Relying on God

Image source

I just spent the day hiking in some of God's beautiful creation, and it occurred to me during the day that we need to rely on and trust God completely.

I knew that, but what occurred to me today that there's a subtle trap used by Satan in my life, and perhaps in others. I find that I rely on myself to make myself rely on God. In reality nothing we can do can bring us closer to God. It is only through Jesus that we are saved, and we put our faith in him when the Holy Spirit works in our lives to bring us to repentance and to trust in him.

The same applies here - We can't get 'closer' to God by relying on our own efforts. Once we are saved we are forgiven entirely and forever. We can't be any 'closer' to God than we are. Yet we can still sin and move in our walk with God - but we cannot draw ourselves back closer to God, only he can, and he has in Christ.

What I've found is that I forget in my heart that Jesus has paid it all and that I am entirely forgiven, and I start to worry about how I'm living and if I'm doing good enough, and so I focus on myself. Instead we need to focus on God, give him everything and remember that it is Jesus' sacrifice alone that saves us.

But at the same time, that doesn't mean we can live however we want. If we truly have repented of sin then we won't keep doing it. If we truly trust Jesus we won't disobey him. If we truly love God we will love to serve him. If we realise the depth of what he has done for us we will be thankful and obey out of that thanks.

Isaiah 26:4

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Treasure in Heaven

Image source

Luke 18:18-25

 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”
 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!  Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

This passage again brings us back to the question of what we love. What is most important in your life? What would you give up anything else for? What do you run t for comfort? for meaning in life? What do you spend most of your time and effort in?

There is no point having God second in your life. He demands and deserves first place, and we need to put him in his rightful place as Lord of our lives. When we put God second, we are really just being proud and selfish, saying we know better then him, but holding onto the hope that he will still save us and give us the benefits without us taking any of the responsibility.

The rich man in the passage claimed that he had obeyed God all his life - I don't know who that man was, perhaps he did physically obey all of God's commands. But regardless of that, Jesus wasn't first in his life. He wanted eternal life, but he also wanted wealth and luxury in this life. The question came down to if he was wiling to give up his good life here and trust Jesus that there was a better life eternally with God.

That question still resounds in the world for us today. Am I willing to be hated, to be persecuted, to lose friends, to give away what I have? Am I willing even just to be laughed at for Christ? Do I trust him that he will save, and that his salvation is far better than anything in this world? Do you trust him in that?

It's a hard question to answer, because if we've grown up as Christians it's easy to just know intellectually the right answer and give a yes to all those questions. It's easy to say "I am not ashamed of the gospel", but is that really the truth? Have you ever had to prove those words?

Perhaps what we need to do is think deeply, decide on our answers and then act. Decide to put God first and then live it - telling people the gospel, loving those who it is socially unacceptable to love, giving up wealth, health and prosperity for Christ. Maybe instead of just saying "yes Jesus, you are first in my life" we should go and show it.

In saying all this, I want to point out once more that our actions do not save us.

The only thing our actions can do is condemn us because we are all sinful. Jesus told this man to give up all his wealth to show him how sinful he was and to smash his facade of righteousness. Our problem is one of the heart, and we cannot change that. Only Jesus can.

It isn't about what we do, it's about what Jesus did. He, who is God, came to earth and lived perfectly. He suffered and died on the cross, taking the sin of his people and God's wrath for it. He paid the price in full that we would spend eternity in hell for because we can never pay it. He then rose again, proving that he had paid entirely for sin, since death is the result of sin (No sin = death cannot contain him. Rose again = proof that he has defeated sin.)

It isn't about what we do. But we are called to repent and believe, putting our faith in Jesus as the only one who can save. The consequence of that for our lives is that we will also give up sin - you can't be genuinely sorry for sin and then keep doing it. But we aren't condemned when we stuff up after that point - Jesus paid it all.

Yet the question remains: if you are a Christian, if Jesus has died for your sins and paid the ultimate sacrifice for you, how will you respond? Will you be willing to give your life as a living sacrifice for him (Romans 12)?

Are you willing to give up every benefit you have for the sake of knowing Jesus?

Being transformed by the gospel

Romans 12:2

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

Image source

This verse is attached to the previous one in this post. Within it Paul is explaining how we should act if we are living sacrifices.

Do not conform to the Pattern of this world

The world is full of ideas, values, actions and plans, most of which are built from our sinful hearts and motives. As Christians we shouldn't just be chasing after the new trends, trying to be popular in the world. As churches we shouldn't just be introducing new and exciting things for the sake of getting people in. Some of these things may be good (we'll get to that later), but we shouldn't just do them because they work. We should do them if they fit with God's word and will. 

What are the general patterns of the world at the moment? There are many, but here are three:

• Sex whenever you want with whoever you want. That's what we're told from almost every TV show and through so many other means, and it's how most non-christians live. It isn't how God calls us to live (Hebrews 13:4, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20)
• Selfishness. I'm constantly told that it's all about me. Everything should go how I want. life should be easier for me. No, that's all selfish - but it does make us feel good an thats why its so attractive. God tells us the opposite (Philippians 2:4, Galatians 6:2)
• Science is better then religion. We're told constantly that Science is right and God is wrong. In reality, true science always lines up with the bible. Theories such as evolution are not based on face or experimental method. They're theories based on things that cannot be proven or seen today. God's word is the truth and is useful (2 Timothy 3:16)

We need to stop conforming to the values of the times we live in, and instead we need to be transformed.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

The word transformed "implies a radical, thorough, and universal change, both outward and inward." (Clarke). As Christians we should be completely different to those around us in how we think and act, and we should be completely different to how we used to live as non-Christians. The mind means the intellect - it is a choice to follow God and to obey him. 

How are we transformed? 

Well 2 Corinthians 5:17 says:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

If we are Christians, if we have repented of sin and have put our faith in Jesus, then we are new creations. We are changed and we are made alive in Christ instead of dead in sin. That's the start of the transformation process, but we still need to be sanctified - we're still sinful and we still have to work at weeding out sin from our lives.

We do that by knowing God's word and applying it. God's word is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16 again) and if we want to be transformed we need to take it on board. We also need to do this prayerfully, asking God for help and for the Holy Spirit to convict us of areas in our lives that we need to change.

The result is that we will be able to know God's will. His good, pleasing and perfect will. God's desire is for us to obey him - not out of legalism but out of joy and love for him because he has transformed us through Jesus. No, it won't always be easy or enjoyable, but we should find joy in trusting and submitting to God. His will is good - it is good for us and there is no evil in it. It is pleasing - it pleases God and it should please us to do it. Lastly it is perfect - God knows everything and his will is faultless. It is good to follow.

If we are Christians then we have been saved from our sins. We are no longer slaves to it. Instead we are transformed, made new creations and adopted as God's children. If we have been changed, then our lives and minds and hearts should reflect that - we should be looking to God and attached to him instead of the sin and evil in this world which we used to love.

Will you give your entire life to God for him to transform through his word?

The design of this passage is doubtless to produce a spirit that should not find pleasure in the pomp and vanity of the World; and which will regard all vain amusements and gaieties with disgust, and lead the mind to find pleasure in better things. (Barnes)

An Unfair Exchange

Image source

Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

At first glance it may seem that it's unfair for God to ask us to live our entire lives as sacrifices to him. But that's because we're not seeing things in view of his mercy. The unfairness isn't that we have to serve God - that's an honour and a rich blessing, and we should get more joy from serving God then from our sin. The unfair exchange is that Jesus, who is God, all powerful and eternally perfect, holy, pure, just, loving and merciful, the creator and sustainer of everything in existence, came and died for us. Jesus, who had been in fellowship with God the father and the Holy Spirit eternally, came to earth, took our sin and God's wrath (that we rightfully should suffer for eternity) so that we could be forgiven. Then he rose again from the dead to prove it.

We cannot fathom what it was that Jesus gave up for us. We don't deserve it. We don't deserve any part of it - we are wretched sinners who hated and rejected God by living in sin. Yet he sent Jesus to save us.

Paul is telling us that we should live as sacrifices to God In view of that mercy. In view of the infinite sacrifice God made for us. When we see how much Jesus did for us, anything we can offer can never compete. That's why we could never save ourselves. If Jesus hadn't died for us, we would still be spiritually dead, living in sin. Because he saved our lives, bringing us to life, it makes sense that we should use that life to glorify and honour him alone.

Living as a sacrifice

In the Old Testament most of the sacrifices had one of two jobs. Some were given to pay for sin - those were fulfilled by jesus on the cross since he is the ultimate sacrifice for sin. The others were given in praise of God. Without doing any extra research on it, I thin that's what Paul is getting at - we need to live our lives as sacrifices in thankfulness of what he has done and in praise of who he is.

But what does this look like?

• Putting God first. That's the first commandment, and it's the one we struggle with most. It's so easy to slip into idolatry, to put other things before God without even realising. For me it's usually fear of man or love of friends that gets in the way. The desire for approval. For others it can be money or health or a wide range of other things
• Obeying God and giving up sin. We are sinful and we desire to sin. Instead of living that way, when we are saved we need to repent and give up sin. Jesus died to rescue us from slavery in sin, it is stupid to go back to it if you've turned to him. Obeying God glorifies him because it is us being in line with his character. He is the definition of perfection, and when we obey his laws we are acting in line with who he is. Paul says we are to be "holy and pleasing to God" - that means not sinful, since sin can never please God. Holiness means separate, and if we are to be separate from sin we need to give it up completely.
• Spending time praising God. It's easy to focus all our energy on doing the right things, but what God actually cares about is our hearts. He doesn't want us to be legalistic, he wants us to genuinely love him and submit to him out of that love. So, we need to spend time just in praise of God, rejoicing in who he is and what he has done - for us, for his people throughout history, and for his general mercies. That's what true worship is - not just lip service or obeying rules. Genuine praise form the heart, and the result of that is obedience.

I don't know about what this verse sounds like in the Greek, but in English the translators have said: "offer your bodies as a living sacrifice". Notice that it goes from plural (your bodies) to singular (a living sacrifice). We need to collectively as God's church throughout the world and as his people in a certain place work together to live as sacrifices for him. We need to spend time with friends and family who love God, being honest with each other, loving and helping each other, encouraging and rebuking each other, praying and looking at God's word together. If we are "brothers and sisters", adopted as God's children then we need to act like a family - we need to be deeply concerned for each other and to look after the needs of those around us. We need to deeply love each other, even loving those who we don't get on with easily (thats hard to do!)

I came to God's word this morning feeling tired and quite unmotivated to read it. Nevertheless God is faithful and he reminded me that I need to give it all to him. Are we willing to live our entire lives as sacrifices for God? Even when we don't feel like it?

God deserves and demands our everything - are we willing to give it?

Why we couldn't do it, and why that's a good thing (Part 2).

Image Source

Yesterday we looked at two reasons why it is better that we are saved entirely by grace than by our own effort. Firstly, we are counted as righteous with Jesus' righteousness. He takes our sin and we are forgiven based on his work. Secondly, if we were saved by what we did, we would constantly be worried about stuffing up, because one slip up would mean eternity in hell with no hope for forgiveness. Today we'll look at two more reasons: It displays God's character and it means anyone can be saved.

• God displays his character through Jesus

Image Source

God is just. We sin and therefore we deserve hell. That's the spot we're in without Jesus. Yet God is not simply just, holy and perfect, but also merciful, gracious, loving and compassionate. 

Therefore he sent his only son into the world. Jesus, who is God, became a man. He willingly came and he died for us (Christians), taking our sin and God's wrath and just penalty for that. In Jesus God displays his justice - sin is dealt with. In Jesus God also shows his love and mercy - providing a way for us to be saved "while we were still powerless" (Romans 5:6-8) and at great personal cost.

We couldn't save ourselves, but God made a way for us to be saved. Therefore he has shown for his character and his glory, bringing us to eternal salvation in him if we put our faith in him.

• Salvation isn't just for the Elite.

If we could have managed to be perfect and save ourselves. then that would mean that only the best people could be saved (that certainly wouldn't be me and probably wouldn't be you). Only the people who were completely self-controlled, completely humble, completely gentle, completely pure could be saved. Even as Christians, free from slavery to sin, we still stuff up. If we had been freed all along, we would still have sinned.

That would be bad for us - we would deserve and would get eternal destruction in hell. Jesus didn't come to save those who were well, he came to save the sick (Matthew 9:11-13) - he didn't come to save the 'good' people (since no one is good. and those who think they are are self-righteous and proud), he came to save the 'sinners' - us. Those who cannot help themselves. That's good news. In fact, thats what the gospel is all about - God saving us for his glory even though we do not deserve it one bit.

Conclusion

We don't deserve the salvation that we have. We couldn't achieve it ourselves and nothing we could ever have done could have made us right in God's sight.

We don't deserve it, and that's why we can count on it. 

It was given freely to those who didn't deserve it, and therefore nothing that we do can make it be taken off us. If we truly love God we will serve and obey him, but we don't have to fear losing our salvation because it is entirely by grace.

Therefore, since we are saved by grace, we are free to obey God out of love, not duty. If we had to obey to get to heaven, and we lived in constant fear of stuffing it up then we wouldn't obey out of love. This way we can obey God out of love.

We couldn't do it, and that's a good thing because of Grace.

Why we couldn't do it, and why that's a good thing (Part 1).

Photo Credit

Grace: God's Riches at Christ's Expense.
God's undeserved favour on his people which we have through Jesus because he died for us and took the wrath we deserved for our sin. Romans 11:6 says that if we are saved by grace, "then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace." The fact is that we cannot help ourselves - we sin and we cannot undo that (Romans 3:23). We can only be saved by Grace. We couldn't do it, and that's a good thing.

You see, if we were saved by anything we could do then we would have our own righteousness. That's it. We would be good people, end of story. Sure, we'd be good enough to get to heaven on our own merit, but what we have in Jesus is far, far better.

• We have Christ's Righteousness.

2 Corinthains 5:21 says

For our sake he made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God

Jesus took our sins and we take his righteousness. We are holy in God's sight, not based on what we've done. When God looks at us, he knows that we are still sinful, but he sees Jesus and Jesus' righteousness instead of our sin. Jesus took our sin, we took his righteousness. We died to sin with him, and we rose to new life with him (Romans 6)

Isn't it far better to have Jesus' righteousness, God's holiness instead of our own works? We have God's grace and mercy - his righteousness becomes accounted to us through faith. That's truly awesome.

• We wouldn't be free of worry

If we had to count on ourselves and our own works, then we would have to constantly worry and be careful. Since one sin is enough for us to be justly and eternally condemned to hell, we would have to watch every word, thought and deed. We would have to constantly worry and fret over everything - making sure we didn't stuff it up. One stuff up could mean eternity in hell without any hope for forgiveness.

We would truly be slaves to good works. 

Through Christ we know that there is complete forgiveness. We need to hate sin and we need to fight it, but we know that we will stuff up, and we know that he has paid the price. Every true Christian is (and will be) forgiven for their sins. It isn't an excuse to sin more, but it is a reason to praise God for what he has done. It is far better that we are forgiven then that we are slaves to doing good.

God Deserves all Glory

This is only part one of the series, but here's a concluding point. We cannot make it ourselves, and that means God deserves all the glory. We sin, we stuff it up and we cannot save ourselves. God reigns and he has shown forth his goodness in offering us salvation.

We don't deserve any of the praise. God deserves it all. So praise him for all he has done!

Are you trusting in your own effort or in Christ? Only Jesus can save.

Building our lives on Jesus

Luke 6:46-49

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

We cannot come to Jesus and yet not do what he says. Sure, we are 100% saved by grace, but if we are truly saved then we will do what he says. Why's that? Because part of faith is repentance: saying sorry for sins and our rebellion and turning to God and because if we truly love God and trust him we will obey him and put him first. We know a tree is healthy if it produces good fruit. We know a medicine works properly if it does its job and helps heal sickness. We know a Christian by their works, not because their works save them, but because if they are saved they will obey God.

Building our lives on Jesus.

There are two ways to approach our walk with God. The first is like a man who builds his house on the rock. It takes effort, it's inconvenient, but it shows true care and love. If we study God's word and work hard to obey it, it won;t be convenient for us, but it is better. It shows that we genuinely do love God.

The result for the man in the parable is that when the rain and storms come his house remains standing. If we build our lives on Jesus, the rock, focussing on him, working hard to know him, his promises and to obey him then when hard times come, when trials and temptations arise it will be ok. We will rely on God's promises and he will sustain us. This also applies to when Jesus returns and judges the world. If we have based our lives on our faith in him then we will be saved and not condemned (because he has taken our sin and paid the price if we are Christians). Note that it isn't how well he built his house that matters. What matters is that he built it on Jesus. If we live our lives for God's glory and base them on living like Jesus and on God's word then God himself will uphold and sustain us. It'll be harder and less fun and less convenient, but it will last eternally. 

Building our lives on The World.

Obviously the opposite is true for the other man. If we don't truly live for Jesus, but just fake it then it won't stand. God knows who truly trusts in him and who the hypocrites are. You can't fool God, so don't fake it. Don't pretend you're following him if you really aren't. Likewise if we base our lives on things other then Jesus then it won't last. The world is full of things that promise much, but just slide away. Money, friends, family, work and so many other things, which are good blessings from God can become our idols. We base our lives on them and they slip away, leaving us with nothing.

When hard times come the hypocrites, who just follow Jesus because it's easier usually fall away. They find it too hard and don't have God's promises to sustain them. Likewise if we trust in the things of this world then it will all crumble when Christ returns to judge. He alone can save, and therefore everyone who has rejected him is still under God's just and righteous wrath.

The question we have to ask ourselves is this: Do I really trust in God? If so, am I building my life on his word and on his promises? Am I obeying him? We aren't saved by what we do, but if we are saved then we will do good stuff because of it to honour our saviour.

Works that come from love.

1 John 5:1-5

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

There's no doubt a lot that can be pulled out of these five verses, but I just want to focus on verses two and three: "This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world."

Why do we have to obey God

First up I want to address the question of why, as Christians, do we have to obey God? Obedience and Faith are tied very closely together. If we put our faith in God and have repented of our sins (if we are truly Christians we have done/do this), then we need to give up sin. The point of repentance is saying sorry for rebelling against God and turning around. If it's true sorrow for sin then we would be doing the opposite sand obeying God instead.

Faith is similar - is we put our trust in Jesus that he died for our sins, then we will also trust him that his ways are better than ours and we will obey Him.

If we are Christians then we are called to obey God. Our works do not save us. But we are saved and as a result we do works. It's like medicine - true medicine will fix a problem. If we are truly saved we will work at preventing sin in our lives because we are saved. It's only good medicine if it fixes the problem.

We love God by obeying him and we obey him out of love.

Everything about our obedience to God is based on love. It;s not about having to obey God, or duty. It's about being thankful to God and loving him. When we realise that Jesus died for our sins and how little we deserved that, we should be motivated to love and serve him. We don't do it as a way of repaying him, we do it out of gratitude for what he has already done for us. We can never repay God for all he has done for us.

Of course, we won't always want to obey God. Life is hard, and temptations are sometimes very hard to resist. We don't always want to obey God. But if we truly love him and are thankful for all he has done, then we need to dutifully obey him even if it isn't what we want.

We aren't forced into obeying God. We aren't his slaves in that sense. We don't obey a cruel master out of fear. We obey a compassionate and merciful master out of love. We obey a faithful and loving father out of respect and thankfulness because he has adopted us into his family and forgiven us of our sin (if we are Christians).

Part of love is being selfless. Christ died for us our of love for us even though we didn't deserve it. God deserves our obedience and we should be ready to give up some of the things of this world out of love for him. I'm not married, but I think it would be a similar situation: If you love your wife, you would give things up to spend time with her or to please her.

We should love to please God, even if we don't love giving up some things which we enjoy (that are sinful). We should give them up because we love God more.

The question is then, how do we love God more?

Here are a few thoughts:

• Read the bible. Know God's word and know what he has done, and know who he is.
• Spend time dwelling on God's character and praising him not only for what he has done, but for who he is. 
• Pray. If reading the bible is God speaking to us, and prayer is us speaking to God, then to have a true relationship with God we need to do both. "Cast your anxieties on him" (1 Peter 5:7) and also spend time praising him for who he is.
• Obey him. John says: "this is love for God: to keep his commands." - we show our love for God by obeying him.

God Bless,

Nat.