Grace for the Race

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

One of the things that encourages me most about the Bible is all of the brokenness that is to be found in the lives of all of the so-called heroes of the faith. If there was no other reason to believe in the truth of the Bible, and there are many other reasons to be sure, seeing how the Bible does not hide all of the flaws, warts, blemishes of God’s people would be enough for me. Who would ever put such weakness and brokenness into a story other than God. Think about some of these biblical characters:

• Adam – the first man blamed God and Eve for falling into sin
• Abraham – the father of the faith, said his wife was his sister to save his own skin
• Jacob – stole his brother Esau’s birthright
• Moses – murdered an Egyptian taskmaster trying to help his people Israel
• Aaron – helped the Israelites create a golden calf to be worshipped in place of God
• David – committed adultery and murder
• Jonah – ran away from God’s call in his life
• Matthew – was a hated and despised tax collector before Jesus called him
• Martha – was encumbered by her service to Jesus and angry at her sister Mary
• James and John – wanted chief seats in God’s kingdom
• Peter – denied even knowing Jesus three times on the night he was betrayed
• Paul – arrested, jailed, and murdered early Christians before Jesus called him into service

The Word of God is unabashedly open and honest about the reality of the human condition and all of its brokenness. God does not hide it. God does not minimize it. God simply shows us we are all broken and beautiful in more ways than we would like to admit. I believe the honesty of the Bible is one of the best defenses for its truth. The Bible’s depiction of the reality of life in a fallen and broken world is as accurate as it is encouraging. We do not need to shy away from our brokenness and let the enemy convince us that God cannot use us. God uses broken people. God uses flawed people. God uses really messed up people because that is all He has in this world. We are all misfits for our Master.

So, where has your brokenness kept you from doing what God is calling you to do? Be encouraged by all of the broken people in the Bible knowing that God uses broken people to make His world whole once again, and that includes you and your beautiful brokenness.

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

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.  (John 8:32)

The title of today’s word of encouragement comes from Charles Dickens 1859 classic novel, A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens was comparing and contrasting life in London and Paris during the French Revolution. He begins his tale with a clear vision that no matter how good it is in life, it simply cannot be matched with all the bad that goes with it. Conflict is all around us and in us – good and evil; light and darkness; wisdom and folly; love and hatred. And I think this accurately describes not only our cultural moment for the church today, but all of our individual lives on this side of glory. In looking back at our lives, we can all see times we would describe as both best and worst, yet our Lord used all of it for His glory and our good.

While the number of professing Christians are going up, the understanding of biblical Christianity is going down. Many in the church today know little of the Bible, and even less of the weight of God’s glory. They sit under the teaching of theologically barren pulpits that preach a false gospel of prosperity that mutes the biblical message of suffering, while at the same time magnifies the message that you can have your best life now. While numbers are up, knowledge is down. It is the best of times and the worst of times.

So, what is the best way forward? We need to remember there is a Truth and His name is Jesus Christ. Jesus is in control of all things at all times and in the lives of all people. He is working everything out according to His plan and purpose for the expansion of His kingdom. When Jesus promised trouble in this world, He was essentially promising we would experience both the best of times and the worst of times, but we would never experience either alone. Paul knew this truth by way of personal experience.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret to being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:12)

Paul experienced the best of times and the worst of times throughout his ministry of service to Jesus.  And he provides the key that unlocks the door to living the “tail of these two cities” in the following verse – “I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME!” Regardless of the times we are currently experiencing, whether good or bad, high or low, best or worst, when we have the Truth in us, with us, and working through us, we have all we need to do all the things God has called us to do.

Because nothing is new under the sun, every age can say “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” Keep Jesus on the throne of your life and for you, it will always be a “spring of hope” even if you find yourself in “the winter of despair.”

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

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  (2 Timothy 1:7)

Young Timothy was Paul’s spiritual son in the faith and he was facing mounting opposition to his service to our Lord, much of it because he was young in the faith. In today’s passage Paul was providing Timothy with eternal encouragement that can be summed up in a single statement – RESTORE YOUR ROAR!

Notice the three characteristics that Paul sets forth in encouraging Timothy as a leader in the church: power, love, and self-discipline. Let’s take a brief look at each one of these vital characteristics for every Christian that is available for appropriating because of the presence of the Holy Spirit that dwells within.

Power – because God is omnipotent, we have unlimited power at our disposal to be used for the expansion of His Kingdom. We must never forget that the same power that raised Jesus from death to life is the same power that dwells within each child of God . . . and greater is the power within us than any power that comes up against us.

Love – because God is love, we can be loving to everyone, even those who stand in opposition to us. We love because He first loved us and because of the presence of the Holy Spirit we are empowered to love even the unlovable. Love is to flow through us because it flows from our Fountainhead that can never run dry.

Self-discipline – as the writer of Hebrews tells us, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). To be sure, self-discipline is painful, but it produces what is necessary for us to fulfill our calling.

So, in looking at your life right now, how would you rate yourself in the areas of power, love, and self-discipline? In which area are you the strongest? Weakest? Know this, He who began this good work in you has promised to complete it. God is not finished with you yet. Let Him have His way with you and you will see yourself growing daily in the power, love, and self-discipline that is yours because you are His and the Lion from the tribe of Judah has promised to RESTORE YOUR ROAR!

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

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:19)

When we mix up our understanding of needs and wants, we can find ourselves dissatisfied with our lot in life. But what we must remember is God has promise to meet our every need, not our every want. If God cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, and He does, He surely cares for you and will fulfill His promise to meet your needs, not just daily, but moment by moment. The only time your needs will not be met on this side of the grave, is when you have completed your ministry of service to Him and breathe your last. For then, you shall be in glory.

But does this truth mean God has no concern for our wants and ever satisfying them in our lives? Nothing could be further from the truth. One of the most memorable passages of Scripture can be found in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” When we are delighting in the Lord, the Lord is delighting to give us our desires because our desires are in line with His desires for us. God delights in blessing His people with good things and we are to receive them with joy and thanksgiving, knowing that we are blessed to be a blessing to others.

Think about it from a parent’s perspective if you have children. Don’t you want to give your children the very best life has to offer. Of course you do, and that is because you love them. Well, the same is true for God. He loves all of His children and delights in giving them the desires of their hearts. Now the deepest biblical understanding in what it means to “delight in the Lord” is to make our Lord our greatest delight. When we do, we can be assured that our Lord will delight in not only meeting our needs, but in delivering to us the deepest desires of our heart.

As a pastor, I am often asked, “How do I know if I am truly delighting in the Lord?” The answer can be found only in looking at your time. If all you are using out of the 168 hours you have been given each week is 1 hour of it in the presence of your Lord, rest assured, delight for you is more like a duty. But if you are spending time each day on your knees and in His book, then expect your desires to be His desires for you and get ready to receive all that God has purposed and planned for your life. When it comes to the goodness of our God, I believe both needs and wants are ours when God is our greatest good.

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

When you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God. (Genesis 3:5)

To be sure, there is much to be understood about the first temptation in the Garden of Eden that the devil delivered to Adam and Eve. There are many layers to the lies of the devil, but at bottom, was the temptation of self-sufficiency. Made by God, for God, Adan and Eve were to live in total and utter dependence upon God, as it says, “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). It was God’s divine design for mankind to live in conscious, continuous, and consistent dependence upon Him.

In this first temptation of self-sufficiency, the devil tempted man to live in autonomy (a state of self-governing self-sufficiency) from the Almighty. So strong was this temptation presented by the devil, Eve first, followed by Adam, “saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, took some and ate it” (Genesis 3:6). But the good news of the gospel shows up immediately when God pursues rebels on the run, promises to send a Savior, and then graciously works in the lives of His people to cause them to realize their total dependence upon Him. That is the summary of the entire story-line of God’s people Israel. Here is how Moses described it.

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeing you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)

When they were hungry, God fed them. When they were thirsty, God gave them water to drink. You would think after forty years in the desert the Israelites would not need any reminders of their total dependence upon God and how He met their every need. But they did . . . and so do we. Regardless of where we live and where this finds us, we are as dependent upon God to meet our needs as the Israelites were in their wilderness experience. How instructive to read, “causing you to hunger and then feeding you.” Regardless of the need, God has promised to meet it in the glorious riches of Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

Here is a great way to cause us to remember just how dependent we are upon God: What do you have that you have not been given? Everything we have comes from God and the more we have the more we are in debt to the One who has given it to us. Now, what we receive from the hand of God may not seem as miraculous as the food and water in the desert, but through His providential care, most often, using ordinary and mundane means, it is and we are to see it that way in order to slay the sin of self-sufficiency.

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

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)

There is a great little story I remember that speaks into conquering sin in our lives: There was this young boy who was struggling with a variety of temptations and so the parents invited the pastor to come and speak with him. After the young boy shared with the pastor some of the devil’s temptations, the pastor responded, “The next time the devil comes knocking, just ask Jesus to get the door.”

Here is what we need to remember when it comes to sin. Yes, sin still remains in the life of the child of God. Just read through Romans chapter seven if there is any doubt about sin in the life of the believer after salvation. But sin no longer reigns in that life. The power of sin was broken on the cross when Jesus paid the penalty for our sins . . . all our sins. But that’s not all. The power of death was conquered on that first Easter morning when Jesus walked out of the grave. Before Jesus showed up, all we could ever do was sin. But after Jesus raises us from death to life and gives us the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, we have to ability, for the very first time, not to sin. Here is how Paul puts this powerful truth.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13).   

Here are a few truths to encourage you from this passage: everyone is tempted and temptation is not a sin. Never feel like you have been singled-out when wrong desires rear their ugly heads; because others have resisted temptation, you too can resist temptation – we all have the same Spirit and the same power to fight against the slings and arrows of the devil; God always makes a way out for all of us, if we are willing to walk in it.

So, is there any particular struggle you are facing in your life right now? Something in your personal life . . . professional life . . . family life? Just remember, when the devil comes knocking with his many temptations, just ask Jesus to get the door and I promise you, He will make sure that particular temptation will not overtake you. Let me close with a word of caution for all of us: we should never try and answer the door ourselves. None of us are strong enough. We simply need to ask Jesus to answer the door of temptation, and we shall receive our deliverance.

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

Carry each other’s burdens. (Galatians 6:2)

At first glance, when reading this title, you might be thinking I will be sharing some tips from our sport training ministry to help build up your upper body shoulder strength. Now, as much as I do enjoy this aspect of our church ministry having spent most of my life in sports, martial arts, coaching and training athletes, the shoulder strength I am talking about has nothing to do with weight lifting, but rather lifting weight.

Regardless of your age, athletic experience, physical ability, or station in life, as a child of God you have been given supernatural shoulder strength to help others in a variety of different ways. As Christians, we are called to bear one another’s burdens. We are called to let others lean on us when they are not strong. We are called to be a shoulder to cry on. We all have the perfect amount of shoulder strength to be a blessing to others in their time of need. It is God who has ordained the church to be His shoulders to help strengthen others in their time of need. Only when the entire body of Christ is engaged and working together will we be what God in Christ died to make us.    

So, how has God been using your shoulders lately? Remember, this has nothing to do with ability. It has everything to do with availability. God gives the ability to all of His children to be sources of shoulder strength to others. But it is up to us to make ourselves available to be used by God for the good of others. Just think back to the last time you needed a shoulder to cry on or someone came along side of you to help you bear a particular burden. We really do need each other because God will work no needless miracle to ease a burden when He has His children to be His shoulder strength.

Take some time to consider those closest to you and how you might be able to meet some particular need. Ask God to show you how He wants to use you in the life of someone who needs your shoulder strength, and you will be blessed beyond measure, “and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). And don’t forget, when you are helping carry someone’s burden, Jesus is carrying you every step of the way.

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

“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” (1 Corinthians 15:14)

On Monday we took a look at the embarrassing evidence in the testimony of the women and on Wednesday we unpacked the “enemy” evidence that came from the religious leaders. Today, in our final installment, we will look at the Pharisee Saul, a true enemy of Jesus.

Saul of Tarsus

For over two thousand years, no skeptic has ever been able to explain away in any reasonable and plausible fashion Saul, the persecutor of the church, becoming Paul the pastor, preacher, and disciple of Jesus who penned much of the New Testament.

Saul of Tarsus was feared among the first-century church. He was relentless in his persecution of the followers of Jesus, and he testifies to that truth in a variety of places (1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13; 1 Timothy 1:13), “as for zeal, persecuting the church” (Philippians 3:5). Along with his epistles, the book of Acts testifies to Saul being a staunch persecutor of the church. Then something happened on the road to Damascus.

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:1-6).

Perhaps there was no greater enemy of the early church than Saul of Tarsus. It is said he even held the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death (Acts 7). Saul was blinded by his self-righteous, false religion and did everything in his power to extinguish the light of the gospel. But to no avail. The resurrected Jesus showed up and transformed Saul the persecutor into Paul the preacher. How do explain this historical truth? There is only one way – it happened just like the Scriptures say it happened.

Oh, one more thing. It is beyond contestation that Paul was martyred under the emperor Nero for his faith in Jesus. Early church fathers, Polycarp, Tertullian, and Clement of Rome, all testify to this truth. The only way anyone could go from killing Christians’ to being killed for being a Christian is because the risen and resurrected Jesus showed up. From embarrassing testimony to enemy attestation, what we have is a powerful proof for the resurrection of Jesus. So, the question is, “Do you believe?” He is risen! He is risen indeed! HAPPY RESURRECTION SUNDAY!

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

“You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away.’” (Matthew 28:13)

On Monday we took a look at the embarrassing evidence in the testimony of the women regarding the resurrection. Today and Friday we will look at the “enemy” evidence that comes from those who hated Jesus.

The Religious Leaders

Everyone is in agreement on both sides of the resurrection debate that enemy attestation is a powerful proposition regarding the proof of the resurrection. The enemies of Jesus hated Him and were the ones who had Him put to death. The Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman government had had absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose in making any statement that helped prove the resurrection. Now, in order to have a resurrection, you first need an empty tomb. Do you know who was first to testify to the tomb of Jesus being empty?

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, ”You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.          (Matthew 28:11-15)

First, the tomb location was known. This is called the “Jerusalem Factor” as Jesus was publicly executed and put into a known tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Remember, two known Pharisees buried Jesus – Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. So, there would be no confusing the precise location. Second, if the tomb was not empty, the religious leaders would have simply produced the dead and decaying body of Jesus and paraded Him around Jerusalem for all the world to see. The reason they could not produce His body from a tomb that was widely known was because Jesus was no longer in the tomb. He rose bodily from the grave. 

Remember, if someone has any kind of bias against someone else, what would be the reason for that person saying anything positive or helpful about the other person? There would be no reason, except for the fact that it must be true. The only story the enemies of Jesus could come up with for the tomb being empty was the disciples stole the body. And, we know how silly that claim is when we read the stories of how most of them died for their faith in a risen Jesus. On Friday, we will look at Saul, the enemy of the Savior.

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

The woman hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. (Matthew 28:8)

We have arrived at Holy Week and I would like to share with you three “minimal facts” that come under the heading “Criteria of Authenticity” regarding the resurrection of Jesus agreed upon by most scholars and historians on both side of the debate (rooted in the work of Habermas, Licona and Craig). They use this approach to establish specific facts about the historical Jesus and the resurrection without assuming the inspiration of the Gospels. My focus this week will be on what is called “embarrassing” evidence, what is considered by all as counter-productive to serve as a source of proof for the resurrection.

The Witness of the Women

To understand the power of this embarrassing piece of evidence, we need to journey back in time to the first century. In our contemporary culture, what I am about to say doesn’t compute. But in the ancient world, it was simply a fact of life. Women were looked down upon by men as second-class citizens and their testimony was considered untrustworthy. They were not allowed to give testimony as public witnesses or public spokesmen, but they could testify in domestic and family matters. Also, they were never counted among the men. You might remember, in the feeding of the 5,000, the story only records the 5,000 men, without any mention of woman or children, who surely were there. So, this would be an unlikely invention in the minds of the first century gospel writers. 

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him,’ So the woman hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them, “Greetings,” he said. (Matthew 28:1-8)

So, why do we read these second-class citizens who cannot give testimony in a court of law, are the first to see the risen Jesus? Because it is true! No one would up a story that would be both embarrassing and counter-productive. In fact, it must have been hard for the gospel writers to write it this way. After hearing the report from the women, here is what they have to say, “their words seemed to them like nonsense” (Luke 24:11). Surely, they would have rather said it was Peter, James, and John who first saw the empty tomb and the risen Lord. This would have been a far more credible statement for the first-century audience to swallow. But this would not have been the truth. So, we read exactly what God had planned in providing a powerful proof to the resurrection in the witness of the women.

A second-century critic of Christianity, Greek Philosopher Celsus, mocked and ridiculed the witness of the women saying Mary Magdalene was a “hysterical female . . . deluded by sorcery.” If you were going to make up the story of the resurrection to get anyone to believe it, you would never use the witness of the women. The only invention regarding the witness of the women is in the mind of the contemporary reader today. So, what do you think about the witness of the woman as the first to see the risen Jesus?

On Wednesday and Friday, we will look at enemy attestation as our second powerful proof of the resurrection.

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