The apostle Paul told the Collosians, "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God". We can very easily get caught up in the rat race of "good works", yet not be walking in the Spirit.
Since Jesus was in a fleshly body, limited by time and space etc etc, there was naturally alot of "good things" he still could have done, but didn't...why didn't He go to bed just one hour later each night and roam the streets to minister to a few more people?
Yet, he never carried any condemnation concerning good works going "undone".
Why?
Simple.
He never walked according to the flesh, He walked according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Am I frowning on people ancouraging their brothers and sisters in Christ to continue in good works?
No, but keep it simply that...a Spirit-lead ENCOURAGEMENT.
God's grace does far more than motivate us towards good living, it EMPOWERS us towards it, and IN it.
Let's make every effort to not just enter, but REMAIN in Him (His rest) - and of course, it is possible to have a busy life and still be in His rest (rest is not a state of immobility, it is a state of complete TRUST), but that's a story for another blog.
People often blame "time" for lack of "revival", they say things like, "history repeats itself", but the bible hints to the real reason...something along the lines of 'a dog returning to its own vomit'. Others will "urinate" on the finished works of Christ by trying to add or bring balance to a finished work by trying to WORK FOR CHRIST instead of LIVE IN HIM (I am tempted to apologise for the harsh vocabulary, but the bible itself refers to such efforts as "dirty rags" or "menstrual cloth").
Here is a good article that I hope will be of encouragement - that we remain in Him, and learn to walk with and talk with and listen to Holy Spirit, enjoy:
Resist the Urge (by Wayne Jacobsen)
It's often been said that the greatest enemy of the best is the good. It often is. The greatest distraction to being a part of what God is doing in the world is to be focused on human efforts, especially what we try to do for him. Nothing disrupts God's work around us more than when the arm of flesh asserts itself to try to do for God what we think God cannot do for himself.
When we feel unattached, unproductive, or insignificant this growing urge will prod us to "at least do something," as if misguided activity is preferable to a quiet, listening heart. If that doesn't spring from our own flesh, then it will from someone's near us. Many of our fellowship groups, Bible studies, and outreach efforts have begun with the perceived guilt that we are not doing enough for God. More time-consuming and irrelevant religious activities have been generated from that distorted impulse than any other. Authors manipulate it to sell books, and would-be leaders exploit it to get us to embrace their programs and contribute to their income.
The fruitfulness of God rises out of rest not anxiety, out of the gentle nudge of his Spirit not the vision of a charismatic leader. In truth, God is not asking us to do anything for him. He's already doing the best stuff in the world and as we learn to live inside of him he will invite us to be part of what he's already doing. One of the things I notice about the life of Jesus is that he rarely created the environment, or planned meetings for other people. He simply joined them in the environments in which he found them.
When we get so involved with our own planning we easily miss the moments Jesus puts right in front of us. They are always far simpler and yet more magnificent than what we conjure up. At the beginning they never look as flashy as our plans or appear to be as far reaching. Usually he's just inviting us to love someone. We have no idea how simple acts of obedience can snowball into consequences we never considered.
As long as you have any confidence in your flesh's ability to work for God, you will confuse the urge to be productive with the nudging of the Spirit. And the more capable you are in your own efforts and intellect the greater danger you're in of substituting the arm of the flesh for the breath of the Spirit.
Being part of his church happens by simply loving the people God puts before you each day.
Much love
Troy
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
If love is a "doing word", and "God is Love"...
...it would be selfish and prideful NOT to live a life positioned in the experience and desire, and regular consciousness of HIM lavishing HIS love (i.e ACTING it out) towards US (since WE are the objects of HIS love)!
Sure, the cross is the u...ltimate demonstration of His love for us, but like everything provided in the cross, receiving the fullness of it by faith alone should be an ecstatically exciting lifelong journey - Calvary didn't just leave us with a "party-pack" of goodness, it actually opened the door and provided free access into the engine-room of creation and life itself - ALL OF HIM IS MADE AVAILABLE!
Increasing in His Glory is impossible, if all we hearing is God saying "Go", and we shut ourselves off to His constant whisper of "Come".
When God said He resists the proud, I don't believe He was referring to those who refuse to take instruction (legalists thrive on instruction), but rather, He was referring to those who do not know how to receive unconditionally (all the while aware that there is no expectation apart from believing and trusting).
Understanding His grace towards mankind and His love for us, will help us let go of a dictator-mindset of God, and position us to increasingly consume the limitless goodness of all He is and has, whilst fully knowing we ourselves have earned none of it (yet being at peace with that truth) - this is true humility!
Sure, the cross is the u...ltimate demonstration of His love for us, but like everything provided in the cross, receiving the fullness of it by faith alone should be an ecstatically exciting lifelong journey - Calvary didn't just leave us with a "party-pack" of goodness, it actually opened the door and provided free access into the engine-room of creation and life itself - ALL OF HIM IS MADE AVAILABLE!
Increasing in His Glory is impossible, if all we hearing is God saying "Go", and we shut ourselves off to His constant whisper of "Come".
When God said He resists the proud, I don't believe He was referring to those who refuse to take instruction (legalists thrive on instruction), but rather, He was referring to those who do not know how to receive unconditionally (all the while aware that there is no expectation apart from believing and trusting).
Understanding His grace towards mankind and His love for us, will help us let go of a dictator-mindset of God, and position us to increasingly consume the limitless goodness of all He is and has, whilst fully knowing we ourselves have earned none of it (yet being at peace with that truth) - this is true humility!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Cheating On Jesus!
Extracts from an article by Santo Calarco:
"Legalism does not necessarily mean “you need to keep the law to be saved!” That is not what the New Testament calls legalism.
In Gal 3:1-5 Paul defines legalism as human attempts to combine what Jesus did on the Cross for us with obedience to the law in order to gain or maintain relationship with God: “Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law or by believing … after beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort” Gal 3:2-3. New Testament legalism is not salvation by law, but Jesus plus obedience to the law in order to maintain relationship with God.
Until Christmas Eve 2008 I believed this very error. I reasoned that God wanted me to keep his law as a believer as a love response to what he did for me on the Cross. Although this was correct and I still maintain this position, it became polluted. I began to “fine tune” my approach to law and grace and taught that although the law played no part in my justification it did have a part in my sanctification. Then I realised that this was the very heresy that Paul confronted in both Galatians and Romans. In Galatians 3 Paul was talking to saved believers who introduced law into their relationship with God as a basis for on-going fellowship. Re-read Gal 3:1-5 slowly and carefully and you will see this.
In essence Paul says that victory over sin comes as we remember who we belong to. Is sin your master or Jesus? Is the law your spouse or Jesus? See Rom 6:1, 2, 14, 16, 18-19 cf. Rom 7:1-5. Paul discusses victory over sin and tells us that the key is in our perception of who we belong to. Identity determines behaviour!
The law does not have a part in my sanctification. Any attempt at trying to combine Jesus and the law was bigamy and adultery – cheating on Jesus! I was not going to produce holiness through any combination of Jesus plus the law. In fact trying to combine faith in Jesus plus obedience to the law to produce victory over sin would result in further sin!
If we try and keep the law to produce holiness whilst at the same time remain married to Jesus we will fail. We are in fact cheating on Jesus. Paul tried this himself. He speaks about his own Christian experience with Jesus and says that as he tried to stay married to Jesus and to the law in order to experience victory over sin he only failed more and more.
In our pursuit of holiness [as a fruit in our lives] we need to remember that we are only married to Jesus and that we have died to our former spouse (7:4). And the good news of sanctification is this: regardless of my attempt to keep the law of God, my relationship to God remains totally in tact because I am married to his Son; regardless of the result I am never condemned in his eyes! As I remember and practise this truth then holiness [as a fruit] will surface. As I remember that my partner is my Saviour and I spend more and more time with him – then his Spirit will transform me from the inside out and the RELATIONSHIP, and NOT the law, will change my behaviour – Grace is indeed amazing!
"Legalism does not necessarily mean “you need to keep the law to be saved!” That is not what the New Testament calls legalism.
In Gal 3:1-5 Paul defines legalism as human attempts to combine what Jesus did on the Cross for us with obedience to the law in order to gain or maintain relationship with God: “Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law or by believing … after beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort” Gal 3:2-3. New Testament legalism is not salvation by law, but Jesus plus obedience to the law in order to maintain relationship with God.
Until Christmas Eve 2008 I believed this very error. I reasoned that God wanted me to keep his law as a believer as a love response to what he did for me on the Cross. Although this was correct and I still maintain this position, it became polluted. I began to “fine tune” my approach to law and grace and taught that although the law played no part in my justification it did have a part in my sanctification. Then I realised that this was the very heresy that Paul confronted in both Galatians and Romans. In Galatians 3 Paul was talking to saved believers who introduced law into their relationship with God as a basis for on-going fellowship. Re-read Gal 3:1-5 slowly and carefully and you will see this.
In essence Paul says that victory over sin comes as we remember who we belong to. Is sin your master or Jesus? Is the law your spouse or Jesus? See Rom 6:1, 2, 14, 16, 18-19 cf. Rom 7:1-5. Paul discusses victory over sin and tells us that the key is in our perception of who we belong to. Identity determines behaviour!
The law does not have a part in my sanctification. Any attempt at trying to combine Jesus and the law was bigamy and adultery – cheating on Jesus! I was not going to produce holiness through any combination of Jesus plus the law. In fact trying to combine faith in Jesus plus obedience to the law to produce victory over sin would result in further sin!
If we try and keep the law to produce holiness whilst at the same time remain married to Jesus we will fail. We are in fact cheating on Jesus. Paul tried this himself. He speaks about his own Christian experience with Jesus and says that as he tried to stay married to Jesus and to the law in order to experience victory over sin he only failed more and more.
In our pursuit of holiness [as a fruit in our lives] we need to remember that we are only married to Jesus and that we have died to our former spouse (7:4). And the good news of sanctification is this: regardless of my attempt to keep the law of God, my relationship to God remains totally in tact because I am married to his Son; regardless of the result I am never condemned in his eyes! As I remember and practise this truth then holiness [as a fruit] will surface. As I remember that my partner is my Saviour and I spend more and more time with him – then his Spirit will transform me from the inside out and the RELATIONSHIP, and NOT the law, will change my behaviour – Grace is indeed amazing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)