“11 For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.” (Psalm 25:11 NIV).
Interesting plea. Notice that David doesn’t try to outline why he should be forgiven, he just appeals for forgiveness not on the basis of who he is (King of Israel), but rather “For the sake of Your Name.” What would the God who needs from us absolutely nothing have to gain by forgiving David let alone any one of us? And the answer is absolutely nothing. So why such a plea?
The Message catches the idea well when it renders this verse, “Keep up your reputation, God; Forgive my bad life; It’s been a very bad life.” Pearrell loose translation would be, “For your reputations sake (because I am your man), O Lord, please forgive my tendency to always pervert your good gifts converting them to evil actions.” (Note: That is what the term “iniquity” means; “perverting that which is good.”).
God’s forgiveness is always based on who He is, never dependant upon who we are. Daniel is one of the most righteous men in the Old Testament. He is one of the few about whom the Bible is silent regarding any personal weakness. Yet even Daniel prayed, “We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.” (Daniel 9:18b NIV).
Two quick thoughts for your consideration. {1} We believers need to remember that the forgiveness we have in Christ is not because of who we are. I find too many prideful believers who seem to share the same attitude of the Pharisee–“I thank God I’m not like other men!” Sadly the vast majority of these believers are proud church members with a long heritage in their particular denomination, and they have become smug, proud, and judgmental. Our tendency is to treat those who are not of our tradition or those who fall out of compliance with our tradition harshly. We want mercy for ourselves but justice for everyone else. When we remember that we are who we are only because of God’s grace, it is much easier for us to be humble and extend mercy to those who are different from us.
This brings me to my second thought. {2} We believers need to realize that unbelievers don’t have the same standards as believer nor do they have the ability to have those standards. I fear we spend more time and energy trying to get people to toe the line, comply to a standard, then we do introducing them to Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform them. That needs to change. We as believers have got to realize that it doesn’t matter whether or not we reform anyone, the moral person suffers in hells flames the same as the immoral. It is not about reformation it is about transformation. Our task on earth is to introduce people to the Savior, not try to pull the world up by the bootstraps.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
No Injustice in God
“All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.” (Psalm 25:10 NIV).
In a world full of injustice, isn’t it good to know that we serve a God who will never act unjustly? That thought of course is comforting until we realize that if God deals with us only with the justice we deserve not one of us could stand! How wonderful to realize that God’s holy justice is tempered by His great love! With this as background, let’s look at this marvelous verse from Psalm 25.
Please notice that there is a qualifier for the loving ways of God–it is “for those who keep the demands of His covenant.” I talk to people all the time who think God is only love and that such a God would never condemn anyone for anything. Lewis describes this mentality this way: “What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter as long as they are contented?’ We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven–a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves,’ and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all.’” Lewis, C.S., The Problem of Pain, (Collier Books, MacMillan Publishing Company, 866 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022, ISBN: 0-02-086850-2 p. 40). That is what we would like, but it is not what God is like. Yes God is a God of love and mercy and grace but He is also a God of justice, and if we refuse to respond to His love, mercy and grace nothing is left but for us to face His faultless justice. Lewis puts it into perspective, “I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside. I do not mean that the ghosts may not wish to come out of hell, in the vague fashion wherein an envious man “wishes” to be happy; but they certainly do not will even the first preliminary stages of that self-abandonment through which alone the soul can reach any good. They enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self enslaved.”
“In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: ‘What are you asking God to do?’ To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.” (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain pp. 127-128).
But for those who respond in obedience to Him we find a God of gracious love and unfailing faithfulness!
Now, you may ask, what about this passage? Does it really apply? After all, we are not under the demands of the Old Covenant (The Law) but are set free from it by Christ. Such reasoning is partially true. While it is true that we are not required to follow the stringent demands of the Law, we are not free from law but we are under the Law of Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 9:20-21). Jesus Himself said that the key to experiencing God’s gracious love was through obedience–we’ve missed that message today! Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:23-24 NIV). It doesn’t get simpler or clearer than this. While it is true that God loves the entire world (John 3:16), only those who respond to that love can experience that love.
In a world full of injustice, isn’t it good to know that we serve a God who will never act unjustly? That thought of course is comforting until we realize that if God deals with us only with the justice we deserve not one of us could stand! How wonderful to realize that God’s holy justice is tempered by His great love! With this as background, let’s look at this marvelous verse from Psalm 25.
Please notice that there is a qualifier for the loving ways of God–it is “for those who keep the demands of His covenant.” I talk to people all the time who think God is only love and that such a God would never condemn anyone for anything. Lewis describes this mentality this way: “What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter as long as they are contented?’ We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven–a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves,’ and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all.’” Lewis, C.S., The Problem of Pain, (Collier Books, MacMillan Publishing Company, 866 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022, ISBN: 0-02-086850-2 p. 40). That is what we would like, but it is not what God is like. Yes God is a God of love and mercy and grace but He is also a God of justice, and if we refuse to respond to His love, mercy and grace nothing is left but for us to face His faultless justice. Lewis puts it into perspective, “I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside. I do not mean that the ghosts may not wish to come out of hell, in the vague fashion wherein an envious man “wishes” to be happy; but they certainly do not will even the first preliminary stages of that self-abandonment through which alone the soul can reach any good. They enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self enslaved.”
“In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: ‘What are you asking God to do?’ To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.” (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain pp. 127-128).
But for those who respond in obedience to Him we find a God of gracious love and unfailing faithfulness!
Now, you may ask, what about this passage? Does it really apply? After all, we are not under the demands of the Old Covenant (The Law) but are set free from it by Christ. Such reasoning is partially true. While it is true that we are not required to follow the stringent demands of the Law, we are not free from law but we are under the Law of Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 9:20-21). Jesus Himself said that the key to experiencing God’s gracious love was through obedience–we’ve missed that message today! Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:23-24 NIV). It doesn’t get simpler or clearer than this. While it is true that God loves the entire world (John 3:16), only those who respond to that love can experience that love.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
We are who we are because He is who He is!
“Remember, Lord, Your compassion and your faithful love, for they have existed from antiquity. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my acts of rebellion; in keeping with your faithful love, remember me because of Your goodness Lord.” (Psalm 25:6-7 HCSB).
Powerful verses. Verse seven begins with asking God to remember something, verse 8 pleads with Him to forget something. The two prayers fit perfectly together.
Let us never forget that we can have forgiveness of sins not because we earn or deserve such forgiveness but because God is loving and compassionate. David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit catches it beautifully in this passage. God’s forgiveness is because of who He is, not because of who we are! I fear we sometimes tend to forget this. That is why so many professed Christians fall prey to spiritual pride. They think they are something. Like the old quip, “I don’t smoke and I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls who do!” There is, in that saying, a sad ring of fallacious truth.
What do I mean? Many of us in the Christian church tend to view others through the lens of our own standards. The person who has never struggled with alcohol for instance looks askance at the person who does. We tend to condemn with a smug, “If they wouldn’t have tired it, they wouldn’t have become addicted. Look at me. I’ve never had that problem.” Be honest. How many times have we stood in the pharisaical judgment halls? I’ve done it (I’m ashamed to say).
This is an important point so let me drive it home. We Baptists love to hold revivals. We have one every year whether we need it or not. In those revivals one message will be given over to the sin of alcohol. My experience is I have never been in one of these revivals where that has not been mentioned. In some cases the call is to a new prohibition period if we could somehow manage it.
Now I recognize that alcohol is dangerous. Don’t get me wrong. The problem isn’t in the message, it is in who this message is being given to. My experience is that most of those in our meetings who will take time to attend those meetings don’t struggle with this demon. The result is those who attend the meetings grow smug in what they don’t do, without ever being challenged by the weightier things of the law–gossip, hatred, strife, divisions, etc. The end result is, we begin to believe we are holy because we don’t participate in certain activities when the real attitudes of our hearts are anything but holy!
What does any of this have to do with our text? Here’s what I know: there is no room for pride in the Christian heart. The Bible says, “God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6 NLT).
These two verses is Psalm remind us that our standing in Christ is because of God’s mercy, love, compassion and grace not because we grew up Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, etc. We are who we are because He is who He is! Let us never forget this. Let us always live our lives mindful that God sets us into His forever family not because of our goodness but because of His goodness. We don’t deserve forgiveness, we receive forgiveness because He is a God of love who created us for the purpose of demonstrating that love to all His creation.
Powerful verses. Verse seven begins with asking God to remember something, verse 8 pleads with Him to forget something. The two prayers fit perfectly together.
Let us never forget that we can have forgiveness of sins not because we earn or deserve such forgiveness but because God is loving and compassionate. David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit catches it beautifully in this passage. God’s forgiveness is because of who He is, not because of who we are! I fear we sometimes tend to forget this. That is why so many professed Christians fall prey to spiritual pride. They think they are something. Like the old quip, “I don’t smoke and I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls who do!” There is, in that saying, a sad ring of fallacious truth.
What do I mean? Many of us in the Christian church tend to view others through the lens of our own standards. The person who has never struggled with alcohol for instance looks askance at the person who does. We tend to condemn with a smug, “If they wouldn’t have tired it, they wouldn’t have become addicted. Look at me. I’ve never had that problem.” Be honest. How many times have we stood in the pharisaical judgment halls? I’ve done it (I’m ashamed to say).
This is an important point so let me drive it home. We Baptists love to hold revivals. We have one every year whether we need it or not. In those revivals one message will be given over to the sin of alcohol. My experience is I have never been in one of these revivals where that has not been mentioned. In some cases the call is to a new prohibition period if we could somehow manage it.
Now I recognize that alcohol is dangerous. Don’t get me wrong. The problem isn’t in the message, it is in who this message is being given to. My experience is that most of those in our meetings who will take time to attend those meetings don’t struggle with this demon. The result is those who attend the meetings grow smug in what they don’t do, without ever being challenged by the weightier things of the law–gossip, hatred, strife, divisions, etc. The end result is, we begin to believe we are holy because we don’t participate in certain activities when the real attitudes of our hearts are anything but holy!
What does any of this have to do with our text? Here’s what I know: there is no room for pride in the Christian heart. The Bible says, “God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6 NLT).
These two verses is Psalm remind us that our standing in Christ is because of God’s mercy, love, compassion and grace not because we grew up Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, etc. We are who we are because He is who He is! Let us never forget this. Let us always live our lives mindful that God sets us into His forever family not because of our goodness but because of His goodness. We don’t deserve forgiveness, we receive forgiveness because He is a God of love who created us for the purpose of demonstrating that love to all His creation.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Building Bridges
“8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” (Psalm 25:8-9 NIV).
The Living Bible paraphrases these two verses, “The Lord is good and glad to teach the proper path to all who go astray; He will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to Him.”
We do serve a good God! He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9b NKJV). To this end He graciously and gladly reaches out His loving hands not to push sinners over the precipice, but to rescue them and guide them back in the way they should go. We who call ourselves by His Name should follow that example.
Will Allen Dromgoole wrote a wonderful poem entitled The Bridge Builder:
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at the evening, cold and grey
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim --
That sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when he reached the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting strength in building here.
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way.
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?”
The builder lifted his old grey head.
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must past this way.
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair haired youth may a pitfall be.
He too must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”
May I ask you who you are building bridges for today? It may be a son or daughter or perhaps a grandson or granddaughter you are building for. It may be a lost friend or relative; a father or mother. Understand that God’s desire is for their salvation, He reaches out to guide them not to push them to destruction. But understand this: the hands He uses to reach out is you and me. It is a frightening reality for me to realize that since I call myself a Christian, everything I do, everything I say, how I act and react either draws people to the Savior or drives them from the Savior.
The Living Bible paraphrases these two verses, “The Lord is good and glad to teach the proper path to all who go astray; He will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to Him.”
We do serve a good God! He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9b NKJV). To this end He graciously and gladly reaches out His loving hands not to push sinners over the precipice, but to rescue them and guide them back in the way they should go. We who call ourselves by His Name should follow that example.
Will Allen Dromgoole wrote a wonderful poem entitled The Bridge Builder:
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at the evening, cold and grey
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim --
That sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when he reached the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting strength in building here.
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way.
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?”
The builder lifted his old grey head.
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must past this way.
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair haired youth may a pitfall be.
He too must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”
May I ask you who you are building bridges for today? It may be a son or daughter or perhaps a grandson or granddaughter you are building for. It may be a lost friend or relative; a father or mother. Understand that God’s desire is for their salvation, He reaches out to guide them not to push them to destruction. But understand this: the hands He uses to reach out is you and me. It is a frightening reality for me to realize that since I call myself a Christian, everything I do, everything I say, how I act and react either draws people to the Savior or drives them from the Savior.
The Prayer of David
“Guide me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation; I wait for you all day long.” (Psalm 25:5 HCSB).
A short while back, the Prayer of Jabez made a stir in the Christian world. Do you recall that prayer? The brief story of Jabez is found in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10: “9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, ‘I gave birth to him in pain.’ 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.” (1 Chronicles 4:9-10 NIV– emphasis on prayer mine).
I wonder what would happen if we committed this prayer of David to heart and sincerely began each day with its utterance? “Guide me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation; I wait for you all day long.” I wonder how this prayer if sincerely offered (by that I mean that we pray with prayer with a heart intent on responding to the guidance that God then gives us) might change me, the church, the community, the nation and the world? I’m going to try it. Will you try it with me for the next 30 days?
A short while back, the Prayer of Jabez made a stir in the Christian world. Do you recall that prayer? The brief story of Jabez is found in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10: “9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, ‘I gave birth to him in pain.’ 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.” (1 Chronicles 4:9-10 NIV– emphasis on prayer mine).
I wonder what would happen if we committed this prayer of David to heart and sincerely began each day with its utterance? “Guide me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation; I wait for you all day long.” I wonder how this prayer if sincerely offered (by that I mean that we pray with prayer with a heart intent on responding to the guidance that God then gives us) might change me, the church, the community, the nation and the world? I’m going to try it. Will you try it with me for the next 30 days?
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