Pressing on

 

We can be confident that this side of Heaven we will not be perfect. This knowledge should not stop us from working to attain perfection in Christ Jesus.  It should help us love those who are less fortunate than ourselves and to be more compassionate for we, too are sinners.  Press on!  Run the race!

Our desire is to lay hold of our salvation. Instead, our salvation has laid hold of us – and that which Jesus has hold of, He will not lose.   Trust in Jesus and you will never be disappointed!

We must recognize that we do not attain to perfection, but that Jesus works perfection into us by the use of trials and tribulations to effect change in us. Just as a potter works applying pressure inside the vessel, as well as outside the vessel, to shape it as he pleases, so God works in us.

Do you want to be “like God?”

In verse 4, the serpent tells the woman that she will not die, in direct contradiction to the Word of God. In verse 5, he tells her that eating the fruit will make her “like God.” Having spent time with God in the garden and worshiping Him, it is only natural to desire to be like Him, and in the grand scheme of things, it is a good thing to desire to be like God. We, however, are not God! and we can never be God no matter how long we live or how well we do.

That is the reason God sent His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in order to show us the way to the Father. We are to follow Christ, in His ways that He taught us as He lived His life. He lived a life of service to others and eventually gave His life for ours on the cross.  Would you do that for others? Would you willingly put yourself in harm’s way for a stranger?

Present Your Body as a Living and Holy Sacrifice

This week, we set a new pattern of breaking the Sunday sermon into smaller segments for the blog. I will post them daily and each will be a more involved version of the Sunday preaching. But these should not be a substitute for hearing the word of God in our church — nor are they a substitute for an important aspect of worship: fellowship.

If you live in our area, we invite you to attend services at First Baptist Church of Nokomis. Click our church name to be taken to our website where you can find information about how to find us and when our service takes place. All are welcome! We don’t care what you look like or what you wear. Come as you are because that’s how God loves you.

This Sunday, we talked about the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in Romans 12. The key to Romans 12 is verse 2:

When I first accepted Jesus as my Savior, I made a decision to change the way I did things–to change my behaviors. This worked out well for a time, but in my own strength, I was unable to maintain or make lasting changes. It was impossible for me to make effective or permanent change by my own power.

One year later, I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit and I finally yielded to Him, realizing that it was the job of the Spirit to change me. It wasn’t something I could ever do on my own and it wasn’t even my job to try.

My life has not been the same since. I chose not to conform to what the world said I should be, and permitted the Spirit to transform me!

Romans 12:1 tells me that I am to present my body as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God.

But it isn’t. My body is not a living and holy sacrifice to God. It’s not even close! My body bears the scars of a life lived outside of God’s will; a life of sin and pain. There are physical scars on my hands from fighting, both other people and from taking my frustrations out on inanimate objects. I bear other scars caused by the foolish idea that I was indestructible, as I continually put my life at risk in seeking thrills.

I caused pain and suffering not only in myself but also in others because in my heart I was angry and frustrated. I bear emotional scars and I inflicted them on others because I did not count the cost of my words and was not willing to see what I was doing to the people I loved. And what I did see, I ignored.

How can I present my body as a living and holy sacrifice to God, which is supposed to be my spiritual service of worship?

We were saved by grace, not by works, lest we start to boast. My works cannot save me. But the really good news is that my works cannot PREVENT me from salvation either! And if this is true, then my previous life’s work cannot hinder me or my salvation.

Salvation is a free gift from God offered to everyone! No matter what you have done, God not only can forgive, but he wants to forgive. Christ died on the cross not for perfect people who–all by themselves–kept their bodies and souls clean and unblemished; those people don’t even exist! He died for scarred, broken, filthy sinners like me. He took my sin and yours and paid the price in full!

When the Spirit enters in on the day of our salvation, we are born again and the old life we lived is no more in the sight of God. We are a new creation in Christ!

Working out our salvation means coming to grips with who we were and allowing the Spirit to work in our lives. We are not to conform but to be transformed into the image of who we are in Christ. God does not waste the life I lived. He uses the mistakes and my scars to minister to others.

Praise Him!

Teaser: Tomorrow, we will focus on Romans 12:2, the transformation and renewal of your mind as a new creation in Christ.

The Attributes of the Holy Spirit, Part 2

The Spirit also worked in Jesus from birth. A small incident occurred before his ministry began in earnest that often gets overlooked, but it’s the only mention of his youth. The fact that this appears to have been the only incident important enough to recall for posterity indicates its importance.

When Jesus was 12 years old, his parents were with him in Jerusalem. An entire day after they left the city, they realized their son was not with them. They searched frantically and retraced their steps to the city. I imagine their hearts leapt whenever they saw a boy who could resemble him and then sink as they realized it was not Jesus. Finally, they found him in the temple. Teachers–Pharisees and Rabbis–were gathered around him as Jesus listened to them and asked questions far too sophisticated for the average 12-year-old. When his mother scolded him, he answered her, “‘Why were you searching for me?. . . Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?'” (Luke 2:49). The Pharisees and Rabbis were amazed at Jesus’ knowledge and wisdom; knowledge and wisdom that came from the Spirit.

The Spirit was active in Christ’s teaching and his preaching throughout his ministry. The Spirit was active in the prayers of Jesus and as he taught prayer. We are to see the Spirit as a gift and know that he intercedes on our behalf as we pray (Romans 8:26).

Luke tells us that it is the role of a Father to give his children good gifts: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the best gift.

This gift was given to Jesus officially at his baptism although it was part of him–being God himself–all his life. His baptism affirmed Jesus’ nature as the son of God and Messiah. In Luke 3:21-22, we see God the Father speaking from heaven, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending, and Jesus praying: the triune nature of God embodied.

John 3:5 tells us: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” I believe the need to be “born of water” is in reference to our baptism by water–an outward sign of the inward baptism of the Spirit which is when we die and arise in the Holy Spirit as a new creation. Jesus sets the pattern for us to receive the Spirit by taking on himself the sins of the world and paying our death penalty on the cross.

His resurrection, his overcoming and defeating of death and sin restored our right-standing with God that enables the Holy Spirit to enter in and take up residence in our newly washed hearts. In this we see the great love of God. It is a love that we are not capable of alone. The Spirit who resides in us brings with it this deeper love and enables us to become hands and feet subservient to His will in this world.

Christ also prepares us for the Spirit by forging a fellowship between believers. After His death and resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples and showed them His wounds, telling them that He would send them out into the world to do God’s work.

“And when he had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’.” (John 20:22)

But, they did not receive the Spirit until Pentecost. What did he mean? In Luke 24:46, and again in Acts 2, we see the Disciples coming together in the upper room sharing meals and their stories of Christ working in their lives. They were prepared by this close fellowship to receive the Spirit.

Even though the Spirit had not yet come upon them in that upper room, the Spirit was still present as they came to one accord and one mind concerning the things of God. They were being prepared in their hearts and minds to receive the Spirit. We see the Holy Spirit moving in their hearts, guiding their thoughts and actions, we see the power of the Spirit when He comes upon them as they preach to the crowd. We see the Spirit active in the crowd as they hear and receive the message and as they take the message forth. The Holy Spirit goes before us, preparing the way, just as John went before Jesus. So too, the work of Jesus paves the way for the work of the Spirit.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down from Heaven into vessels who had been prepared by Jesus to receive Him. Then the work of the Church began in earnest: the gospel message was shared in Jerusalem and moved out into the larger world.

The work of Christ still continues. The Spirit is working in the world in us as Jesus works with us in the New Testament and as God worked for us in the Old Testament. This work is not new as it began in the Garden when a Savior was promised to Adam and Eve. That Savior lives, and through his Spirit residing in us, continues to live and work in this world, bringing light to the darkness.