Connecting People to People and People to God

Progressive Sanctification

2009-11-11T09:54:26-05:00

I have been thinking about the text Matthew 7:13-14 as it relates to the believer. Many times I think of this text in light of the unbeliever and the challenge of stepping through the door of the narrow gate. But this week I have been considering it from the view of the believer and in turn progressive sanctification.

The doctrine of Sanctification tells us that at the moment of salvation we are considered holy and righteous before God. If we were to die and stand before God Christ would be there as our mediator and intercessor to declare us righteous and holy by his blood. This is part of the miraculous events that occur when a person steps from death to life, from darkness to light. From seeking salvation by every means to trusting Christ for that salvation. However, we know when we make this step from dark to light that it's not the only step of faith we are required to take; it's the first step of many steps. As Louie Giglio (or was it Erwin McManus) says- the confession of Jesus as Lord is the first yes of many yeses that will take place. There is a sanctification process that begins at salvation that will take place until glorification- the day we die and are united with God or when Christ comes again.

Many times we confuse or resist sanctification because we consider it legalism. We see a mature person in the faith, we see all that they do that we could never do and we see all that they don't do, have omitted from their life, that we are so wrapped up in we can't imagine life without and we just can't imagine our life ever looking like that. Other times the expectation of the mature believer is cast upon the new believer or the new believer. It's a burden that is not biblical and not fair, it's a shame it's common place in many churches.

The part of sanctification I think that confuses us and the part of it I believe we're tempted to manipulate is this. In almost every area of life the older we become, the longer we've been with something and the further we progress the MORE we do and the more we're trusted with, the more we're responsible over. However, in sanctification the longer we're following Christ, the longer we continue to tell him yes the less we're going to be concerned with. Sanctification brings about a peace in life that simply boils down to telling Christ "YES."

That's the essence of sanctification. When the calling gets stronger we say yes, when he tells us to venture out in faith we say yes. When we're called to surrender this or that the response is yes. We live life with and open hand and an open heart; hearing the voice of God and saying yes.

John 19-21

2009-11-11T06:51:30-05:00

John 19-21

Today we conclude the gospel of John, completing our reading of the gospels.

Chapter 19

Joseph of Armathea, a secret disciple of Jesus asked Pilate for the body to be buried. He was a secret disciple no longer.

Nicodemus, who we remember from John 3, was a Pharisee. We find that he said yes to being born again. We'll see Nicodemus one more time in the New Testament but don't miss this redemption story.

Chapter 20

Jesus resurrects. Peter and John went out for a run together (vs 4 :smile:) and they came across the empty tomb. Mary is the first to speak to the resurrected Christ. By the way if you're trying to start a new faith (a fulfilled promised faith), one that's dependent one one man; first of all it's not a good idea to let the lead man get killed, then you don't send a woman to the tomb to be the only testimony of his resurrection. Women's testimony just wasn't valid back then. But that's how Jesus chose to begin this movement that we'll read about in the remainder of the New Testament and the story of our lives that we're living today.

Chapter 21

Peter denied Jesus three times the night he was betrayed and crucified. I believe Jesus has this encounter with Jesus and John records it to redeem that night. Jesus comes to the shore and Peter in his excitement grabs his coat and swims to Jesus. They eat and then Jesus asks Peter three times "Peter, do you love me?" Each time Peter says yes, on the third time Peter begins to be grieved. I think Jesus was getting at the cost it would require for Peter to fulfill his love for Christ. Feed my sheep...and eventually be crucified for it.

vs. 18-25 Jesus tells Peter that like him he'll be stretched out and crucified. Then Jesus said follow me. Peter then sees John, the one Jesus loved, and he questioned Jesus about what kind of death John would have. Jesus said "what's it to you? You follow me."

That's good. That's real good. If we're honest we look at our lives sometimes and we wonder why so and so has it better than us. We wonder why bad things happen to that family and not to that family. There are times that I wonder why some people are called to sacrifice so much for the gospel where as others seem to be provided for in abundance for the gospel. Personally I have nothing to complain about, and usually the one's suffering don't find themselves complaining but being transformed as they live out the gospel of Jesus Christ. In many ways suffering is purifying; that doesn't necessarily make the suffering easy to endure but at least there is purpose in it.

John 16-18

2009-11-10T06:48:07-05:00

John 16-18

John 16

John 16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

I love to see the relationship between the Father, the Son and The Spirit here. Jesus makes it clear that he came to do the will of the Father and that he speaks or is the spoken word of the Father. Then Jesus says that he will leave for our sake so that he can leave us the Holy Spirit. Jesus knows that for us to have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that He must leave. The son came to die for man, the Spirit to live in man and to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgement.

John 17 The Prayer Chapter

Jesus prays for himself demonstrating his relationship with the Father, his humanity and his divinity. Jesus prays for his disciples that they would be protected from the evil one (vs. 15). Then Jesus prays for those that would follow because of their testimony, including us. He prays that we would be one not divided by silly disputes and non essential theologies or styles of music or worship service practices. But that we would be one on mission to continue to worship and declare the gospel to the world.

Jesus knows that severe trial and tribulation is coming to himself, to his disciples and one day to others that follow him. His first work is prayer. He doesn't seek to remedy the situation, try to fix things or try to prevent it; he prays. Prayer is his first work, not his fall back plan.

John 18

Jesus is in the garden with his friends and the soldiers and mob come to arrest him. When Jesus declares who he is the mob draws back and falls down. Peter lobs off the ear, Jesus puts it back on. Finally Jesus is put before Pilate the roman governor and questioned. In verse 37 Jesus proclaims he has come to the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice."

Pilate says "What is truth?"

He doesn't discredit Jesus testimony, he knows that would be futile. Instead he discredits truth in general. He proclaims to the jews that he finds to guilt in him but he's not willing to face the truth Jesus spoke but would rather keep truth ambigious. The claim to have no truth is an excuse to not have to live up to that truth.

John 9-15

2009-11-09T07:26:43-05:00

John 9-15

I got behind this weekend but am pleased to say I got caught up this morning. I was reminded last night that God's love for me is not dependent on what I do for him but rather what he has done for me. It's so weird how often I have to be reminded of that truth; it's like it's as if I believe it's grace that saved me but my works that sustains me. What a vicious trap that becomes.

John 9- who sinned this man or his parents? That's the question asked by pretty much everyone when Jesus healed the blind man. Sort of like a biblical version of karma; clearly this man was born blind and he was either blind because of his parent's sin or his own sin. Jesus puts this idea to rest- he was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (vs. 3)

John 10- Was Jesus the Christ, the messiah? Well if you have doubts as to whether this is true I'm not sure how much intellectual convincing is going to do any good. However it's worth noting here that Jesus claimed that he was/is the Christ and the people were ready to kill him for that claim. So whether you believe it or not the people at the time believed it and those that didn't believe believed in the seriousness of the claim and killed him for it.

John 11- Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Unheard of don't miss that. verse 49. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish."

John 12- Jesus leaves Bethany where he raised Lazarus and then he returns. The crowds were going nuts about this miracle and many were believing in Jesus. Because of this the crowds were gathered to see Lazarus the wonder man and Christ the one who performed the miracle. vs. 10 But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also. His testimony was as powerful if not more so than the miracle.

vs. 42 Many even of the rulers believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him,

John 13- 1 Corinthians 13 is called the Love chapter. I wonder if John 13 comes in second. I love verse 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that he had come for from God and was going back to God, go up from supper and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, he girded Himself.

Jesus knew who he was, he knew whose he was and he knew that couldn't change. Because of the stability of his position and the confidence in his father he would then take off his clothes and serve; serve like a servant would.

John 14- The interdependence of the Godhead. Have fun.

John 15- It is in our relationship and our connection with Christ that we bear fruit. Apart from that vine we can do nothing, within the vine we are pruned to bear more fruit.

John 7-8

2009-11-06T07:19:36-05:00

John 7-8

Where are you from and who's your daddy?

Chapter 7

At the very end of their are rumblings in the city that this Jesus guy has to be dealt with in some way. He either has to be embraced as a legitimate prophet or he has to be seized and killed as a false prophet. The people are divided including the religious officials. But regardless those that are genuinely curious want an answer.

Jesus' brothers want answers, the people at the feast want answers and the temple guards want answers. Nicodemus wanting and answer and being a religious official calls for an answer. They make fun of his momma and disregard his comment.

Chapter 8

What starts as an honest conversation then turns into an accusing conversation and then resorts to name calling. They definitely called Jesus a demon possessed samaritan. Rather than refute Jesus' words, which we can all agree are really hard to hear sometime they decided to go straight for his validity. If he's teaching about his own authority with no witnesses he has to no power. Jesus informs them he is from the Father. They want out of that so they claim to be from Abraham, he tells them that they aren't acting like Abraham so then they say they are from the father again. Jesus says that can't be possible because again they aren't acting like it. Then they call Jesus names and at least in their mind no longer have to listen to him.

Jesus' status never changes as the life giving son of God but they managed to change it in their own minds.

Cruise Ship or Life Raft?

2009-11-05T19:29:48-05:00

To give credit where it’s due last week I was at some meetings listening to Joel Smith who is the lead pastor of Daybreak Church in Mechanicsburg, PA. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Joel or probably to put it more honestly I didn’t look for an opportunity to talk with Joel but Joel said something in one of this nightly sermons that really got the wheels churning in my head.

Joel asked if our goal in life is to be a life raft of a cruise ship? To make that more present and less future it can also be asked, is the life we’re creating and building for ourselves going to be a life raft or a cruise ship.

Cruise ship- I’ve never been on a cruise ship but I heard really good things about going on cruises. I’ve been told it’s really fun to have so much stuff to do on the ship. Then getting the chance to stop from port to port all the while doing it while playing shuffle board and swimming the pool it just a really fun experience. I’ve also heard that the food is pretty outstanding and that alone is worth the cruise ship experience. Cruise ships are built big, they are built for luxury and comfort.

I wonder if for some of us the cruise ship) or perhaps the perfect vacation) is a pretty good description of our lives if we had everything we wanted. We’d have food available to us at any time that we didn’t have to prepare ourselves. WE would be denied nothing. There would be no responsibilities, no pressing needs, no stress and no worries. At 11 am everyday someone would come and make our beds and give us fresh towels, that is if we were out of bed already. The sheets are softer than we’re used to, the pillows more expensive, the soap exotic smelling and we’re waiting on hand and foot. Yeah, that’s a pretty good life.

Life Raft- I’ve never been in a life raft either. I hope to be able to always say that. It would make for a cool story, if I survived. But we’ve all read survivor stories or at least seen cast away. I used to watch Survivorman featuring Les Stroud, a Canadian survivalist. For the record Survivor man is much more hardcore than Man vs. Wild. First of all because Les is Canadian and not British so he doesn’t have a wussy accent. The other reason is that Les carries all his own equipment on his 7 days journey. Bear Grylls sleeps in hotels and gets his camera crew to pick up lunch at the nearest McDonalds (I can’t confirm most of those accusations).

So one of the Survivorman episodes featured Les in a life raft after a simulated boat sinking. He says it was by far one of the most miserable experiences of his life. Most of the time you see him survive rather well. He finds gross foods to eat and finds a way to boil water and keep warm at night. In the raft Les could do none of these things. He fought the current, fought to find direction and compass and he fought to keep his raft inflated. Every bit of his resources and strength went into surviving. Finally he made it to an island where he was able to find a way to survive a bit better but I can tell you one thing he didn’t spend one more second in that lift raft than he had to.

I can only assume life raft vacations wouldn’t be a very good business venture, where as the cruise ship venture seems to be doing rather well.

The catch is this. Cruise ships by design don’t save anybody. They can’t. They just aren’t built for that. They’re too big; the people that could do the saving are too far off the water to do any good. They don’t have the tools. In all their grandeur they simply don’t have the tool necessary to save people. Every couple of years someone falls off of a cruise ship. (See above with all the eating and drinking). The cruise ship never turns around to get the person that fell overboard. They call the coast guard. Most of the time the cruise ship doesn’t even know for a day or two that anyone fell overboard. It’s only when the friend or family member with them notices that it’s reported. How comforting and convicting.

But the life raft. They save people. They are crude and not complicated but they save people. So for the sake of saving lives we have to consider how we live our life. We really have to embrace and be the life raft if we want to save somebody…anybody. If we want to save people from poverty, from depression, from oppression, from themselves, from drowning in all the trials and troubles of the world we have to embrace living life in the life raft. As scared as we are if we want to save people that’s what it’s going to take. That’s big time. It’s not something we step into lightly, it’s serious but it’s necessary.

Cruise Ship or Life Raft?

Structure serves Vision

2009-11-05T06:55:03-05:00

Pastors, church leaders and regular church attenders/members this one’s for you. Depending on which group you represent you’ll feel differently about this article. Some of you might be angry, others might agree, some will feel defensive, others down right hostile. That’s ok. I need a few more haters in my life.

Structure= church organization (pastor, elders, deacons, governing board, ministry leaders, congregation, etc)

When the structure of your church stops serving your vision your structure is wrong and needs to be fixed.
Chances are high that if your vision neatly fits into your current structure then your vision is too small and possibly not biblical.
If your structure is not set up to empower your ministry leaders to make key decisions in a timely manner then your structure is broken.
If every decision that is made goes through one person your structure is broken.
If you have more committees in your church than people that came to know Jesus Christ last year your structure is broken.
When your church is more focused on filling board seats than it is reaching the lost- broke.
If people in the congregation aren’t free to flow from one ministry to another- broke.
If your vision and ministry plan gets voted on- BROKE!
If the board's primary role is to serve as a referee to keep ministry in bounds and playing by the rules- BROKE.
If the board is not there to empower, equip and encourage ministries and ministry leaders to be the BEST they can be for the Kingdom of God- BROKE.

John 5-6

2009-11-05T06:51:37-05:00

John 5-6

Chapter 5 There was a pool that would occasionally get stirred by the waters. The first one to get to the water would be healed of his/her illness or affliction. I can't imagine the mass of humanity. Those begging for money, those crying for help. Those who have lost limbs or are unable to walk have a way of breaking my heart. Due to our country having troops in Afghanistan and Iraq for so many years and their use of IED's I see more and more men my age that have been maimed by explosives. While running the Marine Corps Marathon there were a good number of "chair" participants that were hand pedaling their way across 26.2 miles. Young men like myself with no legs. It has a way of moving me.

Jesus sees these people and he sees a man that had been there 38 years. He asks the man if he wishes to get well and the man replies that someone always beats him to the pool. Jesus then, defying the current system, doesn't pick the man up and put him in the pool. He doesn't stir the waters so the man can be healed. He commands the man to get up and and walk. And he does.

Later we find that the man didn't even know who Jesus was. What faith!

Chapter 6 rolls out a conversation that stems from the feeding of the masses from the previous chapter. Jesus says he is the bread of life and while consuming other bread will make you perish the ones that eat the bread he offers will not perish. Then some Jews begin to grumble and complain when Jesus states he's from heaven. Jesus presses harder and says that the bread is his flesh and unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in yourselves. To tell the complete truth I need to study this more to be able to explain it.

After Jesus says this it says in verse 66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not waking with Him anymore. They said they'd do anything to follow Jesus- they were wrong.

But Peter shows the way So jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" Simon Peter answered Him "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy one of God."

Peter said "Jesus, whatever you ask of us has got to be worth it because you're the only one that can redeem our souls. There is no one greater than you to follow."

John 3-4

2009-11-04T06:43:03-05:00

John 3-4

Chapter 3

Verse 6 Born of the Spirit- The modern church has gotten away from this wording. We use "ask Jesus into your heart" "surrender your life to Christ" and "make him Lord" but we never use born of the Spirit. If we emphasize the Spirit at all we bring it up as a moment subsequent to salvation and one that a believer might possible experience if he or she plays his or her cards right. Or one that gradually takes place over the course of a believers life if he or she goes to the correct church. I'm sure more of this will come up as we get into the epistles so I'll leave this here for now.

But the point is that I don't think our head knowledge of Jesus dying on the cross for us is sufficient for salvation, for being born again like Jesus is talking about in John 3. When we receive Christ, make him Lord, ask him into our hearts, we are born again. It's completely possible to go through one of these acts, say a prayer, go to the altar or mentally understand salvation and have never received it. Jesus tells Nicodemus that "you must be born again." The same applies today.

Verse 18 mentions The Name of Jesus. You also find that wording in chapter 1 I think. I find that idea interesting and I know I've written about it before. What's in a name?

Chapter 4

The story of the Samaritan woman is one of the first sermons I preached that I actually remember the content. The fact that Christ took the time to break social norms by talking to an outcast woman; she was naturally an outcast from Jew being a half-breed and then she was an outcast from the outcasts because she had been married more than a few times. But that doesn't hinder Jesus. He speaks with her, gets to the heart of the matter and she not only comes to salvation but many of her people do to. She goes from being used up to be used miraculously by Jesus Christ. Awesome!

John 1-2

2009-11-03T13:21:50-05:00

John 1-2

I wonder what inspired John to start Jesus' birth at the beginning (probably God huh), the very beginning. I wonder why he chose logos (word). Looking back from 2k years ahead it all makes sense. Jesus is the spoken word of God. He was the spoken force in creation. But for John he was explaining stuff that had never been conceived outside the mind of God. I love John's perspective, nicknamed the one Jesus loves, the one that saw a vision of the returning Christ and knew nothing else to do but fall on his face in worship.

Chapter 1

John the baptist declares that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah. John is the only one that he allows to declare this about him. In the previous gospels Jesus commands those he heals to remain quiet and to not speak of who he is.

John the baptist and his disciples see Jesus as he walks by. Two of John's disciples follow Jesus. It's what's absent that is so telling of the nature and knowledge of purpose for John. John never calls for them to come back, he doesn't pontificate about how he's better and that they're stupid to follow Jesus. The disciples go and be come some of Jesus' most helpful ministry partners. John knew his purpose was to prepare the way for Christ, even if it meant people. How often do we hold on to something or someone when the best thing might be for us to recognize that we've prepared them for this?

Chapter 2

Jesus turned the water into wine. Yes, wine. Alcoholic wine? Yes. It's a shame Jesus didn't get the "don't drink memo" we'd come up with in 1950.

verse 23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

This verse has a way of penetrating my heart unlike many. I immediately think of how easy it is to profess belief in Jesus and to commit to folowing Him always when things are going right but it's equally easy to shake a fist at and curse him when stuff hits the fan. Jesus knew this would happen to him but no one thinks it will ever happen to them.