The Call to Follow Part One

Mark 8:34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 "Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

We should take note of the fact that Jesus was addressing more than just the twelve who had left everything to follow Him. He is addressing a crowd and He uses the term “whoever.”

Because of the whoever, this truth about following Jesus applies to anyone and everyone without exception.

Jesus just took away any option of following Him on our own terms. He set the terms and made them very clear. They appear here in Mark 8, in Matthew 16, and in Luke 9.

This is the language of salvation. Being saved means following Jesus. There is no salvation apart from following Christ.

There are no differing plans when it comes to salvation. This is about eternal life, not insurance, there is no base plan that costs less yet covers all the basics.

So we find that in these terms set by Jesus there is the issue of denying oneself, taking up our own cross, and following Jesus.

I love this particular call to follow because it defines purpose for all who follow Christ. If you ever needed a vision for life here it is. This is the essence of what it means to be His and walking with Him in life.

The Fear of the Lord Part Four

Godly sorrow produces a work of repentance that releases the life of Christ in me. A life that gives to others good things.  This is a New Covenant work of the fear of the Lord! It is rooted in my actions and their impact on my relationship with God and others.

New Covenant grace does not grant us the freedom to do as we would wish, but rather, it is to bring us into relationship with the God who loves us and is now able to dwell in us. It places us in relationships within the body of Christ where we are meant to grow.

God is still in the business of transforming lives by turning enemies into sons. Sons who love and respect their heavenly Father and once Jesus is living in them they delight to do His will.  God promised He would give a New Covenant in which he would write His law on the hearts of those who believe.  He has written that Law and it is not the Old Law. It is the Law of Christ.

The Law of Christ is love one another. It is in engaging this practice that we embrace our cross and find ourselves walking in the fear of the Lord.

Usually when someone speaks of taking up their cross they apply it to keeping some aspect of the law more devotedly. They speak in terms of giving up some particular thing in life. The cross of Christ was about more than just paying for sin. He paid for sin because sin was standing between us and God and it interferes with our relationship one to another.

Taking up our cross is realized in the giving of ourselves for one another in life. The cross Jesus bore was for others not Himself. Taking up my cross involves preferring you and wanting to see you walking in right relationship with the Father and with me.

This is what empowered the apostles under the influence of the Holy Spirit to address misconduct in the church by reminding them who it is they claim to have believed and what that means regarding their relationship to God and to one another.

Legalism demands a cold adherence to rules because it thinks sin is the only issue with God. It is concerned about appearances more than people.

Legalistic people can cut someone off someone without so much as a wink. They cut and run when the going gets tough. They do so claiming that they are walking in the fear of the Lord while they are oblivious to how it is directly tied to our relationship with the Father and our relationships within the body of Christ.

They do not direct others to Christ on the basis of grace because they do not understand that only through the grace of Christ can true change really come. They are sin conscious based on appearances and therefore unable to deal with others on the basis of relationship.

If you want to see a believer change point them to Christ.

If you want to see a sinner saved point them to Christ.

The power to change is found only in Christ.

The Christ who lives in us walks in the fear of the Lord which teaches us to hate evil, shouldn’t that effectively influence us to love God and each other?

Growth and change will always be relationally based. Our forefathers in the church grew stronger as they lived in the fear of the Lord. A fear of the Lord that was relational and others minded.

How is your relationship with the Father?

How are your relationships in the fellowship where He has placed you?

Are you committed in relationship to a group of believers?

The Fear of the Lord Part Three

For the New Covenant believer the fear of the Lord is all about being like Christ in my relationship to the Father and my relationship to others. If I walk in the fear of the Lord I am aware of the importance of the relationships I have been given. Primarily the one I am privileged to enjoy with God at the expense of Christ! This leads me into genuine transformation!

If we stop short on our understanding the fear of the Lord we relate it only to sin. Remember it is to hate evil. The evil spoken of targets others. Our understanding the fear of the Lord should include the why we should hate evil. That involves relationships.

I've many Christians over time speak of not grieving the Holy Spirit and they are usually applying it to moral behaviors based on Law keeping.

The Scripture in Ephesians regarding grieving the Holy Ghost has to do with how we treat each other. He is grieved when we fail to walk in the fear of the Lord. A fear of the Lord which is aware and concerned for the good of others around us.

In 1 Corinthians Paul had written regarding a situation where a person was engaging in immoral behavior and nothing was being done about it. In fact the Corinthians instead were boasting of how merciful they were for not taking a grossly immoral man to task, and this was beginning to have a negative impact on the church. Paul wrote to help the Corinthians see how this man was bringing harm to others because of his practice of evil and how they as well were hurting others by ignoring it. Paul spoke sternly to them about this and it made them upset with Paul as a result. But they changed their minds about it and embraced Paul’s instructions. In turning their hearts to God in the fear of the Lord that considers others they were empowered to handle the situation and they opened their hearts again to Paul.

2Corinthians 7:10 For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 11 Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.

Godly sorrow brings about change. It brings repentance! New Covenant grace has not taken away this work of repentance in the lives of those who put their trust in Jesus.

True repentance alters the way in which I live based on the life of Christ now in me. My repentance is not based on an emotion. It is not saying I am sorry just to silence the other party because they bother me. It goes much deeper than that. I am repentant because my heart is softened once again to care.

It is the ability to recognize how my actions or decisions have affected those I claim to care about. When God is at work bringing me to repentance it involves the impact my actions have had on my relationship to Him and with those around me. Only then can I be aware of a genuine sorrow because it is godly in that it is others aware.

The Fear of the Lord Part Two

In the book of Acts there is a man named Saul who was going from town to town causing Christians to suffer. He was being evil, while he was deceived in thinking he was doing good.

In his zealousness for the Law he hated Christians because through their faith in Christ and promotion of the gospel many of the Jews were being brought out of the Old Covenant system of righteousness into grace righteousness made possible by Jesus.

One day, while Saul was on his way to Damascus to persecute more Christians, Jesus revealed himself to Saul asking Saul why he was persecuting Him. Saul was made to realize the evil he had been doing and he repented and was born again and renamed Paul. This brought about a time of peace to the church since their greatest enemy was now made a friend. Paul’s experience of a real work of the fear of God caused him to love the ones he had before been mean to. As a result it had an impact on the church.

Acts 9:31 The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.

There is something stated in this passage I want us to take particular notice of. It says that the church became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord!

The word fear in the Hebrew is used in two ways. It is used when someone is afraid of something. That is a general use.

But it is used in a different way when it is applied to God. When it is directed towards God it means reverence, respect, awe, piety.

The fear of the Lord does not mean I get more serious about keeping the law. That is not what is at the heart of it.

The fear of the Lord is relational. I desire to be like that which I admire and respect. When in relationship to God through Christ I have Christ revealed to me more and more by the work of the Spirit I find I long to be more like Him.

The Fear of the Lord Part One

Those who are born again are called the temple of God because Christ now dwells in us. A prophecy concerning Christ might give us a clue about what that will produce in us.

Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.

It is interesting to me that among this list is the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Jesus walked in the fear of the Lord. He hasn’t changed who He is in order to live in us.

So, how can we know if we are walking in the fear of the Lord?

Proverbs 8:13 All who fear the LORD will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech.

How many? All!

What will they do? Hate Evil.

But why will they hate evil?

The Hebrew word translated evil here is interesting. It is the Hebrew word ra-ah and in almost every scenario it implies something really bad. It implies hurtful things, destructive things, mean things. In one of it’s definitions it uses the word malignant. That is a word we associate with cancer in a very negative way. A malignant cancer is of the worst sort. Another definition speaks of being vicious in disposition. It involves what someone does towards others. Evil’s goal is to use and hurt others.

Using others for selfish gain and being mean towards others is something Jesus hates. Jesus taught His disciples to pray keep us from evil.

How Forgiven Are You? Part Five

The issue that makes the Old Covenant obsolete is one of source. Christ dealt with the very source of our sin and He did this in the Holy of Holies in heaven itself, thereby making it possible for us to worship God the way we were meant to!

Our consciences are now made clean through His blood so that we can, with no condemnation, approach God freely! The Old Covenant is what made us aware of our sin and continually reminded us of our unholy nature and behavior.

Hebrews 9:15 That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

Under the New Covenant we are set free from the penalties and liabilities of the Old Covenant that condemned us to death and refused to allow us access to God!

You may be saying I cannot approach God in the condition I am in. Jesus says, I paid for that! Come near! Find grace to help!

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Romans 3:21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.  23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

How forgiven are you?

Comparisons between the Old and New Covenant

1a) The Old Covenant was a covenant between God and a specific race of people.

1b) The New Covenant is a covenant between God and His Only Son Jesus Christ and people of all races and walks of life are invited to partake of it.

2a) The Old Covenant was a covenant of death intended to prove to men they could not be holy through any effort on their part.

2b) The New Covenant is a covenant of life that makes men holy through the work of Christ.

3a) The Old Covenant was a temporary covenant between an infallible, infinite God and fallible, finite men.

3b) The New Covenant is everlasting because it is between the infallible, infinite God and His infallible, infinite Son.

4a) The Old Covenant could only work from the outside in and therefore depended on men's ability to do something in order to be holy.

4b) The New Covenant makes someone a New creature on the inside making them holy by faith in what Jesus did.

5a) The Old Covenant demanded that men fix themselves, which is impossible.

5b) The New Covenant works from the inside out and makes men what they could never be by any self effort.  New Creations.

6a) The Old Covenant concentrated on what a man can do.

6b) The New Covenant focuses on who a man has come to know.

Why would anyone want to live under the Old Covenant when the New Covenant is far superior?

How Forgiven Are You? Part Four

The Old Covenant would need to done away with and a New Covenant established for all time, put in force by Christ before the issue of a clean conscience could truly be a reality for the people of God. We now have a High Priest who sat down because His one sacrifice took care of the issue of sin for us once and for all. No need for any more trips to the mercy seat to remove sin.

Hebrews 10:12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,

Hebrews 9:11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With his own blood––not the blood of goats and calves––he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

We can be confident that our sins past, present and future have been taken care of is because JESUS went into the real holy of holies, the one in heaven, and He sprinkled His own sinless holy blood on the, God made, original, mercy seat!

Jesus did not play with prototypes made by human hands!  Little girls play with dolls and doll houses in preparation for the real deal when they mature, get married and start families.

What mature, sane woman, would wish to replace her home, her children, and her husband with a doll house and dolls?  What could ever convince her to go back to the former days?

Once she has the real thing she has no need or desire to go back to the preparation phase of living.  Jesus is the real thing and He entered the real Holy of Holies in heavn itself and He sprinkled His own blood on the real mercy seat!

Hebrews 9:13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Oh the blood, of Jesus! He has done it! Once and for all!