Category: Grace

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Focal Passage: I Corinthians 13:1-13

I sang a duet this week with Pop/Soul recording star Tina Turner. She didn’t know it, but I certainly did. Listening to Sirius Radio’s Classic Hits station in my car this week behind the protection of my tinted windows, Tina and I belted out her soulful and defiant rendition of What’s Love Got to Do with It? Personally, I think I nailed it!

While my voice probably added little value to the 1980s hit, Tina’s husky voice gave the song a raw, emotional edge that made it feel lived in rather than just performed. What’s Love Got to Do with It? became Tina’s “anthem of independence,” a song that questioned love’s place in relationships while asserting her own strength.

What’s love got to do with it?

You may find it hard to believe, but that’s essentially the question Paul asked the people in the church at Corinth over 2,000 years ago. Let’s jump back in time for a bit.

Paul established the church in Corinth during his second missionary journey around 50 AD. While the church was doing some good things, it also struggled to stay grounded in Christ as Paul taught them. Some of the believers had a tendency to drift back into their old way of life, indulging in sexual immorality or blending aspects of their former pagan worship into their new beliefs.

Others, gifted by God for ministry in various ways, tended to believe their gifts were of greater value than others and considered themselves better than their fellow church members. Evidently, it led to some nasty arguments among them and more than a little name calling.

When the situation got bad enough, some folks in the Corinthian church, trying to do things the right way, boarded a boat and crossed the Aegean Sea from the port of Cenchreae (near Corinth) to Ephesus, a journey of about 200 nautical miles. They came to Paul, sharing what was happening back home and seeking his counsel.

While they struggled with a great many things, the story of the Christians in Corinth was a sad tale of dissension and disunity. All the infighting within the church damaged their witness for Christ. As a result, Paul sat down and wrote a corrective letter to his “brothers and sisters,” urging them to “end the divisions among you” and to be “perfectly united in mind and thought.” (I Corinthians 1)

At one point Paul addressed the issue of their disunity by explaining that God grants everyone abilities and spiritual gifts to be used to build up each other and the church as they work together to advance the cause of Christ. One gift is not greater than the other, making each person valuable to God’s kingdom.

Then, Paul shows them “the most excellent way” to end their divisiveness. As he did so, he wrote perhaps one of the New Testament’s most memorable passages: I Corinthians 13. Take a look.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (I Corinthians 13:1-8a)

It’s difficult to read these verses, as I often do, and not hear wedding bells. In fact, my wife and I chose these verses to be read at our wedding 50 years ago. While they fit quite well shoehorned into a marriage ceremony, it’s not what Paul had in mind when he penned them.

Paul needed the believers in Corinth to start loving each other as Christ loved them. To express love for each other and for the lost as a priority over everything else. Love, Paul believed, is the litmus test of our life in Christ, proving that we are his.

It wasn’t a thought unique to the apostle. Jesus taught his disciples the same thing just prior to his death on the cross.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this shall all me know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

The love both Jesus and Paul spoke about is selfless love as defined in the Greek word agape. It was modeled by Christ throughout his life and upon his death on the cross for our sins. Self-giving. Sacrificial. Always seeking good for others even when they don’t deserve it.

Given the attitudes of many in the Corinthian church, Paul described not what love is, but how love acts—less descriptive adjective and more active verb. If our love fails to positively engage in the joy and hurt of others, if love fails to extend God’s grace , we accomplish nothing. We gain nothing.

That sounds harsh. There is a Latin phrase—sine qua non—that means essentially, “if you don’t have this, you don’t have anything.” Without love, the rest comes off no better than Professor Harold Hill’s River City Marching Band, a lot of notes, but very little music. Whatever we tried to accomplish gains nothing.

When considered in the context of Paul’s instruction to the Corinthian church, love expressed in patience is our choice to love someone not because of who they are, but in spite of who they are, in spite of what they’ve done to you. It is love that refuses to be offended and chooses again to see potential in others. Patient love does not demand instant understanding, but continues to disciple and teach.

A love expressed in kindness love isn’t just being nice. In the original Greek, the word for kind carries a sense of active gentleness that treats others with worth and dignity. It builds up others rather than tears down. It notices need and acts upon it. It is consistent in deeds, words and tone. It is love with hands and feet…and a gentle voice.

Paul also cites a litany of things love is not. He’s speaking directly to the Corinthians for whom love was, as Tina sang, a “second-hand emotion” forgotten amid the disharmony.

The attitudes of some within the church were envious, boastful, rude, self-seeking and angry toward others they deemed unworthy of their time and help. They diminished their giftedness by their lack of genuine love toward others. These attitudes were tearing apart the church and proving to be an ineffective witness.

“Love never fails,” Paul said. It always wraps its arms around the hurting. Love gives the benefit of the doubt by looking for the good in others. It clings to hope when change, healing or reconciliation is needed. It perseveres through the toughest of times, never giving up on God. Never giving up on others.

It must have hurt the heart of God for the Corinthian church to fall into such a destructive pattern of life. When you read through Paul’s letter, it’s not hard to imagine the hateful exchange of words among the believers who felt justified in their arrogance, believing themselves to be better, more faithful followers of Christ than others.

As I’m imagining their lack of love, I’m reminded of my own failure to extend love and grace to others in times they needed it most. I suspect you’re no different. We must do better.

Though I sometimes fail in that regard, I cringe when professing Christians post angry tirades on social media toward non-believers or even other professing Christians who hold differing views on the social, political or even spiritual topic of the day. I groan at the damage done to the cause of Christ when professing Christians in high political or social positions question with hateful words the faith of others who stand against their programs and policies.

Not everyone who loves is Christian, but every Christian should love always– because God first loved us.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (I John 4:7-8)

Therein lies the challenge for our faith in our world today. To set aside the divisions and the disunity among us and love nonetheless. To pray sincerely for a change of heart for those who are so hurt they have to hate. Let love start with me. Let it start with you. As we grow in love, maybe we can love others into loving others.

Paul ends his discussion on the subject of love with this:

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (I Corinthians 13:13)

You see, as critical as faith and hope are to our present days, love supersedes them both. For one day, when we see Christ face to face, faith and hope will no longer be necessary.

Faith is that conviction that anchors us in Christ. Yet, one day in God’s kingdom, faith will give way to sight. We won’t need faith once we see him face to face. Hope, our confident expectation of God’s eternal promises, sustains us through this life. Once we have received what we long for in Christ, hope has served it’s purpose

Love never ceases. Love is not something God gives, it is who he is. In Christ, love will never fail or be replaced in heaven, it will only be perfected. Because love embodies the character of God as shown in Christ, it is our highest expression of spiritual maturity and the truest mark of any disciple.

That’s what Paul told the Corinthian church. It’s what he is telling us today. Measure your spiritual life not by the knowledge you attain, not by your giftedness and not the strength of your faith or the depth of your hope. Love is the proof of a life lived for Christ.

So, what’s love got to do with it?

Simply everything.

Thinking Points

In what ways am I tempted to value certain gifts, accomplishments, knowledge or opinions more than love?

When I am confronted with people who think, believe or act differently than I do, do I lean on active patience and kindness or do I fall back on something else?

Since love is eternal, how should that reshape the way I prioritize my relationships today?

React to this statement. Not everyone who loves is Christian, but every Christian should love? What does it say about our priorities?

Where might God be calling me to put love’s hands and feet into action this week?

What Will You Ask For?

Focal Passage: I Kings 3:5-12

I was in elementary school the first time I heard about King Midas. Mrs. Wallace, my third-grade teacher, introduced this piece of classical Greek literature to her class of farm kids.

If you recall the story, after extending kindness to one of Dionysus’ servants, the Greek god granted King Midas one wish.

Midas asked that everything he touched would turn to gold. It was a great wish as long as he touched a pile of stones or a palace wall. It was less desirable when he touched a rose or the turkey leg on his plate. It became a horrible curse when his daughter rushed to him in excitement and wrapped him in a hug. Just like the stones and the turkey leg, she, too, turned to gold.

While the story turned out okay in the end, Mrs. Wallace reminded us of the dangers of greed and pride. Then, as if we might find someone willing to grant us anything we wished, she told us to be careful what we ask for. She said it with such mystery in her voice, I don’t think I asked a question of any kind for the rest of that semester.

Midas wasn’t the only one to be granted a wish. It turns out that King Solomon faced a similar decision one night when God, the creator of the universe, came to him in a dream.

King Solomon spent the day offering sacrifices and incense in worship to God. In his exhaustion, he laid down to sleep. At some point in the night God spoke to him in a dream and asked that important question.

Look at I Kings 3:5.

Ask for whatever you want me to give you.

Solomon began with his heart in the right place. He responded to the blank check God offered to write by acknowledging that God had already done so much. He thought of God’s faithfulness and his promises to his father David. He thought about the joy of being David’s son and watching him serve as King of Israel.

Then Solomon got more personal with is gratitude that God had worked through circumstances to make Solomon king.

There is something innocent and intentional in his gratitude to God. Solomon recognizes he is where he is because God is faithful. That God, in his mercy and grace, did as he promised to David and to his people. By acknowledging God’s grace, Solomon expresses what is in his heart. Notice, though, that the grace Solomon senses is not the common grace God extends to all his creation. It is deeply personal.

Solomon, born to David and Bathsheba, was a child born of adultery, abuse of power and murder. Knowing how his life started, Solomon understands that his elevation as king is a clear act of God’s mercy and grace. Solomon knows where he is and who he is only because of God’s grace.

That’s when Solomon proved himself a wiser king than Midas. Look at I Kings 3:7-9. His thoughts express his gratitude.

Now, O Lord, my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.

Solomon was given an opportunity of a lifetime. Knowing it was within God’s power to grant, Solomon could go full bore Midas, asking that anything he touched might turn to gold. He could ask for immortality. He could ask for great victories in every battle, building a reputation to be feared and a powerful empire that no one could conquer.

Instead, in a moment of clarity and self-awareness, Solomon shared his vulnerability. He humbled himself before God, acknowledging that the situation overwhelmed him. The burden of leading God’s people weighed heavy on his shoulders and his spirit. Solomon realized his youth and inexperience could be a problem. Setting aside the pride that often comes with kingship, he understood his need for guidance as he governed God’s people.

At that point Solomon gets around to answering God’s question.

So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours? (I Kings 3:9)

Solomon prays for wisdom and a listening heart. There isn’t a modicum of selfishness in the request. It’s not wisdom for wisdom’s sake. It’s not that he wants to be known as a wise king. His concern is for those he rules. That his own actions would reflect God’s will for Solomon and for God’s people.

When Solomon asks God for a discerning heart, he is asking for the ability to distinguish between good and evil, truth and error. To see what is helpful and not harmful. His request involves deep insight, moral sensitivity and spiritual wisdom. Rather than just knowing stuff, Solomon desires wisdom that transcends knowledge.

It’s the kind of wisdom that comes from God alone into a heart that is grateful, humble and focused on doing the will of God as he leads.

I studied this story recently as I prepared to teach my Bible Study class at South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena. Something about the passage caused it to keep resurfacing in my thoughts as if there might be something more I needed to learn. So, I spent some time looking again at the story.

The first thing that struck me this time was that God initiated the conversation during Solomon’s dream. Solomon had yet to voice his insecurities. Unsure if he had the ability to lead God’s people effectively, Solomon surely fretted over every decision. Doubting himself. Second guessing every call he made. Yet, he kept those thoughts to himself.

God, who certainly knew Solomon’s angst and fears, extended an invitation to the king he anointed. In essence, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Think about that for a second in a broader context that encompasses you and me. God wants to give us what we need to be the person he called us to be. It’s his fervent desire. So much so that he stands ready to provide what we need even before we know to ask for it.

It’s as if he’s telling you and me. “I’m here. I’m ready to help. I sense your struggle. Tell me what you need from me.” I find that both stunning and almost unimaginable!

It’s not that God doesn’t know what we need and is just waiting for us enlighten him. It is that he’s wanting us to reflect honestly on who we are, where we are in life and what we need from God to become the person he wants and needs us to be.

So, the passage tells me that God, in his generosity and grace, approaches his people eager to give us what we need.

Jesus encouraged his disciples with a similar thought. Once, after his disciples were so moved by Jesus’ prayer, they asked him to teach them how to pray as he did. He gave them a example to follow and then he said something that echoes what God shared with Solomon.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Luke 9-10)

But, he didn’t stop there. Jesus, with, I suspect, a playful gleam in his eye and a giggle on his lips, went on to explain that God, like any good father, wants to say yes to our requests if he can.

Which of you fathers if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirt to those who ask him! (Luke 11:11-13)

I don’t know whether the parallel is intentional, but it connected with me. See if this makes sense to you.

Jesus is promising a gift from God greater than anything else he could give us. “How much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit.” That’s God in us. Always. His thoughts. His guidance. His counsel. His wisdom. Available to us if we only open our hearts and listen.

Now look at what God grants Solomon.

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for a long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies, but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.” (I Kings 3:10-12)

Is it a stretch to believe that the wisdom to discern and administer justice grows from the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives? The spirit of God within us who is our counselor enables us to listen with the ears of God, to act as his hands and feet, to discern right from wrong with the heart of God?

Is seems to me that when Solomon asks for a discerning heart, when he asks for wisdom, he’s asking for God’s spirit to guide his every thought and deed in ways that honor God. And God grants that request, not just to Solomon, but to us when the spirit comes upon us at the moment we give our lives to Christ.

It is this spirit that offers the discernment and wisdom we need to live the life to which he has called us. We just have to break down all our self-created barriers that keep us from accessing the spirit to the fullest.

That’s really the second truth revealed in this passage in I Kings. It goes back to what Mrs. Wallace said. Be careful what you ask for.

It’s Solomon’s response to the blank check he had been given that defines the rest of the story. In response to God’s invitation, Solomon demolished those barriers by sharing openly what was on his mind.

None of us want to be vulnerable, much less show that side of us to the world around us. The king was no different in that regard than each of us. In this critical moment with God’s invitation hanging in the air, Solomon opened his heart to God with the kind of deep humility that only the truly overwhelmed can know.

Look how Eugene Peterson says it in The Message.

And now here I am: God, my god, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I’m too young for this, a mere child! I don’t know the ropes, hardly know the ins and outs of this job. Yet, here I am, set down in the middle of the people you’ve chosen…

In that moment, we’ve invaded the privacy of his mind where Solomon is alone with his thoughts. We see him, at his most vulnerable: lost in his role and admitting to God that he is helpless on his own.

When given the chance to ask for anything, Solomon chose a listening heart. He chose discernment and wisdom. Even in his fragile state, Solomon realizes that his role in God’s kingdom is not about power and might, it is about serving. It’s about leading with love and justice.

Solomon’s humble heart reminds me that I don’t have to know everything. Even if it’s only in my quiet self, I can acknowledge my vulnerabilities and lay them before God, instead of pretending I have it all figured out.

All I need is the spirit’s indwelling presence that imbues me with a heart that listens and discerns truth. A heart dependent upon the wisdom of God available through the spirit’s counsel.

It’s something James, the half-brother of Christ, reminds us about at the beginning of his letter to believers.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)

So, the creator of the universe, our father, extends us the same invitation that he extended to Solomon. “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

What will you tell him?

Thinking Points

When God tells you, “Ask for whatever you need me to give you?” what is the first thing that comes to your mind? How honest and vulnerable are you willing to be?

How can you cultivate a heart that seeks wisdom and discernment over personal gain or comfort?

In what areas of life do you need to invite God’s indwelling spirit to guide your thoughts and decisions more fully?

What barriers keep you from hearing the spirit’s wisdom and guidance in your daily life?

Independence Day

Focal Passage: Romans 8:1-2

Our nation will gather this weekend in various ways to celebrate the signing of that document on July 4, 1776. Enjoy the fireworks as they light up the sky. Let your flag wave. Hear the patriotic songs echo through the streets. Freedom is a beautiful gift, bought and paid for by the incredible sacrifice of so many men and women through the years.

Let’s enjoy the day and honor that sacrifice. Let’s also pray that our nation’s leaders uphold in every way the freedoms promised to all of us in the Declaration of Independence and those guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

President Thomas Jefferson, about a year before his death in 1826, responded to a letter from Henry Lee IV, an early American historian and the son of Revolutionary War hero “Lighthorse Harry” Lee. In a desire to better understand their motivations for seeking freedom from England, Lee asked Jefferson to explain why he felt compelled to write the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson wrote back and explained. “This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of…but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject…” Jefferson said the document was simply to explain to the world why they chose to separate from English rule.

Read the opening two paragraphs of that cherished document through that lens as if Jefferson himself were reading it to you.

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

As one who loves history, the Declaration of Independence is a hallowed document for me. While I don’t do it every July 4, I have often read the Declaration in private reflection and gratitude for being blessed to live within the freedoms it holds dear. I believe it contains great words of promise still unfulfilled in some ways. America is still, and I suspect always will be, a work in progress.

Despite our failure at times to live up to the ideals expressed in the Declaration, I cherish those God-given, inalienable rights it holds true…rights that cannot be sold nor surrendered; rights that cannot be transferred or taken away. They belong to each of us fundamentally by the very nature of our citizenship and our existence as God’s creation.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As a citizen of the United States, I reflected on the Declaration this week based on Lee’s question to better understand why the document was written. As a citizen of God’s kingdom, I think we must explore a much deeper and important question. What is the nature of true freedom? Is there a spiritual declaration of independence that promises life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to those who live under the blanket of God’s love?

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, talked to them about his personal struggle with sin. He said his inability to obey the commands and laws of God, drove him farther from God, separated him. Sin became as death to Paul.

When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God’s law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin…in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:21-22, 25)

Paul declares that all of us fall under the tyranny of sin. He didn’t leave us there. Paul goes on to write what one might consider our spiritual Declaration of Independence.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

It’s a declaration of independence Paul echoes to the church in Galatia.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery (to sin). (Galatians 5:1)

By taking our sins to the cross, Christ has set free from sin all those who put their trust in him. As a child of God, I am free from the penalty of sin because Jesus already paid the price. I am free of the tyranny of sin and claim my independence from sin’s rule, its condemnation and its hold on me. I declare my freedom through Christ to live without fear of judgment and free to walk in righteousness in relationship with God. For each Christian, these verses are the foundation for a new, liberated life in Christ.

So, I can declare that winter day in 1962 when I gave my heart of Jesus as my Spiritual Independence Day. Your day of independence may be different, but it is just as real.

As ones now living in the freedom God provides, these truths then become self-evident. That we, by virtue of being his sons and daughters through Christ, are endowed or gifted by our Creator with certain inalienable rights; rights that cannot be sold, surrendered, transferred or taken away. Among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Life

Listen to the words of Jesus…

I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” (John 11:25-26)

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son, whoever has the son has life. (I John 5:11-12)

Jesus’ death and resurrection conquered sin and death and provides the gift of life eternal, liberated from the finality of death. However, that’s just the starting point. It offers so much more.

I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)

This is a promise that life is not just eternal. It is, in the present, full of meaning and purpose. Because of Christ, we live in the abundance of God’s love and grace. Because this life is a gift from God through our belief in Christ, one that we don’t have to earn through perfect obedience or good works, we can live with confidence and hope. Eternal life is promised and assured because we belong to him.

That relationship we have with Jesus means that life in Christ is not just about surviving or punching a ticket to heaven. It is a life filled with purpose, joy, peace and an abiding richness for today. It is a life marked by our ability to experience life as God intended it to be, in service to others and overflowing with his grace.

I find that life-changing.

Liberty

To the Jews who had believed in him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then, you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. (John 8:31-32)

When these same people struggled to understand the freedom Jesus offered, he told them.

I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. A slave has no place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So, if the son sets you free, you are free indeed. (John 8:34-36)

When you get right down to it, that last verse is the Christian’s cornerstone of hope. Jesus has the authority and power to break sin’s hold on us. Because of this, when we trust him, he welcomes us into his family as sons and daughters with permanent belonging. It is not just freedom from guilt or punishment, it is a new identity, one that is not only empowering in the present, but secure and eternal for life to come.

I find that liberating.

Pursuit of Happiness

Let’s deepen the definition of happiness to joy…that abiding sense of gladness, well-being and contentment that is grounded in God’s character, his promises and his presence. Paul draws upon this to remind us that this kind of happiness or joy is not determined by circumstances, but through the power of God’s spirit.

I have learned the secret of being content (joyful) in any and every situation. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)

Even in the face of what seems insurmountable, we find joy in Christ because of the strength he gives to endure and overcome.

Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. (Psalm 5:11)

Joy comes in relationship to God, anchored in knowing him, trusting his love and experiencing his protection and grace. The Psalmist said that all who take refuge in God rejoice or exult. Exult is not a word we use often, but we should in this context. It means a triumphant joy, to be exceedingly glad. It expresses emotional elation and spiritual celebration of all God has done for us.

Jesus knew this kind of joy because of his connection to his father. He longed for his followers to feel the same. When we remain connected to Christ as he was connected to God, listening to his word, being obedient to his teachings, our joy grows. It transcends the circumstances. In Christ we find a joy that is full and complete. A joy that is resilient in the face of difficulty.

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11)

I find that makes me happy.

It’s good to celebrate our national independence and remember to hold dear the rights and responsibilities such freedom requires. It is equally important to celebrate our spiritual Independence Day and to hold dear the life, liberty and happiness it promises and to bear the deeper responsibility it requires to live worthy of the freedom it provides.

Thinking Points

When you read the opening words of the Declaration of Independence, what thoughts or emotions stir in you about the freedoms we enjoy today? What can we do to ensure that those freedoms remain for future generations?

Paul writes that “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” What does spiritual freedom mean to you personally, and how have you experienced it in your own life?

How do you see the “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” promised by God through Christ differently from the freedoms promised by our nation?

Reflect upon your own Spiritual Independence Day,” that moment when you gave your heart to Christ. How has that decision changed you and how has it shaped your life since?

The Begin Againers

Focal Passage: Joel 2:12-13

Of all the jobs on the farm, I hated to hoe more than any other. Those endless, quarter-mile rows of cotton stretched forever into the horizon, especially in the July heat. The mindless hours of swiping that blade through that red West Texas dirt sure made going to college more appealing.

“Chopping cotton” was the first job most of us farm kids were compelled to do. We were too young to drive the tractor, but Dad could always shorten the hoe handle to fit our short stature. I learned how to sharpen the edge of my hoe with a file long before I mastered long division.

My Dad and older brother flanked each side of me the day I hoed my first row of cotton. I was not amused. I reached the age where I had to trade play for hard work…at least some of the time. My attitude reflected my half-hearted effort. Chopping just beneath the sandy surface to slice the stem of the weeds, took less effort than digging them out by the roots. So, that’s what I did…for hours.

Dad tried to get me to do it right. He showed me. He scolded me. He finally just took care of his business and left me alone.

About 10 days later, Dad took me to the same field and told me to tell him what I saw. Clearly, every third row, the rows I hoed, were fresh with regrown weeds while the other two were still pristine. The weeds I sliced seemed to grow back faster and stronger, nature’s way of thumbing its nose at me.

Dad pulled my hoe out of the bed of the pick-up truck, handed it to me, and said simply, “Begin again.”

I spent the rest of that day, miserable in a field, fixing my mistake. Lesson learned.

That distant life lesson resurfaced this week after years buried in the background of my mind. A passage in the Old Testament book of Joel reminded me that when God points out our sins, he also calls us to return to him, to begin again living within the framework of his will. To be what singer/songwriter Scott Mulvahill calls in one of his songs a “begin againer.”

Look at the message God shares through the prophet Joel in his call for repentance and starting over in restored relationship with the father.

Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart—with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God for his is gracious and compassionate, abounding in love… (Joel 2:12-13)

You see, my Dad, rather than get angry, let my mistake run its course. Despite his instruction, he gave me my free-will choice to stubbornly do things my way. When that didn’t work well, he pointed out how my half-hearted effort didn’t achieve the desired results. He wanted me to understand that doing things the right way may be harder, but it is always better. Then, with a pat on the back, he just told me to begin again. Start over. Return to the field and do it right.

Does that not sound like how God deals with his own children? We grip the handle of our free-will choices and dig just beneath the surface of obedience, with an insincere effort. Then, just a few days later the sin, the weeds, return.

God walks us out to that weed-infested life and shows us the difference in doing things his way or doing them our way. With a pat on the back, he hands us the hoe and says get after it. “Do it again, please, but this time, do it my way.” God is a God of second and third chances… and thankfully so many more. In our rebellion, even now, he calls us to return to him. To be a begin againer.

Look again at this beautiful passage.

Return to me. Three words of incredible and incomprehensible hope that speak directly to those moments when we feel it’s too late. Those days when we feel we’ve strayed too far from the Lord to find our way back. Unintended mistakes. Deliberate rebellion. Spiritual apathy. God says, even now despite all you’ve done or failed to do, you can return. It’s never too late. Begin again.

The call to return must be answered with all your heart, God says. With fasting, weeping and mourning. Beginning again isn’t just a surface level change. God desires our complete and utter surrender. Not religious gestures or rituals. Not going through the motions. Just a sincere turning away from our stubborn desires to do life our way. He wants us to return to him with all that is within us. Our thoughts. Our affections. Our desires. Our souls. Our hearts. Our strength.

Fasting, weeping and mourning capture our deepest expressions of repentance. These acts and emotions are not expressions of sorrow over being called out or regret for the consequences we face, but sincere grief over the sin itself. In these things we recognize deeply our failure for what it is and how far it has taken us from God’s way and will.

Then Joel takes it a step further. Rend your heart, not your clothes. The ancient Hebrew would tear his clothes as a symbol of repentance or being repentant. God wants to make sure we understand that the transformation must be real. Don’t just look or sound repentant on the outside while stubbornly holding on to our old self on the inside. Perfection is not required. Humility is. Be transformed and renewed. Begin again.

God’s call to return to him or to begin living again for him rests in the very character of God. Our sincere regret opens the possibility of restoration. God’s grace confirms it. He welcomes us back, not because we earned it, but because of his goodness. His patience. His mercy. His grace. His never ending and all-encompassing love. It is who he is.

After his moral failure with Bathsheba and his scheme to claim her as his own, David, the psalmist, painted a vivid picture of how to begin again. Listen to the pleading in his words.

Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit in me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of my salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:10-12)

Here’s what I find interesting in his passage as I think about my need at times to begin again.

David does not ask God to fix his heart—he asks Him to create a new one. The Hebrew word for “create” (bara) is the same used in Genesis 1:1 when God creates, well, everything. It suggests that David knows he needs a fresh start—something only God can accomplish. It is a cry for transformation, not just forgiveness. Let me say that again because it’s important. It is a cry for transformation, not just forgiveness.

It’s not just that we made a mistake when we sinned. We must recognize our hearts as fundamentally broken. David doesn’t minimize his sin. He’s asking for a radical inner change. He’s asking to begin again with the right spirit within him…steadfast, faithful, true…in touch with God’s spirit within. It is an urgent desire to draw near to the God he abandoned for a time. It’s David’s desire to begin again, living in the nurturing presence of his father in heaven.

Just recognizing my mistake in that field years ago, did not relieve me of the consequences. I got to hoe it all again, but I wasn’t by myself. Dad walked three rows over. Hoeing weeds that were mine to hoe.

What a marvelous picture of God’s sacrifice and abiding presence! When we sincerely begin again, we will never walk alone. For anyone needing to begin again, to start living for Christ again tomorrow, you need to know that God’s mercy is stronger than our failure. His presence is the reassurance of his sacrificial and everlasting presence.

That passage in Joel calls us to return to God. In its context, though, the call to return comes after a long period of rebellion. Our seasons of rebellion may seem just as long. Wouldn’t it be great, however, if we returned to God each morning. Start the day with a clean slate…a pure heart and a right spirit…a chance to set aside yesterday’s failure for a fresh start within the will of father in heaven?

God’s ready to walk with us every day, hoe in hand, helping us do it right.

The every day begin againers.

Thinking Points

In what areas of your life have you been giving a half-hearted effort? How might God be calling you to dig deeper?

 

How does the image of my father walking alongside me while I fix my mistakes help you understand God’s presence when you face the consequences of your own sin?

 

Why is transformation more important to God than just seeking forgiveness? What must we do to move past regret and really change the way we live?

 

What would it look like for you to “return to God” every morning as an “every day begin againer?”

The Mind of Christ

Focal Passage: I Corinthians 2:10-16

I read the passage several times in recent years, I’m sure. The notes in the margin of my Bible tell me so. I am always amazed at how God opens my eyes to his inspired word, often opening a new line of thought. There is, it seems, always something new to learn and discern.

In a conversation with my sister this week, we talked about the state of our country and the world today. Troubled by the hateful and divisive rhetoric and the internal and external conflict that pits person against person, group against group and nation against nation, we both wondered at what seemed to be the lack of wisdom, compassion and understanding. I remember thinking, “What kind of mind makes these kinds of decisions?”

Two days later, I sat down to read a passage in I Corinthians which oddly enough speaks to mindset of those called as God’s people. I had to think about the state of my own mind and whether my mind was where it needed to be.

Listen to what Paul tells the Corinthian church. Don’t just read it. Read as if Paul sent the letter to you.

“…The spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” (I Corinthians 2:10-16a)

Then Paul adds this one phrase in this passage that I have missed time and time again.

“But we have the mind of Christ.” (I Corinthians 2:16b)

As I try to make sense of how I should think amid today’s disturbed world, this phrase was a 2” x 4” across my nose. It certainly got my attention.

We have the mind of Christ.

Before we get too deep into what that means, let’s briefly explore the context of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church. The church in Corinth experienced wave after wave of division and conflict. Arguments over theology or ministry pitted one faction against the other, each thinking they were wiser than the other. Corinthian culture drew upon the influence of Greek philosophy and human wisdom.

Early Christian apologist Aristides, an Athenian philosopher who converted to Christianity in the 2nd century, said of Corinth, “On every street in Corinth one meets a so-called wise man, who has his own solutions to the world’s problems.” (That sounds eerily familiar to our culture today.)

This cultural pattern invaded the church like a virus and spread. Paul spent the early part of his letter addressing the difference between worldly wisdom and God’s wisdom.

Paul tells the church that a person without God’s spirit cannot accept or understand the things that flow from the spirit of God. It is foolish sounding to him because the things of God are spiritually discerned…revealed to believers by his indwelling spirit. That’s a critical point because it is the basis for understanding “the mind of Christ.” It is the basis for grasping the importance of relying on God’s spirit for understanding and wisdom.

If believers, as spiritual beings, are to “make judgments about all things,” it is the mind of Christ we must use to help us discern the truth and determine what we should say and how we should live.

I’ve shared a lot in the past writings about my journey in understanding what it means to be made in the image of God. Equally, this one phrase about having “the mind of Christ” opened a new avenue of study into understanding who we are in Christ. How he shares his mind with us through his spirit. How his mind should set us apart from the culture around us. It is his invitation for us to discover rich spiritual truths and explore a deeper relationship with God.

Let’s look again at I Corinthians 2:16.

For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Paul first quotes Isaiah 40:13, drawing on this Old Testament passage to emphasize God’s wisdom and mind are beyond human understanding. At the same time, it challenges us to contemplate God’s desire to teach us his will and way.

In Jesus, believers are given access to God’s wisdom, God’s mind, if you will, through the Holy Spirit. The spirit is a gift God gives us when we profess Jesus as Lord of all. Jesus told his disciples there would come a time when he was no longer with them physically. When he left God would send “the Counselor.”

…The Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name , will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)

His spirit is not something we have to work to acquire, but we must learn to use the mind of Christ within us. To let it teach us and remind us of what Jesus said and did. To help us understand the mind of Christ by providing insight into scripture and how it applies to life. He gives us the vision to see the world differently. To see others, their hurts and their needs, through the eyes of Christ. He gives us the desire then to act upon what we see in service to others, extending grace to those around us while holding ourselves accountable to God’s truth.

Let me underscore that last part. Living with the mind of Christ means we hold ourselves accountable to his word and will. We cannot lay claim to the mind of Christ and treat others with contempt or to engage in the hateful rhetoric or acts we see around us. Such attitudes and actions are not compatible with the mind of Christ.

Paul contrasted our human inability to comprehend God’s mind on our own with the insight gained through the indwelling presence of the “mind of Christ.” Even on our best days, our understanding of the purpose and plans of God is limited. Isaiah alluded to this limitation. I think that’s why some scripture jumps out at us with deeper meaning, depending on the season or circumstance of our lives.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 45:8-9)

The unknown elements of life cause confusion. At times we question or doubt God. However, we are repeatedly assured of God’s love and that he always knows the path ahead of us. The good news is we have what Isaiah didn’t have. We have the mind of Christ and that is life-changing.

We are no longer restricted by the limited wisdom of man. Our identity as “new creations” through our faith and trust in Christ, allows us to embrace, experience and exemplify the mind of Christ exhibited during his ministry on earth.

Christ showed us how to live a life of love, sacrifice, wisdom and grace. It was on his mind and in his heart always…in every encounter with every soul. Writer Jamie Wilson said that experiencing the mind of Christ is transformative, “…not a mere change in perspective; it is a radical shift in how we approach life and our relationship to God and others.”

It was a theme Paul carried to the Philippian church, as well, when he encouraged them to be united in Christ, possessing compassion and tenderness toward others. He urged them to be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. He said, “Let this mind (attitude) be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5)

It carries a responsibility as Christians to cultivate a mindset that looks like Jesus. That thinks, lives and acts in all things, in all ways and at all times with compassion and a servant’s heart just as Jesus did.

I can’t speak for you, so I’ll just share my thoughts. My life experiences, my fruitful and my failed efforts at living life, have taught me that my understanding of God’s will for my life is imperfect. My background, education and experiences offer beneficial insight, but true wisdom is a God thing. It is his alone. I have to be willing to let go of my ego and follow where he leads every day.

I find it hard to seek and understand the mind of Christ if I am not truly engaged with him. If my prayer life is stilted, if my Bible study is superficial, if my fellowship with other believers is inconsistent, I miss opportunities to grow in the mind of Christ. Connecting with God through his word and through worship and praise, helps align my thoughts with his thoughts. I find that’s when clarity comes.

Having the mind of Christ carries a responsibility of reflecting him to others, inviting them to share in his love. Jesus thrived on his relationship with the father. It ignited the passion he had for sharing his love with others. If I embrace the mind of Christ, it deepens my own relationship with the father. My passion for sharing Christ’s love is at its highest when I am most connected to the mind of Christ.

I suspect it’s no different for you.

Think of the change the world would experience if all who professed a faith in Christ lived as if they had the mind of Christ. Our approach to ministry, outreach, service, governance and life in general would be much different.

Make this our prayer:

Father, help us remember that we are called to reflect Christ’s heart and mind in all our relationships. Let the mind of Christ guide our decisions, our thoughts, our words and everything we do. Help us avoid adding to the world’s divisive rhetoric and even more destructive behaviors. Help us seek to heal wounds by trusting in your wisdom and living in the mind of Christ so that others may see and experience the transformative power of God’s love.

Amen.

Thinking Points

What does it mean to you personally to have “the mind of Christ?” How does it shape the way you view and interpret current events or the culture around you?

 

In what ways might you be relying on human wisdom rather than God’s spirit to inform and guide your decisions?

 

How might your interactions with others and your social and political outlook differ if you approached the compassion, humility and grace exemplified in the mind of Christ?

 

Are there habits or patterns in your spiritual life—inconsistent worship, Bible study, prayer or fellowship—that hinder your ability to experience the mind of Christ?

 

In what areas of life do you most need and desire God’s wisdom this week? How can you actively seek it through his spirit this week?

 

****

Author’s Note: If you would like to receive this Bible study blog via email, click www.drkirklewis.com/the-searcher. Find the “Subscribe” button and enter your email address. That’s all it takes.

Transforming Grace

Author’s Note

“If you can’t think of anything to say, maybe it’s time to listen.”

This unattributed quote sums up what I felt a year ago as I was struggling to pull together another post for my Bible study blog The Searcher. At that time, I had been publishing my personal Bible study reflections for over a decade and, frankly, I felt like I was running out of things to say. I continued my personal Bible studies, but I quit writing about them. Instead, I chose to listen.

I like to think God gifted me with the ability to string a few cogent words together to communicate a thought or two, particularly as it relates to things I’m learning in scripture. I believe when we study his word, God, through his spirit, honors the time and teaches us things we need to know in whatever season of life we might be experiencing. I trusted that I would feel it when, or if, God wanted me to begin again sharing what he was teaching me.

One year has rolled around and it feels like it is time to start once more. So, for those who wondered why I quit writing, now you know. It was simply time for me to listen with fresh ears and an open heart.

Thanks for your patience.

Transforming Grace

Titus 2:11-14

As the days lead up to Easter, I’ve been reminded through my pastor’s sermon series of God’s wondrous grace offered to each of us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The price of redemption for our sins has been paid in full. A gift freely given. Undeserved and unmerited.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, but it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8)

This saving nature of grace, I clearly understand and value, but it’s really a gift that keeps on giving.

Paul penned a quick note to Titus, a young pastor he left behind in Crete to carry on the work Paul started. It would not be an easy assignment for Titus. Cretans enjoyed a nasty reputation in the ancient world. Epimenides, a philosopher from Crete who lived in the 6th century B.C., called his fellow Cretans “liars, evil brutes and gluttons.”

Paul spent time in his letter instructing Titus on general themes he needed to teach to the new believers under in care. Sound doctrine. Temperance. Self-Control. Love. Patience. Integrity. Then, he talked about grace. Look at what he said in Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

That first sentence speaks to saving grace through Christ. Notice, though, that grace doesn’t just save, it teaches. We spend a lot of time singing about his amazing grace that forgives and saves, but we rarely think of grace beyond the cross.

Pastor and author John Piper said, “Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.”

Look again at what Paul tells Titus. Grace teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness and sin. Such teaching goes beyond simple instruction. The Greek word for teach suggests the entire process of instruction, encouragement, correction and discipline. In essence, grace empowers us to live the abundant life Christ promised through its constant work in our lives. Helping us say no to impulses and desires that run counter to God’s will and yes to obedience to his will, to living in right relationship with God and others and imitating Christ in our attitudes and our actions.

Just as a personal trainer helps us adopt a healthier lifestyle, grace acts as our personal spiritual trainer leading us toward a life that pleases God. Grace doesn’t just save, it transforms.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then, you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

God’s grace purifies and cleanses us, setting us apart as God’s people who are eager to do good.

When his Christian mother died in 1733, six-year-old John Newton lived under the strict and forbidding thumb of his unbelieving, sea captain father whose discipline lacked nurturing and any outward show of love.

As a young man, Newton joined the British Navy. He sailed headlong into a life of depravity and rebellion that led to his deep involvement in the African slave trade. His life sullied by violence and blatant disregard for any moral compass. By his own admission, Newton’s actions were horrific, nothing short of cruel and inhumane.

Caught in a particularly dangerous storm in 1748, Newton found himself in a floundering ship with little hope of rescue, praying in desperation to the God his mother worshipped. That moment, according to Newton, marked the beginning of his transformation into a man of God.

Once safe on land, Newton gave his life to Christ. He immediately abandoned the slave trade to become an Anglican minister, preaching about God’s grace and advocating for the abolition of slavery.

In his autobiography, Newton acknowledged the change that took place in his life when he accepted Christ as savior. He said, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”

Understanding the transforming nature of forgiveness and grace, Newton penned the words of one of the world’s most beloved hymns. Originally written as a poem with 13 verse, Amazing Grace tells the story of how God changed his life.

I have sung that song so many times in my life that I don’t always hear the words. Reading it as the poem written by a transformed soul adds to its meaning. One particular verse caught my attention.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come.
‘Tis grace that brought me safe this far
And grace will lead me home.

Newton may have penned that last line thinking about grace that provides his way to heaven, but I wonder if the relevant word here might be “lead.” Paul shares that once we receive God’s saving grace, it is the power of grace that leads (guides, teaches, encourages) us to live for Christ. He told the Philippian church,

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. (Philippians 1:6)

The transforming grace of God leads us from that moment forward by reshaping our hearts, making us a new creation, by changing the way we think about life and our responsibility to God as we live it. Creating within us such purified and clean hearts that are eager to do good.

So, here’s the challenge you and I face this week. Let’s thank God not only for grace that pardons, but equally for grace that transforms and empowers us to live Christ-like lives, eager to do good just as he did.

Thinking Points

How does grace differ from mercy and justice?

Why do you think grace is more powerful than guilt for changing behavior?

What area(s) of life is grace currently transforming in you?