Grace for the Race

Over the years I have had the privilege of working with some of the most successful people in business, sports, and life.The one common denominator for those who were not Christian believers was found in how they went about justifying their existence.It was always and only located in what they did for a living.They did not find their identity in the One who created them, as a Christian does, but in the life they were creating for themselves.

This contrast is best portrayed in the two main characters in one of my favorite movies,Chariots of Fire.

Based on a true story set in the 1920’s, it follows British sprinters Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, who could not be more different and develop an intense on-track rivalry, both running for completely different reasons.Liddell, born in China to Scottish missionary parents, runs to honor God and spread the Gospel.Abrahams is a Lithuanian Jew who feels keenly the anti-Semitism of British society.Even though his father became wealthy and was able to send him to elite Cambridge University, he feels he will never measure up and be fully accepted; he runs for the approval and applause of man.

What begins as a classic conflict of man against man evolves into a study of inner strength as they battle the expectations of others, and must find victory in being true to their hearts and convictions.Liddell’s father encourages him, “Run in God’s name and let the world stand back in wonder.”Liddell tells his sister, “I believe that God made me for a purpose, for future missionary work in China, but He also made me fast.And when I run I feel His pleasure.To give that up would be to hold Him in contempt.”He uses his celebrity to attract an audience to evangelistic services in cities where he competes.Abrahams, on the other hand, runs to prove himself, saying, “I am going to take them on, all of them, one by one, and run them off their feet.”

When Liddell learns that the qualifying heats for his 100-meter dash are scheduled for a Sunday afternoon, he decides he cannot in clear conscience compete on the Lord’s Day.When he informs team officials, they are dismayed and attempt to change his mind.The impasse is resolved when a teammate slated to run in Thursday’s 400-meter race offers his place to Liddell. Liddell and the officials gratefully accept. In a marvelous juxtaposition, we then see Abrahams and others competing on Sunday, while Liddell preaches in a Paris church, quoting from Isaiah 40 (“Behold, the nations are as a drop in the bucket, and are counted as the small dust in the balance. … All nations before him are as nothing. … He bringeth the princes to nothing”). Abrahams goes on to win the 100-meter race and Liddell the 400, both in record time. At the end of the movie, we learn that Abrahams eventually became a lawyer, journalist, and leader in the British sports establishment. Liddell, true to his calling, served as a missionary to China and died in a Japanese prison camp at the end of World War II.

What a difference a divine conviction makes!One man runs for personal glory and one man runs for God’s glory.One man runs to build a monument to man’s glory and one man runs to build a monument to God’s glory.The one who is building a monument for his own glory crystallizes in two of the most profound statements ever uttered by a man on the run from God, powerfully expressing the emptiness of a life without God at the center:

“Contentment? I am 24 and I’ve never known it.I’m forever in pursuit

and I don’t even know what I am chasing.

“And now, in one hour’s time, I will be out there again.I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds

to justify my existence.But will I?”

These two statements are the bookends in the unbeliever’s life.There is no contentment apart from Christ because Christ is the only source of contentment in the cosmos.Their lives are marked by continual activity: running, running, running—without ever knowing what they are chasing; working, working, working—without ever knowing what they are working for.And when and if they ever get what they are running after or working for, the satisfaction only lasts for a moment and then they must be off again chasing after the next thing that will quiet the unrelenting cry of their soul and medicate the unending ache in their heart.

Ten lonely seconds turns into a lifetime of lonely seconds when a person is trying to justify their existence outside of their Creator.These statements are as sad as they are familiar in a world on the run from God.Like Adam in the Garden, they are naked, ashamed, and afraid of who they are and what they have become, so they run from the only One who can give to them everything they need to justify their existence and validate their worth.

So . . . where are you seeking your significance?Harold was seeking significance in 10 lonely seconds on a trackand never found it.Eric sought significance in 6 lonely hours on a crossand, by God’s grace,he found it in a bleeding, wounded, dying Savior.One was looking inside of himself for meaning and purpose.The other was looking beyond himself to a Savior.

The unbelieving world strains, trying to fill that hole in the soul with 10 lonely seconds, repeated over and over again until they take their last breath, buttheir self-justification project will never produce the desired results.The temporal simply cannot do what only the eternal can.

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

When was the last time you felt like two completely different people?If you are anything like me, you felt that way recently—praising God one minute and fussing and fuming the next! Well, I have a word of comfort for every child of God who does not always act like a child of God . . . and wonders why.

In the 19^th century, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a short suspense novel, titledThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson explored the concept of two different people living inside one body.In an effort to become a better person, Dr. Jekyll, a mild-mannered man of science, developed a potion that was meant to separate his “good self” from his “bad self.” After drinking the concoction, however,Dr. Jekyll’s bad side turned out to be much more evil than he had ever imagined. At night he becamethe mysterious Mr. Hyde, a violent man who cared only for his own desires.

When Dr. Jekyll realizedthe extent of his own depravity, he tried to clamp down on his Mr. Hyde side, resolving not to take the potion anymore.But Hyde had become too strong. Despairing of ever changing himself for the good, Dr. Jekyll took his own life.

I was reminded of this Jekyll-Hyde conflict as I prepared to preach a message titled “The Believer’s Battle,” which unpacked the ongoing struggle within the sinner-saint Paul described in the seventh chapter of Romans. Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul confirmedwhat you and I experience every day: the truth that every Christian struggles with his “old self” (his sinful nature by birth) and his “new self” (his Spirit-filled nature by re-birth).

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing.(Romans 7:15-19)

The greatest struggle Paul faced was not outside of him . . . and Paul’s life was marked by constant struggle!He was flogged, beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked three times, he spent a night and a day in the open sea, he was imprisoned, falsely accused, went hungry and thirsty and cold, and he felt the weight of his concern for the purity,unity, and growth of all the fledgling Christian churches (2 Corinthians 11:25-28).And yet, as bad as all those hardships were, Paul’s inward struggle with indwelling sin grieved him far more.

However, Paul’s story does not end in tragedy like Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll. No, Paul’s story ends with sanctification and ultimately glorification when God brought him home.

To be sure, indwelling sin still remained in Paul, just as it remains in us, but it no longer reigned in him and one day it would be gone forever. Unlike Dr. Jekyll, Paul did not despair of ever changing himself for the good because the Holy Spirit was doing it for him.Paul was being conformed to the likeness of Christ daily, but along the way, he would battle with his old nature . . . and he would lose some of those battles.So will you and I. But the ultimate victory was assured because of the cross work of Christ.Paul knew his daily battle would not be won though his resolve but rather, through his trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.And what was true for Paul then is true for all of us today.

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

I’m sure you’re familiar with targets that have rings of concentric circles marked on them; the smallest circle in the center is called the “bull’s-eye,” which is the point on the target where you score the most points when you hit it.

Did you know that every Christian believer has a bull’s-eye to aim for?

From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”  (Romans 11:36)

Jesus Christ is to be the center of everything for the believer. He is to be the believer’s “bull’s-eye” in every area of life. Now, we all know Jesus is to be the center of our religious lives, but we tend to forget that He is also to be the center of our personal and professional lives as well. He is to be the center of our marriages. He is to be the center of our parenting. He is to be the center of our jobs and careers. There is no possession, no part of our lives that does not belong to Jesus. He is the target we are to aim at, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

If you are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve, you will remember that God was their bull’s-eye, in that He was the target of their very existence. Their humanity was only to be found in the One who created them. But they chose to put independence and selfish ambition in the center of their target and sent all of humanity into a death spiral that has lasted ever since. It was not enough to be made in the image of God; our first parents wanted to be their own god, and they removed the God from the center of their very existence and put themselves there.

Think of what the devil promised Adam and Eve. He promised them more and they got less. He promised them life and they got death. When we remove Christ from the center of our target, even if we continually hit the dead center of our “me target” and get everything we want, we will always be left wanting. Jesus is the only One who can meet us in our place of deepest need, every moment of every day. It’s only when Christ is your bull’s-eye that you have the power to rise above the pull of the passions of this world.

Only Jesus can incapacitate your love of self and recalibrate it to center on Him. To move Jesus to the periphery of our lives is no life at all. It is a “Christ-less Christianity” that shrinks the size of our lives down to the size of our lives. In that kind of shrunken existence, we live for the expansion of our own little kingdom rather than God’s big kingdom.

So how do we keep Christ at the center of our target? We keep the cross He was nailed to on our behalf in view. We see His wounds. We hear His cries and witness His anguish. In doing that, we realize that living for anything smaller than Jesus is not life . . . it is slow, certain death.

With the Gospel in view, Jesus remains at the center of our lives. He sits upon the throne of our lives as our only hope in an otherwise hopeless situation. For apart from Christ, all hope is lost. But with Jesus as our bull’s-eye, we can know that our life has meaning, direction, and purpose that will live on into eternity.

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

If life is all about God—and it is—then our life is all about bringing glory to God. The magnificent Westminster Confession of Faith’s Larger Catechism begins this way:

Question 1: What is the chief and highest end of man?

Answer: Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever

Sothe question we all have to answer is this: How is our story bringing God glory?St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!”When you take a look at your life’s story up to this point, would you define it as being “fully alive”? Or something less?

Let’s see how Jesus brought glory to God the Father when He was upon this earth.

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. (John 17:4)

Jesus brought glory to God by fulfilling His purpose in life.He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) and He completed what He came to do.“It is finished,” He cried out from the cross (John 19:30), a shout of triumph so thunderous that the earth shook and the rocks split open (Matthew 27:51).

Every human being is to bring God glory by fulfilling the purpose God has given to them.Think about all the things created by God that fulfills their purpose:birds fly;fish swim;trees grow;the sun, moon, and the stars give light to the earth.Everything created brings glory to the Creator when it is doing what it was created to do.God made everything for a purpose . . . and that includes you!Your life story brings glory to God when you are living the life God has created you to live.

Today’s word of encouragement is not intended to tell you whether you should be a butcher, baker, or candlestick maker.It is intended to encourage you to glorify God, regardless of what you are currently doing, simply because you are consciously doing it for His glory!When you live and work and interact with otherswith the intent of giving God glory, then you know the experience of being fully alive, because you are living for the One who gave you life.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.  (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

The primary way we bring glory to God is through worship; all of life is to be an act of worship.C. S. Lewis once wrote, “In commanding us to worship Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”We worship God when we delight in Him—not out of a sense of duty, but out of a sense of pure devotion.God wants us to live life to the fullest (John 10:10) and He knows we are never more alive than when our life story is working to bring God glory.John Piper wrote, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

So . . . how satisfied are you in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?Is there anything smaller than God that holds your heart?We all find ourselves struggling with divided affections from time to time.That is simply a result of the battle we face with indwelling sin.The old nature will do everything in its power to tear down the new nature.Since we will not be perfected until we get to the other side, we must fight the good fight along the way!

The primary point of God’s glory displayed through our story is found in the deepest desires of a heart that beats for Jesus—not perfection in your practice.If this describes you today, rest well in knowing that your story is bringing God great glory!If you have been drifting a bit lately, or even find yourself “in the far country,” fear not!Your Heavenly Father waits for your return with open arms.And when you return home, you will not be received back as a slave, but as a son . . . justas if you’d never left.He wanted me to tell you that!

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

When it comes to the Christian faith, becoming a Christian is not the same as being one. Becoming a Christian happens through the Great Exchange. God exchanges the righteousness of Christ for our unrighteousness. On the cross Jesus took our sins upon Himself (Colossians 2:13-14) and gave us His righteousness in return (2 Corinthians 5:21). All those who have trusted in Christ as their Savior stand before God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ forevermore. And that Great Exchange took place in the instant we believed!

But when it comes to being a Christian in our daily lives . . . that takes a lifetime.

The seventh chapter of Romans makes it perfectly clear that indwelling sin will be with us until we reach the other side of the Jordan. The old nature fights against the new nature every step of the way (Galatians 5:17). Now, please understand that the apostle Paul did not write that chapter to discourage us with the prospect of living in continual defeat; he wrote it to encourage us that we should not expect to live in continual victory. Sin will always be present in our Christian life, but we will be progressively delivered from sin’s power throughout this life as we walk with our Lord.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25)

I doubt anyone would disagree that Paul was one of the most courageous and godly saints who ever walked this earth . . . yet he readily admitted that he wrestled with indwelling sin throughout his Christian life. Take comfort from that! We aren’t comforted by the fact that Paul struggled with his own sin, so much as we draw strength from the knowledge that we are not alone in this ongoing struggle with our sin.

Surely only a true Christian can cry out like this, because only a true Christian has two natures at war within. Prior to conversion, there is only one nature, and it is fallen, corrupt, and dead in trespasses and sins. It is not at war with itself. But when Jesus raises a dead sinner to life and gives us the new nature, the battle begins . . . and it will not end until the flesh is buried in the grave.

We become a Christian in the instant we believe; being a Christian is a daily battle. It is a lifelong process of struggling with sin, repenting of that sin, turning away from that sin and toward our Savior, and living in the power of the Holy Spirit. I find it remarkable that Paul would cry out with such desperate need and then provide us with the only hope for every Christian: Jesus Christ our Lord.

You see, our understanding of being a Christian is rooted in our understanding of becoming a Christian. Marinating in the truth that we have been joined to Jesus (Romans 6:5) provides us both the motive and the motivation to keep fighting the good fight, no matter how many times we get knocked down.

We know that the war was won on the cross. We know that the Lord occupies the throne of our lives, so that sin and death no longer reign. But we also know by way of experience that sin still remains and will do everything it can to draw our affections away from Christ. The key to being a Christian is to keep the Gospel before us. We must never shrink our view of the cross and begin to believe that we have grown beyond the Gospel. Never forget: the Gospel is for sinners, and we are still sinners after we have been saved. The Gospel is meant for us every bit as much after we have become Christians as it was before, and therefore we must rest in it daily.

There is no greater consolation in all of Scripture than that final verse in Romans 7—“Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” A heart filled with thanksgiving for what God has already done, and what He has promised still to do, is a heart that beats for Jesus. And the more our hearts beat for Jesus, the less they will beat for the things of this world.

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

Some think the Christian story began on Calvary when our Lord was nailed to the cross. Others think it began in a cradle in a stable, when our Lord entered space and time, took on flesh, and dwelt among us. But make no mistake, before the cross and before the cradle, the Christian story was written in the mind of our Creator.

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love . . .  (Ephesians 1:4 NKJV)

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  (1 Peter 1:20)

Before the morning sun ever shone or the evening stars sang, our Lord Jesus Christ was on the way to rescue rebels on the run from God. When the earth was “without form and void,” our salvation was full of substance in the eternal counsel of the Triune God and our names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Imagine that! Before God spoke creation into existence, He spoke our names into everlasting life.

When we marinate in these Gospel-saturated truths, we begin to catch a glimpse of the greatness of our God. He did not need us for any reason whatsoever. He already had perfect community, fellowship, and love in the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So if He didn’t need us, why make us? The answer can only be found in one word: LOVE! Surely you know the most famous verse in all of Scripture?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)

I always find it amazing that John, who was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, could find no better description for the love of God poured out upon His people than “so loved.” To be sure, the love of God is indescribable. Who can understand it and put it into clearer words? Take just a cursory glance at the account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and it’s plain to see that God was in hot pursuit of the first sinners. They sinned and their consciences were seared. Filled with fear, they ran and hid from God. When God showed up, He would have been fully in the right to strike them down on the spot; instead, He shared His plan for their salvation . . . a plan that had been set in motion eons before.

Yes, our first parents died instantly—just as God had promised they would if they ate of the forbidden fruit—but that death was spiritual. Physical death came later. But God did not leave Adam and Eve without hope. He promised to send One who will crush the head of the serpent and rescue God’s people from sin and death. And that is exactly what Jesus did by way of the cradle and the cross.

We must never forget that, before the foundation of the world, God had written the plan for our salvation . . . and it was written on the heart of Jesus.

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

“STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES BUT NAMES WILL NEVER HURT ME!”

Don’t you believe it! Sadly, for many of you reading this today, I don’t have to tell you not to believe it, because you know just how far this nursery rhyme is from the truth. It’s a fact that we will recover much more quickly from being hit by a 2 x 4 than from some of the names we’ve been hit by over the years. The pain from the 2 x 4 eventually goes away. The pain from some of the names we have been called lasts a lifetime!

•  You’re stupid!
•  You’re a loser!
•  You’re an idiot!
•  You’re hopeless!
•  You’re uncoordinated!
•  You’re fat!
•  You’re ugly!

How many lives have been crushed under the weight of names that hurt? The little league coach who calls his player a loser after striking out to end the game . . . the father who tells his son he won’t amount to anything . . . the husband who tells his wife she is the biggest mistake he has ever made in life . . . the parent who tells the child, “I wish you were never born!”

And if we are honest for a moment, we must admit that we have been on both sides of the name game. We have received our share of nasty names . . . and we have delivered them as well. Some we have even delivered to ourselves.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.  (Revelation 2:17)

We don’t know exactly what this name written on the white stone is all about, but we do know the new name we have been given on this side of heaven: Christian! And with the name Christian we have a plethora of other names that can heal every hurt we have experienced by the names others have given to us. We are Chosen. We are Adopted. We are Pardoned. We are Accepted. We are Forgiven. We are Beloved.

Jesus has the name that is above every name, and it is by His name that we have been given all of these names that heal our hurts, lift our hearts, and secure our hope. Jesus died on the cross that we might be given new names. His shed blood has washed away every other name we have ever been given and frees us to receive our new name. The only name that defines who we are is the name that Jesus has given to us. His opinion of us is the only opinion that matters. And the bottom line is this: Jesus is quite fond of all those He died for on Golgotha’s Hill.

In closing out today’s message, it is important to remember that even our Lord was called nasty names that were intended to hurt Him and hold Him back.

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and ‘sinners.’” But wisdom is proved right by her actions.  (Matthew 11:19)

If The Son of Man was not spared from being called bad names, we should not expect to be either. We need to simply look to Jesus and remember we have been given a new name that truly identifies who we are and what we will be forever. Stick and stones do break bones and names on this side of the grave will hurt. But the name we have been given from on high will heal every single one of those hurts.

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

When was the last time you read through the seventh chapter of Romans? I hope you don’t have to blow the dust off in order to read it! For the committed Christian, this is one of the most comforting chapters in all of sacred Scripture.

In my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  (Romans 7:22-23)

Before we get into Paul’s ongoing struggle with sin, make sure you pause and reflect on the opening words of this passage. Paul’s delighted in God’s Law in his inner being. The “inner being” Paul is describing is the new nature that was changed when he was confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. The inner being is the core of his changed heart that was changed by the grace of God.

When Paul goes on to talk about the “members of my body,” he is speaking about his old corrupt nature that is still alive and kicking. So what Paul is saying is there is an ongoing struggle, a war if you will, raging inside of him. The new nature desires what is good and pleasing to God. The old nature desires what is pleasing to the sinful self. Paul wrote to the Galatians about this battle: “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).

The key here is to see that when Paul says that his delight is in God’s law, he is telling us there is nothing more he desires to do than to please God. Yet there are times when fails to do so.

This chapter and this truth is to be a comfort to every committed Christian. The Christian life on this side of the grave is not about perfection. Paul was not perfect, yet his heart desired nothing more than to be perfect. But he realized that until he reached the other side of the grave, he would be in a battle for control of his heart. To be sure, this chapter is not about a Christian lying in the ashes of continual defeat. But it is about a Christian not living in continual victory. However, the victory is ultimately assured.

Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:25)

To be sure, the war was won on the cross. Jesus nailed sin and death to that dirty tree, and they no longer reign in our lives. But make no mistake, sin still remains and it will do everything it can to make life miserable for us. Because we will deal with our ongoing struggle with sin the rest of our lives, we never graduate beyond our need of the Gospel.

The Gospel is for sinners, and we are still sinners after we have been saved! We are sinners, by nature and sinners by habit, slowing and progressively being conformed into the image of Christ. Like the apostle Paul, we must be disciplined in preparing for the war we face and persistent in the battles we engage in daily. But we should never be surprised or overcome by our lack of perfection. That day of perfection will come. The One who began the good work in us promised to finish it (Philippians 1:6), but that won’t happen until we enter into our promised rest.

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

How joy-filled is your life right now?How would those closest to you answer this question on your behalf?Make no mistake, the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10) and that joy has absolutely nothing to do with the circumstances we face in life.Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) that empowers Christian believers to overcome the struggles and challenges of daily living. It is this joy that allows us to cheerfully keep our Lord’s command, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear” (Matt 6:25).

The world’s understanding of happiness is wholly different; the world’s joy is dependent upon outward circumstances.When things are going well,the worldly man is happy; when things are going badly,he isunhappy.

But this is not for you!The joy every believer was redeemed by Christ’s precious blood to experience on a daily basis is based on priorities rooted in the word J.O.Y., as follows:

J = JESUS

O = OTHERS

Y = YOU

These are the priorities in life which will, whether we are fully conscious of it or not, determine our experience of joy in this life.Putting JESUS first in life, followed by OTHERS, followed by YOU, puts you in the center of the will of God that produces the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.

We all know this by way of personal experience, don’t we?When we put Jesus first, followed by others, we experience a feeling of joy that wells up from deep within us and overflows into every area of life.This is our divine design, and when we are living according to God’s design, we experience our strength—the joy of the Lord.

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.(Psalm 16:11)

To be sure, true joy—lasting joy—can only be found in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.God made us that way.We have a God-sized void inside of us that can only be filled by God if we are to experience the joy of the Lord which is our strength.Sure, we can try to fill it with other things.And we do in countless ways.Some use alcohol.Others use work.Still others the pleasures of this world.But God has designed it in such a way that nothing will fill that void and satisfy us at our deepest level other than Jesus.

With that truth firmly established, what follows is our next priority: our service to others.“Other” orientation is the second priority in experiencing the joy of the Lord which is our strength.Jesus makes this clear in both Word and deed.His life was rooted in OTHERS.

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.(Mark 10:34)

Jesus came for others.Jesus lived and died for others.Jesus made it clear how His disciples will live when they are living for Him.If we are living our lives with Jesus on the throne, we will live for the good of others.We will model our Master and put others before ourselves. In doing so, we will experience the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.When we are following these two priorities in living cross-shaped lives (vertical with God and horizontal with others), the third priority naturally follows . . . YOU!

Jesus desires that we be filled with joy and He has given us the perfect prescription for making sure our cup overflows with it: JESUS . . . OTHERS . . . YOU!Now that’s a prescription that delivers on its promise every time.

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

When was the last time you felt like the apostle Peter and thought you knew better than the Lord in a particular area of life? Did you ever decide to provide a refined rebuke or cold correction to the Almighty?

Peter took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22)

If you pause for a moment and think about your average day, you just might be surprised at how many times you say, “Never, Lord!” And I think the area we all struggle the most is in the area of grace. The words of 2 Corinthians 12:9—“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”—often unleash my unbelief, and I wander off into far countries looking for something smaller than Jesus to meet my needs, lift my spirits, and bless my hurting heart.

•  We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our purpose in our profession.
•  We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our significance in our success.
•  We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our meaning in our ministry.
•  We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our approval in our accomplishments.

God’s grace is sufficient to guide us, govern us, and grow us into the person God is calling us to be. His power is made perfect in our weakness, and it is God’s perfect plan to work through imperfect and weak people, providing all the purpose, significance, meaning, and approval we could possibly hope for or even imagine.

Far too often we say, “Never, Lord!” when it comes to acknowledging that His grace is totally sufficient for our salvation. To His mercy we want to add our merit. To His grace we want to add our good works. To His finished work we want to add our feeble works. Our sinful human nature simply will not receive the completed work of our Savior on the cross; we look for every imaginable way to supplement it.

And when we can receive the grace that is sufficient for our salvation we say, “Never, Lord!” to that same grace that sanctifies us as well. Deep down we believe that the only way we will grow up in our faith is by the spiritual sweat of our own brow. We believe God will bless us when we do good and curse us when we do less than good. Well, in the words of my friend and pastor, Steve Brown, that idea “smells like smoke and comes from the pit of hell.” Nevertheless, we refuse to believe that God is not angry with us anymore and no longer seeking to exact His pound of flesh when we step out of line and mess things up.

Let us never say “Never, Lord!” to the truths of the Gospel because we simply cannot understand the greatness of our God. May we say, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” to every Gospel truth and simply trust in His every Word. May our Lord gently rebuke us, correct us, and exhort us until we rest in the reality of our completed redemption until that day we are received into glory.

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