The New Year and The Future - Don't Worry :)

It's New Year's Eve. 2010 starts tomorrow!

Christmas is over, the holiday hustle and bustle is over. People's thoughts are beginning to turn to New Year's Resolutions, weight loss after the seasonal delicacies, setting goals for the New Year, and exclaiming, “Where did the last year go?"

Or the last 5, or 20?

But wherever those years may have gone, the next year is upon us.

Here's my question: Are you worried about it? Are you worried about the next year, or the future in general?

Let me state it boldly up front.

There are two things that are infinitely foolish.

One is for a Christian to worry about the future. We all do it sometimes, but we at least need to recognize that it's foolish.

But the other thing that's foolish is for a non-Christian to NOT worry about the future. Someone who doesn't know Jesus as Lord and Savior should worry. In fact we should pray for those we know and love to worry, if they don't know Jesus.

There are lots of books written for unbelievers, which teach them not to worry. Psychology books, and self-help books, and positive thinking books, and success books. The book stores are filled with whole rows of shelves of books under the general heading of Self-Improvement. And almost all of these books contain some so-called wisdom in them which tell their readers not to worry.

Some will even quote the Scriptures, with hardly the slightest understanding of what they are really about. They will quote Phillipians 4:6, which says, “Be anxious for nothing.” But they might leave out the next part of the verse which says, “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” They don't really know what that means, do they?

Some will quote Jesus who says, “Do not worry for tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” - Matthew 6:34.

Of course, most unbelievers still worry. But many have learned to, as Romans 1 puts it, "suppress the truth in unrighteousness". In other words, they have more or less succeeded in “thinking positive thoughts”.

1800 years ago, a pagan philosopher who is still revered for his wisdom, spoke on this subject. His name was Marcus Aurelius. He was not only a Stoic Philosopher, but he had an interesting job. He was Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 A.D. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus wrote, “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”

Nothing wrong with reason. Logic is a gift from God, but may I ask the same question Jesus asked? “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?”

See, Marcus Aurelius had something he should have been anxious about. He should have been anxious about his soul. And in the years he lived, he would have had ready access to the Gospel. The Good News that Jesus Christ, just a few years before Marcus Aurelius was born, died on a Roman cross, to pay for our sins, and rose again from the grave. So that whoever would believe in Him would not perish under the wrath of God, but have eternal life.

But the Emperor chose “the gods” of Rome, instead of The God of creation, and the God-Man of the Cross. And so he had plenty to worry about. But he apparently did not.

The great actor Anthony Hopkins, in a recent interview with James Lipton on Inside the Actor's Studio, said, “Today is the tomorrow I was so worried about yesterday.”

We see that same attitude echoed here by Hopkins, who is in effect saying, “See? I worried about today, and it's okay. So I shouldn't have worried.”

I can't help thinking about the Scripture in 2 Peter 3, where Peter writes, “...mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?” But as Peter says, it escapes their notice that God once destroyed the Earth with a flood, and “by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men....with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day....the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

Sir Anthony Hopkins has something to worry about, doesn't he? I pray the Lord might open his heart.

But how about you, Christian?

If you are a Christian, a born again believer in Jesus Christ, well that's a different story.

It is utterly foolish for you to worry.

You can use your reason, your logic, just as Marcus Aurelius did, but for you the logic is based on a good foundation.

Your logic goes like this: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Romans 8:31. See the logic there? That's what I call logic! If God the Father gave us God the Son, sacrificed on a cross for our sins, is it logical He will now desert us? Of course not.

“I will never leave you, nor forsake you,” He tells us. And that's reasonable, isn't it? With what He's already done, will He drop the ball, so to speak?

No. In fact, as the almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise God, He can do whatever He wants, and He does.

And one of the things that He does is in that same 8th Chapter of Romans, verse 28. It goes like this, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

And did you ever stop to consider how logical that is? We don't deserve His love, but He chose to love us. And He paid for our sins, forgave our sins, and gave us the gift of His righteousness, declaring us righteous.

And we love Him because He first loved us. And now all things work together for good to those who love Him. That's us. Would it be logical that He would work things together for bad to us who love Him? Of course not.

And so it makes perfect sense when the Scripture says in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Now God knows that we are prone to worry, to be anxious. So He doesn't just say, “Don't.” He gives us a very practical alternative, in case we haven't fully absorbed the glory of His love for us yet. The better we know Him, and the wonder of His Grace, and the truth that He loves and accepts us fully in Christ, and that nothing we could do can diminish that love and Grace – the better we know that in our hearts and minds, the less we would be able to worry or be anxious.

But God knows we are learners. God knows we need our minds renewed. God knows that we are subject to the lies of the world, the flesh and the devil. And so He gives us some practical things to do, while we're learning the depths of His love.

He tells us not to be anxious for anything, but then He says to do something else instead.

First, He says, to let our requests be made known to God. Now obviously God isn't lacking in knowing anything. But He gives us the simple suggestion that we pray (that means talk to Him) with supplication (that means asking for something). Sometimes you'll hear pious preachers say, “Stop asking God for things. Just say, 'Thy will be done' and leave it to Him, you greedy little beggar.”

Well, the problem with that thinking is that it's just not Biblical.

God wants us to ask Him for things. Why? Many reasons, actually, but a big one is that He wants us to be dependent on Him. Not independent. Dependent. God loves being our Father, our provider. Even people like to be needed. Sometimes I neglect to ask for the help of my wife, and she says, “I'm here. Stop acting like a bachelor.”

And God is saying, “Stop acting like a god.” He wants us to pray to Him and ask for things. Of course, He doesn't want us to ask with bad motives, just for pleasure's sake, James 4:3.

But we can now come boldly before His throne of grace, “so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” - Hebrews 4:16.

So first He says in Philippians to let our requests be made known to God.

But secondly, He says that it should be “with thanksgiving”. What's the logic here? What's the process? Should I pray for something, and then when I get it, be thankful and give God thanks?

Well, there's nothing wrong with that kind of thanksgiving, but that's not what God is getting at here. He's talking about an attitude, as much as an action. Of course we should give thanks for specific things, and specific answers to prayer. But even higher than that, is a heart of gratitude. It's first the recognition for all the good that God has brought into our lives.

Now life is filled with bad things, isn't it? I mean, we live in a fallen world, and the bad stuff, like the poor, you will always have with you.

But most of the things in your life are good, in one way or another. Some of you will have trouble believing that, and I don't have the time right now to prove it. But if you actually, honestly believe that you have more bad things than good in your life, then you have a lot of meditation on the Scriptures to do. You are starting from scratch, you are starting from square one. That's okay. Start.

Absorb yourself in the Word of God and learn of Him until you understand that the blessings He has showered you with are abundant. In a very practical way, maybe write down, or list in your mind, all the blessings you can think of, one at a time. And thank Him for them. And do this over and over, until you have the simple basic truth down, that the blessings in your life far outweigh the bad things. Start with Jesus Christ Himself. Many of us can testify to the truth that if we have Christ, we truly lack nothing. The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not lack for anything. Everything else is gravy, or frosting, if you prefer.

So first is the recognition for all the good that God has brought into our lives. Then comes our heart attitude about that. It starts with the knowledge that is expressed in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”

In other words, every good in your life is a gift from God. So after you recognize the good, be thankful to Him for it, and express that thankful heart with thanksgiving.

Now this process, like all of the Christian life, requires walking in the Spirit. That's why a pagan can't really live a life of thanksgiving. They may say in their psychology books, “Have an attitude of gratitude,” but what is sadder than having an attitude of thanksgiving and having no one to thank?

But we know who to thank, don't we?

And He is the one who has promised to meet all our needs, Philippians 4:9. We may not even know what our needs really are at a given time, but He does. And He will supply them as surely as He supplies the garment of the Lily of the Field.

And so we don't need to worry. We don't need to be anxious. We have a God, a Lord, a Friend who is closer than a brother. And with Him all things are possible. There is nothing He can't do.

And so I leave you with a final piece of logic. Not cold calculating logic, but the warm joyful logic of the Lord who loves you. Here it is:

“If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” The wonderfully logical answer is...Nothing.

So don't worry. And have a Blessed New Year!

Remembering The Jesus of Christmas (Transcript)

It is Christmas Eve as I write.

And we all know the Christian warnings about remembering Jesus. Jesus is the reason for the season. Keep Christ in Christmas. And these cliches have become cliches because they are valid.

Still, the baby in a manger was just the beginning.

It's good to celebrate the birth of Christ. But the Son of God didn't come to earth for the purpose of being a baby. As He grew in years, He grew in wisdom and stature, as a man. He was and is God, but now God with us, Emmanuel.

And He came to us, dwelt with us, tabernacled with us, in a human body, on Earth, that He might die to pay for our sins, so that we might be saved, forgiven. And then He rose again from the dead, and lives today, in a body at the right hand of the Father, but by His Spirit in us, who believe in Him.

Have you ever done Bible memorization? I have.

If you have, one verse you probably haven't memorized is 2 Tim. 2:8.

It's something important that Paul the Apostle told his spiritual son and protege, Timothy. He tells Timothy to remember something. It's something that you wouldn't think Timothy would need to be reminded of. But he did need to be reminded of it, and so do you, and I.

2 Tim. 2:8:

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel.“

Why would Paul remind Timothy to remember Jesus?

1. To be strong in grace.

“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

Strong in the Grace? Sounds like a contradiction.

But life is tough, isn’t it? Timothy had things to do. And so do you.

These things require the grace of God. Remember Paul’s thorn in the flesh?

We can’t be strong in grace if we don’t remember Jesus, that He is alive (risen from the dead). He's not just a dead Savior, He is a living Savior, and may I say it like Jesus did?...He calls us his friends.

Can you imagine? We are FOJ's. Friends of Jesus. The Creator of the Universe, the Lord of all Creation, the almighty God, calls us His friends.

And the Lord wants us to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Do you ever hear preachers, or other Christian folks, all they talk about is sin? Now if you're preaching through the Bible and you come to something about sin, preach it. But do you notice how some think the most important subject in the world is sin? I'm talking about Christian brothers and sisters. They think the most important subject in the world is sin.

Now sin is important. As Christians we're against it, aren't we? But we don't need a huge amount of teaching about it, because we are very familiar with it, aren't we? It's not something we need to be constantly reminded of, or to be constantly dwelling on.

What we do need to be constantly reminded of, and to be dwelling on is Jesus Christ, and His astounding grace. That's what honors Christ, and that's what gives us the light to walk by, the light to walk in the Spirit. And the Bible says that when we walk by the Spirit we won't fulfill the lust of the flesh.

See how that works? If we dwell on sin, we end up trying to defeat it in the flesh, which just compounds the mess. It's like trying to clean honey off of your hand with your other hand, and both hands end up sticky with nowhere to go.

But if we dwell on Jesus, who gives us the water of life, He by grace fills us with His Spirit, and we walk with clean hands. It's grace we need to obsess over, not the Law and sin. And the grace will minimize the sin, as we realize freshly that we are not under Law but under grace, and we are dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ, Rom. 6:11.

"The Law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." –John 1:17

2. Because of His past faithfulness.

Don’t you just love the Book of Psalms?

An entire Christian life could be spent meditating on the Psalms. Maybe no other book so exalts God as the powerful creator of the universe, and maybe no other book exalts God as the faithful provider of mercy for His children.

He is faithful.

And the Psalm-writers, mostly David, write over and over about remembering the Lord.

I want to mention some things the Psalmist says about the Lord, and just let them wash over you.

Take a few moments. Be still, and know He is God.

Remember Him for these things. His:

Loving-kindness
Mercy
Word
Salvation
Faithfulness
Deliverance
Justice
Compassion
Righteousness
Strength
Watchful eye
Blessing
Protection

We are so prone to forget these things, and partly because we are so prone to forget Him.

We live in a “now” world.

We have things to do, people to see, presents to buy, things to arrange, go go go!

And we've got problems, and we have them NOW.

And we know we will have more problems in the future.

And so we’re prone to worry.

But then we remember Jesus.
That He is born in Bethlehem.
That He died for us, for the forgiveness of our sins.
That He is risen.
That He is here.
And not just here, but in us (Christ in you, the hope of glory).

And we remember His faithfulness in the past.

How He rescued us from that storm of life (even a literal storm, maybe).
How He comforted us in that loss we had.
How we had this thorn in our flesh, but His grace was sufficient.
How we lost hope in a certain person and then God turned them around.
How we had that financial setback or lost that job, and He provided.
How we thought we just couldn’t get through that one thing, and He brought us through it.

And so we remember His past faithfulness to us.

We remember Him as we walk through the day, and we remember Him as we lie on our beds at night, like David did.

We remember Him as our Rock and our Fortress, and our Deliverer, and our Friend, and we long for Him like the deer who pants after the waterbrook.

And we love Him. We love Him.

And we remember that He loved us first. Even when we were unloveable. And maybe we don’t feel all that loveable even today. But He loves us anyway. And so we love Him.

I became a Christian in 1976.

Contemporary Christian Music was a brand new phenomenon.

Four years before I became a Christian, there was a man named John Fischer who wrote a song. And it’s a song I have never forgotten in 30 years. It’s simple, almost simplistic, but it sticks in your mind, and it blesses you, and then you realize how profound the simple little song is.

It’s called the “All Day Song”.

"Love Him in the morning when you see the sun arising,
Love Him in the evening ‘cause He took you through the day.
And in the in-between times when you feel the pressure coming,
Remember that He loves you and He promises to stay."

Have a blessed Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

Merry Christmas.

Remembering The Jesus of Christmas

This week's audio message:

Remembering The Jesus of Christmas

Grace For Life audio archives are here.

Baby Jesus - 3 Reasons To Reject Him? (Transcript)

1. Virgins don’t have babies.

I mean, the whole idea is absurd. Remember the birds and the bees? Remember biology? Remember, the egg has to be fertilized by the seed, then grows until birth? How could a virgin have a baby without any seed to fertilize the egg?

2. Gods don’t humble themselves.

There has never been a humble God in history. From the beginnings of man in Mesopotamia, Gods aren’t humble. Gods can’t be humble. After all they’re gods. They are above men, they rule over men, they squash men at will, they fight with men, they dominate men.

To humble themselves would be to show weakness, to show that they’re really not gods. No god ever humbled himself and no god ever will.

3. Gods don’t make friends.

This goes along with number two. Gods don’t make friends because that would be to humble themselves. And they sure don’t make friends with man. What do they even have in common? Nothing. Gods are gods and men are men, and never the twain shall meet. The very idea of having a god as a friend is like a man having an amoeba for a friend. Not going to happen.

I didn’t actually see it, but I read about an episode of the TV show Thirtysomething. I never watched the show because by the time I even heard of it I was already Forty-something.

But this episode was about the character Hope, who was a Christian, arguing with her Jewish husband, Michael, about the holidays.

“Why do you even bother with Hanukkah?” she asks. “Do you really believe a handful of Jews held off a huge army by using a bunch of lamps that miraculously wouldn’t run out of oil?”

Michael shoots back, “Oh, and Christmas makes more sense? Do you really believe an angel appeared to some teenage girl who then got pregnant without ever having had sex and traveled on horseback to Bethlehem where she spent the night in a barn and had a baby who turned out to be the Savior of the world?”

Well, do you believe it, friend? I do.

Well, it wasn’t a horse that Mary rode to Bethlehem, it was a donkey. But the character Michael got it pretty accurate, otherwise, didn’t he?

And it’s got to be one of the most ridiculous-sounding stories ever to be written, that the writer actually expects you to believe. We’re not talking about some fiction writer telling of Hobbits or Jabba the Hutt, and hoping we’ll pretend to believe it just long enough to enjoy the story. We’re talking about serious theological guys who tell the story of the birth of Jesus without batting an eye, and expect us to believe it as true, down to the last bit.

Well, what about our three reasons to reject this baby Jesus?

Let’s take them one at a time.

1. Virgins don’t have babies.

It’s true they usually don’t. But think with me for a minute. Suppose God wanted to send a Savior to pay for the sins of men by sacrificing Himself on a cross, dying to take our sins on Him so that He could give us the free gift of His righteousness, so that we would be saved from Hell, and have eternal life, everlasting life eventually with God in heaven.

Well, there’s one little problem with that. After Adam sinned in the Garden, sin, or the sinful nature, was forever passed on to everyone who ever lived since, and that sin was passed on, the Bible says, through the seed of man.

But a Savior for man would have to be sinless. A sinner can’t pay the sacrifice for another sinner. To satisfy or appease God’s just wrath against sin, the sacrifice must be perfect, sinless, not only without having committed any sins, but without even a sinful nature. In other words, righteous.

And the sacrifice that God the Father sent, was God the Son. The perfect candidate for sacrifice. Pure, righteous, sinless, and with no sin nature.

But that brings up another problem. How does God the Son get to earth to get this done. After all, since it was by a man that we fell or inherited our sinful nature, it must be a man who sheds His blood in our place for our forgiveness and salvation.

But if Jesus were born as a man in the normal way, then sin would pass on from His earthly dad, through his earthly dad’s seed. Got that? The sinful nature always passes on through the seed of the man.

So God did a miracle, a small miracle for Him really, but one with a huge impact on history. He implanted, miraculously a seed into Mary, which the Bible then calls “the seed of the woman” (see, not the seed of a man). This miraculous seed joined with Mary’s egg, and you know the rest. A sinless baby boy was born. Not only sinless in not ever committing a sin, but sinless in not even having a sinful nature, like the rest of us.

So not only did this virgin have a baby, but it couldn’t have been any other way, or the baby could not have been sinless.

2. Gods don’t humble themselves.

It’s true in human history, that those called gods in verbal stories and written literature never humble themselves. But let me say a couple things about that.

First, they are not really gods, of course. The Bible clearly says there is only one God. There is only one true God who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and everything that is in the earth. The Bible says that this one God is in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That’s what theologians have named the Trinity. But there is only one God.

And so all those so-called gods who never humbled themselves, are just made-up stories and superstitions of fictional gods, or in some cases, may be actual beings which we call fallen angels or demons. And anybody knows, no demon is going to humble himself.

But the true God of the Bible did humble Himself.

George Herbert, the poet and Anglican priest of the 1600’s put it poetically like this:

"The God of power, as he did ride
In his majestick robes of glorie
Resolv’d to light; and so one day
He did descend, undressing all the way."

This “undressing all the way” is nothing more than the humbling of the mighty Creator of the universe. This Creator God who spread trillions of galaxies into space, and made the atoms and neutrons and electrons and quasars and army ants and the aardvarks who would eat them; this almighty, all-knowing, all-wise Jehovah God, because He so loved us, humbled Himself.

And came to earth, Emmanuel, God with us. Came to earth as the most helpless creature there is, a baby.

A real baby, by the way. Don’t believe the Christmas carol that says “no crying he makes”. I’m sure he cried alright. And he kicked and cooed, and drooled, and he couldn’t have lived more than a few hours if he wasn’t cared for.

But he grew, and because he was a real baby, he grew to be a real man. He was really God, too. But He set aside the glory and rights that He had as God. Could we dare say, "like a man becoming an amoeba"? Probably not. But it was the most astounding humbling that the world has ever seen.

And it had to be that way, but He didn’t have to do it. The Bible says He did it because He loves us. And He loves us because He chose to love us, before the creation of the world. How’s that for a mystery? He didn’t love us because we’re so lovable, He loved us because He is love, and He chose to love us.


The Bible says He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.

An explosion of glorious love as big as God, resulting in a baby away in a manger, no crib for his bed.

3. Gods don’t make friends.

Have you seen the bumper sticker, “The more I get to know people, the more I love my dog.”

It’s a sad point, really, but one that we can understand. People are fearfully and wonderfully made, the Bible says, but the same Bible says "Cursed is he who trusts in man.”

Or how about the cynical little verse, “To dwell above with saints we love, O that will be glory. But to dwell below with saints we know, well that’s a different story.”

What God in His right mind would want to be friends with us?

I would contend that the Bible teaches that God not only loved us when we weren’t lovable, but he chose to befriend us when we were his enemies.

Thankfully, Mary didn’t say to the angel, “Are you crazy?” O.K., she did say, “But I’ve never been with a man.” So she wasn’t gullible. But you know what she was? She was godly. And so she said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

She wasn’t gullible and she wasn’t stupid. She had to have known instinctively what she was in for. The humiliation, the doubts even from loved ones, the shame for her betrothed, Joseph, the jeers and stares and tsk tsk’s. But she did what a godly girl should do. She said in effect, “Thy will be done.”

When we read what’s called the "Magnificat", Mary’s beautiful words in Luke Chapter 1 which begin with, “My soul magnifies the Lord”, we see that her language is filled with the Psalms. This tells us that she was probably raised in a Bible-believing home. And this too was part of God’s wonderful plan.

Malcolm Muggeridge, commenting on our modern Roe v. Wade society wrote,

“It is, in point of fact, extremely improbable, under existing conditions, that Jesus would have been permitted to be born at all. Mary’s pregnancy, in poor circumstances, and with the father unknown, would have been an obvious case for an abortion; and her talk of having conceived as a result of the intervention of the Holy Ghost would have pointed to the need for psychiatric treatment, and made the case for terminating her pregnancy even stronger. Thus our generation, needing a Savior more, perhaps, than any that has ever existed, would be too humane to allow one to be born.”

But God worked it out, didn’t He?

With a baby in a manger, who was Himself God, yet man.

And the man grew in wisdom and stature, and He suffered beyond imagination as He shed His blood and died. And by shedding His blood and dying, and rising again from the dead, this man who is also God, became a friend to those who had been His enemies.

This is His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of friends of God.

Friends of God are those who have been born again. They are those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And they are those who have given up working and striving to earn God’s love and favor, but accepted the free gift of His love and forgiveness and salvation, by grace.

Jesus said, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

As of this message, it’s close to Christmas. The day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. And once again, we are reminded of three wonderful things.

A virgin did have a baby.

And our God did humble Himself.

And the one true almighty God has made us His friends.

Happy Birthday, Jesus...and thanks.

Baby Jesus - 3 Reasons To Reject Him?

This week's audio message:

Baby Jesus: 3 Reasons To Reject Him

Grace For Life audio archives are here.

The Harm Of Performance-Based Christianity (Transcript)

Biblical Anthropology

Before we talk specifically about Performance-based Christianity, let’s take a quick look at biblical anthropology.

Don’t let the big word throw you. It’s simple, really.

Anthropology is the study of man, and biblical anthropology is looking at man as the Bible sees us, and particularly we want to look at how the Bible sees us after we’re born again, after we’re saved.

Let’s look at a few verses of Scripture to see what the Bible says about man, and then we will define Performance-based Christianity, and then we will see why Performance-based Christianity is so harmful.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Let’s start with Psalm 139:14 which says, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.”

Now there’s a sense in which this is true even of the unbeliever, the person who has not been born again.

We were all knit together in our mother’s womb, and were born as amazing machines. Science, when it’s rightly practiced is merely the discovery and observation of the amazing way that God has created and set into motion all things.

And even an atheistic scientist or biologist or neurologist can’t help being amazed at the human machine. The trillions of cells all working together, the brain that no computer could ever replicate, the organic systems that nourish and repair and clean out themselves.

But we weren’t created just machines were we?

We weren’t just given mechanical systems, and brains with chemical rivers to be programmed and stimulated.

We were also given emotions to feel things, and a will to make choices, and a conscience that senses right and wrong, and a spirit which is how we commune, or refuse to commune, with God our Creator.

We really are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Even More For The Believer

And it gets even more fearful and wonderful for the born-again one, the believer in Jesus Christ:

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

As believers, we have been declared righteous by God, given a new spirit which is dead to sin and alive to God, and astoundingly are now called "the righteousness of God" in Christ.

Now that might make somebody a little uppity. That might make somebody think pretty highly of themselves. And if that’s not enough to puff up somebody’s head, how about Hebrews 10:14:

"For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified."

He has perfected you forever, if you’re His child. You have been made perfect in the core of your being, which is your spirit, and to top that off Jesus Himself has taken up residence in you, in your spirit, Christ in you the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

A Caution

Feeling pretty proud? Feeling like you’re really something? Well, hold on a minute, because 1 Cor. 4:7 says this:

"For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"

See, we really are fearfully and wonderfully made.

But the key word there is MADE. See, we don’t have anything that wasn’t a gift from God. And we aren’t anything good that wasn’t produced by God. We have a lot going for us, as they say, but it’s all from God.

If you’re smart, that came from God.

“But I studied and got my Masters degree, not like that lazy uneducated bum.”

Ah, but where did you get the intelligence to get that degree? And where did you get the motivation, and the discipline, and the finances, and the transportation, and the books, and on and on?

I don’t care what you have, it all came from God. What do you have that you did not receive?

But we have a habit of sorta taking credit ourselves for it sometimes, don’t we? Instead of looking at someone we call "less fortunate" and saying, “There but for the grace of God go I,” we say to ourselves, “Man if they would just get their act together like me, they could be wonderful like me!”


And so Romans 12:3 says, "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

And Now...Performance-Based Christianity

So with that extended introduction, let’s look at Performance-based Christianity.

Performance-based Christianity is just a fancy way of describing a form of legalism. And it’s one of the most common forms of legalism in the Church, partly because it’s so subtle, and partly because we forget that everything we have is from God.

Performance-based Christianity is that form of legalism that tries to earn God’s love or favor by what we do, or how we perform.

Other Forms of Legalism

Now there are several other forms of legalism. Let's just mention a few of them. Legalism isn’t just one thing. There are several other forms of legalism. For example:

1. There is initial salvation by works.

This is that idea that's common among many religions, and some so-called Christian religions, where a person is saved by what they do. If they perform well enough they will be saved, and if they don't perform well enough they won't be saved.

Sometimes it's seen as a balance of weights and if there are enough good things done to outdo the bad things, then that person will gain favor with God and go to heaven, or whatever the case may be.

This is totally against what the Scripture says, which is that salvation is by grace through faith, not of works.

2. There is the Seventh Day Adventist type of legalism...
...which speaks of initial salvation by grace, but then once you're saved and you have the Holy Spirit, it must be followed by works of the law, or you end up losing your salvation.

You know, you have to do something like follow Sabbath Day requirements, or eat certain kinds of food, or whatever. And the argument goes, "Hey, now that God has saved you by grace, and you have the Holy Spirit, now you have the power to follow the law, and if you don't, then you're going to lose your salvation."

Well, that's a lie from the pit of Hell, as they say. But that's another form of legalism.

3. There is that extra-biblical type of cultural legalism...
...such as "no lipstick", "no pants for ladies", “you can’t wear a tattoo”, and so forth. That kind of cultural legalism.

4. There is pure Galatianism...
...which mixes law-works with grace, which of course makes it not grace. This is similar to Roman Catholicism, which speaks of grace, but requires rituals and good works added to so-called grace.

And if you don't add those rituals and good works, then you lose the salvation that you got through another ritual, which might be baptism, for example.

Well, this is the problem that the Galatians had, where they believed the "circumcision party" in saying that, "Yeah, you're saved by grace, but you also have to add the works of the Old Covenant." This is pure Galatianism, and another form of legalism.

Romans 11:6 says, "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace."

In other words, grace is the free or undeserved favor of God, and if you add works to it, it's no longer grace. It's now something deserved.

Okay, those are some other examples of forms of legalism. But we're talking here about Performance-based Christianity.

The Harm of Performance-Based Legalism

The Perfomance-based Christianity type I speak of is, I believe, the most destructive to the spiritual walk of the Christian, because it does several bad things:

1. It makes a Christian think they are better or worse than other Christians, causing pride or despair respectively.

If you think you’re performing pretty well at a particular time, then you think you are deserving God’s love and favor, and pride sets in. Even while you know that pride comes before a fall, right? And even while you know that God resists the proud, right?

But what if you think you’re performing poorly at a particular time? What if you have been deceived by the world, the flesh and the devil, and you find yourself doing what you don’t want to do, or not doing what you want to do, like Paul describes in Romans 7?

Well, then you feel like God doesn’t love you or favor you as much, if at all, and you despair, and you shy away from Him, which makes it even worse, because you need to be in close fellowship with Him to walk in the Spirit.

And so there’s this downward spiral. And God forbid that you just pull up your bootstraps, and "will" yourself to perform better so you can swing back to the proud side.

2. It encourages the Christian to be self-centered...
...always examining his navel as to whether he is "measuring up" (and he never is, of course) -- instead of being Christ-centered, looking to Jesus and fellowshiping with Him.

When we focus on Jesus, instead of on ourself, something amazing happens. 2 Cor. 3:18 puts it this way:

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

But Performance-based Christianity squelches that wonderful process.

3. It encourages Daisy Theology...
..."He loves me, He loves me not", robbing the believer of that precious and total love and acceptance that God has for him in Christ.

God fully and totally accepts you in the Beloved, in Christ (Eph. 1:6 KJV). God sees us in a way that’s beyond our Performance.

And, ironically, when we see how He sees us, our Performance improves, because we live in response to the Grace and Love that He’s already shown. We draw near to Him, and that affects us for the good.

4. Worst of all, it adds law to grace...
...which Paul points out makes it no longer grace, whereupon one "falls from grace", as the Galatians did in their foolishness, and gets on the ground of Law. What this does is it quenches the Holy Spirit, and inflames sin.

1 Cor. 15:56 says an amazing thing: "the strength of sin is the law." That’s where sin gets its strength, from Law. “Keep off the grass” fires up a desire to walk on the grass. “Don’t touch this sculpture” makes us want to touch the darn sculpture.

Well, those are four critical reasons why Performance-based legalism is harmful to your Christian life.

The Problem With Law-Based Living

The real problem with Law-based living is that the one who lives that way has to:

1. obey all of it,
2. obey it continually, and
3. obey it perfectly.

Sorry, but "Striving to obey God's commandments" won't cut it, and one who lives that way is messed up by his own paradigm, a paradigm that carries with it a built-in curse.

"For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.'" (Gal. 3:10)

Don’t fall for it, friends.

New Covenant "Performance"

Let your performance be a fruit of walking with Jesus. Walking in the Spirit, in gratitude for what God has already done for you. Don’t ever try to EARN God’s love and favor. If you’re His child, you already have it.

We are "...servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor. 3:6)

And that New Covenant, of course, is in Jesus Christ, who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.

What a Savior and Friend!

The Harm Of Performance-Based Christianity

This week's message on Grace Walk Radio:

The Harm Of Performance-Based Christianity

Grace For Life radio archives are here.

Creation Declares The Glory of God

It's not just the heavens that declare the glory of God.

Sit back, get all spiritual and filled with the Spirit, and then watch...

THIS

You'll be glad you did.

(Evolutionists and atheists: C'mon, you KNOW the Lord created this...c'mon, admit it.)

Practicing The Presence of God

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries.

-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Aurora Leigh 1857


Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

-- David the Shepherd King
Psalm 139

The Final Grace (Transcript)

Experience has its rewards.
If you are a seasoned carpenter, you can tell the wood and the nails what to do and you know what the result will be. If you are a seasoned gardener, you know what the planted seeds will look like in a few weeks.

And though you may enjoy the carpentry, or enjoy the gardening, to a certain extent you may take it for granted. The wonder of seeing that first woodworking project or that first batch of tomatoes is easy to lose in the repetition and what we call experience.

There is a sense in which as Christians we have experience in knowing Jesus, in knowing God, and in knowing His Word, through our Bible reading or hearing sermons. And there is a sweetness to that experience in many ways.

But like the carpenter or gardener, there is also the possibility of losing the wonder that we may have had when the Lord and the Bible were new to us.

Even Grace itself can be taken for granted.

We build our projects in the Kingdom of God, or we plant and water and watch the Lord’s increase. But sometimes we think it’s not like it used to be.

Southern Gospel Heaven

I grew up mostly in Michigan, in the Northern part of the United States. And after I became a Christian in 1976, I came to love Christian music.

I came to love a lot of the old hymns, and a lot of the newer Contemporary music.

But it wasn’t until I moved to Tennessee in 1986 that I heard much of what is called Southern Gospel. And I noticed something about Southern Gospel music. It tends to talk a lot about heaven.

[You know, like...] I’m looking forward to heaven. Don’t worry, heaven is coming. Can’t you just imagine what heaven will be like? Don’t let the family circle be broken, let’s make sure we all meet again in heaven. What a great day it will be when we meet Jesus face to face. How great it will be to spend eternity with Jesus in heaven. And on and on.

No Earthly Good?

And you’ve all heard the saying, “He’s so heavenly minded he’s no earthly good”?

I’ve come to think that what that phrase really means is, “He’s so caught up in religion that he’s not really heavenly minded at all. And if he’s not heavenly minded he’s no earthly good.”

Do you see the difference?

Anticipation

I’m not a seasoned flyer, but I’ve flown in passenger planes several times. And I’ve always noticed something.

Now if you’re a seasoned flyer, a "frequent flyer", you may not even notice this anymore. You may have lost the wonder of what I’m going to describe about my few airplane trips.

But here’s what I’ve noticed:

On every flight there are people waiting for people. And they’re waiting with anticipation, and joy and love on their faces. It’s beautiful.

And when the person on the plane gets off the plane, and the person waiting for them at the gate sees them, when they see each other, the shining face of anticipation becomes a shining face of recognition.

And the faces shine even brighter, and they speed up their steps and they put their arms around each other and give each other a big hug.

As I think about the picture of those people eagerly waiting for their loves ones, I can imagine the joy of believers in Christ when they will see Jesus face to face, and I “get” Southern Gospel music. It’s still not my favorite music, but I “get” it.

From Anticipation To Family Reunion

Can you imagine the joy of the family reunion we will have with those who have gone on before us? Those who have “fallen asleep in Christ” (1 Thess. 4:14)?

I can think of my grandma on my dad’s side who would never stop talking to me about Jesus, and finally got to see me saved at the age of 26.

Twenty-six years of bugging me.

And my mother who passed away from leukemia, after becoming one of the most loving examples of a praying Christian that I’ve known.

And a family friend named Wilbourne. [He passed away several months ago at a ripe old age.] He was an army buddy of my wife’s dad. And he prayed for my wife Michele’s family from maybe 1944 until Michele became a Christian in 1979.

Thirty-five years!

And his prayers were combined with gospel tracts at Christmas time, even though he never saw Michele’s dad again after WWII, and never met his family.

Michele and I visited him in Texas in 1981, because Michele wanted to meet this guy who had impacted her family and her eternity. He let me preach in the little church he pastored, and we’ve exchanged greeting cards and letters ever since.

I look forward to seeing Wilbourne.

And I look forward to seeing my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, face to face.

The batch of blessings promised to believers are aspects of this final grace.

Present And Final Grace

I try to teach Christians to dwell on the grace they have ALREADY, which is wonderful to contemplate.

As the John Newton song puts it, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see". For by grace are you saved, through faith, not by works lest anyone should boast. (Eph. 2:8,9)

As we grow spiritually, we see that grace is important in the PRESENT time for living the Christian life. As we humble ourselves and admit our need, God gives more grace.

Grace didn’t end with salvation, and I can’t ever stop emphasizing the fact that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and nothing we can do to make God love us less. He set His love on us, and there is nothing we can do to diminish that. He loves us and showers us with His grace every day.

But we also need to understand the Final Grace. The end of this age, or what the theologians call the eschaton. The end. Or what is sometimes called Future Grace.

This Final Grace gripped the heart of the Apostle Peter. Do you remember what was promised for his future? Jesus promised him in John 21:18, “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish".

Jesus was telling Peter that he would one day be crucified himself. He would die as a martyr.

This Apostle wrote to the early church about soon-to-be martyrdom. He wrote, "I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent [referring to his body], to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me" (2 Peter 1:13,14).

How would you feel if you knew that this was shortly going to happen to you?

Could you maintain a joyful and fruitful life?

Peter did, and he mentioned an important thing that strengthened him. Peter was assured of his future in heaven and he learned to focus his hope on this final grace.


He encouraged those who faced persecution under the evil emperor Nero to, "Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the GRACE that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13).

This means literally to pull up your drawers and put a belt on. But this speech picture really means "prepare your minds for action" (NIV). Having done so, we are to "be sober"--clearly grasp the implications of God's truth. The truth we are to focus on is this final grace--"grace that is to be brought to you" (as a child of God). And when will this grace be distributed?--"at the revelation of Jesus Christ"--His Second Coming.

What are some of the dimensions of this final grace?

1. First, we will see the glory of heaven.

Those who die in Christ are "absent from the body and present with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:7).

Our Lord reassured the disciples the night before His crucifixion: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU. . . I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:1-3).

This hope sustained believers in the Old Testament era who saw this life as a pilgrimage en route to the future glorious kingdom: "But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them" (Heb 11:16; cf.13:14).

2. Second, we will see Christ in His glory!

"Looking for the blessed hope and GLORIOUS APPEARING of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). Peter had affirmed the importance of faith; by faith the Christian loves Jesus, although He is not now visible on earth (1 Pet 1:8).

Yet, as one of my favorite hymns puts it, "And Lord, haste the day, when the faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, 'even so' it is well with my soul."

3. Third, believers who are living on earth at the moment of Christ's return will bypass physical death!

Paul spoke of this mystery that was revealed through him:

"We shall not all sleep, but WE SHALL ALL BE CHANGED--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible [that’s our body] must put on incorruption [the resurrected body], and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory'" (1 Cor 15:51-54; cf. 1 Thes 4:17).

4. Fourth, as the previous passage declared, we will be given a new glorified body.

"Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2,3).

Notice that this hope is not just a matter of escapism. The "I’m outa here, I don’t care what God thinks" idea.

Rather, it is a purifying hope.

It’s also a practical hope.

Listen to Paul’s word in 1 Cor 15:58,

“Therefore [he had just spoke of this final grace], my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

It’s also a sanctifying hope.

Listen to Titus 2:11-14:

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

The Vision Of A Future Reality

This vision of the final grace should grip our hearts.

It’s a vision of a future reality, the final grace upon grace.

J. F. Strombeck noted the vital importance of vision:

"Vision plays a great role in the lives of men.

"A vision will keep a man in a straight course until it is realized. It will bear him up during days of severe trial and hardships. It will cause him to deny himself things that might interfere with the fullest accomplishment of his vision.

"A vision is a great disciplinarian. . . It is because of this power of vision to transform the very life of a person that grace teaches the believer to look for the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"This being true it is hardly to be expected that the proper outlook on life will be found among believers who do not look for this great event and are not aware of its importance to them. It is unthinkable that when this truth has gripped a person it will not leave a deep and lasting impression on his life."

No wonder hope is included in 1 Cor 13:13 – faith, HOPE and love.

This final grace sustained the apostle Peter in the days leading up to his martyrdom; it can sustain us in our difficulties as well.

Where have you set your hope?

How about setting it on the blessings of this final grace, when we see Him face to face?

The Final Grace

This week's message on Grace Walk Radio:

The Final Grace

Grace For Life radio archives are here.