christianity

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Let me be unashamed

unashamedI have been taking John Piper out for a walk now and then recently – well, obviously not in person, but in mp3 format on my smart phone. Today I listened to a talk from 2010 on Mark 8, titled “The Son of Man Must Suffer many things“….. It was an astounding message. The first half explored the passage and the topic, and the second explained why he needed to take a complete 8 month break from preaching!

In the first half, the climax was this challenge from Piper on verse 38:

“Verse 38: “Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Let’s get the meaning clear before we make the connection. What’s the opposite of being ashamed of somebody? Being proud of them. Admiring them. Not being embarrassed to be seen with them. Loving to be identified with them.

So Jesus is saying, “If you are embarrassed by me and the price I paid for you (and he’s not referring to lapses of courage when you don’t share your faith, but a settled state of your heart toward him)—if you’re not proud of me and you don’t cherish me and what I did for you—if you want to put yourself with the goats that value their reputation in the goat herd more than they value me, then that’s the way I will view you when I come. I will be ashamed of you, and you will perish with the people who consider me an embarrassment.”

Now I’m sure you are curious how preaching on this passage links with Piper announcing his request for a leave of absence from ministry (you can read or listen to the talk if you follow this link.) And I’m not going to tell you . . . because his challenge is what I want you to contemplate: are you in a settled state of admiration for Christ, do you love being identified with him – or are you in a settled state of embarrassment for the “foolishness” of the Cross of Christ? As I was being challenged by Piper’s words I was reminded of a similarly challenging plea that comes in a song from Sovereign Grace:

“Let me be unashamed, Jesus, to speak Your name
Let me be bold to claim you as my Lord”

This is a brilliantly rousing song. The faster pace and guitar riffs would surely appeal to many, even though it may be considered “old”. I hope you will be able to encourage your whole church to bring this plea before God in song: “Let me be unashamed….” I definitely need to add this one back onto the new song list for our church!

(Click here to listen, for lead sheets and other music formats.)

UNASHAMED

VERSE 1
You were not ashamed to be
Emptied and poured out to death
Unashamed to give Your dying breath
You were not ashamed to bear
All of my reproach and sin
Jesus, You were such a faithful friend
So I will glory in the cross
And in the blood You shed for us
Glory in the gospel of Your grace

Let me be unashamed
Jesus, to speak Your name
For You were the one who came
The Savior of the world
Let me be unashamed
Jesus, to speak Your name
Let me be bold to claim
You as my Lord

VERSE 2
You were not ashamed to give
Your body to a Roman lash
Unashamed to bear God’s holy wrath
You were not ashamed to hang
Naked bleeding on a tree
Gladly You did all of this for me
So I will glory in the cross
And in the blood you shed for us
Glory in the gospel of Your grace

Mark Altrogge © 2002 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

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Grace has “Overflowed” in song

I’ve recently discovered an Ausoverflowtralian songwriter, Trevor Hodge, who is churning out heaps of inspiring tunes that are both filled with the Gospel of grace and easy to sing together – what a great combination! This song is but one of many. It has a lively tune with a challenging reminder, that the “riches of Your grace have raised us up to live in Him always – and bring You praise”. This is what we were made for. Not for us, but for the glory of God.
You can listen here, and then follow the links to Trevor’s own website where the lead sheets are free to download. Thanks Trevor! You can also read about two of his songs we have taught at Cafe Church this year: ‘See the Man‘ and ‘No Other Name‘. These are in my post about New Songs for 2013.

OVER FLOWED

We will exalt Your name, O God
We will rejoice in what Youʼve done
That one so high should come so low
Resolved to die so all can know

In Christ, Your love has overflowed
The debts we owed have been all wiped away
And now, the riches of Your grace
Have raised us up to live in Him always
And bring You praise

Weʼve been created in Your Son
To do good works You have prepared
To serve the poor, the captives – free
To be Your light, that all may see

The Church of Christ to love as one
Display Your Kingdom, now begun
To serve the poor, the captives – free
To be Your light, that all may see

from No Other Name, released 29 August 2011

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On being persistent, creative and sacrificial to bring people to Christ

jesusparalyticIn preparing to take a new friend through Christianity Explained I have been reading through the book of Mark in my old faithful NIV study bible. Scribbled in the margins around Mark 2 I found a wealth of challenging comments which were exactly what I needed to hear. Mark 2 is the story of the persistent men who brought the “man on the mat” to Jesus.  Jesus’ concern and his actions showed all those gathered that He was the Son of God.  I’ll list some of my notes here in point form for you to contemplate:

1.  The greatest miracle Jesus performs is that of forgiving our sin – has He ever said to you “your sins are forgiven”?
2. This miracle authenticated Jesus’ power to forgive sin. Neither forgiving sins nor healing was an easy task – but they were ‘God tasks’ – things only God could do. Jesus was clearly the Son of God.
3. The men who carried the paralytic in were persistent, they had faith. Their love for their friend was clear – God is pleased to work where there is love.
4. The teachers of the law showed indifference to the man’s needs and criticised Jesus for healing.
5. Jesus met the man’s greatest need first – his need for forgiveness. This was most costly to Jesus – it revealed his power, his authority, and it was by revealing these that the road to the Cross was paved. It brought out the wrath of the Pharisees who charged him with blaspheming, claiming to be God.
6. We must find ways, at any cost, of bringing people face to face with Jesus. (Do we love those around us this much? Do we love them as much as the men loved the man on the mat?)
7. If we believe in Jesus then we will be persistent, creative and sacrificial in bringing others to Christ.

Please pray for me as I bring another sinner who needs forgiveness face to face with Jesus.

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Why do we sing about Wrath?

I’m sharing this post from one of my favourite blogs (The Blazing Center) by songwriter/Pastor Mark Altrogge from Sovereign Grace:

lightningSometimes I think if a stranger came into our church he might wonder why in the world are we singing songs about a Roman instrument of death, spikes, whips, and a crown made out of a thorn bush. Why are we singing about some poor guy hanging alone in darkness, bleeding, and thirsting while crowds mock him and spit on him?
And it might really seem strange that so many of our songs mention wrath. This stranger might wonder if we’re fixated on death. He might say, “I thought I would come here and sing about God’s love.” We do. We definitely do. But God’s love for us involves….wrath. We can’t sing songs about God’s love without mentioning his wrath, and a cross, and a bloody sacrifice.
“The common contemporary view of this is that we are estranged from God, but He is not estranged from us. The enmity is all one sided. The picture we get is that God goes on loving us with an unconditional love while we remain hateful toward Him. The cross belies this picture. Yes, the cross occurred because God loves us. His love stands behind His plan of salvation. However, Christ was not sacrificed on the cross to placate us or to serve as a propitiation to us. His sacrifice was not designed to satisfy our unjust enmity toward God but to satisfy God’s just wrath toward us. The Father was the object of the Son’s act of propitiation. The effect of the cross was to remove the divine estrangement from us, not our estrangement from Him. If we deny God’s estrangement from us, the cross is reduced to a pathetic and anemic moral influence with no substitutionary satisfaction of God.” — RC Sproul

God’s wrath makes his love that much more amazing and sweet.

If there were no wrath, if God somehow just loved us and didn’t deal with our sins – if he somehow just put up with them – “Oh boys will be boys. You just have to love them anyway” – we wouldn’t appreciate his love and mercy. Most likely we wouldn’t love him, but go on loving our sins. But God’s wrath that once hung over our heads like a very real sword, waiting to overwhelm us with unspeakable and unending horror and unimaginable, infinite agony is gone! Gone forever! And where did it go? It fell on the one human being who didn’t deserve any wrath. It fell on the innocent, spotless Lamb. It fell on Jesus.

And why? Because of God’s love for us. Because of God’s tender mercy and compassion. Oh yes, we will sing of wrath. Wrath well deserved. Wrath stored up from day one. Heaps and mounds and oceans of wrath barrelling down on us like a juggernaut, then suddenly diverted. Suddenly turned aside. And heaped on Jesus. Jesus, like some kind of heavenly lightning rod, absorbing billions of volts of retribution that was due us. Jesus, on the cross, going to hell.

Yes we will sing about wrath. And meditate on it. And marvel at what we deserved but didn’t receive. We will celebrate and sing our strange songs about wounds and blood and darkness of soul and a cry of abandonment. Because God’s wrath makes his love for us so much sweeter.

O Father, thank you for your deep, deep love. Jesus thank you for the height, width, breadth and depth of your love. Thank you Father for sparing us the terrifying wrath we so well deserved and pouring it out on your Son. Jesus, thank you for taking our place on the cross and drinking this unimaginable cup to the dregs for us. Holy Spirit, thank you for showing us the wrath of God and the love of God.

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Try these New Life Resolutions

SYD0037 New Year's Eve Fireworks Sydney NSW _DSC2336In some ways the start of a New Year brings with it a sinking feeling, a feeling that although we have successfully negotiated our way through a full year plus the hectic Christmas period, now we have to do it all again! And then there are the New Year resolutions that everyone else seems to be making. Where do we put God in all this, the God who sits outside the passing of months and years, and controls the changing seasons? He does not change from year to year. How do we look at the road which stretches ahead with optimism, with joy, and our eyes firmly on Christ?

At the New Year’s Sunday service last year our pastor shared an alternative to New Year’s resolutions (which are usually broken by mid-January and forgotten mid-February). These New Life Resolutions apply every day in every season as we seek to follow Christ. We need not feel frustrated with these or give up when we fail. . . because, yes, we will all inevitably fail!  For this is the reason Christ died. . . because we could never “make it” on our own. “But God gives us more grace”. Here are some guiding principles to hold on to each day as we seek to live in the freedom of the new life Christ has won for us: (from Luke 12)

1. Resolve to live by GRACE not WORKS. If we are in Christ it is His works which we are judged on, and He is perfect! Have confidence in this, and extend this grace to others. (verses 1-3)
2. Resolve in your thoughts to TRUST GOD. Don’t allow our minds to entertain thoughts that are fearful of man, the future, anything! (v 4-8)
3. Resolve in your words to PROCLAIM CHRIST. The promise is that if we acknowledge Christ before men He will acknowledge us before His Father! Be proactive and speak up, tell others you are a Christian, ask what they know about Jesus. He promises to give us the words. (v 8-12)
4. Resolve in your actions to IMITATE GOD.
The aim is to transform our walk, our talk, our thoughts to those of Jesus. Be rich toward God! Rely on the power of His Spirit in you to transform you (v13-21).

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Beautiful, Beautiful

“Like sunlight burning at midnight”.

This is how singer Francesca Battistelli describes the grace of God which illuminates the darkness of our world, and our hearts. His grace transforms our lives into something unexpectedly and incredibly beautiful, as we are transformed into the likeness of Christ.
I hope you enjoy this song (and discover a great Christian musician who has particular appeal for girls/young women . . . if you are looking for gifts).

BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL

Don’t know how it is You looked at me
And saw the person that I could be
Awakening my heart, Breaking through the dark
Suddenly Your grace

Like sunlight burning at midnight
Making my life something so
Beautiful, beautiful
Mercy reaching to save me
All that I need
You are so Beautiful, beautiful

Now there’s a joy inside I can’t contain
But even perfect days can end in rain
And though it’s pouring down
I see You through the clouds
Shining on my face

(Chorus)

I have come undone
But I have just begun
Changing by Your grace

Album: My Paper Heart
Artist: Francesca Battistelli

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To know Christ means to . . . ?

Knowing-Christ-Screen-530x397” . . . everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ”.
Philippians 3:8 (NLT)

Knowing Christ is what makes us Christians. We know Christ and have decided to follow Him. We want to know Him better. We wouldn’t be following Him if we had never met him or realised his worth. But how well do we go at explaining, in practical and understandable terms, what it means to “know Christ”, to “know God”. This is something that non-Christians really want to know. What does it mean to have a relationship with God, what does that look like? We need to get a whole lot better at explaining this.
Probably a good place to start is to talk about what it means to “know” another human being. If you know a person it means you have met him, you have knowledge of their name, appearance, you have encountered their character and spent time with them. Just a knowledge of their existence is not actually “knowing”, just as you don’t know some random Facebooker who applies to be your friend, or some far distant cousin you have heard exists, sitting far out on a branch of your family tree. Knowing is about a relationship.

So knowing God means having a relationship, which has a beginning point. This may be for some a slow and gradual growing relationship starting in childhood, or it could be a sudden meeting in a dark alley, as with a stranger. And once you know Him, how could you forget – His character, His love, His grace is irresistible. HE draws us into a relationship with him, and we grow to know Him better, as we spend time soaking in His story which is revealed to us in all the pages of the Bible. He speaks to us there. We know and understand more of His character and ways. We speak to him in prayer.

And He is not far from us; He is with us. His Spirit, the Spirit of His Son has come to live in us! And we are IN Him! We are found in Christ, wrapped up in His righteousness and made perfect in Him. How much closer could this relationship be? One song my youngest daughter sings at school asks about The Creator (which is the song title):
“What if he was much closer,
Closer than your toaster,
closer than your tie?”
An interesting way to phrase it!

To me, knowing Christ means I am in the growing process of having my selfish and sinful desires replaced with his desires. I know peace with God, forgiveness through Christ’s finished work on the Cross. So I want to follow His agenda and align the desires of my heart with his. I want to obey and please Christ. I want to know Him better – He is the Word of God to us. None of this comes from myself! I am certain of that. So I know I know God because of this.

How would you go at explaining what it means to know Christ?
Casting Crowns has attempted to answer this very question in the song below – and the emphasis is on that desire to grow in knowing.

TO KNOW YOU (Casting Crowns)

To know you is to never worry for my life, and
To know you is to never to give in or compromise
To know you is to want to tell the world about you
‘Cause I can’t live without you

To know you is to hear your voice when you are calling
To know you is to catch my brother when he is falling
To know you is to feel the pain of the broken hearted
Cause they can’t live with out you.

More than my next breath, More than life or death
All I’m reaching for, I live my life to know you more
I leave it all behind, you’re all that satisfies
To know you is to want to know you more
To know you is to want to know you more

To know you is to ache for more than ordinary
To know you is to look beyond the temporary
To know you is believing that you will be enough
Cause there is no life without you

More than . . .

All this life could offer me, could not compare to you, compare to you
And I’ll count it all as lost, compared to knowing you, knowing you

 

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A reminder of who we are by Grace

Greetings! Have decided to repost an excellent challenge from The Blazing Center blog. It’s one of those things you read and think “yes, exactly, I’ve been wondering what to do in that situation!” I hope you find it as encouraging as I did (especially if you are a small group leader): We are not slaves to sin!

It’s Time To Stop Being Authentic Christians by Stephen Altrogge on September 13, 2012

How many small group/home group/community group/cell group/care group meetings (did I forget any names?) have started out like this:
PERSON 1: I’m really struggling with [insert impatience, anger, lust, discontentment, and any other sin].
PERSON 2: Thanks for being so open and honest about your struggles. We can all identify with that struggle.
PERSON 1: Yeah, it’s just so hard to overcome. I feel like I’m struggling with this all the time.
PERSON 2: I can relate to that feeling. I feel the same way. In fact just yesterday I [yelled at my kids, looked at porn, wasted money, etc.] We’re all broken people. Thankfully there’s grace. Let’s pray and ask God to help us.
Now, is there anything wrong with this interchange? Not exactly. It’s good to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another. Plus, if there’s one thing the world hates, it’s hypocrites. So, in an effort to obey scripture and be “authentic”, we confess our struggles. And we drink fair trade coffee, listen to Bon Iver, and wear faded jeans. But I think in general, we as Christians need to be less authentic.

What I mean is, we need to identify more with who we are in Christ than our current struggles. We are not primarily defined by our anger, lust, impatience, or discontentment. We are defined by the fact that we are united to Jesus Christ, and that Christ himself lives in us!

So should we talk about our struggles and sins? Yes, of course. But we shouldn’t stop there. We need to remind each other that, because we are united to Christ, we will not be ruled by our sin. As Romans 6:14 says, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

We are united to the almighty Christ. That fact should completely transform the way we talk about our sins. We need to remind each other that our struggles with sin are NOT our authentic identity. Our authentic identity is as new creations in Christ. So our discussions should go a little more like this:
PERSON 1: Man, I’m just really struggling with anger this week!
PERSON 2: Thanks for being open and honest about your struggles. I can relate to that struggle too.
PERSON 1: Yeah, it feels like I can’t get past this! I’m always going to be angry.
PERSON 2: I know that it feels that way, but I want encourage you that this sin WILL NOT rule you. You are under grace. You don’t have to obey this feeling of anger that is rising within you. That feeling of anger is not your identity. You are in Christ and he is in you, and he will give you the power to overcome that sin. You don’t have to give in to it! Isn’t that good news? Now let’s pray and ask God to help you obey.

We are not slaves to sin. Our true, authentic, real identity is as Christians, united to Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. Yes we confess and repent of our sins. But we don’t stay there. By faith we embrace our identity and fight against the sin that wages war against us.

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The great unveiling (2Corinthians 3:16)

open eyes“But whenever someone turns to the Lord the veil is taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:16)

For this next verse in the Three Sixteen series I am going to say very little. God/Paul can speak for himself here. He does it so well.

I’ll start from a little way back, at verse 7, to give you a run-up to the standout verse, 16.
“The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. 8 Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? 9 If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! . . . . . 13 We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. 14 But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. 15 Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.
16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”

What magnificent grace! What privilege has been shown to us in Christ! We have received the grace of the knowledge of God, through the Spirit of Christ. We have had the veil lifted, unlike so many who still are stumbling in the dark. Even the Jews, who were the first recipients of God’s favour, they stumble over Christ. Both back then and now. The veil is not lifted.
Praise be to God! He has turned us around, back to himself, and removed the veil which kept him hidden from us! Now we can reflect His glory to others!

2 Corinthians 4:6 – “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

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The gracious choice to carry others’ burdens

The other day I was involved in a discussion about how we can knowingly or unknowingly tempt others to sin. What is our responsibility in that situation? Interesting discussion!
One person shared a verse from James 1:14 – “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” In their view this verse excuses us from much responsibility. Now James does have a fair point here of course. People do have a choice, to give in to the temptation/entertain the thought, or not! But does this exempt me from responsibility?
If I know someone who has difficulty with being, frankly, a glutton, should I offer them a large serve of chips and a whole block of chocolate? If someone has a problem with anger, should I provoke them by luring them into a heated debate? If someone, by virtue of being male, is tempted by images of scantily dressed females should I make the effort to wear more modest, less figure hugging clothes? If someone is an avid gossiper should I mention some tasty little bit of information to them, out of turn?

In seeking godly wisdom for this dilemma, Paul reminded me in his letter to the Galatians (6:1-2) that: ” . . .  if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (NIV)
Also in Philippians we read: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (James 2:3-4)

This is how the law of Christ is fulfilled! This is the law of love, lived out when we consider that each of us carry burdens, and the heaviest burden is sin. Paul commands us to carry each other’s burdens. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (1 John 3:16). (See the post in the Three Sixteens.)

We carry each others burdens best when we remember that we are part of the Body of Christ. We are part of a larger unit of people who need each other, and should support each other, just as the different organs and limbs in our physical bodies do. We are a living system and we are to seek the good of others in that system. I don’t think God intends us to struggle alone with our sin, without help. Let’s look around and consider what burdens others are carrying, and help them by being mindful of their weakness. We can even pray for them! And if it means we have to change something about ourselves, our actions, then so be it. Just because we aren’t responsible for other people’s sinful actions doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider them ‘better’ enough to help carry their burden. Let’s spur each other on to love and good deeds (not more sin).

Ps.
I now feel compelled to, most daringly, turn this whole thing around and back on to me.
Does this all mean that I, a sinner saved by grace, should be honest enough and vulnerable enough with others to let them know my struggles with sin? Am I willing to do that? If I don’t, aren’t I preventing others from fulfilling the law of Christ. What do you think?

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