This Grace Preaching is Nothing New

In the words of the great Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon:



"I have chosen you out of the world."
-- John 15:19

Here is distinguishing grace and discriminating regard; for some are made the special objects of divine affection. Do not be afraid to dwell upon this high doctrine of election. When your mind is most heavy and depressed, you will find it to be a bottle of richest cordial. Those who doubt the doctrines of grace, or who cast them into the shade, miss the richest clusters of Eshcol; they lose the wines on the lees well refined, the fat things full of marrow. There is no balm in Gilead comparable to it. If the honey in Jonathan's wood when but touched enlightened the eyes, this is honey which will enlighten your heart to love and learn the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Eat, and fear not a surfeit; live upon this choice dainty, and fear not that it will be too delicate a diet. Meat from the King's table will hurt none of his courtiers. Desire to have your mind enlarged, that you may comprehend more and more the eternal, everlasting, discriminating love of God.

When you have mounted as high as election, tarry on its sister mount, the covenant of grace. Covenant engagements are the munitions of stupendous rock behind which we lie entrenched; covenant engagements with the surety, Christ Jesus, are the quiet resting-places of trembling spirits.

"His oath, his covenant, his blood,
Support me in the raging flood;
When every earthly prop gives way,
This still is all my strength and stay."

If Jesus undertook to bring me to glory, and if the Father promised that he would give me to the Son to be a part of the infinite reward of the travail of his soul; then, my soul, till God himself shall be unfaithful, till Jesus shall cease to be the truth, thou art safe. When David danced before the ark, he told Michal that election made him do so. Come, my soul, exult before the God of grace and leap for joy of heart.

In Which Sheila is Still Shouting "Grace, Grace!"

I saw this sign in front of a detox center for legalist women...not really, but it could be true.

Tim and I love the law of God, as given through Moses. It is the legalist who is anti-law; because she insists on her own understanding of the law, she ends up misunderstanding God's law, misapplying the law, which is, in fact, to be anti-law.

Friends, to truly love the law of God is more than a mere sentiment. It is more than reading the Old Testament and feeling good about it. To truly love God's law, is to invest significant time investigating it, understanding it, and being vigilant to communicate it accurately, and apply it Biblically.

Anything short of that, is sloppy scholarship, anemic passion, and misguided stubborness that masquerades as love for God's law, and that is to be a practicing antinomian, no matter what your creed is.

The law is good when used lawfully, the Bible says. Tim and I are completely passionate about the lawful use of something so precious and potentially powerful as the law. Therefore, we are to be counted amongst those who love God's law. Legalists do not actually love God's law at all - if you are even able to get past all the scholarly sounding rhetoric, you will find that legalists only love their own perceived performance of the law. The parts of the law they have been able to keep make them feel holy. They perceive God's blessings that have been in fact given to them unearned and undeserved - as being contingent upon their own "higher standard"...their own higher level of personal holiness. The law makes a legalist feel better about themselves, and definitely makes them feel better than you.

So tell me. Which person actually loves the law? The legalist? Or the grace-girl? (or grace-guy...whichever.)

See the difference? Hands down, no further discussion, the grace-girl is the one who actually and passionately loves the law of God, because she has carefully studied and zealously guarded the intent of the law, as communicated by God, both old covenant and new.

I use the female gender simply because "I are one" - and because to get the women using the law lawfully, is to get half the church using the law lawfully. Historically, there have been powerful women who have passionately supported the gospel of grace...and "devout" women who have stubbornly opposed the gospel of grace.

There ain't nothin' new under the sun. I've seen it before, with my own eyes. A woman with a firm superiority complex becomes a willing tool of religious spirits, and that woman will oppose all emphasis on grace. (At the very heart of it, this is exactly why Paul and Barnabas were opposed...)

Acts 13 says this, "But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region."

Yeah, I want to talk to the women. You better believe I do. Girlfriend, you can choose to be "devout and prominent" or you can be the righteousness of God in Christ - but you can't mix legalism and gospel. Every time you do, you will end up expelling others "from your region" - usually, in our age of propriety, you'll do it by being the one to leave.

Here is the sort of devout woman I want to be:

"Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures...And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious...attacked." (Acts 17)

Throughout history, for every devout legalista, God has raised up a leading grace-girl. I so want to be the grace-girl. I want to be persuade-able, tender towards the Gospel. I want to be God's woman, not my own version of God's woman.

(Which means, I will actively support the Pauls and Silases in my life, but that's another topic altogether...Jezebel cannot give honor where it is due, and she certainly can't stop controlling the men in her life, and she will ultimately never keep her mouth shut. She's convinced that she knows more.)

Oh my. I think I'll stop now. I've riled enough religion as it is. Few things are scarier than a woman who is devout for all the wrong reasons, who is unpersuade-able, and envious of the powerful women who embrace the grace message of the gospel.

I sort of understand. I'd envy me, too...not that I'm "powerful", but God certainly gives me every good thing I haven't earned and do not deserve.

Everything You Never Wanted to Know

I'm having an egocentric day, perhaps.  I'm in the mood to tell you....things.  About me.  Some of which I seriously wonder if I've ever told anyone but Tim or my closest home-girls, and maybe not even them.  So if you are as interested in my story as I am in your stories (and I truly am - 99% of the time, when you are physically with me at lunch or dinner or whatever, the conversation will be about you, and I'd be asking you all sorts of stuff) then just keep on reading, because you are about to be amused.

Or deeply concerned for me.

Where to start?

1.  I was a bed-wetter until the age of 13.  It was pure, unmitigated awfulness.  I had all the traits of a  disturbed child - heard "voices" in my head, thoughts of suicide (only thoughts!) anger issues, the whole bit.  And bedwetting.

What changed?  I lie not...it was the active grace of God in my life, and the charismatic renewal in the 70's.   My parents left a somber, dead denominational church (and I do realize denominations are not all dead) for a charismatic church, and I began to be bathed in the presence of God every Sunday.  I did have several supernatural spiritual experiences as a child - for example, I remember receiving ministry one evening, being overwhelmed by a sense of pure love and power, and that was the end of the voices in my head.....forever.  Literally, the night before, I had heard them, and that night I slept in quiet peace, and not one time, ever again, have I been tormented like that.  No voices.

Unless I'm just messin' with ya.  I joke about hearing voices now.

2.  I taught the Bible for the first time when I was 17 - to about three hundred people at my church, and even gave an altar call.  (Bold, no?)  The altar was full.

3.  I was married at only twenty years old, and gave birth to identical twin girls nine months (and twenty minutes) later.  Honeymoon twins.

4.  I was ugly in middle school.  I'm talking u-g-l-y.  I had no self confidence whatsoever.  I was homely and I knew it.  Then, something happened, and I entered a beauty pageant at age 17 (the Junior Miss Pageant) and almost won.  I came in third - each of us girls in the top three were within tenths of a point of one another.  So I really did almost win.

And - of all things - I scored the best...out of every single contestant....in (are you ready for this?)  not grade point average.  Not my interview, though it went well.  Not in physical fitness - my dance was a fiasco.  I took top score in...

poise and appearance.  Apparently God really does make all things beautiful in His time.

Don't hate on me.  In that season of my life, I needed that.  Honestly, I've never been all that proud of that little fact about me, and I'm not stunningly attractive today - but I'm not above wanting to be.

5.  I was president of the Knoxville chapter of Teenage Women's Aglow in the 80's.  (Anyone remember "Women's Aglow"?  It was the age of Christian women in power suits, silk scarves, and big earrings.)

6.  At one point in my walk with God, I wore a headcovering.  Only for a couple of months - until my then-pastor took me to task, a little known fact for which I thank him to this day.  No disrespect to those women who do wear head coverings, but today the very thought makes me cringe.  I am forever grateful to God for an Enlightening Grace that pulled me out of the clutches of legalism.  It was and still is a process.

7.  My husband bites his nails, and that irks me.  Oh wait...that isn't about me, is it?  I think it sort of is, because that one thing is the Great Secret Irk of my life.  He's doing it right now.

8.  I love him in every other way.  He's adorable and selfless and definitely cute in a baseball hat.

9.  I'm loyal as a hound dog.  Friends are friends forever in my world - you have to treat me and my husband with a lot of disrespect before I'd even think about kicking you to the curb.  Even then, I wouldn't.  You'd have to leave me.  But if ever you do - I don't chase you down - I have too many other friends who do love and need me.  So I won't follow you home, begging you to bring your Barbies back to my porch.  I just leave the light on for ya.  You'll be back.  You like your girlfriends witty and good looking.  You'll miss me eventually.

10.  I'm a lot of things - I swear sometimes, am known for too much sarcasm (its a gift) and I feel more deeply and pray more than most people will ever realize.  But for some reason, I've never been a jealous woman.  Your success is mine.  I want you to be as blessed as possible - no strings attached.

11.  I'm a freakish combination of a Sophia Loren wanna-be, and Mother Teresa.  I think deeply, love God radically, read real-books like some women sit in front of Facebook (all day, every day) but refuse to live without high heels, red lipstick, and the occasional glass of wine.

That's all for now.  Whatever.  I'm so glad we had this little talk.  I'm going to hit "publish" before my better judgement takes over...

Thoughts on the Poor and Needy

my dining room table, a completely unstyled photo, after a day of school today.  this picture represents fabulous wealth...the well fed puppy on the chair, the laptop, the school books, the knitting that sits, casually waiting for the fact that I am so rich I have spare moments to do something creative...

I'm haunted by Ann Voskamp's observations, from her brief trip to Guatemala with Compassion International.  She visited families in the ghettos and slums of that country, a country still reeling from its recent mudslides.

Every day I sweep and cook and straighten with my steam mop and my all natural cleaners and my clean rags that match my kitchen, I'm thinking of a mother in Guatemala I have never met.  Vicariously I visited this mother, through Ann's blog, and the visit changed me.

Utterly impoverished mothers want clean homes, too.  They want all the same things I want, and they work harder than I do, with fewer tools, to accomplish far less.

And some can chalk it all up to an absence of capitalism, and still sleep at night, without doing one thing about the poverty they have seen on their big flat screen TV.

After her visit with this particular family, Ann felt compelled to tell the Guatemalan mother, "You are a good housekeeper", and upon translation, the mother began to weep.

And I've never gotten over it.

and these came in the mail this morning...God has a sense of irony, too.

How do you fight a mudslide?  How do you cherish all the home keeping hopes and dreams that all mothers have in a place that menaces your soul, day in and day out, with its filth and stench and poverty?  Somehow, this mother kept her shack as clean as she could keep it...noticeably different than the shacks that surrounded hers.

And she needed the same affirmation that I need...she needed to be told that her ordinary work did not go unnoticed.

So here I am, in my climate controlled home, blogging to the scent of spiced pumpkin and the music of Acker Bilk.  Feeling absolutely tiny.  My spirituality pales to that of a simple woman, fending off the mud, daily wiping the grime of the ghetto off of her home and her family.

I'm thankful for every blessing I've been given.

I spent some time early this morning getting to know this particular Tuesday, and it is an Acker Bilk sort of Tuesday.  Really.  It is.  See for yourself.

Given.  Given, given, given.  I have not earned a single thing.  This is what irks me about conservative talk radio...as much as I wholeheartedly agree with the conservative philosophy of hard work, and no government entitlement programs.  At one time, I took in a steady, almost daily diet of talk radio, and it made me arrogant and hard inside.  It made me intellectually bright, and proudly skeptical, complete with the strong suspicion that anyone who is poor deserves to be.  It is their own fault.  They haven't worked hard enough to earn the American Dream.

If we take this logic to its inevitable conclusion, then the last and the next heart-wrenching event in your life, Mr. Rush-Fan, is entirely your fault.

Because you deserve hell.  Cut and dried.  There is only One of whom it was declared, "I find no fault in Him" - all your hard work and good intentions mean not one thing....all your righteousness comes from Him, along with every blessing you have under God's sun.

Transitioning the foyer from summer to fall...this means getting the sheaves of Harvest Wheat back out.  I desperately want and need "Harvest" to be more than a time of year to me. 

I'm done with so-called Christianity that is so full of its own self righteousness, that it can't identify itself with the poor and needy.  Yeah, even when they deserve to be poor and needy.  But for the grace of God, there go I.

It is almost time again for cider and fires in the firepit, for S'mores and bonfires in the country with gobs of friends and soup and sweaters.  I am living a dreamy, fabulously wealthy life that I do not deserve.  Do you deserve the lifestyle you have earned for yourself, or do you enjoy the blessings you have been given?   




 

"Vital Optimism"

This is just a thought...one point, taken from the teaching I did at the Master Builder's International Conference last week. 

Been contemplating the reality of  jaded Christians...oh, for about the past year or so.  Many, many start well, but don't continue well.  They don't leave the faith necessarily, they don't even visibly "backslide".  They simply become critical, unloving, and (deep down) unbelieving.

Maybe they get tired.  Most have been hurt and disappointed by life and by the church.

Well, join the flippin' club.  You heard me right.  Sorry if you were expecting sympathy, but you aren't getting it.  You don't need sympathy, you need someone to shake you out of your self awareness.

Anyone who has been in ministry - lay or otherwise - for longer than 5 years has seen some sordid stuff.  They have bumped into the weaknesses of others, even (gasp!) their spiritual leaders. They have had prayers seemingly unanswered.  They have been disappointed.

If you have served God for 20 years or more, I mean really served God, which means serving others faithfully either on the mission field, or in a local church, you have lived 3 lifetimes compared to the pew-warmer or the non-church-goer.  You've come up against the worst in human nature, often by just looking in the mirror.

I don't care what you've encountered or who has hurt you or what your family history is, you have not been through more than the apostle Paul, and he managed to remain fresh and free and unjaded for his entire life.  How?  I think partly because he made it his conscious goal.  Read I Timothy 1:5 with me:

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,  from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to vain discussions,  desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

What is the goal?

1.  Love from a sincere heart
2.  a good conscience
3.  an unfaked faith

I want to focus on number 2.  The Greek application of a "good" conscience in this exact, particular verse actually means a "happy, pleasant, joyful, agreeable" conscious awareness.

A pleasant outlook.  I think it would be well called a "vital optimism".

Lord knows, the love from a sincere heart and an unfaked faith would preach for fifty years, but for now, I want that vital optimism.  The only way to have it is to believe the gospel.  Any other functional belief system, especially one built on law and self effort, will wear thin after a few years, and you will become jaded and cynical.

(I call it "functional belief system" because there is what we SAY we believe, and then there is how we actually function in our day to day life...)

Two things the gospel addresses - two functional (and false) beliefs:

1.  I must do well.
2.  Others must do well.

Grace reveals both of these false foundations to be the shifting sands they truly are.  As soon as the winds and storms come and beat upon these false beliefs, you will experience chaos in your soul.

No, you must not do well.  You must believe in the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  He did well on your behalf.

No, others must not do well.  You must love others.  Faithfully.  With some degree of continuity.  The only "onus" is on you.  The only one you are ultimately responsible for is you.  What is your responsibility?  Love God, love others. 

Oddly...amazingly..."slap-your-forehead" epiphany - when you love God and love others, you will do well.

To subscribe to those two false yet alluring beliefs (I must do well - others must do well) is to live in a self imposed, artificial holiness, "not understanding what you say, nor the things you affirm".  You will ultimately lose your vital optimism.  You will become a jaded woman, unable to change your mind.  Oh, you will still be able to gather followers, and you just might fake it till the day you go be with Jesus.

More power to you.

But, if you don't mind, I am going to follow Paul's example, not yours.  My top three goals are to love sincerely, to keep that fresh, happy conscious awareness, and to walk every day in unfaked faith in a supernatural God.

Who is with me?

Mid Life Constancy

con·stan·cy . n. 1. Steadfastness, as in purpose or affection; faithfulness. 2. The condition or quality of being constant; changelessness

More than once, my husband and I have shook our heads at someone who recently turned 45 or 50. The whole "mid life crisis" thing. Believe-you-me, it is real. There but for the grace of God, go I! So many people lose their flippin' minds when they hit about 50.

They think they are hearing God, and they aren't. They think they're entitled, and they're not. They think they need to change things up, and they don't. They need to dig in and practice constancy.

The surest predictor of a mid life crisis is the soul-withering boredom that can set in. After all, it isn't how you begin that counts. It isn't how you end. Those two points in the process are exciting. It is what you do with yourself in the character-defining middle that totally dictates your finish line. It is easy to begin a race.

Almost all races are quit in the middle.

More spouses and churches and friendships and families and careers are left in mid-life than eleventy-hundred people can shake their collective sticks at.

I promise you that, smack dab in your middle, there will be a "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". There will be the awareness that nothing is turning out quite like you imagined. You will feel the urge to prove yourself. You will feel the urge to quit. Or to do something silly like move for the sake of moving, leave for the sake of leaving, buy a sports car or motorcycle, build a McMansion you can't afford, start a band, or raise Nubian goats.

Change! Any change feels like it might do the trick - it might make you feel alive again. Let's spiritualize it, while we're at it, and say we "feel led of the Lord".

Friend. Friend, friend. Sit down here beside me and have some Tension Tamer Tea. We are so in this thing together. I feel it, too.

Your enemy (who, by the way, is not me. Ahem.) will always approach you one of two ways. Only one of two.

Your enemy will either attack you, to try to get you to retreat...or he will try to get you to make peace with him. It is the making peace part that worries me. It is very tempting to make peace when you are so exhausted from the war. It is very tempting to change course abruptly, at the next sign of crisis, and then justify your retreat.

You will find yourself making every excuse in the book for why so many of your relationships are a wreck, for why you do what you do, for why your passion is gone. Every excuse is a justification for making peace with the enemy. The children of Israel were faced with this very thing in their "middle"...that place between Egypt and the Promise. (Ex. 34:11-14)

Beware of that sense of mid-life entitlement. When you don't live daily outside your comfort zone, when you make personal peace and affluence your idol, you end up making a covenant of false peace and false provision with an enemy.

You started out serving the Lord with abandon. Let me tell you - the same grace that saved you, is the same grace you absolutely must function in every single day. Notice I said "function". When there is no apprehension and appropriation of grace, there is dysfunction.

You began well. Stay the course. Don't let the heart ache and disappointments and exhaustion of the middle make you dull and cynical and jaded. Tap into the newness of life that is yours in Christ Jesus!

For Heaven's Sake, Keep Reading!

I'm in heavy preparation mode. I will be speaking at the Master Builder's International Conference, held the first few days of August. If you are going to be in the East Tennessee area that week, feel free to come by the conference - there are no fees for it.

As I have been preparing, I've been finding many other little gems, unrelated to the subject which I am so heavily studying. This, in my opinion, is the beauty AND the bane of a teacher's existence.

So many gems, so little time.

Here is a honking gem for you. Oh, the whack-job ideas we tend to acquire regarding "Christian Perfection"! Please, please don't hear me as pointing a finger at "you", calling "you" a whack job. Only whack jobs are that paranoid.

::cough::

I can't be pointing a finger. When I do, there really are three others pointing right back at me. I'm the whack jobbiest of the whack jobs. I'm the Queen of Whacked. I have been so deep into Christian legalism, as to have spent a short season wearing a head covering - almost twenty years ago, so do give me some credit. I was pathetically young.

We read in Hebrews 6 ~

"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection..."

Right away, the untaught or unstable squeak, "You see? You see? We are to maa-choo-ah. (mature...) To mature means...you know. We have to...do stuff. We have to do better. We have to be disciplined. Harrumph."

No, no, no. Well, to be fair, yes AND no. Please, just keep reading. For heaven's sake, just keep reading. First of all, the Greek for "perfection", ("going on to perfection") denotes a person. "A consummate-er. A completer." As denoted by just one inflection of a different syllable, in that Greek word. With that one inflection, it can go from "complete" to "a completer". I know. It makes me crazy too. But it could easily denote perfection as in something or Someone that has already finished the job.

In other words, we are to move on from discussing-to-death the principles of Christ, and move on into Christ Himself. And dear one, He is such perfection! You just gotta love Him.

Grow up past principle, and into a Person.

What is it we are to understand, as we mature into this Person of Christ? Just this: all the truths that the author of Hebrews elaborates on next, in this letter to the Hebrews.

And friend, it is alllll about Jesus.

Feel free to read the whole thing, but allow me, for the sake of time and blog space, to illustrate the importance of the "keep reading" principle, and put two verses side by side for you. Then, draw your own conclusion. The first one is the one we just read in Hebrews 6:1. The second is found in Hebrews 9 ~


"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection..." (Hebrews 6)

Now, for heaven's sake, just keep reading!

"For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." (Hebrews 9)

I keep trying to tell you that your righteousness is a gift. It does not "grow in you", you grow up into the gift. You, beloved, are more complete than you know.

Underlined Bits

From the book by Dr. Stephen Crosby, Silent Killers of Faith - Overcoming Legalism and Performance Based Religion.

"Nothing stirs religious passions to hatred and murder like preaching a message of freedom to people who think they are already free. Performing religionists do not appreciate being told that God is not impressed with Adamic spritual gymnastics (my note: "aka 'spiritual disciplines' - as important as they can be!") done in the name of Jesus. God will not stand and applaud the somersaults of the Adamic nature trying to please Him. Exposing the deluded confidence of the privileged always gets you stoned. People do not use granite anymore - wagging tongues and feet hustling through the back exit door are the stones of choice..."

"It takes no courage or faith to join something that already seems a success. It takes great faith and stamina to stick with something to make it a success."

"A friend of mine once gave me some advice that, at first blush, seemed a little extreme, but I think actually captured a fundamental reality: "If you are not accused of promoting a casual lifestyle, you are probably not preaching apostolic grace." Folks who emphasize the "high standard" are frequently the most difficult to awaken to the depths of Biblical grace. They are the most likely to accuse those who emphasize grace as having a "low standard". "

Truer words are rarely written. I have always said that you have to look at the depth and body of a pastor's preaching over the course of years, not mere months, to get the full balance of the man. Time has more than proven that no one in Harvest Church is in any danger of being led by a pastor who has quote-unquote "low standards". Nor are they in any danger of being led by a pastor who puts confidence in the flesh of Gentile legalism. This is cause for real rejoicing, in my opinion. My husband, though far less than perfect, has the heart of a spiritual father, and of a shepherd who will not ever leave his post.

Granted, sometimes saints don't have the luxury of getting to know a man over the course of years, but this loss just magnifies the inherent value of continuity in relationships! To get to know a pastor's life and body of teaching over the course of years is the worthy goal - building relationship. To not have that is a deficit, indeed. When we don't have those years with which to discern the leader, this is when we defer to the Biblical concept of authority. When we trust God, when our spiritual leaders exhibit good character, we can trust that all these processes are working themselves out for our good. We can stick and stay for the sake of relationships....that is, when we actually understand the grace of God!

More underlined bits from Dr. Crosby's book next week...

My Anchor Holds...Or, A Strong Consolation

My soul needs strong consolation. You?

It is found in only one place: this gospel of grace through faith in Christ. I marvel freshly at how different my whole perspective is, since re-soaking my heart in the doctrines of grace. Truly, God can take a woman who has walked with Him many, many years (37 to be exact) and change her mind. Bless the Lord, Oh my soul!

So I've been thinking lately, as I look for grace-sightings in the Old Covenant, about how the high priest entered once a year into the Holy of Holies, to make his offering in the presence of God. He was "anchored" so to speak, outside the veil, by a rope around his ankle. If he didn't do it all exactly right, he died on the spot, and was pulled out of the presence of God with that rope.

There is no hope to be found in our performance, friends. We will never...ever...get it all right.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

Because of Jesus, I too am anchored. There is a rope tied to me. And when I don't do it all exactly right, if I stray, if I am faithless, I do not die.

Rather, I am pulled right back to God, rather than away from Him. God pulls me to His very heart, and breathes life into my moments and my days. Because the wrath of God was spent at the cross, I am the recipient of a great, great hope. I experience unmerited favor each and every day. God is rich in mercy towards me, and towards my seed, to a thousand generations. This is a generation-spanning rope, and I am tied securely fast, and in this I find not just any consolation...

I find...strong consolation.

My anchor holds within that veil...where God is, in other words. Anchors have to be tied to something, and weighted down by something. I'm tied to Him, Who is Great, Who alone is consolation, and Who is heavy with His own Weighty Glory. And. And. Because I am tied to Him, all that is tied to me is tied to Him.

You are so blessed, if I love you!

::she smiles::

Because if I love you, I carry you in my heart always, I can't let go, and my Father is always wanting to know what and who is on my heart.

By grace, through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, I am pulled by God, to God. My anchor holds me and draws me into His presence. And there, I bring Him my weakness and my need. I bring Him those I love.

I'm not hoping in hope. No...my soul hopes in God alone.

Strong consolation. A sure salvation.

..."by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil..." (Heb. 6)

A Gift

A pastor has to be becoming known for something, when a man sees this, while far away on vacation, and one pastor comes instantly to mind ~





Thank you Scott and Cyndy! The even better gift has been that of your friendship. Sharing a meal together, talking about the things that matter most, as we did last night, is mine and Tim's favorite thing in life.

A toast to the Grace of God, through Christ!

The Liberty of Grace!

We've celebrated the 4th in fine style here...the family gathered 'round hamburgers and hotdogs, puppies barking, pocket parrots screeching, family laughing, and fireworks all over the entire neighborhood...

...and my thoughts are on two law-busting, liberty-loving Biblical passages. I refer to "law-busting" in the sense of the uneducated modern day Pharisee-ism we've all seen from time to time...possibly even seen in ourselves.

I call it "uneducated", because the apostle Peter did so, when he said, "our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures."


I want to examine just two passages, two law-busting points. Just two. The first one being this passage in John 15 (and many thanks to Oscar Frias for preaching this at Harvest last week!):

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."
The untaught (and the unstable, one lends itself to the other and back again) - the uneducated read that passage as proof text of their "Christian Perfection" doctrines. "There, see? If anyone doesn't abide in Christ, they are cast out, thrown into the fire and burned."


And so, these are perennially grumpy about someone else's salvation - not their own, since they themselves are fruit-bearing, virtue laden believers.


Stop.


Context, context, context. So many misunderstandings of Scripture and of the doctrines of grace can be fixed if you simply read everything before, and after, and put what you read in proper context.

Keep reading.


Just...keep...reading.


"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. "


End of story. Jesus said it, that settles it for me. I am in no danger of being hacked off and cast into the fire, not even on my worst day or worst year. No person who is in Christ Jesus is in that sort of danger.


And funny thing...loving others is fruit bearing. Loving. Not leaving.
(::cough:: I just wanted to make sure we all get the vowel straight...L-OH-V-E. Not L-E-A-V-E. Truly, love is not a place to come and go as we please.)


Next law-busting passage is found in Exodus 18, when Jethro advised Moses as to the quality of man to help him lead the people. These men should be:


~Strong men, of personal assets, and bravery


~God fearing


~Truthful


~men who hated covetousness


Wow. The perfect elders, huh? Wait. Keep reading.

Just...keep...reading. Moses found a few good men of sterling character to help him, and praise God for them!


But I ask you - how many of those men chose to meet personally with God, in the very next two chapters? How many of them inherited the promise?


Not. One.


Hear me: not one of them. Your disciplined character, important as it is, is no guarantee of the presence of God in your life. Your disciplined character is not The Blessing. Your inheritance is found in Christ Alone.


Now, lets put these two law-busting passages together in our theology, and make our theology affect our biography:


Any emphasis on character or self discipline that does not put relationships of a primary importance is not the full gospel, and could in fact possibly be legalism.

(note: thanks to Dr. Stephen Crosby for this truth from Exodus 18-20!)
Go. Mend your fences. Love people. Bear the sort of fruit God is actually looking for. Then show God your wonderful self disciplines.


And always...


...keep reading. Just...keep...reading.

The Gospel As A Process

I am in awe of the processes of God. The depth of detail to which He involves Himself in a human life is beyond profound. He is perfectly patient, and even delights in the process, because it all is His artwork anyway. He began the masterpiece, He sustains it, He works on it throughout the course of our collective lifetimes, and He completes it. He knows exactly what He is doing, and where He is going with it.



I, too, am in the school of Christ - learning to become as passionate about the process as Jesus is. Therefore, I can no longer put God in neat theological boxes labeled "judgement" and "mercy". They've kissed each other, you see, they have become intimate together, and now each one defers to the other.



To say that a consequence in a person's life is "too harsh", or "too lenient", proves I am missing the point to begin with. God's discipline is very, very difficult. His grace is very, very, very longsuffering.



First sign of a legalist: most of the actions of others are piously labeled and categorized as "too hard and harsh", or "too soft on sin". All they know are the categories...the letters, words, and phrases of a written code. They are not intimately familiar with the One who nailed those ordinances to His cross, getting rid of them, so that He could begin the process of our being conformed to His image, glory by glory.



Legalists aren't passionate about the process, see. They are passionate about their ordinance-driven perspective.



Well, in the process of dealing with the real souls of real people, not only "can" you have it both ways, you absolutely must have it both ways to be Biblical. You must hold to two seemingly opposite perspectives. When it comes to issues of sin and grace (not law and grace - the Scriptures are very clear that the law was created to make sin exceedingly sinful, and then the law has now become a non issue in the life of the disciple of Christ.)



...a courageous, outspoken hatred of the disfiguring, destroying power of sin and a bold preaching of amazing grace, a righteousness outside ourselves, a gift, not earned by any thing we do. Both fully preached, not as opposite perspectives. But the grace foundation, the Christ-gift is preached first, last, and in between. Then, the cost of discipleship suddenly seems reasonable, and sin is seen as the hideous, relationship destroying thing that it is. No apostle treated one to the exclusion of the other. They dealt with the churches individually, and differently, each one according to its unique season.

These matters of loathing sin and rejoicing in unmerited righteousness were inseparable in the minds of the Church Fathers, and so should hating sin and magnifying grace be inseparable in our mind. Sin is a tragedy. No mere mortal hates sin more than a true pastor and his wife. Thus, no one should preach and teach the reality of the Atoning grace harder than a pastor (and his wife).

The greater the revelation a pastor has into the deceiving power of sin, and the damning power of self righteousness, the harder he will preach the gospel of grace that fully addresses the whole scope of human experience.

For reasons I won't go into in one blog post, mid-life seems to be the time when a person wants to think they have it all figured out, finally, and they set up camp on one side or the other of a seeming contradiction. Then, I guess to finally feel vibrant and obedient, they defend their perspective to the point of absurdity.



As I sit here, facing mid-life myself, bearing many scars from those who have God all figured out, I have refused to fall to either side of the apparent contradiction. I am requiring myself to experience - and teach - the trembling fear of a God who paid a terrible price for sin, who became sin for me, and so God forbid that I should climb in bed with the wretched thing. I am requiring myself to fully bask in the hilarious celebration of the fact that all my sin, and yours, past, present, and future, was paid for, in full, on that cross.

Ah, if only the truth of that could grip more hearts!


As a leader, if I default to evaluating every situation in the light of "too harsh" or "too lenient" that means there is something wrong with my own spiritual foundation, pure and simple.



God's chastening can feel relentlessly harsh. His mercy is ridiculously patient to the point of unfailing. The question, therefore, is not "is this too harsh" or "is this too easy"...that is a false choice. That false dilemma makes it all about sin, and nothing about the grace that much more abounds. The real question is, "What is the heart of God for this person's life? What season are they in, spiritually speaking? Are we in a process of hard discipline, or are we in a process of longsuffering patience? And how, if necessary, can we proceed with patient discipline, encouraging the obedience of faith in the life of this person who, as a brother or sister in Christ, has already been made righteous?"

You ask the relational sorts of questions. You get to the spirit of God's law, utterly disregarding the letter of it, since you don't want to kill the relationship.



And then, you engage the process. Process is all we get to engage in anyhow - increase and salvation and repentance is entirely the Lord's doing.

If you have found church leaders who are passionate about process, and not just pushing for results, you have found a rare treasure. Stick and stay...I promise, that is part of YOUR God-ordained process.

Full Heart, Full House

This is a time in my life when my nest is supposed to be empty - for reasons good and reasons bad. No family is immune to enemy encroachment. No, not one. But here in my home, God prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemy.

One or two family relationships strained for Christ's sake, but never estranged. Bent, never broken. Grace and truth, working in tandem, both oars in the water, as we navigate. Every day, we talk, text, teach....and pray for the wayward ones. Especially the wayward ones.

We love them enough to live the gospel out - never for a moment quiet about the reality of our magnificent obsession, Christ in us, the hope of glory. Backing down from the reality of Who we know Him to be is not something we've ever done, no not for our closest friends or even our children. This gospel of grace is what makes the cost of discipleship so utterly reasonable.

And so, though the nest is supposed to be empty, the nest stays full. By "full", I don't mean one or two extra. Tonight, there are eight here, gathered round the table, playing board games with loud laughter. We didn't plan it...it just always turns out this way.

You see, in a family or in a church, so-called works of righteousness are a moot point without grace. Love is just a concept in an empty room. There is no love without someone there TO love, to be patient with, to believe the best of. I can indeed give my body to be burned, and be missing the whole point. I can talk about Christian perfection all day long, but if I am talking to an empty room...well, I'm not about the business of loving people, am I? I'm about the business of loving the sound of my own voice.

No one is listening.

Without an understanding of the grace of God, all my disciplines and all my efforts become hackneyed, hatchet-faced hard-ball...and no one builds a relationship on that. No one is listening.

And in families (as well as churches) without at least a relationship, there is nothing to work from. There is no point of contact, no position of strength, no conversation to listen to, no place for tough and tender love to be made manifest.

Life in this cottage is so painful, right about now. Life in this cottage is so good, right about now, and I'm not even kidding. "Good" and "painless" are not synonymous. Sort of like how "perfection" and "beauty" are not the same.

He makes everything beautiful in His time. There aren't enough decades available, not in this life, for everything to be made perfect. But I can look around and find evidence of beauty in my life, at all times in all seasons.

Such fullness. Grace truly accomplishes what the law never could.

Doing The Hard Thing - Grace in Action

My pastor-husband and I are in the midst of a process with our oldest son. This process began about a year ago, and is now reaching the point of decision for him. We have been doing the hard thing, in obedience to God's word, and are fully prepared to see it through - following the example given to us by New Testament Scripture.

One year ago, in our flesh, we had moments when we wanted to circumvent the process, and act rashly. What parent of a rebellious son doesn't struggle with that? But when we searched the Scriptures, we realized we were not free to deal with this situation as mere parents - but as church leadership. (These aren't incidental things we are dealing with. We were open with people in this.)

So, contrary to the opinion of someone near us at the time, someone who was demanding that we deal with our son their way, we consulted Scripture. Thankfully, we chose to resist the urge to manipulate and control. We decided that those who preach the gospel should "live of" the gospel, and live of it in ways that go far deeper than an income. We chose, under a "multitude of counsel" from more experienced leaders, a slightly different, a wiser course of action, instead of giving into the demands of the one person.



Our son, we decided, would not be anyone's doctrinal experiment. This would be handled "by the Book".

We rather chose to imitate the heart of God and extend our son the same Biblical process, the same freedom to fail and space for repentance that any member of the church is entitled to, should they exhibit a desire to be helped. All while carefully watching over the flock of God to insure that our son's process could not harm some unsuspecting young person.

Yeah. Try and walk that tightrope. It will humble you to the dust, drive you to your knees, and cost you more than you imagine.

The law is so much easier, friends. The quid-pro-quo way of dealing with others: "you do this, I treat you accordingly"..."here is what you must do"...that mentality requires NO obedience on your part. It is NOT the hard thing to do.

The rigid application of the letter of the law is not true obedience. It is a clever counterfeit. The rigid application of the letter kills. Pure and simple. Anything masquerading as life is carefully scripted and skillfully managed.

(Law must control. Because Life is Messy, you see. People sin and stuff.)

You can't take even the Biblical, New Testament guidelines and "letter-ize" them. You can't picture the process of "if your brother is overtaken in a sin, you who are spiritual, go and restore him in a spirit of meekness" as being a series of steps that might take one week. Quite frankly, restoration can take months (in some cases, years) there is no set time table. No two cases ever look the same. That alone makes a legalist crazy. They are all about being fair, and "what about John?" (John 21:21)



And restoration can look, for a time, like a failure...all the while, it is going to be wildly successful in the end.

So. We have reached the place that - with an eye towards ultimate restoration - we are willing to take the next step in this long process, whatever that step involves, regardless of the emotional cost to us. We are completely confident that every grace has been extended to our son. We are confident that we have closely followed a Biblical pattern, going by the Spirit, not rote, mindless rule of law. We know we have paid an excruciating price to "live of the gospel" in this. Thankfully, this long arduous process has cost no one else. Just us and our family. Dearly. But that is as it should be. I would not trade the lessons I've learned for any price.

The point? Only now, after months, is it time to conclude this process one way or another. (It yet remains to be seen what our son will ultimately decide. This is a communication from the front lines, my friends, not a nice, neat observation from hind-sight.)

Our biggest lesson? True obedience is relational. If you can complete it expeditiously, list in hand, it isn't obedience. If it does not require you to change your mind, it isn't obedience. If it doesn't humble you, and take you completely outside your own version of personal peace, it is not obedience.

Obedience is not a rigid set of steps to be ticked off, all so we can all feel like we have acted courageously. No. True obedience...true courage....it goes the distance with people. It endures a long process with people...human beings who were not even created to conform to a list. Progress is not linear. At times what does not look like progress, is in fact the greatest progress of all.

To act Biblically will cost you. Some who you least expect will accuse you of the fear of man, and of being lax about sin, when in reality the very opposite is the truth. (These are typically the very ones who refuse to go the distance with anyone who significantly displeases them.)

However this comes out, there is still a relationship with our son. It might have to be strained for however long, but not estranged. Because if you don't have at least a relationship, you had nothing to work from in the first place.

And who knows...our son may choose very wisely and very well. Either way, this process is a triumph of grace, and an exercise in actual (versus imagined) obedience to Christ.

I heard my husband telling our other son two or three days ago, "In my life, Jesus is Lord. In this house, His Word guides our every decision."

I can attest to your integrity, Timothy! The fact that this process has taken so long is living proof of the Lordship of Christ in our lives. The other alternative would have been far easier, much less costly....and it would not have been coming under His Costly Lordship at all.

Here is what I know: Law requires no personal Lordship - much like doing the speed limit requires no special, submissive relationship to anyone in law enforcement. But you get to feel like you accomplished something... when you really didn't accomplish anything of eternal value.

Us? We are actually accomplishing things - eternal things.

You won't waste a prayer on us!

Old Testament Grace Sighting!

This year, I am reading through the Old Testament systematically, looking for what I call "grace sightings". Since Christ was the plan of God from before the foundation of the world ("that before the world even existed, I would be holy and without blame before Him, in Christ" as Ephesians says - and as we heard it preached at Harvest Church yesterday) it stands to reason that the Old Testament is full of the gospel of Jesus Christ - or, the gospel of grace.

Grace is, quite simply, unmerited favor. Undeserved blessing. A righteousness completely, utterly outside of ourselves, imputed to us as a gift.

Well, the Old Covenant is so full of grace, that my studies are very slow going. Grace is splattered everywhere, from Genesis to Malachai. I've only made it to the life of Isaac, so far.


And the LORD appeared unto (Isaac) and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.



The untrained student will read the above and conclude that the blessing of God was given to Isaac because his father Abraham kept the law.

As I read the above passage this morning, with the veil of the law removed from my eyes, I could clearly see that God was, in fact, making yet another statement of grace here. Never forget that Abraham's righteousness was "reckoned" to him because of his faith. It was an imputed right-standing with God, based on covenant alone.

Want proof? Here you go: The law had not yet been given.

God said that Abraham obeyed all his laws and statutes 400 years before there was ever a single law or statute.

It is impossible for anyone but God to declare that Abraham had been fully and completely obedient to all obvious and obscure laws that he did not know about...pages of fine print that did not even yet exist. It is particularly impossible for anyone but God to declare that Abraham had been fully obedient, in spite of Abraham's not being fully obedient. How can even God do this, without telling a lie?

By keeping the law on Abraham's behalf, before the law ever came into being. By planning to take Abraham's punishment - being Abraham's substitution.

Yeah. Go ahead. Wrap your mind around it, if you can.

After prayerfully writing my own commentary on this passage, I then (and only then) consulted other commentaries. And yes, many of those dead guys agree with me.

Calvin's commentary:

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice. Moses does not mean that Abraham’s obedience was the reason why the promise of God was confirmed and ratified to him; but from what has been said before, (#Ge 22:18), where we have a similar expression, we learn, that what God freely bestows upon the faithful is sometimes, beyond their desert, ascribed to themselves; that they, knowing their intention to be approved by the Lord, may the more ardently addict and devote themselves entirely to his service: so he now commends the obedience of Abraham, in order that Isaac may be stimulated to an imitation of his example."
Poole's commentary:
Here was a covenant made between God and Abraham; and as, if Abraham had broken the condition of walking before God required on his part, God had been discharged from the promise made on his part; so contrarily, because Abraham performed his condition, God engageth himself to perform his promise to him, and to his seed. But as that promise and covenant was made by God of mere grace, as is evident and confessed; so the mercies promised and performed to him and his are so great and vast, that it is an idle thing to think they could be merited by so mean a compensation as Abraham’s obedience, which was a debt that he owed to God, had there been no such covenant or promise made by God, and which also was an effect of God’s graces to him and in him.
Trapp:

Because that Abraham.] His obedience was universal to all the wills of God; and is here alleged, not as the meritorious cause, but as an antecedent, of the blessing. Our good works do truly please God in Christ, and move him, after a sort, to do us good; yet not as merits, but as certain effects of Christ’s merits alone, and such as of his merit. {a}
Good ol' Matthew Henry:


The obedience of Abraham to the Divine command, was evidence of that faith, whereby, as a sinner, he was justified before God, and the effect of that love whereby true faith works. God testifies that he approved this obedience, to encourage others, especially Isaac.

If you have hung in there this far, you are a student.

It is sad to hear a believer say, "I try to keep the law, because I want the blessings that come with keeping the law." This is a sad statement to hear, because it reveals how precious little foundation has been laid in the life of that believer. Where are the true apostles and pastors who are courageous enough to preach the gospel?

It is much easier to comply with the merit-mongers. But once your eyes are enlightened, if one time revelation hits you, you can no longer give lollipops to law lovers. When you see Christ in all His glory, you become a card-carrying Jesus Freak, with "Sola Gracia" emblazoned on your chest. You cannot pretend that anyone can attain to a righteousness that is of their self-will.

You can't even pretend it with your best friend.

"I want to be a friend of God."

The Flesh Lives...

"Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac..."

Have you ever wondered why it is so easy to confuse flesh with Spirit? Have you ever wondered why some people who are law-based, who don't understand the gospel of grace can seem so "together"? (Just don't look far past the surface...rarely are they truly whole people.) ...Or why some who don't even know Christ at all can be so incredibly successful?

Because God heard the cries of Abraham. Ishmael lives, friends, and he bears strong resemblance to Blessing.

If you are placing confidence in your flesh, you can look a lot like a Promise Child. You are receiving a limited blessing. You might "multiply" - even exceedingly. You might bear fruit. Ishmael begets Ishmael begets Ishmael. Flesh begets flesh. But it cannot beget Promise. Your level of performance can build the highest tower and birth a great nation, but it cannot please God, and it cannot have healthy relationships.

"In Isaac shall thy seed be called."

"For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath..."

There will be no flesh able to glory before God. "Flesh" is defined as whatever it is we do to get our needs met, or obtain favor, other than the sacrifice of Jesus Christ - and typically, somehow, some way, we default to the works of our flesh at the expense of another person.

(Anti-Christ simply means "instead of " Christ. Since Christ is the only way, the only truth and the only door, anything you depend on "in addition" to Him is actually instead of Him.)

There is an obvious way Ishmael differs from Isaac: relationships. Ishmael regards not a parent, a spouse, children, friends, or any authority, beyond how they benefit him. Even if all Ishmael gains from you is a sense of his own importance, if you ever stop allowing Ishmael to feel superior, he will turn on you. He's a wild ass of a man (or woman).

Here's the part that makes my heart fear: "And he (Ishmael) will be a wild ass of a man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him..." Gen. 16

Ishmael is a victim-iser (his hand will be against every man), yet imagines himself victimised (every man's hand will be against him). But the fact is, Ishmael simply cannot enjoy healthy relationships for very long, because if you let him get close, he will find something wrong with you. His hand will end up "against" you, and he will not back down or make things right. He is wild, and doesn't form meaningful ties. There is no continuity or faithfulness in Ishmael.

Interestingly, Ishmael can fake relationship for awhile, because "he dwells among his brothers" (same verse, Genesis 16), but if you investigate, you'll find out that nearly all his relationships are shallow and pragmatic. Ishmael makes "new friends", only to use them in an attempt to provoke old friends to jealousy. He flaunts people to impress other people, and needs desperately to be admired. When Ishmael trots you out in front of others, calling you his friend, you better be ready to pick up on his cues. You better perform.

Meanwhile, Isaac enjoys depth of friendship and relationship as a gift of grace. He dwells in peace, even among those who try to harm him. He is close to his mother, (as flawed as she might be), respects his father, (old as he is), and adores his wife. And everyone else is devoted to Isaac in return. Isaac is rich in all ways money can buy - and even richer in all the ways money cannot buy.

Yet he looks so much like Ishmael.

Examine yourselves, friends, to see if you be in the faith. Look for signs of you being in the true lineage of Abraham; first, you put no confidence in your flesh...and second, your great, great love for the brethren.

Your works can be blessed to the point they resemble faith, even when they have nothing to do with faith...because God heard the prayers of his friend Abraham.

"Consider Abraham..." a Grace Sighting!

I began a project this year - to read through the Old Testament, looking for Grace Sightings! Since Jesus Christ was the plan of God from before the foundation of the world, it stands to reason that the Old Covenant must be replete with shadows and glimpses and outright sightings of grace-gospel.

Oh, it is. I've always known this, on a basic level. I've been well taught in the types and shadows found in the laws and feasts. But I began to think there had to be so much more.

Oh, there is. So much so, in fact, I often wonder if I have not bitten off far more than I can chew. The law was set in place to magnify grace. Grace was in place before the law. The gospel of grace is hinted at...oh, long about Genesis 1 and 2. God gives dominion to human beings He knows are going to blow it, and blow it almost instantly. He blesses them...

::slapping myself::

But I really want to talk about Abraham. After all this time, inching along, looking for glimpses of the grace message hiding behind every Old Testament olive branch, shimmering through every rainbow, warning me about my self effort through a tower (self effort results in relational disconnect) - after all this time, I'm not even half way through Genesis.

I've come up with quite a few sightings - and then I come to father Abraham. Here, grace is more than glimpsed. God displays it openly.

Yet people read of Abraham, and still come away with whack-job notions about Christian perfection. And no wonder...a mere human being must approach God's revelation of Himself with great humility, knowing that he has to have supernatural revelation, or he will get the wrong idea.

I will say this - revelation and patient scholarship are required to understand the picture of grace painted in the Old Covenant well enough to teach it. If you understood it quickly, if you were taught this stuff piecemeal, here a little and there a little, you didn't understand it well.

Do you need to understand the gospel intricately to be saved? Not at all. Believe in your heart the Lord Jesus, and confess with your mouth, and you'll be saved. You don't have to have a grasp on all the shadows of grace found in the Old Covenant to be saved.
I will say this too - it is far better to receive grace by faith first. Then, you seek to understand Old Covenant in the light of grace....veil removed. Not the other way around. You do not first put your trust in the law, and then look for the grace of God hidden within its types and shadows. You usually won't find it. That darn veil.

Genesis 17:1 - "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."

At first glance, every single one of us reads this and comes away with the idea that we, too, have to modify our behavior and improve ourselves.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. As I began to study, in the light of the gospel of grace, trusting that Jesus Christ was the plan of God from before the foundation of the world, believing that "before Abraham was, I AM", I began to see what was hidden from me before.

God was not giving Abram a moral imperative here! He was, in fact, giving Abram an impartation of divine grace. God said to Abram, in effect, "I am God all by Myself, needing nothing. Therefore, walk before me in that state of completeness."

"Be thou" perfect - much like "be thou" made whole.

Circumcision was a token of the covenant of grace being made with Abram (verse 11 of chapter 17). Circumcision was not itself the covenant. Works are incompatible with faith, they are not a condition for the gift of righteousness which is by faith. Rather, they are a token of a far greater reality which is beyond any one's ability to merit.

Then, and only then, after more prayer and thought and study of the original Hebrew wording, I checked out the commentaries.

Clarke's commentary on Genesis 17: "Ten thousand quibbles on insulated texts can never lessen, much less destroy, the merit and efficacy of the Great Atonement!"

Here is some language study: "Be thou perfect" in Hebrew (vowels added to make it easier on us Gentiles) - "Vehyeh thamim", which properly translated is "and thou shalt be perfection."

"I am God Almighty, Abram. Take the next step believing Me, and you will be made perfect. By Me. All by Myself. I will make you complete. Lacking nothing."

Another commentary: "God can and must do everything. No movements or workings of nature are of avail; everything that is for God must be affected by His mighty power. Now if we walk before Him in this sense, we shall be perfect. We shall come into the good of His covenant, and obtain spiritual promotion, and we shall be prepared to accept circumcision; we shall (then) have no confidence in the flesh."

Circumcision was not a token of stout moral willpower. Just the opposite! It was a type and shadow of you and I having no confidence in our own ability. Please, please see circumcision in the light of Biblical context!

Context, context! What had just happened?

In the previous chapter, Abram had just used his male "organ" to obtain The Blessing through his own efforts. Result: Ishmael.

How vivid of our God to make His covenant of grace with Abram, and to decree that the token of this covenant be that the very part of his flesh he used to obtain God's blessing, be the very part that gets....ah, "incapacitated".

We are Abraham's seed truly, who put no confidence in the flesh, to keep the law. Our flesh is "cut off". Just as father Abraham's was. Our circumcision is of the heart - our seat of ambition and motive. In our very heart of hearts, we acknowlege our utter ineptitude to improve ourselves, or to "make of ourselves" anything - all we have, in terms of salvation, education, income, ability, all of it is grace.

God alone is "Maker". It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.

Friends, there is no more a blessing for keeping the law. No one was ever blessed for keeping it. Rather, they came under the curse that comes with not keeping it. In fact, it is the same curse in force to this day, for all who put themselves under the law, to attempt to obtain any level of righteousness by self improvement.

Consider Abraham.

Read your Old Testament without the veil on your head.

Renewed, Rebuilt, Restored, REDEEMED

Someone recently asked me what I meant when I said that once I admitted that the foundations of my Christian life needed rebuilt, God met me.

I am so glad you asked. Thank you!

I've had a relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, since I was six years old. This relationship has been very real, touching every part of my being, spirit, mind, and body. Early on, however, I slipped into performing my way into God's favor - and was unfortunately good at it. My own strength and effort carried me for too many years.

Occasional fasting, daily prayer, Bible reading, Bible teaching, raising children, home educating them, exercise, careful diet, hours of study across wide disciplines, being a loving, supportive wife, keeping a clean home, and clean living, plus discipling others and impacting their lives for Christ, it all came easily to me, so long as I worked very hard. (Can you hear the contradiction yet?)

I thought I understood the grace of God, after all, I've been a Christian leader for years.

Ah, "I was brought low, and He helped me..."

All it took was a little perceived failure, a dash of mid life hormones, plus the steady influence of a few grumpy Christians living under the law, and I began to unravel, sinking into a depression that I have only described in detail to a very few people. I "should" have seen a doctor. If I ever see that dark place again, I will.

My pastor-husband began revisiting the doctrines of grace, and I followed suit. The only explanation for what happened next is that the veil fell from my face. I, with unveiled face, began to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and began to encounter grace.

Encounter.

It is precisely at the point of encounter, where my legalist friends (and I) had it all wrong. We understood grace too quickly, early in our Christian experience, and thus failed to understand well at all. No one lingered. No one was raw and needy anymore, once they were converted. Oh, we had hard times - very, very hard times - and we sacrificed and worked our way out of them, giving God the glory all the way.

The only difference today between them and I, is that I admitted my ineptitude, and meant it. I came crestfallen to the cross, admitting that the very foundations of my spiritual life needed to be rebuilt on the true, full gospel of grace. I changed my mind - which is to say, I repented of relying on my own abilities.

A walk with God has actually not as much to do with behavior modification, self-conscious self discipline, or even morality. It has more to do with the beauty of grace. Grace cannot be known in concept, it must always be encountered in a person.

I began to encounter Christ in the Pauline gospel in a fresh way. To this day, I'm blessedly ruined. Forever undone. Gloriously insufficient in myself to please God - thankfully, He is eternally pleased with Christ Alone, and I am In Christ.

My friend, it is not by works of righteousness (which I have done...oh, have I ever done them!) but according to His mercy He saved me. It is by grace I am saved, and in the same way I received Christ, I am expected to walk in Him.

My days and years of confidence in the flesh are gone. The paradoxical thing is that I am doing more, setting higher goals, attaining to more than before. Because it would be perfectly okay if I did nothing at all.

The thing that is different today, is that this vessel, now that it has been broken at the feet of Jesus, is releasing the perfume that is in it...also Jesus. For from Him and to Him and through Him are all things. My heart is tender to the breaking point, and in my weakness, He is made so strong.

My righteousness is reckoned to me. It is a gift.

Bless His name!

The Missing Element...

Ever wonder what some homes are missing?

I've spent hours in others homes, large and small, rich and poor. One of the loveliest afternoons I spent was with a friend, many years ago, who had five children, two bedrooms, and no kitchen cabinets, only rough-hewn shelving. She made me potato soup, and I drank ice water, and we thoroughly enjoyed one another's company, and her home was clean and spare and happy.

Another home lingers sweetly in my memory - that of a doctor friend who lives south of Tennessee. This home is large with every imaginable amenity...but manages not to condescend. I am sure the unpretentious, relaxed atmosphere is due to a mix of philosophy and design.

Philosophy, in that the lifestyle portrayed by the home and in the home was real.

The sewing nook on the stair landing was obviously in use. The library was well loved and even more well read. The wood fired pizza oven, above the stone fireplace, had seen many meals.

Design, in that the elements of the house were collected over time. This family had endured seasons of lack and times of plenty, and all of this living was well represented throughout the home itself. No attempt was made to erase the signs of those years when needing to sew and grow a garden and utilize second hand furniture was necessary to make ends meet.

Necessity is always the mother of invention. Don't erase signs of necessity! Some of the most beautiful design elements in use today, are simply a result of a previous generation's frugal economy. This doctor's home, south of here, was not ashamed of a worn chair here or there.

I've been in small and large homes, where I get the distinct impression I am being either deceived or condescended to. Few situations are sadder or more unnecessary than a new McMansion, either partially empty, or stocked with items mostly purchased within the last five years, and meant to portray a certain look, or worse, a faux lifestyle. These homes are empty of soul. Or, what of the small home of modest means filled with expensive gadgets and rent-a-room furniture? Same empty result: a home with no soul. No seasons of life.

The missing element? Grace.

More than a doctrine to be confined within church walls, grace is a designer's or architect's or artist's dream. A home is meant to be a grace-note...a place where things worn and flawed and people worn and flawed are nevertheless loved. Anything or anyone we truly love is made beautiful in our eyes, and others usually agree. A home is meant to be a place where, yes, beauty is celebrated, but never at the expense of honesty and faithfulness to our individual callings and stories. Never at the expense of true hospitality.

True hospitality is simply a sharing of who I actually am, with those God brings into my life. I have to live the life first....only then can I share it authentically, and for a lifetime.

May my home, and yours, be an actual haven. Places of manifold graces.

Tisn't New

This emphasis on New Covenant isn't new at all. The emphasis upon grace-through-faith (as opposed to moral duty or improvement) isn't strange and it isn't new. If it bothers you...if you wonder at it...or (heaven help us, I shudder at this) if you think it is in error...all I can say is...

...historically speaking, where have you been? There is a such thing as "the cult of the contemporary". Are you in that cult? Do you read? Or, if you read classically, do you read only the writings of dead "merit mongers"? That is most unwise. Have you read the New Testament without the veil on your head? Have you read church history?


“The doctrine of the atonement is very simple. It just consists in the substitution of Christ in the place of the sinner; Christ being treated as if he were the sinner and then the transgressor being treated as if he were the righteous one. It is a change of persons; Christ becomes the sinner; He stands in the sinner’s place…the sinner becomes righteous; he stands in Christ’s place…and is numbered with the righteous ones. Christ has no sin of His own, but he takes human guilt and is punished for human folly. We have no righteousness of our own, but we take the Divine righteousness; we are rewarded for it and stand accepted before God as though that righteousness had been worked out by ourselves.”

Preached long ago by Charles Spurgeon, The King’s Highway

When a woman or man, no matter their age, no matter how far from God they are, suddenly sees the atonement for what it is for the first time...and believes this scandalous gospel...they are saved. They can then, and only then, begin to grow up into the righteousness that has been purchased for them, and imputed to them.

Ah, but how can they hear, without a preacher? How will they hear if confused Christians keep on questioning the validity of this simple gospel?

The enemy's plan is old, but clever. Divide, and conquer. Divide, and thus keep as many as possible from being able to clearly hear this truth.