Grace for the Race

Here is the most important truth about the cross every Christian has been called to bear: It is not a cross of your own making; God has assigned it to you!

[Jesus] said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)

The audience our Lord was speaking to knew well what this meant. In the Roman Empire, a condemned criminal or captive was forced to carry the beam of his own cross to the place of execution. Jews and Gentiles alike had witnessed this ghastly scene countless times as condemned men dragged their crosses through the streets of the city.

Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:38)

The Christian cross is not a choice; it has been prepared by our Prince, and we are to take it up as a badge of honor—not a burden of horror. Each day we are commanded by Christ to submit our shoulder to that beautiful beam, which is designed to crucify the self and exalt our Savior.

Jesus led the way in cross-bearing for every Christian to follow. “Christ suffered for you,” the Scriptures explain, “leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). What better way to identify with our Captain than to carry our own cross on the way to glory?

Make no mistake; as it was then, it is also today. The Via Crucis [Latin for the Way of the Cross] is the way of safety and security because our Savior has gone before us. We need not fear nor faint as we tread its thorny paths, because they lead us to our Lord. As we have surrendered to Christ, we must surrender to our cross, bearing its burden by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we follow the Crucified One, we too must be crucified as God conforms us into the image and likeness of Christ.

So . . . do you accept the calling of your cross today? Divine will says it is for God’s glory and your good. Let those two truths strengthen you under the weight of your cross as you make your way, by God’s grace, to the Celestial City where the One who carried the cross before you waits to greet you with open arms and nail-scarred hands.

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

Fear is a fact of life on this side of the grave. We fear everything from the dark to death . . . from loud sounds to strange environments . . . and those things that go bump in the night! But the Bible provides a solution: we can face our fears, and it is done through a single word: FAITH! When our hearts are filled with faith, there is no room left for fear to take up residency.

I first heard this acronym from the great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar. Zig liked to say that FEAR is nothing more than . . .

False

Evidence

Appearing

Real

One of the best examples of this in all of sacred Scripture is found in the experience of the Israelites when they were spying out the land God had promised to them. When the spies came back with their reports, we clearly see just how much their fear caused “false evidence to appear real.”

They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.”  (Numbers 13:26-28)

A portion of their report was true: the giant descendants of Anak were indeed living in the Promised Land, and the sons of Anak were feared by the Israelites. But what followed was not true. It was false evidence that merely appeared real, because fear took the place in their hearts that should have been occupied by faith. God had promised to give Israel possession of the land, but the spies said:

“We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:31-33)

So . . . what “giants” stand in your way today keeping you from entering your Promised Land? In your profession? In your marriage? At school? In your single walk with Christ? Remember these words God spoke to the Israelites because they were spoken to you as well:

Be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you. (Deuteronomy 9:3)

This is a promise for you also! Charles Spurgeon said it beautifully: “No promise is of private interpretation. Whatever God has said to any one saint, He has said to all. When He opens a well for one, it is that all may drink.” Drink from this well of fearless wisdom today. Hide this truth in your heart and whenever fear begins to rear its ugly head, faith will remove it at once.

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

We all face wilderness experiences—times of loneliness, doubt, spiritual dryness, even despair. Moses faced his wilderness experience on the back side of the desert for forty years. David faced his as he fled from King Saul. John the Baptist faced his in the face of King Herod . . . and it cost John his head. Even our Lord faced His own wilderness experience during His 40-day fast, while the devil taunted and tempted Him.

Wilderness experiences may feel fruitless, but they most certainly are not. Even when we are in the midst of what seems like the back side of the blessings of God, we are still being blessed! To be sure, a wilderness is only pleasant when it is viewed on a picture postcard and not experienced in person. Yet, God has ordained all of us to go through a wilderness on the way to our Promised Land.

Did you know that the wilderness experience proves to be quite beneficial for a tree? The dry, barren environment causes the roots of the tree to drive down deeper and deeper into the soil in search of life-giving moisture. Thanks to this stronger root system, that tree is far better able to weather the storm winds that will eventually blow around it.

The very same thing is true for you and me when we think that we are languishing on the back side of God’s blessings. Our wilderness experiences are designed to cause us to drive our roots deeper and deeper into the soil of our Savior, and the result is that we are stronger and better able to weather the inevitable “life storms” that blow our way.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

The key to bearing much fruit on the back side of God’s blessings is to remain—to abide—in Christ. Our roots are already connected to our
Redeemer. We need only reach for Him as we as respond to whatever wilderness experience comes our way. As children of the Most High God, we must remember that even on the back side of God’s blessings we are still being strengthened and blessed and supported.

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

The word “god” (with a little “g”) is defined as anything that sits on the throne of your life and takes the place of the one true God.

So the question before the house is this:

What is the most likely and dangerous “god” you face today?

From the school room to the board room to the locker room to the family room, there are countless gods that compete for first place in our hearts. And we often become quite sophisticated in substituting something—anything—for the one all-important Someone . . . whose name is Jesus Christ.

We live in a culture that is overflowing with idolatry and unabashed immorality. Idols of every shape and size are continually calling to our hearts, trying to gain our affection. Of course today, in our cultured “sophistication,” we do not bow down to a golden calf or a sacred tree; no, we find our ‘gods’ in our relationships, our hobbies, our professions . . . even our church service!

Take a moment today to examine your heart. Have you allowed anything smaller than God to sit upon the throne of your life? Have you substituted something for the only Someone who deserves first place in your life and in your heart? Make no mistake, idolatry is anything that cools your desire for the Kings of kings and Lord of lords.

May it be said of all of us what the Lord said of Caleb, who refused to substitute something for the Someone:

Because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.   (Numbers 14:24)

To follow God “wholeheartedly” does not mean perfectly. We are imperfect people and everything we do we do imperfectly, including following God. But we follow wholeheartedly, even when we are messing it up, when our heart still beats for Jesus.

Now that’s a beat worth marching to, wouldn’t you agree?

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

We live in a visual society. We are often drawn in by what we see. This tendency bears on ministry in the life of the Christian: some service is more visible than others. But I’d like to state up front that service that is less visible is no less valuable. Why? Because it is being done for the glory of the Priceless Prince of Peace.

I often ask the question from the pulpit: “Who is more valuable in kingdom work? Is it the person out front in the place of high visibility? Or is it the person in the background who often goes unnoticed?” The answer, of course, should be a source of great comfort and encouragement to the majority of kingdom workers.

Very few are out in front. They have not been shaped by God to be in positions of high visibility. The majority of kingdom servants minister in the background. But we must always remember that ministry that is more visible is not more valuable. No matter how humble and hidden the service to our Savior may be, the body of Christ absolutely depends on that service in order to be fully functioning!

It is God who gives us our assignment, and every person has a perfect place and portion to serve God. We need only live it out with our eyes steadfastly fixed on Him.

I can tell you from personal experience at Cross Community Church, those behind-the-scenes servants are the glue that holds us all together. “Less visible” most certainly does not mean “less valuable,” because God works through the different people He has called and gifted to accomplish His purposes in this world.

So . . . have you been serving in a place of seeming insignificance? Let me assure you that there is nothing done for the glory of God and the expansion of His kingdom that is insignificant! Remember, the one thing no one else in the world can be is YOU! And that makes you indispensable to the expansion of God’s kingdom in this world. Whether highly visible, less visible, or invisible to the watching world, “visible” does not mean “more valuable” in God’s economy. It never has . . . and it never will.

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

The Christian has been saved for service. Notice that I did not say “saved by service.” We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and we have been saved for service, not by it. If you’ll recall Monday’s blog, I said that we have been saved by grace through faith; we have been saved from our isolation and saved to community; today I add the truth that we have been saved for service.

God has paid the ultimate price for us through the blood of His precious Son, Jesus Christ. Yet we are not called by God to serve Him out of a sense of duty, but rather out of a sense of devotion . . . out of a heart that beats with love and thanksgiving. Our service to God is to be rooted in gratitude, not guilt, and we are to be the hands of the Holy One. This is illustrated by the following story:

At the end of World War II a group of German students volunteered to help rebuild an English cathedral that had been severely damaged by German bombs. As the work progressed, they were concerned about a large statue of Jesus, whose arms were outstretched and beneath was the inscription, “Come unto Me!” The hands were completely destroyed, and as hard as they tried they could not mend them. So they decided to let the hands remain missing and changed the inscription to . . .

CHRIST HAS NO HANDS BUT OURS!

What a wonderful solution these students devised! Christ has no hands but ours! That is a wonderful truth that should provide all the motivation we need to live for Jesus. The truth is, we will all give our lives for something. Some give their lives to their careers; others give their lives for fame and fortune; still others give their lives over to their hobbies.

So . . . what will you give your life for? Will it be to expand the cause of your kingdom . . . or His kingdom? Will you be pursuing your agenda . . . or the agenda of the Almighty? Remember, Christ has no hands but ours. May our hands stay engaged in the work of expanding His kingdom throughout a fallen and broken world, as fallen and broken people who are saved by God’s grace and called to a life of joyful, selfless service.

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

Every Christian is saved individually by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But in addition to that, every individual Christian has been saved from isolation to community.

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  (Romans 12:4-5)

We are members of his body.  (Ephesians 5:30)

None of us lives to himself alone.  (Romans 14:7)

What a wonderful picture we have painted for us as His church—all members of the body of Christ! And not only are we members of His body, we actually belong to each other. We truly are our “brother’s keeper” (Genesis 4:9).

The “one body” speaks of our unity. The “many members” speaks of our diversity. And the “belonging to all the others” speaks of our interdependency. We each need each other! There is no such thing as a self-sufficient saint.

Notice this truth too: there is no “I” in the word TEAM, because the good of the all always outweighs the good of the one.

What a great privilege we have been given by God! To be on His team, pouring ourselves out for His glory and the good of others . . . expanding the cause of His kingdom rather than advancing our own agenda. This is the Christian life. This is living a life of meaning, significance, and purpose. And it can only be lived out in community. Christianity is indeed a team sport.

How well have you been playing it lately?

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

Today we will complete our look at “spiritual sobriety,” a concept taken from the inspired pen of the apostle Paul. On Wednesday we encountered Saul, who was “spiritually intoxicated” with himself, breathing out threats against the early Christian church. Today we will see the supernatural change that took place: spiritual intoxication was replaced with spiritual sobriety by the grace of the Gospel.

Who Paul was after conversion . . . “Spiritual Sobriety”

Paul was a changed man. God removed the scales from his eyes and took away his pride. This is clearly laid out for us in what I call Paul’s divine descent:

Level #1          1 Corinthians 15:9

I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Level #2          Ephesians 3:8

Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ . . .

Level #3          1 Timothy 1:15

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,” Paul wrote in Romans 12:3, “but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Paul walked this talk throughout his life. Saul was afflicted with spiritual intoxication and thought much more highly of himself than he ought. Paul saw himself through the lenses of spiritual sobriety. Sober judgment was now the mark of the apostle, as he progressed from seeing himself as the “least of the apostles” to the “least of all God’s people” to being the “chief sinner” in all-the world.

Now that is spiritual sobriety in accordance with the measure of faith God had given to him. And the good news is that such faith is available to all the children of God who remember, like Paul did, what they were before Jesus showed up, and what they are now by God’s grace alone.

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

For the next two days we will look at “spiritual sobriety,” which is rooted in Romans 12:3, which was penned by the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. In order to understand this condition, we must see who Paul was before his conversion. He was staggering blindly in the condition known as spiritual Intoxication; after conversion the power of the Gospel supernaturally creates spiritual sobriety in the lives of all God’s saints.

By the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

Who Paul was before conversion: “Spiritual Intoxication”

His name was Saul, and he ferociously sought to put an end to the early Christian church.

Saul was there, giving approval to [Stephen’s] death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. (Acts 8:1-3)

So focused was Saul in his fanatical pursuit of Christians, he would stop at nothing short of the total destruction of the church. Saul demonstrated spiritual intoxication rather than spiritual sobriety. You see, spiritual intoxication is rooted in the self. The “I” in intoxication is the same “I” in the center of both PRIDE and SIN. Saul was consumed with Saul! It was Saul who looked after the coats of those who were stoning Stephen, the first Christian martyr (Acts 7:58).

Before his conversion, Saul was a one-man wrecking crew, drunk with his distorted determination to eliminate those who proclaimed Jesus as Lord and Savior. Saul thought too highly of himself! He was trapped in spiritual intoxication, but that was all about to change . . . and I will share that with you on Friday.

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

WOW!  It is hard to believe that it has been two years since God planted The Cross in Deerfield Beach through a handful of crazy Christians.  24 months of watching God make good on His promise to build His church (Matthew 16:18) through a handful of families who believed God was calling them into church planting.

To be sure, it is one thing to be in ministry.  It is another thing altogether to be in church planting.  It takes a crazy kind of Christian to leave the familiar and known to follow God’s cloud into the unfamiliar and unknown and that is what God surrounded our family with…crazy Christians who were willing to follow wherever God would lead us.  Space does not allow me to acknowledge everyone (but you know who you are and how much you are appreciated), but here are the core families who began meeting in our home:

Elmer, Devers, Wall, Bialy, Critch, Carbon, Miller, Vega

I will never forget our first official “church” gathering in the home of Joe and Carolyn Miller during Founders Weekend in Deerfield Beach in February 2012.  That Saturday evening has become known as The Cross Launch, and it was an incredible time of fellowship for a large group of family and friends of The Cross, as we talked about the vision God had given to us and gathered together out on their pool deck for a time of corporate prayer.

To say that God has done incredible things would be an understatement of gargantuan proportions.  We started our first worship service Saturday March 3, 2012 in the “rocking chair theatre” (Christian Love Fellowship Church) on Federal Highway.  After 6 weeks there, God opened the door on Saturday evenings at the New Horizons Church, and the rest as they say is history.  Their small congregation was engrafted into The Cross as we added a Sunday morning worship service in October 2012 and the entire church campus was donated to us.  A year later we added a second Sunday service and we stand in absolute awe of what the Almighty has been doing.

Most weeks we see God bringing people to faith in Christ as people come down to the front of the church after the services to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  We are seeing lives changed by the truths of the Gospel and a culture created that describes The Cross as a hospital instead of a health club.  From that small group of crazy and committed Christians two years ago we are now seeing God bring 250 – 300 people weekly to share in The Cross experience.

What lies in front of us in the days ahead we cannot know for sure.  What we do know is God is making good on His promise to build His church at The Cross one heart at a time…one family at a time.  As we increase in number we decrease in name.  We are simply The Cross Family called by God to declare and demonstrate the transforming power of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  As we begin our third year together…side-by-side and back-to-back…we will faithfully follow our Commander-in-Chief the Lord Jesus Christ into the mission fields in Deerfield Beach and to the ends of the earth until the whole world hears.

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