Before you offer a washcloth

Be honest. Have you ever sat there and thought to yourself hmmm I am so glad that so and so was in church today to hear that message... they really needed to hear that sermon... or maybe they weren't there and you were wishing that they had been?

Honestly I think this has happened to all of us at some point or another if we are really honest with ourselves but when we do this, when we fall into that trap of thinking of someone else's problems we lose sight of our own problems. 

This is why in Matthew 7:5(HCSB) Jesus says "Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye." 

He is instructing those listening in (including us btw) to stop holding those around them to a different standard (a higher standard) than they held themselves 

Eugene Peterson has a great take on this passage - Matthew 7:1-5

“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

And the next time you are sitting in church and those thoughts pop into your head? Rather than looking at someones failings try to look at their strengths. You should also take a closer look at your own life because if those thoughts are popping up someone is trying to distract you from receiving a message... just sayin...  

Is Jesus like a Tinkerbell doll?

Just a few days away from Ainsley's birthday the presents are starting to arrive and each time a package arrives there is a sense of anticipation and excitement on her part. It really is something to see the joy and triumph on her face when she opened a new Tinkerbell doll, or when she opens a book that has her name in it and insists that someone read it to her in that moment... But these gifts as with all earthly things will wear out, be passed on to other little girls and boys, new gifts will be received at Christmas and randomly throughout the year and these will be forgotten... 

Now here in lies the problem with any analogies you try to make about Christ - you can always find holes in them but bear with me...

I see this and I am reminded that there is another gift that we are all offered (Ephesians 2:8-9) and when we first receive that gift there is that same joy in our eyes as we experience the love of our Savior and we feel moved to share what he has done in us with everyone... 

But then we are faced with a choice... 

So often we treat Jesus like that Tinkerbell doll, we are excited when we first receive it. He takes the place of honor in our hearts, we show him off to everyone with great joy.
Isaiah 61:10a "I will find joy in the Lord. I will delight in my God."

 But then that excitement fades... We find other things to place in the seat of honor in our hearts, we find it easier to climb up and sit on His throne instead of bowing before it... When we do that we become like the church at Ephesus, having lost our first love...  

Revelation 2:4-5 But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

Are you treating Jesus like a Tinkerbell doll today or is he still your first and only love? 

Identity Crisis

Who are you? I'm mean do you know who you really are? Not who you think you... Not who others think you are.... But who you are in the eyes of the one true God.

In 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 Paul shares:

It is of little importance to me that I should be evaluated by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even evaluate myself. For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. The One who evaluates me is the Lord. Therefore don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.

This passage should be one of great encouragement to us!

It shouldn't matter to us what others think of us... but at the same time we can't disconnect so much that we stop listening to those around us - judging only ourselves... if we do that we risk losing touch with the world and we are putting ourselves in God's shoes...

We need to stop comparing ourselves to each other, we need to stop trying to see who's pile of chips is the highest, whose racked up the most points because when it comes right down to it there are no chips or points because God alone is our judge.

We should seek to find our identity in Christ and Christ alone.

I know this won't sound very politically correct but you can't do this... stop trying to deceive yourself... You cannot fix yourself. You need Jesus. The world will not satisfy. Neither can you cannot grow in your faith alone. We need each other. Growth as the people of God requires unity, a shared identity, shared mind, and shared mission. But unity requires humility. The humility of the gospel isn’t thinking LESS OF YOURSELF it is thinking OF YOURSELF LESS. It is refusing to listen to the world’s judgment or our own, in order to determine WHO WE ARE.

The only thing that matters is WHO, by faith in Christ, God SAYS you are! In Christ, you are a son, you are servant, and you are a steward. You have an identity, you have a role, and you have a responsibility. 

There is freedom in forgetting yourself and living in Christ. And only with an identity secure in Christ, will you be able to experience genuine peace and joy in who God has made you to be and what He has given you to do, not tomorrow, but today.

So I ask you again who are you?

Find your chair… Sit in it…

What is salvation all about? What does the Bible really say about such things? If I just pray a prayer am I saved? What am I saved from? Can I save myself? these are all questions that are asked every day in regards to salvation...

Seeking to find the biblical perspective on salvation it is important to begin with the most basic definition of salvation found in the Bible. Salvation ultimately is the deliverance from God’s wrath which is eternal separation from Him. John 3:36 says “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him”.

Knowing the definition only gives a partial picture though, to truly understand salvation we need to know the answer to a couple of very important questions.

First off what are we saved from? It's important to note that we are all in need of saving Romans 3:30 tells us that there are none righteous, Romans 6:23 tells us in fact that the wages of our sin is death. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 speaks of eternal punishment, separation from the Lord which is God’s wrath. But as we see in Romans 5:9 when we are bought by the blood of Christ we are declared righteous and we are saved from God’s wrath.

That leads to the next question of salvation which is who does the saving? Try as we might only God can remove sin and deliver us from sin’s penalty. This is expressed in 2 Timothy 1:9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. Also affirmed in Titus 3:5.

So now we know what we are saved from and who does the actual work of salvation but how exactly are we saved? Romans 3:23 says the wages of sin is death, we have a debt that we cannot pay on our own because of our sin, however our sin debt has been satisfied by Jesus through His death on the cross. Paul in Romans 3:25 tells us “God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.” We are saved because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for us. 

Generations have been told pray this prayer and God will save you… Let me ask you this does praying the sinner’s prayer save you? Not on its own! It’s the posture of your heart when you realize you are in need of forgiveness of your sins. There isn’t a magic prayer or incantation you have to recite, there isn’t a special sacrifice that you have to offer, Romans 10:9-10 gives us a simple easy to understand path to follow to receiving biblical salvation“⁹ If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.”

But you can’t leave it there – Remember it’s the posture of your heart, think about it like this…

If you walk up to a chair and give the chair an eloquent speech about how you want it to your own personal chair, how you will love this chair, and carry it with you always, that you will never find another chair like it, and you just keep standing there talking to the chair never actually sitting in the chair what does that say about our speech to the chair? It was worthless and empty…. How many of us have done the same thing with Christ? We have prayed the sinner’s prayer, we have said all the right words, we have made all the right changes in the eyes of the world, yet we don’t change our posture towards God in our hearts… We need to rest in the grace of God…

Are you relying on your prayers or on your posture to ensure your salvation today?