  No matter what we do, God will never change our grade; an A+ was reserved for us in God’s grade book from the beginning of time (see Ephesians 1:4) and that perfect grade can never be lowered or erased (see Romans 8:38-39).

I understand that many will misunderstand, misuse, and abuse this incredible gift of Gospel grace.  The Scriptures make this clear in a number of passages.

[W]atch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve.  (Romans 16:17-18)

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.  (Jude 4) 

Yet our weaknesses, failures, and outright rebellion don’t change the truth about grace.  Frankly, if you have never wrestled with the concept of grace so amazing—grace that is unwarranted, unmerited, unconditional, and unending—then you have not yet been fully seized by its truth.

John Newton, the sinful slave trader turned clergyman by the grace of God, poured out the latter half of his life proclaiming the “Amazing Grace” of God.  As he neared the end of his time on earth, his health having deteriorated to the point where it affected his thinking and his speech, Newton acknowledged, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”

John Newton truly got it right in his magnificent hymn; Christian, drink in these timeless words!

Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

and grace my fears relieved;

how precious did that grace appear

the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,

I have already come;

‘tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

and grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,

his word my hope secures;

he will my shield and portion be,

as long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

and mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess, within the veil,

a life of joy and peace.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,

bright shining as the sun,

we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

than when we first begun.

Only when we begin to see the “wretch” within will we catch a glimpse of just how amazing God’s grace really is.  We were hopelessly lost in sin and blind to it . . . until Jesus showed up.  God pursued us, rescued us, and is in the process of renewing us in Christ . . . and He won’t stop until grace has completed its work and leads us safely home.

What He began in grace He will complete in grace.  “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). The more we understand this overwhelming truth, the better we will walk in it with the freedom, joy, and faithfulness the Gospel has secured for us.

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

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.  Why?  The foundation upon which it was built was not strong or solid enough to support the weight of the tower, causing it to tilt more than 17 feet off center over the centuries.

The same phenomenon can be true in the life of believers.  When the foundation is not strong or solid enough to support the weight of living the Christian life, it will be reflected in an off-kilter life that veers markedly away from biblical teaching.

So how do we know when we are leaning?  The answer is found in God’s plumb line—His inspired, inerrant, infallible Word.  In biblical times, when a builder wanted to determine whether or not something was perfectly vertical (upright), he used a plumb line (a weight of some sort attached to the bottom of a string or line).  When you want to determine whether or not someone is perfectly upright you use The Lord’s plumb line—the Bible—the unfailing standard of total Truth.

This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.  And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”  And I said, “A plumb line.”  Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”  (Amos 7:7-9)

Israel was judged against the perfect Word of God, and they were found wanting.  In the very same way, we were being judged against the perfect Word of God and found wanting . . . until Jesus showed up.

From womb to tomb, Jesus fulfilled the Law perfectly. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets,” He said; “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).  The only One who could measure up to God’s Plumb Line was God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ.  He went to Golgotha’s Hill as the perfect sacrifice to make full payment for all our sins. 

Here is an astounding truth: all those who, by faith, are in Christ are now like a straight wall—true to plumb.  When God looks at us, He sees only the perfection of His Son, in spite of all of our myriad imperfections!  Our lives can be so far out of whack that we make the Leaning Tower of Pisa look straight, but God only sees us upright in Christ.  “See, I have taken away your sin,” the Lord said to Joshua the high priest, “and I will put rich garments on you.” (Zechariah 3:4 NIV).

Herein lies the power of the Gospel to propel us into living the life God has called us to live.  Jesus came and lived the sinless life, perfectly fulfilling the law of God.  He turned aside the wrath of God by taking our sins upon Himself and nailing them to the cross.  “Therefore,” because of what Jesus has done for sinners, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).  The Law was designed to drive us to Jesus, and in Him we are forever secured in our relationship with the Father regardless of how well or how poorly we are observing the precepts of the Law. 

We will always have two choices when it comes to building into the Kingdom of God.  We can build in our strength or we can build in His strength.  We can build by good works or we can build by His grace.  We can build on merit or we can build on His mercy.  To be sure, Jesus is the better builder, because He has never built anything crooked! 

Jesus is making straight everything that is crooked . . . and that includes you and me.  We know that a yawning chasm lies between us and God’s perfect plumb line because we are sinners—by birth, by nature, and by habit (Romans 3:10-12).  Yet Jesus was measured against God’s exacting standard, and He was not found wanting.  And because of Him you are will never again be found wanting.  You are forever plumb because of His perfection. 

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

Today’s message is not about the popular Mission Impossible movies or the television series of the same name.  Instead, I’d like to focus your attention on the glorious truth of Luke 18:27—

“What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

If you are anything like me, you experience those dark nights of the soul when you feel like your mission in life is simply impossible to live out.  We are called by God to bring Him glory by preaching the Gospel with both our lips and our lives; I simply cannot tell you how many times I have missed that mark by a country mile!  I sometimes secretly imagine myself like Ethan Hunt—the star of the movie played by Tom Cruise, who is always given the option to accept or refuse his mission—and telling God that I am going to sit this one out:

• Loving my wife Kim as Christ loved the church . . . all the time!
• Training my children in the way they should go . . . even when they are rebellious
• Serving the members of our congregation . . . when ministry is too demanding 

In these moments of self-absorption and self-protection, God always reminds me—often through my wife, children, and fellow church members—that “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”  Where God calls, He also equips.  He equips me in my calling as a husband.  He equips me in my calling as a parent.  He equips me in my calling as a minister of the Gospel.  I need only take possession of His grace made available to me through my union with Jesus. 

What I mean by “take possession” is that we are to appropriate the grace of God through the means of grace He has given to us—spiritual disciplines like Bible study, prayer, fasting, Sabbath observance, etc.  Jerry Bridges writes in Transforming Grace, “God has provided four principal means of [appropriating His grace]: prayer, His Word, submission to His providential workings in our lives, and the ministry of others.”

To be sure, the Holy Spirit is always at work in our lives and operates sovereignly apart from anything we do.  Jesus promised His disciples that they would be “clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). Yet we are called to appropriate the grace of God by disciplining ourselves spiritually.  We are commanded to “put off [our] old self . . . and to put on the new self (Ephesians 4:22, 24), to “clothe [ourselves] with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14), and to “put on the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6:12). Yes, “it is God who works in [us] to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13), but we are to cooperate with the work of the Spirit and operate within His power, which we appropriate by faith.   

Prayerfully consider: what mission or missions you are facing today that seem impossible?  Are you trying to complete your mission in your strength or in His strength?  The answer, to an altogether unsuspecting extent, can be found in how consistently you are actively engaged in applying the “means” He has ordained to assist you in going from mission impossible to mission possible. 

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