grace – Calvary Chapel https://calvarychapel.com Encourage, Equip, Edify Mon, 10 Jul 2023 16:39:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.2 https://calvarychapel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/cropped-CalvaryChapel-com-White-01-32x32.png grace – Calvary Chapel https://calvarychapel.com 32 32 Do No Harm – When People Reject Christ because of His People’s Actions https://calvarychapel.com/posts/do-no-harm-when-people-reject-christ-because-of-his-peoples-actions/ Fri, 14 Jul 2023 06:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2016/01/05/do-no-harm-when-people-reject-christ-because-of-his-peoples-actions/ originally posted January 5, 2016 Most of the medical community, and those of us who are trained in even the basics, know that the Hippocratic...]]>

originally posted January 5, 2016

Most of the medical community, and those of us who are trained in even the basics, know that the Hippocratic Oath begins with the phrase,

“First, do no harm.”

It’s the stepping stone of medicine, both ancient and modern. Our opening line is the simple instruction to do good, not evil.

I recently sat with a friend of mine who is far from God. She believes He probably exists, but openly states that He has no place in her life. During our conversation she said to me, “You cannot measure the good that religion has done. You can easily measure the harm: the wars, the gossip, the hypocrisy. But you cannot quantify the good.”

Certainly, I could argue this point. In that moment, with that friend, I did not. I simply let settle the clear perception from this modern woman that knowing God brings more harm than anything else.

This is our world. We speak to a generation of men and women who have been burned by church, embittered by politics, antagonized by moralism, disgusted with corruption. They’ve seen scandals and disappointments, watched prayer used as a bribe and Bible verses used as trinkets. Cheap grace has cheapened their experience of Christ and caused harm.

What then is our response?

Mine is very simple.

Live with faithfulness. Seek greater grace. Apologize for the wrongs you did not choose. Allow the incarnational Christ, who lived the life we could not live and died the death we could not die, to speak for Himself. Pursue the Gospel. Preach it to myself before I preach it to others. Love.

Even by accident, we harm others. Even with the best intentions, we experience and cause suffering. I was recently arrested by the clarity of this quote:

“What if in this new year we focused more on Jesus’ wounds and less on our own? They’re both real but only His can heal.”

-Luke MacDonald

The answer is and always will be Jesus.

Don’t look at the things done in His name. Look to Jesus. Don’t look at the ways our wounded world causes new wounds. Seek the ways He invites us to true healing. Don’t dwell on the discouragement and disappointment. Instead, “dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.” (Psalm 37:3)

The only generation we live with is our own. Our decisions can shape far beyond the one in which we live. May we be a generation who leaves behind a legacy of radical, faithful love for Jesus. Loving Him…does no harm.

]]> The Church & Victims of Depression https://calvarychapel.com/posts/the-church-victims-of-depression/ Fri, 28 Apr 2023 06:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2016/02/08/the-church-victims-of-depression/ The phone rang at 2am again. I knew who it was before answering. In recent weeks, Anita (not her real name) often called in the...]]>

The phone rang at 2am again. I knew who it was before answering. In recent weeks, Anita (not her real name) often called in the middle of the night.

She claimed to feel the fires of hell all over her body with no desire to live.

My wife or I would drive to her home and sit down and pray with her. We would speak to Anita and rally the church to pray for her. After a couple suicide attempts through overdoses, she was hospitalized for several months. We rallied around Anita as best we could. We would encourage her and read her Scripture, but it felt like talking to a wall. It was a discouraging time, but also a time when my wife and I felt utterly helpless. We were frustrated with Anita for not listening, and yet, grieved for her inability to listen. We felt defeated as if we had let Anita down.

Anita is not a unique case.

Although her depression was severe, 1 in 5 people in the UK will suffer depression. This highlights the importance of the role of the local church in helping sufferers of depression. But how do we help? Should we feel as helpless as my wife and I felt with Anita several years ago? There are many ways the church can approach depression.

In this three-part series, I would like to briefly look at three things we can do as the church by: Promoting Culture, Providing Training, and Practicing Priesthood.

Promoting Culture

A culture is the way in which groups of people live and think.

Everyone brings their culture into the church, and as the church, we have developed an Evangelical culture that is more based on moral excellence and stoicism than on the realities of our humanity. On Sundays, it is not uncommon for a family to be falling to pieces, yelling at one another in the car, and then walking into the church building with smiles, hugs, and handshakes. Typical church culture relegates life’s hardships and sufferings to behind closed doors. The emperor’s new clothes are “I’m ok, you’re ok.”

Any sufferer in that context can scream on the inside, but fear being viewed as inferior for having a quivering upper lip. In many ways we have an anti-suffering (and anti-depression) theology within the church.

The purpose of suffering is often not considered, and so when suffering strikes (and it will), many find difficulty weathering the storm. Suffering seems an obscure stranger, and our legalistic bent suggests that intense suffering comes upon those who are not trusting God. David Murray is right when he says in his book Christians Get Depressed Too that, “There is still a stigma attached to mental illness and to depression in particular.” Sometimes that stigma is not just that a person does not seem to be coping well, but that he/she fails to trust God.

In promoting a biblical culture, the local church must promote a culture of progressive sanctification. In other words, we are all in process.

We put on a sanctified show for others to see whilst ignoring the fact that we are not as together as we portray. Truly, we make sure the scaffolds of sanctification are erected on the inside of the building rather than the observable outside. This is why D.A. Carson wrote his book on suffering, How Long, O Lord? Carson begins by saying, “This is a book of preventative medicine. One of the major causes of devastating grief and confusion among Christians is that our expectations are false.” Suffering is a human problem, and depression is a form of suffering. People suffer from depression because of others (abuse, expectations, etc.), Adam (the curse, physiological factors, misery in work, death, etc.), and Satan (conspiring with the curse, spinning lies, etc.). These contributors work along the grain of our sinful hearts.

There is no single cause for depression.

Every one of us finds him/herself living amongst the same brokenness vulnerable to its effects. When Paul speaks of overcoming temptations, he points out that they are common to all (1 Cor. 10:13). Thus we must promote a new culture in the church—a culture that recognizes our likeness to one another. Truly, our struggles and temptations are more alike than different. That means that we are not a church that loves to help people with problems, but a church of people with problems.

In other words, we need a church culture that locates ourselves in the community of sufferers, rather than the community of the perfected.

Practicing such a culture would help invite openness about struggles, including depression, so that the sufferer receives care. In many cases, it may provide a preventative dynamic as the community can help hear and carry one another’s burdens before they break an individual’s spirit! This allows us to see ourselves included as sufferers; thus, we can enter into the world of the depressed without excluding them from our world.

]]> How the Gospel Heals Shame https://calvarychapel.com/posts/how-the-gospel-heals-shame/ Mon, 24 Apr 2023 06:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2014/04/10/how-the-gospel-heals-shame/ ]]>

Shame is an experience common to every person on the planet. Charles Darwin, in classic materialist fashion, defined shame primarily in terms of its physical expression: casting the eyes downward, lowering the head, blushing and a slack posture. No matter what culture a person is from, these are universally accepted signs of this universally experienced condition. To clarify what we’re talking about, it’s helpful to differentiate between shame and guilt. The difference has been stated very well in the following way: “guilt is a sense that my actions are wrong. Shame is a sense that I am wrong.” It’s interesting that even when a person denies guilt over certain actions, the sense of shame is much harder to escape. A person might completely deny the existence of “moral standards”, and yet they may still go through life with a sense that “I’m not right”.

Where does shame come from?

The theme of shame runs throughout the whole Bible. We see it from the very beginning. In the garden of Eden, God created Adam and Eve. Gen. 2:25 says that they were both “naked and unashamed”. But in chapter 3 they fall into sin, disobey God and, all of a sudden, there is a change. The very first result we read of after they eat the forbidden fruit is that “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. ”

The very first result from sin mentioned in the Bible is shame. It was the direct result of sin. It wasn’t just that they thought their action was wrong. They thought that they were wrong and had to hide themselves, so they sewed coverings. When God calls to Adam, Adam says, “I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” They didn’t just wipe their mouths from the juice of the forbidden fruit to hide their action. They tried to hide themselves. This is shame, not just guilt. Shame is the fear that “someone will see me as I really am and reject me because I am disgusting”. They realized that now, in a real sense, they themselves were not right. And their immediate reaction was to create a covering, a way to hide their own shame. Think about it: was there anything sinful in the fact that they were naked? Just Adam and Eve were there, a man and his wife. No! The problem was not their nakedness. But their shame caused them to try and hide themselves. The act of covering oneself as an expression of shame is well known to all of us, even when that shame has nothing to do with a directly physical cause.

The picture of nakedness as an illustration of shame continues throughout Scripture. This is essentially something we associate with nakedness anyway. Almost everyone has had the nightmare where you show up to school and you forgot to put on clothes and you’re standing there in your underwear or naked and everyone is laughing and you’re just dying of shame. Even if you haven’t had that dream, the concept is so ubiquitous that you’re sure to have seen it in a movie or two. But along with this picture of nakedness as shame in Scripture, clothing one’s nakedness is a picture of the covering of shame.

Trying to heal our own shame

Now, in the sense that we’re fallen, sinful people, shame is appropriate. * We should have a sense that we aren’t as we should be, because we aren’t as we should be! We were not created to exist in a condition of sin and alienation from God! But at the same time, it’s impossible to constantly live in shame. It will lead us to despair and depression. In fact, in some cases, the horrifying, conscious realization of shame is so strong that it can push a person to suicide. And so we attempt to “heal” our shame in one of 2 ways:

1) We sew fig leaves for ourselves. That is, we attempt to hide our shame under that which we’ve made with our own hands. Even if we refuse to admit guilt over a specific action, if we try to justify it or even if a person denies the existence of moral standards, we still go about life trying to cover our shame through our works and accomplishments. We attempt to cover who we are with what we do. That might be with accomplishments in business or wealth, perhaps in popularity or relationships or sex, or even in religious accomplishment and devotion. We feel that we are wrong on some level and attempt to cover that with the work of our hands. Only it doesn’t work.

Think about the story in Eden. If the fig leaves had really covered their shame, why did Adam and Eve hide in the bushes after they had made themselves a covering? It becomes obvious that, although they attempted to deal with their own shame through their accomplishments, it didn’t work. If it did they would’ve been standing in the middle of the garden in confidence. See, whichever accomplishments we try to heal our shame with, they will never work. We will only make matters worse. There are 2 (at least) major down sides to making your underwear out of fig leaves. First, it’s a very temporary solution. The fig leaves would quickly wither and Adam and Eve would constantly have to be renewing the fig leaves. Secondly, if you’ve ever felt a fig leaf, you know that they feel like sandpaper. There’s a mental picture for you: sandpaper undies. Do you think that was comfortable? No. They weren’t made for a covering!

When a person attempts to cover their inherent sense of shame, their “I’m not right” with any accomplishment, first, it doesn’t last for long. That temporary sense of relief from shame will soon disappear, like all fig leaves, and you’ll have to find another covering. That’s why a person who uses, say, material goods to mask his shame has to keep getting more. The old leaves fade. That’s why a person who uses romantic relationships to mask their shame has to keep getting more, changing partners, etc. Second, whatever you’ve made your “covering” from shame will begin to irritate you and you’ll hate it in the end, cause it wasn’t made to cover your shame! That’s why people who try to use their families to cover their sense of shame end up leaving their families, or crush them under heavy demands and resentment. That’s why people who use religious duty to cover shame often harbor a mild contempt for God and are very irritable. Whatever you are trying to cover your shame with today, whatever you’re using to mask sense that you’re “not right”, be sure that it won’t last and you’ll hate it in the end.

2) The second approach is to pretend you aren’t naked. To deal with shame, some try to simply deny the existence of shame, to boast in their wrongness. But the fact of the matter is, even people who theoretically deny a sense of shame will still ultimately act out of it. You might pretend you’re not naked, but if you go outside in the winter, you’re going realize it. One interesting example in our culture here in Ukraine is «civil (common-law) marriage». People will say that there’s nothing shameful about living together and having sex outside of marriage. And yet they’ll most often call the person they’re in fornication with «husband/wife». Why do that? If it’s really not shameful, why are people attempting to cover it up under the name of marriage? The truth is we can deny shame all we want, but it will still be there and we’ll still act out of it.

True healing from shame

So here’s the question: how can shame be healed? How can we get rid of that sense that “I am wrong”? If we can’t cover it over with our own accomplishments and we can’t effectively pretend that shame doesn’t exist, are we doomed to remain in that sense of shame forever? No!

Now we look at the healing of shame. Let’s return to the story of Eden. Adam and Eve had sewn their fig leaves to cover their shame. But then God came and called them. When Adam confessed to hiding because of the shame of his nakedness, God asks, “who told you that you were naked”? “Did you eat the fruit ?”. Once God had clearly convicted them of sin, pronounced the result of sin in the curse, and as Adam and Eve were leaving the garden, God sacrificed a lamb to make them a covering for their shame. But here’s what we maybe don’t think about: in order to accept God’s covering for shame, His healing of their shame, they had to take off their fig leaves. They had to stand naked before Him in the reality of their shame, not hiding it, not denying it, but confessing their shame. Only then was God free to cover their shame for them.

The fact is that a person can never cover their own shame, no matter what achievements they try to use. That’s because the healing of shame takes place as much in the undressing as it does in the covering. The healing of shame is in having someone see you in all your shame and, knowing you as you are, then cover your shame. The healing takes place when God says “I see you as you are, your shame, and I will accept you and cover your shame.” It’s not just the covering, but that He gave the covering, knowing what we were like without it.

Well, that’s a beautiful story for Adam and Eve, but are we so lucky as to have God offer us the healing of our shame? YES! The other condition we need to notice in that story is that for Adam and Eve’s shame to be covered, the lamb had to lose its covering, have it’s skin ripped off. It had to die. Of course, some animal could not truly heal the deep shame of fallen sinners. It was a promise that one day the Lamb of God, Jesus, would come to heal our shame. His skin was flayed off with a roman whip. He hung completely naked, bearing our shame, before the crowd that ridiculed Him. He lost the covering of His honor and blessing and was rejected by the Father on the Cross. That was the price of our shame. But in doing so, He gives us His covering: the rich robes of His righteousness. If we will take off our fig leaves before God, stand spiritually naked before him admitting that we are “not right”, open our shame to Him, not hide or deny it, then He will cover us with the very righteousness of Jesus, the Lamb of God. He will see who we are and accept us and cover us anyway. And in that we will find the true healing of our shame. He will declare, “You are right”.

This is what it means to be “righteous”: right before God. This is why the Bible can boldly promise, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” (Rom. 10:11) It is with this sacrifice of the Lamb of God in mind that Isaiah prophetically writes in chapter 61, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ” Here we also see the hint that we are not dressed in just any clothes, not even in His righteousness in a generic sense, but that the robes of salvation are a wedding dress. In Revelation 19 at the return of Christ we see the Church, those who have received Christ, and it says, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” Christ doesn’t merely heal our shame but clothes us as His bride in His righteousness. Shame is the fear that someone will see me as I really am and reject me because I’m disgusting. The gospel is the assurance that God sees us as we are and accepts us anyway because He is beautiful. The Gospel heals shame.

* There is an “illegitimate shame” which is the result not of our sin, but of others’ sins against us, be that mockery or physical/sexual abuse, etc. This shame is not something that is our “fault”, and yet we still need to see that it is in Christ that this kind of shame is also healed.

This post is an excerpt of the sermon from 1 Cor. 13:7a, “how love heals shame”.
The audio is available in Russian here.

]]> Living Grace: Adultery, Restoration and Dealing with Discontentment https://calvarychapel.com/posts/living-grace-adultery-restoration-and-dealing-with-discontentment/ Fri, 06 Dec 2019 23:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2019/12/06/living-grace-adultery-restoration-and-dealing-with-discontentment/ We’ve all experienced “Greener Grass Syndrome,” where we think something on the other side of our situation will make us happy. Guest Nancy Anderson shares...]]>

We’ve all experienced “Greener Grass Syndrome,” where we think something on the other side of our situation will make us happy. Guest Nancy Anderson shares her story of how her Christian marriage turned upside down when unhappiness turned to a willful affair. But as we read in John 8, Jesus acted in grace, mercy and forgiveness to the woman caught in adultery from that account. Watch as Nancy explains the amazing resolution and lesson she has learned when facing the “Greener Grass Syndrome!” Nancy’s book, Avoiding Greener Grass Syndrome, is available on multiple outlets for purchase.

]]> Turn Down the Noise: How We Can Expect to Hear the Holy Spirit https://calvarychapel.com/posts/turn-down-the-noise-how-we-can-expect-to-hear-the-holy-spirit/ Tue, 09 Jul 2019 17:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2019/07/09/turn-down-the-noise-how-we-can-expect-to-hear-the-holy-spirit/ How can we expect to hear the Holy Spirit when our lives are filled with constant noise? If we would like to see the gifts...]]>

How can we expect to hear the Holy Spirit when our lives are filled with constant noise?

If we would like to see the gifts of the spirit and the fruit of the spirit working in our lives then we must make a choice to turn down the noise. if we wish to hear the Holy Spirit lead and guide us, we must make the conscious, intentional choice to carve out time to be quiet and listen to Him.

Also, we must face every day, humbly willing to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. We must put our will into submission to the Holy Spirit and commit to following His guidance.

Do you ever feel distant from the Lord?

Do you feel as though your prayers are not answered and you can’t hear Him speaking or see Him working in your life? I would suggest to you that this has more to do with your posture toward God than His posture toward you.

The Bible tells says in Matthew 10:29-31: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” The father is attentive to you. Psalm 139:4 tells us, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.” The Lord is watching you, listening to you, you are precious to Him; He attends to you. But, do you attend to Him? Do you reciprocate His attention? Does your life allow time for you to listen to His voice? Are you interested in what He has to say to you?

In the first two paragraphs, I mention two life choices that are imperative in order for us to hear from and be directed by the Holy Spirit. In the following paragraph, I will explain these choices in more detail.

Life can be noisy! I have a five-year-old and three-year-old twins. I am used to going through my days accompanied by a very loud soundtrack of requests, complaints of sibling injustices, outright tantrums and thankfully, boisterous fun and laughter, not to mention Peppa Pig or Paw Patrol blaring in the background. By the time the day is done, I feel as though all I have left is the ability to flop on the couch and watch some mindless TV.

But honestly, what does that profit me? In reality, it is only adding to the noise of my already noisy life. There is a God; His name is Jesus, and He is waiting for me to turn it down and come to Him. In Him is true rest and refreshment. In Him is the guidance of His Holy Spirit.

God tells us in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” He also tells us in James 5:16, “The fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much.” Just the act of getting quiet before the Lord, asking Him for His guidance, inviting Him into the challenges of your life, shows our heart that is surrendered to God. Our time seeking God’s counsel shows we are willing to listen to Him and follow His lead.

1 Kings 19:11-12 tells us, “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” The Lord whispered gently to Elijah; He did not roar at him in the wind, fire or earthquake, but in a still, small voice. My question to you: Is your life ever quiet enough to hear the whisper of the Lord?

He is speaking to you. Can you hear Him?

Choose to turn down the noise today, give room for God’s Holy Spirit to speak into your life. If your life is anything like mine, then you desperately need His comfort, guidance and wisdom on a daily basis. He is present; you need to be present too. That is the only way to have a close relationship with God.

Secondly, we must face every day consciously submitted to the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit. For example, the spirit makes the word come alive to us, revealing God’s truth, but if we choose not to obey God’s truth, then we are like the man in James 1:22-24: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” Hand in hand with hearing the leading and direction of the Spirit of God must be a commitment to obey.

The spirit prompts. He directs. He instructs us on a daily basis; are you willing to go and speak to that person He has put on your heart? Are you willing to pray for that person He is burdening you for? Are you willing to surrender your will to His calling, the calling that keeps knocking on your door? Are you willing to obey?

In Galatians 5, we are given a list of the fruit of the spirit and then in verse 25, the text says, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” What does it mean to be “in step” with the spirit? Well, it means to walk together. You cannot walk together if you are going in different directions. Are you “in step” with God’s Spirit that dwells in you? He wants to lead you. Are you willing to walk with Him, to go when He says go, to yield when He says yield, to serve when He says serve?

Jesus loves you. As many times as that statement is made, it will be true. Jesus died for you, for you! He knows every tiny part of you, every dark corner; He knows your shame, your anger. He loves you, He died for you. He made you righteous. I just want to encourage you to remember His goodness so you can be inspired to give Him your time. Turn down your noise, and humbly commit to following His lead. There is no downside. There is no downside. There is no downside.

Nothing compares to the greatness of God. Nothing is more mind-boggling than His infinite attention toward us. No other thing in your life can compare to knowing Him. Give Him your time. Give Him your obedience, and see how He will guide you as your Good Shepherd.

]]> To Kill or to Crown Jesus? https://calvarychapel.com/posts/to-kill-or-to-crown-jesus/ Sat, 20 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2019/04/20/to-kill-or-to-crown-jesus/ Jesus said He would be crucified. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,...]]>

Jesus said He would be crucified.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

Psalm 22 predicted Jesus would be crucified. Isaiah 53 predicted that Jesus would be crucified. Zechariah 12:10 predicted that Jesus would be crucified. God was sovereign over the worst in humanity.

This whole scene is filled with voices and choices: Pontius Pilate and Barabbas the robber.

The voices and choices in this trial unveil how broken humanity is and how humble and majestic Jesus is.

“Jesus stands before Pilate” (Luke 23:1–25).

“Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate” (Luke 23:1).

The only reason the average person knows anything about Pontius Pilate is because of his relationship with Jesus Christ. If Pilate had not been the governor of Judea at the time of Jesus, he would have lived and died in obscurity. There were thousands of Roman officials commissioned throughout the Roman Empire, but I doubt that any of us know even one of them by name. But Pilate is known throughout history because of these moments he spent with Jesus.

Pilate possessed great power and position in the Empire. But he hated Judea — he hated the Jews — he had zero concern for them or for their religion — all of which led to decisions that resulted in horrific political setbacks with the Jews that put his entire career in jeopardy.

Pilate’s life was defined by his decisions concerning Jesus — and most importantly the consequences of his indecision concerning Jesus. Life is filled with decisions.

There are political decisions. As the voting results from presidential elections are reported, there are graphic banners running across screens that say “Decision 20_ _.” There are educational decisions. Purchase decisions (Buying a car, buying a house, school district, square footage, neighborhood). Relationship decisions — Is this the one? Each of those decisions has consequences — some small, some life-changing.

But there is one decision that has eternal consequence.

That is the decision that we make concerning Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit inspired the authors of all four accounts of the life and mission of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) to hold this man, Pontius Pilate, before us because his decision was made through the filters of a value system that could never supply the deepest need of his heart — a value system that has without exception failed everyone. He came down on the wrong side of the decision concerning Jesus — when all the while he tried everything in his power to make no decision.

In verse three, we find Pilate face to face with Jesus for the first time.

“And Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?'” (Luke 23:3).

No doubt Pilate had heard much about Him. He wouldn’t have failed to miss the way Jesus entered into Jerusalem on the first day of that week with the crowd shouting, “Hosanna, Hosanna! Blessed is the King who comes.” Then there was a Cohort (600 Roman soldiers) involved in the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. The ranking officer would have had daily communications with Pilate. He had spies all through Judea and Galilee. In fact, Matthew and Mark tell us that Pilate knew exactly why the religious rulers had brought Jesus to him.

“For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered Him up” (Matthew 27:18; Mark 16:10).

Pilate didn’t ask, “Are you the Messiah? Are you bringing salvation? Are you from heaven?” Pilate had ZERO interest in such things. Pilate’s question had everything to do with the brief biographical sketch of this man. “Are you the King of the Jews?” “Do you have a political agenda?” “Are you out to oppose Caesar and me?”

All four Gospel accounts give us the answer of Jesus to this first question: “And He answered him, ‘You have said so.’”

In John 18:34 we read, “Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about Me?'”

This is radical! Suddenly, Pilate’s on trial! The beaten, disfigured and defenseless Jesus was holding court on Pilate; and by proxy, you and me.

So many people think that Jesus is on trial when someone shares the Gospel with them! REALITY — Jesus is judging them! THEY are the ones on trial!

We need to bear this in mind — Jesus loved Pilate. Jesus was after Pilate’s heart. Jesus was appealing to him — “As you stand here and look at Me, are you asking if I’m a king because you need to know for yourself? Do you have a conviction in your heart about Me? Or are you just saying this because it’s popular opinion, and other people told it to you?” Jesus wasn’t asking to obtain information. He was asking so Pilate could discover the truth about himself.

“Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?’” (John 18:35).

Without a doubt, Pilate did not expect the answer that he was about to hear from this bloodied, disfigured man standing before him.

“Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world'” (John 18:36).

At this moment, Jesus shows us how to deal with our post-everything world. Jesus loved this man. Jesus was probing Pilate and provoking Pilate to consider Him. Pilate could only come up with, “What IS truth?” That is the battle cry of our post-modern, post-Christian, post-Truth world!

We shouldn’t be shocked by post-modern man’s take on truth. We should be shocked at how Jesus — even after He had been brutally beaten and disfigured — loved this man and tried to draw him to the truth.

DON’T MISS THIS — Pilate was CONVINCED that Jesus was innocent. But he could see how volatile this situation was. Pilate had to make a decision between his CONSCIENCE — what he knew to be right about Jesus — and CONVENIENCE — a course of action that would bring him the least amount of grief.

We are always faced with the choice between conscience and convenience.

“You always said people don’t do what they believe in, they just do what’s most convenient, then they repent”– Bob Dylan

If Pilate had an ounce of integrity, it would have been, “I find no fault in this man” — PERIOD! But there was that ring he wore — that ring said that he was the “Friend of Caesar.” That relationship, and the prestige, the position and power it brought to him, was his idol. It was the very thing that defined him; the thing that he lived for. Pilate could not put a period at the end of his judgment because he knew that his decision was not the decision that was going to satisfy the Jews — and as a result, it was a threat to his idol — a threat to his status as governor and “Friend of Caesar.” So, Pilate immediately jumped on a potential escape route. By the way — in any and all wrong decisions concerning Jesus, the first course of action is to identify the idol.

That was Pilate’s official judgment — he made it on behalf of the Senate and the people of Rome. So, Pilate tried another potential escape route.

The Roman system of justice was unyielding. If you pronounced a man innocent, the authorities had no right to punish him after that. You were to let him go.

“But they all cried out together, ‘Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas’” (Luke 23:18).

Barabbas is mentioned in all four gospels — I believe — for very definite reasons. We don’t know a whole lot about him. “Bar-Abba” means “Son of the Father.” There are those who say that his name was actually Jesus Bar-abbas.

“In the hands of some first-century authors, however, the word depicts not simply a thief, but a terrorist”– D.A. Carson

Matthew tells us he was “a notorious prisoner” (Matthew 27:16). Luke and Mark tell us he was an insurrectionist and a murderer. He was scheduled to be crucified. In light of what transpired here, we can see that it was originally Barabbas who was going to be crucified on Golgotha between two other thieves.

Jesus died on the very cross Barabbas was going to die on.

If anyone could say, “Jesus died for me,” it was Barabbas. He knew that he was guilty. He knew that he was facing the death penalty. He knew that there was a piece of wood with his name on it waiting for him to carry outside of the city where they would nail him to it. He knew that he was released and that Jesus died in his place — the innocent for the guilty.

As brutal a man as he was, the shouts that he heard must have made him buckle. Then he heard the sound of the key unlocking his cell. He discovered that Jesus Christ was dying in his place. On a human level, try to imagine what that moment was like as he realized that the piece of wood that he was going to carry to his own death, was now going to be placed upon a substitute.

But we see it from an even more radical vantage point. Here is the best in the universe, God incarnate, and the worst in humanity, and whom do men choose? God incarnate dies in the place of the brutal Barabbas.

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, KJV).

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

Remember — The Gospel is not religious advice.

The Gospel is the startling proclamation of what God did for us!

The Gospel is the startling proclamation that because of what God did for us, anyone can be right with God. The Gospel proclaims that God offers to open the prison cell, release us from the bondage of sin, and have Jesus die in our place.

“Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him” (John 19:1).

We don’t want to miss how brutal Pilate was willing to be to maintain the privileged status of wearing that ring that said, “Friend of Caesar.” He essentially said — “I’m not going to kill Him all the way — I’ll half-kill Him. When this mob sees Jesus torn to shreds, they will leave me alone, and I can be rid of Jesus.”

The first blows caused bleeding from the capillaries and veins. But as the blows continued in frequency and intensity, the back was torn to shreds, and there would be arterial bleeding. Once the hooks were sunk deeply into the tenderized flesh, the executioner would rip the skin, muscle, tendons and even bones off the victim. Victims would shake violently and bleed profusely.

History records that upon occasion, the hooks would go so deep that a rib would literally come flying off the body of a living man. Eyewitness accounts tell us that by the end of the Roman scourging, the victim’s back was a mass of hanging, unidentifiable flesh — and you could actually see internal organs! The victim would go into shock. His body was covered in blood. The Lictor would then untie the hands of the victim, and he would collapse in a pool of his own blood and flesh.

Seven hundred years before the scourging of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah predicted the results of Jesus’ scourging:

“Many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind” (Isaiah 52:14).

In the most personal way — Barabbas, the guilty man was released — the innocent Son of God was crucified in his place. THAT is the Gospel.

Does it blow your mind how gracious God was to Pilate? Jesus spoke to Pilate in His first civil trial before Pilate. Jesus continued to speak to Pilate the second time He stood before him.

DON’T MISS THIS — Pilate teaches us that whatever it is you hope to gain by compromising concerning Jesus — you can NEVER keep it! Within 10 years, Pilate would lose his position as Prefect and Governor of Judea and be sent back to Rome. By the time he was sent back to Rome, Tiberius had died. Caligula was Caesar. Caligula banished Pilate to the region known as Gaul where he ended up committing suicide. Here he had compromised everything in regard to Jesus in order to secure his identity as the “Friend of Caesar” — and his place in the Roman Empire. He chose friend of Caesar over friend of Jesus — the King of kings and Lord of lords.

You’ll have to kill Jesus or crown Jesus.

Voices and Choices: Kill Jesus or Crown Jesus. That is the decision that everyone must make. This is the decision that determines forever for you. This isn’t like the choice someone makes to flee approaching peril.

This is a decision to flee from eternal loss, eternal darkness — to the light of Jesus Christ. This is the decision to choose life over death.

]]> Why Was Good Friday So Good? https://calvarychapel.com/posts/why-was-good-friday-so-good/ Fri, 19 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2019/04/19/why-was-good-friday-so-good/ “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been...]]>

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

Good Friday is a time when we remember the pain of the Lord on our behalf.

Indeed, Jesus suffered and died for us.

Have you ever tried to comprehend the feelings of the apostles and other followers of Jesus as they watched their Lord die on a cross so many years ago? Everything the followers of Christ had hoped for seemed to have been snatched from their hands in the space of a few hours. The apostles must have felt panic, fear, dismay, anger, hopelessness.

Perhaps they felt shame as they thought of going home and telling people that the Messiah, they gave up everything to follow, had just died on a cross—leaving them looking like hapless fools. I can only speculate how they felt. I doubt they were rejoicing though.

With all the pain they must have felt at watching their Lord die, I have often wondered what was so good about Good Friday.

Without the tragedy of the cross, there would be no hope for any of us.

The tragedy we remember on Good Friday is, in fact, the greatest victory in the history of mankind.

WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT GOOD FRIDAY?

When you think about it, the terminology we’ve used over the past centuries seems a little out of place. We are here to remember and to consider the death of Christ. Naturally, our minds wander back 2,000 years to another time and another place. Jerusalem. People gathered from all over the world to celebrate the Passover, and outside the walls of the city, the Passover Lamb hanging in public shame upon a cross.

All four Gospels are really rather matter of fact about the death of Christ. They each relate the historical events, and they each refrain from giving very much in the way of commentary as they describe those events. What commentary they do give comes from the lips of those who are present. The inscription over His cross proclaims Him to be the King of the Jews (John 19:19).

It points out that this Galilean rabbi was much more than just a King—- He was the one and future promised King who was, and who is, and who is to come—Alpha and Omega.

One of the thieves commented that “we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41). This points to the fact that Jesus died as an innocent sacrifice for the wrongs of others.

1. CHRIST DIED FOR SIN.

“For Christ also died for sins”(1 Peter 3:18)—He had none!

The death of Christ had both a very terrible, and at the same time, a very wonderful purpose. It was terrible in that it teaches us that our sin is quite terrible. It is wonderful in that it teaches us that God’s love is quite wonderful.

He died for sins in the sense that His death was PENAL. God’s law demanded punishment for sin. The death of Jesus was the answer to that demand—not on Him, on you and me! His death was a punishment for our sin—price paid–debt erased.

In the ancient world, it was customary that when a criminal was crucified, a list of his infractions that had led to his crucifixion would be nailed to his cross. The idea was that anyone who was contemplating committing the same crime would read this list and be warned. You know all about the inscription that Pilate had affixed to the cross of Jesus.

And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin and Hebrew (Luke 23:38).

THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

But there was another inscription that day that was unseen by human eyes.

“And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14).

Can you imagine what it would be like if someone were to follow you around and write down everything that you did, unbeknownst to you?

Every evil action, every improper thought, every wrong motive? It isn’t mere imagination.

There was a certificate of debt that we owed. It consisted of all the things that we had done wrong or that we would one day do wrong — after all, at the time of the cross, all of your actions and my actions were still future tense.

It consisted of our actions, our thoughts and our motivations. Everything that would cause us to hang our heads in shame before a holy and righteous God.

Nailed to the cross.

It isn’t that we weren’t guilty—We were and still are. But the penalty has been paid. The demands of the law have been met. He died for sins in the sense that His death was PRIESTLY. In Old Testament times, the people had to approach God on the basis of animal sacrifice. The regulations for worship were quite specific. For you to worship, death had to take place. And that was not all. Even after the sacrifice was offered, it did not mean that you could blissfully walk into the presence of God. You had to go through a mediator. You went to the priest, and he went into the presence of God.

2. CHRIST DIED FOR SIN ONCE–FOR ALL.

“For Christ also died for sins once for all” (1 Peter 3:18).

We come to the cross again and again, and that is perfectly appropriate. But the death of Christ was a once and for all event.

And as Jesus breathed His last, the veil in the Temple was torn in two– from heaven to earth—top to bottom—no man could make a way only God dying for our sin—heaven to earth (Mark 15:37-38).

That great veil, that had for so long a time stood for the separation that existed between God and men, was torn in two from top to bottom.

No more sacrifices. No more blood. No more animals to be slaughtered. The work was done. It was a once and for all event. It need never be repeated. In those times, when we’ve played the part of the lost sheep and have wandered away, we come to our senses and we wonder, “How can I ever make it right? How can I return and have the relationship I once enjoyed.”

It is at those times that He comes, and He says, “I died for sin once and for all. All anger has been satisfied once and for all. No other sacrifice is needed for you, Jeff.”

3. CHRIST’S DEATH INVOLVED THE JUST FOR THE UNJUST.

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust…”

Christ died our death. He who was innocent died in the place of we who were guilty. The death of Christ is a measure of our sinfulness. We have a tendency to downplay sin. It is a sign of our day and age that we don’t even like to talk about sin. Or else sin is relegated to the murderous actions of third world terrorists and since “I would never do a thing like that,” I can assuage my own brand of sins with the thought, “It really isn’t that bad.”

Now hear this—Your sin is really bad, and my sin is really bad. So bad that it took the death of the holy and righteous and just Son of God to put it away. He is the —–JUST ONE of our verse.

We read that He: “died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust” (1 Peter 3:18).

This is the same truth that Paul expresses when he says:

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus is the just one who took upon Himself your injustice. He became sin on your behalf.

We have been credited with the righteousness of Christ. He is infinitely righteous. He has not merely imputed a portion of His righteousness to our account. Rather, the very nature of His character of complete righteousness has been credited to us. We are regarded by God as having the very righteousness of Christ.

Remember——what He did that day.

The seven last sayings of Jesus from the Cross:

1. Luke 23:32-34 The Perfect Prayer:

“Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.”–Perfect forgiveness

2. Luke 23:32-43 Eternal Life Today:

“Today you shall be with Me in Paradise”–Eternal life

3. John 19:26-27 Substituting for the Substitute:

“Woman, behold, your son!”–A new family

4. Matthew 27:46:

My God! My God! Why? “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?”–Penalty paid

5. John 19:28-29:

“I Thirst; I Thirst.”–We’ll never be thirsty again

6. John 19:30 FINISHED!

“It is finished!”–Completed His mission

7. Luke 23:46:

“Father into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”–Made heaven our home!

Do you know Him?

]]> The Adventure of Advent: Day 10 – Who Needs a Savior? https://calvarychapel.com/posts/the-adventure-of-advent-day-10-who-needs-a-savior/ Mon, 10 Dec 2018 08:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2018/12/10/the-adventure-of-advent-day-10-who-needs-a-savior/ “And Mary said: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.’” (Luke 1:46) What mission did Jesus come to...]]>

“And Mary said: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.’” (Luke 1:46)

What mission did Jesus come to accomplish? What was His target group?

No guess work needed here. In Luke 19:10 Jesus said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Let’s remember that as we move deeper into the Gospel story, beyond the manger.

His mission? Bring salvation! His target group? Lost people! But who falls into that category of “lost?”

Isaiah 53:6 provides the unsettling answer. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one to his own way.”

There are no sinless people here. There are some decent people like Mary and Joseph, but as Isaiah said we have “all have gone astray.” And…brace yourself. That includes Mary. She says it here, “My spirit has rejoiced in God MY Savior.”

Sin claims and breaks us all. Mary was no different in that regard. Though she was seeking to live righteously, Mary had marks on her soul like all of us. She needed Jesus as much as any of us.

Imagine Mary, facing the inescapable conclusion that day in Elizabeth’s house, that she was actually carrying, in her womb, under her heart, tucked just below her rib cage, her own Savior. And when she began to grasp who and what this baby was, and why He was coming, no wonder she rejoiced in God who was extending the hope of salvation to her.

Who needs a Savior? That would be me…and you…and even Mary. Let’s follow Mary’s great example and make today another day of rejoicing in our Savior.

]]> Don’t Stop Crying Out to God https://calvarychapel.com/posts/dont-stop-crying-out-to-god/ Wed, 06 Jun 2018 17:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2018/06/06/dont-stop-crying-out-to-god/ The story of the blind beggar, found in Luke 18 is one that has recently had a powerful impact on my attitude toward prayer. The...]]>

The story of the blind beggar, found in Luke 18 is one that has recently had a powerful impact on my attitude toward prayer.

The healing of Bartimaeus is the final miracle Jesus performed during His time on earth. I think it is profound that this miracle involved bringing sight to the blind. Jesus went to the cross soon after this miracle, and through His sacrifice, there has brought sight to all those who have received His great salvation and accepted Him as Savior.

During the time Jesus walked on earth, there were a lot of blind people.

Blindness was a common ailment due to the lack of medical knowledge and poor hygiene. The Jewish people believed blindness was a punishment from God for sin, therefore those who were blind were considered sinful and not worthy of pity or help. The Jews believed they were receiving the punishment they deserved, and so it would be wrong to help them in anyway. This is why blind people are often seen as destitute beggars in the Bible accounts. Blind people were considered the lowest of the low.

If we think of how this blind man, blind Bartimaeus, must have felt about himself, it is quite devastating. He would have considered himself under the judgment of God. He would have felt that God was displeased with him and so struck him blind; he would have thought of himself as under God’s judgment, and because of this, had been reduced to total poverty and degradation.

But! When he hears Jesus is passing by, he begins to scream at Him, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” The word used to describe how this man screamed at Jesus is often a word used to describe how demon possessed people shouted. He shouted at the top of his lungs, like a crazy person in order to get Jesus’ attention. He shouted so loud and insanely, that those around him, the very Jews who considered him a sinner and rightfully blind, told him to be quiet and to stop making a scene.

There are two lessons that struck me from this part of the story.

If someone is shouting desperately for Jesus, no matter who they are or what they have done or how we view them, there is never a time for us to tell them to be quiet.

Thank God, blind Bartimaeus had the faith and courage to keep shouting through the negative voices around him, so that his shouts reached the ears of Jesus.

The second thing I learned is that, no matter what the voices around you or indeed the voices of your own self-condemning thoughts are saying, never let anything stop you from crying out to God with your needs. If you or anybody else is saying you are too sinful or unworthy, remind yourself that it does not matter about what you have done; it matters only that Jesus has given you the gift of righteousness and told you to come boldly into His throne room. Like blind Bartimaeus, keep shouting! Don’t let anything push your prayers to the side, because like this story shows us, there is one person who is always listening; one person who is never too busy; one person who has the power to meet your need, and that, of course, is Jesus.

As blind Bartimaeus continues to shout, Jesus hears his cries and asks for him to be brought over.

He asks Bartimaeus, “What can I do for you?” What a wonderful question to be asked by Jesus. Bartimaeus asks for his sight, and Jesus immediately gives it to him. Through all the voices telling him to be quiet, that he doesn’t count, that he should sit back down and stay in the destitution he is in, Bartimaeus kept shouting, like a demon possessed person. And Jesus heard him and healed him! Jesus is full of compassion and mercy, and this story is included in the New Testament to encourage us to pray like Bartimaeus.

Perhaps we don’t have a crowd shouting at us to tell us to be quiet. But we have distractions enough. We have phones and iPads, children and friends, busy lives and long hours at work, but let me encourage you not to let the crowds of your life shut you up. Don’t forget the power of Jesus; He is “Jesus, son of David” the Messiah, the one who has the power to move in your life and meet your needs. But are you asking? Or are you allowing the crowds and distractions of your life to make you mute?

Our access to God was won for us by Jesus’ great sacrifice; we don’t have to fight for it in the same way Bartimaeus did, but I hope the ease with which we can approach God does not make us complacent. Let’s be tenacious in our prayer life the way Bartimaeus was. The more I learn about prayer, the more I realize tenacity and consistency moves God. So, let’s not have a half-baked prayer life. Let’s not be muted by the loudness of our lives. Let’s pray with boldness, knowing the goodness and grace of the God we are praying to and also knowing that our cries are never an annoyance to Him, but that He welcomes our prayers and meets our needs. What a wonderful God we serve!

]]> Finding Peace in Surrender https://calvarychapel.com/posts/finding-peace-in-surrender/ Wed, 25 Apr 2018 06:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2018/04/24/finding-peace-in-surrender/ The idea of surrender, most commonly, has negative connotations. We think of armies and nations that have surrendered in wars; they saw that they were...]]>

The idea of surrender, most commonly, has negative connotations. We think of armies and nations that have surrendered in wars; they saw that they were defeated by the victors, and so they gave up, admitted defeat and surrendered to their conquerors.

None of that sounds great! We generally don’t walk around thinking, “Oh, I hope I am defeated today – so that I can surrender.” But in the Christian context, surrender is the most wonderful position to find yourself in, because in our case, the victor is also our Savior.

To live our lives in a posture of surrender to God is a glorious freedom.

We must come to the place where we “give up,” where we finally admit that we cannot do it on our own, that we cannot meet God’s standard. As we read in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” This causes us to see our need for Jesus to be our Savior. It is in this moment of “defeat” that we surrender to our Savior, and in that glorious moment, we realize Jesus has not won victory over us, but He has won victory for us. He is not our conqueror; He is our Savior. Indeed, Jesus surrendered all so that He could be our Savior. He surrendered His power and glory to come to the earth as a baby. The Bible tells us that Jesus, “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7). He surrendered His very life on the cross to take the penalty for our sin, so that one day we could willingly surrender to Him, to be adopted into His family and gain access to the throne of God. What a wonderful victory Jesus won for us; what a joy to fully surrender our lives to His great love and salvation.

The reality of surrender, however, is something that continues to resurface during different times in our lives. Our ultimate surrender comes in our decision to receive Christ as our Savior, however, as we go through life, there will continually be moments and seasons where we will need to surrender once again to the will of God. This may come in the form of a call of God you feel that you are resisting, a relationship you feel God is calling you to surrender, career, future plans, friendships, whatever it may be, I would encourage you to stop resisting God and once again surrender your will to His, just as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He said to the father, “Father if you are willing take this cup from me, but not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). With those words, Jesus willingly laid down His life for you, and bearing this great truth in mind, I encourage you to willingly surrender every aspect of your life again to the God who loves you, has the best for you and who has already surrendered everything for you.

You surrendered all,
You surrendered all,
All for me, my blessed Saviour,
You surrendered all.
And because the Lord did surrender all for us, everyday we say;
I surrender all,
I surrender all
All for thee my blessed Saviour,
I surrender all.

There doesn’t need to be any fear in surrendering to the God who loves us and wants the best for us.

We are not surrendering to a mean or capricious God. Even though sometimes there can be a sense of disquiet in trusting God in the things He has called us to. We must remember that in being obedient to Him, we will see His absolute best for us come to life. He only has good for us. “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

There is freedom in surrender to God. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1). In fact, true freedom is only found in surrender to God. Nothing else can make us free, but the Bible tells us that, “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36). Therefore, let us surrender fully to Jesus and let us stay surrendered to Him. Let us always remember that He surrendered all for us, and that through His sacrifice, He won us a victory we could never have gained on our own. He gave everything for us, so let’s hold our lives lightly, not grasping desperately to things we feel we cannot do without; let’s instead, live in a continual posture of surrender, finding peace in the fact that we are being held in the mighty hand of a loving God.

]]> Don’t Underestimate the Power of the Gospel https://calvarychapel.com/posts/dont-underestimate-the-power-of-the-gospel/ Thu, 29 Mar 2018 06:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2018/03/28/dont-underestimate-the-power-of-the-gospel/ The Gospel is the “good news” concerning who Christ is and what He has accomplished. It is the power of God to redeem sinful humanity,...]]>

The Gospel is the “good news” concerning who Christ is and what He has accomplished. It is the power of God to redeem sinful humanity, replace the sinner, remove the sin, release the bondage, reverse the curse and reconcile man to God. When we proclaim the Gospel, we are actually telling Christ’s personal testimony about His birth, life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension.

O, how glorious is this gospel…and yet, how easy it is to underestimate the full extent of its power!

Perhaps, we would do well to consider what actually happens in the spiritual realm when the Gospel is shared and lives are set free.

When Jesus preached His own Gospel to His disciples, Satan immediately overtook Peter in getting him to rebuke the Lord saying, “Far be it from You Lord; this shall not happen to you!” Then Jesus immediately came back with a firm response of His own, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:22-23, NKJV).

Do you see how quickly Satan reacted upon hearing Christ proclaim His own death and resurrection? Have you ever experienced this kind of opposition? Where do you put your trust today? Are you more focused on the temporal than the eternal and more mindful of human remedies over God’s remedy?

The idea of God coming down to sacrificially give His life for us in order to solve our deep spiritual condition by absorbing the punishment we deserve sounds too good to be true. However, if one’s Jewish expectation cannot grasp the idea that the Messiah needed to suffer for us before reigning over us, it can seem like nonsense.

Or if one’s secular worldview esteems man’s accomplishments over God’s accomplishments, the gospel can easily become an intellectual offense.

This is why Paul says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18,23-24).

According to the Gospel accounts in Mark and Luke, the first time Jesus casted out an evil spirit was not among unrighteous heathen or a company of sinners but within a religious synagogue in Capernaum where there was an affinity to God’s laws and ordinances. It was here that a man with an unclean spirit cried out, “Let us alone! What have we to do with you Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24).

As I considered this passage recently, the Lord renewed my mind to see some powerful insights concerning the glorious gospel of Christ:

First of all, the Gospel engages the divide of two spiritual kingdoms and brings with it the power to deliver someone out of darkness, to loosen Satan’s grip on their life and to enable them to experience Christ’s love and forgiveness. Paul declares this in his letter to the church in Colosse: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

Furthermore, evil spirits always see things as they really are even if they do not want to come under the authority of Christ. Unlike the religious crowd that was gathered together, the evil spirits knew exactly who Jesus was and what He was capable of doing. “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” – seeing Him as a threat to their agenda.

We see a similar response when an evil spirit answered the seven sons of a chief priest who tried to exorcise demons in Christ’s name saying, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” (Acts 19:15).

It was only when Paul was freed from the blindness of his own religious zeal and was graciously converted by the risen Christ that he became a threat to the kingdom of darkness and came to understand what the evil spirits already knew. His conversion story confirms that Jesus can change anyone “…From darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:17-18).

This begs the question: Are you a threat to the kingdom of darkness by the way you live and give the gospel?

Finally, let us consider what the evil spirits actually said to Jesus in the synagogue that day – “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?” Is this not the same message often broadcasted today by various means of culture and media outlets that do not make room for the Christian message to be spoken in any public sphere under any circumstance, since it would rather promote atheism, relativism, humanism and hedonism before it gives any credence to the Gospel of Christ.

Why is this? Because the Gospel requires us to see sin as sin, so that we can repent and see Christ as the one perfect solution; so that we can believe.

The Gospel is the supernatural remedy for a spiritual condition that only God Himself can solve.

The Gospel opposes the ideologies and priorities of a world system that seeks to promote and celebrate self while rejecting any and all moral absolutes and responsibilities in order to excuse immoral behavior and suppress the truth.

“But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NKJV).

Once the light of the Gospel shines on our hearts, we are forever changed and everything looks different. The view from Calvary changes the way we see the world because it makes Jesus Christ the focal point and not ourselves.

]]> Experiencing an Insurrection of Kindness in Your Ministry https://calvarychapel.com/posts/experiencing-an-insurrection-of-kindness-in-your-ministry/ Thu, 18 Jan 2018 07:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2018/01/17/experiencing-an-insurrection-of-kindness-in-your-ministry/ Even though I know it comes every year, I find that winter sneaks up on me. Often it’s the holiday season that distracts me. Life...]]>

Even though I know it comes every year, I find that winter sneaks up on me. Often it’s the holiday season that distracts me. Life is busy, and so I grab a sweater before I’m off. Inevitably the day will come when I’ll step outside, and my heaviest winter clothing just isn’t enough. I’ve got to pull out my winter coat because the wind cuts through my clothing, and the chill clings to my bones. Days like that inspire thankfulness for a warm café or even a full city bus that serves as an escape from bitter wind and icy temperatures.

Thankfully the winters in Paris are not usually extreme, but in January 1954, temperatures descended below zero degrees Fahrenheit.

The Seine River slushed through the city center with floating plaques of ice and snow. Twenty-nine percent of Parisians didn’t have running water or electricity as the work of reconstruction after WWII was far from complete.

In the suburbs of the capitol, hastily erected shanty towns were made of wagons, tents and abandoned construction material to keep up with the demands of an ever-growing population and much needed new work force.1 The government worked to find a solution to the housing crisis and shelter for its people, but the talks were slowed down by conflicting political rhetoric leaving countless French people in deplorable conditions.

On the night of January 3, a three-month-old baby named Marc died in his mother’s arms. The tragic passing of the child happened the night the General Assembly rejected a plan to open up funding for emergency housing. The news profoundly shocked the nation, but the legislative stalemate on emergency housing remained frozen.

In response to governmental inertia, a local priest, Henri Marie Joseph Grouès, affectionately known as Abbé Pierre, published an open letter in the Figaro.

He used the conservative newspaper to call on the government to take notice of the humanitarian crisis and join the funeral procession. An answer came. Maurice Lemaire, Minister of Reconstruction and Housing, attended the funeral cortege for the deceased infant on January 12 and later relayed his horror of the misery he witnessed.2

In the days to follow, the temperature plunged even lower and no political agreement could be reached. On February 1, 1954, a woman who’d been evicted from her Parisian apartment the day before was found dead clutching her eviction notice on Boulevard Sebastopol. Like many at that time, she was left to find shelter where she could and was caught by the sub-zero temperatures. Some hid in metro stations, others received blankets from various goodwill associations that she apparently hadn’t been informed of.
A profound sense of indignation swept over the city. How many more lives would be lost? How much longer would it take for the authorities to act? By the suggestion of a journalist, Abbé Pierre decided to make another appeal for help. This time he wouldn’t address the lawmakers or write to the conservative elite. His plan was a call for help through the radio by what he would call an “Insurrection of Kindness.”

He called the office of Radio Luxembourg, a large independent radio station, but was met with a bureaucratic obstacle. He was told he couldn’t just come in and interrupt the programming at the drop of a hat; there was protocol to be adhered to.

Abbé Pierre reasoned with them. “Tomorrow morning when you open your newspaper in your warm apartment with your cup of coffee, and you read about more men, women and children gathered up in the streets dead from the cold, you will have to admit, it’s your fault because you let yourself be detoured by a few administrative procedures.”3

Success. The green light was given, and Abbé Pierre was accorded less than an hour to traverse Paris and make his appeal.

“My friends, help…a woman has just died, frozen last night at three in the morning on the sidewalk of Boulevard Sebastopol, clutching the paper by which the day before she’d been evicted. Tonight, there are more than 2,000 poor souls under the ice, without roofs, without bread and quite a few almost naked…”4

That day the Insurrection of Kindness was born. A record number of gifts flooded in totaling in today’s economy in the millions of dollars. Money, food, clothing, furniture, tents, overflowed at the drop off point. Private citizens, government officials, ex-pats like Charlie Chaplin gave generously, and the movement appeared to inspire the government to push through to meet the immediate need.5

Abbé Pierre was no ordinary parish priest. He was a resistance fighter in WWII; he saved the lives of several Jews from the Nazis, and he became a political figure, even meeting President Roosevelt the same year he gave his radio appeal.

He became the founder of a movement called Emmaüs, a symbol for the fight for social justice, and in the end a political figure. Whenever a religious person gets involved at that level, fans and enemies blur the lines that render it difficult to make a perfect hero out of him. But that wintery day in 1954, he seized the open door set before him.

When I look at his story, it encourages me that a Christian rose up to meet the need of the day that no one else in a more powerful position was able to do.

In so doing, the name of Christ was used to meet the needs of a desperate population and bring about a social consciousness to those that could help. It inspires me as I think about this New Year before us. Who knows what lies ahead, but maybe an opportunity will present itself that we can step into by God’s grace. Maybe we can see new Insurrections of Kindness in our own places of ministry, see Jesus do great things with simple people. It’s my hope for 2018.

1“L’histoire de l’Abbé Pierre et d’Emmaüs” – Archive INA
2“The Killer Winter”
3“Abbé Pierre – l’appel du 1er février 1954”
4“L’appel du 1er février 1954”
5“The Insurrection of Kindness”

]]> Jesus Brings (More) Life https://calvarychapel.com/posts/jesus-brings-more-life/ Thu, 28 Dec 2017 19:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2017/12/28/jesus-brings-more-life/ While all God’s Word is inspired and profitable ( 2 Timothy 3:16), most Christians have favorite passages. Sometimes we talk about our “life verse” by...]]>

While all God’s Word is inspired and profitable ( 2 Timothy 3:16), most Christians have favorite passages. Sometimes we talk about our “life verse” by which we mean something especially relevant to our entire lives. Then there are seasons in which different verses are especially poignant. They’re a kind of “spiritual flashlight” to help us find our way or provide a handle that brings perspective.

A passage I’ve found especially helpful the last few years is John 10:10, where Jesus says He came for life.

It’s interesting how He phrases it. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Jesus didn’t just come for life; He came for that life to be “more abundant.” That word means, “…pertaining to a quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than what one would expect or anticipate—that which is more than, more than enough, beyond the norm, abundantly, superfluous.”1

Jesus could have said, “I’ve come that you’d have abundant life.” He didn’t. He said it the way He did to make clear He didn’t just come for life. He came for MORE of it. Christian, however much life God’s grace and Spirit have brought about in you, there’s more! And when you’ve enjoyed that measure of more, there’s more still.

Surely that’s what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he invited the Philippians to adopt his mindset toward spiritual growth.

“Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern” (Philippians 3:15–17, NKJV).

In verse 16, when Paul says, “to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule” he calls us to double our current spiritual standing and maturity. It’s as though he’s said, “All you Christians who’ve got some miles behind you in your spiritual walk, look back at how far you’ve come. Now, look ahead and determine to double it.” Paul could to issue that invitation because he knew Jesus came that we’d have ever more life.

I like the term “flourishing” as a way to capture the essence of all this.

God wants us to flourish.

The Gospel is the message of how Jesus rescued us from sin and death and made it possible for us to flourish. All God’s ways aim at promoting life and ensuring we’d flourish. And that’s why the first part of John 10:10 is an important reminder. Jesus spoke of His mission to promote our flourishing as a contrast to Satan’s objective, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”

Sin has a goal, and it’s not the promise it makes when we’re tempted. Sin promises good but ultimately ends in ruin. Whatever momentary gain sin may acquire is always more than paid for by an enduring and greater loss. It’s no zero-sum gain, but it is a negative-sum loss.

Because God wants us to flourish, He gives us His Word and commands. Each provide insight into where a life of flourishing lies. God’s commands are never power trips on His part, as though He’s some kind of insecure deity needing to prove His authority by ordering us around. Rather, every command is guidance in how to flourish.

As we follow Jesus, it’s wise for us to keep all this in mind as we watch the world chart new paths for how to live. The devil aims to ruin us; Jesus wants us to flourish.

1Louw, J. P. & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: Based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, pp. 598–599). New York: United Bible Societies.

]]> The Role of the Gospel in the Believer’s Life https://calvarychapel.com/posts/the-role-of-the-gospel-in-the-believers-life/ Wed, 01 Nov 2017 07:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2017/11/01/the-role-of-the-gospel-in-the-believers-life/ After the sermon, a man came up to let me know he wasn’t happy with what he had heard. He didn’t put it quite that...]]>

After the sermon, a man came up to let me know he wasn’t happy with what he had heard. He didn’t put it quite that bluntly, but it was all over his furled brow and panicked expression. “So what did you think about the sermon?” I asked with a smile, “There was too much grace!” he said indignantly. It’s one of those complaints that you do your hardest not to laugh at because you actually take it as a compliment. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes in his commentary on Romans 6:

“There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. This is a very good test of gospel preaching. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel.”1

Lloyd-Jones’ point is that this kind of criticism is actually a sign that we are preaching the Gospel rightly. That has been the case since the days of Paul the Apostle (see Romans 6). Reactions like this, however, are all too common among Christians. I believe that there are two things at play here. The first is a misunderstanding of the role of the Gospel in a believer’s life after conversion. The second is a misdirected, even if well intentioned, concern about the abuse of grace and permissiveness toward sin in the life of the believer, in other words, an unfounded fear of antinomianism.

The Role of the Gospel in the Believer’s Life

Many Christians seem to believe that the Gospel is really only for unbelievers. The Gospel is seen as the entryway into relationship with God, but then once it has served its purpose, it should be set aside for “more advanced things.” Sure, we might pull the Gospel from the shelf every now and again if we sin and feel the need for forgiveness, but that’s about it. For many Christians, this is the extent of the Gospel’s role after initial conversion. This couldn’t be further from the biblical picture of the role of the Gospel in the Christian’s life. The Gospel is not merely a push start for the Christian life; it is the foundation for the Christian life from beginning to end. The Gospel is just as vital for growth and sanctification as it is for initial justification. In other words, the Gospel is for believers just as much as it is for unbelievers.

Paul writes in Romans 1, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation…” The problem is that we normally read this as if it said, “the gospel… is the power of God for justification.” But the term “salvation” in Scripture refers not only to the initial act of God in justifying us through faith in Christ. It also refers to our sanctification and ultimately our glorification together with Christ. Salvation covers all these aspects. That means the Gospel is also the power for sanctification, not merely for justification. It is the power to transform, not just the power to pardon. Unfortunately, we sometimes bifurcate the work of salvation and act as though justification is God’s work, and sanctification is ours. We act as though the Gospel has importance for the first, but means almost nothing for the second. But the Gospel is the power for the whole of salvation.

In some circles, we tend to look at the Gospel as the means for justification, and the Holy Spirit as the means for sanctification. This is a false division on two levels. First, while Christ is the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for us, it is only the Spirit who applies this work to our hearts in justifying and regenerating us (Titus 3:5). Second, we would do well to remember the statements of Christ about the Spirit’s work. “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26). The Spirit does indeed work sanctification in our lives, described (among other ways) as “the fruit of the Spirit.” However, the means He uses to produce that fruit is to continually point us to Christ, to the Gospel. It is not a contest between the Holy Spirit or the Gospel—which one will hold the title of being the source of the “power of God” for sanctification. Rather, the Spirit powerfully transforms us by pointing us ever more clearly to the Gospel.

Too Much Grace?

To return to the original complaint I mentioned, it brings up a valid question: Is there such a thing as too much grace? There are some who would say “yes”—like the man who approached me after the sermon. The argument goes that if we too strongly emphasize that our salvation is completely secure by grace, not dependent on anything we do but solely on what Jesus has done for us, that this will give people license to dive headlong into all kinds of sin.

We must admit that there are certainly those calling themselves Christians for whom grace is just an excuse to continue living for self and sin. But these are likely people who have never seen the costliness of grace, never been amazed by its beauty. Yes, God’s grace is free for us, but it comes to us at the cost of His only Son, flowing from His wounds. For the abuser of grace, it is just a philosophical concept broken off from the suffering of Christ. This person’s concept of grace is superficial at best. In other words, their problem is not too much grace, but too little.

For the abuser of grace, it is just a philosophical concept broken off from the suffering of Christ. This person’s concept of grace is superficial at best. In other words, their problem is not too much grace, but too little.

It would be overly simple to say that all such people in brazen sin are not actually Christians. There are surely some Christians who find their way to this miserable state. Is “too much grace” to blame? Likely the opposite. What happens is that the Christian doesn’t see the beauty and depths of the Gospel, does not delight in the richness of the grace provided through the cross. Instead, they labor under a latent fear and insecurity and so wear themselves out trying to sanctify themselves in the power of their own will. Some simply give up in despair after a time. Again, the problem is not that they need less grace, but more grace!

The moralist would argue that too much grace is dangerous. However, the only motive he offers as a replacement is fear. Yes, one can certainly scare a Christian into a life of busyness via threats of judgment. But while this might make a busy, religious person, it will never make a worshiper. That person’s heart might keep rules and stay busy out of fear, but it will not love and delight in God. It cannot. God is only a dark threat on the horizon of such a heart, rather than a faithful father. Any diminishing of grace creates in us the fear-based mentality of a slave. But Paul writes, “You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15).

In stark contrast to the moralist’s argument, seeing the fullness and beauty of grace is the only thing that can cause us to enjoy Christ and happily pour out our lives for Him. Focusing on God’s abundant, unbridled goodness rather than our efforts is exactly what inspires love and fuels sanctification for the sake of the One who loves us so well. Any “change” without this motive is mere fleshly self-improvement. It is only the Gospel of grace, applied by the Spirit, which is the power of God unto sanctification. The puritan writer Thomas Chalmers summed it up well in his sermon The Expulsive Power of a New Affection:

“The freer the Gospel, the more sanctifying is the Gospel; and the more it is received as a doctrine of grace, the more will it be felt as a doctrine [leading] to godliness… That very peculiarity which so many dread as the germ of antinomianism, is, in fact, the germ of a new spirit, and a new inclination against it… Never does the sinner find within himself so mighty a moral transformation, as when under the belief that he is saved by grace, he feels constrained thereby to offer his heart a devoted thing, and to deny ungodliness.”2

If we are living half-heartedly as Christians, toying with sin, not really growing in sanctification, the answer is not less grace, but more.

1 Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 6, pp. 8-9.
2 Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, p. 10, accessed on October 10, 2017.

]]> “Sinner” is No Longer Your True Identity https://calvarychapel.com/posts/sinner-is-no-longer-your-true-identity/ Fri, 21 Jul 2017 07:00:00 +0000 https://calvarychapel.com/2017/07/21/sinner-is-no-longer-your-true-identity/ At the beginning of every year, every season of life, or every day, we can say, “We have not been this way before.” A new...]]>

At the beginning of every year, every season of life, or every day, we can say, “We have not been this way before.” A new adventure, a new way, things that never happened to us before give us the opportunity every day to experience God’s presence and power.

The question is, are you ready?

Are you willing? Do you believe it? The children of Israel, after 40 years of wandering in the desert, stood on the river shore, the Promised Land in front of them. All they had to do was cross the wild and dangerous Jordan River.
You can imagine the fear, uncertainty and hesitation that murmured through the people. Joshua sent instructions through the camp to follow the ark of the covenant being held by the Levitical priests because, “Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before” (Joshua 3:4). Joshua also instructed them, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

It was harvest time. The river was at flood stage and not easily navigable. Enemies could be waiting for them on the other side. Did God order the soldiers and strongest men in the camp to lead the way? No, he put the priests and the Ark on the front lines. God fulfilled His promise to the children of Israel, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Like the Dad that He is, He goes before us, urging us to join the adventure, get our feet wet and step into the river, because He plans to do amazing things.
The priests stepped in to the river, and immediately, the water ceased to flow from upstream. Just like the stories of Moses, the elders remembered and the young ones heard told! It was the beginning of Joshua’s “amazing things.” The whole nation crossed the Jordan on dry ground.

You and I have been born in this particular stage of history, this hour in the history of humankind.

This is not an accident. God knows you, designed you and planned on your life being here at this time for specific reasons. We are another Joshua generation. We need to accept and understand our true identity. When we put our faith in Jesus, we inherit a new identity. We become His children, His son or daughter. But too many believers don’t realize this, nor are they seeing it manifested in their lives.

We need to engage and enforce our inheritance. The inheritance became reality the moment the Israelites stepped into the river. Passover was the night the nation was born. This day, the nation was baptized and revived as they stepped forward in obedience. Jesus taught, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). The word repent implies a change of action, to change your mind, to go in a new direction.

On this day, Israel received a new identity and headed in a new direction.

In Egypt they lived under a slave mentality. In the wilderness they held on to a survival mentality. Now it was time to embrace their new identity, as the recipients of God’s love, blessings and promises. Time to claim their inheritance. Time to develop an inheritance identity.

When we repent, we are changed. When we turn from the ways we have been thinking, living, believing and begin to follow the Lord into new territory, then and only then, do we experience what God promised.

We are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). We are “new creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We don’t have to live with fear, worries and anxiety. These are the idols of a past without God. The more we accept and believe God’s great love for us, the stronger our identity as His children is established. The false identity is removed, and the power of God’s kingdom can be manifested in our lives.

I’ve been a teacher/preacher for a long time and am disturbed by what some of my colleagues teach. We are indeed sinners, for “all have fallen short of the glory of God.” That fact has been drilled into the church for centuries. We are not just sinners, but worthless sinners, and God doesn‘t really like us all that much.

After all, when the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, he opened his letter with, “To the dirty, rotten, worthless sinners who live in Ephesus,” right? No! He wrote, “To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace.”

The truth is, God found us valuable and loved us even when we were yet sinners.

Jesus taught, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44). We are His treasure.

“Sinner” is no longer our true identity. We have been forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness the moment we repent. We are God’s treasure, His beloved. Despite our failings, weaknesses, disobedience and acts of rebellion, He treasures us enough to send His Son to sacrifice Himself for us. We are His brave and triumphant children who follow Him into the river, unafraid, ready to face giants, smash idols and receive our inheritance.

We have not gone this way before…but we are ready when we follow our Lord. We can move ahead with confidence and in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit Who dwells in us. We can be a Joshua generation.

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