God's "Word"

"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12, NASB

This was one of the first verses I memorized as a college student. Of course, the application was obvious: we must read our Bibles! At least that is what was taught. Through my journey of growing in my relationship with Christ, I've come to realize that God is not distant and just watching us to see how we are doing. He is active in our daily lives. In other words, God is very relational.

I've come to realize this verse is not about engaging in regular Bible reading or Bible study. This verse is making a declarative statement about God's relational intention. Let me illustrate with this word picture. Let's say I went on a long trip that kept me away for a year. While I was away, I wrote love letters to my wife. In my letters I declared my love and affection for her and encouraged her with words that reminded her of her great value. A few months after I have returned home, I walk into the bedroom and find her sitting there reading. I walk over and sit next to her and start talking to her. She holds up her hand and tells me to be quiet and says, "Can't you see I'm reading here! Please give me some space here!" I then notice she is reading my love letters.

Why would my wife trade a moment where she could spend one-on-one time with me to read letters I wrote to her? I realize that may sound absurd, but we do that as Christians. There are many times we may sit down, grab our Bibles and start reading. Father starts speaking to us and we ignore Him because we are too busy rushing through our "reading of God's word."

The "word" of God is His living word to us in real time, right now. The words in the Bible are His words, but they are not living until He speaks them to us in the moment. Please don't walk away from this post and think I am suggesting you never read your Bible again. If that were so, where do you think I found the verse in Hebrews! That's right, in my Bible. When I read that verse, Father said, "Hey Tom, I want to show you something really cool!" And now, I'm sharing with you what He shared with me!

Reading your Bible because you think that is what you are supposed to do to grow as a Christian is placing yourself back under law. Reading your Bible because you are engaging in real-time relationship with God is walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). Listen to the Father's loving, living and active words to you as you go throughout your day. He will bring to your mind scriptures you have read and pondered. He loves doing that!

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." (1 Cor. 2:12-13, NASB)

Being Righteous

Why is it difficult to accept that whom God makes righteous, is righteous? The prevalent belief is that this is a future proposition. I think that is why "heaven" songs have been so popular among the people of God. They express the longing for a future glory. Don't get me wrong, I love a good awe-inspiring song about heaven!

The more I understand and experience Christ as my Life, the more I realize that "heaven is now." That is also the title of an awesome book written by Andrew Farley. Heaven will be a transition. It will be the ending of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. In a sense, it will be the last chapter; a chapter that will never end! It will be the chapter entitled, "And They Lived Happily Ever After."

Redemption was for the purpose of rescue. Being human, we tend to see redemption more from our point of view. God wanted to rescue us so that we could know Him (John 17:3; Col. 1:13-14). Colossians 2:13-14 is the best definition of redemption I have ever seen, "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, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (NASB) Notice the verse says "He made you," and "He as taken it out of the way." Do you see what God did? It is not based on what you or I did, but what God did!

So why did He do this? It's simple, He wanted to give us life. I have an old truck sitting in my driveway that is in need of life. I really like that old truck. Someone suggested I sell it and buy one that works. That sounds ok, but I want that truck; I don't want another truck. I'm going to do whatever it takes for that truck to run again so we can resume our relationship. Of course we are more valuable to God than my old truck is to me, but the point is, God did what was needed to give us life so He could resume His relationship with His creation. And just like my old truck, we are helpless to fix ourselves!

Romans 6:4 says, "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." (NASB) I love that phrase, "so we too might walk in newness of life." We were created as behaving creatures. When you see the word "walk" it is referring to our behavior. The only way you and I can behave Godly is to be alive in Christ or to have His Life. The "law abiding" creature may have tried to behave Godly, but without Life, it was futile. The creature needed Life and that is what God did; He gave us life so we could walk or behave as He does. You and I have the mind of Christ and a new heart from which to operate.

Let me sum up my crazy whirlwind of thoughts: God loved us so much, He rescued us and redeemed us and made us righteous. This was all for the purpose of giving us His Life so that we could experience His righteousness lived out in our daily lives.

The next time you are proclaimed as righteous, do the most humble thing you can do and agree! You don't have to wait till heaven to wear your righteousness, you have it now.

What is Glory?

The word "glory" in the New Testament is "doxa" in the Greek. Doxa is used 167 times in the New Testament. The most basic meaning of doxa is "opinion, judgement, or view." As you dig into the scripture, you see a deeper meaning of "magnificence, excellence, preeminence, majesty," or "a thing belonging to God or Christ," or "the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ."

When God created man He placed His glory in man. After the fall, that glory was gone. When you look at sinful man, you don't see God's glory being reflected. However, God's plan was to restore what had been lost. Through Jesus Christ, God restored His glory in man. This is a huge part of the gospel.

There is a famous quote from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." The big question, though, is how do we glorify God? Do we glorify Him with our attempts to please Him? Is God glorified through our buildings, programs, ministries, etc...

There is recorded in Matthew an account of Peter, James and John seeing Jesus transform before their eyes as He met with Moses and Elijah. This blew them away! Peter began to express to Jesus that he wanted to build three buildings for each one of them. Before Peter could finish describing his great plans, Father interrupted him and said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" (Matt. 17:5, NASB) 

When you look at Jesus' life, you see someone who only pursued two things. He pursued a relationship with His heavenly Father and He pursued relationships with fellow human beings. Jesus did not leave behind a legacy of buildings, programs, or ministries; and yet, God said He was well-pleased. Don't assume that I'm implying we shouldn't build buildings or have programs or ministries.  As I said in an earlier blog, that's the cart!

Glory is not something we pursue, that is fleshly and worldly. God's glory is something that is imparted to us, not something we earn or work for. Glory is not something I do, but something I possess to express! John said in Revelation 21:23, "And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it and its lamp is the Lamb." (NASB) In Colossians 1:27 Paul says the mystery of the gospel revealed is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." (NASB) Wow!! Did you catch that? God's glory is the Lamb and that Lamb is in you and me as believers. 

The only way you and I can glorify God is to express His glory. Anything less than that is junk! The only way I can express His glory is to submit my will moment by moment to His will. Jesus said in John 15:5, "...apart from Me you can do nothing." (NASB) 

I want to encourage each one of us to give up on our plans for glory and allow God's glory in us to make its way to the front!

Surviving or Living?

I have existed a good portion of my time here on this earth surviving. Maybe that's why I'm drawn to post-apocalyptic stories. They are stories of survival in the midst of insurmountable odds.

I want to be candid about myself and my struggles. I struggle with the future. I ask myself questions like, "will I be able to retire?" or "will I have good health in my 60's, 70's and 80's?" Of course I don't know how much longer I will even be here! Intellectually I know I'm not in control of my future, but my culture tells me I should be.

When I was in high school I knew God was calling me to go into vocational ministry. I had originally wanted to go into engineering. God has given me a very mechanical mind and a natural ability to understand mechanical things. When God shifted my direction, I gladly joined Him in that journey. However, I had no idea as to what that journey would entail, especially the "survival" aspect!

Now that I'm 50, I think about "the rest of my life." From my cultural perspective where savings, retirement, investments and such are thought about daily, I'm not prepared for the future. I sometimes struggle with this fact and find myself wallowing in a little self-pity. Father just smiles!

Recently I was listening to the radio while driving home. There was a line in the song about giving up your life. In that moment Father spoke to me. I realized how much we are consumed with being in control of our lives. Essentially we are told to either borrow on our future so we can live today, or post-pone living today so we can live after we are retired. The second one sounds more responsible, but I'm not sure how biblical it is.

I find myself consumed with the "what if's" on a regular basis. Father said all He really wants is for us to trust Him. It is in knowing Him that we are truly able to trust Him. It's hard to trust someone you don't know. If I listen to the world, the world tells me I have failed or am failing. If I listen to Father He tells me I'm a great success. Why? Because I know Him!

One of my favorite verses is Job 42:5, "My ears had heard about you, but now my eyes have seen you." (CEB) Job was seen by his peers as a righteous man. He crossed his T's and dotted his I's. He was a shining example of a "godly" man. The sad thing, though, he did not know God; he only knew about Him. I'll give him kudos though, he did all that righteous living based on what he had heard. Oh, did I say living? I meant surviving. His culture said he was living, but God had determined he was just surviving.

After Job began to see God (know Him), he did not look back. He realized he was never in control, but it was God all along. He realized Life wasn't about being prepared, but rather knowing God. There is nothing wrong with being prepared, but preparation apart from knowing God is simply "survival."

The world has a totally opposite manner of "living" than God's design. The world says we have to secure our future in order to be safe. Jesus told a sad story of a man who viewed life in this manner. The man tore down his old barns and built bigger ones and filled them up with stuff to secure his future. He finally said to himself, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry." (Luke 12:19, NASB) God called the man a fool. Jesus said, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." (Luke 12:15, NASB)

Through my worry and anxiety Father showed me I was trying to survive. When I am obsessed with surviving I'm not truly living. My relationship with God is my future and He holds that future in His hands. Knowing Him is trusting Him and knowing Him is truly Living!

Knowing God! God's Plan for Making Disciples

"This is eternal life, that they may know You,the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3, NASB)

I have been thinking about discipleship a lot lately. When I was pastoring, it was a topic heavy on my mind most of the time. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations..." (NASB) So, disciple making was not our idea, but God's.

I see two distinct roads of discipleship. The first road is the wide, more popular road. The focus on this road is "knowing about God." You might hear slogans like "what would Jesus do." The thought process on this road is to become so acquainted with the life and heart of Jesus you can make more informed decisions for your life. In other words, the goal is to model Jesus in His thinking and His choices. This road is about "doing."

The second less traveled road of discipleship focuses on "knowing God." This road is about relationship. It is about freedom and rest. It is not about attaining knowledge, but growing in understanding. This road may appear to be less organized and structured. The focus is not on methods or formulas for growth, but intimacy with the Giver of Life. This is a winding road that focuses more on the journey and less on the destination. This road is about "being," not doing.

You know the expression, "don't put the cart before the horse." This expression is about getting priorities in the right order. The wide road of discipleship is ultimately about ministry. Ministry is the "cart." The focus of ministry is sharing Christ with others. It is serving others in Christ's name.

The "horse" is knowing God. It is eternal Life in whom we enter. Acts 17:28 says, "for in Him we live and move and exist..." (NASB) When we are engaged in knowing God, we can't keep ourselves from sharing what He is showing us. We don't have to be encouraged to share, because we want to tell everyone who will listen. The natural outflow of knowing God is telling and serving others.

I think the reason for our upside down approach to discipleship is because of our continued struggle with "law living." We tell ourselves we are supposed to share Christ with the lost world, so we focus on ways to accomplish that requirement instead of spending time knowing God. When God's people are engaged in ministry without being engaged in knowing Him, they will be frustrated and discouraged, and eventually burn out!

For a long time now, I have seen that God is calling His people to "be." God knows that the "do" of ministry will always flow out of the "be" of identity in Christ. God wants to put the horse before the cart. Ministry becomes richer and sweeter when it is the natural outflow of one's personal relationship with God.

If you are feeling pressured to serve, or witness, or give, or teach, or plan, etc..., your priorities may be out of order. Jesus said apart from Him you could do nothing (John 15:5). Rest in God's Life and let Him minister through you!

Flesh Is Not Our Friend

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." (Galatians 5:16-17 NASB)

A friend of mine recently said to me, "Even though God has proved His faithfulness over and over, I still worry! I don't understand why!"  His quandary is common to all Christians.  Because that question mark is even in our minds, is proof of our new nature in Christ.  If you wonder why you do something or think something that is contrary to what you know goes against the character of God, instead, ask this question, "why do I wonder why?"  My friend's question is a subtle attack on who God says he is.

The enemy has us focused on the wrong thing.  He uses shame, guilt, and doubt as weapons to attack our identity.  If Satan can keep you and me from understanding our identity, he can keep us in a state of mental and emotional defeat.  If I doubt the validity of my relationship with Christ and that produces anxiety, that's a good thing!  Anxiety is an appropriate emotion when there is a fear of losing something.

When I was twenty-one, for the first time in my Christian life, doubt about my salvation hit me like a ton of bricks.  It wasn't subtle, it was debilitating!  As soon as the doubt seized my mind, I was overwhelmed with fear.  I feared eternal death.  For the first time in my life, I wasn't sure what would happen to me if I died.  Satan had me right where he wanted me.  My focus from that point forward was on me, not on God.

When Paul uses the word "flesh," he is referring to a coping mechanism or an operating system.  Flesh is anything we do to get our needs met apart from God.  The system of flesh puts the focus on self.  The flesh system is the enemy of expressing Christ's life through my life.  In other words, when I want to behave in a manner that pleases God, the flesh system will often raise its ugly head and subvert my ultimate intention.  That is the answer to my friend's quandary.  He wants to completely trust God with everything that he is, but his flesh produces worry.  Worry takes the focus off of Christ's life in him and places it on himself and what he can do apart from Christ.

This battle takes place in our minds.  God speaks His truth into our minds and the enemy speaks His lies into our minds.  Now we have a choice.  Our spirit is one with God (1 Cor. 6:17).  In our spirits we are in total agreement with God, however, our flesh is not Spirit friendly.  Satan will use our flesh to subvert God's truth.  If we buy into the lie, we are sunk!  This is why Paul said, "...so that you may not do the things that you please."  Flesh is what keeps us from living out of Christ's Life, it's not you (the real you in Christ).  Most Christians read this passage and assume what they please is contrary to what God pleases.  That misunderstanding is a direct assault from Satan on your very identity in Christ!

Don't trust your flesh.  Trust Christ in you.  He is constantly leading us into life and peace in every moment we walk here on this earth.  When Satan accuses you, causing you to doubt your true identity, believe who God says you are, His beloved!

I Am His Workmanship

There seems to be this uncomfortable dance between God's work in our lives and our responsibility to be a good Christian.  Sometimes when we do something godly and others recognize it, we say, "not I but Christ!" Or we get the big head and focus on our self-effort.  Neither one of these responses is God's way.  Don't get me wrong, the first response sounds good and humble, but it leaves out one very important element.

As I mentioned in my last blog, if we are in Christ, we are a new creature; a new creature with new desires and a new focus.  That new creature wants to behave godly.  Bad behavior doesn't negate desire, it only reflects poor choice.  If the new creature could be completely free of the influence of Satan's temptations, flesh, and the law of sin (Rom. 7:23), the new creature would always make great choices and reflect godliness.  Of course, I just described what heaven will be like!

Ok, we're not in heaven yet; and we do struggle with temptation, flesh, and the law of sin.  Those challenges, however, don't disprove God's greatest work of making His children new creatures!  In spite of those challenges, He can display His character in these fragile earthen vessels. (2 Cor. 4:7) That was His plan.

When God does display His character in us, He is also showing the world the new character of His new creature.  You see, it's not one or the other, it is both.  It is the co-union of Christ in me, displaying Himself through me and at the same time showing others His work in us.  Isn't that amazing?!  I love what Paul says in Colossians 3:4, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." (NASB)  Do you see it?  When Christ is revealed (not heaven, but now), not only is He being revealed, but the real you is also being revealed!

Because I am a carpenter, I own a circular saw.  There are certain applications in building that need a circular saw.  It is the only tool that will work in certain situations.  In order for my saw to perform the task for which it was designed, it must be plugged into a power source and it must be operated by a skilled operator.  As new creatures, we were designed to display God's character.  Not only must we be plugged into The Source, we must surrender to the skilled hands of The Operator.

Also, as a carpenter, I don't want a cheap home-owner saw.  I want a good heavy-duty saw with plenty of power.  There are certain models I won't buy, because I know they won't work very well.  I have had my saw for twenty years and it still works great.  I still brag about my saw (as I'm doing now).

You and I are God's workmanship and He loves to show-off what He has done.  This understanding for me produces humility and gratitude.  I am thankful that God wants to display His character in me and that He is proud of me as His masterful creation.  Pretending that my display of godly character has nothing to do with me, is like my saw pretending it never cut the wood!