Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

My Adult Sunday School class is working through the book of Acts.  One of the most arresting verses in that inspired chronicle records these words from our Lord: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

I’d like to unpack four remarkable promises.

1. The promise of You – I find it remarkable just how personal our Lord makes these incredible promises; He starts with YOU!  He is not speaking to the church as a whole or some elite group of spiritual saints within the church.  He starts with the personal promise of YOU!     
2. The promise of Power – Jesus assured us that we will receive power from the Holy Spirit.  He did NOT promise that we are capable in our own strength of living the life of sacrifice and service to which God has called us.  To the contrary, Jesus promised us that Omnipotence will take up residence inside us and shape our lives according to His will.
3. The promise of Witness – Jesus said we will be His witnesses.  We will, by the power of the Holy Ghost, be living epistles of the Lord Jesus Christ.  To be sure, Jesus witnessed to the glory of God everywhere He went: from the Holy Temple to the lake of Gennesaret; from walking the streets of Jerusalem to sitting at the well; from preaching on a mountainside to gasping out His last message on the hill Golgotha.  His witness consisted of what he said and what he did.  If we are to truly be His disciples, we are to be like Him as witnesses.
4. The promise of “Glocal” Impact – Jesus said we will have a Gospel ministry that is locally impacting and globally reaching—a “Glocal” impact. 

Standing confidently on these four promises, we are called by God to live beyond the borders of our lives.  Living out these promises keep us from shrinking the size of our lives down to the size of our lives!  Beloved in the Lord, is this the confession of your life?  Does your life provide a clear testimony to the truth of the Gospel? 

Remember, Jesus witnessed in every imaginable kind of circumstance.  He witnessed before the wealthy and the poor.  He witnessed to large crowds at midday and one-on-one late at night.  He witnessed to friends and enemies alike.  And the Book of Acts vividly describes the ever-expanding reach of the Gospel.  It began locally in Jerusalem and spread into Judea and Samaria and ultimately to the ends of the earth.  It would change the lives of both Jews and Gentiles. 

Isn’t it remarkable to realize that the Almighty would enlist such broken, weak, and sinful vessels as you and me into His redemptive service?  But that is exactly what He has done! The work began with Him, but the call goes out to YOU!  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Have you ever gone to your refrigerator, anticipating sinking your teeth into a delicious piece of fruit . . . dreaming of the explosion of great taste and good health in your mouth . . .  only to open the door and find the fruit decayed and decomposing?  Worse yet, have you ever accidentally taken a great big chomp out of a piece of rotten fruit? How incredibly NASTY was that experience?!

God designed each of us to find our satisfaction only in Him.  This world was not created to provide that which only God can give.  Living a life of sold-out service to God is the only way to find true fulfillment and satisfaction.  All too often, however, we seek the things of this world, which AT BEST provide fleeting pleasure.  This may seem to satisfy for a while, just as a fresh piece of chewing gum might taste good for a few moments, but ultimately seeking worldly pleasure will only result in our reaping a harvest of rotten fruit from our self-centered, “little kingdom living.”

Pastor Tullian likes to quote C. S. Lewis, who wrote:

We are half-hearted creatures, 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.

We are too easily satisfied by things smaller than God, living lives dominated by the pursuit of the pleasures of the physical creation.  I am not necessarily speaking about a life marked by scandalous sins—“drink and sex” and the like.  Our rotten fruit can take shape simply by seeking fulfillment beyond the borders of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  In so doing, we engage in a long list of subtle sins of the heart that reap rotten fruit.  We might dig ourselves so deeply into installment debt that we cannot give our tithes and offerings to support the church and the expansion of the Kingdom.  We might eat ourselves into an unhealthy condition and ultimately forfeit the physical vitality to rise from our beds with a passion for pursuing God’s perfect plan and purpose for our lives.  Our thoughtless words can do irreparable damage to relationships; so can a stubborn unwillingness to forgive those who have wronged us.  Oh, what a bitter harvest of rotten fruit we reap when we seek to satisfy ourselves rather than our Savior!

So how do we avoid this miserable outcome?  Look to Jesus!  Good fruit never comes from bad trees (Matthew 7:18).  When we turn our lives in on ourselves we can expect only rotten fruit, because we are, in our hearts, sinful! (See Jeremiah 17:9.)  But when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33), God’s grace reaches deep inside of us and draws us out into a place of unimaginable fulfillment and joy!  A passage in Paul’s epistle to the Galatians sums this up perfectly:

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up (Galatians 6:7-9).

You may remember Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonian king who conquered Israel, plundered her wealth, and carried her citizens off into captivity.  But just as Daniel had prophesied, Nebuchadnezzar’s pride led to a catastrophic fall, until he found himself living as an outcast in the wilderness, cropping grass like an ox!  Talk about a nasty harvest of rotten fruit!  But then, at the lowest point of his life, Nebuchadnezzar learned to look elsewhere.  “I . . . raised my eyes toward heaven,” he explained, “and my sanity was restored.  Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever” (Daniel 4:34 NIV).

Nebuchadnezzar learned that focusing on himself and his so-called “accomplishments” was a recipe for abject misery.  But when he lifted his gaze to heaven, meditating on the majesty of the Giver of every good and perfect gift, he found sanity and lasting happiness.  This is the place where our vision is painted by His glory, protected by His love, and perfected by His grace.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!  

What does it mean to be missionally minded?  How does that quality manifest itself in the life of a Christian?  The answer is rooted in these words of Jesus: “I came not to be served, but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

The term “missional” is simply a way of saying that the Christian life is to be shaped by the purposes of God in this world.  “Missions” is not a compartmentalized aspect of church life that we “add on” or “fit in” to our lives.  And it most certainly is not a specialized “field of service” or “gifting” for a special group of super-spiritual saints.  Our plans, passions, and pursuits are to be guided, governed, and directed by the Divine agenda.  We are called to engage this world “incarnationally,” which simply means that we are to follow the model given us in the person of Jesus Christ.  To borrow one of my favorite phrases from my friend and pastor, Tullian Tchividjian, we are to be unfashionable! 

Tullian has written, “Because we are citizens of a different kingdom ruled by a different King, Christians will be different people.  We’re the people of the future, formed by the past, and living in the present.  This should be all the evidence we need to be convinced that being unfashionable—living against the world for the world—is not simply what we’re to do; it’s who we are.”  A missional mindset is committed to dying to self and living for others.  It is putting self-focus and self-promotion to death. 

To be missionally minded is to be community centered, both in the church and in the surrounding culture.  The Bible knows nothing of the solitary saint.  When Jesus saves an individual, He places that person into His body (the church) and sends him out into his neighborhood and his world (the culture).  This often requires that we be countercultural (“unfashionable”), so as not to dilute our message and compromise our mission.  We are to be a peculiar people, consecrated by Christ to be an alternative community for the world to see and share in—to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

This simply cannot be done while huddling behind high protective walls or preening atop sparkling ivory towers.  Our Savior’s lifestyle made this perfectly clear.  You’ll remember that the Pharisees were outraged that our Lord reclined and ate with tax collectors and sinners—the despised people of that society.  Who is it in your community that needs an introduction to such an outgoing and inclusive Savior?

Make no mistake, there is much we are to be opposed to in this world; we are to stand in the name of Christ against evil, regardless of cost or circumstance.  Yet when I say we are to live in a countercultural way, I am not only speaking about what we are to oppose but what we are to expose to the watching world.

John’s Gospel introduces the living Word by saying, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18).  The world has never seen God; Jesus made the ways and will of the sovereign Lord of the universe known to man.  In the very same way, we Christians must let the world around us see what we are for (Christlike thinking and conduct, marriages that model Christ’s betrothal to the church, outreach to the needy), just as much as it sees what we are against (abortion, euthanasia, homosexual marriage, etc.).

So, how missionally minded have you been lately?  God is on a mission to make all things new (Revelation 21:5), and He has called every Christian man, woman, and child to co-labor with Him to that end.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!

The Devil has many snares designed to trip up even the most committed Christian.  From a critical spirit to the mindset of “good enough,” Satan is busily engaged in distracting, disabling, even destroying the witness of many who walk with Jesus.  One of Satan’s most insidious traps is the impotent phrase, “IF ONLY . . . !”  Over the years in ministry I have counseled far too many men and women who don’t know what they want out of life, but they are certain it is something different from what they are currently experiencing.  They say things like:

“If only I could get a better job (or my old job back) . . . a bigger house . . . a nicer car . . . then I would be happy!”

“If only I could go back to school and get that degree . . . I’d be a success!”

“If only I could find the right (that’s code for “perfect”) person to marry . . . then I could settle down!”

“If only I could take back the words I said in anger . . . then everything would be alright!”

“If only I could lose this extra weight . . . then I would be accepted and approved of!”

At the deepest level, every “If only” is an indictment against God.  We are confessing that we are dissatisfied with the portion God has graciously given to us!  We simply have not learned the secret of contentment (which we explored in Wednesday’s blog).

Christian, you have been made for increase, and the Bible testifies to that from Genesis to Revelation.  There are two keys to understanding the law of increase:

1. Increase in the areas that are most important to God.
2. Be satisfied with what you have while in pursuit of what God wants for you.

What aspect of your life have you been looking back on with pain, guilt, or regret?  It is important to look back to the past and learn from it, but not to live in it!  Treat the past like a schoolmaster and grow from all of your life experiences.

Take a moment to prayerfully consider and answer the following statement: “IF ONLY I . . . !”  If it is anything less than growing up into Christ, you are shrinking the size of your life down to the size of your life.  Jesus saved you for a great deal more than that!

Remember, satisfaction and significance can only be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Nothing on this side of the grave was ever intended to do for you what only Christ can do.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!

 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” (Philippians 4:11).

Can you honestly imagine being able to echo these great words of the apostle Paul?  Could such a statement ever be true of you?  As difficult as that might seem in our fallen, hurting, broken world, these words can be as true for you as they were for Paul.  The secret to this caliber of spiritual success is in being seized by the truth of the Gospel.

Notice that Paul said he had “learned” to be content.  Contentment in crisis did not come naturally to him, just as it does not come naturally to you or me.  We are by nature discontent.  We whine, grumble, and complain every bit as much as the Israelites did after having been freed from four hundred years of slavery in Egypt.  For the children of Israel, the menu was more important than the Master; they were ruled by their stomach, rather than their Savior.

Paul, on the other hand, was able to detach himself from his surrounding circumstances.  Yet this ability to be content did not happen in a day.  It happened daily as Paul was able to draw on his understanding of the Gospel and what Jesus Christ had done for him.  Whether in plenty or in want, in sickness or in health, contentment was a reality for Paul because he focused on the one thing that could never be taken from him: his Lord and Savior.  Paul focused more on his calling than he did on his circumstances.  Had he been ordering his life based on ministerial success, material gain, or the approval of others, he would never have been able to find contentment!  But Paul had Jesus, and Jesus was enough.

So how have you been doing in the area of contentment lately?  Would those closest to you say you are a student in the College of Contentment, learning by degrees how to be content in Christ . . . in whatever situation?  James Allen said, “Circumstance does not make the man, it reveals him.”  You see, it’s not what happens out there that makes the greatest difference in how your life works out; it’s what you do with what happens to you that makes all the difference in the world!  Paul was a prisoner in a Philippian jail, afflicted for years by a thorn he was given, suffered all manner of persecution, and yet he was perfectly content to suffer for his Savior. Indeed, he wrote this to the Roman Christians: “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5).

To the degree that we understand the Gospel and all that Christ has done for us, we too will be able to endure all things and live a life marked by contentment and love.  By grace, we will one day graduate as Paul did from the College of Contentment.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!

Rarely does a week go by that I do not speak to one or more beloved saints who are convinced that God is angry at them.  When I assure my brother or sister that this is not the case, they often reply: “But Coach, you don’t know what I’ve done!”  True, I may not know what they’ve done, but I know the One who paid for it—in full!

“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” Paul asked rhetorically (Romans 8:33).  Paul’s challenge is a source of great comfort to the Christian because no one can answer it!  Every sin—past, present, and future—was laid on our Savior as He hung on that dirty tree.  Not one of your sins has been recorded in the book of life . . . only your name is found there.  No matter what you have done, no matter how long you have been wandering in a far country, know this: when Jesus paid the penalty for your sin on Golgotha’s Hill, He took your punishment too.  ALL OF IT! 

Beloved in the Lord, God is not angry with you.  All of His wrath and hatred for sin was poured out on His beloved Son.  Punitive justice was completely satisfied on the Cross; it will never make any demands of you!  God cannot, will not, collect payment from you when His Son has already paid the ransom price.

Don’t misunderstand, there are consequences for sin.  Sin hurts your witness and walk with Christ; surrendering to temptation “gives the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:26-27) and can lead to spiritual death (James 1:15).  Sin hurts others in more ways than we can recount.  And God will discipline us for our sin, but His intent is never punitive.  He is not exacting His pound of flesh from us, but He disciplines us like a loving Father who has our ultimate good in view. If you read Hebrews 12:4-11, you’ll see that God’s discipline is concrete proof of His love for us!

However, even more than all the negative effects that sin brings on the sinner, what should concern us most of all is what our sin does to God.  Sin grieves God; Paul admonished us, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). 

Yes, God is grieved when we give in to anger, give over to lust, or give up to self rule—but God is not angry with us.  There is absolutely no need to live a life marked by guilt over the past, shame in the present, and fear for the future.  To understand this is to know the power of overcoming sin.  There is nothing like guilt and fear to keep a Christian from pursuing a life of godliness.  As long as Satan can keep you feeling “down and out,” it will keep you from going further “up and in” toward the life God is calling you to live.  To quote my friend Steve Brown, “God is quite fond of you.”  Do you believe it?  Does the confession of your life say you announce that God is quite fond of you? 

God is so fond of you He sent His Son to take your place on the Cross.  Purchased by the precious blood of the Lamb so that you are now without blemish or spot, God has done everything to make you His child and an heir of heaven.

“It is finished!” was our Redeemer’s thunderous victory cry from the Cross (John 19:30).  “Your sin debt is paid!” He was saying; “It is paid in full!”  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

This week we’ve looked at Jesus’ interaction with The Rich Young Ruler (Mark 10:17-22) and discovered the sobering truth that Christ did not die to make us happy; He died to make us His, and in making us His He is making us holy.  We’ve also contrasted the perfect holiness of God with the perfectly hideous sinfulness of man.  Today we’ll conclude by discussing God’s call for us to pursue holiness.

You may recall that after Jesus stated unequivocally to the rich young ruler that only God is good, the young man insisted that he was good too!  After listening to the Author of Life recount the teachings of the Law of God, the young man arrogantly replied, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”  He might as well have said, “I am as good as God because I have kept the law perfectly!”  Elevating himself to the level of God, he had violated the very first commandment: “You shall have no other God before me.”  The Rich Young Ruler was his own god, the ruler of his own tiny kingdom of one.  Truly, the sinful heart of man knows no boundaries!

Man’s utter sinfulness is one of the clear teachings of Scripture:

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5).

The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one (Psalm 14:2-3).

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  (Jeremiah 17:9.)

We are sinners both by nature and by habit.  We engage in unholy habits without a second thought.  We shade the truth; we pad our expense accounts; we withhold a little bit in rendering unto Caesar.  We turn wants into needs and live lives marked by materialism.  We make happiness, not holiness, our greatest goal in life.  But this in not for you! 

We have been called by God to live lives of holiness.  “Be holy,” the Lord says, “ because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45).  Holiness is not an option for the Christian.  Paul instructed believers, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires” (Romans 6:12).  Inasmuch as all of the Christian life is a matter of grace, we have the responsibility to pursue holiness.  Do you recall this exhortation from the letter to the Hebrews?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.(Hebrews 12:1-3)

Wow!  If that doesn’t light your fire for pursing holiness your woods wet!  To be sure, on this side of heaven we will never arrive at sinless perfection.  Yet, this is to be our goal.  To live a life of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ is to be our top priority.  Only to the extent that this is our earnest, unwavering desire will we make consistent progress in our pursuit of holiness.  If your goal is happiness you will miss holiness.  If your goal is holiness you will get happiness of the deepest kind thrown in.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!

We’re in the midst of a weeklong series based on Mark 10:17-22, the account of The Rich Young Ruler.  On Monday we were confronted by the sobering truth that Christ did not die to make us happy; He died to make us His, and in making us His He is making us holy.  Today we will look upon the holiness of God.  Here is the passage:

And as [Jesus] was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

 Sacred Scripture records that the young man “ran up and knelt” before Jesus.  These actions represent both hunger and hope—even before he asked his question.  Jesus responded to the young man’s appellation of “Good Teacher” with the first and most important truth about God: ONLY GOD IS GOOD!  There are no “good guys” in the story of mankind.  There is a chasm of infinite proportions between His perfection and our performance that we simply cannot traverse.  We are in desperate need of rescue from the thrice holy God!

Here are two passages of Scripture that give us great insight into just how holy our God is. The first is Isaiah’s account of his call to prophetic ministry:

And the foundations of the thresholds shook as the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.  And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:4-5.)

 Isaiah was granted a vision of the court of heaven and was instantly overwhelmed with the holiness of God.  Isaiah realized that God is holy and he, Isaiah, was not!  In that moment of stark clarity, Isaiah pronounced an oracle of “woe,” or doom, upon himself.  His despairing cry, “I am lost” does not carry the appropriate force in English as the word in the original Hebrew.  The King James Version renders it “undone,” which means, literally, that Isaiah was coming apart at the seams.

Here is another biblical account describing an occasion when one of God’s people recognized the difference between holy God and sinful man:

And when [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:4-8.)

 The disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing.  Now Jesus instructs them to let down the nets for a catch.  Exhausted from toiling all night, Peter reluctantly lets down the nets.  Immediately, every fish for miles around swims into the nets, and the stunned disciples frantically call for help from their partners in the other boat!  Instead of leaping and dancing for joy at this miraculous windfall (to be quickly followed by a serious discussion with Jesus about a full partnership in the family fishing business), Peter fell down before the Son of Man and confessed his utter unworthiness to stand in the presence of a holy God. 

Standing in the presences of pure holiness, Isaiah and Peter both realized that their sin was “sinful beyond measure” (Romans 7:13).  The impact on their lives was immediate and immense.  This is the foundational understanding that we, too, must have if we are to pursue holiness and grow in grace.

 Our call to pursue holiness is based on the simple fact that God is holy.  The more we think and meditate on the perfect holiness of God, the more we will hate the sin.  My beloved pastor, Tullian Tchividjian, likes to repeat this statement from John Piper: “I know no other way to triumph over sin long term than to find a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction with God.” This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN! 

Americans celebrated Independence Day yesterday, commemorating the adoption of America’s Declaration of Independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776.  People all over our great nation gather for a variety of activities, including parades, barbecues, and fireworks.  Prior to these celebrations of our nation’s rich history and traditions, God’s people gathered for corporate worship, praising God for the freedom we have in Christ.  My beloved friend and pastor, Tullian Tchividjian, is vacationing this week, so I had the privilege of preaching to the congregation at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. My sermon was drawn from Mark 10:17-22, the account of The Rich Young Ruler. I’d like to review the main points from that message this week.    

One of the inherent and unalienable rights set forth in the Declaration of Independence is the pursuit of happiness.  As good and as pleasing to the ears as this phrase may be, let me say that if all we pursue is our own happiness—a fulfilling marriage, well-educated children, a successful career, etc.—then we shrink the size of our life down to the size of our life!  Tullian often says, “This is living for something smaller than God.” 

The world would have us believe that the greatest goal in life is personal happiness.  But Jesus did not die to make us happy, He died to make us His; and in making us His He is making us holy; and it is only by growing in holiness that we will be truly happy.  The author of Psalm 119:1-3 exulted, “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!  Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!”  The Scriptures make it clear that happiness is rooted in and a result of the pursuit of holiness.  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” Jesus said, “for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).

Holiness is one of those already and not yet aspects of the Kingdom of God.  We are already holy.  The grace of God, through faith in Christ, has set us apart for His purposes and granted us positional holiness (justification).  God sees us clothed in the righteousness of Christ, just as if we had never sinned.  However, we are not yet perfectly holy in our daily lives—far from it!  So, the same grace that has given us positional holiness also provides for our progressive holiness (sanctification).  The grace that saved us is the grace that is sanctifying us, day by day. “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

And yet, this gracious gift of God is not something we sit passively back and receive; we are commanded to pursue holiness! Jesus instructed His disciples to “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33); Paul urged all who are mature in their faith to “Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14-15). If we are to make progress in these areas, we must develop a heart like David’s, who prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts and see if there is any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).

So how are you doing in your own pursuit of holiness? Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed?  Is it as much of a struggle for you as it is for me? 

Even a cursory glance at our lives reveals our rank hypocrisy.  We profess more than we put into practice.  We may not be committing scandalous sins, but how quickly we point to the speck in our brother’s eye while all the while neglecting the plank in our own eye!  We are impatient, insensitive, and insincere.  We are selfish and self-absorbed.  We love God and our neighbor . . . as long as we believe it will lead to blessings.  We are more concerned about “doing our own thing” than about pleasing our Lord and King!  Scripture plainly states that even the good things we do are no more than “filthy rags” in the eyes of a perfectly holy and righteous Lord (Isaiah 64:6). 

And yet for every messed up and messy child of God like you and me, those same Scriptures provide an astonishing message of hope!  Because of Christ’s atoning death on our behalf, God chooses to see the image of Christ in us, rather than the absence of Christ-likeness in our lives.  “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:11-12). That truth provides our motivation to keep getting up every time we stumble and fall down.  “For the righteous falls seven times and rises again,” the God-breathed Scripture assures us (Proverbs 24:16).

All those who are united to Christ can live a life pleasing to God because of His grace—not our goodness; His mercy—not our merit.  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

This week we’ve been looking at Christ’s words to Saul of Tarsus in Acts 26:14―“It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” We discussed the meaning of the oxgoad and met the Master of the oxgoad.  Today we’ll look at the third and final part of this package: the message of the oxgoad. 

When Jesus rebuked Saul (who would soon become the Apostle Paul) for kicking against the goads, He was telling the proud Pharisee that he was only hurting himself in resisting the truth & teaching of Christ.  The more he resisted . . . the more he suffered.  The harder he kicked . . . the deeper the goad drove into his flesh.  A modern equivalent to this timeless message is, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you!”

How about it? Is there an area in your life where you’ve been biting the nail-scarred hand that feeds you? 

How foolish and prideful for us to rebel against Omnipotence!  But look with me at the great tenderness in Jesus’ words; He does not say, “It is hard for my people” or “It is hard for Me,” but rather Jesus says, “It is hard for you, Saul!”  It is startling when we realize that our Savior is always thinking about the sinner, even when we are busily sowing seeds of our own sorrow!  I’m sure we would all agree from personal experience that it is, indeed, hard for us when we kick against the goads.  It was almost as if Jesus was saying sorrowfully to Saul what we parents say to our children when applying some stern discipline: “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.”

Who but the Savior could think such compassionate thoughts of a man who was intent on persecuting His church?  When we see cruel men persecuting Christians, what do we think―compassionate thoughts or condemning thoughts?  How quickly we would write off a man like Saul . . . but not our Savior.  No one is beyond the redemptive reach of our Lord!  No one has wandered too far, failed too often, or sinned too deeply to place himself or herself beyond the reach of Jesus’ promise: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  Jesus provides great comfort for us because He has great compassion for us.   

So . . . where has God been applying His oxgoad to your life?  Where have you increased your suffering because you continue to kick against the goads?  And when will you yield to the truth and teaching of Christ? When Saul finally reached that point, nothing could stop him.  The Apostle poured out his life to bring the Gospel to the nations, and no earthly obstacle would deter him―not the whip; not false witness; no trial, tribulation, or even an excruciating thorn.  Paul, by God’s grace, ran his course and was able to say: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). Would that we all will be able to say that at the end!  This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!