The Traveler's Advisory

Dear Travelers,

I begin this post with this entry from my journal for Thursday, 9 January 2014.

My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

—Philippians 4.19a

I begin this day remembering that God is Yahweh Yireh. He is the God who provides. He is the Great I AM who will supply my every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Today I remember, “I can trust God in the present because of what He has already done for us in the past, which leads me to depend on Him for my future,” (Scott J. Hafemann, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith, 108).

As I look back over 2013, I remember with thanksgiving how God truly supplied every need of mine. We had food, clothing, shelter and income – all these were the fruit of His provision. When I was vulnerable to doubt and questioned God’s willingness and ability to supply my every need, the Spirit reminded me of Paul’s words in Philippians 4.19 together with Hafemann’s maxim to inspire me to put my hope and trust in God’s promise of future grace. God will not leave us nor forsake us. God continues to provide/supply every need of mine notwithstanding my fear He will let me experience lack.

So I must yield my anxious heart to His providing grace. I must speak to my soul and encourage trust/obedience in God and His provision. God is faithful. He will supply every need of mine. His promise is as sufficient as it is praiseworthy. Surplus is grace upon grace. There are many reasons why God is faithful to supply every need of mine, but the two most fundamental reasons why are— 1) to glorify His name 2) to encourage me to a greater faithfulness to Him – the more satisfied I am in God the more glorified He is in me.

The faithfulness of God should inspire me to live faithfully. Reading through Jonathan Edwards’ list of seventy resolutions, I found Resolution 32 to be a strong encouragement to do just that.

Resolved, to be strictly and firmly faithful to my trust, so that in Proverbs 20:6, “A faithful man who can find?” may not be partly fulfilled in me.”

The goal of living faithfully is to develop an ever-increasing trust in the trustworthiness of God. The more I trust in the faithfulness of God the more faithful I will be in following Him by following Jesus—not partially faithful, but as totally faithful as I can be—this side of eternity. I will never be perfect at living faithfully, but I will strive to live as faithfully as I can in this life. I will live faithfully because God is faithful.

I will live faithfully by trusting in the faithfulness of God.

An important part of living faithfully is trusting God to supply our needs. According to Philippians 1.6, God will finish what He started because He will supply everything we need to get us to the finish line. Just as God supplied Paul with every need of his, Paul assures the Philippians God will prove just as faithful to supply every need of theirs. While this may sound like something you’d read inside a greeting card, remember that Paul wrote Philippians from prison. Prison! And yet he is convinced God will supply every need they have according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

The only way a man in prison could have such trust in God’s faithfulness is because he learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need (see 4.11-12). And this is key. We must learn to live faithfully. None of us is born faithful. We must learn to trust God to supply every need of ours – starting with our greatest need: salvation. Once we trust God for our salvation, we can begin to learn how to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. It comes down to making a resolution to live faithfully by trusting in the faithfulness of God. It is because Paul trusted in the faithfulness of God that he could “do all things through Him who gives me strength” (4.13).

As God enabled and empowered Paul to live faithfully while enduring persecution and imprisonment, so too, can He enable and empower us to live faithfully as we encounter and endure whatever circumstances God leads us through. Whatever it is, He will supply every need of ours. The challenge is to let God define the need. This is where trust is learned.

We must incline our hearts to seek and desire God’s supply of what we need over what we want. We want many things, but we need very few. In 1 Timothy 6.8, Paul boils it down to two things: if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. And should our need surpass the need for food and clothing, we have God’s promise to supply every need of ours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

So what do you need?

Living faithfully means trusting God to supply every need of ours instead of every want. It is about seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. When we trust God to supply our need the Holy Spirit teaches us to live with the broader perspective of God’s point of view. And as the Spirit widens our gaze He helps us to look beyond the margins of our own heart, mind and soul. He focuses our attention on where God is at work.

Although His hand is unseen, He is writing the script, constructing the background, and blocking each scene. God is in charge from top to bottom, start to finish, opening night to final performance. And He will supply our every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

You think about that.

Dear Travelers,

What comes to mind when you hear the word repentance?

When the Bible talks about repentance it refers to a change of heart leading to a change in the direction of one’s life. Both are the result of the work of the Holy Spirit. Until we become followers of Jesus we are going in the wrong direction—away from God. We are lost, but we do not know it. We are lost because our internal GPS is defective. We are going the wrong way. We put more trust in our sense of direction than in Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We are listening to our heart when we should be listening to God.

Before we can put our trust in Christ, the Holy Spirit must change our heart and renew our mind. We must repent, or turn away from our old way of life and turn toward God to begin a new way of life. Repentance involves a radical transformation of thought, attitude, and lifestyle. Repentance is the decisive act of turning away from sin and toward God. However, repentance is more than a one-time act. Repentance is a lifestyle characterized by a lifelong obedience to Jesus Christ under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Repentance requires wisdom and humility. It requires wisdom to realize you are, in fact, going in the wrong way. It requires humility in that the moment you realize you are going the wrong way, you must do the unthinkable—especially if you are a man. You must stop and ask for directions. And you must follow them. You must turn around and start going in the right direction. Repentance is doing what it takes not only to start going in the right direction but to keep on going in the right direction.

Repentance is possible because of what Jesus did for us by His life, death and resurrection. Because of Jesus we are a new creation and live the new life. The new life is a life of repentance. Repentance is characterized by a lifestyle of daily surrender to the mercy of God. That said there are two kinds of repentance: religious repentance and gospel repentance.

People who practice religious repentance believe they are saved by grace but kept by works. The goal of religious repentance is to keep God happy so He will continue being good to us and answer our prayers. Religious repentance draws attention to what we do for God. It is essentially self-focused, self-justifying self-improvement layered with just enough spiritual vocabulary to make us look good. Think about the tax-collector in Jesus’ parable. People who practice religious repentance believe God owes them for their trust. They present God with a worksheet of their religious activity expecting Him to reward them for their hard work and good behavior.

In contrast, people who practice gospel repentance believe they are saved by grace and kept by grace. The goal of gospel repentance is to seek the help of the Spirit in order to practice daily what Jesus preaches. Gospel repentance is motivated by what God has done for us in Christ. It is the daily presentation of ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Gospel repentance is the overflow of a changed heart leading to a changed lifestyle: a lifestyle rooted and grounded in a faith-relationship with Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3.13-14, our theme text,  gives us a good picture of what gospel repentance looks like.

…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel repentance focuses on forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.

Gospel repentance is focuses on trusting the Spirit to help us press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Gospel repentance is all about living repentantly.

Gospel repentance says I will live repentantly by placing more value on following Jesus than on following my heart.

 

When I live repentantly I trust God to finish what He started,

Philippians 1.6

And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Let’s be clear about this: God and God alone is responsible for transforming our lives by leading us to repentance. He does this by what is called the work of regeneration. Regeneration is that moment when the Holy Spirit changes us from people who are spiritually dead into people who are spiritually alive. Until the Spirit gives us life we are the walking dead. But the moment He breathes into us we are revived. We are able to respond to the gospel. We are able to repent. We are able to confess faith in Jesus Christ. We are able to practice what He preaches. More importantly, we want to practice what Jesus preaches.

Knowing this, Paul is confident God will continue His good work of saving us until Christ comes back. The day of Christ Jesus refers to the time when Jesus returns for His church: salvation is finally completed and everything we have done is examined and rewarded. God will bring His work to completion. Nothing in this life or after death will prevent the successful accomplishment of God’s good work in every follower of Jesus Christ.

Although Paul rejoiced in the Philippians’ generosity and spiritual growth, his joyful confidence did not rest ultimately on the Philippians’ gospel repentance, but on God, who would keep them and empower them to reach the goal. The key to living repentantly is trusting God to finish what He started. He has promised to continue His work of saving us until Jesus comes back. Only then will our salvation be complete. Until then, we must put our trust in Him.

Knowing this encourages me to live repentantly. Living repentantly is all about leaning on the everlasting arms of the God who revealed Himself as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. It’s about trusting God to finish what He started. It’s about trusting Jesus to be the Author and Finisher of our faith. God not only initiates our salvation, He guarantees its perfect ending.

When I live repentantly I trust God to transform adversity into opportunity to advance the gospel.

Philippians 1.12

I want you know brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

What had happened to Paul is that he was put in prison for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. His opening, “I want you to know,” introduces an important claim. His recent imprisonment actually helped advance the gospel. Rather than complain about being in prison, Paul chose to live repentantly. He chose to trust God to transform his adversity into an opportunity to advance the gospel despite adverse circumstances.

By choosing to live repentantly, Paul saw God using his adversity to accomplish two things.

First, God made the reason for Paul’s imprisonment public knowledge throughout the whole palace guard. Paul was in prison for Christ. During the first century, prisoners who were sent to Rome from the provinces in cases of appeal were placed in the custody of the praefectus praetorio. So over time, as more and more guards were assigned in succession to Paul, his imprisonment provided him the clear opportunity to share the gospel with his guards. Paul may have been in prison, but the gospel cannot be chained. Instead of falling into self-pity, Paul chose to live repentantly. His adversity was an opportunity to share the gospel.

Second, God used Paul’s adversity to inspire other Christians. Rather than discourage the church’s zeal to share the gospel, Paul’s imprisonment encouraged  the believers in Rome to share the gospel with greater boldness and bravery. And this was not a temporary campaign. It was still going on when Paul wrote his letter. Obviously, Paul’s own attitude about his imprisonment contributed to their courage. If he had become depressed by his chains, the effect on others would have been far different. By choosing to live repentantly, Paul allowed the Spirit to cast his circumstances as a fresh opportunity to spread the Word of God that encouraged the Christians in Rome to do likewise.

When I live repentantly I consider others as more important than myself.

Philippians 2.3

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others more significant than yourselves.

Paul exhorted the Philippians to complete his joy by paying attention to the same thing he did. He was already experiencing joy because of his connection to the Philippian church. However, there was one thing still needed to complete his joy. They needed to be “like-minded”(literally, paying attention to the same thing). Please note, this was not a command for unity at the expense of truth. Paul assumes that the same thing is also the right thing. They will complete his joy by choosing to live repentantly.

First, they will live repentantly by having the same love. Inasmuch as it is assumed that all were believers indwelt by the same Spirit, the love that is the fruit of the Spirit ought to be demonstrated in every Life.

Second, they will live repentantly by being in full accord and one mind. Paul is urging unity not unanimity. The gospel works best in an environment where every believer puts the needs of others ahead of their own. Paul is urging their unity be based on the intentional consideration of others as more significant than themselves.

Third, they will live repentantly by avoiding selfish ambition and conceit. Paul had experienced negative results from this sort of selfish ambition among some disreputable preachers at Rome. Persons who seek to advance themselves usually enjoy glorying in their success, but all such glory is conceit. The Christian attitude should reveal itself in humility.

As believers we are called to live humbly. We are a spiritual fellowship whose ultimate example of humility and obedience is the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul instructed his readers to practice humility by learning to count others more significant than yourselves. Humility encourages us to have a sane estimate of our own capabilities especially in comparison with others. Humility also prevents adopting any sense of moral superiority. When we live repentantly we will put the needs of others ahead of our own. This will be very helpful with respect to eliminating conflict.

By choosing to live repentantly, I avoid a self-centeredness that considers only my rights, agenda, and needs.  By choosing to live repentantly, I seek a broader perspective—one that includes the needs of others. It’s not that I completely ignore my own needs only that I include the needs of others when making my plans. By choosing to live repentantly, I am reminded that I am part of a larger community—one that includes my family as well as my brothers and sisters in Christ.

By choosing to live repentantly, each member of the Christian community exercises this mutual concern, problems of disunity quickly disappear.

When I live repentantly I experience what it means to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.

Philippians 4.12-13

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.

Paul is not shy about the fact he needed money. And although he was grateful to the Philippians for meeting this need, this is not his primary concern. His primary concern is to stress the fact he had learned to be content with whatever God provided, regardless of circumstances. We should be encouraged by the discovery that Paul had to learn this virtue. Contentment is not natural to us. Paul learned to find his satisfaction in Christ by trusting in Christ and Christ alone. He learned to be content by trusting his heavenly Father to give him his daily bread. When we trust in Christ and Christ alone our Father gives us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Paul understood what it was not to have nothing but lint in his pockets. He also knew what it meant to have a pocketful of cash. Here’s the lesson: whether poor or flush, Paul learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Paul did not learn this secret by looking inside himself for some inner strength that would enable him to endure cheerfully whatever life brought him. On the contrary, he learned this secret by looking outside himself.

That Secret is now public knowledge: in poverty and in wealth, in sickness and in health, Paul kept his resolution to live repentantly by following Jesus Christ through whom and by whose strength Paul claimed the ability to do all things.

If we truly desire to live repentantly, we would be wise to follow his example.

You think about that.

 

Dear Travelers,

What comes to mind when you hear the word humility?

In Philippians 2.6-8, the apostle Paul defined humility by pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ:

…who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross…

The humility of Jesus is why Paul willingly suffered the loss of all things and considered them to be rubbish.

The humility of Jesus is why Paul passionately declared his desire to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.

 The humility of Jesus is what inspired Paul to write “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

 The humility of Jesus is why I made living humbly one of my five resolutions*. Living humbly means I will do my best to see things from Jesus’s point of view. It means not being overly impressed by the sense of my own self-importance. It  means considering the needs of others as being more important than my own.

I will live humbly by considering others more significant than myself.

Philippians 2.3-4

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

This text means more than just being nice to people. This text is beyond extolling the benefits of being courteous or the virtues of being thoughtful. This text is intended to inspire us to follow the example of Jesus Christ by genuinely considering others as more important than ourselves.

Now let’s be honest. This is difficult. In fact, living humbly is impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit. Think about the people you know.  Think about the people you work with.  Think about the people you live with.  Think about the people you worship with. We like to quote the proverb which says,  “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another, (Proverbs 27.17), however, we like it more as a principle than a real-life situation. Nevertheless, living humbly demands that the one being sharpened as well as the one doing the sharpening, must consider the other as more important than themselves. To live humbly is put the needs of others above our own.

We all have an agenda. We all want to get our way. We want people to agree with us, to like us, to get along with us. But what happens when your agenda is set aside? What happens when you do not get your way, or people disagree with you? This where living humbly as a principle meets living humbly as a way of life.

• Sometimes living humbly means resisting the temptation to get even. This is a strength we do not have except it is given to us by the Holy Spirit.
• Sometimes living humbly means hearing hard things, then, with the Spirit’s help – as well as the help of trusted friends – taking the time to sort through the verbiage to find the kernel of truth contained in it.
• Sometimes living humbly means admitting you were wrong and asking for forgiveness.
• Sometimes living humbly means being patient with those who test your patience.
• Sometimes living humbly means following Jesus’ example and experiencing the freedom that comes from saying, “Not my will, but Your will be done.”

In becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, Jesus considered His Father’s agenda to be more important than His own. When Jesus looked at the big picture, He chose to set aside His agenda. He came to do His Father’s will not His own. When we choose to live humbly we must do the same. When we resolve to live humbly we will come to see things from Jesus’ point of view. 

I will live humbly by working out our salvation in partnership with like-minded believers.

Philippians 2.12-13

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Given that thinking right will lead to living right, Paul encourages the Philippians to work out their own salvation in the context of Christian community. I cannot live humbly in isolation.

This is why Paul writes, “Let those of us who are mature think this way.” When we resolve to live humbly we will come around to thinking the way Jesus did. After telling the Philippians about the humility of Christ, Paul shares from his own life as an apostle. Paul uses himself an example of someone who sees things from Jesus’ point of view. He encourages as many who consider themselves to be mature to prove it by living up to the level of knowledge they already have about Jesus. And if they happen to disagree with him, he trusts God to work it out.

Paul had every right to command the Philippians to toe the line and do what he said. He didn’t. He chose to live humbly. Rather than pull rank, Paul appealed to them at eye-level. He knew they would wouldn’t see eye-to-eye with him on everything, so he chose to live humbly. He trusted in the strength of their friendship and mutual faith in Christ.

However, sometimes even that will not prevent like-minded believers from disagreeing with one another.

I will live humbly by working out my salvation in partnership with like-minded believers with whom I will disagree.

Philippians  4.2-3

I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers,

Sometimes living in community means having to deal with conflict. When the conflict arises between two close friends, an extra measure of humility is required. Since Pride can be an obstacle to reaching resolution, sometimes a third party must intervene and mediate. Where we may convinced we are in the right, Humility is willing to lose the argument, in order to strengthen an existing friendship, or create a new one. Humility accepts the invitation to make the first move toward reconciliation. In any conflict, the one who chooses to live humbly will assume responsibility for initiating the move toward resolution. When we resolve to live humbly we will come to have the same mind which was in Christ Jesus.

I will live humbly by learning to rejoice in the Lord always.

Philippians 4.4-5

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand…

Humility finds joy in looking through circumstances to the Lord Jesus Christ. Where Pride desires attention be paid to our woeful condition, Humility presses on to find reason to rejoice. Humility chooses neither to ignore hardship nor deny difficulty. On the contrary, Humility discovers joy by looking at things from the perspective of Jesus Christ. To rejoice in the Lord is to celebrate His triumph over sin and death, guilt and shame, pride and fear. To rejoice in the Lord is to find our satisfaction in Him and Him alone.

To rejoice in the Lord is to discover strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, it is to feed our souls with hope in a world starving for it. It is to renew our minds in a culture that has seemingly lost theirs. It is to discover a courage of heart in the midst of a world where few are brave enough to follow the words of a man who lived, died and rose from the dead. But those who do know with every fiber of their being how deep, how wide, how broad and how high is His love for those who live humbly for His glory.

You think about that.

* My five New Year’s resolutions are: I will live wisely. I will live humbly. I will live repentantly. I will live faithfully. I will live fearlessly.

“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

–Philippians 3.13b-14

Dear Travelers,

For the past several years, at the start of the New Year, I have made a practice of reading the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. If you don’t know who Edwards is, Google him. When you do, you will discover he is one of the greatest theologian/philosophers in American church history.

From 1722 to 1723, Edwards wrote down 70 resolutions which he made it a practice to read every week for the rest of his life. Thus as 2013 is put to rest and as 2014 is still fresh, and given that most of us will make and an attempt to keep New Year’s Resolutions, I thought I might prime the pump by reading to you the preface to as well as the first of Edwards’ 70 resolutions –

“Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly ask him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.”

1. “Resolved, that I will do whatever I think to be best for God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my lifetime, without any consideration of the time, . . . .
   1. Resolved that I will do whatever I think to be my duty and best for the good and advantage of mankind in general.
   2. Resolved that I will do this, whatever difficulties I meet with no matter how many and how great.”

This past June – in the midst of a series of transformational events – I wrote down my own list of resolutions. They are not as numerous nor as explicit as those of Edwards. They are, however, the fruit of time spent in prayer and contemplation of God as Savior, Redeemer and King. With the preface borrowed from Jonathan Edwards, here are my five resolutions:

“Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly ask him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.”

1. I resolve to live wisely.
2. I resolve to live humbly.
3. I resolve to live repentantly.
4. I resolve to live faithfully.
5. I resolve to live fearlessly.

The inspiration for these resolutions comes from the text quoted above. It is a personal favorite, and one that is often quoted at the start of the New Year. Pay particular attention to verse 14, where the apostle Paul writes, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

According to Paul , you don’t need to have 70 Resolutions to follow Jesus. You don’t even need five. All you really need is just need one resolution. This being so, I intend to use the next five posts to walk us through how resolving to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus will help us live wisely, live humbly, live repentantly, live faithfully and live fearlessly.

Living wisely starts with knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection (see Philippians 3.8-11).

Sometimes it’s good to look back and see who we were when Jesus found us and made us His own. We all have a past – even the apostle Paul. The difference between people who live wisely and people who do not, is this: people who live wisely do not put any confidence in where they came from or what they did. People who live wisely put their confidence in the Son of God who humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of a cross (2.8).

Paul chose not to boast of his past accomplishments. For him all that mattered was the future that lay ahead of him – the future mapped out for him by God as he followed Christ. Paul also chose not to be bound by his past failures either. Before his conversion, he was a blasphemer against Christ and a persecutor of His church. But from the instant Christ met him on the road to Damascus, Paul was a changed man. Where once his goal was to know the Law and practice it, now his goal was to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.

Rather than boast about his solid gold religious resume or put any confidence in his outstanding Curriculum Vitae a religious Jew, Paul says, “I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

Rubbish is a polite translation. The Greek word Paul uses is sku/bala (skubala) meaning useless or undesirable material that is subject to disposal. Let’s be honest then, skubala is the stuff you scrape off the bottom of your shoe after you’ve stepped in it.

And compared to knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection pretty much everything we have is skubala. The power of Christ’s resurrection is the power that comes to us on the basis of Christ’s own resurrection. The power of Christ’s resurrection is the power to follow Jesus wherever He leads us.

• It’s the power to suffer the loss of all things and consider them skubala compared to knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection.
• It’s the power to do whatever Jesus tells us we must do.
• It’s the power to consider walk away.
• It’s the power to stay.
• It’s the power to persevere.
• It’s the power to confront and overcome your worst fears and greatest challenges.
• It’s the power to say, “Not my will but Your will be done.”
• It’s the power to live wisely in the midst of a culture that prizes living foolishly (e.g., think of the stuff vomited onto celebrity Twitter accounts, Facebook selfies and what passes for insightful commentary out in the blogosphere).

Sometimes Jesus leads us through some very dark places. Fifty-five years of life and nearly 30-years of ministry have taught me not to avoid the dark places. In fact, the wise person trusts the Lord to walk with them through the valley of the Shadow because that is where our knowledge of  Christ and the power of His resurrection becomes more certain. Paul’s exhortation is to press on through the dark places – press on because the Lord who is the Light of the world is with you. The darkness will place. The sun will rise. Sorrow will pass away. Joy will come with the dawn.

Living wisely means living with one goal in mind, (see Philippians 3.12)

Having declared his goal is to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, Paul is honest and humble enough to confess not even he has obtained it or has already become perfect. Even so, his goal is to press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Having been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, Paul presses on to know as much as he can about Jesus and the power of His resurrection in this life.

For Paul this meant participating in Christ’s sufferings. The way Paul saw it, Jesus’ death and resurrection elevated and transformed suffering into something redemptive. Culture wants us to view suffering as an opportunity for personal growth; that is when it isn’t tempting to self-medicate ourselves into a state of emotional anesthesia. And on those rare occasions when culture celebrates a victory over illness or personal tragedy, the first question often asked is, “What did this experience teach you about yourself?”

But what if suffering is not about us? What if suffering is not about learning about ourselves? What if suffering is about knowing Jesus and the power of His resurrection? A wise man once described the Christian life this way: It’s not about you. It’s about Jesus.

Exactly. Suffering is not about you. It’s not about what I can learn about myself – not primarily. Suffering is about knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection. Paul wants us accept suffering as the means by which the Holy Spirit helps us to know Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. That’s radical.

And if you’re not there yet, you are in good company. Neither was Paul. That is why he committed to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We are made to know God. We are created to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. And we are made to achieve these things in the context of Christian community. The church is the God-designed place to press on with like-minded believers who are themselves, working out their own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2.12-13). We were not created to live alone. We were not created know Christ and the power of His resurrection alone either. People who live wisely choose to follow Christ as part of a Christian community.

Living wisely means keeping your eyes fixed firmly on Christ, (see Philippians 3.13-14).

There is such a thing as wise forgetting. To forget means more than the ability not to remember something. It is the ability to be unconcerned about what lies behind. Wise forgetting means we choose not to pay attention to what lies behind because we are focused on what lies ahead of us.

If you have ever learned to drive a car you know all about forgetting what lies behind by focusing on what lies ahead. The key to driving a car, is to keep your head up. You cannot drive a car by looking constantly into the rear view mirror. Nor can you drive a car by looking only at what is immediately in front of you. You drive a car by keeping your head up and your eyes focused on the road ahead. In a similar manner, we follow Christ by keeping our eyes fixed firmly on Him.

Wise forgetting means always remembering who and what it is in front of us. It means remembering who and what we are living for and why. Wise forgetting means we let of the past and we strain forward to what lies ahead. The word straining describes a runner leaning forward and stretching out to break the tape at the finish line. The goal is to run as much as it is to run in order to receive the prize (see 1 Corinthians 9.24-27).

When Paul says, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,” he means “I press on toward the thing I prize most in life. I press on toward the thing that has the most value to me – to know Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection.”

Paul does not press on out of a sense of guilt. He does not press on out of the sense of regret. He does not press on out of a sense of remorse. Paul presses on because of the joy he has in knowing that Christ has taken hold of his life.  His life’s passion to make this knowledge His own because that is why Jesus Christ made Him His own.

He is driven forward by the desire to know Jesus. Paul is so taken up with wanting to know Christ and the power of His resurrection that he is driven by the Holy Spirit to press on and to do so by forgetting/ignoring any distraction so that he strain forward toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus

Paul believes there is as much virtue in running the race as there is in winning the prize. There is as much value in working the problem as there is in solving it. There is as much merit in the process as there is in achieving a positive outcome.

The prize of the upward call of God is an eternity spent knowing Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. People who live wisely trust God when He says, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” And wise people know that both are found in Christ. Even wiser people know that both are best sought and experienced in community.

We need the fellowship of mature believers who can encourage us to keep pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

The future belongs to those who press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Although I do not play nearly as often nor as well as I would like, I do enjoy a round a golf. I believe it was the legendary golfer Ben Hogan who once described golf as a game of recovery. If you htit a bad shot, you have to play your next shot from the where the ball is not where you would like to be. You must learn to recover. Honest golfers know you cannot take a mulligan (another chance to put the ball in a playable position). And even if you take a mulligan, you must still play the shot from the lie you have not the lie you want.

In the same way, life is a game of recovery. Each time a New Year rolls around, we have a chance to recover. Even so, we must still play the ball where it lies. We cannot undo the events of 2013.

We can however, make it our goal to live wisely and press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

One of my favorite resolutions by Edwards is this: “Resolved: Never to do anything, which I should not be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.”

People who live wisely never do anything which they should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of their life.

How?

“. . . . forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, they (sic) press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

You think about that.

 

 

 

 

Dear Travelers,

When it comes to choosing what name to give our children we tend to give them names that name them after a family member – a grandfather, a grandmother – a person of significance. Sometimes we name our children after a close friend.

We rarely think of naming our children with the intent that they will live up to the meaning of the name we’ve given them, or having their name define what they will do in life. For instance, when we named our first son, Matthew, we knew his name meant Gift of God, but I can’t say that we named him in the hope he would grow up to be a gift of God to humanity. We named him Matthew because we liked the name.

We named our daughter Lizabeth (without the “E”) because of the high school girl my wife hired to do chores for the dental office where she worked when I was in seminary. This young woman was hard working and diligent. She wore a cheerleader jacket with her name “Liz” embroidered on it in script. This young woman made such an impression on my wife she said if we ever had a daughter we should name her Liz. And we did. Only later did we discover that Lizabeth means oath of God, or God is satisfaction.

The same thing happened when we our last child Jeffrey. His name means God’s peace, but we didn’t give him that name in order to define his life’s mission. I wanted to name him Geoffrey with a “G,” but my wife thought Jeffrey with a “J” made more sense. In the spirit of compromise, I got to choose his middle name: Garrett – a Norse name meaning Defender; in Old English, he who rules by the Spear.

The point is we name our children because we like the name; we like how it sounds or we want to honor someone we love. We don’t often think about naming our children with the intent they are going to be or to do what their name means.

How different is that than from how God names His Son before He is even born. We read the text from Matthew 1 where the angel appears to Joseph and the angel tells Joseph –

…for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.’

There are other people named Jesus in the Bible. At the time He was born Jesus was a common Hebrew name. Jesus is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Joshua. We think of Joshua in the OT who led Israel into the Promised Land. He helped them conquer their enemies and take possession of the land God promised to Abraham. And yet, even though Joshua helped deliver Israel into the Promised Land, he did not save Israel, nor did he save Israel from their sins. If anything his name, God is salvation, pointed to another Joshua, another Jesus yet to be born.

The angel tells Joseph you shall call His name Jesus, because the Child Mary carries within her will save His people from their sins. Jesus’ name is His mission. Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua. It means God is salvation. Jesus’ name tells us what He came here to do. He came to save His people from their sins. Jesus’ name explains why He wrapped Himself in our flesh. He came to save His people from their sins. That’s His mission. One scholar describes Jesus’ mission by saying, “Jesus is the God Himself who saves us Himself.”

Jesus’ mission is to do what His name says He will do: He will save His people from their sins.

Jesus comes to save us by Himself becoming man. The moment God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into Him and made him a living soul, a unique relationship was established between God and man. The whole story of the Bible is about God coming down to earth to dwell with us; about God coming down to earth in search of men and women He created in His image and likeness. Think of God searching for Adam in the cool of the day after he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Think of God appearing to Abraham. Think of God appearing Moses and instructing him to build the tabernacle – how no earthly dwelling could contain His glory, until God chose the perfect venue for how He would dwell on the earth. He sent His Son, Jesus wrapped in our flesh so that God could literally pitch His tent, and live in our neighborhood.

The Word became flesh and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father full of grace and truth.

Go back to Genesis and consider how God created the earth and everything in it. He spoke everything that is into existence. Every mountain, every ocean, every bit of sky and cloud, every particle of dirt and dust as well as every living creature – all of it is spoken into existence. God speaks and it is so. However, there is one creature which God does not speak into existence. Man. The Bible tells us that when God created man, He formed him out of the dust of the ground. Think about that. God spoke into existence every living creature, yet when it comes to creating Adam, God comes down to form him from the dust of the earth. More than that, He also breathed His Spirit into him. Of all the living things, of all the creatures, of all the beings that God created, there is only one creature whom He created with His own two hands: man.

The whole story of the Bible is about God coming down to where we live. He created us—made us in His own image and likeness. We rebelled against Him and lost our way. So He searches for us. He sent His Son to seek and to find we who are lost. He wrapped His Son, Jesus in our flesh so that by becoming like us we might receive His grace. Jesus’ name is His mission.

And here is something else that is wonderful about Jesus – He takes a name that was already in use – a familiar name and transforms it into the very definition His mission. He takes an ordinary name and makes it extraordinary. He takes a common name and makes it forever holy. He is THE Yeshua. He is THE Jesus. He is THE Savior.

Just as He takes a common name and makes it forever holy, so too He takes common people, people like you and me, people formed out of the dust of the ground and makes us holy.  Jesus’ name tells us what He came here to do. Jesus’ name explains why He wrapped Himself in our flesh. He will save His people from their sins.

Jesus came to save His people from their sins.

 It is well worth nothing that the angel doesn’t say Jesus will save Israel, or that Jesus will save Judah, or that Jesus will save righteous, religious, hard-working, tax-paying, law-abiding, play-by-the-rules people. The angel says Jesus will save His people from their sins.  

“Well then,” you ask,  “who are His people?”

His people are those who confess faith in His Name. His people are those who put their trust in His life and work. His people are those who trust Him to save them from their sins. So His people includes Jews and Greeks, men and women, slave and free.

His people includes Americans and Kenyans. Kenyans and Persians. Persians and Indians. Indians and Aboriginals. Aboriginals and Inuit. Inuit and Italians. Italians and Egyptians. Hindus and Muslims. His people include anyone who confesses faith in Jesus as the Savior from their sins.

He saves by becoming our flesh. He saves His people – those who confess faith in what He has done on their behalf by dying in their place on the cross. That is how Jesus fulfills His mission as Savior and saves His people. And we become  His people by professing a faith in Him.

Christmastime is about Jesus coming to save us from our sins. It’s about another opportunity to experience afresh the Word become flesh full of grace and truth. It is about the opportunity to share the good news that others can become His people by confessing faith in Him.

And note also that it is the people who shall call His name Immanuel. And so it is with us. We call Jesus Immanuel because He truly is God with us. Jesus, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity came down from heaven. The Word who was with God in the beginning, the Word who is God the Son became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 The greatness of the gospel’s God is that God not only sends, He comes. Christmas is the story of God becoming one of us. God literally ‘be-littled’ Himself in order to accommodate Himself to us.

The quote above is by Frederick Dale Bruner. His point is this: Jesus saves His people by becoming like them; like us. He breathes our air – air He created. He eats our food – food He created. He came to enjoy the company of people – people He created. Jesus saves us by coming down to earth and living in our neighborhood.

He experiences pain, isolation, loneliness and grief. He also experiences joy, happiness, laughter and fellowship. He experiences the delightful conversation of little children. He experiences what it means to belong to a family – and a family that experienced some dysfunction! Remember that at one time his brothers and his mother thought He was insane. There was even a matter of sibling rivalry when in John 7, Jesus’ brothers, including James who would later pen a letter and become a leader of the church in Jerusalem – teased Him about not going up to the feast so He would be known as the Messiah. In Jesus’ earthly family, He was the “crazy uncle”!

Jesus knows the full gamut of human emotions (see Hebrews 2.14-16; 4.15). He comes to save by becoming like one of us. And Jesus became like us in every way. He worked for a living. He worked hard as a carpenter until He began His ministry preaching the Kingdom of God.

He had to run a business. He had to learn how to deal with customers – good customers and bad customers. He had to learn how to deal with suppliers and middle men. He had to pay taxes. He had to deal with customers who didn’t pay their bills; with customers who tried to pay him less than what His work was worth. He knows that kinds of frustrations, those kinds of situations.

He comes to save us by becoming like us. Ultimately He comes to save us by dying for us. He experienced everything we experienced yet not committing sin, not going against God laws, not breaking God’s rules, not disobeying God. He is the perfect sacrifice by which on the cross He made full atonement, full satisfaction for our sin.

Jesus came to save His people from their sins.

Jesus came to save His people from their sins, not His sins. Jesus did not die for His sins. He died for our sins. Note here, that Jesus comes to save His people not from a foreign enemy, nor the juggernaut of an oppressive government. Jesus did not come to save His people from a bad self image, a bad marriage, a bad relationship with their parents, a bad job, unemployment, depression, or from being too young or too old, or being bored. He came to save His people – those who put their trust in Him – from their sins.

The key thing in all of this, in all of  life –  is the fundamental relationship that stretches back to the Garden of Eden when God created Adam and Eve – when He formed Adam from the dust of the ground. God did that so that we could live in fellowship and relationship and partnership and communion with Him and with one another through faith in Jesus Christ.

Sin has broken our relationship with God. And because sin has broken our relationship with God every other relationship is broken as well. It’s because our relationship with God is broken that our relationship with everyone else is broken too. It’s because our relationship with God is broken that our relationship with our wife is broken, our relationship with our husband is broken, our parents and our children. It’s because of sin that our relationship is broken with our work – sin is why we wrestle to find anything meaningful and good in what we do. Sin deceives us into thinking life and work is all about us. It’s not.

The only way all these broken relationships can be fixed is for our relationship with God to get fixed and the only way our relationship with God can be fixed is to confess faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior for our sins.

• Sin is the problem not a bad marriage.
• Sin is the problem not unemployment.
• Sin is the problem not bad government.
• Sin is the problem not high taxes.
• Sin is the problem not Obamacare.
• Sin is the problem not a poor self image.
• Sin is the problem not cancer.
• Sin is the problem not depression.
• Sin is the problem not the guy who cut in front of you.
• Sin is the problem not the lady at Walmart who takes too long to pay for her stuff.

Sin is the problem. And the problem of sin is solved by the death of Jesus Christ for our sins. That’s how this gets solved. That’s how this gets fixed. That’s how we get reconciled. That’s we get saved. Jesus’ name is His mission.

We were made to live in a faith-relationship with the God who created us in His image and likeness. This is why He sent Jesus to be God with us. And when we come into a faith-relationship with God through trust in Jesus, we come into fellowship, partnership and communion with Him. When we get saved from our sins we find that Jesus gives us a new name, or actually the world, the surrounding culture gives us a new name

In the book of Acts the church began to expand outward from Jerusalem and as people began to share the Good News and unbelievers were saved from their sins. As people talked about Jesus as the Savior and the kingdom of God expanded to include Jews and Greeks,  insiders and outsiders, and as more and more people become followers of Jesus, and spread the good news of the gospel throughout Asia Minor the gospel reached a little town in Asia Minor called Antioch.

And it was in Antioch that Luke tells us that believers and followers of Jesus Christ were for the first time called by a particular name – a name that defined their mission, a name that defined their calling, a name that defined their lifestyle, a name that defined what they were about and who they were about. In Acts 11.26 Luke tells us that in Antioch for the first time followers of Jesus Christ were called Christians. Jesus became human so we could become Christian.

To be a Christian is to be a Christ-follower. And to be a Christ-follower is to have a mission – to tell people that God is with us. And His name is Jesus. And He will save His people from their sins.

Just as Jesus’ name is His mission, so it is with us. Our name is our mission. We are Christians – Christ-followers called to make Christ-followers by telling people who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.. We are commissioned by Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things that He has commanded, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And we are to do this knowing that Christ is with always even unto the end of the age.

You think about that.

 

 

 

 

 

 Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

Psalm 105.1-6

Dear Travelers,

This past Sunday evening the faith community which I pastor joined with another congregation from our community for a unique gathering. We joined together to give thanks the LORD, call upon His name in worship God and make known His deeds among the peoples.

The format was simple: worship, testimony, followed by more worship, more testimony, a closing song and a benediction. To say the evening blessed beyond expectation would be an understatement. The songs of worship set the tone for the evening, yet it was the numerous testimonies of young and old which the Lord used to breathe His blessing upon our assembly.

On Sunday evening, each of the numerous testimonies of thanksgiving was an opportunity to remember, celebrate and exult in the power of God. There is a reason the psalmist exhorts God’s people; “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; tell of all His wondrous works!” Such moments are a tonic: a life-giving elixir to desiccated souls. With each declaration of thanksgiving, the water of life flowed freely into dry and dusty hearts. Every one in attendance found strength renewed as one by one, saints of all ages stepped into the pulpit to declare the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He has uttered.

Whenever the Scripture commands us to remember, it also commands us to action. We remember the mighty works of God by declaring such good news to family and friends, neighbors and strangers. To remember the wondrous works He has done is to proclaim them to people near and far. A spiritual transaction takes place when men and women open their hearts to speak out publicly the marvelous deeds God has done on their behalf.

• Times of grief are transformed into vignettes wherein the presence of the Spirit is powerful enough to comfort the heaviest of hearts.
• Times of celebration are enriched by the laughter of the Son of God.
• Times of refreshing follow times when the family gathers together to encourage one another with true tales of God’s amazing grace.

One last thought. It is no accident that Thanksgiving is the prelude to Advent. So in our remembering to give thanks to the LORD, and as we call upon His name, let us be bold to make known His deeds among the peoples. For in the history of this world the greatest of His deeds is this:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

You think about that and Happy Thanksgiving.

Dear Travelers,

Follow Jesus long enough and you will make a profound and painful discovery: people who care nothing about God often have great success while people who devote their entire lives to Him often struggle to make ends meet. If you follow Jesus and find yourself perplexed by this heart-wrenching discovery do not give in to despair. Read Psalm 73 instead.

Asaph has been there.

The psalm begins with the optimistic declaration,

Truly, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

This confession is no greeting card inscription, however, because we will soon discover, Asaph had come very close to walking away from the LORD.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

And the reason for his near abandonment of the faith? “For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

In today’s sensitive climate, the use of the word wicked to describe the non-theist is likely to be frowned upon. It’s a bit extreme. A tad too finite in its absoluteness. However, for Asaph it was the only appropriate word to describe those who defy God, deny His commandments, and denigrate His people. And still, God lets them have their cake and eat it too. His lament continues with the Shakespearean eloquence of a righteous man bewildered  by the prosperity of the wicked,

For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.

Asaph is perplexed. Why does God allow good things to happen to wicked people?

Given all the good things God allows the wicked to enjoy and the evil they get away with, Asaph complains to God. Whereas the wicked are rewarded for their wickedness, Asaph scorns his own faithfulness. “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.”

And yet, he cannot bring himself to cut ties with God and walk away.

If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’ I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

And there it is. Clarity. Perspective. Insight. Hope. Courage. As long as Asaph wrestled to understand this on his own, he found only discouragement, bewilderment and vanity. Almost in desperation he retreats into the presence of God and there he discovers the truth. All is not as it seems. The wicked may prosper but their prosperity is short-lived. Their triumph hollow. Their time in the sun brief.

We must widen our gaze. We must see life from the perspective of eternity and not through the gauzy mist of the American Dream. It is not that we cheer for the demise of those who put their trust in things destined for dust and decay. It is that we resolve to place our hope in One who promises to be all we need; who will give us everything necessary for life and godliness and who has promised us an inheritance that will never perish, spoil or fade – an inheritance kept in heaven for us who are protected by the power of God through trust/obedience in Jesus Christ.

Like Asaph, we know better than to trust in the trinkets of this time. Yet we also know we are human enough to be distracted and discouraged by those who boast and brag about such things. So when we are overwhelmed and perplexed by the prosperity of the wicked, we would be wise to follow Asaph’s example. Let us retreat into the presence of the Almighty. For there we will discover in truth what the wicked will discover too late: what they now own they must eventually give up.

By God’s grace, let us join with Asaph and confess confidently:

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

You think about that.