To hear what I need

I don't know about you, but when I wake up in the morning I find that I want nothing to do with the Gospel or Jesus. In fact I prefer to wake up and think about the day ahead and all the things I want to do - my agenda, my life, my identity. As I awake I find my heart so hard and dull. I think that if I was to do everything I wanted then I would be satisfied.

What a lie.

The one thing I need to hear is the Gospel.
I need to hear it because I don't want to hear it.
I need to hear it because my heart needs to be melted
I need to hear it because it brings me life. Christ brings me life and has made me alive.

Team days were all about the Gospel and I didn't want to hear it but I needed to hear it and I am thankful that I did hear it. The Gospel makes fellowship sweet and food tasty and hearts melting... lets keep hearing it and keeping speaking it.

Enough mercy for today

A really wonderful reminder of how God gives us Grace and Mercy that is enough for today and today only. Each new day he gives us exactly what we need:

The manna in the wilderness was given one day at a time. There was
no storing up. That is the way we must depend on God’s mercy.

You do not receive today the strength to bear tomorrow’s burdens. You are given mercies today for today’s troubles. Tomorrow the mercies will be new. “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9, RSV). “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will act!” (1 Thessalonians 5:24, author’s translation).(John Piper - A Godward Life)

This grace in which we stand

Something really struck me the other day as I was walking home and thinking of how the day went. What struck me was the life of Jesus in the Gospels. I realised that Jesus understood something about his relationship with God more then I do. Of course Jesus knows and understands more then me in everything, but there is one thing that really caught my attention.

Have you ever noticed how Jesus went through so much hurt and rejection and yet never stumbled? He never doubted himself or his relationship with his Father. I know Jesus is God, but as I am thinking on a human level I was reminded how Jesus really did grasp and understand how his worth and identity was completely in the Father. He knew that no matter how much the world rejected him, his standing was still the same with the Father. 

Imagine if we truly grasped that? If in our hearts we really did understand that our worth and identity was in Jesus and no matter how the world views us, whether they praise us or rejects us - it can never change our standing with God. Never. 

Imagine if our hearts really treasured this truth the same way Jesus did?

Where we no longer strive for the praises of man or believe that I need to do things to earn the praise of God. But that I truly rest in what Christ has done for me on the cross. There I am secure in my relationship with God and can no longer worry about the praises of man or what people think of me. 

Then Romans 5 does seem sweet indeed:

     Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(Romans 5:1-2 )

Edwards warns us to not flatter ourselves

"Sinners in the hands of an Angry God" sounds like a sermon to avoid. But if I was to encourage you to read or listen to a sermon that will grip you, shock you, warm your heart and bring you to your knees, I would suggest reading this sermon. This is surely not for the faint hearted but if any Christian was to read this sermon by Jonathan Edwards and come away feeling anger towards Edwards and bitterness towards God then they come away not understanding the sermon at all. I really believe that this sermon was designed to arouse the heart to the acknowledgement that we have a very Holy God that is angry at sin and sinners and yet a very gracious God for not allowing us all to perish right at this very moment.

Edwards says -

"Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatter himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do"

Edwards wasn't just preaching to the non Christian here, but also the Christian. Do we flatter ourselves in thinking that our works get us out of hell? That God owes us grace and freedom because of what we are doing right now? Edwards warns us against this and warns us to repent of this because - "God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell for one moment...till he believes in Christ."

It is only in Christ that we have any promise of eternal life with God. It can only rest in Christ and nothing more. If we think for one moment that its our doing and God owes us, we will be in for a shock. Read this amazing sermon and let your heart see how gracious God is over your life and repent and start relying on Christ for your salvation instead of who you are and what you are doing. Read it here.

A Glance at Galatians Pt 5

Pt 5 :: Justified by what?

Galatians 2:15-21, I feel is the heart beat of Galatains. I can´t take my eyes off the significance of these words and how, if grasped, can change your life. Most of us wouldn´t call ourselves pharisees - those proud, harsh religious folk that just stay in their religious bubble and outwardly do what seems all the right things and not be involved in any secular things what so ever. Or maybe that sounds more like us then we think.

When you think of works, what do you think? We know that doing good works won´t justify you, we know that we are justified through faith in Jesus. Thats what Galatians says, but what does that mean? Does it mean we never do good works? But what about the law, im not a Jew therefore I am not under the law.

I think there is a twist in this. We are not under the law, infact if your a gentile - you were never under the law. But there is a tendancy to rely on our works then have faith in Jesus. You see, having faith and loving Jesus should from that flow abundant joy and good works - but those good works should not be what justifies us and what makes us proud.

Think about when you read your bible. How do you feel? You either feel very good with yourself for managing to make time to read it out of your busy day or you feel guilty because its been months since you last read it. And we think that these feelings affect our relationship with God. This is a danger that every Christian faces - we base our spirituality on what material things we do. When we hear others that don´t read their bibles, we start to put on our spiritual badge and remind ourselves..."well I get up at 5am everyday to read my bible..." Suddenly a spring of pride and bad attitude flows and we start looking more like that Pharisee, because infact the point of reading our bibles is to know Jesus more and to treasure him, not to gain points.

One of my favourite quotes from Relay 1 was :: "If you think that 5 quiet times in a row is excellant, then you need to compare it to Jesus on the Cross - which is better?" I think it puts everything into perspective and means that it is good and wonderful that we are justified because of Christ and because of having faith in Him and not by works or deeds, but because of Jesus. It means we stop looking at ourselves and stop asking ourselves how we feel, how are we doing, what good things am I doing, instead we can start focusing on the One that matters most.

Christless Grace-less attempts

“No one can truly change who does not know and rely on gifts from the hand of the Lord. Since Christ is both Giver and Gift, attempts to change without grace are barren of the very purpose, power, and Person that change is about. Self-manufactured change does not dislodge almighty me from the center of my tiny self-manufactured universe. Still in the futility of my mind and the hardness of my heart, I only act a bit different.

Successful living without grace describes mere self-reformation: get your act together, save your marriage, get off your duff and get a job. Failure in living describes failed self-efforts: when you can’t get a grip, you despair. Christless, grace-less attempts at change conclude either with the praise of your own glory or with your shame.”

- David Powlison, Seeing With New Eyes

Why Grace is hard.

Grace is a good thing. Infact it is an amazing thing.
Ephesians 2, describes Grace as a Gift of God. We do not earn it nor deserve it. We are just given it through Christ because God is rich in mercy. Now that is good news!
But Grace is hard.

With Grace there is no room for Pride. And yet I like being proud. I like people praising me for the works I have done, the bible study that I have spent ages over. But Grace says I don't have a leg to stand on. Mo put it really well at Relay 1 -
Compared to my 5 quiet times a day, the obediance of Christ is better.

And it is! I mean, which would you rather give to God? Your bible study or the sacrifice that Jesus made on the Cross?
There is no room for Pride.

Grace is hard because I want to hold on to all the things that I do and present them to God and say how amazing they are and how amazing I am. Yet they are dirty rags. Therefore like Paul in Philippians 3 - can we count them all as rubbish compared to knowing Jesus?....Can we?..... We must!

The most crazy thing about Grace is that my relationship with God isn't counted on what I do, its about Jesus. It is always about Jesus - I say that alot, but recently I have found that this very statement is so true and thats what it means to live in Grace. To look to Jesus and not myself. To say that Jesus is great and I am not. My perfect standing with God does not come through my bible studies, quiet time and sharing the Gospel, all of which are good things - but they don't make me great! Therefore my perfect standing with God comes through Christ and Christ alone.

There is no room for pride at the Cross.