Songs for Worship

A Call to Adorn the Gospel

The Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary defines adorn this way: “(1) to enhance the appearance of especially with beautiful objects.”

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to “adorn the gospel.” If the definition of adorn has to do with “enhancing” the appearance of something, can we in fact adorn the gospel? Can we enhance its appearance? Do we have anything of beauty or value that can make the gospel more attractive? I want to say no. I mean isn’t part of the “good news” of salvation through Jesus the fact that I, a broken sinner with nothing of value to offer God and no way to merit my own salvation, was reconciled to God because of Jesus’ sacrificial and atoning death alone? What could possibly make that message any more beautiful or attractive to someone who is without any hope at all? I know that Jesus commands us to make that message known (most of us are familiar enough with passages like Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8) but this idea of “adorning the gospel” has got to be just a good sounding catch phrase - something that sounds good from the pulpit, right?

Not exactly. In Titus 2:9-10 Paul was instructing Titus on how he should be teaching Christian slaves to live and wrote:

“Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.”

Now before I go on sharing any more of my thoughts, allow me to share a short quote from someone much smarter than I to help put this verse in its proper context. Hayne P. Griffin Jr. in his commentary on Titus shares a good reminder about the context of this verse that we often forget.

“It is unfortunate that many teachers or preachers have applied Paul’s teaching on slavery in his epistles to the employer/employee relationship in modern economies. Such applications dilute the tremendous power of the gospel as seen within the dark and unjust institution of slavery. The focus of Paul’s teaching with regard to Christian slaves must not be missed. Against the bleak hopelessness of this system of bondage, the Christian slave’s devotion to the gospel and resulting godly attitudes and actions serve to make attractive in an unparalleled way the ultimate freedom that is only realized in Christ.”

Paul had a message for slaves (men and women without any power, with nothing of value, and without any freedom) – “Your transformed lives in Christ can put the life-changing power of the gospel on display. So live in such a manner that those around you will see the gospel in everything you do.” [That’s the Matt Morgan paraphrase.] But I don’t believe that that was just a message for slaves. It is true that because of their position in life their transformed lives may have stood out more but I believe Paul would urge us all to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. As I mentioned earlier, no believer brought anything to God to earn his/her salvation. They all came empty, broken, and without hope. But upon receiving Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, and upon receiving the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, every true believer now has a transformed life in Christ. Paul intended for us to put that transformed life on display around others so that we might adorn the gospel and commend its transforming message and power to those who have not received it.

A key aspect of adorning the gospel implies putting yourself in places where others can observe the transforming power. What good would it be to adorn the gospel in private? Often times women will adorn themselves with make-up and jewelry, right? But how many of them will do this just to stay in the house all of the time? Instead they adorn themselves with these things so that when they are out in public and others see them they will notice their beauty. Christian believers as individuals and churches need to take note of this! We have to engage a lost world (and for the most part they aren’t in our church buildings). Have we done a good job adorning the gospel if the only time we left the house this week was to go to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and then again Wednesday night? Have we done a good job adorning the gospel if our only interaction with others this week was through our Facebook account? These are questions we need to ask ourselves. Is anyone (other than those who are already believers) seeing our transformed lives on display?

We also need to be asking ourselves this question as a church. There is another verse in 1 Peter that I think we often take out of context. While Peter was writing to some first generation believers in 1 Peter 2:9 he wrote,

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

We often apply this verse too individualistically. I firmly believe in the idea of the priesthood of all believers. The Bible is very clear that when an individual receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within that individual. We no longer need a priest to intercede on our behalf. The Bible tells us that Christ is now our high priest (Hebrews 3) and that we have direct access to the Father and to the Son. But it is also important that we do not overemphasize the individuality of this principle to the point that we lose sight of the importance of the church’s (both local and corporate) responsibility to be the representative of God and to adorn the gospel too. In 1 Peter 2:9 Peter is clearly talking to a group of believers. He uses plural words such as “race,” “nation,” and “people” instead of singular words to emphasize what this first generation group of believers was supposed to be. Our job as a church is to be a modern day representative of God that proclaims His excellencies. So then we must ask ourselves if we are adorning the gospel so that others can see the transformed lives of our congregation and are we together proclaiming His excellencies, or have we chosen to be content with simply ministering within our building for the last six months.

What really got me thinking about all of this was a passage of scripture I was recently working through in the Old Testament. In recently reading through the account of Moses on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 20 – 32 I found myself meditating on God’s instructions regarding the priestly garments. If it has been a while since you read through the account of Moses meeting with God on Mt. Sinai, I’ll remind you that God did more than give Moses the 10 commandments. The 10 commandments are what we remember most but God also gave other instructions to Moses during the many days that he was meeting with God on the mountain. Beginning in chapter 28 God goes into great detail about the garments which the priests are supposed to where. I believe a key verse in this chapter for our understanding of why God included this is when God says in verse 2, “You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.” God’s intention for the priests’ garments was that they were to be glorious and beautiful, and in order to achieve this the garments were to consist of:

· An ephod – made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet linen (vs. 6) with two onyx stones (vs. 9) in gold settings (vs. 13) and with gold chains (vs. 14);

· A breastpiece – made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet linen (vs. 15) with four rows of precious stones: ruby, topaz, emerald, turquoise, sapphire, diamond, jacinth, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx, and jasper (vs. 17 – 20) all set in gold (vs. 20). The breastpiece would also have gold rings with gold chains attached (vs. 22 – 27);

· A robe made of blue (probably linen) (vs. 31) with decorative work on its hem of blue, purple and scarlet material and golden bells (vs. 33);

· A turban of fine linen (vs. 39) with a plate of pure gold (36 – 37);

· A linen tunic (vs. 39); and

· A linen breech (vs. 42).

It seems that God wanted His representatives on earth, the priests, to be adorned with the most beautiful and elaborate clothes as a testimony to God’s glory and beauty.

But an ironic thing is happening at the bottom of the mountain while God is meeting with Moses at the top of the mountain. While Moses is receiving the instructions from God about how His representatives, the priests, are to put God’s glory and beauty on display even in their articles of clothing, those very same priests are at the foot of the mountain crafting a golden calf as an idol for the people to worship. Instead of representing God and leading the people to see His wonder and majesty and to respond in worship to Him the priests were giving into the requests of the people and casting an idol for them to worship. What an amazing failure! The representatives of God charged with the responsibility of interceding for the people and putting God’s glory and beauty on display were not leading the people to God at all. Instead they were following the cues of the culture and giving the people something else to worship. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for these priests who seemed to have completely missed their call to lead the people to a majestic, powerful, and holy God who had already put his glory on display through the 10 plagues brought on the Eqyptians, the pillar of cloud/fire which was leading them through the wilderness, the parting of the Red Sea, the provision of the manna and the water from the rock, and then the thunder, lightening, and shaking of the earth that occurred when God descended upon Mt. Sinai. Instead they chose to provide a golden calf crafted by the hands of men as the object of their worship and affection.

There seems to be great power to draw men to God if and when believers in Christ will adorn the gospel. But it seems that we as believers and as churches we aren’t doing that. Most believers and churches seem to be falling into one of two categories. (1) Many believers and churches, rather than leading people to Christ through their transformed lives, are taking their cues from the culture in an attempt to be both cool and relevant. And although they may not be bowing the knee to a golden calf they certainly aren’t leading the way to Christ. Instead, they seem to be following a culture made up of sinful people and Romans chapter three is pretty clear that sinful people aren’t seeking after God. If a believer (or worse, a church) is following the culture they may not be bowing the knee to a golden idol yet, but I can guarantee you they aren’t getting closer to God. (2) Many believers and churches are adorning the gospel in the privacy of their own church buildings. They are genuinely loving and caring for one another and they are growing together in their biblical knowledge. The church is offering wonderful worship services and the congregation knows that they could show lost people the way if they would just come. But the problem is that no one who needs to see the power of transformed lives is seeing them because they are not in the church.

Ladies and gentlemen neither one of these two scenarios is going to build the kingdom of God and bring glory to Him. Believers in Christ have had their lives transformed by the power of the gospel and now Paul urges us to adorn the gospel of Christ. So we must ask ourselves if our lives are really truly adorning the gospel of Christ in such a way that others can see it?” If not, what changes do we as individuals and as churches need to make in order put the power of the gospel on display for a world that desperately needs to see it?

A Clear Image of the Savior in an Easily Misunderstood Picture

How many of you remember 3D pictures like this? Can you tell what the 3D images in each of these pictures are?

The first one is a shark. The second one is a dinosaur. The third one is a heart.

When these types of pictures first came out they were amazingly popular. They would sell them framed, as posters, and in picture books for your coffee table. I remember in high school standing in the middle of the mall at one of those kiosks selling these 3D picture images. I must have stood there for a half and hour getting frustrated because I couldn’t see any 3D image. All I could see was a great big mess. I’d stare, cross my eyes, get really close to the picture and then slowly back away – but I just couldn’t get past all the jumbled mess to see anything. While I’m standing there couples would walk up and look at a picture and almost immediately say “Oh wow! That’s amazing! Those flowers just jump off the drawing!” Or some ladies shopping together would come up and look at a picture and say to one another, “Do you see that rainbow? It is amazing how clear it is!”

I wanted to yell – “It is NOT! It’s not clear! It’s anything but clear! I’ve been staring at that mess for a half and hour now and there isn’t anything there! You all must be crazy!”

But I do remember the first time that one of the images became clear to me. It was an underwater scene. I remember how a portion of the picture seemed to have a third dimension to it. I wrestled for a while trying to get the whole image to come clear. I had to keep coming back to the same spot on the picture, trying to see the third dimension, and then slowly backing away until I could see it all. I remember seeing several fish in that image. And I remember standing there for what seemed like an incredibly long time admiring the amazing scene that I had been missing for the longest time because of the apparent busyness and mess of the picture upon first examination.

It’s fun now to look at these images and to see what is there, even when the image at first glance already appears to have some order to it and seems to be a clear representation of something (like the heart picture we looked at earlier).

A Misunderstood Picture – Jesus’ lordship and control in the final hours before His death on the cross.

There are several accounts of Jesus’ final hours before the crucifixion in the Bible. And in those accounts there is so much that takes place in just a few short chapters and verses. For me it’s often difficult to see clearly some of amazing attributes of Christ because the accounts go by so quickly and they are filled with so much emotional material. It is easy to just look at the picture and say Christ sure did endure a lot of hardship and suffering on our behalf. That’s true! Christ did endure a lot of hardship and suffering on our behalf – but if that is all we see we have missed an amazing picture of Christ’s lordship and control – even when things seemed to be completely out of control.

The verse that was great for helping me focus in on Christ’s lordship and control during the time around his crucifixion is John 19:11. Jesus is before Pilate and is being questioned. Beginning in verse 10 the text says, “So Pilate said to Him, ‘You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?’” Jesus is before the man who appears to be the one who has the power to determine His fate – whether He will live or die. Jesus has been arrested, accused before the priests, scourged, and now brought before the governor for final sentencing. At first glance it seems like Jesus may not actually be in control. But listen to Jesus’ response. “‘ Jesus answered, ‘You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above. . .’” In the final moments before His death sentence Jesus tells Pilate, “You may think you’re in control of this situation here, but the only reason you’re exercising any power is because I have permitted you to do so.” In the middle of this incredibly difficult narrative beginning with His arrest and ending in His crucifixion Jesus claims to still be the One exercising control.

Do you get that? That’s a great starting place to begin working back from – like the first place in the 3D picture where it’s easiest to see the third dimension taking form. Once we clearly see Jesus control here then we can work back and begin to see an amazingly clear picture of Christ’s power and control all throughout the final hours of His life prior to the crucifixion.

Back up to John 18:3-6. “Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’ They answered Him, ‘Jesus the Nazarene.’ He said to them, ‘I am He.’ And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, ‘I am He,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.” We don’t know how many men exactly came as a part of this crowd to arrest Jesus, but it was probably at least 600 men. And at Jesus’ declaration of who He was, all of them fell to the ground! There is no mistake here – Jesus had not lost His power or authority. At His arrest He was still the One who was in control.

In Mark 14:55-62 we see further evidence of Jesus’ power and control, even in these last hours. “Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any. For many were giving false testimony against Him, but their testimony was not consistent. Some stood up and began to give false testimony against Him, saying, ‘We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’’ Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. The high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, ‘Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?’ But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of Heaven.’”

Having been arrested and placed on trial before the council of religious leaders, Jesus’ power and control is still not usurped. The religious leaders try to take control of the situation and dictate the outcome so that they are able to accuse Jesus without question. But even in their attempt to do so, those bringing false accusations are unable to put together a consistent claim against Him. Instead Jesus boldly proclaims not only His deity but also demonstrates His control by telling them just how this is all going to play out.

When Jesus is taken before Pilate to be questioned, He does nothing but affirm His rule and His kingdom. John 18:33-37 says, “Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?’ Pilate answered, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.’ Therefore Pilate said to Him, ‘So You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’”

A few verses later we get to the passage we began with in 19:11 where Jesus clearly communicates His authority.

Even on the cross we see Jesus in control and fulfilling the very purposes of God. In Mark 15:34 we hear Jesus crying out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” – an undeniable reference to Psalm 22 and a declaration that even on the cross He was in control and fulfilling the words of Scripture. And again in John 19:30, when Jesus utters the words, “It is finished.” An amazing statement in the perfect Greek tense. The work was completed, but its affects are on going. It was Jesus declaring from the cross “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!” What I was sent to this world to do has been done! This cross – although it seemed to many to be a sign of His lack of power, authority, and control, was in all reality the last tool which He used to complete what He had been sent to do.

The ultimate picture of Jesus rule and power was just three short days away, when the sun arose on an empty tomb. We see clearly in the resurrection that Jesus was in control. But I fear that we too often look at these two events, the crucifixion and the resurrection in separate frames. We think the arrest, trial, and crucifixion is where Jesus lost control; then we believe that the resurrection is where Jesus regained it. When in reality – Jesus never lost control, rule or authority. Sometimes we just lose the image in all of the other busyness and mess that seems to be taking place. But once we see it clearly, we ought to gaze on it with amazement, because our Savior is an amazing sight to behold!

Are you satisfied with your current knowledge?

Let me ask you a question - just how computer savvy are you? We are living in a generation where we are constantly interacting with our computers, smart phones and PDAs. I know that there are some computer all-stars out there. Some of you are proficient with every program and every software that your computer has installed. But even as computer savvy as our culture is becoming I would still guess that those computer all-stars are the exceptions and not the norm. I would guess that a very high percentage of individuals are just like me. We have some familiarity with one or two types of software and we can navigate around those programs pretty well, but when it comes to the rest of the stuff on our computers we have no power to do anything productive whatsoever. For me, I feel like I have a pretty good grip on Microsoft Word, but that's it. When I try to use anything else I often end up feeling completely helpless. I can make a Power Point presentation but I can guarantee you that it won't be a cool one. In fact most of you would probably laugh at its lameness. I can use Excel to make a pretty mean looking chart but anyone involved in math or finance would shake their heads at me in shame when they realized how little I can do in that program. And I have some software on my computer called Microsoft Publisher, but honestly, I'm afraid to even open it. I know that there are lots of people out there who use that program to create some great stuff, but I've never tried to use it. Here's the fact:

I can't harness the power of these programs because I don't know anything about them.

The knowledge is there to be gained. All of these programs have 'help' tabs that could assist me in learning the software. There are also tutorials and books available that I could use you learn the programs better. If I would take the time to learn about them or if I had someone to teach me about them then I too would be able to do some really fantastic things with them. But until I have that knowledge the power of those programs is useless to me.

So here is my real problem: the reason that I cannot do anything productive with those programs is because I am not learning about them or because I am satisfied with what I have already learned about them.

So what's the point? Why am I talking about computers on a blog that is supposed to be about the church and christian growth? 2 Peter 1:3 has the answer.

" . . . seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him . . . "

I recently finished writing sermons on 2 Peter 1:1-2 and 2 Peter 1:3-4. As Peter begins this letter to a group of believers it is amazing how much important material he packs into the first four verses. But this portion of verse three was particularly challenging to me. The point of verses 3 and 4 is that Christ has made some incredible provisions for believers so that we can live new and godly lives. One of those provisions is His divine power. That's one of those things that we really have to stop and meditate on - Jesus provides for us a power beyond our own to live a new and godly life - His own power. (Spend some time thinking about that. It's a really amazing concept that we all too often take for granted.) But notice that this divine power we need for everything pertaining to life and godliness is provided to us "through the true knowledge of Him."

Allow me to make an observation and then to pose a question. First let me be clear that divine power to live a new and godly life is only available to believers. Peter makes it clear in his introduction (verse 1) that he is writing to those who have put their faith and trust in Christ. In addition to that it is important to point out that "true knowledge" of Christ Jesus is far more than just an intellectual knowledge of Him. The "true knowledge" of Jesus is a knowledge that comes through a growing relationship with Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit in one's life. "True knowledge" of Jesus cannot be obtained apart from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit revealing it to believers and helping them to grow in their relationship with Him. Without faith in Christ and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirt one's knowledge of Jesus will be at best unclear and blurred. If you have put your faith in Christ then the Holy Spirit is dwelling within you and He can help to guide you to the true knowledge of Jesus which grants you access to His divine power to live a new and godly life.

The question we must ask ourselves then becomes a very crucial question: "Are we tapping into all of the divine power that is available to us to live a new and godly life because we are continuing to grow in our knowledge of and walk with Christ?" OR "Are we stagnant in this new life we have been given because we are choosing not to grow in our walk with Jesus because we are satisfied with what we already know of Him?" It is a lot like the computer software problem I struggle with. I can't harness the power of the programs because I don't have a knowledge of the programs. In the same way, we can't use the divine power of Christ to help us live a godly life if we do not know Him well and are not walking with Him closely. Unfortunately many believers are satisfied with their knowledge of Christ and their current walk with Him. They have no desire to continue growing in their knowledge of Him or to grow deeper in their relationship with Him because they are comfortable where they are.

When I think about the greatness of my Savior and how deeply He has loved me and how sacrificially He has given of Himself for me, I don't ever want to become satisfied with how much I know of Him. I want to know Him more fully and walk more closely with Him. But that takes a lot of effort. It takes setting aside consistent times for studying His word and prayer. It takes consistent times of evaluation to determine if we are spending too much time and effort loving and learning about the things of this world. And it takes consistent efforts of putting what we are learning into practice. Do you remember what James says in his letter? "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was." Practicing what we learn is the best way to remember what we have learned and to grow in our knowledge. When we don't practice what we learn we are very likely to forget it.

When we grow in our knowledge of Christ and in our walk with Him, and when we put into practice the things we have learned from Scripture, then we'll have divine power for everything pertaining to life and godliness. Let's pray that we never become stagnant in this new life that we have been given because we choose not to grow in our walk with Jesus because we feel like we are satisfied with what we already know of Him.

Are You Imploring Christ to Leave?

I read a verse the other day that really bothered me. A verse that made me hurt for a small place called “the country of the Gadarenes.” In Matthew chapter 8, beginning in verse 28, the disciple of Jesus tells us that Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee and entered “into the country of the Gadarenes.” Matthew tells us that Jesus was met there by two demon-possessed men who were extremely violent. The demons began a dialogue with Jesus in which they recognize His authority over them. Notice two things about their dialogue. First, that they have an understanding of a future torment in store for them which Jesus will bring about. Second, that they have no power to remain in a place from which Jesus casts them out. They didn’t say to Jesus, “You can try to cast us out, but we’re not going. We plan on remaining in these two men and continuing to carry out our own desires through them.” These two demons recognized Jesus’ authority over them and could only ask Him to direct them into the herd of pigs. Upon Jesus’ consent and command the demons left the two men, entered the pigs, and the whole herd of pigs committed suicide – running down a steep bank and into the water. Verse 33 says that the men who were herding the pigs ran into the city and reported all that had taken place, (and this is important) “including what had happened to the demoniacs.” The men didn’t just report to the city that Jesus had come into their region and at his arrival all of their pigs had committed suicide. The men reported that Jesus had cast out the demons. And then the verse that really bothered me:

“And behold, the whole city came out to Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.”

Think about that for a moment. An entire city of individuals, all of whom were held captive by sin, came out to the only One who could redeem them and liberate them from their sin and their guilt, and they begged and pleaded with Him to leave. The One who had just demonstrated His power over the ruler of this world was turned away. The people in the city were more comfortable with the presence of two extremely violent, demon-possessed men than they were with the presence of Jesus. Reading that makes my heart hurt for those people.

But then I got the sense that God was asking me a question: “Matt, aren’t there times when you turn Me away?” And my immediate response to Him was “No, God! That would be crazy! Why would I ever want to turn You and Your presence in my life, my family, my ministry or any other part of my life away?” And then I felt like God asked me one more question: “But Matt, you know all of those times that you go about life, family, and ministry on your own; all those times when you attempt to do things in your own strength; all of those times when you are comfortable just keeping the status quo and managing things without ever calling on me to do the supernatural. Could it be that you are really communicating to Me that you are comfortable with things as they are and that you really don’t want the change that my presence might bring to the circumstances in your life?” That was a tough question. The reality of it is, when I got honest with myself, is that I couldn’t say to God that I was imploring Him to invade every area of my life, family, and ministry. I wasn’t actively asking God to leave, but the truth is, is that my lack of dependency on Him in essence seemed to be communicating that I didn’t need Him around. And that was gut wrenching. The idea that my lack of dependency on God and my lack of pleading with Him to come into every area of my life and make a difference on a daily basis might actually be communicating to Him the same thing that this city was imploring Jesus to do was nothing short of frightening.

The next verse, the first verse of chapter nine, is another scary verse. “Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city.” Jesus honored the request of this city. They asked Him to leave and He did. He took His presence, His power, and His life giving words and departed. I don't believe that God takes salvation from those who have truly trusted in Him, but it seems that for those who are not interested in a having a sense of His presence, His power, or His influence, He will and does take those things away.

So then how should we be living? It looks like the next several verses in chapter 9 help to give us some ideas. In verse two of chapter nine we find men bringing a paralytic to Jesus. These men seem to have a completely different outlook than did those from the country of the Gadarenes. The people from the country of the Gadarenes did not want the change that Christ could and would bring to their community. They seemed to have been content with the way things were. The men bringing the paralytic had a different idea. One had come into their town who could do the supernatural and they weren’t going to settle for anything less. And rather than waiting for Christ to come to them they set off seeking Him and implored Him to do the supernatural in their lives. Verse two tells us that Jesus saw their faith. He saw their faith on display when they brought this man to Him and made their request to Him, believing that He could heal Him. Then Christ does His greatest act of healing first by proclaiming that his sins had been forgiven. He follows that up by bringing physical healing and restoration to the life of the paralytic. These men recognized their need for Christ, sought Him out, asked Him to do the supernatural, and He did! Does that sound like a couple of guys not interested in change because they were comfortable with the way things were? Matthew follows that account up with his first personal encounter with Christ, beginning in verse nine of chapter nine. Jesus said to Matthew, “Follow me.” Matthew’s response wasn’t “That’s alright. I’m good. I’ll catch up with you another time.” Matthew says he got up and followed Him. And in the next verse we see that all of his buddies had come over and were hanging out with Jesus too. Doesn’t sound like a community disinterested in the presence of Christ among them. We notice that when the Pharisees come on the scene they questioned what Jesus was doing because it did not seem proper for Him to be spending time with a crowd of tax collectors and sinners, but Jesus’ response is incredibly important: “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick . . . for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus says that His primary reason for coming was to bring salvation to sinners.

So allow me to share some points of application that I’m going to try to make in my own life. (1) I want to be resolved to never communicate to Christ, either actively or passively, that I do not want His life changing presence in my life, family, community, etc. (2) I want to recognize Christ’s ultimate purpose in coming every day – that He came to call sinners. (3) Then I want to do the opposite of what those individuals in the country of the Gadarenes did. I want Him to see my faith as I beg and plead with Him that He would come into my community and bring about the supernatural change that only He can bring and then expect Him to do it. I want to implore Him to save lost people and I want to ask myself constantly if there is a lost individual that I am trying to carry to Christ, like the men carrying the paralytic did. I want to be resolved not to get so comfortable with where I am personally, and in my family life, and in my ministry that I begin to do things in my own strength. Rather I want to be daily imploring Christ to continue to do a radical work in those areas so that I am transformed more into His image, so that my family reflects better the image of Christ, and so that my ministry will continue to build up God’s Kingdom. I am convinced that Christ’s presence in our lives and the supernatural work that He can do, although it may bring change, will be far better than the status quo in which neither His presence nor His power is there. My prayer is that you will be convinced of the same thing and that you will daily implore Christ to do the same in your life.

Talk to Yourself More

My goal for the Escalate blog is to primarily publish my own thoughts and ideas. And yet I am humble enough to admit that there is a vast multitude of men and women whose thoughts and ideas are far more valuable and profitable than my own. With that in mind, I may occasionally post someone else's thoughts, especially if I have found them to be profitable to my own edification. That way you can get an idea of some of the insights that are helping to shape and mold me, and hopefully be encouraged and shaped by them yourself. The following passage is from a book I recently finished by C.J. Mahaney called Humility: True Greatness.

"This is simply a strategy for taking control of the thoughts we allow in our mind. In his excellent book Spiritual Depression, Martin Lloyd-Jones asked, 'Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?' That's profound, and it's true.
Take a moment to review and examine your pattern of thinking from yesterday. Did you spend more time speaking truth to yourself, or was most of your time spent listening to yourself? Most of us spend more time listening to lies than we do speaking truth to ourselves. And the listening process usually starts as soon as we get up. The alarm has rudely interrupted the gift of sleep, and the listening begins. As we stumble through our morning routine, we're not directing the thoughts in our mind - we're simply at their mercy. We entertain complaints about what happened yesterday or worries about what's coming today. We look in the bathroom mirror and assess the damage, then brood over how we feel. We're not in charge of our thinking. We're just there."
- Mahaney, C.J. Humility: True Greatness. (Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2005) pgs. 69-70.

Does C.J. hit the nail on the head, or what? How often is Satan actively whispering lies to us while we sit passively by and listen? It's time we start recognizing how harmful those thoughts can be and stop listening to ourselves.

When Satan whispers, "No one cares about you," are you listening? If you listen to that your thoughts will continue down the wrong path. You'll start thinking to yourself, "Maybe that's true. My family members are disinterested and aren't supportive of what I do; my friends don't ever call me, I always have to call them. In fact I can't think of anyone who sincerely cares." When you hear those thoughts you have to stop listening and start speaking truth. Tell yourself, "God cares for me. In fact He loves me so much He sent His Son to die on my behalf, to redeem me and to reconcile me to Himself. I am loved! I am cared for! Scripture cannot speak more clearly on this matter."
When Satan whispers, "You aren't valuable and you'll never do anything of worth," stop listening. Speak truth to yourself instead. Remind yourself that your value isn't determined by what you accomplish today, this week, or throughout the course of your life. Your value is determined by who you are in Christ! In Christ, I am a child of the King, and a co-heir with Christ. I am valuable not because of who I am, but because of whose I am!
When Satan whispers, "You would be happier if you would commit that sin," stop listening. Remind yourself that although you may think there is temporary pleasure in participating in that sin, it will never truly satisfy you. Truth says that only Jesus can satisfy us. Scripture says we have been set free from the captivity and power of sin, which really only condemns and separates us from God. Growing in and walking in Christ is what brings the greatest joy and pleasure."

We can no longer accept the practice of sitting idly by and listening to the thoughts that fill our hearts and mind. Instead we need to actively be speaking truth to ourselves to make sure our minds are fixed on truth and not led astray by Satan's deceptions. I hope this will encourage you to start giving more consideration to your thoughts and help you to be more active in talking to yourself throughout each day.

Does God's Patience Move You to Praise?

It seems that most people have a natural bent towards wanting to see those who are wrong experience justice. Wouldn’t you agree? Consider some examples: You’re driving down the road and someone driving recklessly cuts in front of you and nearly causes you to get into an accident. For most of us our normal reaction is to hope that maybe just down the road a state trooper will be observing traffic and will pull him over and give him what he deserves. Or maybe you’ve heard on the news or read an article about a famous athlete or celebrity having committed a crime. Most of us have seen enough examples of this to believe that the athlete or celebrity involved will probably go unpunished or at worst get a light slap on the wrist. But at the same time most of us are also wishing deep down that for once the individual’s money or status would not be taken into consideration and that he would be punished just like any normal individual would be if he had committed the same crime.
A healthy desire for justice isn’t a bad thing. Our God is a just God, which means that His character requires justice to be done. When we have a healthy desire for justice it demonstrates that we have an understanding of right and wrong and it can demonstrate that we are growing in godliness. A healthy desire for justice can also stir us to action so that we defend those who are weak or less capable. A healthy desire for justice can truly lead to great good. But the problem is that our sinful nature often gets in the way and can subtly move our healthy desire for justice into an unhealthy attitude towards others (or worse – God, Himself).
The unfortunate situation, if the truth be told, is most of us who are believers (in reality probably all of us who are believers) have probably experienced at one time or another frustration with God because of a situation in which we felt like God was not dealing justly with someone who we perceived to be in the wrong. We observed a pattern of words, thoughts, or actions of an individual which was inconsistent with godly character and recognized a need for justice. But after a few days there was no evidence of God exercising His justice. A few days turned to weeks, and a few weeks turned to months, and still there was no evidence of God exercising His justice. We understood that biblical principles had been violated because we have evidence of that in His Word, and yet God did not seem at all concerned about exercising His justice. Not understanding what was going on we became confused. God’s heart, revealed in His Word, says that what was taking place was displeasing to Him and yet the only One who was capable of carrying out justice wasn’t doing anything. Our confusion turned to frustration, and our frustration to anger. Have you ever been in that place? I sure have. So what can be done to turn that unhealthy frustration and anger into something more healthy and edifying?
When we don’t feel that justice is being served, rather than becoming consumed with the particulars of the situation, we need to be focused on the character of our God. Why? Because if we look beyond the situation to the character of our God then what we will most likely see on display is God’s great patience. Examine Scripture and you will find that one of the character traits of God is patience. Here are just a few examples from the New Testament:
· “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” - Romans 2:4
· “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” - Romans 9:22
· “Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.” - 1 Timothy 1:16
· “. . . who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” - 1 Peter 3:20
· “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9
Although God requires justice, because of His great love for us and for His creation He often waits patiently before exercising it. He wants people to recognize the errors they have made and the sins they have committed and to repent from them and to turn back to Him. He longs for us to be in right relationship with Him and so there are times in which He extends great patience and mercy to us. I could give you numerous examples of times in which I believe God showed me great patience, times when there was a continual bitterness of heart, or times when I persisted in a wrong attitude. But the greatest example I could give would be the years of my life I spent as an unbeliever, living in sin and pursuing only that which brought me pleasure. I was very fortunate to come to Christ at the age of 8, but understand that those 8 years of my life were 8 years in which I was guilty of sin, having no concern or love for Christ, and in which I was unable to do anything for His praise or His glory. The sins that I committed in those 8 years were deserving of God’s condemnation and wrath. God could have taken me out and condemned me to an eternity in hell and He would have been completely justified in doing so. But He was patient with me, giving me opportunities to hear and to read the truth communicated in His word, to repent of my sin, and to turn to Him. And now, because of His great patience I have received salvation and have new life in Him. I have a gift that I am completely undeserving of and which I never would have had an opportunity to receive without the patience shown to me.
When you realize that God’s patience has been shown to you and you realize the tremendous impact that it has made in your life, you should be moved to praise Him for it. His patience in your life should fill your heart with gratitude and thanksgiving and you should praise Him for that. But this isn’t just true for your own personal life. When you see God’s patience extended to others it should also move your heart to praise. The natural reaction is to want to see His justice exercised in the lives of others. But challenge yourself to see God’s patience on display in the lives of others and then let that remind you of God’s great patience in your own life and allow that to stir in your heart praise for Him. When we can rid ourselves of unhealthy attitudes toward God and choose instead to see His greatness and glory on display, we can grow in our relationship with Him, rather than putting harmful stumbling blocks in our way.