Grace for the Race

“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!

The greatest gift we could ever receive is the gift of God’s grace, which is given to us through the sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly, we can treat this priceless gift like any other gift and misuse it . . .  even abuse it!

Certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude 4)

Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, identifies those who perverted the priceless by changing the grace of God into a license for immorality. They took the greatest gift that could ever be given and distorted it. They perverted the priceless gift of God’s grace by teaching that the Christian was no longer under any obligation to follow the Law of God as a rule of life.

We have been preaching through the book of Romans at Cross Community Church each week, which has afforded me the opportunity to explain the term antinomianism, which literally means “against the law.” Antinomians disregard God’s Law as a guide for living the Christian life.    

In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about a “cheap grace” that crystallizes the way the church in the 21^st century has perverted the priceless gift of God’s grace. Bonhoeffer decried the rhythm of redemption that requires no repentance, the duty of discipleship that requires no discipline, and a Spirit-led service that requires no suffering. It is a Christianity that is devoid of Christ and His call on the lives of His disciples. It is a style of living marked by self-protection rather than self-sacrifice. And when forced to choose, those who seek “cheap grace” always choose the way of ease rather than exertion in Zion.

But this is not for you!

Preaching the Gospel to ourselves daily is the cure that keeps us from perverting the priceless. The clearer our view of what it cost our Lord to give us His grace, the more careful we will be to both appreciate it and appropriate it in our lives, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

Being compelled by the love of Christ begs the question, “What are we to be compelled to do?” And the Bible makes it clear that our greatest work is not in the doing, but in the believing. The more we understand the truth that our freedom was not free—it did, in fact, cost Jesus everything—the more we will walk by faith, rather than by sight, and live in sold-out service to our Lord.

The grace of God remains “amazing” the more we are amazed by His grace! The perfect Son of the Living God freely took our place on the Cross and endured our punishment for our sin—all our sin. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf. He lived the life we could never live and died the death we deserved to die in order to give to us His life—a life of righteousness, to be lived out with both freedom and joy, knowing that we are unconditionally loved and fully forgiven.   

Keeping Gospel truths in view keep us from perverting the priceless gift of God’s grace. These truths shout to the heart that has been made new that grace is far more than a theological proposition; it is a person, and His name is Jesus Christ.

Now that is the truth that truly transforms!

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

The dictionary defines the word desire as a longing for something; to exhibit or feel desire for something; to express a wish. We all have countless desires throughout the day. Desires determine the clothes we wear and the food we eat. Desires determine how we spend our leisure time and where we allow our thoughts to dwell. To stop desiring is impossible, but when it comes to our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, we find ourselves facing what I call “dueling desires” moment by moment.

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)

Make no mistake. In the heart of every believer, there is a real and bewildering conflict of desires going on between the old sinful nature and the new “spiritual” nature. They are at constant war, each nature desiring what is contrary to the other. Every Christian knows this to be true by way of experience. Who of you reading this would not echo the apostle Paul’s sorrowful confession of Romans 7:15—“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do”?

Our desires place us smack dab in the middle of two kingdoms in conflict. We have the desire to expand the cause of God’s kingdom and we have the desire to expand the cause of our own kingdom. We have the desire to serve the kingdom of The One and the desire to serve the kingdom of one. We have the desire to serve our blessed Creator and the desire to serve ourselves. The primary problem we face is our desire to serve our own little kingdom is in direct conflict with the One who has saved us to serve Him.

The world, the flesh, and the devil battle all day long to capture the desires of our hearts. They make alluring and attractive promises, but in the end they simply cannot deliver on any of them. They leave us poor, blind, and naked. They promise peace and deliver disquiet. They promise fulfillment and deliver despair. They promise life and deliver death.

So how do we win the battle of these dueling desires that rage inside of us? Through the Gospel, of course! Only the Gospel has the power to dislodge an inappropriate desire and replace it with one that pleases God. The Gospel not only impacts our desires, it also empowers our disciplines. The Gospel is both the motive and the only enduring motivation to keep us consistently seeking after the things of God.

Only the truths of the Gospel can free us to desire the things of God from our place of acceptance—not for our place of acceptance. If our desires are rooted in what we will ultimately get from God, we will eventually turn away from Him, because we will be devoid of any lasting joy. But if our desires are rooted in what we already have been given by God, the joy of the Lord will be our strength to keep on keeping on(Nehemiah 8:10).

Let me close with a little story that wonderfully describes the inner battle of “dueling desires” and how to win that battle each day.

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: “Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.” When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I feed the most.”

On this side of the grave, we will always struggle with the battle between two desires; we can either feed the good, God-centered desires or the bad,self-centered ones, knowing the one we feed most will win the day.

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

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'”

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:2-8)

Oh, how the cunning serpent slithered his way into the hearts of Adam and Eve!He made a promise of life, to “be like God,” but he could not deliver on his promise.The life the devil promised lead only to death . . . it always has and it always will.

Adam and Eve were made in the image of God; they were His image-bearers.But evidently they were not satisfied with being made in the image of God; they wanted to be God.They traded the worship of the Creator for the worship of the created thing—themselves—and sent all of humanity into a hideous,downward death-spiral.They forgot who they were and what they were created for.Our first parents had “identity amnesia” and bought into a lie that they could live a life of autonomous independence apart from the One who created them.To be sure, this was both foolish and fatal!

The devil is still busilyworking to sell his lie to those who have been re-created in Christ.He promises that we can step outside of our relationship with our Redeemer and find more life.He tempts us to believe that we can find in created things what only the Creator can actually give.

• We begin to look for financial security in our finances instead of looking to the One who give us the ability to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).
• We begin to look for good health in our nutrition and exercise program instead of looking to the One who holds our lives in His hand (Daniel 5:23).
• We begin to look for purpose in our work instead of the One who is our purpose (John 14:6).How quickly we forget that the Lord is our only security, health, and purpose on this side of the grave!

But this is not for you.On the cross, Jesus crushed the enemy—and along with him, the promise of life that delivers only death.Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we no longer have to define ourselves horizontally. In other words, we no longer look to created things (finances, physical appearance, possessions, relationships, etc.), to get what only the Creator is able to give to us.Everything smaller than Jesus is “fool’s gold,” which looks valuable on the surface, but in reality it is worthless and leaves us poor, blind, and naked.

Jesus is the only One big enough to meet you in your place of every need.He is big enough in our marriage.He is big enough in our parenting.He is big enough in our profession.He is big enough in our recreation.He is big enough in our storms.Jesus promises more and delivers more than He promises.He dismantles our walls of self-protection and erects walkways of self-sacrifice.His history-changing death on the cross makes possible the life-changing death to self, which frees us to live for something bigger and better—and His name is Jesus Christ.

Only in His willingness to die do we find life.His death is life, and the death of the self He calls us to is the abundant life.We will never find life apart from our relationship to the One who created us.Because we have been created by Godfor God, we will only find true life when we are living in God.As we continue to surrender and submit to His control in our lives, He frees us from the control of the things that were never created to control us.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.(John 10:10)

A full life was never intended to be found in anything smaller than Jesus.Every time we put the creation in the place of our Creator we find ourselves living a life that is no bigger than the life we are living.Rather than being an abundant life, lived out for the glory of our Savior King, it becomes an atrophied life, devoid of every lasting joy we were created to experience.

So . . . who and what have you been living for lately?Funny thing about living for Jesus; the more we die to the self, the more life we actually find!

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

Most church pews are filled with men and women who affirm the inspiration and authority of sacred Scripture. This is a good thing. However, if affirming the inspiration and authority of sacred Scripture does not translate into changing our beliefs and altering our behavior, it is of very little value in the life of the Christian.

The searing searchlight of sacred Scripture has been given to us by God to renew our minds, enlarge our hearts, and bend our wills. Is this the confession of your life today? Is the Word of God the functional authority in your personal and professional life?

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  (Hebrews 4:12)

Because the Word of God is living and active, it is to function in our lives in such a way as to rule our hearts and shape our lives. It is to test our tightly held traditions and challenge our current comfort zones. It is to dismantle every deity we have designed in the idol-making factory of our unholy hearts—from power and pleasure to prosperity and prestige. Because the Word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword, it will cut away everything that does not conform us to the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ—in thought, word, deed, and desire.

Because the Word of God is living, it will impart life to those who marinate in it and meditate on it. The apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, asserted that “The holy Scriptures . . . are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). The Word of God brings life where there is death. It brings health where there is disease. It brings hope where there is hopelessness. And because it is active, it is designed to empower the believer to pursue a life that is pleasing to God. It changes the orientation of the heart from beating for the self to beating for the Savior.

The searing searchlight of sacred Scripture is always on. If the world around you begins to darken, the Word of God shines brighter! If you begin to lose your way, it becomes a celestial compass to guide you through every storm and return you to the path God is calling you to walk. Regardless of where this message finds you today, you can be sure that the searing searchlight of sacred Scripture will be . . .

•  A lamp to your feet
•  A light to your path
•  A rock for your foundation
•  An anchor for your soul
•  A shield of protection against the attacks of the enemy
•  A deep well of living water to slake your every thirst

As the Word of God judges the thoughts and attitudes of your heart, it will be the catalyst and cause of your spiritual growth. Whether you hear it in a sermon, Bible study lesson, in your personal time of devotion, or through the loving counsel of a godly friend, it will be the rich soil in which the seeds of the supernatural are carefully sown, producing a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

The Word of God both tells and transforms . . . announces and accomplishes . . . and nothing in all creation can stop it from doing exactly what God has ordained it to do in your life. “For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?” (Isaiah 14:27.)

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

If someone was going to write about you in a book and describe the life you are currently living, how would you like to be described?  As a faithful friend?  A loving parent?  A hard worker?  A super servant?

To be sure, none of us would want to be described in someone’s book the way John, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, described Diotrephes in sacred Scripture.

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.  (3 John 9-10)

So Diotrephes . . .

• Loves to be first
• Will have nothing to do with church authority
• Gossips maliciously
• Refuses to welcome the brothers
• Hinders others from welcoming the brothers
• Puts them out of the church

WOW!  Being chronicled by name in sacred Scripture with this kind of life confession leaves a lot to be desired.  A whole lot!  Now, you and I don’t know what was going on in the heart of Diotrephes that made him dislike, distrust, and disrupt the apostle’s ministry.  But it would serve us well to pause and see where our story intersects with his story.  Why?  Because, like Diotrephes, we are all sinners—both by nature and habit.  Given the right (or wrong) environment and circumstances, we all might do some of the very same things.  After all, which one of us does not love to be first?

The only cure for such a carnal chronicle is the Gospel.  The Gospel truths enlarge our view of Jesus. As He increases in our lives, we begin to decrease.  We no longer are driven by our need of being first. We rest in the Gospel truth that many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first (Matthew 19:30).  We no longer feel the need of wagging our gossiping tongues in the direction of others, putting others down to lift ourselves up.  We learn what Paul learned about being content because he knew he had everything he needed because he had Jesus (Philippians 4:11-13).

So . . . if someone were chronicling your life, what would you hope would be said about you? What if a researcher interviewed those closest to you . . . what do you think they might say about you? Well, if there is a difference between your answer to the first question and your answer to the second, you still have time to do something about it!

Check out the chronicle of a woman who is identified only as “Peter’s mother-in-law.”

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. (Matthew 8:14-15)

What a wonderful thing to have written about Peter’s mother-in-law, especially in light of the plethora of mother-in-law jokes circulating today! Peter’s mother-in-law moved from sickness to service—from fever to faithfulness.  Clearly, Jesus was on the throne of her life and her heart beat to bless Him.  May this be the confession of our lives . . . and the chronicle that appears if our name is ever recorded in someone’s book.

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

What has you restless lately? Are you facing uncertainty at the office? Are you dealing with difficulty in your marriage? Are you struggling with your season of singleness? Do you find too much month left at the end of the money?

If you stroll into a bookstore, you’ll find a plethora of books in a section labeled “Self-Help”—books that promise to give you the cure to what is ailing your restless heart. But make no mistake; the self-help field is no help at all! That is why the message today is a word of holy help from on high and contains a prescription for going from restless to resting.

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth!  (Psalm 46:10)

The command to “be still” seems counterintuitive in the world we live in today, doesn’t it? It seems as though God did not know just how much would be going on in our lives when He gave us this divine imperative to simply be still and know Him. But infinite Wisdom knew everything about us and the lives we would be living . . . and He knew just how critical it would be for our restless hearts to rest in Him and be still if we are ever going to live the life we have been called to live.

In the words of St. Augustine, “God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.” Often we remember the first half of the prescription—“Be still”—but forget about the last half: “and know that I am God.” The only answer to the vacuum in our restless hearts is in knowing God and growing in our personal relationship with Him. Knowing the Father through the cross-work of His Son, as applied to our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, is the cure for every ailment that causes our restlessness. As we both rest in and rehearse the Gospel truths in our lives, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds, the enlarging of our hearts, and the bending of our wills.

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)

Think about looking at life through a camera lens. The more you move around, the blurrier the picture. We have all taken pictures like that and thought how nice the picture would have been if there was less movement. That is why some of the best photography in the world is done with the camera mounted on a tripod so as to keep it still. When we “be still” in God’s presence, our vision becomes clearer . . . which empowers us to keep moving in the direction God is calling us to go.

Our hearts were redeemed to beat for the things of God. We are to be pursuing God, serving God, and loving God. When God is at the center of our lives, we will know Him better and better with each passing day. The command to “be still” will be part of our daily living. And at this level of living, we will consistently move from restlessness to resting.

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