Grace for the Race

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

The beginning and the end of a journey are generally marked by excitement and exhilaration. As we stand at the starting line, we are excited about the road ahead and often we stand with friends and family who are there to encourage us. So too with the finish line. When it comes into view, we feel exhilarated, knowing that we are about to finish what we started, and again, there are often many standing there to cheer us on to victory.

But what about the road between? How do we “master the middle” . . . those long, lonely stretches when our excitement wanes, we feel like we are running on empty, and exhilaration is as far from us as the east is from the west?

The key to mastering that middle of the road between the start and the finish is to mirror our Master. And one of the best ways to do that is to keep Paul’s exhortation to the church at Philippi in view every step of the way. These words characterize one of the primary marks of a Christian who has learned how to master the middle.

The apostle Paul knew well that the middle stretch, which often feels so dreary and whispers to us to quit makes up the lion’s share of the time we spend on our journey. Unlike the starting and finish lines, where there are frequently people there to cheer us on, there are many times in the middle when no one is there. The road is long and arduous; there are unexpected twists and turns and long hills to climb, and we find ourselves all alone. If we do not master that stretch, it will begin to master us.

Again, we must look to the example of Jesus Christ. How often in the middle of our Lord’s journey did He find Himself alone! He spent long nights alone in prayer, seeking strength and direction from His Father in heaven. Even when He was surrounded by huge crowds, their interest was only rooted in what they could get from Him. Only a few of those who pressed in around Him were interested in simply being still and being with Him.

At the beginning of His race of redemption, the heavenly host cheered Him on with its glorious anthem: “Glory to God in the highest!” And when Jesus ascended back to His throne of grace, I’m quite sure that the heavenly host was there to welcome Him home and rejoice over Him once again. But that stretch of road in the middle was often as long as it was lonely. Isaiah prophesied about what the life of the Suffering Servant would be like:

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

Like one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities

and carried our sorrows,

yet we considered him stricken by God,

smitten by him, and afflicted.  (Isaiah 53:3-4)

And then there was that last, terrible, excruciating uphill climb, as the darkness closed in around Him and the only voices He heard were jeering, not cheering, and He uttered that despairing cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Even His Father, who had twice thundered from heaven that “This is My Son, whom I love,” had turned away; the loving Father had become the merciless Judge.

Jesus’s body had been torn by the savage scourging, His hands and feet pierced through by the cruel spikes, His every breath was a shuddering agony, and He was utterly alone . . . yet He never wavered, not once . . . He never wavered in His love for you, Christian; He had set His face like flint (Isaiah 50:7) and He pressed on toward the goal, which was your eternal redemption.

Perhaps you’re on one of those long, lonely stretches of road today; perhaps you’re facing an uphill climb and you’re not sure you have the strength to finish; perhaps you’ve stumbled and fallen in a heap by the side of the road and you feel like there is no one there to offer a helping hand and get you back on your feet. Wherever this message finds you, if you are struggling to master the middle of your journey, look to your Master and draw strength from Him. You may not see anyone cheering from the sidelines, but there is One who is cheering you on every step of the way—your Savior is praying for you. Jesus said He will never leave nor forsake you, and He is offering you His hand of supernatural strength and encouragement.

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

And when you cross the finish line, Christian, you will hear cheering like you never heard before! If you have run your race for the glory of God, it will sound just like this:

“Well done, good and faithful servant!”

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

I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. (Jeremiah 18:3-4)

I will never forget Dr. D James Kennedy saying, “God saved you then . . . is He saving you now?” I didn’t understand what he meant at the time. I was a new Christian and only understood “saving” to refer to that single point in time when we are, by grace through faith, raised from death to life. And while that is certainly true, there is another aspect to “saving” that took me years to learn: being saved from myself—not only daily, but moment by moment.

As the prophet Jeremiah tells us in today’s passage, we are vessels in the hands of the Potter, and we are being remade over and over again “as it seemed good to the potter to make.” Our daily salvation is a process of being shaped in the hands of our Savior. God in Christ is molding us into the perfect image of our Lord Jesus Christ. And since we won’t be perfected until we get to the other side, our clay will be continually marred throughout this life and in need of being remade.

If you are in Christ, God did indeed save you then. Now the question is this: is He saving you now? Are you being saved from yourself . . . your self-centeredness . . . your self-rule . . . your self-righteousness?

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Real clay in a potter’s hand feels nothing in the process of being made and remade over and over again. But redeemed “clay” in the hands of the Potter feels every aspect of being remade over and over again. And make no mistake, it hurts! Being saved from oneself is a painful process. The sinful self does not die easily, and it will not go without a fight. Paul made this clear in Romans 7, when he confessed that he did not do what he wanted to do, but he did do the things he hated. It is the same with you and me; the battle rages within every believer. But thanks be unto God, because He is committed to finishing what He started in us, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

What an odd God He would be if He started the process of conforming us into Christ, only to stop before it is finished! Remember, Christian, there will be no marred vessels in the new heavens and the new earth. God has promised to finish what He started and He will finish what He started in you. Let these words “so He made it again” both comfort and challenge you today:

• Comfort you because of the many failures God has remade you through
• Challenge you to praise the Potter daily through the painful process of being remade

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

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Matthew 5:7)

Let me start by providing a definition for the two “bears” God has given to every believer throughout the ages:

• Bear – to bear is to carry, support; to hold the weight up
• Forbear – to patiently restrain an impulse to do something; to refrain or abstain from

What incredible blessings these two “bears” bring to every believer who has them within his or her possession! To bear another’s burdens is one of the great privileges God in Christ has given us. To come alongside someone who is struggling under a load they are carrying and to lighten it with comfort and compassion and genuine caring is the call for every Christian.

Of course, there is no greater example of bearing others’ burdens then the one we find in our Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world to bear the burden of our sin through His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection.

Scripture commands, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10 ESV). When we encounter the burdens of others, we mustn’t see them as obstacles blocking the pathway to where we are going. Rather, the burdens of others offer opportunities to be the hands and feet of our loving Savior—to follow in the path of good works that our Lord has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10).

Our second “bear” is to forbear, and the degree to which we demonstrate this in our lives will always be rooted in our understanding of our own sins and shortcomings. When we see ourselves for who we truly are—sinners in moment-by-moment need of a Savior—we find it far easier to forbear from judging the sins and shortcomings of others.

Once again, there is no greater example of forbearing than the one we find in our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus never responded in kind to those who reviled and persecuted Him. “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23). In fact, while hanging on the cross in unimaginable agony, Jesus asked His Father in heaven to forgive those who had caused Him that pain.

When Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy,” He set in motion a breathtakingly lovely beatitude that encompasses both “bears” that you and I are to possess and practice in the lives of others. When we do, we are most like Jesus.

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

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.” (John 19:12)

I certainly would never hold Pontius Pilate up as any kind of a role model, but wouldn’t that be well said of all of us . . . that we are “no friend of Caesar” because we are a true friend of Jesus? I pray this word of encouragement will inspire you to be “no friend of Caesar” because you are ardently pursuing that true friendship with Jesus.

The religious leaders had grown to hate Jesus for a multitude of reasons, primarily because they feared losing their elevated status among the people (John 11:48). When they could stand Him no more, they conspired to have Him put to death. In today’s verse, we see them turning up the heat on the weak-kneed Pilate, threatening him that the consequences of choosing to exonerate Jesus would make Pilate “no friend of Caesar”—in other words, bringing the potentially disastrous disapproval of the Roman emperor down on himself.

Make no mistake; friendship is a choice, and it is a choice we all must make. Scripture warns that if we choose to be friends with Caesar—that is, friends with the world—we are choosing to be an enemy of Jesus.

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.  (James 4:4)

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  (1 John 2:15)

When Scripture speaks of “the world,” it is referring to the sinful systems of this world, which is currently under the dominion of Satan (1 John 5:19), whom God has allowed to hold this position for a season. To be sure, we are in this world because God does not yet desire to take us out of this world . . . which means He still has work for us to do! But we are no longer of this world because of our relationship with Jesus. The believer is not to be drawn into the evil that permeates this world, nor are we to conform to its value system. We have been consecrated (set apart) by God the Father to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, which means we are to make a difference in this world by being different from this world.

This difference starts with our choice of friends. We can either choose to be friends of Caesar—that is, friends of this world and its anti-biblical ideologies—or friends of Christ. But we simply cannot be friends of both. Jesus told His disciples, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (John 15:19).

If we say “Yes” to Caesar, we are automatically saying “No” to Jesus. But when we say “Yes” to Christ, we display a difference in the way we live out our lives . . . through our thoughts, words, deeds, and desires. Because God is changing us from the inside out, our friendship with Jesus will begin to pour out of us in every imaginable way. And when we engage with the world around us—and you can be 100% sure that unbelieving world is watching us to see if our faith is real—they will be given the opportunity to come to know the Savior . . . not through the Bible they could read, but through the Bible they see lived out in us.

For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? (2 Corinthians 2:15-16)

Let us determine to be no friend of Caesar, but rather to embrace the Lamb of God, that all those whom we encounter may sniff the sweet savor of abundant life through Jesus Christ.

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

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them.  (Isaiah 42:16)

God is in the business of calling us to walk on unfamiliar paths as we live out His plan and purpose for our lives. Why? Because God calls us to do things we have never done in ways we have never done them; and that, beloved, requires us to walk along unfamiliar paths. But don’t forget the promise; God is our guide every step of the way.

To be sure, we are all far more comfortable with the familiar. Think about the way you go to school or work during the week and to church on Sunday. Don’t you follow the same route when you travel? We all do that, and we do it because it is easy and comforting to go the way we have always gone. But God is calling us to do new works, and new works demand new ways, and new ways are unfamiliar. But this should not trouble us, because we have a wonderful promise on theses unfamiliar paths: God is our guide!

Perhaps God is calling you to an unfamiliar path in your professional life. Follow His lead, because He has promised to guide you. Maybe God is calling you to an unfamiliar path in your personal life. Follow His lead, because He has promised to guide you. Possibly God is calling you to an unfamiliar path in your school life. Follow His lead, because He has promised to guide you every step of the way.

When we don’t know the way because the path is unfamiliar, we must remember that Jesus is the Way. And as long as He is guiding us, we are safe and secure and we will ultimately reach the intended destination He has set before us. Remember, inasmuch as our paths are unfamiliar to us, they are not unfamiliar to Him. He has walked all of them before us, and now He has promised to walk all of them with us as our Guide.

So regardless of where this finds you today, unfamiliar paths are the best way to travel through life because God is the One who is leading us along them. Keep looking to Him, and praise Him for the unfamiliar paths, because eventually what was once unfamiliar and uncomfortable will become familiar and comfortable . . . until the next time He leads you to a new unfamiliar path!

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

Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

Temptation is all around us; when it is not looking for an open window to climb through, it comes directly to the front door and knocks. And it will be this way until that day when we are received into glory.

So how are we to deal with daily temptation? We are to keep in view the time when Truth went toe-to-toe with temptation . . . and won!

During our Lord’s wilderness testing, the devil came at Him with everything he had, and it was a time when our Lord had just completed forty days of fasting in the wilderness. Jesus was all alone and should have been at His weakest . . . at least physically speaking. So in an environment where the odds were stacked against Jesus, the devil learned firsthand the power of truth overcoming temptation.

There are many valuable lessons we can glean from the wilderness temptations of our Lord, but the most important is found in the way Jesus fought against the temptations the devil threw at Him. Jesus countered every temptation that was delivered with the truth of Scripture. And there you have it! Truth is the key that unlocks the door to victory over temptation. Jesus used the Word of God as His weapon of choice when confronted by temptation.

Can the same be said about us? The only way we will be able to use the truth of Scripture like Jesus did is to know the Word of truth like Jesus did. He did not have a concordance to scan out in the wilderness; He could not pull up any verses from His Bible app on His phone. Jesus was able to cite Scripture from memory. The Word of God flowed out of our Lord because the Word of God was in our Lord. Jesus studied the Scriptures and Jesus memorized the Scriptures; when He needed them most, they were on the tip of His tongue . . . and Truth overcame temptation.

It is my prayer that these words will encourage you to spend adequate time in your Bible—meditating on the Word of God and memorizing the Word of God. Then, the next time temptation attempts to slip in through your window or brazenly knocks at your door, you will be rightly equipped to go toe-to-toe against it. With the belt of truth buckled around your waist (Ephesians 6:14), you can triumph just like Jesus did!

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

Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. (Philippians 3:7)

Death is a great deliverer for the saints of God. When we take our last breath on this earth, death will deliver us into the glorious, unveiled presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian need have no fear of physical death, for, as Paul said, “To depart and be with Christ . . . is better by far” (Philippians 1:23).

But along the way to death’s ultimate deliverance, we are to be delivered by death each day . . . in fact, moment by moment. And that death of which I speak is —

Death to Self!

Remember, the sinful self constantly encourages us to “keep back” part of ourselves. When we die to self, we refuse to hold anything back from our Lord. Unlike Ananias and Sapphira, who kept back some of the money they had promised to give to the work of the Lord (Acts 5), we hold nothing back when we have died to self. But reaching that point requires the work of the Holy Spirit within us; our sinful nature cannot comprehend the condition of being “all in,” because at that level of living, we have no safety net . . . other than Jesus Christ.

On the night before the crucifixion of our Lord, Peter refused to die to self. Instead, his sinful nature chose to keep back a portion of the truth of his relationship with Jesus Christ for fear that what was happening to Jesus would happen to him too. But Peter learned a wonderful lesson from this experience: he learned that the grace of Jesus Christ is greater than all our sin. And when Jesus had restored Peter, the rest of his life was marked by the death to self—so much so that church tradition tells us that when Peter was sentenced to death by crucifixion, he asked to be nailed to the cross upside down, saying that he was not worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. Now that is death to self!

How is it with you today? Is daily death delivering you from yourself? Or have you been holding back a portion of yourself? It is impossible to die to self and keep back from your Lord; it is either one or the other. As you go through your day, consider the moment-by-moment choices you face: dying to self or keeping back some portion of yourself. The first choice leads to the deliverance of death and being able to sincerely echo the apostle Paul: “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). The second choice leads to a death that does not deliver.

The choice is always yours.

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

I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.  (Philippians 4:11)

The 17^th century Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs penned this profound phrase that relates to this important lesson learned by the apostle Paul: “the rare jewel of Christian contentment.” I think you would agree that it is a rare jewel indeed!

There are really only two options for the Christian when it comes to living life: it can either be lived in a state of contentment . . . or in a state of complaining. The people of God chose the latter after they had been miraculously delivered from their cruel bondage in Egypt. If you read through Chapters 16 and 17 of the book of Exodus, you will discover more than a dozen occasions when the Israelites lived their newly-found life of freedom in a state of complaining, not contentment. To be sure, “the rare jewel” was extremely rare among those people!

You may be wondering, “Should we always be contented, regardless of the situation we are currently facing?” The answer, of course, is YES! But it is also important to understand what Paul was not saying in today’s verse. When he said he had learned to be content in whatever set of circumstances he was facing, he was not saying he was complacent. Contentment does not mean complacency. By every means necessary, we are to strive to better everything and everyone in our lives. Yet we are to be content throughout the process.

Look at it this way; Paul was content in whatever state he was in. But do you think he was ever satisfied with the relationship he had with Jesus? Of course not! Paul said that he was “straining” toward the goal of godliness (Philippians 3:13) and that it would be “better by far” to die and be with Jesus (Philippians 1:23). Paul continually desired a deeper, more devoted experience and expression of his relationship with his Lord. He did not complain about the relationship he had with the Lord, but make no mistake, he was always and in every way doing everything within his power to get more and more of it. And so should we!

One final point: Paul teaches us that contentment is gained in the school of life and must be learned. It is indeed a hard lesson to learn! Our sinful nature leads us to live a life of complaining, rather than contentment. But as God conforms us to the image and likeness of His beloved Son, the Spirit leads us to live a life of contentment.

To be content is to acknowledge God’s right to grant to us abundance or scarcity, health or sickness, sorrow or joy, all the days of our lives. When we grant this right to God—as Job did, saying, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10)—we will rise above a life of complaining and find ourselves in possession of that rare jewel of contentment.

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

The Lord says concerning the king of Assyria, “He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David” declares the Lord. (2 Kings 19:32-34)

God’s people have enemies on all sides, but those adversaries can do only what the Lord allows them to do. Time and time again, enemy nations believed they had conquered the people of God, when in fact God had simply delivered His people into their enemies’ hands as judgment on their rebellious hearts. And frequently, as was the case with the king of Assyria in today’s passage, the enemies of God may boast of bringing destruction on the people of God, only to find their evil schemes frustrated.

What enemies are you facing today? What has come up against you that is causing you to worry, fear, or doubt? Reread today’s passage and be comforted: the enemy cannot enter when God is defending the gate. The enemy cannot so much as shoot an arrow over the wall, much less advance against us, when our Savior is protecting us. If we would only take this truth to heart, we would live with far less fear and frustration and far more freedom and faithfulness.

It is important to note that God does not always eliminate our enemies; He uses them for our eternal good. We can be sure that all things that do come against us will be worked together by God for our good and His glory. So regardless of what you may be facing today, God has delivered it for your eternal good and has equipped you to overcome everything that has come up against you. Remember, there is no weapon formed that can come against you except the weapon that is wielded in the hand of our Savior. And that weapon is a weapon of both salvation and sanctification.

When our enemies are eliminated, we are to praise the mighty name of our God. And when our enemies are advancing in our direction, we are to praise the mighty name of our God because it is God who is directing them in our direction for two important purposes: God’s glory and our good. So fear not this day, Christian, regardless of what you are facing. You are not facing it without the Lord’s approval, and you are not facing it alone. Regardless of when our deliverance comes, it will come; and it will come at just the right time and in just the right way.

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

“Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.”  (Hosea 7:8)

Here is a word of warning for all who have ears to hear. Ephraim—and Hosea was clearly using the prominent tribe of Ephraim to refer to the nation of Israel—was compared to a loaf of bread that was not turned over, and thus left uncooked on one side. The reason for this undesirable condition is clear: Israel had mixed herself with the unbelieving nations and now her affections were divided between the things of God and the things of the world.

May God forbid that to be the confession of our lives! Here are two deep, biblical truths for you and I to consider as we meditate on this caustic metaphor that compares the people of God to a flat loaf not turned over:

One side of the loaf remains uncooked

Because the people of Israel refused to give their hearts completely to God, a portion of their hearts remained in unholy rebellion. So it was easy for them to give their hearts to things smaller than God. The “uncooked” portion of their hearts remained cold to the Lord and unaffected by God’s amazing grace; their hearts remained unchanged by God’s everlasting love. Because the loaf remained unturned, only one side felt the holy fire of God’s love, and the unturned side remained in its turned-away condition.

The other side gets burned!

It may seem odd when I say that it is possible to get too much of the holy fire of our faithful God, but when only half of the heart is being cooked in the furnace of God’s fire, it eventually becomes black and brittle and breaks into little pieces. This certainly describes the heart of the Pharisees, who evidenced all the outward expressions of being true children of God, but upon closer inspection revealed that their hearts did not possess what their lips professed. Their hearts could not possess a sincere and sacred love for God because one half remained cold and the other half was burned up.

So . . . let us examine ourselves today, you and I, and ask our Lord, “Is this is my condition—“a flat loaf not turned over”? And if the Spirit of God answers in the affirmative, ask your loving Father to turn your heart toward His heavenly flame. We must remember that we are in this world, but we are not of this world. We are to make a difference in this world by being different from the world, and those who are different from this world are those who have turned totally toward the Lord Jesus Christ in surrendered submission.

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