Grace for the Race

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep. (Hebrews 13:20)

From the original hymn up to the most modern contemporary version, most church goers have sung Jesus Paid It All. It is as powerful “sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow” as it is personal “I stand in Him complete.” This is why we are to understand there is no Plan B. God’s Plan A is the atonement that was made through “the blood of the eternal covenant” demonstrated through the sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus did indeed pay it all and when He cried out on the cross, “It is finished!” He meant what He said. Atonement Made . . . Debt Paid . . . Sinner Saved!

Is it not a source of cosmic comfort to know that Jesus paid it all for you and that there is no plan B for you to contribute to? Salvation is not Jesus plus anything. Salvation is simply Jesus alone. Now if you are trying to pay for your salvation through your good works – giving of your time, your talent, your treasure, you are simply not trusting in the finished work of Christ. To be sure, giving of your time, talent, and treasure are good things and demonstrate a changed life in Christ. But those things are the fruit of your salvation, not the root of it. A changed life simply flows from a saved life. Nothing you do adds any value to what Jesus has already done for you.

God will not love you anymore because you do more, and God will not love you any less because you do less. You are completely loved because you are in Christ. By nature, we have a difficult time believing in this truth because we all have been in relationships where either love did not last or that love was performance based. The reason for this is simply because we are broken people living with and loving other broken people. But when it comes to our relationship with Jesus, His love is both unconditional and unwavering.

Remember, your salvation is either all because of Jesus or not because of Jesus at all. You must choose, either plan A, trusting completely in what Jesus has done for you, or plan B, trusting in what you are able to do for Him. In light of Isaiah 64:6 which tells us that even our best works are like “filthy rags” the choice could not be clearer – NO PLAN BE FOR ME!

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 United States Federal Holiday observed 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 need to ask, “Who are the kingdom builders?” Is it reserved for only those who are in full-time vocational service like pastors and missionaries? If you have been following our blog for any length of time, you know the answer to that question. And the answer is a resounding “NO!” Here are some profound words on this subject from Os Guinness written in 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 soldering, 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 was to be lived before the face of God.  It didn’t matter if one was a butcher, baker, or candle-stick maker…or priest, monk, or nun, every service was sacred when it was lived out 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 into faithful service their gifts, talents, and abilities in order to glorify God and expand the cause of His kingdom. This Labor Day, take a moment to do a personal evaluation in the area of your “calling” and see if there is 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? 

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

As I like to say there is indeed one menial job in this world. And 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!

Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites our of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11)

After forty years tending sheep on the back side of the desert, God was now ready to use Moses to deliver His people out of bondage in Egypt. Moses started well with this response after God called to him, “Here I am.” But after God told Moses His plan to make him the divine deliverer of God’s people, Moses began to exchange God’s use for his excuse. Let’s take a look and I promise you will be as comforted as you are challenged to answer whatever call God has placed in your life today.

When Moses said, “Who am I . . .” he was speaking truth about the fact that he was not qualified for God’s call in his life to do anything, at least from his perspective. Forty years earlier, when Moses was in the court of Pharaoh, he killed an Egyptian slave master who was beating a Hebrew slave. When it was exposed that Moses killed an Egyptian, he fled Egypt and spent the next forty years as a shepherd in Midian. I can only imagine that in the intensity and intimacy of his encounter of God in the burning bush who instructed him to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground, Moses remember just how sinful he truly was.

But here is the comfort that will lead to the challenge. To be sure, God knew who Moses was. God knew how Moses tried, in his own strength, to free his countrymen from slavery in Egypt, but he did it the wrong way – in his own strength rather than the strength of the Almighty. Moses knew just how sinful he was, having killed a man. Yet, here is God calling Moses into His service to deliver His people out of bondage to slavery. Here is one of the greatest comforts we find throughout sacred Scripture: God sees past our past all the way to our current potential as an instrument of usefulness in His mighty right hand. And the same is true for me and you.

Have you ever wondered why God chooses to use such messed up people in His service? It’s because that is all He has to work with. We are all messed up. We are all sinners with a past that would shame us all if those closest to us knew what God knows about us. Yet, in His magnificent mercy God raises us out of the pit of our sinful past and into His promised plan and purpose for our lives. And that is why God refused to accept Moses excuse that he was not good enough to answer God’s call. Yes, it is true, Moses was not good enough in his own strength, but in the strength of the Almighty he was more than good enough, he was God’s ordained instrument of usefulness. By the way, Moses made a few more excuses and God simply took Moses from excuse to use, and that what God wants to do in each of our lives.

So, have you answered God’s call in your life today? Remember, God knows everything about your past and still wants to use you in the present for two simple reasons, His glory and your ultimate good.

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

Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name. (Isaiah 25:1)

There are only two reasons to do anything in life. One is for personal gain and the other is for God’s glory. The Scriptures are full of examples of both and it is always a good idea to inventory our hearts from time to time to see just what the motivations are behind the things we are doing. We can sum it all up this way: are we using God as a means to attain an end or is the end God Himself. The first has us pursuing God for personal gain, the second for God’s glory. And often we can be sailing through life without ever noticing the difference until the storm winds begin to blow and when they do, we will know the true motive of the heart by either shrinking back or standing firm.

Let’s take a brief look at these two categories of professing Christians. The person working for personal gain thinks about their relationship with Jesus rooted in the great gifts He can give to them. They come for hope. They come for happiness. They come for health. They come for a better home life. These are just a few of the personal gain reasons which makes it clear that Jesus is not their Messiah, but rather, He is their means to their desired ends. However, the person working for God’s glory looks to Jesus as the end itself. Jesus is not the vehicle to victory He is victory Himself. Jesus is not the way to wealth He is our wealth. He is not the way to happiness He is our joy. So, how would you describe your walk with Jesus right now? Is your relationship with Jesus a means to a desired end or is Jesus the end Himself?

What we need to remember is we were created for relationship with Jesus not for the rewards we get from Him. Perhaps there is no better book in all the Bible where we see this truth lived out than Job. God allows His servant Job to suffer unimaginable loss – health, wealth, and all ten of his children. Even his wife ridicules him for staying committed to God. In essence, Job loses every reason to stay in a right relationship with God expect God Himself. It is clear from this story that Job loved God more than all the good gifts God had given to him. Yes, Job loved his wealth, health, and children. But He loved God more. For Job, God was not a means to a desired end. God was the end Himself, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (Job 1:21-22).

May this be the confession of our lives that our relationship with God is built solely upon the goal of His glory and not our gain, because ultimately His glory is our greatest gain.

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

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9-10)

Here’s a great question, “If God is omnipotent, possessing all the power in the universe, how are we to understand God rested on the seventh day of creation” (Genesis 2:2)? Please read on and be greatly encouraged today.

Perhaps the simplest way of putting this truth into words so that we might understand is this: God stopped His doing, but He never stopped His displaying. God stopped creating but He never stopped His sustaining. God was not tired as if His strength and power had diminished in any way over the previous six days of creation. After six days of work, we are tired and we are in need of a rest, but never our God. Isaiah puts it this way, “The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary” (Isaiah 40:28). And Jesus put it this way, “My father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (John 5:17). So, what does it mean to rest in the One who never rests?

Everyday Rest – the first rest we are to understand is the rest we receive when we first become a Christian. Because of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we are raised from death to life, we are immediately and forever more, given a rest from our self-salvation project. We can stop trying to save ourselves because God in Christ has saved us. We no longer have to try to work ourselves into God’s favor because Jesus has already done this for us on our behalf. We are free from the works of the Law because Jesus has accomplished that Law on our behalf. Our doing is to be exchanged for our devotion as we work out our salvation in the strength of the grace that saved us. But that’s not all . . .

Eternal Rest – the second and final rest we are to understand is the rest that “remains” to be received on the other side of the grave. This is the life that awaits us in glory when we stand before the face of God. This is the life where all of our rebellion will be removed, our sin slain, and our disobedience turned into divine devotion. We will, for the very first time in life, be fully resting in the promises of God. 

So, regardless of where this finds you, whether tired or utterly exhausted, cheer up. Look to your Lord and enter into your everyday rest by resting in your redemption, the finished work of Christ. And when you find yourself up against it, tired, weary, and heavy laden, look beyond the horizon to the promised rest that awaits you in heaven. It won’t be long now even if you live to be 100 years old.

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

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)

Perhaps you have heard that the 10^th chapter of the book of Hebrews has been referred to as the “lettuce” chapter. Do you know why that is? Well, it is because you will find in the space of four verses (22-25), the powerful phrase “Let us . . .” Now that “let – us” is a supernatural salad that is designed to both challenge and comfort you right where this finds you today.

The first thing we need to know as Christians is found in the fact that inasmuch as we are saved individually, we are saved to community. The Bible knows nothing of the solitary saint. When God in Christ saved us, He placed a new obligation on us and that is the obligation we have to the family of faith. The word US makes it clear that there must be a mutual responsibility in the body of Christ . . . each for the other. Perhaps the best way to lay this out is found in the “one another’s” of the Scriptures. Here are just a few:

• Care for one another – Galatians 6:2
• Accept one another – Romans 15:5
• Serve one another – Galatians 5:13
• Confess to one another – James 5:15
• Submit to one another – Ephesians 5:21
• Comfort one another – 1 Thessalonians 4:18
• Carry one another’s burdens – Galatians 6:2
• Love one another – John 13:35

So, how well have you been feasting on the supernatural salad Jesus has set before you? What we need to remember is that Jesus died to make us His family of faith. He wants us to live as a community of believers who put the gospel on display in such a way that the community of unbelievers begins to ask why are we so different. The answer, of course, is found in the grace of God – the grace that saved us and is in the process of sanctifying us. Without the grace of God, we would still be as selfish and self-centered as we were before we were saved. Even after salvation, we must appropriate the grace of God in order to live out the “lettuce” chapter.

Remember, living in community for the Christian is not only God’s desire for each one of US, it is the clear and present sign of maturity – growing in our faith. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus vertically, we are to also be growing in our relationship with others horizontally. In the creation account, everything was good except one thing. It was not good for the man Adam to be alone (Genesis 2:18), so God created Eve, as the first community in the world. You are part of the most important community in the world today, the church. But in order for the church to be the church, we must do our part, and commit to community.

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

By myself I can do nothing. (John 5:30)

If ever there was a life that could live independent of the Father in heaven it was the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. As the second person of the Trinity, Jesus had all the power of the Godhead contained within Him. But instead of using His power independent of the Father, Jesus made the decision of dependence – and this is the pattern we must choose for our lives too. Read on and be encouraged.

When we read the words, “By myself I can do nothing,” it might be easy to picture someone who is utterly helpless or even hopeless. But nothing could be further from the truth as it relates to the One who uttered these words in the gospel of John. The Omnipotent Son of the Most-High God made the decision to live not in the prerogative of His power, but rather, in the power of the Holy Spirit submitted to the will of His Father in heaven. Jesus made the decision of dependence. His message and His ministry were performed in utter dependence on the will of the Father. In the same sense that our Lord Jesus lived a life of dependence, we must do the same. We must keep these words of Jesus ever before us, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

By nature, we all want to live in our own strength and for our own glory. This is exactly what happened to Adam and Eve when they bought into the lie of Satan in the Garden of Eden. When they chose the way of independence, the result was the utter collapse of all of creation, as a consequence of their willful rebellion against God. They actually got what they sought – a life of independence apart from God and were booted out of the Garden to live east of Eden. Now their lives were marked by confusion and chaos; fear and frustration; disillusionment and death. Is this not the experience of all of us when we choose the way of independence?

So, how have you chosen to live lately? Have you chosen the way of independence or the way of dependence? To be a disciple of Jesus is to be dependent upon Jesus. And to be dependent upon Jesus is to live a life of both faithfulness and fruitfulness. When Jesus called the disciples with these words, “Follow me!” at the deepest level, He was calling them to follow His pattern of dependence upon the Father in heaven. We have received the same calling 2,000 years later. But remember, dependence is always a choice and that choice is always yours to make. What choice do you make today?

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

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Oh what a comfort we have in God’s Word today. No matter how much we mess things up, and I mess things up a lot, His mercies are new every morning. God always acts in mercy to His children, all of them, and that includes me and you. I have learned by way of personal experience that God’s mop is bigger than my mess!

The grace and mercy of God are truly amazing. Every bit of it is undeserved. Every bit of it is unearned. Every bit of it is unmerited. Every bit of it is simply a result of God’s gracious nature that predisposes Him to pour out His grace and mercy upon you, not only daily, but moment by moment. And if we are honest with ourselves, we know by way of personal experience, we need it every moment of every day.

Think about the last time you really messed things up. Perhaps it was something you said or something you did whether in your personal or professional life. Was not God merciful to you in the middle of your mess? Of course He was. He loved you the same after you messed things up as He did before. Because you are in Christ, you are absolutely loved. You cannot make God love you anymore and you cannot cause God to love you any less. He loves you as He loves His precious Son Jesus.

Regardless of the mess we make, our God never gets mad at the mess we have created. He simply acts in mercy toward us. And that is because we are covered by the blood of the Lamb of God who has taken away every sin, past, present, and to come. How else could God respond to us when we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ? Our God responds in mercy every time we mess things up and that should be a source of comfort for each of us today.

Let me leave you today with a lasting reminder of this wonderful truth:

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:4-5).

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

If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

I trust the past two blogs have provided some necessary insight into fighting the battle against worry. In all of sacred Scripture, I cannot find a better verse to help in this fight than the one we have today.

The apostle Paul tells us we are more than conquerors because God is for us and if God is for us, it really doesn’t matter what comes up against us. That is why the key that unlocks the door to a week without worry is keeping our focus on Christ and not our circumstances. Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom knew this truth and put it this way, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” Worry weakens our resolve and our response to whatever it is we are facing.

Think about it this way. If the most important and life altering events are no longer a source of worry for you –

• Being forgiven – 1 John 1:9
• Being forsaken – Hebrews 13:5
• Being forgotten – Isaiah 49:15

. . . and death itself has been overturned by Jesus rising from the grave and becoming the death of death, nothing in your life rises to the level of the need for worry. God’s got you and God’s got “IT” whatever “IT” is. But there is a death that is still required and that is death to the self. The more you die to yourself, the more you can live for your Savior. The apostle Paul put it this way, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul trusted completely in Christ and that trust turned any opportunity to worry into an opportunity to witness to the faithfulness of his Lord.

One final point from the pen of the apostle Paul as we close out our week without worry, make sure you are advancing in your life from your knees and not your feet. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).  

If God is for you . . . and He is . . . doesn’t it make sense that He would want to hear from you. Like any good father would want to hear from his children, your Heavenly Father wants to hear from you. And when you go to Him in prayer with whatever it is that is beginning to worry you, what you have done is exchange worry for worship, which is the true mark of the child of God.

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

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. (Psalms 55:22)

We begin with a verse today that echoes the words of Peter that we closed with in Monday’s blog. The psalmist knew God could be trusted. Peter knew God could be trusted. Do we know this truth and do we live it out in our daily lives?

In the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus gave us the instruction not to worry, He argued from the lesser to the greater. He said if God cared for the flowers of the field and the birds of the air, how much more would He care for us. We need to remember that God cares for everything He created and that includes us and when we do, we will be more than willing to cast our cares on Him.

There is another important point from that sermon we need to keep in view, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life” (Matthew 6:27). In other words, worry is a thief. It captures our time and wastes our energy without the ability to help or change the circumstances we are facing. Worry has no power to prevent anything bad or produce anything good in our lives no matter how much time we spend doing it. Here are just a few of the damaging effects of worry:

• Insomnia
• Daily fatigue
• Ulcers
• High blood pressure
• Indigestion
• Heart palpitations

As a pastor, I have learned the sad truth that on many tombstones could be etched this epitaph: DIED OF WORRY! Worry is having a divided mind and a divided mind is as destructive as it is deadly. So, can you identify any of your “worry” triggers? Does any of the following resonate with you: feelings of powerlessness; when you feel vulnerable; when life seems out of control. When you identify some of the triggers you can be ready to respond appropriately with casting your cares on your Lord before they have time to crush you under the weight of worry.

Remember, worry is a choice. You can choose to worry or you can choose not to worry by trusting in the One who can be trusted and has proven to be trustworthy in the past. In choosing not to worry, you are not suppressing those worrisome thoughts. Rather, you are sharing them with your Lord who has promised to sustain you.

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