Grace for the Race

Do not imitate what is evil but what is good. (3 John 1:11)

We always invite “seekers” who visit our church to stop and say hello before leaving the campus. Some of them actually do, and it doesn’t take long to discern that most of them believe that Christianity is little more than a list of rules to follow. They have the notion that being a Christian means rejecting one way of living and adopting another way that is “better.” So the first thing we do in explaining Christianity is to make it clear that being a Christian it is all about a right relationship with Jesus, rather than following the rules and observing the regulations. It is only when we are right with God first that can we do what is right before God. Doing what is right is the fruit that flows from already being, by grace through faith, in that right relationship with Christ.

So once we have entered into that relationship, how then are we to live? Let’s take a brief look at the bookends of the believer’s behavior.

Abstain – When we read, “Do not imitate what is evil” in our verse for today, we must see it in context. John was writing about Diotrephes, who was doing all sorts of evil. Diotrephes loved to be first, and he drew attention to himself by speaking maliciously about other church leaders. He not only refused to welcome others in the faith, he kicked those who did out of the church. John was telling the church not to imitate such wicked practices. In addition to pointing out the evil of Diotrephes, John was telling the church to abstain from even giving the appearance of all kinds of evil, for the good of the church and the glory of God.

But John wasn’t done there; the Holy Spirit had given him more to teach us.

Advance – It is never enough to simply abstain from doing what is contrary to the Word of God. We must also advance toward becoming “people of the Book” — people who do what is good and pleasing in the sight of God and do it for His glory. If we are true disciples of Jesus, we will follow in the footsteps of the One who “went around doing good” (Acts 10:38). Everywhere Jesus went, He left that place better than how He found it. He ministered to the marginal; He served the social outcasts; He brought hope to the hopeless; He loved the unloved and the unloving. Through acts of compassion and kindness, He served others, and taught us all that it is more blessed to give than to receive.  

How are you doing at abstaining and advancing? In which area are you strongest? Remember, if Christianity is all about a right relationship with Jesus — and it is — we must not simply abstain from evil. We must advance in the direction of doing all the good we can. These two actions are the believer’s bookends that will cause the world to see what a right relationship with Jesus actually looks like. When they do see that, they will echo the Roman centurion at Calvary and say: “Surely He was the son of God!”

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

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)

When you look back over your life, consider just how many people taught you in a variety of different ways to cause you to arrive at your current station in life. From parents and pastors, teachers and trusted friends, coaches and colleagues, it’s likely that many people have played a role in growing you into the person you are today. But when was the last time you considered how your pleasures have been preaching to you and teaching you?

Here is a profound statement I came across in John Piper’s book, The Pleasures of God:

The soul is measured by its flights,

Some low and others high,

The heart is known by its delights,

And pleasures never lie.

Piper was quoting Henry Scougal, a professor of divinity in 17th-century Scotland, who penned that sentence in a letter to a friend. Scougal’s statement was so profound that it began to be passed around and was finally published in 1677 as part of The Life of God in the Soul of Man. Scougal died of tuberculosis before he could celebrate his 28th birthday.

So if it is true that pleasures never lie (and it most certainly is), what have your pleasures been teaching you lately? Remember, treasure is pleasure, and where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Let me clarify what the phrase “Pleasures never lie” is not saying; it is not implying that pleasures cannot be deceitful or sinful. We read that Moses “chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25 ESV); Hebrews 3:13 warns not to become “hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Clearly, our pleasures can be both deceitful and sinful if we allow them to be!

To say that pleasures never lie is to say our pleasures will always shine the searchlight of truth on what we treasure; and our treasures unfailingly reveal what our heart beats for. Does this mean that pleasure is something that the Christian should avoid? Are we to be stern, joyless law-keepers? Heaven forbid it! Scripture commands us to “Be joyful always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). One of God’s great gifts to us is the gift of pleasure. As image-bearers of God, we are to be like Him, filled with unimaginable joy and unspeakable pleasure, all of it rooted in our right relationship with Him.

When God is our ultimate pleasure, we have fixed our hearts on the true Treasure that we were created for. This, of course, is not the gift of pleasure, but rather, the Giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), the One True Treasure, who loves us unconditionally, and who, when we fail Him, forgives us completely.

So . . . what have your pleasures been preaching to you lately?

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

“To you, Lord, I call; You are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.” (Psalm 28:1)

When was the last time you wondered if God even hears your prayers? When was the last time you sensed the sound of silence as you were pleading at the gates of heaven? Notice I said “when,” not “if.” Like David in today’s verse, we all find ourselves in seasons where heaven seems to be unresponsive and unyielding, and we just want to know that God has not turned a deaf ear to our pleas.

Psalm 28 provides lovely insight into David’s prayer life as he cried out to God from the depths of his heavy heart, saying, “If you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.” We don’t know exactly what David was going through at the time the Spirit of God moved him to pen this psalm. Perhaps David was in a season of sickness or a time of deep and desperate despair. Regardless of the nature of the difficulty David was facing, he looked to his God, his Rock, for help.

Here is the question that you and I must consider: “Do we do the same thing in the same way – in utter dependence upon God?” David knew where to take his weakness and despair – to the only One who could help him rise above the waves of challenge that were battering him. David not only knew Who to go to, he also knew that the One he went to was able to act on his behalf, because he was crying out to the Rock of ages.

The 19^th century preacher Charles Spurgeon put it this way:

The immutable Jehovah is our rock, the immovable foundation of all our hopes and our refuge in time of trouble; we are fixed in our determination to flee to him as our stronghold in every hour of danger.

What picture comes to mind when you read David calling God his Rock? God as our Rock is a picture of a foundation that simply cannot be moved. Many scholars have stated that God as Rock pictures His permanence and power, something David knew by way of personal experience. God the Rock was not only David’s source of strength, He was also his source of stability and security.

But that’s not all! There is one more very important picture of God as Rock given us in Paul’s writing about the wilderness wandering of Israel:

They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:3-4).

You see, David was looking forward to the Rock that was to come and this Rock was the “smitten rock” of Exodus 17:6, the Lord Jesus Christ, who provides water for the thirsty even in the most barren wilderness that we may be currently experiencing.

Are you experiencing “the sound of silence”? Are you worried that God is not listening to your heartfelt cries? Take your cue from David. Regardless of what you are facing, cry out to your Rock, knowing that He will never turn a deaf ear. He will always answer . . . but in His way and in His perfect timing. May that truth set us all free.

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

It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. (Philippians 1:29)

It is only natural for human beings to do everything within our power to avoid pain. Only a crazy person seeks out painful experiences in life. But when we realize that God is in our pain, we begin to understand one of the deepest truths that the Bible presents to us: Pain is profitable.

Nothing illustrates this more powerfully than the cross of Christ. The six hours of pain that Jesus endured on the cross defies human description. The physical agony of crucifixion is insignificant compared to the horror of experiencing the wrath of God: “He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus endured the infinite wrath and judgment of God in our place as He hung on our cross. During the three hours of supernatural darkness that fell across the land, our Lord Jesus endured the unimaginable God-forsakenness of hell itself. And when Jesus knew that He had paid the penalty for our sins in full, satisfying completely the wrath and judgment of God and securing eternal life for us, He uttered His triumphant victory cry: “It is finished” (John 19:30).

We cannot comprehend the divine mystery of the pain Jesus endured on that cross on Good Friday a little more than 2,000 years ago, but we can comprehend this: Knowing that His pain paid the full penalty for the forgiveness of our sins — all our sins — means there is profit in pain. When we read Paul’s statement that those who believe in Jesus will suffer for Him, we can be assured that God has a perfect plan for us to profit from every painful providence we experience on this side of the grave.

Christian, every one of the painful providences you have experienced in your life was divinely designed and delivered for your good. You and I must understand this truth and live in the light of it each day. For far too many, painful experiences in life make them bitter, not better. They wallow in self-pity rather than shine with selfless love for their Savior. Others see the painful experiences in life as something to endure and get past as quickly as possible. But those who view life this way are missing the glorious, God-ordained truth that even this — our pain — is for our profit.

When Jesus said we will have trouble in this world (John 16:33), He was preparing us for those inevitable painful experiences that will come our way, but He was also teaching us to remember that, because He is always with us is in those experiences (Hebrews 13:5), there is good that will be gained from them . . . even though they certainly do not feel good at the time!

One final point: Jesus didn’t just promise us painful providences; He also promised His peace in them and through them. “Take heart!” He assures us. “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Nothing happens to us that doesn’t first pass through His nail-scarred hands, and because of this truth, we can be assured there is profit in our pain, conforming us more and more into the image and likeness of our Lord, who endured a pain we will never have to experience in both life and death, so that we can have eternal life with Him.

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

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)

If we read the Bible as a book of disconnected stories teaching moralistic and ethical messages on how to have our best life now, we tend to believe that the Scriptures are all about us. We will look at the great men and women of the Bible and believe it was their greatness that caused God to use them. But when we rightly understand that the Bible is a single story about God’s unfolding plan of redemption that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, we look at the great men and women of the Bible and recognize that what made them great was simply the fact that God graciously choose to use them for His purpose.

So, who is the person God chooses to use as an instrument of salvation and sanctification in His mighty right hand? He or she is a card-carrying member of “Triple-A” – that is, someone who is . . .

• AWED by the glory of God
• AVAILABLE to the Spirit of God
• ACTING on the Word of God

God is in the business of taking common people and making them uncommon; taking weak people and making them strong; taking foolish people and making them wise; and taking average people and making them extraordinary. In God’s economy, it is not those with great ability who are called into His service; rather, it is those who are awed by His incomparable glory, available to the promptings of His Spirit, and obediently acting on His Word, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

Does this “Triple A” mindset describe you and the confession of your life today? When we are awed by the glory of God, we know what Paul knew: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways” (Romans 11:33). When we are awed by the glory of God, we become available to the moving of the Spirit of God, and we are ready and willing to follow God wherever He leads us. This is living a life that is acting on the Word of God.   

When we rightly read the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, we realize that God did not call extraordinary men and women into His service to expand His Kingdom. Rather, those ordinary men and woman, people who were broken and marred by sin, were made great by God, simply because they were available to be used by Him and acted on the words He had spoken to them.

How is it with you? Are you ready to be used by God?

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

I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. (Acts 20:24)

“My life is not my own!” This was one of my mom’s favorite sayings when I was growing up, and it contained two distinct and different levels of truth that she was teaching us kids. On the surface, she was speaking of the incessant demands of running the household and raising five children. But Mom was also teaching us a far deeper message, because she loved Jesus and she understood that her life was not her own; no, her life belonged to Jesus to do what He wanted with it.

One of the best descriptions of this biblical truth is delivered in the Heidelberg Catechism, which was written in 1563. The Catechism was originally intended to be taught on each Sunday of the year, so the questions and answers are organized around 52 Lord’s Days. The very first question cuts right to the heart of the reality that my mother understood so well:

Lord’s Day 1

Q: What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A: That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

My mom knew that there is no greater comfort in life and death than to know that her life was not her own. She knew that she had been purchased by Jesus at the cost of His precious blood, which He shed on the cross for the forgiveness of her sins – all of her sins. She also knew that her Lord and Savior was in complete control of everything in the universe, including everything in her life — every bit of it — and He was working all of it together for her ultimate good. Mom loved us best by loving Jesus most and living for His glory alone.

Do you and I live that way?

Regardless of where this message finds you today, let me encourage you to embrace my mom’s favorite saying: “My life is not my own.” When you do that, you will experience the freedom and joy of living wholeheartedly for the glory of God and the good of others. This is living in a way that truly testifies to the Good News of God’s grace — not just daily, but moment by moment.  

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

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. (John 14:27)

When the chaos in the world around us is heaviest, the light of Christ shines brightest . . . if we will but look in His direction.

Think about the chaos at the wedding reception that took place at Cana in Galilee when they ran out of wine. Jesus and His disciples were invited guests, and when His mother realized that there was no more wine, she went to Jesus for help. In the ancient world, wedding receptions were week-long events; often the entire town would be invited to attend and celebrate the couple’s new life together. To run out of wine at one of these events was not only an embarrassment, it also broke the unwritten rule of hospitality. Imagine the chaotic concern that was beginning to spread: “They have no more wine!” Then the light of Christ shone brightly as He turned mere water into wine — and not just wine, but the best wine they had ever tasted.   

Think about the chaos on the hillside where Jesus fed the 5,000. Scholars estimate that, due to the fact that only the men were counted and recorded for such an event in the ancient world, it is likely there were anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 men, women, and children who had gathered to hear the Lord teach. The disciples came to Jesus, saying that the hour was late, the people were hungry, and that He should send them away to go get food. Parents were probably beginning to anxiously wonder how they would feed their children that night. Then the light of Christ shone brightly as He multiplied five loaves and two small fish to feed the massive crowd — and there were plenty of leftovers after every one had eaten their fill.

Think about the chaos in the region of the Gerasenes, when a man with an evil spirit came running from the tombs to confront Jesus, a man so wildly powerful that no one could bind him, even with chains. Night and day this demon-possessed man would cry out among the tombs and cut himself with stones. Then the light of Christ shone brightly as He cured the man and sent the legion of demons out of the man and into a herd of nearby pigs (another chaotic scene, to be sure!), who then ran over a cliff and drowned in the sea.

What kind of chaotic circumstances are confronting you today? Are storm winds blowing your way? Are waves of challenge crashing over you? Are you simply caught up in the chaotic pace of everyday living in a culture that conditions us to live like the Energizer Bunny, who keeps going and going and going? Remember that Christ is in every circumstance and He is available to carry your chaos . . . IF you will let Him.

No life was filled with more chaos than the life of Jesus. The multitudes came to see Him, hear Him, touch Him, ridicule Him, mock Him, condemn Him, trap Him, follow Him, and be healed by Him. How did Jesus deal with the chaos that surrounded Him?

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (Mark 1:35)

Jesus’ example shows us how to rise above the chaos of life: we are to spend time alone with God. When the disciples found Jesus they said, “Everyone is looking for you,” which was no surprise to Jesus; you see, the chaos in His life was ongoing. Our Lord knew He needed to withdraw from the daily pressures and connect with His Father in heaven.

This is the key to conquering the chaos in our lives. We must withdraw into the presence of Christ, especially during our most chaotic circumstances, for He will give us the peace that passes all human understanding. “Peace I leave with you,” our Lord promises us; “my peace I give you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

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

When I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

The title of today’s word of encouragement may seem a bit strange. When it comes to our limitations and weaknesses, we do everything in our power to minimize them, eliminate them, or, at the very least, cover them up. We view the strengths God gives us as assets — the areas in life that we should lean into and strive to increase and improve. What is so striking about Paul’s words to the Christians at Corinth is that he was telling them that the same is true for our limitations. God gives us both strengths and weaknesses, and they are to be stewarded and used for His glory and the good of others.

Today’s verse comes from the famous passage Paul wrote about dealing with “a thorn in my flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Three times Paul pleaded for the Lord to take it away, and three times God refused, saying,“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God dispenses both strengths and weaknesses to His disciples, and we must learn to lean into both in order to maximize our service to our Lord.

Please understand that Paul was not using the word “weakness” as synonymous with “sin.” Paul sternly rebuked those who were boasting that their sin displayed the grace of God to an even greater degree (Romans 6:1-2). The best way I know to explain the difference between weakness and sin is this: God gives us our weaknesses to cause us to turn toward Him and depend upon Him more; our sin, on the other hand, turns us away from God as we depend more upon ourselves. In our weaknesses, God’s power is put on display for all the world to see as we trust more in what God can do for us than what we can do for ourselves.  

Paul saw his thorn (that is, his weakness) as a liability to His ministry at first, calling it a messenger of Satan (2 Corinthians 12:7), and he pleaded with God to remove it. But in time, he came to realize that God was using both his strengths and his weaknesses to advance the cause of His Kingdom. Now, if you are anything like me, learning to see weakness as a gift from God does not happen as anywhere near as quickly as it did for Paul. He only asked three times for God to take his weakness away; I sometimes still ask God to take it away. But over time, I am slowly learning how to trust and depend more and more upon God, and less and less on Tommy Boland.

How do you see your weakness and limitation? When was the last time you considered leaning into your limitations for God’s glory and your good? Never forget that Paul said he was given his weakness to keep him humble; that is one of the great blessings of our limitations. The more we lean into our limitations, the more God humbles us; the more God humbles us, the more we become like our Lord Jesus.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:9 that “It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” He was not confining the word “trust” to our strengths; Paul was stating that everything God has given us is a trust, and that includes our weaknesses. May the confession of our lives demonstrate our utter dependence upon God as we lean into our limitations.

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

May God be gracious to us and bless us . . . so that your ways may be known on earth. (Psalm 67:1-2)

What a great reminder we have before us today! We are to seek the blessing of God — not for ourselves, but for others. The grace of God that comes to us should flow through us to others. The mercy of God that comes to us should flow through us to others. The love of God that comes to us should flow through us to others. In short, we are blessed to be a blessing to others.

I recognize that we are living in a cultural moment that is marked by excessive individualism; Robert Bellah and a team of sociologists emphasized that point in their book, Habits of the Heart. Many of us are primarily concerned with “Me, myself, and I.” Here are some of the popular slogans that characterize this way of living:

• Be true to yourself.
• Follow your heart.
• Find yourself.
• You be you. no matter what.

This is not for you! The child of God has been saved to walk in the newness of a life that is marked by the blessings of God, in order to be a blessing to others.

Here is a question which, when I first heard it, changed my life: “How attractive do you make God?” Of course, God is attractive all by Himself, and there is nothing we can do to make Him more glorious, but you get the point. Do we live lives that cause others to be attracted to our Savior? Or do they turn away from Him because of what they see in us? I have said here before that you are the only Bible that some people will ever read. What sort of God are they reading about in the way you live your life?

The psalmist tells us to desire the blessings of God, so that those who we come in contact with us will see how awesome and gracious our God truly is. It has been well said that the good news of the Gospel either attracts or repels, but we who who have been saved by that Gospel message are to live lives that cause others to take notice of the One who has saved us. The life we live should point to the One who gave us life. When the blessings we have received from God flow through us, others are drawn toward the light that shines within us . . . and that Light is Jesus Christ.

Every encounter we have with others offers us one more opportunity to reflect the reality of the beauty, majesty, and glory of our God. There is no better way to accomplish this than to let the blessings that have come to us from the hand of God flow through us into the lives of others – all others – regardless of cost or circumstance.

Jesus lived a life characterized by blessing others. Peter summarized the life of Christ by saying that He “went around doing good” (Acts 10:38). Do we do the same?

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

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV)

The prophet Jeremiah was writing at a time of great national hardship and despair after Jerusalem had fallen to the invading Babylonians. God had judged His people and sent them into exile in Babylon. Yet even in midst of their divine discipline, there was still reason for hope, because God was not finished with them yet.

God disciplines His children out of His great love. What kind of father would let his children do anything they please without providing discipline and course correction along the way? God never for a moment stopped loving and caring for His people, even when He was disciplining them.

The biblical understanding of the word mercy is God withholding just punishment. Where grace (which theologians frequently define as “unmerited favor”) is God giving us what we do not deserve, mercy is God withholding what we do deserve. Make no mistake, God takes pity on all of His children. And His pity, which is perfect in every way, seeks the highest good of His children, even when that good is delivered through painful providences.

Just at the sun rises each morning to bring new light into the day, God’s mercies rise each morning to bring new hope into our day. We wake up to mercy each day, because God is on the throne of our lives and is working everything together for our good and His glory. Every morning is a new beginning, an opportunity for us to start afresh, secure in the knowledge that He who began this good work in us will bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6). Nothing will stand in the way of our God and His ultimate goal for our lives, which is conforming us to the image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).

So . . . did you wake up to mercy this morning? Did you sip from the cup of His compassion? We all have those mornings when we get up on the “wrong side of the bed.” But even in the midst of those bad days, we must remember that God got us up that morning to give Him glory, and He will give us everything we need to do that very thing.

“My grace is sufficient for you,” He promises us, “for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). We can count on His mercies being new every morning, regardless of how we spent the night before. Even when we have blown it badly, we wake up to mercy because Jesus is our loving, merciful Savior.

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