Grace for the Race

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12)

Mark well, beloved, these words from James: There is a special blessing from God that can only be found on the other side of burden. God will meet us in our place of deepest need, whether we find ourselves in sunshine or storm.

The trial of burden that God sends our way is not designed to bury us under its weight. Rather, the fires of affliction purge from us all that is counterfeit to our Christian faith. And what is not consumed in God’s heavenly fire emerges both blessed and built up as a testimony to having stood the test.

God is faithful to those who are His. He will not allow any of His children to sink when the waves of challenge come crashing down; He will provide all that is necessary to rise above the storm and emerge on the other side standing on the Rock of Ages, fully blessed with divine approval: the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

Notice that James tells us that only those who love God will receive the crown of life. Is this the condition and cry of your heart? Does your heart beat with love for your Lord . . . truly, deeply, passionately, wholly? Then fear not, regardless of the burdens you are facing . . . regardless of the obstacles that currently stand in your way . . . regardless of the problems that are present in your life right now . . . you are His and His crown of life is yours. No weapon formed against you can prevail because God has promised to preserve you.

Just a cursory glance through sacred Scripture makes it clear that all the saints of God are tried in the fire of affliction. From Joseph in Egypt to David in the desert to John the Baptist in the Herod’s court to Paul in Rome, God’s people stand the test and receive the crown of life. Remember, God is working all things together for your good and His glory. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), and a love that is not tested and tried is no love at all. The love of God in Christ Jesus was tried in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the hill Golgotha, and it proved to be genuine. Jesus refused to shrink back from the unimaginable burden of His crucifixion; He not only stood the test, but He strode out of the grave that first Easter morning with the crown of life.

Like Savior, like saint. He stood the test and so shall you, because greater is the power in you than any power that comes against you. True love must be tried and it must be tested, and it must persevere, because it is His love that strengthens our love all the way into glory.

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

“The Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” (Hosea 1:10)

The reach of God’s amazing grace knows no bounds. God’s arm is not short . . . He can reach all the way to anyone and He can reach anybody. May that truth be a source of eternal encouragement to you today!

Notice the power of God’s amazing grace that is declared in today’s verse. It makes strangers into sons and the rebellious into the righteous. This is the truth about my standing with the Lord God Omnipotent, and I pray that it is your truth as well.

For most of us, there was a time when we felt as far off from God as we do from the stars. We had nothing to do with God or His people. We were distant, disconnected, and desperate. But God, in His sovereign mercy and amazing grace, opened the eyes of our hearts and gave us ears of faith so we could hear Him whisper from on high, “You are now a child of the living God.”

Our God is a saving God, full of mercy and grace. Adam and Eve knew this truth by way of personal experience. When they chose to rebel against God, they ran and hid from Him. And what did God do? He pursued those rebels on the run. This is the pattern of God that is presented throughout the entire Bible. It’s rare to find a story in the Scriptures where a great saint of God did not rebel in some way. And yet, with every right to leave His children wallowing in their wickedness, we see how God ran after them, picked them up and dusted them off, and set them back on their feet so that His robe of righteousness would shine forth once again.

It is beyond human comprehension that the Creator of the universe would desire a personal relationship with selfish, sinful creatures such as you and me. Yet God the Father sent God the Son to die on a cross for our sins so that we would be transformed from NOT His people to BOUGHT people. The deep truth of Scripture, of course, is that we were always His, having been chosen before the foundation of the world . . . but we didn’t know it. As Steve Brown says, “God knew you and took care of you before you knew Him.”

So . . . knowing that you were once far off from God but now have been brought near by the blood of the Lamb who took you from NOT to BOUGHT . . . are you encouraged? Living in the light of this truth—not just daily, but moment by moment—will keep you strengthened, even in those moments when you have done something that makes you feel like you are NOT. You are His, Christian, BOUGHT by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and there is no power in heaven or on earth that can change that. Rejoice in His unfailing, unchanging, amazing love!

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

“Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Sovereign Lord, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.” (2 Samuel 7:29)

It is one thing to plead our petitions before the throne of grace, for we have been invited to do so day and night. It is another thing altogether to plead His promises. It is to these pleas that we can expect to receive blessings multiplied for His name’s sake, for what God has promised, He will surely do.

I first learned that our God is a covenant-keeping God when I was in seminary. It was one of Dr. Robert Reymond’s favorite phrases, and he would often remind his students that God is a promise-maker and a promise-keeper. As children of God, we are to plead His promises, because every promise of God is “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). We are invited to come boldly before the throne of grace and remind our God of the promises He has made to us, and we can plead His promises in confident anticipation that He will perform them.

Is it not a source of cosmic comfort to be able to do as David did? We see in today’s verse that the shepherd king went to His God and repeated back to Him what He had already promised to do for His servant. The Bible is filled with promises that God has made to you. When was the last time you took Him at His Word and pleaded those promises? David knew what we all are to know by way of personal experience: Not a single promise of God will ever fall to the ground unfulfilled or return void. When God speaks, it is settled, and to see so many sure accomplishments presented to us in the Scriptures should keep us on our knees day and night.

There is no need that you might ask God to meet that He does not already have sufficient provision promised for you, for He has promised to “meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Regardless of what you are facing in your personal, school, family, or professional life, God has uttered a promise that you have been given permission to plead to Him. Know and trust in what David knew, that your God is pleased to bring to pass all that He has promised to give to you. And never forget that He will always make good on His promises to you in His perfect way and in His impeccable timing. Plead His promises and prepare to be blessed . . . and amazed!

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

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Do you know why the devil loves the consumer Christianity that is so prevalent in the church today? It’s because the consumers are sitting on the throne of their lives, having pushed Christ to the periphery. And when Christ has been pushed to the periphery of our lives, we set ourselves adrift on a sea of self-centeredness.

Consumer Christianity is all about ME. The focus in on self rather than the Savior. The consumer comes to church asking, “What will I receive?” . . . “How will I be blessed?” . . . “How will my experience today meet my deepest felt needs?”

Now, please don’t misunderstand me; it is entirely biblical to come to the Fount of every blessing and expect to receive, be blessed, and have your deepest needs met. But when that is our focus, our aim, and our expectation when we come to church, we have completely missed the primary purpose of assembling together as a body of believers. Far too many churches foster a culture of consumer Christianity by communicating a primary message of “Jesus and me” rather than “Jesus and we.” These churches preach to felt needs without setting forth the cost of discipleship.

But this is not for you! Jesus made it abundantly clear that in order to be His disciples we are to deny the self, not focus on it. We are to let go of the reigns of our lives and invite Jesus to guide us in the direction He wants us to go. Trusting in our Savior means we have come to the understanding of what it means to deny the self.

But Jesus did not stop there. He also said we must take up our cross, and that message was not lost on His first century audience. The roads of Rome were lined with crosses that held the dying and deceased victims of Roman “justice.” Jesus was saying we must be willing to not only deny the self, but to die to self. Only in dying to self can we find the life we most desperately desire: a life of significance, meaning, and purpose. And where does that kind of life take us? It takes us wherever Jesus leads us as we follow Him, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

If you have been infected with a bit of consumer Christianity, fear not! The cure is clear. Keep the cross in view—not the cross you are to carry, but the one upon which Jesus was crucified. He took your nails and your crown of thorns and poured out His blood so that He could have an intimate, personal, relationship with you for all eternity.

Remember these words from Peter: “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God” (1 Peter 2:16 ESV). Christ died to set you free from slavery to selfish desires. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and you will find that all your needs will be given to you as well.

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

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

I want to share a new insight I gleaned from a Tim Keller sermon rooted in Romans 8:28, entitled, “Does God Control Everything?” I have written over and over again in this blog about the unconditional love of God in Christ Jesus, which is poured out on sinners like you and me. Keller’s sermon he took this truth a step further. He said –

Nothing can separate him from us. . . . He held onto us; he was our Savior. He died for us! Now that’s how you know nothing can separate us from the love of God. It’s not an abstraction. It’s not just saying, “Oh, I just believe that God loves me unconditionally.” No, he loves you counter-conditionally; he loves you against conditions because of Jesus.

I just love that! We are not only loved unconditionally; we are loved counter-conditionally—that is, against our every condition. Think about it this way: In our natural condition, we are sinners and utterly without hope apart from the saving grace of Almighty God. We are in a dead condition that needs to be made alive, and that only happens because God loves us counter-conditionally.

But it doesn’t end there! After we have been made alive with Christ, we are still sinners in need of a Savior. When we seek to serve ourselves rather than our Savior, we are rebels on the run, just like our first parents, clad in the ludicrous fig leaves of their own self-righteousness, hiding in the brush from the Sovereign Lord. And yet, God still loves us in our rebellious condition . . . He loves us counter-conditionally.  

I don’t know where this message finds you today, but I want you to remember that, regardless of the condition you find yourself in, nothing can ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. You see in today’s passage that Paul included the phrase, “nor anything else in all creation.” The apostle is directing us to consider this counter-conditional love from the deepest possible perspective. Since everything is in the category of creation except God, that category includes you. Christian, there is nothing you can do, nor is there anything that can be done to you, that can separate you from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus.

I don’t care how badly you’ve stumbled or how dark and dirty is the pit you are in today. Nothing, even in your worst possible condition, can ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, because you are loved—not just unconditionally, but counter-conditionally. Let that truth set you free from any attacks of the devil that may be trying to keep you down.

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

I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10 KJV)

When God says He has chosen us, we need to interpret this deep, biblical truth in two parts of speech: First, as a verb, because God has made a decision to select us into His service; and second, as an adjective, because God’s choice makes us choice (of very good quality).

Understanding this order is critical to understanding the Gospel. God does not choose us because we are choice on our own, worthy of His choosing and affection. Rather, because He chooses us, we are made choice by His sovereign action of choosing us. Now, if that does not bring you great comfort and light the fire of your faith . . . your wood is wet!

But notice this: we are chosen as an afflicted people, not as affluent people. God does not place us on a pedestal in the palace. Rather, our God ordains that we, in His strength, will work our way out of one pit after another, just as Joseph did because of the sinful jealousy of his brothers who sold him into slavery. In God’s mercy and grace, we are put into the furnace of affliction in order to prove, purify, and perfect us—again, just like Joseph. It is in the furnace of affliction that we are formed and fashioned into the image of God’s beloved Son Jesus Christ, beause, as the apostle Paul wrote, “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3-4).

So what furnace of affliction have you been placed in today? Even if it is heated seven times hotter than ever before, remember that you are not alone. When the three Hebrew youths where thrown into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar because they refused to bow down to a pagan image, the king saw four men walking around in the furnace, and he exclaimed that “the fourth looks like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:25). God’s deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was a great victory and an awesome demonstration of His care and concern for His people. And He exercises that same care and concern for you today.

God could have kept those young men out of the furnace. But instead, He joined them in it for their good and ultimately for His glory. Every furnace of affliction is designed for that end. God will use whatever furnace you are facing to bring you to the end of yourself. His faithful, refining fire finds out what is worthless and purges it from His people. Remember, the same God who sends the sunshine and the rain also sends His people into the searing furnace, but that trial is always far less than we deserve. “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10).

God has chosen you, and that makes you choice. He uses the furnace of affliction to fashion you into the faithful follower He is calling you to be.

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

Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden. (Jeremiah 31:12 NKJV)

The soul without the Savior is an empty hole, a barren wilderness, leaving one with a thirst that cannot be slaked. But, oh, the soul that has been drenched by the living waters of the Savior finds that hole filled and flourishing.

Is this the condition of your soul today?

To have the hole in our souls filled by our Savior means we have been cosmically cultivated, weeded by the Word, and fertilized by His faithfulness. Our great Gardener cares deeply for every plant in His garden and stands watch over each one of them throughout the scorching heat of the day and the cool winds of night. Winter, spring, summer, and fall, Jesus sees to it that His garden flourishes in a way that shouts to the weeds of this world, “Stay out!” Planted by Jesus, pruned by Jesus, and protected by Jesus, we are given all that is necessary to grow up into the person God is calling us to be.

Pause for a moment and reflect upon just how well you have been watered by the Master of the garden.

• He has watered you well with His forgiveness.
• He has watered you well with His faith.
• He has watered you well with His mercy.
• He has watered you well with His ministry.
• He has watered you well with His pardon.
• He has watered you well with His presence.
• He has watered you well with His discipline.
• He has watered you well with His devotion.
• He has watered you well with His goodness.
• And He has watered you well with His grace.

The hole in your soul has been filled to overflowing!

The question that needs to be asked and answered is this: are you flourishing in accordance to your filling? Remember, your flourishing flows out of your filling, not the other way around. All that you are and all that you do is a result of all that He has done for you. Your call as a Christian is simply to live out practically what you already are positionally. In the words of the apostle Paul, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

Walk by faith and not by sight in your well-watered garden, knowing that your filling is for your flourishing.

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

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I meet far too many Christians who believe that being a “new creation” means they must have the passion of the prophets, the discipline of the disciples, and the strength of Samson. Experience has taught me this is simply not the case. To be sure, sin has been conquered and crushed through the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. But, as I frequently remind our congregation, we must remember that inasmuch as sin no longer reigns, it still remains. We will battle against sin all the way into glory, just as the Scriptures tell us:

The sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. (Galatians 5:17)

Before we were saved, we were only capable of sinning in the eyes of the Lord. Nothing we did brought honor or glory to His name. Selfish ambition and self-interest ruled our hearts and shaped our lives. But when Jesus showed up, all that changed. As new creations, we have an ability we did not have before we knew Jesus. We now have the ability to resist the devil and flee from the sinful impulses that still reside in the old nature. But if we believe even for a moment that we will reach perfection in this life, we are setting ourselves up for certain, crushing defeat.

The ultimate outcome of the Christian life is perfection; when we cross the Jordan, we will be fully conformed into the image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ. But until that day, we will struggle against the sin nature that still resides within us. And yet the orientation of our lives has been radically changed by Christ. Instead of the heart beating for the self, it has begun to beat for our Savior. We desire to live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to the One who saved us from sin, Satan, death, and ourselves. When Jesus changes us, He renews our mind, realigns our will, and reorients our heart. At this level of living, because Christ is living in us (Galatians 2:20), we begin to make real and measurable progress against sin.

As new creations we have a new identity which cannot be shaken, because it is rooted in the unshakable One. And as new creations we have a new power greater than any power that can come up against us. Let the truth of Whose you are set you free to make forward progress; and when you stumble, fear not! You are unconditionally loved and completely forgiven.

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

“No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied. (John 7:46)

Make no mistake, no man ever spoke the way our Lord Jesus Christ spoke. No one ever spoke such truth in so much love. No man every spoke such blessing over burden and life over death. But it doesn’t end there, because no man ever was silent the way our Lord Jesus Christ was silent. He refused to cast His pearls before swine.

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor. (Matthew 27:12-14)

As our sin-bearer, Jesus knew there was no defense of sin, so He spoke not. He made no defense for Himself, not even in the slightest degree, for He knew the task at hand as the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world . . . bound and silent before the great Judge of the universe. The world is always trying to explain its way out of one predicament after another. Self-justifying is the way of the sinful heart. But He who knew no sin but rather became sin for us remained silent when a single word from His lips could have ended all of His pain and suffering. The prophet’s prediction was fulfilled, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

Let this truth encourage you today! Jesus proved Himself to be the Savior of the world through the words He spoke and through His silence. His patient silence secured our salvation. Perhaps the lesson we should learn today is that there are times to speak up and there are times to remain silent. Let us, at every opportunity, speak up for the advancement of the cause of the kingdom of Christ. And let us, at every opportunity, remain silent for the advancement of the cause of our own kingdom. Let us not get caught up in foolish and stupid arguments, but let us speak the truth of God’s love for a lost and hurting world—a love that is displayed in all its radiant beauty by the person of Jesus Christ. This will assuredly make us most like our Master.

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

Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:39-40)

When you look at a cross, what do you see? 2000 years ago, the watching world saw a defeated, dying man who claimed to be the Savior of the world. But God saw His perfect justice satisfied by His perfect Son, who triumphed through defeat. In the end, the cross is where we see the great reversal of the world’s values and where a countercultural kingdom was birthed by the death of its King. The cruelest instrument of death known at that time brought about the death of the world’s glorification of power, position, and prestige . . . and brought eternal life to all who place their trust in the crucified One.

On the hill Golgotha, Jesus won through losing, gained through giving, and achieved ultimate status through unimaginable service. The cross creates a countercultural kingdom in which its citizens see life as God intended it to be. Success is achieved through the service of others, not at their expense. Power is used to advance the cause of the kingdom of the Savior, rather than the kingdom of self. Forgiveness is now given freely and without exception to all those who have offended or wronged us. The cross of Christ creates a kingdom that is marked by love for God and love for others, regardless of the cost or circumstance. This is what I call a cross-shaped life.

Does this define your life today?

The cross of Christ made no sense to the watching world, but it makes all the sense in the world to those who have been transformed by it. Jesus died that we might live. But the life Jesus calls us to live is a life marked by the death of the self. If Jesus is to increase in our lives, we must decrease. If Jesus is to rule over our lives, we must surrender and submit. If Jesus is to lead, we must follow wherever He leads. And because Jesus is the King of this countercultural kingdom, He will often lead us in directions that seemingly make no sense . . . which is why we are to navigate through this life, not with a compass, but with a cross. It is only when we view life through the cross that we will begin to live a cross-shaped life.

Remember, it was on that cross that Jesus cried out, “Why have you forsaken me?” Why was an ignominious death on the cross necessary? The answer, of course, is as profound as it is personal: it was necessary because of YOU! Now, that’s a counterintuitive cross. Remember that the next time you see one. And rejoice!

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