Thursday, March 25, 2010

Praising God and Pulling Weeds!

"Whatever your hand finds to do, verily, do it with all your might" (Ecclesiastes 9:10a)
"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men" (Colossians 3:23)

I think we all have to agree from the outset, beloved, that for most of us the prospect of pulling weeds simply does not conjure up the thought of much opportunity to praise God! Yet I found myself in that very situation this morning as I was removing winter weeds, first from the flower bed out by the mailbox and then in the azalea bed alongside the garage. As I felt the cool dark soil staining my fingers and the pesky roots of those various weeds reluctantly loosing their grip on the soil, I realized that I was actually enjoying myself. Oh, to be sure, there was the satisfaction of seeing the flower beds clean and neat after a winter's worth of weed invasion, but that wasn't really the reason for my satisfaction and my spirit of rejoicing. It was actually the work itself, the joy of doing "what my hands had found to do"! And in that same spirit I found the pleasure of communion with God - not in a pulpit in a house of worship where I am accustomed to standing, but rather right there in the rich dark dirt of God's creation. The fact that I was on my knees the whole time certainly did not hurt that spirit of worship or communion either!

If we as Christians can know such joy and satisfaction when we are enabled to commune with God by putting our hands in the soil, just imagine the possibilities when "whatever your hand finds to do" involves the life of another human being. Imagine the spirit of rejoicing that you will experience if you reach out in the love of Christ and share the good news of His sacrifice with a neighbor or friend or co-worker. Imagine what worship you will have in store each time you are willing to leave your path of travel to unselfishly and with a servant's heart meet the need of someone whom the Spirit of God has brought across that path you are walking. One of the most well-known parables of Jesus involved soil, beloved - the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9). You see, each time that we reach into the life of another person in the name of Jesus Christ, we are "sowing" the seed of the gospel. We are putting our hands into the soil of another person's life and planting seed that by God's grace will produce an abundant harvest unto eternal life. Worship just does not get any sweeter than that!

Happy gardening!

Ron

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Securing Us...His Intent!

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6)

One more time to the well, beloved, as we drink deeply from a third and final installment in our study of this glorious verse of Scripture! We have already discovered together that saving us was God's idea and also that sanctifying us was His inspiration. But what we will learn now will wrap up this verse into a blessed triad of God's promises to us as believers.

Pay very close attention in this verse of Scripture to the qualifying phrase "until the day of Christ Jesus." Those three wonderful words - "until the day" - speak directly to the issue of our security in the hand of the Master Artist who Himself began a glorious work of grace in us and who has ever since been applying great brushstrokes of grace upon the canvas of our lives. What this term tells us, beloved, is that God will never "begin" a work in us and then go off and leave it unfinished as He attends to something or someone else. Not at all! God as Master Artist will not be satisfied until each canvas of human life stands complete in His presence for Him to enjoy for all eternity.

Because God will continue His great work in our personal lives "until the day of Christ Jesus," you and I are eternally secure in His love. Do you recall what the Spirit of God inspired the Apostle Paul to write to the saints in Rome concerning this very subject?

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, or any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39)

Thus, God is going to keep right on shaping and molding our lives until that very moment when Jesus returns and ushers us into the Father's presence. His work of saving and sanctifying and securing us will go on until we are with Him in glory. No wonder, then, that we will praise Him throughout eternity!

Ron

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Sanctifying Us...God's Inspiration!

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6)

Welcome back to the 2nd installment of a close look at one of the most beautiful promises of God in all of Scripture, beloved! Last week we discovered that saving us by grace was God's idea from the beginning, that He initiated that process out of His love for us. But as we shall see here, saving us was just the beginning!

The word "sanctify" has been broadly misunderstood and, thus, misapplied by many people. The Greek verb hagiazo, which does not appear in this verse of Scripture, means literally to "set apart" in the sense of being made God's own holy possession. Many years ago I had the chance to visit occasionally the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. What a pleasure to wander through that huge gallery and to gaze upon some of the world's finest works of art! Some of those paintings are so moving as to be "inspirational" in their effect upon the observer. I am privileged to have one of my sister's oil paintings on display in our home and, every time I see it, I am touched by its beauty and the artful skill behind it.

What we often fail to understand as Christians is that God's desire for us is not only that we enjoy eternity with Him "by and by," but that in the here and now we reflect His character as the One who has saved us by His grace. If you will, God wants us to be "on display" before a watching world much like those old masters are on display in the National Gallery of Art. The touch of His hand upon our lives in the natural course of daily living ought to be impacting upon men and women and boys and girls for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. People ought to be able to see us live and say, "Now there goes one of God's masterpieces!"

So intent is God upon the accomplishment of this goal, beloved, that Paul writes that He will certainly "perfect" His work to the very end. The Greek verb epiteleo, and this one does appear in this verse, means quite literally "complete fully" or "carry through to its final conclusion." This same apostle wrote to the believers in Rome and declared that God's desire is that we each be "conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29) as we are on display before a world that is lost in sin. And that is precisely what being "sanctified" means - that progressive work by which God molds and shapes us into the very image of the Lord Jesus Christ for all to see. That is why He stays at the easel and continually applies the brush strokes of His grace upon the canvas of our lives. How is the Master's work progressing in your life, beloved?

Ron

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Saving Us...God's Idea!

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6)

Have you ever had a really good idea, beloved, one that you felt so good about that you wanted to share it with anyone and everyone? There's really no feeling in the world quite like hearing someone say of something we've suggested, "Now that is a really good idea!"

Here in what is certainly one of the most glorious statements ever written by the Apostle Paul, we find him declaring to his readers that God was the originator of a wonderful idea. Pay close attention to the descriptive phrase "He who began a good work in you." Were you aware, beloved, that it was totally and completely God's idea to save you? It's true! The Apostle John reminds us in no uncertain terms about just "who loved whom first" and "who started what with whom":

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins"
(1 John 4:10)


God had a wonderful idea, beloved! He chose to love us, we who are inherently "unlovable" because of the stain of our sins. And He chose to love us so much that He was even willing to buy us back from the slave-market of sin and set us free from its bondage forever. So in the person of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice of Himself on the cross of Calvary, God made it possible for all of us to be saved by His grace. What a wonderful idea!

Have you yet responded to what God has done for you in Christ, beloved? Have you yet realized how much He loves you and wants to set you free from the guilt and shame and penalty of your sins? You see, God had a wonderful idea! And because He did, you and I can become a part of His family forever. Why not bow your head right now and just say to Him, "Dear God, what a wonderful thing you have done by choosing to save me from my sins. I freely accept your gift of eternal life by receiving Jesus Christ into my heart as my personal Savior."

And, by the way, beloved, once your personal relationship with God has been established by your turning to Christ as Savior and Lord, why not continue to trust Him, you know, in all the everyday matters of life? It just so happens that whatever God says and does is "a good idea"! His plan and purpose for us have been written down in His Word and we each need to yield ourselves fully to its authority over our lives. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to direct word and thought and deed moment by moment so that we bring our lives into line with the standard of God for us. You will never be sorry that you did!

Ron